3^1 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY 
 
 University of North Carolina 
 
 
 
 AIXOVK 
 
 Shelf ; 
 
 
 Lj»^ 
 
 Mr^m::: 
 
linlimi?r,',^.?,'; ''■^' ^^ CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00018072185 
 
 This BOOK may be kept out TWO WEEKS 
 ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE 
 CENTS a day thereafter. It was taken out on 
 the day indicated below: 
 
 ,AUG 41352 
 
 
 HAR 1 v^ 2 
 
 ii 
 
 Lib. 10M-Ja.'36 
 
1i 
 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2011 witii funding from 
 
 University of Nortii Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/historyofscotlan03buch 
 
k 
 
.... ... ... . — 1 
 
 ^K "' 
 
 
 '^t 
 
 - tf^^^^ 
 
 ^^^^^H 
 
 K ,-^ 
 
 
 ^^^^9 
 
 W '1 
 
 
 ^^H 
 
 
 1 * 
 
 
 H: 
 
 ^^L M 
 
 w. 
 
 ^^^^^^^s 
 
 ^^E 'V' 
 
 
 jj^^^p^^^^j 
 
 ^R^|£ 
 
 ^E 
 
 ' M^^^H' 
 
 I^^Hf 
 
 B 
 
 > WB^m 
 
 H^^^^H^I^^BH^B^^I 
 
 
 fSl^M^^^^^^^^B^i 
 
 ^B 
 
 B^- 
 
 '^m 
 
 Bilm^B 
 
 
 J^H^H 
 
 I^K 
 
 
 HH 
 
 o-F®MM IS If ©So 
 
 RiiMied ixKhulL Blackze&CGliuacvr.'icAEiiyion k C Sdmiuroh. 
 
THE (it J ^ ^ 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF - ' 
 
 SCOTLAND, 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN 
 
 or 
 
 GEORGE BUCHANAN; 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 AND 
 
 A CONTINUATION TO THE UNION IN THE REIGN OF QUEENT ANNE. 
 
 By JAMES AIRMAN, Esq- 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I IT. 
 
 3i ^ 
 
 Vty aK 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY BLACKIE, FULLAIITON & CO. 
 EAST CLYDE STUEET; 
 
 AND ARCHIBALD FULLARTON & CO. BLAIR STREET, 
 EDINBURGH. 
 
 1827. 
 
Gl^ASGOW: 
 
 EKWARl) KlllLL AKD SON', PKINTEUS. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 VOLUME T H I II I) 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 P<,<JC 
 
 Regency of the Earl of Morton.— James VI. lo72_]582, 1—68 
 
 BOOK II. 
 James VI. 1383—1603, 68— S78 
 
 BOOK III. 
 James VI. and I. of England, 1603— I6I4, . . . 278—345 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 James VI. and I. of England, 1614 — 1625 Charles I. 
 
 \ 1625—1639, 345—491 
 
 % BOOK V. 
 
 Charles I. 1639, ....... 491—572 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Book I. 
 
 The death of the earl of Mavr, left the road to the regency 
 open to the ambition of the earl of Morton, who, supported 
 by the interest of England, was elected to that high office with- 
 out opposition, on the 24th day of November, A. D. 1572.* 
 
 At the time of Morton's accession to the regency, the 
 queen's party was divided into two distinct bodies, those with- 
 in the castle, and those without. The chiefs of the former were 
 Kirkaldy of Grange, the most renowned warrior, and Mait- 
 land, younger of Lethington, the most skilful politician of the 
 day ; at the head of the latter, were the duke of Chatellerault, 
 and the earl of Huntly, the two richest, and most powerful 
 noblemen, the one in the south, and the other in the north 
 
 * On the same day, Scotland lost one of her greatest benefactors, John 
 Knox, at whose interment the new regent passed the well known eulogium : 
 " There lies he who never feared the face of man," and never was eulogium 
 better merited. Through a life of the most unwearied labour, and trying 
 viciseitude, his intrepidity of soul remained unshaken, his constancy unmoved, 
 and when all was dark around him, and every heart filled with dismay, his 
 energetic eloquence imparted courage and ardour, similar to his own, into 
 the bosoms of his fainting companions. His zeal equalled his courage, and 
 both originated from an unfeigned exalted piety. He possessed an intuitive 
 sagacity, which enabled him at once to perceive the best method for attaining 
 his object, and that decision of character, which never allowed it to escape. 
 In reproof he was perhaps severe, but he averred on his deathbed, that it was 
 never the persons, but their vices, that were the objects of his dislike. The 
 usual charges brought against him, are rudeness to his queen, barbarism to 
 the monasteries and a gloomy moroseness in his general deoortmenf ; but 
 
 VOL. III. . A 
 
2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of Scotland. Tlie strengtli of this faction, if united, and act- 
 ing in concert, was such as would have easily enabled them 
 to embarrass the government, especially, as a number of the 
 king's joarty were by no means cordial in supporting the re- 
 gent. Morton, therefore, resolved to treat with them separ- 
 ately, to receive only one of the divisions into favour, and by 
 ruining the other, to render the whole faction incapable of 
 disturbing his administration. As the influence of the Ham- 
 iltons and Gordons was most to be dreaded, and the extent 
 of their estates presented the most tempting allurements, he 
 first applied to Grange, and offei-ed to renew the negotiations 
 which the death of the last regent had broken off, but at the 
 same time, intimated that it must be a separate treaty, with 
 those in the castle alone.* Grange, however, refused to enter 
 into any agreement, in which the whole of his friends were 
 not comprehended, considering himself in honour bound, to 
 do nothing to their detriment. In the meantime, Sir Henry 
 Killigrew, the English ambassador, endeavoured to procure a 
 reconciliation between all parties, now that a devoted partisan 
 of England was elected chief of the government. A corres- 
 pondence was immediately entered into, under his auspices, 
 with Chatellerault and Huntly, and the truce was renewed 
 with them. Grange, who refused to be included in the pro- 
 longation, as soon as the term agreed on had expired, recom- 
 menced cannonading the city, and in a night sally, set fire to 
 
 wliile Mary was his sovereign, and till her hands were contaminated with her 
 husband's blood, his behaviour was always respectful, and at one period, 
 when deceived by her dissimulation, even affectionate. Considering the mon- 
 asteries as the strong holds of indolence and vice, he certainly did not lament 
 their destruction, nor think it barbarous, when a nation was emerging from 
 ignorance and superstition, to remove the temptations, however splendid, to 
 a return. In his social intercourse, from the traits that remain, he was rather 
 inclined to be cheerful, though the care and anxiety which ever pressed upon 
 him, rendered his general deportment grave. That he possessed much natu- 
 ral humour, his history bears indubitable marks. He was no less anxious to 
 secure the civil, than the religious liberty of his country, and that by the wis- 
 est and best of methods, securing the instruction, and the moral improvement 
 of the people. His long and useful hfe, though often in peril from the " dag 
 and dagger," was closed at last, by a peaceful and triumphant death. 
 * Melville, p. 236, 239 
 41 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 3 
 
 the houses next the castle, during a strong westerly wind, when 
 the whole tenements, from the foot of the rock to the Macf- 
 dalen chapel, were destroyed. The estates, notwithstanding, 
 met in the end of January, and passed several acts against 
 papists, and those who still resisted the authority of the king. 
 
 When parliament broke up, a meeting took place at Perth, 
 between the earl of Argyle, chancellor, the earl of Mon- 
 trose, the abbot of Dunfermline, secretary, the lords Ruthven 
 and Boyd, and Sir John Bellenden, justice-clerk, commis- 
 sioners from the regent, the earl of Huntly for himself, and 
 lord John Hamilton, commendatory of Aberbrothick, for 
 the duke of Chatellerault, when, through the mediation of 
 the English ambassador, a treaty was entered into, by which 
 it was agreed, that both parties should profess and support 
 the protestant religion, especially against the confederates of 
 the council of Trent ; that the queen's party should acknowl- 
 edge the authority of the king, submit to the government 
 of the regent, and declare all acts done by them since his * 
 majesty's coronation, illegal; that a general amnesty should 
 be granted, and the parties on both sides restored to their 
 estates and livings, and the heirs and successors of persons 
 forfeited, and since dead, should be comprehended in the 
 pacification, and also restored to their lands and possessions. 
 The only exceptions from the pardon, were the murderers of 
 the king and the two regents, the archbishop of Glasgow, 
 the Scottish queen's ambassador in France, and the bishop of 
 Ross, her ambassador in England, who were both under sen- 
 tence of outlawry. But a time was stipulated, within which 
 Grange, and these in the castle, might accede to the agree- 
 ment.* 
 
 * Sir James Melville asserts that Grange, after the others had agreed, of- 
 fered also to come in, or to accept of cciy reasonable conditions, but that the 
 regent would not listen to any terms of accommodation. — Memoirs, p. 240. 
 As, however, the English ambassador, before setting out for Perth, had in 
 vain attempted to induce Grange to submit, Bannatyne, p. 433, and Spots- 
 wood is express as to the offer after he retiu-ned, I feel rather inclined to the 
 opinion of Dr. Robertson, that it was the governor's distrust of Morton, and 
 his proud, unbending spirit, that occasioned the negotiation to be broken off; 
 yet the testimony of Melville is explicit, and I can only reconcile his accounts 
 with the accounts of other writers, and the state papers of the time, Brief 
 
4 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 The English ambassador, in consequence, repaired to the 
 castle, and having shown Kirkaldy the treaty, to which Ham- 
 ilton and Huntly had agreed, he requested him also to accede. 
 The earl of Rothes too, and lord Boyd, waited upon him, and 
 pointing out the certain ruin which would attend resistance, 
 entreated him to yield, but the governor, expecting assistance 
 from abroad, refused to comply, and even if that should fail, 
 he did not doubt of obtaining more favourable terms than his 
 former associates had accepted. Nor was his resolution shak- 
 en, although at this time, his brother, who had returned from 
 France with a supply of money, was betrayed into the hands 
 of the regent, by Sir James Balfour, a wretch who had alter- 
 nately served, and deceived both paities. 
 
 The Scots were never famed for the art of besieging, and 
 the regent at this time, was totally destitute of the means of 
 reducing a place of such strength as Edinburgh castle, de- 
 fended by so skilful a captain. He therefore sent to the queen 
 of England, to desire a supply of soldiers and cannon, which 
 she readily granted, and Sir William Drury, proceeded from 
 Berwick on this service, in April, with a body of troops, and 
 a train of artillery. 
 
 In order to prevent any future misundei'standing, the regent, 
 previously to the mai'ch of the English, despatched lord Ruth- 
 ven to ari'ange the conditions on which this aid should be 
 afforded, and the manner in which the expedition should be 
 conducted. The general of the English troops, and the Scot- 
 tish commissioner, met in the church of Lamberton, at a short 
 distance from the bounds of Berwick, and there agreed, that 
 neither of the parties should singly enter into any arrange- 
 ment with the besieged ; that if the castle were taken by storm, 
 all public property should be restored to the regent, but the 
 other spoil should belong to the soldiers ; that so far as con- 
 sistent with the rules of war, the prisoners taken in the castle, 
 should be tried by law, the regent acting by the advice of the 
 queen of England ; that the regent should furnish the English 
 
 declaration, &:c. Bannatyne, p. 430. by supposing that Morton, acting upon 
 his preconcerted plan, had dealt deceitfully both with the English ambassador 
 and with Grange, or that Grange, after his interview with Sir J. Melville 
 liad allowed himself to be influenced by the intriguing spirit of Maitland. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 5 
 
 with all necessaries, and join them with a body of horse and 
 foot; that the wives, or nearest relations of the soldiers slain, 
 shoidd receive a gratuity, to be regulated by the English gen- 
 eral ; that all the great guns destroyed in the siege, should be 
 replaced by others of similar size, out of the castle; that the 
 English general should not fortify on Scottish ground, with- 
 out permission of the regent, and should retire immediately on 
 the castle being reduced, and for the fulfilment of these con- 
 ditions on the part of the Scots, and as a guarantee for the 
 safe return of the English with all their stores, the chances of 
 war excepted, the Scots were to grant hostages.* 
 
 On the treaty being ratified, and the hostages delivered, 
 Drury set out from Berwick, at the head of fifteen hundred 
 men, the artillery and military stores being sent by sea. On 
 his arrival, the regent joined him with all his forces. Next 
 day, the castle v/as summoned, and an offer made to spax'e 
 the lives of the garrison, if they would capitulate before the 
 batteries were erected, but this being refused, the trenches 
 were opened, and approaches regularly carried on. Animated 
 with all the resolution of despair, Kirkaldy nobly defended 
 the fortress, against the united efforts of the English and the 
 regent, determined rather to die, than surrender himself into 
 the hands of his inveterate enemy, nor did his gallant unsub- 
 dued spirit demand a parley, till a practicable breach was 
 made, and a lodgment effected within the bulwarks, yet even 
 then, he would h-ave sought the honour of a soldier's death, 
 had not his small garrison, worn out with fatigue, watching, 
 *and thirst — for the rubbish had choked the well without,f 
 and the firing of the castle opening the rock, caused the water 
 of that within to be absorbed — obliged the governor to ask a 
 truce, which was granted for two days. During this time, he 
 attempted in vain to obtain terms, but Morton would hearken 
 
 * Robertson takes no notice of this convention, although both Spotswood 
 and Crawford insert the treaty j and it appears to have been in consequence 
 of the stipulation, forbidding any secret or distinct negotiation with the 
 queen's party, that reference was made to Elizabeth to determine the fate of 
 Kirkaldy and his associates after the castle fell. 
 
 •j- Sir James Melville says, the well without the walls, to which the men 
 were let down by a rope was poisoned. 
 
6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 to nothing, except unconditional surrender. He then resolved 
 to perish amid the ruins. His soldiers, however, seduced by 
 the regent's emissaries, refused to hazard another assault, and 
 lie, by the advice of Lethington, surrendered himself and the 
 castle, to Drury, the English commander, upon a promise 
 that he should be favourably treated. There surrendered 
 along with him, Maitland, lord Home, Sir Robert Melville, 
 some few citizens of Edinburgh, and about one hundred and 
 fifty, or one hundred and sixty soldiers. 
 
 The common men were dismissed, on promising not to serve 
 against the king, and the greater part of them enlisted in the 
 Dutch service, but those of rank were detained prisoners, till 
 the queen of England's pleasure should be known. The re- 
 gent claimed the chiefs, as guilty of rebellion, in order that 
 they might be tried by law for their offence. To this Drury 
 would not consent, admiring the valour of Kirkaldy, and un- 
 willing to deliver up a man, who had trusted to his word and 
 honour. He carried him to his own lodgings, where he 
 treated him with that humanity and kindness, which one brave 
 and generous spirit always shows to another, and at the same 
 time, used every endeavour to induce the queen of England to 
 confirm the engagements he had entered into in her name. 
 Influenced, however, by the representations of Morton, who 
 alleged that neither his person nor government could be se- 
 cure, so lono; as such intrio-uincr and inveterate enemies were 
 alive, Elizabeth, regardless of the honour or engagements of 
 her general, ordered the prisoners to be placed at the disposal 
 of the regent. Drury, reluctantly complied with the impera- 
 tive mandate, but immediately retired to Berwick, and threw 
 up his commission in disgust. Morton, as soon as he obtain- 
 ed possession of the persons of the prisoners, committed them 
 to separate places of confinement, and in a few days, con- 
 demned Kirkaldy, and his brother Sir James, to be hanged at 
 the cross of Edinburgh. Thus perished by the hands of the 
 public executioner, one of the bravest, and most generous 
 warriors of his age, sacrificed to the jealousy or the avarice of 
 Morton. He had been one of the earliest friends, and during 
 the first days of peril and trial, one of the most intrepid, and 
 successful defenders of the Reformation, but personal disgust 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 7 
 
 with Morton, or the intrigues of Maithmd, fatally alienated 
 him from the friends of his youth, and induced him to desert 
 the cause he had laboured so strenuously to establish. Knox 
 lamented his defection, and on his deathbed, sent him an 
 affecting, and, as it proved, a prophetical exhortation, to leave 
 a party, his adherence to which would bring his life to a 
 shameful close. He despised the warning at the time, but at 
 the place of execution, remembered it with tears. Two gold- 
 smiths were executed along with the brothers. 
 
 Maitland, fearing a like ignominious end, is said to have 
 escaped by a voluntary death. His talents as a statesman were 
 certainly of the first ordei', but his fickleness and inconstancy, 
 deprived him of that weight in the state, which his abilities 
 would otherwise have commanded. Buchanan, in his Chae- 
 melion, has commemorated both his genius and versatility. 
 
 By this blow, the interest of Mary was effectually broken in 
 Scotland, and her party were never after able to make any 
 head against' that of the king. Abroad, her affairs wore no 
 better an aspect. The duke of Alva, who had interested 
 himself strongly in her favour, being • recalled from the gov- 
 ernment of the Netherlands, and Charles IX. of France dying 
 about the same time, she lost two of her best friends. Charles 
 was an ardent admirer of Mary's beauty, and had sincerely 
 interposed in her behalf, but the aversion of his mother to 
 that princess, and his constant wars with the protestants, ob- 
 structed his exertions ; while the horrible massacres which 
 disgraced his reign, tended greatly to weaken his influence in 
 her cause. Henry III. who succeeded him, had not the same 
 affection for her person, and was besides, the decided enemy 
 of the house of Guise, whose power and influence were con- 
 siderably diminished, by the death of the cardinal before the 
 end of the year. 
 
 From this date, the unhappy queen of Scots must only be 
 considered as an exile, whose story forms an interesting epi- 
 sode in Scottish history, but is only incidentally connected 
 with the affairs of that country. In England, her ambassador 
 was dismissed from the court, and she was left to pine in the 
 solitude of a prison, without any regular medium through 
 
9 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 which she could convey her complahits to the ear of her op- 
 pressors, or hold any correspondence with foreign princes. 
 
 The civil war thus ended, Morton applied himself assidu- 
 ously to correct the mischiefs naturally consequent on a state 
 of internal commotion, particularly in such a country as Scot- 
 land, which had been so long rent with factions, and whose 
 half civilized inhabitants, even in the most tranquil times, 
 were hardly ever accustomed to regard the law. One of his 
 first cares v/as to repress the disorderly borderers, whose out- 
 rages had increased during the calamities of the times, and 
 occasioned frequent remonstrances from the English court. 
 For this purpose he })roceeded in person to the scene of action, 
 where he had an interview with Sir John Forrester, the Eng- 
 lish warden of the middle march, to adjust all the differences 
 which had arisen, and to concert measures for preventing 
 their recurrence. He compelled the chiefs of the different 
 districts to give pledges for their good behaviour, and ap- 
 pointed as wardens, in whom he could confide, Sir James 
 Home of Cowdenknov/es for the eastern ; Sir John Carmichael, 
 one of his principal ministers, for the middle ; and lord Max- 
 well for the western marches. 
 
 By his vigorous proceedings the regent restored general 
 order and tranquillity to the kingdom ; but the rigour of his 
 prosecutions, and the avarice he displayed, lost him the af- 
 fections of the people, which his important services had mer- 
 ited. His strictness in collecting the royal revenues, and his 
 rigidity in recalling the grants by which the crown lands had 
 been alienated, disgusted the nobles ; while the whole com- 
 munity were injured by the debasement of the coin, which 
 was carried to a great extent during his administration ; be- 
 sides, he everywhere employed these miscreants, who in all 
 ages have been held in detestation, and whose encouragement 
 infallibly marks a government as tyrannical and depraved — 
 spies and informers. By them imaginary crimes were invent- 
 ed, petty trespasses aggravated, and t'he accused were often 
 forced to redeem their lives at the expense of their estates.* 
 
 * Dr. Cooke, in his History c-f the Church of Scotland, mentions, but 
 without quoting his authority, a strange mode of exacting money which Mor 
 ton exercised : " He also sentenced to whipping and iiiiprisonnient those who 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 9 
 
 In the midst of his exactions, there was nothing procured 
 him more universal dishke than his conduct towards the 
 church, from whose ministers he extorted the greater part of 
 the slender pittance upon which, at the best, they could 
 scarcely exist. The thirds of the benefices had been appro- 
 priated for the discharge of these stipends, but through the 
 want of power in the collectors to enforce, or the unwilling- 
 ness of those who had seized on the spoils of the church to 
 part with any portion, they received their salaries slowly and 
 irregularly ;* and during the commotions, the payment in 
 some parts of the country was altogether interrupted. On 
 pretence of remedying this evil, and to ensure a ready and 
 available supply, the regent proposed that the thirds should 
 be vested in the crown, under promise to make the stipend of 
 every minister local, and payable in the parish where he serv- 
 ed ; and if upon trial this arrangement was found ineligible, 
 he engaged, at their request, to replace them in their former 
 situation ; but no sooner did he obtain possession of the thirds, 
 than he appointed several churches, sometimes four, to the 
 charge of one minister, who was directed to preach in them 
 alternately, and in his absence a reader, with a pitiful salary, 
 performed the duty of reading prayers. The allowance to the 
 superintendents was at the same time altogether stopped, and 
 when they made application at court, they were informed that 
 their office was no more necessary, bishops being placed in 
 the diocess, and that the ecclesiastical jurisdiction belonged 
 to them. When the ministers complained, and desired to be 
 placed upon the same footing on which they formerly stood, 
 they were informed that the surplus of the thirds belonged to 
 the king, and therefore the regent and council, and not the 
 church, ought to regulate the stipends of the ministers, and 
 manage the remainder. 
 
 The assembly, who found, when too late, that they had 
 acted unwisely in placing the funds allotted for their own main- 
 ate flesh in time of Lent, which sentences were uniformly remitted upon pay- 
 ing fines," vol. i. Note, p. 234. 
 
 * Except, perhaps, during a short part of the regent Moray's administra- 
 tion. — M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol. ii. p. 1 60, Note. Indeed the pretexts used 
 by Morton to induce them to surrender their right, unplies as much. 
 VOL. III. B 
 
10 HlSTOllY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 tenance at the disposal of the regent, did what they could to 
 counteract the effects of the unfortunate mistake. They de- 
 termined at their meeting, March, 1574 : — That ministers, 
 who were appointed to more churches than one, should each 
 take the oversight of that one only where he resided, at the 
 same time affording such assistance to the others as he could, 
 without interfering with the duty he owed to his own particu- 
 lar charge. The three venerable superintendents, Erskine, 
 Win ram and Spotswood, who had laboured long and suc- 
 cessfully in the cause of the reformed, disgusted with the in- 
 difFevCTice shown by the regent, solicited this assem.bly to ac- 
 cept their resignation, as the office was now considered un- 
 necessary. This was, hov/ever, unanimously refused, and it 
 w^as further deternnned by them, to mai'k their disapprobation 
 of Morton's proceedings, that the bishops should not exercise 
 any ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the bounds over which 
 the superintendents presided, without their express consent 
 and approbation. 
 
 Early next summer, a trifling circumstjuice had nearly in- 
 terrupted the harmony which subsisted betvveen the two king- 
 doms. At one of the usual meetings to adjust the differences 
 which might have arisen on the borders, Sir John Carmichael, 
 the Scottish warden, demanded, from Sir John Forrester, the 
 warden of the opposite march, that an Enghshman, who had 
 been convicted of theft, and was a notorious offender, should 
 be delivered iv3 according to the law of the marches. With 
 
 J. O 
 
 this demand, Forrester hesitated to comply, and appeared 
 rather desirous of evading it. Carmichael, however, continu- 
 ino- to uro-e, some passionate lanoua.Qe ensued, and the 
 haughty demeanour of the English warden, appearing to his 
 followers to be the signal for attack, tliey sent off a flight of 
 ari'ows that killed one Scottishman, and wounded several 
 others. The Scots, inferior in numbers, and unexpectedly 
 surprised, were throv/n into confusion, and driven from the 
 field ; but being met in their flight by some Jedburgh men, 
 who were coniing to attend the warden, they rallied, and join- 
 ing with them, forced their pursuers in their turn to flee. In 
 this rencounter, Sir George Heron, keeper of Tindale and 
 Ridsciale, and about twenty-four conn-non men, were slain 
 41 ■ - 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 11 
 
 Sir John Forrester, Francis Russe!, son to the earl of Bed- 
 ford, with several others of higher rank, were taken prisoners, 
 and sent to the earl of Morton, at Dalkeith, The regent, 
 who regretted the unfortunate affray, detained them for a few- 
 days, till the irritation occasioned by this unlucky occurrence 
 should subside, entertained them with great hospitality, and, 
 after receiving their pi'omise to appear in Scotland if called 
 upon, dismissed them with the highest professions of regard. 
 
 Elizabeth, on being informed of what had taken place, or- 
 dered Killigrew, her ambassador in Scotland, to demand im- 
 mediate satisfaction, and also to inform Morton, that she had 
 directed the earl of Huntingdon, president of the council at 
 York, and lieutenant of the northern counties, to repair to 
 the borders and investigate the matter, and that she expected 
 he would in person meet with him. Morton dared not dis- 
 obey, and the two earls met at Fouldean, near the Berwick 
 boundary, where, after a conference of some days, it was 
 agreed that Carmichael should be sent as a prisoner to Eng- 
 land, where he was detained for a few weeks. Elizabeth, 
 pleased at the submissive conduct of the regent, and finding, 
 on further inquiry, that her own warden was the original of- 
 fender, ordered him to be honourably dismissed, and gratified 
 with a present. 
 
 This disturbance was scarcely allayed, when more perplex- 
 ing difficulties arose from another source — the church. To 
 understand the nature of the dispute, and place it in a clear 
 point of view, it is necessary to recur to some previous events. 
 The leading feature in the government of the churcl) of Scot- 
 land, established at the Reformation, was equality among her 
 ministers, whose office it was to preach the gospel, and ad- 
 minister the sacraments ; the other office-bearers in the church 
 were, the doctor or teacher, who interpreted the Scriptures,- 
 under which denomination was included such as taught the- 
 ology in schools and universities, the ruling elder, who assist- 
 ed the minister in his clerical duties, and the deacon, who man- 
 aged the temporalities of the church, and attended especial- 
 ly to the state of the poor. Besides these office-bearers, 
 who were permanent, the necessity of the case demanded 
 some more temporary expedients to supply the want of regular 
 
12 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 teachers. In parishes, therefore, where tnere was no resident 
 minister, pious persons, who had received a common educa- 
 tion, were appointed to read the Scriptures and common 
 prayers, and were called readers : if capable, they were en- 
 couraged to add a few plain exhortations to their reading, and 
 they were then denominated exhorters. The same scarcity of 
 regularly educated ministers gave rise to another temporary 
 office in the church, that of superintendent, whose duty it was 
 regularly to itinerate, for the purpose of preaching, planting 
 churches, and inspecting the conduct of the ministers, exhort- 
 ers and readers, and to each a separate district was assigned. 
 " These men," according to the church polity presented to 
 the convention at Edinburgh, January, 1560, " were not to 
 be suffered to live idle, as the bishops have done heretofore, 
 nor were they to remain, where gladly they would, but they 
 must be preachers themselves ;' and after enumerating the 
 rest of their duties, enjoins, " that they must preach thrice 
 a-week at least."* In the appointment of these office-bearers, 
 the name of bishop was carefully avoided ; and instead of the 
 enormous revenues which they had possessed, it was only re- 
 quired that moderate stipends should be appointed to tli(i 
 ministers, with an additional allowance to the superintendents, 
 to defray their travelling expenses. Connected with this 
 establishment, it was likewise proposed, in the book of polity, 
 or first book of discipline, to erect three national universities, 
 and form a system of parochial instruction. 
 . For these purposes funds were necessary, and as the pro- 
 perty of the church should have devolved to the public, by 
 the abolition of the Uomish hierarchy, and there were not 
 any individual or class of men who could legally claim a title 
 to the rents of the vacant benefices, it was considered but fair 
 that they should be applied to the most important purposes ot 
 public instruction. A considerable number, however, of the 
 protestant nobility and gentry had either already seized, or 
 expected to share in the spoil, and these proposals never re- 
 ceived the sanction of the estates. 
 
 The ministers continued to obtain a precarious support from 
 
 ' ^. .. . * Spotswood, p. 1 59. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 13 
 
 their bearers, and to complain of their indigent circumstances 
 in vain, till towards the end of the first year after the ai-rival 
 of queen Mary, when the barons required that provision 
 should be made for their ministers, else they would allow 
 nothing to be uplifted on account of such bishops, as still 
 retained the temporalities of their bishoprics, although they 
 had ceased to exercise any of their ecclesiastical functions, 
 and who, on the arrival of the young queen, began to be 
 looked upon with a more favourable eye. The privy council 
 in consequence, and in order to seem not to desert the pro- 
 testant clergy, and yet, at the same time, desirous to please 
 the queen, ordered an exact account of the ecclesiastical rev- 
 enues throughout the country to be taken, and divided into 
 three parts, two of which were allowed to go to the ejected 
 Popish clergy during life, and the other to be divided be- 
 tween the queen and the protestant ministers, the privy coun- 
 cil appointing a commission, who were termed modificators, 
 to ascertain the proportion of each, and to fix the amount of 
 the ministers' stipends. But this arrangement proved almost 
 nugatory, the stipends were fixed low, and seldom fully paid. 
 
 In this state, the ministers were forced to remain, till the 
 regency of the earl of Moray. In the parliament held im- 
 mediately after his election, 1567, it was enacted : — That the 
 thirds of the benefices should be paid to collectors appointed 
 by the church, who should first settle the stipends of the 
 ministers, and then account to the exchequer, an important 
 alteration in favour of the church, which, as we have already 
 seen, Morton, among the first acts of his regency, procured 
 to be abrogated. But besides this, another plan, which 
 commenced during the regency of the earl of Lennox, bad 
 Deen adopted during the regency of the earl of Marr, for 
 preventing the church from receiving any accession of funds 
 from the benefices which fell vacant ; and in order to accom- 
 plish this, an innovation was introduced into the form of her 
 government, which was afterward productive of the most 
 mischievous consequences. 
 
 As laymen could not hold church livings, and their secular- 
 ization was deemed rather too bold a step to adopt, a middle 
 course was pursued. The hated titles were revived, and 
 
14 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 bishoprics and other benefices were presented to such min- 
 isters as could be induced to accept them, on condition that, 
 previous to their admission, they should make over the greater 
 part of the revenues to the nobleman vvho had obtained the 
 patronage of them from court.* 
 
 The earl of Morton, who was all along the chief supporter 
 of this plan, had obtained from the regent a grant of the tem- 
 poralities of the see of St. Andrews, and having procured 
 John Douglas, rector of the university, to be elected arch- 
 bishop, he, in consequence of a private agreement, retained 
 the gi*eater part of the revenues in his own hands, allowing 
 Douglas but a very slender stipend. At the meeting of the 
 parliament in Stirling, 1571, Douglas was admitted to a seat, 
 although the commissioners of the general assembly protested 
 against this transaction, and the superintendent of Fife pro- 
 liibited him to vote as one of the kirk, till admitted by the 
 kirk, under pain of excommunication ; f but the interest of 
 Morton prevailed even over that of the regent, who was in- 
 clined to favour the representations of the church, and he or- 
 dered Davidson to vote as archbishop of St. Andrews, under 
 pain of treason. A number of the nobility, who expected to 
 derive similar advantages from the scheme, supported Mor- 
 ton ; and in spite of the opposition of the ministers of the 
 church, and the strong remonstrances and memorials of the 
 barons, who were still sincerely attached to the principles of 
 the reformation, and who refused even to countenance by 
 their presence, proceedings of whicli they so decidedly disap- 
 proved, the measure was carried, and bishoprics and other 
 benefices were speedily shared among the nobility, and even 
 conferred in some instances upon minors. 
 
 It was during this parliament that the earl of Lennox was 
 slain, and the earl of Marr succeeded as regent. 
 
 The consequences of the innovating system soon became 
 apparent. Letters were issued by the new regent, prohibiting 
 the collectors appointed by the church from gathering the 
 thirds ; on which, Erskine of Dun, the venerable superintend- 
 
 * These bishops were called Tulchan bishops. A Tulchan is a calf's skin 
 Btiifted with straw, set up to make the cow give her milk freely. 
 
 + Calderwoodj p. 48. Bannatyne. po, 246. 25o. 255. 257, 260, 285. 
 
HISTOHY OV SCOTLAND. 15 
 
 ent of Angus, a relation of the regent's, addressed to liim a 
 long urgent epistle, protesting against this mandate, and la- 
 menting tlie late proceedings at Stirling. This, and the uni- 
 versal discontent which these proceedings had excited through- 
 out the nation, induced the regent and council to call a con- 
 vention of the superintendents, commissioners, and ministers, 
 to meet at Leith in January, 1572, to consult about the polity 
 of the kirk. Here, through the influence of the court, it was 
 agreed that the titles of archbishop, bishop, and other eccle- 
 siastical dignitaries, should be retaiPiCd, and the bounds of tlie 
 ancient diocesses should not be altered durino- the kino-'s min- 
 ority ; it was, however, at the same time resolved, that all 
 archbishops and bishops should enjoy no greater share of 
 power, and should exercise no further jurisdiction in their 
 spiritual function, than the superintendents had done, and 
 that they should be equally subject to the assemblies of the 
 church. 
 
 In an assembly held at Perth, August, 1572, the articles 
 agreed on at Leith v.ere discussed, and the following resolu- 
 tion adopted : — " Upon the said heads and articles," " in which 
 [on] being considered and read, are found certain names, 
 such as archbishop, dean, archdeacon, chancellor, chapter, 
 which names are thought slanderous and offensive to the ears 
 of many of the britheren, appearing to sound to papistry. 
 Therefore, the v/hole assembly, in one voice, as well those 
 that were in commission at Leith as otliers, solemnly protest 
 that they mean not, by using any such names, to ratify, or 
 consent and agree to any kind of papistry and supersticion, 
 and wish rather the nam.es to be changed into other names 
 that are not scandalous and offensive, and, in like manner, 
 protest that the said heads and articles be only received as 
 aji interim, till further and more perfect order may be obtain- 
 ed at the hand of the king's majesties regent, and nobihty, 
 for which they will press as occasion shall serve ; unto the 
 which protestation the whole assembly convened, in one voice 
 adhered." * Thus was a mongrel species of episcopacy, to 
 
 * Caldenvood, p. 58. Dr. Cooke draws an inference from the proceeding? 
 of this assembly, which I I'.ardlv think borne out by the record. He thinks 
 that, at this time, the churcl; of Scotland must be considered as havini: adopt- 
 
16. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 1! 
 
 which the ministers consented only ad hiteriin, and under 
 protest, obtruded upon the church of Scotland, on purpose 
 that a rapacious nobility might, under cover of law, secure to 
 themselves the ecclesiastical revenues. 
 
 It was impossible that such an arrangement could be acted 
 on for any time, without producing animosity, where the 
 parties were constantly coming in contact with each other. As 
 might have been expected, disputes immediately arose, and 
 the late appropriation of the thirds by Morton, did not tend 
 to allay them. 
 
 The bishops, although possessed of httle power, and amen- 
 able to the assembly for their conduct, were objects of suspi- 
 cion to the majoi'ity of the ministers, who were, besides, .totally 
 alienated irom the government of Morton, by his haughtiness, 
 avarice, and despotic measures ; they dreaded too, that under 
 his wings, his own creatures might attain a rank which would 
 once more render them dangerous to the church, especially as 
 it was perfectly evident to all, that the present unsettled state 
 of the ecclesiastical government could not long continue to 
 exist. A leader only was wanted to systematize their opposi- 
 tion, and such an one was found in Andrew Melville. He 
 was a man of profound erudition, and immoveable intrepidity^ 
 keen, ardent, and pei'haps sometimes rash in the prosecution 
 of his measures, but of unsuspected mtegrity, and eminent 
 piety. He had spent a considerable part of his youth in 
 Cjteneva, whence he lately returned with the highest testimon- 
 ials. Beza, in a letter to the General Assembly, describ- 
 ed him as one, " equally distinguished by his piety and his 
 erudition," and added, " that the church of Geneva could not 
 give a stronger proof of affection to her sister of Scotland, 
 than by suffering herself to be bereaved of him, that his native 
 country might be enriched with his gifts." On his arrival, he 
 was courted by the earl of Morton, and offered an ofhce in his 
 
 ed epkcopacy, and that upon rational grounds, conformable to the principles 
 of the Reformation. — Hist. Ch. of Scot. vol. i. p. 185. But a temporary 
 measm'e, adopted under protest, can scarcely be allowed to stand as one to 
 which an assembly has agreed. It may have submitted from necessity, and 
 this, I apprehend, is all the church of Scotland ever did to this pseudo-epis. 
 eopacy. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLA^^D. - 17 
 
 fiinilly, the refusal of which, tended perhaps to heighten his 
 influence in the church. A great admirer of the polity of the 
 Genevan church, he soon began to discover his disapprobation 
 of the late innovations introduced into that of Scotland, and 
 finding the views of a number of the ministers congenial with 
 his own, he seized every opportunity to express them. 
 
 In the General Assembly, which met August, 1575, John 
 Drury, having expressed his objections as to the lawfulness of 
 the office of bishop, Melville, in a powerful speech, seconded 
 all his objections, and the question was immediately proposed, 
 whether bishops, as they now are in Scotland, have their func- 
 tion in the Word of God or not ; and whether the chapters ap- 
 pointed for electing them, ought to be tolerated in a Reformed 
 church ? The consideration of these being referred to a com- 
 mittee, after two days they presented their report, waving the 
 first part of the question, but stating as their opinion, that if 
 unfit persons were chosen as bishops, they ought to be tried 
 anew, and deposed by the General Assembly, and farther re- 
 ported on the following points, respecting the office of a bishop, 
 or supei'intendent ; that the name of bishop is common to all 
 ministers, appointed to take chai'ge of a particular flock, and 
 that his function consisted of preaching, administering the sac- 
 raments, and exercising ecclesiastical discipline with the con- 
 sent of his elders ; that from among these, some one might be 
 chosen to oversee and visit such reasonable bounds, beside, his 
 own flock, as the General Assembly should appoint, having power 
 to appoint preachers, with the consent of the ministers, within 
 their respective bounds, and of the flocks to which they might 
 be admitted ; and that they might suspend ministers from the 
 exercise of their office for just causes, with the consent of the 
 brethren of that district. There were six bishops in the As- 
 sembly, but they all remained silent, nor offered a word in 
 defence of their office when the report was presented, the 
 further consideration of v.'hich was deferred until next meeting 
 of Assembly. In this manner arose two parties in the church, 
 which were afterward to convulse the state, and the history of 
 whose struggles for ascendency, are so deeply interwoven with 
 the civil history of Scotland for the next century, that it is 
 
 VOL. III. c 
 
18 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 impossible to understand the one, without in some measafd 
 being acquainted with the otlier. 
 
 While Morton was enriching himself at the expense of the 
 churchj and impolitically estranging from his interest, a body 
 of men whose influence was at that time extensive, dreading 
 no rival, he, at the same time, behaved towards the nobility 
 and gentry in such a manner, as plainly evinced that he con- 
 sidered his power too secure to be shaken, and that the dig- 
 nity of the noblest in the land, would not exempt them from 
 feeling its effects. 
 
 His extortions and oppression, as long as they were confin- 
 ed to tlie middling ranks, had occasioned much discontent, 
 but no serious resistance, and he thence falsely imagined that 
 he might with equal impunity, attack the privileges of a proud 
 aristocracy. But the event proved upon how frail a founda- 
 tion, the fabric of his grandeur was erected. His first attempt 
 was upon John Semple, of Biltrees, and Adam Winford, ot 
 Milneton, his treatment of whom, contributed not a little to 
 heighten the general indignation, and awaken the fears of the 
 nobles, particularly, as it was believed that the forfeiture of 
 lord John Hamilton, of Aberbrothick, and his brothei' 
 Claude, was what was ultimately aimed at. Mary Living- 
 ston, one of queen Mary's maids of honour, had received a 
 gift of some lands from her royal mistress, and these Morton 
 wished to restore to the crown, which, when Semple, to whom 
 she was married, understood, he imguardedly exclaimed : — 
 *' If he lost the lands, he should lose his head also." This 
 speech being reported to the regent, who had heard some 
 vague surmise of a conspiracy, by lords John and Claude 
 Hamilton, to assassinate him, immediately apprehended Sem- 
 ple, and put him to the torture, on which he confessed, as 
 common minds in such circumstances are apt to do, whatever 
 he was desired, and on his own confession was condemned, 
 but pardoned at the scaffold. His uncle, Milneton, was also 
 apprehended, and put to the torture. He, however, constant- 
 ly denied having been acquainted with any such plot, and after 
 being cruelly mangled, was set free, his firmness gained credit 
 to his testimony, while the coufessioxi of his nephew was wholly 
 
 4S 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 19 
 
 disregartled, as being extorted from his weakness, by the ex- 
 tremity of his pain. 
 
 The regent's next attack was yet more prejudicial to his 
 power. The Scottish nobles were little accustomed in that age 
 to obey the law, and their kings were often under the necessity 
 of overlooking, what it might have been dangerous to attempt 
 to punish. Argyle and Athol were two of the most power- 
 ful, and a feud had arisen between them, from a trifling, but 
 very common occurrence, which, in the circumstances in 
 which Morton stood, had he known his real situation, he 
 might easily have rendered conducive to the stability of his 
 government, by following the insidious, but safe policy, so 
 often practised by the Scottish monarchs, of aiding the least 
 powerful, and weakening the one most to be dreaded, or by 
 allowing them first to waste their strength in mutual slaugh- 
 ter, and then effectually humbling loth. One Macailum, a vas- 
 sal of Argyle's, and a notorious robber, had committed some 
 depredations in Athol, in the course of which, he was appre- 
 hended by the earl, but pardoned at the request of Argyle, 
 Continuing, however, the same practices, Athol demanded 
 that he should be delivered up to punishment, which the other 
 refusing, he took arms to enforce his demand, and Argyle also 
 armed to resist it. Both were proceeding to extremities, when 
 the regent interposed, and compelled them to disband their 
 forces. 
 
 In common cases, the affair would have ended here, but 
 Morton had determined to found on their illegal proceedings, 
 a charge of treason, and confiscate their estates. The parties, 
 however, having obtained information of his design, were, 
 through the intervention of friends, reconciled, and by their 
 union, perceiving themselves sufficiently strong to set him at 
 defiance, refused to obey his summons ; to defiance Argyle added 
 contempt, for shortly after, having received some affront from 
 clan-Donald, he again took arms, and on being again charged 
 to disband his forces, he not only refused to obey, but mal- 
 treated the messenger, tore his letters, and forced him, and 
 the witnesses by whom he was accompanied, to swear that 
 they would never return into the county of Argyle upon a 
 similar errand. As this took place in the beginning of win- 
 
20 HISTORY OF SCOTI,AND. 
 
 ter, the regent, altliough highly incensed, could do nothing, 
 but resolve to proclaim him rebel. 
 
 Mutual danger had united the two earls, yet though they 
 considered themselves safe from Morton's vengeance, they 
 never could forgive his intention of acting with them according 
 to law, and ceased not to pursue him with implacable re- 
 venge, till they finally effected his ruin, the more remote causes 
 of which, it is now necessary to explain. i 
 
 Engaged almost entirely in the cares of government, or 
 in plans of personal aggrandizement, Morton had almost 
 ■wholly forgotten that there was a king, or that it was at all 
 necessary to conciliate the affections of the boy, by paying any 
 attention to those who were placed around him. 
 
 The prince, during his infancy, had been committed to the 
 charge of the earl of Marr, and had resided securely in Stir- 
 ling castle, while the different parties wei'e striving to obtain 
 possession of his person. The chief superintendence of his 
 education was intrusted to Alexander Erskine, brother of the 
 earl of Marr, upon whom the governorship of that fortress de- 
 volved at the earl's death, and when James attained the fourth 
 year of his age, he was placed under the care of the celebrated 
 Buchanan, with whom were associated Peter Young, and 
 David and Adam Erskine, the two commendators of Cambus^ 
 kenneth, and Dryburgh, both related to the noble family of 
 Marr — tutors, the best the nation could afford, either for the 
 cultivation of the mind, or of those bodily exercises, which 
 were deemetl necessary royal accomplishments in that age. 
 The king was now in his twelfth year, and his mind, like a 
 light soil, by the luxuriance of its premature vegetation, gave 
 promise of a harvest which was never to ripen. He had dis- 
 covered an aptitude for the languages, and had, through the 
 assiduous attention of his preceptors, acquired a share of gen- 
 eral knowledge, very seldom the attainment of boys of his 
 age.* He had, besides, an imposing fluency of expression, 
 which appeared to casual visitors, to exhibit symptoms of 
 
 * Mr. James Melville, who was admitted to see the young king in the 
 Tiinth year of his age, speaks of him in raptures, as " the switest siglit in 
 J:]urope that day, for strange and extraordiiiar gifts of cngync, jiidgeiuciit. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLANW. 
 
 91 
 
 talents, superior to what he in reality possessed. His teachers 
 were highly gratified at his proficiency, and the nation, de- 
 lighted with the prospect of a young sovereign, who seemed 
 to their fond imaginations formed to reign. 
 
 Courtiers generally worship the rising sun, as soon as his 
 first rays begin to appear above the horizon, even when the 
 legal prince and the parent is upon the throne, but when a 
 reo;ent holds the sway, this assiduity is naturally redoubled, 
 and he who knows that he must quit his elevation in a few 
 years, ought never to forget, that at best it is painful to de- 
 scend, and endeavour betimes to smooth the declivity. But 
 Morton thought this event far distant. While others were cul- 
 tivating the affections of the royal youth, or endeavouring to 
 ingratiate themselves with his preceptors, he alone seems to 
 have stood aloof, and not only not to have endeavoured to 
 conciliate, but rather by personal injuries, to estrange them. 
 The story that Melville tells, however, respecting Buchanan's 
 irritation, does not accord well with the character of " a Stoick 
 philosopher,"* which he had given him only a few paragraphs 
 before, but it is highly probable that the tyrannical govern- 
 ment of the regent, had alienated the affections of a man who 
 bore such a decided hatred to oppression, and it is evident his 
 supercilious carelessness, hurt the pride of the others, who, 
 from the situations they held, naturally expected both marks 
 of favour and emolument. 
 
 These discontents had been long cherished in secret, but 
 tlie apparent hopelessness of effecting any change, till the king 
 was able to assume the reins of government into his own handsj 
 
 memorie and language. I heard him discourse, walking up and down in the 
 auld lady Mar's hand, of knawlege and ignorance, to my grait marvel and 
 astonishment." M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville, vol. i. p. 65. 
 
 * " Mr. George [Buchanan] was," he says, " a Stoick philosopher, who 
 looked not far before him." '' He was also religious. " " He became the eai'l 
 of Morton's great enemy, for that a nag of his chanced to be taken from his 
 servant, during the civil troubles, and was bought by the regent, who had no 
 will to part with the said horse, he was so sure footed and so easy, that albeit 
 Mr. George had ofttimes required him again, he could not get him. And 
 therefore, though he had been the regent's great friend before, he became his 
 mortal enemy, and from that time forth, spoke evil of him in all places, and 
 pn all occasions." Melville's Memoirs, p. 250. 
 
22 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 had hitherto prevented their breaking out into open action. 
 The opposition of two such powerful noblemen, as the earls of 
 Argyle and Athol, to the existing government, afforded an 
 opportunity which was immediately seized. No sooner was it 
 known that they were reconciled to each other, than Sir Alex- 
 ander Erskine opened a negotiation with them, and allowed 
 them to enter secretly into the castle, and the king's presence. 
 Argyle came first, and exhibited to James, a miserable picture 
 of the wretched state of the country, occasioned by the mis- 
 management, and severity of Morton's administration. He 
 complained of the extreme rigour with which he himself had 
 been treated, in being denounced as a rebel, though his loyalty 
 had ever been unimpeachable, and requested his majesty to do 
 him justice, by assembling a council of the nobles, and order- 
 ing his cause to be legally investigated ; and in the meanwhile, 
 entreated to be allowed to remain with his majesty till the day 
 of trial. Athol shortly after arrived, as had been preconcert- 
 ed, and was introduced to the king, who immediately informed 
 him of Argyle's complaint, and requested his advice. He, as 
 if entirely unacquainted with the whole business, replied, that 
 he thought the earl's petition perfectly reasonable, and that in 
 the present state of the nation, it would be highly expedient to 
 call a council of the nobles. This advice, so flatterinfj to a 
 boy of twelve, as it seemed to promise him the immediate 
 exercise of sovereignty, delighted James, he readily complied 
 with all that they desired, and ordered letters to be written, 
 to summon an assembly, committing to the two earls the charge 
 of despatching them. They took caie, however, that none 
 should be summoned but their own friends, and such as they 
 knew were inimical to Morton, among whom were lord Max- 
 well, who had lately been warden of the west marches, but 
 was then confined in Blackness castle, and lord Ogilvy, who 
 was prisoner on parole, in the city of St. Andrews. 
 
 No sooner was the regent apprized of Ai'gyle and AthoTs 
 having received admission to the king, and that an assembly 
 of the nobles had been called, under pretext of trying the 
 cause of Argyle, than he despatched the earl of Angus, lord 
 Glammis, the chancellor, and lord Ruthven, treasurer, with 
 a message to the king, informing him of the outrage which 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 83 
 
 Argyle had committed against his authority, and of his legal 
 combination with Athol to disturb the public peace, and de- 
 sired to know his majesty's pleasure as to the conduct he 
 should pursue ; adding, in a tone which seemed to carry the 
 appearance of a threat, that if his highness would allow the 
 law to take its coui'se, he was prepared to do his duty ; but if 
 he chose to overlook their disobedience, and suffer his royal 
 name and authority to be trampled on in the person of his 
 servant, he hoped his highness would be pleased to relieve 
 him from the toils of office, in which case, he recommended 
 the preservation of peace with England, and concluded his 
 letter with a long enumeration of the services he had rendered 
 the king from his birth till then, only requesting, in return, 
 to have a full approbation of his conduct ratified by the 
 estates. A great number of noblemen having attended at 
 Stirling, in consequence of the king's summons, Morton's 
 letter was laid before them, when it was determined that his 
 offer of resignation should be accepted, and that the king 
 should take the administration of government into his own 
 hands. The same day an express was sent to the regent, in- 
 forming: him of this determination. 
 
 Moi'ton, when too late, saw the error he had committed, 
 and endeavoured to retrieve it. He immediately despatched 
 the earl of Whittingham, to request the king, before he made 
 any alteration in the officers of state, to effect the reconcilia- 
 tion of such noblemen as were then at variance, hoping by 
 this means to procure, at least, some delay ; but it was of no 
 avail, lord Glarnmis, the chancellor, and lord Herries, were 
 sent with a written notification of the king's determination, by 
 the advice of his nobles, to assume the government himself, 
 and requiring him to give in his demission formally in writing, 
 and, at the same time, to send to the king the form of dis- 
 charge which he wished to be granted, that his majesty might 
 lay it before his council for their deliberation, assuring him 
 that he should be treated in the most gracious manner. The 
 king accompanied this mandate with an affectionate epistle 
 "written in his own hand, in which he declared, that it viiis 
 only " because he saw no other way to maintain concord 
 among his subjects, he had accepted the government, and 
 
24) HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 that he was confident to have the defects of his age and ex- 
 perience supphed by his nobility, especially by himself, whom 
 he would ever love, and acknowledge as his trusty cousin, 
 most tender to him in blood, and one of his true and faithful 
 counsellors." * 
 
 Morton, unable to breast the torrent which set in so strong- 
 ly against him, yielded to the tide, and assisted in person at 
 publishing the proclamation in Edinburgh, which announced 
 the king's assumption of the government. His friends were 
 not more amazed than grieved at the facility with which he 
 resigned his power into the hands of his enemies, for they did 
 not consider the king as yet capable of acting but under direc- 
 tion, and maintained that no power, except the estates, could 
 deprive him of the regency, till the term they had allotted 
 was expired. In particular, lord Boyd, one of his most inti- 
 mate friends, who only arrived a few hours after he had sent 
 in his resignation, strongly expostulated Avith him on the im- 
 policy of his conduct, and for, not having previously consulted 
 with his adherents, reminding him that there was no medium 
 for a falling statesman, between supreme power and utter 
 ruin ; that if he flattered himself he would find it other- 
 wise ; that he would be able to descend without danger to the 
 ease and tranquillity of a private life, he would find himself 
 sorely mistaken, in imagining a rest that he would never see. 
 Had he kept his place, he continued, his friends would have 
 rallied around him, and frustrated the designs of his enemies ; 
 but now, having deserted his own cause, there remained 
 nothing for them but to lament the misfortune they could 
 not remedy ; and adding the prophetic wish of: — " God grant 
 that this be the worst of things," he turned aside and burst 
 into tears. The regent endeavoured to justify his conduct, 
 by urging the king's letter, and the commotions which would 
 have arisen in the nation, had he refused to comply ; yet, in 
 secret, he blamed his own precipitancy, and now he had left 
 himself no room to retract. He therefore sent the earl of 
 Angus, and lord Glammis, to give in to his majesty his formal 
 resignation, and received, in return, a general approbation of 
 
 * Spotswood sf.ys, " These be the vords of the letter." 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. lift 
 
 his conduct from the king, and a full pardon, in the most 
 ample form, declaring him incapable of being accused or 
 brought to trial for any crime, of whatever weight or magni- 
 tude, without exception, which might hereafter be alleged 
 against him ; and granting him a complete discharge for all 
 his intromissions with money, rents, property, or casualties, 
 which had taken place during his regency. This instrument 
 was expressed in the strongest language, and declared to be 
 irrevocable, the nobility, who surrounded the king, pledging 
 themselves, under a penalty of five hundred thousand pounds, 
 to procure a confirmation of the deed at the first meeting of 
 parliament. 
 
 A council was immediately appointed to sit at Edinburgh, 
 to manage the administration of affairs, and Morton retired 
 to the quiet of Lochleven, " making," says Sir James Mel- 
 ville, " the walks of his garden even, his mind, in the mean- 
 time, employed in crooked paths." * 
 
 Whether the regent had begun to perceive that he had 
 carried matters too far — for it is evident he only wished to 
 introduce as much of episcopacy as would enable him to man- 
 age the churchmen easily, and retain the church property 
 he had acquired — or whether he perceived any symptoms of 
 dissatisfaction, the precursors of that storm which afterward 
 burst so unexpectedly upon his head, he allowed the ministers 
 to proceed with comparatively little disturbance, in humbling 
 the bishops, and introducing that form of church polity which 
 they conceived more consonant to the Scriptures.f 
 
 In the first assembly, 1576, the question respecting the 
 function of bishops was again introduced, when their equality 
 was again affirmed ; and in order that the abstract proposition 
 
 ; * Melville, p. 252, 
 
 f Morton appears, about this time, to have conceived the idea of buying 
 oif the most popular leaders. He offered Andrew Melville the rich living of 
 Govan, if he would desist from his opposition to the bishops ; but the purpose 
 of Melville was not to be shaken, and with a disinterestedness which unfor- 
 tunately, even among good men is more applauded than imitated, he pre- 
 ferred his integrity with a small income, to a larger where the least compro- 
 mise of principle was involved. He procured, however, the gift for the col* 
 lege of Glasgow. 
 
 VOL. III. D 
 
26 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 should not remain a dead letter, it was determined that eveiy 
 bishop should take charge of a particular congregation. Nor 
 was the judicial power of the general assembly over them al- 
 lowed to slumber. James Paton, bishop of Dunkeld, having 
 been convicted of alienating the revenues of his see, was de- 
 posed. Paton appealing, from the sentence of the assembly, 
 to parliament, a deputation was sent to represent their pro- 
 ceedings to the regent, who returned for answer, that he en- 
 tirely approved of their conduct ; * but desired that some uni- 
 form rule for procedure in such cases in future should be 
 established ; either that they would adopt the articles settled 
 on at Leith as their standard, or devise some new form of 
 government by which they would abide. The assembly chose 
 the latter alternative, and informed him that they should, 
 without delay, take the subject into their consideration, and 
 draw up a scheme of church polity, which they would submit 
 to the council for their approbation. For this purpose, they 
 immediately appointed four committees ; one for the west, to 
 meet in Glasgow ; another for Lothian, in Edinburgh ; the 
 third for Angus, Montrose; and the foui'th for Fife, St. An- 
 drews ; and these, after deliberating separately, were to depute 
 each one or two of their number to meet at Stirling, and after 
 a conference, to draw up the result in a report to the next 
 general assembly. 
 
 There is scarcely on earth a more desolate being than a 
 fallen minister of state, if he do not carry with him, in his 
 retirement, the blessings of the people, and the favour of the 
 good. The minions who basked in his sunshine are the first 
 to desert him, and it is the interest of those who have wrought 
 his disgrace to prevent his ever attaining the power of recov- 
 ery. It was not long before Morton began to feel this. His 
 enemies were not satisfied with his removal from office, and 
 notwithstanding their solemn engagements, they even, before 
 he retired to Lochleven, began to show that they had no seri- 
 ous intention of observing their agreement. Tliey urged the 
 king to demand the surrender of the castle of Edinburghj 
 of which he was still possessed ; a sum of money, to defray 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 70. . . 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 27 
 
 the expense attendant on his majesty's assuming the govcrn- 
 n:ent; to call him to an account for his management of the 
 mint, and the profits he had derived from it; to institute a 
 strict inquiry into the state of the borders, and his nephew, 
 the earl of Angus, to be deprived of the wardenship. Morton 
 at first hesitated to deliver up the castle of Edinburgh, and 
 appeared as if he intended to defend it, but a convoy of pro- 
 visions, which he was sending to supply the place, being in- 
 tercepted by the inhabitants of Edinburgh, he delivered it up 
 without resistance to lords Ruthven and Lindsay, who took 
 possession of the royal apartments, and the jewels of the 
 crown, Seton of Touch, and Cunningham of Drumwhassil, 
 at the same time, receiving the keys of the gates, but he ab- 
 solutely declined to advance any money, alleging that he had 
 sustained the expense of the civil war ; that he had I'epaired 
 and beautified the castles and palaces belonging to the king, 
 and supported the royal household and the dignity of the re- 
 gency, for which the revenue of the crown was inadequate ; 
 yet, when his majesty came of age, he would, without hesita- 
 tion, devote his fortune to support his honour ; with respect to 
 the mint and the borders, in reply to the demands, he said he 
 left them entirely in the hands of the king. 
 
 The confederate nobles, trusting too much to the facility 
 with which they had deprived Morton of the regency, urged 
 prematurely demands that necessarily took away from him any 
 confidence he might have felt disposed to place in their hon- 
 our or promises. He saw now there remained for him no 
 hope of safety, but in a situation beyond the reach of his ene- 
 mies, and he determined, if he could not regain the rank he 
 formerly held, at least to regain the power. In this deter- 
 mination, he was confirmed by an unfortunate casualty, which 
 occasioned universal grief, and placed the high ojffice of chan- 
 cellor, to the great dissatisfaction of the nation, in the hands 
 of a papist. 
 
 Lord Glammis, on his return from his last mission to Mor- 
 ton, in going to report the issue to the king, followed by a 
 numerous train, accidentally encountered, in a narrow lane, 
 the earl of Cra\vford similarly attended. The two earls, be- 
 tween whom some quarrel subsisted, passed each other in si- 
 
28 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 lence ,• but their retainers were not so quietly disposed, and a 
 scuffle ensuing, the chancellor was mortally wounded by a 
 pistol ball. He was a man of unblemished character, and in 
 the situation he held, had secured the esteem of all parties by 
 his moderation. 
 
 Alhol was appointed his successor ; and the earls of Caith- 
 ness, Eglinton and lord Ogilvie, were at the same time 
 chosen members of the council, all of whom were strongly 
 suspected of being either papists or favourers of popery, a 
 circumstance which the protestants viewed with a jealous eye, 
 and compared with the conduct of Morton, who never com- 
 mitted any place of trust to either professed papists or suspect- 
 ed persons.* In his retreat, styled by the people, the lion's 
 den, f the ex-regent, who was meditating schemes of ambi- 
 tion, was no inattentive observer of the changes which were 
 taking place, and the revolution in men's sentiments with re- 
 gard to himself, and deeming the crisis favourable, he created, 
 at least took advantage of some jealousies which had sprung 
 up in the Marr family, and left his retreat once more to ap- 
 pear on the theatre of action. The abbots of Dryburgh and 
 Cambuskenneth fearing, or affecting to fear, that Alexander 
 Erskine meant to retain the sole superintendence of the royal 
 person, even after the earl, his nephew, now a youth of twenty, 
 had come of age, inspired young Marr with a similar sus- 
 picion ; on which, he repaired suddenly to Stirling, and being 
 admitted as usual with his attendants into the castle, seized 
 the gates early in the morning, and turning out his uncle, 
 who dreaded no danger, placed new guards upon the gates, 
 and made the garrison swear fidelity. The soldiers without 
 hesitation submitted, and thus he obtained an easy and blood • 
 less possession, both of the king's person and of the fortress. 
 
 No sooner were the council, who remained at Edinburgh, 
 apprised of this unexpected event, than they prepared to set 
 out for Stirhng, the inhabitants of Edinburgh offering to fur- 
 nish them with a guard ; but their advance was prohibited by 
 letters from the king, who informed them, that what had 
 taken place, was only in consequence of some private dissen- 
 
 r. . * Spots\vx)od, p. 283. f Robertson. ••'; 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 29 
 
 sions among the Marr family, which would easily be adjusted, 
 and required them to come in a few days without any armed 
 attendants to Stirling, and assist at the reconciliation. 
 
 This injunction was immediately obeyed, and, shortly after, 
 a council met at Stirling, where it was agreed, that the earl 
 of Marr, being now of age, should retain the castle, and per- 
 sonally attend upon the king ; and that his uncle Alexander, 
 the master of Marr, should continue captain of that of Edin- 
 burgh, but enjoy free access at all times to his majesty. 
 
 In their momentary exultation, Morton's enemies had sum- 
 moned a parliament to meet at Edinburgh in the month of 
 July. The king and his advisers, however, called a council 
 of the nobility to assemble previously at Stirling, on the 10th 
 of June, to arrange the business to be laid before parliament, 
 and to which the king, by special letter, invited Morton. 
 Morton, who was amusing the council at Edinburgh with a 
 pretended negotiation, immediately obeyed the expected invi- 
 tation, and setting out at midnight, was admitted by Murray 
 of Tullibardine into Stirling castle. At the meeting of the 
 nobles, he was chosen president from respect to the situation 
 he formerly held, and managing with dexterity the advantages 
 he had obtained, soon possessed his former ascendency among 
 the immediate counsellors of the king. As it would have been 
 highly imprudent to have carried the young king to a place 
 entirely devoted to the opposite faction, a proclamation was 
 issued in his name, changing the place of meeting from Edin- 
 burgh to Stirling castle, " because his majesty was anxious to 
 be present in person, and could not with propriety remove 
 from his usual residence." 
 
 The nobles of the opposite party, who had always consider- 
 ed Morton as the author of this sudden revolution, although 
 be had not hitherto appeared in any of its movements, now 
 began openly to express their dissatisfation ; and the citizens 
 of Edinburgh, who had long looked with jealousy at the king's 
 abode being fixed in Stirling, now that the parliament was 
 also to be removed thither, exhibited their discontent by the 
 readiness with which they received and propagated rumours 
 calculated to excite the public mind against the supporters of 
 the late change. The king, it was at one time said, v, as de^ 
 
90 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 tained captive, then he was shortly to be sent to England, 
 and now the ancient league with France was to be dissolved 
 by the new parliament, and the country delivered in bondage 
 to their ancient enemy, together with numberless other similar 
 reports. 
 
 To counteract these, the council published a proclamation 
 a few days before the parliament met, asserting, that it was 
 the kinir's choice to remain in Stirling, denying that any in- 
 terference would take place with the foreign relations of the 
 nation, and affirming, that the only object in calling this 
 parliament was^ to authorize such measures as would tend to 
 the advancement of the honour of God, the safety of the king's 
 person, and the prosperity of the kingdom. This proclama- 
 tion, however, produced little effect. The lords who were at 
 Edinburgh determined to remain there, and send a deputation 
 to protest against the legality of holding parliament within the 
 walls of a fortress surrounded by armed men, where all free- 
 dom of discussion must be effectually destroyed ; and to pray 
 his majesty to prorogue the meeting to a better time, and a 
 fitter place. 
 
 On the day appointed, however, the parliament met in the 
 great hall of the castle, and was opened by the king himself 
 in a short speech, immediately after which, the earl of Mon- 
 trose, and lord Lindsay rose, and in the name of the council, 
 protested against the legality of the session, from its being 
 held in a place whither they could not repair, inasmuch as it 
 was wholly in the power of their enemies. The two noble- 
 men were ordered into confinement in their own lodsinss, and 
 the parliament disregarding the protest, proceeded to business. 
 The king's assumption of the government was recognized, the 
 act of indemnity granted to Morton confirmed, and a pension 
 for life settled upon the countess of Marr. 
 
 Lindsay submitted to the order of court, and retired to his 
 lodgings, but Montrose made his escape to Edinburgh, and 
 joined the lords there, asserting that he brought his majesty's 
 instructions to effect his rescue from the thraldom in which he 
 was held by those he hated. Athol, the chancellor, who, 
 together with Argyle, was at the head of the faction, on the 
 arrival of Montrose, published a declaration, accusing Morton 
 
HISTOKY OF SCOTLAND. 81 
 
 of surprising by his instruments, the castle of Stirhng, and the 
 king's person ; of keeping the king captive, so that his best 
 subjects could find no access to him ; of changing tlie place of 
 meeting of parliament, and of levying soldiers, under the title 
 of the king's authority, to support his own usurped power, 
 and therefore, they were determined to deliver the king from 
 captivity, and the kingdom from oppression. This declara- 
 tion, which was widely dispersed over the kingdom, was fol- 
 lowed up by preparations for hostilities on both sides. Athol 
 and Argyle, were already at the head of a considerable force, 
 and the earl of Angus, Morton's nephew, who was appointed 
 the king's lieutenant, found himself in a few hours, in com- 
 mand of an army, little inferior in numbers, but superior in 
 rank, and backed by the authority of the king, wlio, thus early 
 initiated in the art of duplicity, was constrained to issue a 
 counter manifesto, in which he declared that it was at his own 
 desire he remained at Stirling, and v.as attended by the earl 
 of Marr, in whose fidelity he could repose more confidence 
 than in theirs, who had excited such commotions in the king- 
 dom. When this proclamation arrived at Edinburgh, the 
 nobles would not allow it to be published, but quickening their 
 operations, collected their troops, and marched towards Stir- 
 ling. When they halted at Falkirk, they mustered about 
 seven thousand men. The earl of Angus, who, on hearing of 
 their progress, had also advanced, encamped on the opposite 
 side of the Carron with five thousand. Both parties were 
 unwilling to strike the first blow, and Sir Robert Bowes, the 
 English ambassador, taking advantage of this disposition, 
 laboured incessantly to promote an accommodation. 
 
 While the negotiations were going forward, and the two 
 armies lay in sight of each other, an incident took place, which, 
 as omens have always had a powerful effect upon large bodies 
 of men, might perhaps have had some influence in inclining 
 the parties to come to a readier arrangement. One Tait, a 
 follower of Kerr of Cessford, who was then with Athol, ad- 
 vanced vauntingly in front of the lines, and dared any of the 
 horsemen of the opposite party to shiver a lance for his mis- 
 tress. A retainer of the master of Glammis, named Johnston, 
 accepted the challenge, and a small plain by the side of the 
 
^^ HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Carron, was chosen as the spot to decide the combat, both 
 banks of the river being covered with the horsemen of the 
 adverse armies, to witness the issue. At the first charge Tait 
 fell, pierced through the body, and instantly expired, which 
 the king's army accepted as a sure pledge of victory, and the 
 others, somewhat disheartened, returned to their camp. But 
 extremities were at this time avoided, and the endeavours of 
 the English ambassador being successful, a treaty was con- 
 cluded, by which it was agreed, that the forces on both sides 
 should be disbanded, except a few horsemen to be kept by the 
 king, for preserving peace on the borders ; that the earls of 
 Athol and Argyle, should have a residence appointed them in 
 Stirling castle ; that the noblemen, barons, and gentry, should 
 have free access to the king ; Montrose and Lindsay be added 
 to the privy council, and a committee of eight noblemen chos- 
 en by the king, four from each party, be appointed to investi« 
 gate all causes of dispute, and effect a perfect reconciliation. 
 
 In the late parliament, it had been agreed to send an em- 
 bassy to the queen of England, to announce the king's as- 
 sumption of the power in his own hands, to thank her majesty 
 for the kindness she had shown him during his minority, and 
 to draw the bonds of union closer between the two kino-doms. 
 The abbot of Dunfermline, was accordingly despatched to the 
 English court, but besides his public despatches, he carried 
 private instructions from the king, to examine the will, and 
 secure possession of the estates of the countess of Lennox, his 
 grandmother, who had died lately. That lady's second son, 
 had left one daughter, Arabella Stuart, who was born in Eng- 
 land, and the chief objection to James' claim, being the maxim 
 of English law, which excludes aliens from any right of in- 
 heritance within the kingdom, Elizabeth's waving this with 
 regard to the king of Scots, would have been at once to 
 acknowledge his right to the throne, by setting aside the Eng- 
 lish heiress. She, therefore, without allowing the subject to 
 be discussed, ordered the rents of the estate to be sequestered 
 by lord Burleigh, master of the wards, on purpose to teach 
 the Scottish king a lesson of caution, as to the manner in 
 which he should urge his more important demands. The 
 
HISTOJIY OF SCOTLAND. 33 
 
 Other parts of the embassage were graciously received, and 
 answers expressive of the highest regard returned.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the treaty which had been signed by tlie 
 two factions, they were far from being completely reconciled. 
 The earls of Athol and Argyle, still bearing in mind the con- 
 duct of the earl of Morton, while regent, and endeavouring to 
 subvert his influence at court, nor was it without difficulty, 
 that they were brought together in the king's presence at 
 Stirling, where, after some days spent in mutual recrimination, 
 the explanations of Morton were admitted, and the parties 
 brought, if not to a cordial, at least to an apparent agreement. 
 
 In order to celebrate this agreement, Morton gave a splen- 
 did banquet to the principal nobility of both parties, which he 
 pushed to the utmost extent of what was then termed Scottish 
 hospitality. Athol, the chancellor, Avho was one of the num- 
 ber, either through the effects of the debauch, or in the com- 
 mon course of human events, sickened immediately, and in 
 four days after, died at Kincardine. The violence of his dis- 
 order, and the suddenness of his death, gave rise to a suspi- 
 cion that he had been poisoned, and although the physicians 
 and surgeons who opened the body, declared upon oath, that 
 they observed no symptoms of any deleterious substance hav- 
 ing entered the stomach, or the least mark of any extraordin- 
 ary disease, yet the relations of the chancellor protested that 
 these declarations were unsatisflictory, and should not inter- 
 rupt the course of justice ; and the evident advantage which 
 Morton derived from the opportune removal of so formidable 
 an opponent, easily gained credit to a rumour which followed 
 him to the scaffold. Argyle was promoted to the office of 
 chancellor, and reconciled to Morton, who once more obtain- 
 ed the administration of the kingdom into his hands. 
 
 Untaught by his late narrow escape, no sooner did Morton 
 feel himself again seated securely, as he thought, in power, 
 than he resumed his attempts against the nobility, and \\\b 
 first attack was upon the hoirse of Hamilton, who were now 
 the only fimily in opposition, from whose power or influence, 
 he hnagined, he had any thing to dread, and whose extensive 
 
 * Spotswooil, pp. 284, S84. Robertson, Book vi. • ■ 
 VOL, HI. E 
 
34 HISTOKY OF SCOl'LAXD. 
 
 estates ofTered a tempting bait to his cupidity, and that of 
 the members of his faction. The earl of Arran had been con- 
 fined in Draffan castle, as insane, for a considerable length 
 of time. Lord John Hamilton, the second brother, abbot of 
 Aberbrothick, acted as administrator of his estates, and lord 
 Claude, was commendator of Paisley. The first, from the 
 nature of his distemper, was incapable of committing any crime, 
 but the two last had been accused as accessory to the death of 
 the regents Moray and Lennox, and included in the genera? 
 act of attainder on that account. In the general amnesty, 
 granted by the articles of Perth, the}' who were concerned in 
 these murders had been excepted. To them, therefore, it was 
 resolved to apply the rigour of the law, and without bringing 
 them to trial, it was determined to proceed upon the former 
 sentence, as the formality of summoning them, it was alleged, 
 would only be giving them notice to flee. A commission was 
 in consequence, issued to the earls of Morton, Marr, and 
 Eglinton, and lords Ruthven, Cathcart, and Boyd, to appre- 
 hend them by surprise. 
 
 To facilitate the execution of this design, Morton had pre- 
 viously hired a band of mercenaries, whom he kept in readi- 
 ness to assemble on a few hours' notice, at whose head the 
 commission set out without delay, to seize the persons, and 
 confiscate the estates of the accused. The two brothers had 
 fortunately heard of their approach. Lord John fled on foot, 
 disguised in. a seaman's dress, into England, whence he made 
 his escape to France, and lord Claude, after lurking privately 
 for some time in Scotland, found refuse with a friend of the 
 late earl of Northumberland's, till an opportunity occurred for 
 allowing him to join his brother. Their castles were, how- 
 ever, seized. DrafFan was given up on the first summons, but 
 Hamilton being defended for two days, on its surrender, the 
 garrison were marched as felons to Stirling, and their captain, 
 on the gibbet, paid the penalty of his fidelity to his chief. 
 Still, however, there were no legal grounds for seizing the 
 estates, as whatever might be the offences of his brothers, 
 Arran was guiltless. By a gross perversion of law, this diffi- 
 culty was overcome, the unhappy nobleman, though in a state 
 of mental abstraction, was found answerable for the acts of his 
 
 43 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 35 
 
 servants, and because they had refused to obey the summons 
 of the king, he was convicted of treason, committed to close 
 custody, and the estates were confiscated. The revenues of 
 lords John and Claude Hamilton were both sequestered, but 
 the widow of the earl of Cassillis, who had been married to the 
 commendator of Aberbrothick, was allowed to retain the joint- 
 ure she had by her former husband. These arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings asxain awakened the fears of the nobles, and in order 
 to allay them, it was found necessary to issue a proclamation 
 in the king's name, declaring that what was done in the pre- 
 sent instance, was only to avenge the death of his father, and 
 the regent's, to which he was in conscience and duty bound, 
 but that no article of the pacification should be called in ques- 
 tion. Little did Morton think that in a few years, the same 
 plea would be urged in justification of his own execution ! 
 
 About this time, Mary, who had amused her solitary hours 
 in embroidering a vest for her son, sent him this mark of 
 maternal affection, with some jewels of value, and a letter by 
 her secretary. Nave; but the letter being addressed. To our 
 loving son James, prince of Scotland, the messenger was sent 
 back to his unfortunate mistress, with the gifts, without being 
 permitted to see the king. 
 
 Morton, who never was a favourite with the inhabitants of 
 Edinburgh, increased the popular hatred against him, by an 
 action equally mean and revengeful. One Turnbull, a school- 
 master, and a W. Scot, * having written a satire against Mor- 
 ton in which they enumerated, with some humour, all his real 
 or fancied delinquencies, were apprehended for this squib, and 
 in spite of every application for mercy, were carried to Stir- 
 ling, tried, and hung. 
 
 Morton had now triumphed over his enemies, and crushed 
 all their attempts to deprive him of the chief rule in the state^ 
 but Edinburgh remained still turbulent and dissatisfied, at the 
 want of her sovereign. To regain the good will of the inhabi- 
 tants, he determined to acquiesce in their wishes, and as the 
 
 * They appear to have been popular balladmongers in their day, " both 
 remarkable," says Crawford, " for their good humour, and knack of rhyming, 
 in great vogue, both with the gentry and common people," Crawford's 
 Mem. p. 354. 
 
36 HISTOUY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 king was now of an age, that would no longer admit of his 
 being kept close in Stirling castle, to bring him to the capital, 
 for which purpose, he summoned a parliament to meet at 
 Edinburgh. But while preparations were making for the re- 
 moval, Esme Stuart, son of a second brother of the earl of 
 Lennox, who inherited an estate in France, the reward of his 
 ancestors' valour, and bore the title of lord D'Aubigne, ar- 
 rived in Scotland. His ostensible errand was to pay a com- 
 plimentary visit to the king, his cousin, and demand posses- 
 sion of the estate and title of Lennox, to which he pretended 
 some right. It v/as generally believed, however, that he had 
 other objects in view. The interest of France had been long 
 extinguished in Scotland, and all intercourse between the two 
 courts interrupted, but anxious to regain their influence, and 
 deeming the present a favourable opportunity, he was suspect- 
 ed of being employed on this errand, especially as the duke of 
 Guise had accompanied him to the ship. His handsome ap- 
 pearance, and elegance of manners, easily captivated his royal 
 relative, who, even at a more mature age, was guided by su- 
 perficial accomplishments, rather than solid qualifications, in 
 the choice of his favourites. In a few days after his arrival, 
 he was created earl of Lennox, which the king persuaded his 
 granduncle to resign in his favour, who, in return, received 
 the earldom of March. The temporalities of Aberbrothick, 
 forfeited by lord John Hamilton, were bestowed along with 
 the earldom of Lennox, to support the dignity. At the same 
 time was introduced to the king, captain James Stuart, se- 
 cond son of lord Ochiltree, remarkable for his irreligion, 
 indecency, and want of every moral quality which can render 
 a man estimable in society. His only virtues, if the word 
 may be so prostituted, were suppleness and dexterity in man- 
 aging his designs, and a matchless impudence and audacity 
 in supporting them. Both were favourites, but notwithstand- 
 ing the proverbial dislike of one favourite for another, and 
 the dissimilarity of their characters, for Lennox was courte- 
 ous, frank, and affable, they are said to have united without 
 envy, and shared without animosity, the favour of tlie kino-. * 
 
 * I state this on the authority of Robertson, but I doubt the fact, both 
 from its improbability, and the subsequent transactions. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 37 
 
 At length the thne for the assembling of parliament arrived, 
 and the kin;>:, accompanied by his favourites, set out for Edin- 
 burfrh. The citizens received him with the loudest acclama- 
 tions of joy, and the most splendid and expensive pageants,* 
 Lennox walking on his right hand during the whole proces- 
 sion, which lasted more than an hour. The parliament after- 
 ward met, but nothing of importance was ti-ansacted. 
 
 The sudden elevation of Lennox, a foreigner, and a papist, 
 and the influence which he possessed over the king, soon be- 
 gan to create alarm. It was industriously circulated by Mor- 
 ton and his friends, that he had been sent over from France, 
 to corrupt the young king, and pervert his religion, and the 
 clergy, who readily gave ear to any surmise, when they believ- 
 ed the protestant religion in danger, at first seconded the 
 efforts of Morton in spreading the rumour, but when they 
 perceived that it was only to serve a political purpose, they 
 became cooler in the cause, though they did not cease to 
 lament in their sermons, the countenance given to papists at 
 
 * At some distance from the "West Port, the king alighted from his horse^ 
 and a stately canopy of purple coloured velvet, being held over his head, he 
 received the magistrates of the city, who came bareheaded all the way with- 
 out the gate. Within the gate stood Solomon, with a numerous train, habited 
 after the Jewish, or rather the Roman manner, with the two women con- 
 tending for the child, &c. As his majesty ascended the street called the West 
 Bow, there hung down from the arch of the old gate, a large globe of polish- 
 ed brass, out of which a little boy, clad like a cupid, descended in a machine, 
 and presented him with the kej's of the city, all made of massy silver, and very 
 artificially wrought, an excellent concert of music, all the while accompanying 
 the action. When he came down the High Street, as far as the tolbooth, 
 Veace, Plenty, and Justice, met him, and harangued him in Latin, Greek, 
 and Scottish ; opposite to the great church stood Religion, who addressed 
 him in the Hebrew tongue, upon which he was pleased to enter the church, 
 where Mr. Lawson made a learned discourse in behalf of the Reformed. 
 When his majesty came out, Bacchus sat mounted on a gilded hogshead, 
 distributing wine in large bumpers, the trumpets all the while sounding, and 
 the people crying, God save the king. At the east gate was erected his ma- 
 jesty's nativity, and above that, the genealogies of all the Scottish kings, from 
 Fergus I. All the windows were hung with pictures, and rich tapestry, the 
 streets strewed with flowers, and the cannon firing all the while from the 
 castle, till his majesty reached the palace of Holyroodhouse. Crawford's 
 Memoirs, pp. S5G, 357. 
 
3b HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 court, and the dangers to which both the king and country 
 ■were exposed, through the secret machinations of the French.* 
 
 The king, in order to stop entirely these complaints, sent 
 for the ministers, and after informing them of the great pains 
 he had himself taken with his cousin, in order to convert him 
 from the errors of popery, and of his willingness to receive 
 farther instruction, desired that one of their number might be 
 appointed to wait upon, and converse with him ; on vi^hich, 
 Mr. David Lindsay, of Leith, was, w^th his approbation, 
 nominated for this duty, and Lennox profited so much under 
 his care, that in a very few weeks, either convinced by the 
 force of his arguments, or induced by motives of policy, he 
 ■publicly renounced popery in the church of St. Giles, and 
 joined the church of Scotland, by signing her confession of 
 faith. This, although it removed the ground of attack against 
 the favourite, did not remove the jealousy of the people, which 
 was still further increased by the interception of some dispen- 
 sations sent from Rome, by which the papists were permitted 
 to promise, swear, or subscribe, whatever they were desired, 
 provided they privately advanced the interests of the Romish 
 church. 
 
 This discovery was the immediate occasion of that memorable 
 transaction, the swearing of the national covenant. It was 
 drawn up by John Craig, and consisted of an abjuration, in 
 the most solemn and explicit terms, of the various articles of 
 the popish system, and an engagement to adhere to, and de- 
 fend the doctrine and discipline of the Reformed church in 
 Scotland. As the stability of the protestant religion depended 
 " upon the safety and good behaviour of the king's majesty, 
 as upon a comfortable instrument of God's mercy granted to 
 this country," the covenanters promised, " under the same 
 oath, handwrit, and pains, that we shall defend his person 
 and authority, with our goods, bodies, and lives, in the de- 
 fence of Christ's evangel, liberties of our country, ministration 
 of justice, and punishment of iniquity, against all enemies 
 within this realm, or Avithout." This bond was sworn by the 
 king and his household, and afterward, in consequence of an 
 
 * Crawford, p. 3i:s. Spot^wood, p. 308. Robertson, Book vi. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 3|>- 
 
 order of the privy council, and an act of the General Assem- 
 bly, by all ranks of persons throughout the kingdom, the 
 ministers having zealously promoted the subscription of it in 
 their respective parishes.* 
 
 The rumours which Morton had circulated against Lennox 
 provoked retaliation. A report was raised that he held a 
 secret correspondence Avith Elizabeth, the object of which was 
 to seize the king's person, and send him into England. As- 
 soon as this reached Morton's ears, suspecting the quarter 
 whence it had oiTginated, he complained to the council, and 
 demanded a trial; but they, conscious of the difficulty of 
 proving the allegation, unanimously expressed their disbelief 
 of the story, and a proclamation was issued against tlie prop- 
 agators of tales, tending to create discord between his majestv 
 and any of his nobles. Yet as if there had been some grounds 
 for suspicion, the office of high chamberlain, which had long 
 lain dormant, was revived, and bestowed upon Lennox, Al- 
 exander Erskine, captain of Edinburgh castle, and Morton's 
 bitterest enemy, being nominated his deputy, and a guard of 
 twenty-four young noblemen, under their command, appoint- 
 ed to wait constantly upon the king. 
 
 Morton, fully aware of the insinuations intended to be con- 
 veyed by these precautions, meditated a retreat from court, 
 which, unfortunately for himself, was prevented by a quarrel 
 between lord Ruthven and the master of Oliphant. He then, 
 as a last resource, applied to Elizabeth, who, fully sensible of 
 his devotion to her interest, instructed Sir Robert Bowes, her 
 ambassador, to accuse Lennox of practices against the peace 
 of the two kingdoms. The council, affecting to doubt his 
 powers, desired Bowes to produce his commission; but this he 
 refused to do to any person except the king himself; on which, 
 being denied an audience, he retired in disgust. The court, 
 somewhat surprised at his abrupt departure, sent Sir Alexan- 
 der Home to England, to expostulate with Elizabeth on the 
 subject; but Elizabeth, who considered herself affronted in 
 the person of her ambassador, would not admit him into her 
 
 * Caldervvood, p. 96, 97. Spotswood, p. 309. Cooke's Hi?t. Ch. of Scot, 
 vol. i. p. 311. 
 
40 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 presence, but commanded him to deliver his despatches to her 
 treasurer, Burleigh. At the interview which followed with 
 this minister, Burleigh, after apologizing for his being refused 
 admittance to the queen, which he assured him proceeded 
 from no individual dislike, as she had the highest respect for 
 his personal character, informed him that her majesty was 
 highly displeased at the unprecedented manner in which her 
 ambassador had been treated, by having his commission doubt- 
 ed, and being required to show his instructions. She did not, 
 however, attribute this to the king, whose youth and inexper- 
 ience pleaded his excuse, but to the evil counsellors by whom 
 he was surrounded. The treasurer then recapitulated all the 
 services which his royal mistress had rendered the Scottish 
 monarch, in pi'eserving the crown upon his head, and defeating 
 his enemies, and recommended Home to advise him to consult 
 his true interest, by listening more respectfully to the advice 
 of the English queen, who had ever shown him a motherly 
 affection, and not suffer himself to be influenced by his French 
 cousin, a subject of the French king, married to a French 
 woman, and in heart a papist, whose object it was to head a 
 faction, and now that the Hamiltons were banished, to pro- 
 cure himself to be declared next heir to the crown. Home 
 endeavoured to reply, and after extolling James's wisdom as 
 far above his years, was proceeding to protest the sincerity 
 of his affection towards Elizabeth, and his strong desire to 
 remain upon amicable terms with England, of which he was 
 confident he could convince the queen, provided he could 
 obtain an interview, when Burleigh interrupted him, and told 
 liim he knew there were more dangerous plots in progress 
 than the king was aware of, and sarcastically remarked, that 
 it was no great proof of his majesty's superior wisdom, to put 
 such imlimited confidence in any one person. In conclusion, 
 he told him, that it was in vain to think of being admitted to 
 the queen, for she was determined not to see him. Upon his 
 return home, the Scottish envoy reported to the council, his 
 uncourteous reception in England, and the unpleasant con- 
 ference he had had with the treasurer, all which was attribut- 
 ed to the earl of Morton, and the correspondence he carried 
 on with the English coui't. Tiie two llivourites, who had long 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. .^1 
 
 plotted the destruction of Morton, eagerly seized the oppor- 
 tunity wholly to alienate the king's mind from his minister, 
 whom he had never loved, for that nobleman, ignorant of, or 
 despising the grand art of a courtier, had neglected to flatter, 
 and acted rather like the tutor, than the servant of his pi'ince. 
 But still they had no plausible pretext for removing him from 
 the king's council, or getting rid of a person they so much 
 hated and feared ; there was no direct evidence of his intrigues 
 with Elizabeth, and he had received an ample pardon for all 
 the transactions of his regency. The murder of the king's 
 father was the only crime which could not be enumerated in 
 a deed of grace by the son, and it had been reported at the 
 time, tliat Morton was privy, or accessory to the deed. Here 
 he was still exposed, and on this side it was determined to 
 attack him. Captain Stuart, who never hesitated about any 
 means that tended to promote his ambitious projects, undei-- 
 took to prefer the accusation, and entering one day the coun- 
 cil-chamber, when the council was assembled, fell on his knees, 
 and addressed the king. " Urged, he said, by a sense of 
 duty, he had come thither to exhibit a treason which liad 
 been too long concealed, but the safety of his majesty's person 
 required that one who had conspired against his father, should 
 not be permitted to retain a seat in that council ; the earl of 
 Morton had been guilty of this foul crime, and if he were 
 committed for trial, he — Stuart — pledged himself to substan- 
 tiate the charge." Morton, who was present, replied with a 
 disdainful smile, " that he knew not by whose instigation he 
 was accused, nor could he conceive on what grounds he was 
 charged with a crime, he had so rigorously punished in all 
 who were suspected, none of whom, even when suffering, had 
 ever in the most distant manner, implicated his name. He 
 might, he added, decline a trial in many ways, but secure in 
 his innocence, he dreaded no investigation before any tribunal, 
 which could only turn out to the confusion of his enemies, 
 whose malice it would expose." Stuart, still on his knees, 
 averred that he was instigated by nothing but anxiety for his 
 majesty's safety and honour, and demanded of Morton how it 
 happened that when he punished all suspected of the murder 
 with severity, he had preferred his cousin, Mr. Archibald 
 VOL. in. F . 
 
42 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Douglas, to a seat in the college of justice, a man well known 
 to have been an accomplice ? Morton was about to answer, 
 when the king commanded both to be removed, and the coun- 
 cil, after a short deliberation, ordered Morton to be commit- 
 ted. He was confined first to a chamber in the palace for 
 two days, and on the third, conveyed to the castle, of which 
 Alexander Erskine was the governor. Soon after, to make 
 the measure of his indignity complete, he was sent to Dunbar- 
 ton, and committed to the charge of his enemy, Lennox, who 
 had the command of that fortress. An attempt was, at the 
 same time made, to apprehend Archibald Douglas, but he 
 being informed of the imprisonment of the earl, fled into 
 England. 
 
 The friends of Morton, who,, in his fall, anticipated danger 
 to themselves, had urged him to make his escape while it was 
 in his power, but he declared, "that he would rather die ten 
 thousand deaths, than beti'ay his innocency in declining trial." 
 Elizabeth, immediately on hearing of his imprisonment, de- 
 spatched Randolph, to intercede with the king for his libera- 
 tion. He urged it as a personal favour to the queen, but the 
 power of Morton's enemies was too strong, and the king too 
 highly prepossessed against the earl, to admit of any effectual 
 interposition. To all his solicitations, James answered, that 
 he fully appreciated the kindnesses he had received from his 
 sister, the queen of England, but the case of his father's mur- 
 derers, was one which touched him so nearly, that he hoped 
 her majesty would excuse him, if he declined her interference, 
 although it would render him more anxious that the accused 
 should have a fair trial, and every facility granted him to make 
 his defence. Repulsed in this application, Randolph next 
 turned to the estates, which met at that time. He there ac- 
 cused the earl of Lennox, as a person who attempted to alien- 
 ate the king's mind from friendship with England, and had, 
 since his arrival in Scotland, been the author of many mis- 
 chievous counsels. Through his interference, the most faith- 
 ful servants of the crown had been removed, and others, ill 
 qualified for the situations, appointed in their room, who en- 
 deavoured to irritate his majesty against the ministers of the 
 gospel, by representing them as seditious, and as disaffected 
 
 43 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 to his person ; who encouraged the hcentiousness of the bor- 
 derers, and had even invited foreign princes to invade Eno-- 
 land, as he could evidently show by their own intercepted 
 correspondence, in the possession of his queen. 
 
 This effort being equally fruitless, the ambassador, as a last 
 resource, endeavoured in private, to excite the friends of 
 Morton, and all who hated or envied Lennox, to take arms, 
 and effect by force the liberation of the one, and the expulsion 
 of the other, at the same time promising a body of troops to 
 aid them, if necessary. But all Elizabeth's intercessions and 
 threatenings, rather accelerated, than retarded the fate of the 
 unfortunate earl. His friends were either banished, or con- 
 fined in remote counties, and his brother, the earl of Angus, 
 because he failed to go into ward, and his own two natural sons, 
 for not answering a summons to appear before the council, 
 were proclaimed rebels, troops were levied, and the nation put 
 in a state of defence, against any sudden attack on the borders. 
 
 The English ambassador, finding all his efforts to raise a 
 sedition thus frustrated, and fearing lest his own safety might 
 be endangered, departed privately in the night for Berwick, 
 He was immediately followed by Sir John Seton, who had 
 orders to complain of his conduct, and to remonstrate against 
 the marching of troops to the Scottish borders ; but the Scot- 
 tish envoy was not allowed to proceed farther than Berwick, 
 and every thing wore a warlike appearance between the two 
 nations. When, however, all prospect of co-operation on the 
 part of the Scottish nobles was hopeless, Elizabeth, whose aim 
 was to terrify the king into her measures, or to kindle once 
 more the flames of civil discord in the distracted nation, 
 ordered her troops to retire, as she found she could not ac- 
 complish either of these objects. But the demonstration 
 made on the English borders, was entirely ruinous to Morton, 
 for it enabled his enemies to raise and maintain a large armed 
 force, by which they counteracted a scheme his friends had 
 laid for his rescue, and which but for this must have succeeded^ 
 Previously to the trial of the ex-regent, the estate and title 
 of the earl of Arran, which he had so iniquitously procured to 
 be forfeited, was bestowed upon his accuser, captain James 
 Stuart, who,, about the same time, received a commission to 
 
44 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 proceed along with the earl of Montrose to Dunbarton, and 
 conduct the prisoner to Edinburgh. When the commission 
 was first shown, Morton, struck with the title of James, earl 
 of Arran, eagerly inquired who he was, for he had not 
 heard of Stuart's exaltation ; when told, after a short pause, 
 he replied, " Is it so ? Then I know what I may look for." 
 He was brought to Edinburgh, under an escort of one thou- 
 sand men, 29th May, 1581, and on the 21st June, was brought 
 to trial. The indictment chai'ged him with high treason, in 
 conspiring against the king, and concealing the murder, and in 
 being actor, or art and part, as the Scottish law teiTns it, in 
 the crime. The jury were composed of his avowed enemies, 
 and although he challenged the earl of Argyle, and lord Se- 
 ton, as being prejudiced against him, yet his objections were 
 over-ruled, and they were admitted to sit on his assize. What 
 was the nature of the proof adduced, has not been related by 
 our historians, and the records of the court of justiciary re- 
 specting it, have been destroyed or lost. His peers, however, 
 brought him in guilty of concealing, and being guilty art or 
 part in the king's murder. He had anticipated a sentence of 
 condemnation from the moment he saw the complexion of his 
 jury, and the partial manner in which they were impannelled, 
 for he afterward said he was convinced that it was the same 
 thing, whether he had been as innocent as saint Stephen, or 
 as guilty as Judas, his blood was sought, and he must have 
 gone. But when the verdict was returned, charging him with 
 being art and part guilty of the murder, he appeared consid- 
 erably agitated, and striking the ground repeatedly with a 
 small walkingstick, he exclaimed twice, " Art and part ! God 
 knows it is not so !" He heard, however, the savage sentence, 
 which our law denounces against a traitor, and which still dis- 
 graces our statute book, pronounced without apparent emo- 
 tion. As the trial had lasted the greater part of the day, and 
 night was drawing on, he was remanded back to his place of 
 confinement, and upon his subsequent confession, the revolt- 
 ing part of the punishment was remitted by the king, and he 
 was ordered to suffer death next day, by beheading. 
 
 In that solemn interval, when the agitation and anxieties of 
 suspense had given place to the awful certainty of his doom. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 45 
 
 he felt, he said, a serenity of mind to which he had long been 
 a stranger. Resigning himself to his fate, he supped cheer- 
 fully, and slept calmly for a considerable part of the night. 
 Early next morning he was visited by several of the ministers 
 of the city, and an interesting account of the conference, 
 which John Durie and Walter Balcalquhan had with him, has 
 been preserved. * Respecting the crime for which he was 
 condemned, he confessed that, after his I'eturn from England, 
 whether he had been banished for " Davie's slaughter," he 
 met Bothwell at Whittingham, who there informed him of the 
 conspiracy against the king, and solicited him to become an 
 accomplice, as the queen anxiously wished his death. He at 
 first explicitly refused to have any connexion with the busi- 
 ness, but after repeated conferences, both with Bothwell and 
 Archibald Douglas, who was with him, and on their always 
 urging the queen's pleasure, he required a warrant, under her 
 own hand, authorizing the deed, before he would give any 
 decisive answer ; which, never having received, he never 
 would consent to have any concern in the transaction. He 
 acknowledged, too, that after the murder was committed,^ he 
 was informed of it by Archibald Hamilton, one of tlie assas- 
 sins, with whom he continued to associate, without revealing 
 what he knew. On being reminded that his own confessions 
 sufficiently justified his sentence, he answered, that he knew, 
 according to the strict letter of the law, he was liable to pun- 
 ishment, but it ought to have been considered, that it was 
 impossible for him to have revealed it ; for to whom could he 
 have done so ? To the queen ? she was the author of the plot. 
 To the king's father ? he was sic a bairn, [such a child,] that 
 there was nothing told him but he would reveal it to her again ; 
 and the two most powerful noblemen of the kingdom. Both- 
 well and Huntly, were the perpetrators. " I foreknew, in- 
 deed, and concealed it," added he, " but it was because I 
 durst not reveal it to any creature for my life ; but as to being 
 
 * The sowme of all that conference that was betwixt the erll of Mortoun 
 and John Durie, and Mr. Walter Balcalquhen, and the chief thingis which 
 they hard of him, whairof they can remember the day that the said erll suf- 
 ferit, which was the 2d of June, 1581. — Printed at the end of Bannatyne's 
 Journal, Edinb. 1806. 
 
46 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 art and part in the commission of the crime, he called God to 
 witness, he was entirely innocent. * 
 
 The peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, if they 
 do not exculpate, go far to extenuate the guilt of Morton. 
 The motives for concealment were undoubtedly strong, but 
 the severity with which he prosecuted others, not more guilty 
 than himself, tends greatly to lessen the force of their applica- 
 tion in his favour. He solemnly denied having any hand in 
 the death of the earl of Athol, or that he would, on any ac- 
 count, have been accessory to the administration of poison. 
 He also disowned, in the most explicit manner, his ever hav- 
 ing entertained any idea of carrying the king out of Scotland, 
 unless it had been to have had him crowned king of England ; 
 adding, almost in the very words of the fallen Wolsey, " I 
 will say more, if I had been as careful to serve my God, and 
 walk in his fear, as I was to see the king's weal, I had not 
 been brought to the point I am this day." 
 
 In his behaviour toward the church, he acknowledged that 
 there were some things he would not defend, but he had acted 
 always according to the best of his judgment in the then state 
 of the times. In other parts of his conduct, he confessed he 
 was to blame, and had resolved, if his life had been spared, 
 to have made reparation. When exhorted to confess his sins 
 before God, and to own that his dealing with him was right, 
 however unworthily he might have been treated by man, he 
 replied, I acknowledge, indeed, that God has always done 
 justly to me, and not only justly, but mercifully also ; I ac- 
 knowledge myself one of the greatest of sinners, and that I 
 have been too deeply immersed in the pleasures of sense, and 
 schemes of ambition, all which he might justly lay to my 
 charge, and therefore I beseech God to be merciful to me. 
 He then expressed a sense of the mercy he had already re- 
 
 * Then being enquyrit in the name of the living God, that seeing this 
 murther of the king was one of the most filthie acts that ever was done in 
 Scotland, and that the secreitis thereof as yit had not bene declared, nea- 
 ther jit wha was the chief deid doars, whidder he was wirriet or blawin in 
 the aire, and therefore to declare gif he knew any farder secreit thereinto ; 
 he answerit, as I sail answer to God, I knew na mair secreit in that matter, 
 &c. — Confession, p. 498. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 47 
 
 ceived, in having time and space given him to repent, and a 
 wiJJingness rather now to die than to hve. The ministers 
 continued long in earnest conversation, and at his request re- 
 mained to breakfast, which he himself partook of, and con- 
 versed with them during the meal with great composure. He 
 then retired to his chamber a little ; after which, the ministers 
 returned, and were with him till he ended his varied career of 
 ambition. About two o'clock in the afternoon he dined with 
 the clergymen who attended him, and soon after the keepers 
 informed him that it was time to proceed to the scaffold. He 
 replied, They have troubled me so much with worldly concerns 
 this day — alluding to a number of interruptions he had re- 
 ceived in the course of his religious exercises — that I thought 
 they might have given me this one night's leisure to have 
 communed with my God. The jailor answered. All things are 
 ready now my lord, and I think they will not stay. I praise 
 my God, said he, I am ready also. 
 
 On passing to the place of execution, Arran, with a callous- 
 ness of heart more than usual on such an occasion, stopped 
 him, and brought him back to his chamber, requiring him to 
 wait till his confession should be put down in writing, and at- 
 test it by his signature. Trouble me no more, my lord, said 
 Morton, with these thing?, I have now a more important con- 
 cern to think of — to prepare to meet my God. I am not in a 
 state to wriie, but these honest men can testify to what I have 
 spoken. The hypocritical minion then begged to be recon- 
 ciled with him, for he had done nothing against him from 
 private enmity. This is no time to remember quarrels, an- 
 swered the unfortunate nobleman, I forgive you and all others, 
 as I wish all to forgive me. He then proceeded to the scaffold 
 with a steady step, and after professing his adherence to the 
 protestant faith, and again joining in some devotional exer- 
 cises, he laid his head on the block, his hands being unbound, 
 and while in the act of repeating Lord Jesus receive my soul, 
 received the fatal stroke. His head was fixed on the tolbooth 
 of Edinburgh, where it was suffered to remain for upwards of 
 a year as a public spectacle, and his body, covered with a 
 beggarly cloak, was exposed till after sunset on the scaffold, 
 when it was carried to the common burial place of criminals 
 
48 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 by some of the lowest of the people, unattended and unlament- 
 ed, none of his friends daring to show any marks of gratitude 
 or affection to their chief, and none of his enemies having tlie 
 generosity to pay a decent respect to the remains of a man, 
 who, for so long, had held the first office in the government 
 of his country.* 
 
 In person, the earl of Morton was somewhat below the 
 middle stature, but handsome, and had a prepossessing coun- 
 tenance. He inherited the courage and the ambition of a 
 Douglas. Possessed of a vigorous understanding, he was 
 prompt in action, and decisive in his measures. Amid the 
 turbulence of the times in which he lived, and the wreck of 
 principle, which is the never failing consequence of anarchy, 
 he evidently adopted the side of the Reformation, rather as a 
 stalkinghorse to office, than upon any sincere conviction of 
 its truth ; for the licentiousness of his private life ill accorded 
 with his public professions. When he attained power, he 
 strenuously exerted himself to restore order, on purpose to 
 establish himself in the high rank he had reached ; but an in- 
 satiable covetousness led him to violate every form of justice, 
 and the extortions to which it gave rise, both in church and 
 state, by spreading universal distrust and discontent, enabled 
 the aspiring favourites easily, and almost without a struggle, 
 to accomplish his ruin. 
 
 The revolutions which had taken place in the government, 
 were accompanied by others more silent, but not less import- 
 ant in the church. During the scramble among the statesmen 
 for civil power, the ministers proceeded in their labours for 
 completing her polity, and entirely remodelling her constitution. 
 The bishops were first ordered to be disrobed of their lord- 
 
 * The following order appears in the records of the city of Edinburgh, 
 1582, Rex. Prouest and baillies of our burgh of Edinburgh, we greit zow 
 Weill. It is our will, and we command zow that, incontinent after the siclit 
 hereof, ze tak down the heid of James, sum tyme erll of Mortoun, of the 
 pairt quhair it is now placeit vpon zour awld tolbuith, swa that the sam heid 
 may be bui'eit. For the whilk, this our letter sail be to zow sufficient war- 
 rand, subscryit with our hand at Halyrudhous, the aucht day of December, 
 and of our reign the sext zeir, 1582. So that Morton's head must have been 
 exhibited eighteen months, a barbarous and a disgusting spectacle. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 ly titles, and addressed in the same style as other ministers; 
 then ordered to submit as common members to the jurisdiction 
 of the church coui'ts, till at last, in July, 1580, the general 
 assembly, which met at Dundee, " unanimously declared the 
 office of bishop, as then used and commonly understood, to 
 be destitute of warrant from the word of God, and a human 
 invention, tending to the great injury of the church ; ordained 
 the bishops to demit their pretended office, simpliciter, and to 
 receive admission, de novo, under pain of excommunication, 
 after due admonition." The king's commissioner, who was 
 present in the assembly, made no opposition. 
 
 The book of polity, which had been, during this time, ma- 
 turing, was, after much labour and anxious deliberation, com- 
 pleted, and laid befoi'e the general assembly. In April, 1578, 
 at their meeting, held in the Magdalene chapel of Edinburgh, 
 it received the sanction of that body, was regarded as her au- 
 thorized form of government, and has always been allowed to 
 contain the purest standard of what came afterward to be 
 more generally known by the denomination of presbyterian. 
 It begins by defining the nature of a church of God, and dis- 
 tinguishing between the ecclesiastical and civil power ; the 
 first flows immediately from God, and is spiritual, not having 
 any temporal head on earth, but Jesus Christ alone, who is 
 also the only spiritual king and governor of his church ; the 
 other relates to the ordering of the state, and the peace and 
 well being of society, and the exercise of both these jurisdic- 
 tions, cannot consistently centre in the same person. The 
 ministers are subject to the magistrates in external things, 
 and the magistrates owe obedience to the discipline of the 
 kirk in matters of conscience and religion. It is proper for 
 kings, princes, and magistrates, to be called lords over those 
 whom they govern civilly ; but it is proper to Christ alone to 
 be called lord and master in the spiritual government of his 
 church, and they who bear rule in it, may not usurp dominion, 
 or lord it over the flock. The office-bearers are divided into 
 ministers, who preach and dispense the ordinances ; doctors, 
 who expound the scriptures, and instruct the youth in schools, 
 universities, and colleges ; elders, who assist the minister in 
 visiting the sick, examining those who come to the Lord's 
 
 VOL. III. G 
 
5rt HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 table, and hold assemblies with the pastors and doctors, for 
 establishing good order and execution of discipline ; and dea- 
 cons, to distribute alms, and watch over the temporal interests 
 of the church. The name bishop is declared to be of the 
 same import as minister or pastor, and to imply no superior 
 dignity. All the office-bearers are to be admitted by election 
 and ordination, and none intruded into any office contrary to 
 the will of the congregation to which they are appointed, nor 
 are the pastors to be appointed to the charge of more than 
 one flock. The ecclesiastical assemblies are those of the office- 
 bearers of one congregation, who manage its general con- 
 cerns, now known by the name of — the kirk session ; those 
 of a number of neighbouring cono-reorations — the eldership or 
 presbytery, whence the Scottish church has received its ap- 
 pellation, who inspect a number of adjoining congregations, 
 in every thing relating to religion and manners, and has the 
 power of ordaining and deposing ministers within its bounds ; 
 the provincial synod, as its name expresses, consists of all 
 the presbyteries within its bounds, and takes cognizance of 
 their proceedings ; the general assembly, or general elder- 
 ship of the whole churches in the realm, consists of such 
 number of ecclesiastical persons, ministers, and elders, as 
 shall be thought good by the same assembly, which acts as a 
 court of appeal, and review in all cases which come before the 
 inferior courts, and treats of every thing connected with the 
 welfare of the national church. The patrimony of the church 
 includes all donations from kings, princes, or those of inferior 
 station, together with all legacies, endowments, buildings, an- 
 nual rents, &c. which it is declared sacrilege either to alienate 
 or convert, by unlawful means, to other than ecclesiastical 
 purposes ; and these are — the support of the ministers ; of the 
 elders and deacons as far as necessary ; the relief of the poor, 
 the sick, and the stranger ; and the keeping in a proper slate 
 of repair the places of worship. Under the general denomi- 
 nation of clergy, are compreliended schoolmasters and teach' 
 ers, for whose increase and encouraoenient the first assemblies 
 of the church of Scotland always showed the most laudable 
 anxiety. 
 
 To the order which should be adcoted., a long list of abuses 
 
 43 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 51 
 
 to be reformed is subjoined. Fully aware of the mighty and 
 imposing influence of titles with the multitude, they enumerate 
 among these abuses, the retaining of all such as marked the 
 dignities and secularities of the Romish clergy, abbots, priors, 
 deans, archdeacons, and a long list of offices unknown until 
 the darkest and most debased ages of Christianity ; they stig- 
 matize the unchristian association, in one person, of temporal 
 peer and bishop of souls, and the still more baneful and un- 
 seemly exercise of criminal justice and the pastoral office, by 
 the same individual; the plurality of livings is condemned, 
 and patronages and presentations to benefices, whether by the 
 prince or by any inferior person, which lead to intrusion, and 
 are inconsistent with lawful election, and the assent of the 
 people over whom the person is placed, are pronounced con- 
 trary to the practice of the apostolical and primitive kirk, and 
 good order. Such is a very concise sketch of that form of 
 ecclesiastical polity to which our ancestors were so much at- 
 tached, and in support of which, some of the best blood of 
 the country was shed. 
 
 Probably the most acute intellect would find it difficult to 
 trace in the New Testament any precise model of church 
 government. Perverse ingenuity had too frequently converted 
 into a subject of strife, what the Divine Lawgiver left as a 
 matter of forbearance ; but there is a broad marked line of 
 boundary,* to distinguish between a true and a false method 
 
 * It has been invidiously, but unfortunately in some cases justly remarked, 
 that polemics do not usually combat with the same calmness as philosophers ; 
 that in their disputes they bring ail their passions into play. The reason is 
 obvious, polemics contend for their interests in time, and their stake in eter- 
 nity ; philosophers dispute about abstract principles, which have little influ- 
 ence on the present, and no certain reference to a future state of existence. 
 In questions of such magnitude, there is to the theologian nothing trifling, his 
 rule of obedience and belief is imperative, there is no great or small trans- 
 gression. The wearing of a vestment consecrated to a false mode of worship 
 is to hun as serious an infringement of the divine command, as is eating meat 
 offered to idols. Thus the primitive fathers of the Scottish church considered 
 the subject, and this was the doctrine which they enforced upon their hearers, 
 for they had not learned politely, or, as lukewarmness is now styled, chari- 
 tably, to concede to that system of fraud and idolatry — the Papal superstition, 
 the name of Christianity. They knew no difference between bending the 
 
52 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of worship, and it requires no great penetration to discover 
 that lordly titles, and princely revenues, are diametrically op- 
 posite both to the spirit and letter of the Christian religion, a 
 conviction which must have come with double efficience to 
 those who had suffered under that worst of tyrannies — the 
 junction of the ecclesiastical and civil power. The Scottish 
 Reformers, and all their successors, who had participated in 
 their wrongs, and inherited their spirit, naturally felt a strong 
 repugnance to any assimilation — by a consecrated uniform, or 
 an adaptation of the mass book — which might, in the most 
 distant degree, betoken an affinity with the degrading super- 
 stition, and idolatrous inthralment they had just broken, and 
 in their polity, carefully avoided every title, vesture, usage, 
 or form, which in other cases mJght perhaps have been inno- 
 cent or unimportant, but in their circumstances, could neither 
 be deemed harmless nor safe. 
 
 When the book of polity was presented to the king, upon 
 his assumption of the government, as both parties were then 
 courting the favour of the church, his counsellors advised him 
 to return a gracious answer, promising to concur with them 
 in all things that might advance religion. At next parliament, 
 however, its ratification was evaded, and when Morton re- 
 gained full power, the assembly were desired to use their ut- 
 most endeavours to promote peace and obedience during the 
 king's minority, but refer the full discussion of the polity till 
 the next meeting of parliament, at which the king himself was 
 to preside in person. Then, however, the legal ratification of 
 the order of the kirk was still evaded, but the previous acts 
 
 knee to an image of an apostle Paul, or to one of the god Mercurius ; nor 
 could they distinguish between the profanity of offering prayer to a Saint 
 Apollos, or to a Heathen Jupiter ; and it was owing to this principle, which 
 must never be lost sight of in reading Scottish history during the reign of the 
 Stuarts, that we are to attribute the inflexible firmness with which our fore- 
 fathers resisted the use of copes, and gowns, and sashes, and surplices, the 
 " rags of Rome," as they styled them, and the introduction of a liturgy, or, 
 in the language of king James, the ill framed mass book, and the abhorrence 
 with which they viewed a hierarchy, which acknowledging a temporal head> 
 bore, in their opinion, too near a resemblance to the system of iniquity be- 
 neath which they had groaned, and which it had cost them so much to over- 
 turn. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 53 
 
 for securing the liberty of the true church were confirmed,* 
 and others, agreeable to the ministers, enacted ; to enforce the 
 strict observance of the Sabbath ; to oblige all respectable per- 
 sons to have a Bible and Psalm Book in their houses ; and to 
 prevent the alienation of youth from the established religion 
 by a foreign education. 
 
 The day following Morton's execution, Arran reported to 
 the king in council, what had been his own conduct with re- 
 spect to the trial, and acknowledging that he had not only 
 tampered with Morton's servants, but even proceeded to in- 
 flict torture on some of them, to obtain evidence against their 
 master, prayed the approbation of his majesty and council 
 for these proceedings, for which, he was afraid, he might 
 afterward have been called to an account. This he easily 
 obtained, and what ought to have been stamped with infamy, 
 was acknowledged as good service to the state, by an express 
 act of council. As if willing, however, to draw off attention 
 from the atrocity of his public conduct, by the infamy of his 
 private life, he nearly about this time, married the lady of the 
 earl of March, whom he had debauched, while supported by 
 the earl, and entertained at his table — before he could boast 
 of a table of his own — and who had previously divorced her 
 husband, for a reason which female delicacy would blush to 
 name.f His union with this woman, whose ambition was as 
 insatiable as his own, had nearly occasioned his ruin. 
 
 In the month of August, the earl of Lennox was created 
 duke, and on the same occasion, Arran was solemnly confirm- 
 ed in his title of earl, whick he had only worn by courtesy 
 before. Imagining that he was now completely secure of the 
 
 * The true church is thus defined : " The ministers of the blessed evangel 
 of Jesus Christ, whom God of his mercy has now raised up amongst us, or 
 hereafter shall raise, agreeing with them that now live in doctrine and admin- 
 istration of sacraments, and the people that prefer Christ as he is now offered, 
 and communicate with the holy sacraments according to the Confession of 
 Faith, be the true and holy kirk of Jesus Christ within this realm. — Vide Act, 
 quoted by Cooke, vol, i. p. 301. 
 
 f Archbishop Spotswood describes her as a woman, " intolerable in all the 
 imperfections incident to that sex," and another writer thus, " maistresse of 
 ail bawdrie and villanie then lady Marche, infected the air in his H. audience." 
 MSS. Bibl. Jurid. quoted by Dr. M'Crie, in the Life of Melville. 
 
54 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 king's affection, he began to feel the pangs of rivalry, and 
 envying the precedence which he perceived Lennox enjoy, 
 seized every occasion to affront him. This naturally occasion- 
 ed retaliation, but their mutual resentments were kept within 
 bounds, till the meeting of parliament, when a point of eti- 
 quette occasioned an open rupture. The chamberlain claim- 
 ed, as his privilege, to arrange the inti'oductions to the Idng, 
 which Arran insisted belonged to his office, as captain of the 
 guard. The duke, in consequence, withdrew from attending 
 parliament, which so irritated the king, that next day he pro- 
 ceeded to Dalkeith, and took Lennox along with him, for- 
 bidding Arran to approach the court.* Such trifling, more 
 like the quarrels of children, than the rivalry of men, it would 
 be beneath the dignity of history to record, did we not still 
 see, that at courts, such even yet, are the mighty struggles of 
 the great, and that on intrigues equally despicable among the 
 favourites of monarchs, the fate of the most powerful nations 
 too frequently depends. 
 
 While the dispute lasted, Arran and his lady, with impu- 
 dent, matchless hj'pocrisy, went regularly and devoutly to 
 sermon and to prayers, pretending that religion alone was the 
 cause of their difference with the court, and that they were 
 disliked merely on account of their attachment to the protes- 
 tant faith. But knowing that this was a farce which could 
 not last long, Arran employed the mediation of friends, made 
 the most humble submissions to the duke, to whom he resisfn- 
 ed the office of commander of the ouard, and was aiiain re- 
 ceived into favour.f 
 
 The nobility, who had rejoiced at the rupture between the 
 two favourites, and had hoped to regam their proper influence 
 
 * Spotswoocl, p. 315. 
 -}■ Vide character of lady Arran, Note, p. 53. Lennox, although more pol- 
 ibhed, appears to have been a worthy associate. In the MSS. quoted above, it 
 is said, " The duke, in his own person fretted, and was enraged that he could 
 not be avenged on the ministers, who would not beare with his hypocrisie, 
 and adulterouse life, wherewith the land was polluted. He intended to put 
 hand on John Durie, at Dalkeith. In a French passion he rent his beard, 
 and thinking to strike the borde, strake himself in the theigh, crying, the 
 de-vil for John Durie, which Monbrineo learned for the first lessoun in the 
 Scottish language." MS. referred to before. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 55 
 
 in the councils of their sovereign, were highly disappointed 
 at their union, and James, who devoted his time chiefly to 
 amusement, again resigned himself entirely to their guidance. 
 The chief object of the minions appears to have been to en- 
 gross the affections of the king entirely to themselves, by cor- 
 rupting his principles, and debauching his morals, and in this 
 they were ably assisted by Monberneau, a French gentleman, 
 who had accompanied Lennox to Scotland, whose vivacity, 
 wit, and pleasing exterior accomplishments, wei'e only equal- 
 led by his licentiousness. The whole of James' court was 
 even thus early, composed of persons v.-ho were regardless oi 
 appearances, who set the most common decencies of life at 
 defiance, and whose conversation consisted chiefly of ribald- 
 ry, and obscene buffoonery, when not more mischievously 
 employed. Amid such company, the better lessons of his 
 youth were soon forgotten, and ever after through life, his 
 language bore strong marks of the taints he then received. 
 In this school he learned these despotic doctrines, so alien to 
 the instructions of his former tutors, which embroiled the 
 whole of his future reign, and finally proved the ruin of his 
 race. His best friends, and those who had placed the crown 
 on his head, were thus driven from him, while they vtho had 
 been his bitterest enemies, were rewarded and honoured. 
 Irregularities of every kind were the consequence. The pro- 
 ject for associating queen Mary in the government with her 
 son, was revived, and strongly promoted by Lennox, who 
 contended that this was the only way to legitimize his right 
 to the throne, in the eyes of foreign powers ; a close corre- 
 spondence was set on foot between the king and his mother, 
 and considerable progress even made in the treaty. Courts 
 of justice were held in almost every county, the proprietors of. 
 land were- called before them, and upon the slightest neglect 
 of any of the numerous forms which are peculiar to feudal 
 holdings, they were fined with unusual and intolerable rigour. 
 The lord chamberlain revived the obsolete jurisdiction of his 
 office over the boroughs, and they were subjected to exactions 
 no less grievous. * Justice throughout the country was held 
 
 * Robertson, 
 
56 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 venal, and the lives of the lower ranks not unfrequently sport- 
 ed with, by the avarice or caprice of an abandoned woman.* 
 The freedom of the pulpit was at that time to the country 
 what the freedom of the press is now, and of necessity, was 
 obnoxious to all who wished to trample on the rights or liber- 
 ties of the people. It was therefore an object with Lennox 
 and Arran, to silence these tribunes, whence their delinquen- 
 cies had been so often denounced, and their despotic measures 
 so freely attacked. To accomplish this, no method seemed so 
 effectual, as to reduce the church under the civil power, by 
 obtaining the whole influence and patronage, to whicfe they 
 were still ftxrther stimulated by their avarice. The form and 
 constitution of the Presbyterian church, as detailed above, is 
 essentially opposed to any overpowering interference on the 
 part of the civil power, and therefore, in opposition. Episco- 
 pacy has in Scotland been always the cherished religion of 
 those rulers, who have wished to govern despotically, and in 
 general, it has been more from its ready subservience for this 
 purpose, than from any pious attachment to its principles, that 
 the different sovereigns have attempted to force it upon the 
 people. For these reasons, Lennox and Arran now made an 
 attempt to revive it. The regulations made at Leith, recog- 
 nizing it in a modified form, and abrogated by the General 
 Assembly, f were now revived by act of the privy council, and 
 the see of Glasgow being then vacant, the disposal was given 
 to the duke of Lennox, who offered it to several ministers, 
 upon condition that they would assign the revenues to him, 
 after deducting a mcxlerate stipend. All having refused, at 
 length Mr. Robert Montgomery, minister of Stirling, con- 
 sented to accept the archbishopric, and the price of this " vile 
 bargain," as Spotswood terms it, was fixed at an annual in- 
 
 * By justice courts, the poor of the countrie, without difference of the 
 guiltie from the innocent, were sold, and ransomed at hundreth pounds the 
 score. That monster of nature, the countess of Arran, controlled — the judges 
 — at her pleasure, and caused sindrie to be hanged, that wanted their com- 
 positions, sa3ang, what had they been doing all their days, tliat had not so 
 much as five punds, to buy them from the gallows. MSS. Bib). Jurid. referred 
 to before. 
 
 t Vide p. 15. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. Sf 
 
 eome of one thousand pounds Scots, with some horse corn, 
 and poultry. 
 
 This simonaical transaction brought the church and the 
 court into immediate contact; but while the assembly were 
 deliberating, they received a message from the king, disallow- 
 ing their interference on any other points than such as re- 
 spected life or doctrine, on which, Melville exhibited various 
 charges against him, and the assembly remitted the process 
 to the presbytery of Stirling, who were to report to the synod 
 of Lothian. For entering on Montgomery's cause, the synod 
 were summoned before the privy council. They obeyed the 
 summons, but declined the judgment of that court, as incom- 
 petent, according to the laws of the country, to take cogniz- 
 ance in a matter purely ecclesiastical. In the next assembly, 
 where the case was resumed, a letter was presented from the 
 king, commanding them, on pain of rebellion, to desist from 
 the process, but they, after a respectful reply to his majesty, 
 continued their proceedings, and were prevented only from 
 excommunicating Montgomery, who had been found guilty of 
 some errors in doctrine, by his submission, and promising to 
 interfere no farther with the bishopric. Fearing his tergiver- 
 sation, however, they gave instructions to the presbytery of 
 Glasgow, to watch his conduct, and if he violated his engage- 
 ment, give immediate information to the presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, who were authorized to appoint one of their number 
 to pronounce the sentence of excommunication against him. 
 j Scarcely had he quitted the assembly, ere he showed their 
 precautions were not in vain, for, urged by Lennox, he reviv- 
 ed his episcopal claims. The presbytery of Glasgow having 
 met in consequence, they were forcibly dispersed by an order 
 from the king, and their moderator imprisoned, but not until 
 they had finished their deed, declaring that Montgomery had 
 violated his engagement with the general assembly. This 
 deed was immediately transmitted to the presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, who appointed, on its receipt, John Davidson, minister 
 of Libberton, to pronounce the sentence of excommunication, 
 v/hich he did accordingly, and in spite of the threats of the 
 court, it was on the succeeding sabbath, intimated from the 
 pulpits of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the surrounding churches. 
 
 VOL. in. H 
 
53 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Enraged at these proceedings, a proclamation was issued by 
 the privy council, declaring the excommunication null and 
 void. 
 
 Besides this attack upon the constitution and liberty of tlie 
 church, the ministers were individually subjected to persecu- 
 tion, for their discourses in the pulpit. They did not cease 
 to inveigh against those whom they considered the authors of 
 the calamities which afflicted both church and stale, and in 
 particular, John Dury, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, 
 named Lennox and Arran, in one of his discourses, as those 
 on whom the chief blame rested. They, in return, complain- 
 ed to the king, of what they thought the unwarrantable liberty 
 of the preacher, and the king, irritated at what he considered 
 as oblique reflections on his own conduct, ordered the magis- 
 trates to remove him from the town, within twenty-four hours. 
 Dury consulted with the general assembly upon the occasion, 
 and they approving of his doctrine, recommended him not to 
 withdraw secretly, but remain till formally commanded to 
 depart, and then obey ; and the magistrates, although unwil- 
 lingly, finding themselves compelled to enforce his majesty's 
 orders, Dury, after solemnly protesting at the cross, against 
 the force used, was obliged to leave the city. 
 
 These arbitrary proceedings occasioned an extraordinary 
 meeting of the general assembly, at which a spirited remon- 
 strance was drawn up, addressed to the king and council, 
 complaining that he had been persuaded to assume a spiritual 
 authority, wdiich belonged only to Christ, and the execution 
 of which is committed to his ministers, as if he could not be 
 king of the state, without being head of the church. That in 
 consequence, unworthy and unfit persons were obtruded into 
 the ministerial office — discipline obstructed, and the censures 
 of the church condemned and disannulled — and after an enu- 
 meration of their complaints, under fourteen heads, they be- 
 sought his majesty to redress their grievances, with the advice 
 of men, " that fear God, and do tender his grace's estate, and 
 quietness of this commonwealth." The venerable Erskine, of 
 Dun, and a number of others of the older reformers, were 
 associated with Andrew Melville, and ordered to proceed to 
 Perth, where the king then was, and present the remonstrance. 
 
 43 
 
HISTORY QV SCOTLAND. " Sw 
 
 In spite of thicats against tb.eir lives, iicld out to deter 
 them, tbey boldly proceeded, and having obtained access to 
 the king in council, presented their remonstrance. Arran, 
 who was present, after it had been read, looking sternly round 
 the assembly, demanded, Who dare subscribe these ti'eason- 
 able articles ? We dare, replied Melville, and immediately 
 affixed his own signature, the other commissioners successive- 
 ly following his example, while the duke and Arran, over- 
 awed at their intrepidity, offered no opposition. They were 
 afterward dismissed with a favourable answer. 
 
 Such boldness in the exercise of their rights, by a body of 
 men, who were unsupported by any civil power, or armed 
 force, while it struck strangers with astonishment, * shamed 
 into action the Scottish nobles, who had long borne, with 
 irritable impatience, the insolent presumption of two upstarts. 
 Elizabeth too, if she had not secretly incited, was at least 
 ready to support any attempt to rescue the king from the 
 hands of the rash and inexperienced favourites, who had de- 
 prived her of all influence in Scotland, and had almost involv- 
 ed the two kingdoms in hostilities. A conspiracy, to force 
 the king to part with his favourites, was the consequence, as 
 the legal methods of removinsf obnoxious servants of the crown 
 — difficult even in the best regulated states — was either un- 
 known, or impracticable in Scotland at that period. The 
 principal leaders were the earls of Marr, Glencairn, and 
 Gowrie, lord Lindsay, lord Boyd, the masters of Glammis 
 and Oliphant, the titular abbots of Dunfermline, Paisley, 
 Dryburgh, and Cambuskenneth, the lairds of Lochleven, 
 Easter Wemyss, Cliesh, and the constable of Dundee. Their 
 design was to obtain possession of the king's person, send 
 Lennox to France, and remove Arran from court. The 
 young monarch, who had been some time in Athol, enjoying 
 his favourite amusement of hunting, intended to stop at Dun- 
 fermline, on his return to Edinburgh, and here the conspira- 
 tors proposed to present a supplication, against the illegal and 
 tyrannical conduct of the favourites, and carry their object 
 into effect, but as neither Lennox nor Arran were with him. 
 
 * IVCiic'a Life of Melville, p. 273. 
 
60 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and he was only very slenderly attended, they, probably afraid 
 lest the favourites should join him at Dunfermline, invited the 
 king to Ruthven castle, whence this enterprise has derived the 
 name of the Raid of Ruthven. 
 
 James, unsuspiciously complied with the invitatioi), but, 
 upon his arrival, observing an unusual concourse, he began 
 to doubt that some plot was in agitation. Concealing, how- 
 ever, his suspicions, he dissembled, in expectation of freeing 
 himself from constraint, when he went abroad to his sport. 
 Next morning, he early prepared to take the field, but was 
 anticipated by the nobles, who, entering his bedchamber, 
 presented their memorial. This he received graciously, and 
 was hastening to begone, when the master of Glammis, step- 
 ping to the door of the apartment, told him he must stay. On 
 finding himself a prisoner, he threatened, expostulated, and 
 at length burst into tears. It is no matter of his tears, said 
 the master of Glammis, when he observed him crying, better 
 bairns should weep, than bearded men, a saying the king 
 could never afterward forget, so much less easy is it to forgive 
 an affront, than a real injury. Although kept captive, the 
 king was treated with every outward mark of respect, onlj' his 
 attendants were changed, and none of whom the conspirators 
 had any suspicion, were sufFei'ed to remain near his person. 
 Finding himself totally cut off from any communication with 
 his obnoxious ministers, James made a virtue of necessity, and 
 submitted to his fate. 
 
 Lennox and Arran, who were residing in the utmost secur- 
 ity upon their estates, the former at Dalkeith, and the latter 
 at Kinniel, thunderstruck at so unexpected an event, prepared, 
 if possible, to retrieve the error they had committed, in allow- 
 ing the king so easily to fall into the snare of their enemies. 
 The earl, whose arrogance imagined no one would dare to 
 oppose him, and trusting at the same time, to the friendship 
 of Cowrie, who, he either did not yet know had joined the 
 confederates, or would not believe sincere in his attachment, 
 instantly, on receiving intelligence of the seizure of the king's 
 person, set out with a few followers tovrards Ruthven castle, 
 boasting as he went, that he would chase all the lords into 
 mouse holes. Fearing lest he should be detahied on hi^ 
 
HISTOUY OF SCOTLAND. C}\ 
 
 journey by his attendants, he pushed forward, with only one 
 servant, by a cross road, directing liis brother, William 
 Stuart, to follow with the rest, by the common highway. In 
 this manner he escaped an ambush, which had been laid for 
 him by the earl of Marr, and arrived in the evening, at Ruth- 
 ven. On entering the gate of the castle he asked for the king, 
 intending to proceed immediately to his presence, but here 
 again, his good fortune rescued him from a peril, even greater 
 than what he had previously escaped. The conspirators, whose 
 indignation was roused by the appearance of a man whom 
 they detested, would instantly have sacrificed, upon the spot, 
 the enemy of their country, but the earl of Gowrie, from mo- 
 tives of friendship or hospitality, interfered, and had him con- 
 veyed to a place of safety, thus preserving a life destined to wreck 
 his own. Arran was afterward sent into confinement, in Stir- 
 ling castle, without being permitted to see the king. His 
 brother encountered the horsemen who lay in wait, with whom 
 he had a smart encounter near Duplin, in which he was 
 wounded, and taken prisoner.* 
 
 The duke, after a vain attempt to excite the inhabitants of 
 Edinburgh to take arms, sent some noblemen to Perth, where 
 the king had been carried, to learn from his majesty himself, 
 if the levolution which had taken place had been with his 
 consent. The messengers were not allowed to see the king 
 except in council, where being introduced, and having ex- 
 plained the nature of their mission, the king passionately cried 
 out ; — " I am a captive, which I wish all my subjects to know, 
 and earnestly desire the duke to use his endeavours to procure 
 me my liberty." With affected humility, the lords entreated 
 his majesty not to imagine himself a prisoner, or that he was 
 under any restraint ; for he was at liberty to go wherever he 
 pleased, only they would not permit the duke of Lennox, and 
 the earl of Arran, to mislead him, and oppress the church 
 and the kingdom as they had hitherto done ; at the same time, 
 they advised his majesty to inform the duke, that it might be 
 prudent for him to retire quietly to France, else they would 
 be forced to bring him to an account for his conduct, and 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 320. Melville, p. 263. . . 
 
62 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 proceed against him according to the utmost rigour of lew. 
 The king, finding it would be in vain to contend with persons 
 in whose power he so completely was, dissembled his anger, 
 and afraid for the fate of Lennox, to whom he seems to have 
 felt a sincere attachment, issued a declaration, stating : " That 
 it was his own free and voluntary choice to remain at Perth, 
 that his person was under no restriction, and that the noble- 
 men, who at present attended him, had only done their duty, 
 and ' performed a good service to himself and the common- 
 wealth ;' and prohibiting any attempt to disturb the public 
 peace, under pretence of rescuing him from restraint !" 
 Lennox, who was still endeavouring to raise a force, received, 
 by return of his messengers, a letter from the king, command- 
 ing him to leave the kingdom before the 20th of September. 
 Unwilling to obey, but unable to resist, he continued to linger 
 about Edinburgh, uncertain how to act, till at length, by the 
 advice of his friends, he retired to Dunbarton, to await the 
 occurrence of any favourable turn in his fortune. But the 
 nobles were inflexible in insisting upon Lennox leaving the 
 country, and it was with great difficulty and at the earnest 
 entreaty of the king, that he was permitted to remain only a 
 few days ; yet, by various evasions, he continued to delay his 
 departure till about the middle of December. 
 
 In October he attempted, or pretended to make an attempt 
 of going to France from the west coast, but the weather being- 
 tempestuous, he fell sick, and landed again. He then, by 
 the king's advice, came to Blackness, to remain there till a 
 passport was procured from the queen of England, to enable 
 him to travel overland to France, on account of the season of 
 the year and his ill health. He had not remained there, 
 however, many days, till, upon a rumour of his being again 
 to be received into favour, lord Herries w^as sent with a per- 
 emptory command for him to begin his journey. He only 
 begged to be admitted into the king's presence, to salute his 
 majesty, and bid him farewell; but this the lords wisely de- 
 nied him, and he took his reluctant departure, much to the 
 pleasure of the people, and the regret of the king. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in France, fatigue or chagrin, oi 
 both, threw him into a fever, which in a short time carried 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 63 
 
 him off. la his last moments lie professed to die in the faith 
 of the church of Scotland, to keep the oath he had given to 
 the king inviolate ; and the king, to rescue his memory from 
 the charge of hypocrisy, eagerly proclaimed in Edinburgh his 
 dying confession. Whether he was ever sincerely attached to 
 the doctrines of the Reformed or not, is as uncertain as it is 
 unimportant. That he was insolent,* oppressive, and tyran- 
 Tiical, is evident from the inflexible rigour with which the no- 
 bles insisted upon his quitting the country, although probably 
 in some instances his plausibility of manner f might have led 
 the courtiers to think more kindly of him than of Arran, 
 whose insolence had more ruo'gedness about it. The kin» 
 long remembered him with affection, and showed many acts 
 of generosity to his posterity. He was the eai-liest, the most 
 obsequious, and, unfortunately, one of the most unprincipled 
 of James' favourites. He found the prince at a period of life 
 comparatively uncorrupted, and he contaminated him by the 
 licentiousness of his conversation, and the looseness of his 
 conduct. Unacquainted with the manners of the country, 
 and educated in a system directly opposed to that of James, 
 passionate in liis temper, and libertine in his morals, he was 
 the most unfit companion the young monarch, of a free and a 
 leligious country, could have chosen. 
 
 Immediately upon the report of James' captivity, Elizabeth 
 despatched two ambassadors, Sir George Carey and Sir Rob- 
 
 * Patrick Galloway, minister of Perth, gives the following account of the 
 duke's behaviour in the church, when the preacher blamed the court for sup- 
 porting Montgomery, bishop of Glasgow : "When I did speak against the 
 same, he did plainly menace me, and called me pultron, villain, mischant, 
 with many other injurious words, and threatened to run me through with a 
 rappair, till his majesty himself was compelled to lay his hand upon his 
 mouth, and stay the duke's fury and malicious language heard of all that 
 stood in his highness' seat, and uttered publicly before the people. After the 
 sermon was ended, at the duke's passing out of the kirk door, in plain 
 language, laying his hand upon his sword, he boasted he would have my life, 
 and used diverse contumelious and reproachful words of malice and despite. — 
 MS. Apology of Mr. Patrick Galloway, quoted by Dr. M'Crie, Life of A. 
 Melville, vol. i. Notes, and Calderwood, p. 152. 
 
 f It is from this circumstance, I apprehend, that Sir James Melville is in- 
 clined to represent him in more favourable colours than he appears to have 
 deserved. 
 
64 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ert Bowes, under pretence of inquiring after the king's safety^ 
 to endeavour to reconcile him with his nobles, and induce him 
 to restore the earl of Angus, who had lived in exile in Eng- 
 land ever since the death of his uncle, the earl of Morton. 
 James, who suspected that Elizabeth was not ignorant of the 
 conspiracy, gave, in public, a general answer, that he was 
 satisfied with the conduct of the lords, but, in private, he 
 whispered his discontent to Carey, and begged him to inform 
 his mistress of the real state of affairs. At their request he 
 consented to the return of Angus, who formed a farther addi- 
 tion to the strength of the party. 
 
 Besides the royal proclamation, the nobles, who were anxi- 
 ous to justify their conduct to the nation, issued a long declar- 
 ation, explaining the motives which induced them to venture 
 on the irregular step they had taken, in which they inveighed 
 iigainst the favourites, and enumerated all their offences 
 against the church and state — their endeavouring to destroy 
 the power of the church, by filling her livings with unworthy 
 characters, abusing, banishing, and suspending some of her 
 ministers, and libelling and traducing all as traitors, seditious 
 persons, members of Satan, and enemies to the common- 
 wealth — their negotiating with the king's mother — their driv- 
 ing faithful noblemen from the court, banishing gentlemen 
 without trial or conviction, and overawing the courts of law, 
 removing forfeitures without the authority of pai'liament, and 
 rendering the whole country one scene of confusion, tyranny, 
 and lawless misrule. 
 
 The conspirators, who had first carried the king to Stirling, 
 next proceeded with him to Edinburgh, for although they 
 had already obtained from his majesty a remission in the most 
 ample form, yet, afi-aid lest it might still be urged against 
 them, that they had forced this from him when under con- 
 straint, they were extremely anxious to procure some legal 
 sanction of their enterprise. The general assembly met early 
 in October, and their first application was to that body. 
 They commissioned the abbot of Paisley to explain to them 
 the reasons for their approbation of the " action," which were 
 the same as those enumerated in their public declaration — the 
 danger of the church, and the confusion of the commonwealth. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. , 65 
 
 The assembly, on receiving this information, inquired at the 
 members individually, whether they had perceived the mis- 
 chiefs to be as great as represented, and they unanimously 
 answered in the affirmative.* Still unwilling to proceed hastil}^, 
 the assembly deputed Mr. James Lawson, Mr. David Lind- 
 say, and the king's minister, [Mr John Craig,] to wait upon 
 the king, and ascertain his sentiments upon the subject. He 
 instructed them to declare, as his opinion, " That religion was 
 in peril, and his person also in danger, for he considered his 
 own safety as inseparable from that of religion. He acknowl- 
 edged that abuses existed in the commonwealth till the late 
 entei'prise, and that it was the duty of all his subjects to unite 
 in rescuing the kirk, his person and estate, and to assist in 
 reforminff the commonwealth." On receivine; this communi- 
 cation, the assembly proceeded to pass an act approving the 
 late enterprise, in which they embodied his majesty's acknowl- 
 edgment, f This act, dated 13th October, 1582, was ordered 
 to be published in all the churches, and these who maliciously 
 or violently opposed the good cause, were in the first instance 
 to undergo the censures of the chui'ch, and if obstinate, to be 
 reported to the king and council for their civil oiFence. 
 
 A few days after, a convention of the estates followed, which 
 was opened by the king in person, who, in a short speech, 
 expressed his regret at the dissentions that prevailed, and his 
 willingness to follow the advice of his parliament. With the 
 freedom which then prevailed in these assemblies, one of the 
 lords — he is not named — rose, and addressing the king, frank- 
 ly told him : " That the dissentions were caused by those 
 who, having possession of his majesty's ear, abused his favour, 
 
 * Dr. Robertson says, Hist. vol. ii. book vi. "They [the nobles] applied to 
 the assembly of the church, and easily procured an act that they had done 
 good and acceptable service to God, to their sovereign, and to their native 
 country ;" but from the statement in the text, it v/ill appear that the church 
 was extremely cautious, and first obtained the king's own personal approba- 
 tion before they would proceed, and after the act was framed, the tutor of 
 Pitcur, and colonel Stewart, by special command from James, signified his 
 assent. These are important facts necessary to be kept in view. — ^Dr. Cooke's 
 Hist, of the Ch. of Scot. vol. i. p. 351. and the authorities referred to.-» 
 Calderwood, p. 179. 
 
 f Calderwood, p, 133. Spotsvv'ood, p. S22.' 
 VOL. in. I f? 
 
Q6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ruled the state as tliey chose, and disdained the advice of their 
 fellow counsellors, particularly Lennox and Arran, whose 
 misrule was such, that unless some noblemen had procured a 
 remedy, by repairing to his majesty, both church and state 
 must in a short time have been subverted." After this, the 
 earls of Marr, Gowrie, and Glencairn, acknowledged them- 
 selves as principals in the transactions that had taken place, 
 and, after stating their reasons, withdrew. The convention, 
 on their removal, in the fullest manner, approved of their 
 proceeding, and relieved them from all actions, civil or crim- 
 inal, that might be entered against them, or any of them, for 
 wliat they had done. 
 
 The French court, who continued to look with regret on 
 the loss of their influence in Scotland, and omitted no oppor- 
 tunity by which it might be regained, despatched thither an 
 ambassador, M. Monevel, early in January, and ordered M. 
 de la Motte Fenelon, ambassador at the English court, to join 
 him. Their instructions were, to endeavour to procure the 
 king his liberty ; to try to draw closer the bonds of union with 
 France ; and to revive the project for associating the queen 
 mother, and James, in the government together. Elizabeth, 
 who dreaded the French gaining any ascendency in the Scot- 
 tish council, although she viewed with jealousy the embassage, 
 could not, by any intrigue, prevent it. * She therefore, to 
 counteract as much as possible the effect, sent Davidson, as 
 her ambassador, along with Fenelon, under pretence of con- 
 curring in the same object, but, in reality, to watch his mo- 
 tions, and support the nobles. 
 
 The arrival of the French ambassadors occasioned consider- 
 able agitation, especially when the object of their mission 
 came to be known, and the clergy, who viewed with just hor- 
 ror any apprc-ach tov/ards an affinity with the treacherous and 
 " bloody house of Guise," immediately took the alarm, 
 James, who, since he assumed the government, had received 
 no foreign ministers, except from England, was delighted with 
 this honourable embassy from the French monarch. He re- 
 
 * It is not unlikely that the French king, Henry III., dreading some obsta- 
 cle to M. de la Motte's progress from Elizabeth's poHcy, had sent M. Monevel 
 by gea as a duplicate to prevent disappointments. 
 
 43 " " . 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 67 
 
 ceived the ambassadors with great distinction himself, and was 
 anxious that they should be everywhere treated with respect. 
 By a message to the presbytery of Edinburgh, he requested 
 that the ministers should refrain from speaking about them. 
 In reply, the ministers said they were bound, in every season 
 of danger to religion, to caution their flocks, and admonished 
 the king himself to be upon his guard ; and they proceeded in 
 what they conceived their duty, warning their hearers against 
 the corruptions of popery, and against any league with its 
 professors, but, at the same time, urged the obligation of 
 performing the offices of humanity to strangers, although they 
 differed in the articles of faith.* 
 
 When M. Fenelon found, that he made but small progress 
 in his negotiation, and was preparing to leave the kingdom, 
 the king, at the request of some merchants who traded with 
 France, f wrote to the council of Edinburgh, to invite the 
 ambassador to a farewell banquet. The provost and magis- 
 trates, apparently pro forma, laid the letter before the minis- 
 ters, for their advice, and they deemed it miseasonable and 
 improper, "for banqueting," said they, "is a sign of love; it^ 
 therefore, ye be sincere, ye seal by this feast, your fellowship 
 and true love with the murderers of the people of God; if 
 you dissemble, it is hypocrisy." Notwithstanding which, the 
 magistrates proceeded with their banquet, and the ministers, 
 who saw their advice scorned, and the right hand of fellow- 
 ship given to idolaters, proclaimed a fast to be held on the 
 same day.:]: In this conduct, perhaps there might be a want 
 
 * Dr. Cooke's Hist. Cli. of Scot. vol. i. p. 362. and authorities, p. 363. 
 f Calderwood, p. 1S8. 
 
 % We are apt to err in estimating the customs of other times, either by 
 comparing them with our own, or by forgetting the circumstances which ren- 
 dered necessary then, what might be improper now, and pronouncing simply 
 upon an insulated action. Yet even doing so, in this instance, I should hesi- 
 tate before I blamed the ministers. The magistrates ought not to have asked" 
 their advice, if they did not mean to follow it, and I do not know but in such 
 a case, the fast was a fair retaliation. But when we recollect that the blood 
 of the thousands immolated to the papal tyranny, still stained the streets of 
 Paris, and the fields of France, that this was justified upon jmnnple, that 
 every papist of that day, was in fact an accessory to the deed, that some of 
 the ministers of Edinburgh had themselves witnessed the cruelties of tha'- 
 
68 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of politeness, but it was at least consistent, for how could they 
 look with complacency on an official entertainment, given to 
 the representative of a court, any connexion with which they 
 were daily deprecating, as the most cruel misfortune that 
 could befall their country. 
 
 Mary, as was natural for a mother, when indistinct reports 
 reached her of her son's confinement, felt all the bitterness of 
 her unfortunate situation with double force, and in a passion- 
 ate letter to Elizabeth, inveighed against the cruelty of her 
 own imprisonment, and entreated her to interfere on behalf of 
 her son, nor allow him also to be overwhelmed by his rebel- 
 lious subjects ; but Elizabeth knew not the feelings of a parent. 
 The letter was neglected, and the unhappy queen left to brood 
 in solitude, and with anxiety, over the misfortunes of herself, 
 and to her, the doubtful fate of her child. 
 
 superstition abroad, and that the ashes of the Romish fires were scarcely cool 
 at home ; when we recollect the unsettled state of the government, and of the 
 country, the conduct of the ministers, in decidedly and publicly marldng their 
 disapprobation of any convivial intercourse with the representative of the 
 French court, does not appear so very reprehensible. Spotswood, whose ac- 
 count, however, is liable to the charge of exaggeration, says, " To impede this 
 feast, the ministers did, on the Sunday preceding, proclaim a fast, to be kept 
 on the same day on which the feast was appointed ; and to detain the people 
 at church, the three ordinary preachers did, one after another, make sermon 
 in St. Giles' church without any intermission of time." Calderwood tells us, 
 " the people met between 9 and 10 o'clock in the forenoon, and continued 
 till two afternoon, to signify their misliking," which would allow a sufficient 
 time for the city banquet after all. Besides, it was not the deed of the pres» 
 b}'tery, for Calderwood adds, " If there was any errour committed, it is to be 
 imputed to the particular session of the kirk of Edinburgh." 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Book II. 
 
 Notwithstanding the apparent acquiescence of James, he 
 was by no means satisfied with his situation, he sighed after 
 liberty, while, with the most consummate art, he dissembled 
 his uneasiness, and appeared to the lords as cheerfal and con- 
 tent ; and so well did he counterfeit, that they, now freed from 
 all dread of Lennox, and Arran being at a distance from court, 
 and hated for his violence, began to relax in watching the 
 king, and the greater part withdrew to their own castles. In 
 the meantime, colonel Stuart, and Mr. John Colville, who had 
 been sent to England, upon an embassy, to demand the resti- 
 tution of the estates in that kingdom, which had belonged to 
 the king's grandfather, the earl of Lennox, acquaint the queen 
 with the state of affairs in Scotland, and arrange a number of 
 other matters in dispute, having returned with discordant 
 answers, the king, imagining some advantage might be made 
 of this circumstance, consulted with Stuart, who commanded 
 the band of gentlemen forming his body guard, respecting the 
 best method of emancipating himself from his thraldom, when 
 it was resolved to call a convention of the estates at St. An- 
 drews, under pretence of consulting about the relations v/ith 
 England, but to invite only such persons as he thought would 
 be favourable to his design. Previously to the day of meeting, 
 Stuart advised the king to send for some of his most experi- 
 enced counsellors in this emergency, and in consequence, Sir 
 James Melville, who had retired from court, received his ma- 
 jesty's commands to repair to Falkland. Fie endeavoured to 
 dissuade the king from his undertaking, as rash and danger^ 
 
70 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 
 
 ous, but finding him resolute, he advised him, if successful in 
 making his escape, to proclaim a general amnesty, free, full, 
 and without reserve; to accede to the requests of the church, 
 and choose for his counsellors, the most virtuous and discreet 
 of the nobility and gentry, all which, the king, with his usual 
 facility, readily promised. 
 
 In order to avoid suspicion, some days previous to the 
 meeting of the convention, he set out for St. Andrews, under 
 the pretext of visiting his grand uncle, the earl of March. At 
 first he lodged in an open inn, but some of the lords, who had 
 heard of his sudden departure from Falkland, arriving at St. 
 Andrews with armed follovv'ers, he became alarmed, and entei'- 
 ed the castle. Next morning, the earls of Argyle, Huntly, 
 Ci'awford, Montrose, and the rest of the lords who were in- 
 vited, arrived, but unarmed, which induced the others to hope 
 they might yet regain possession of the king's person, but 
 being outnumbered, by the defection of the earl of Gowrie 
 from their cause, they made no serious attempt, and the king- 
 retained complete possession of the castle, and the freedom of 
 once more choosing his own advisers. In the commencement, 
 he appeared as if inclined to perform the promises he had 
 made to Sir James Melville, and having assembled all the 
 lords, together with the Fife barons, the chief magistrates of 
 the towns upon the coast, the ministers of St. Andrews, and 
 the masters of the college, he in their presence declared : — 
 That although he had been unwillingly detained for some 
 time, yet he meant not to impute this as a crime to any person ; 
 it was his intention, to bury in oblivion all that had passed 
 during his minoiity, to satisfy the demands of the church, en- 
 deavour to heal the dissentions which existed, and show im- 
 partial favour to all his subjects without distinction, as he 
 knew what had been done, did not proceed from any disaffec- 
 tion to his person, but from the unhappy partialities of the 
 times. After this declaration, and to show his impartiality, 
 he ordered two of each faction to retire from court for a while, 
 the earls of Angus and Bothwell on the one side, and Huntly 
 and Crawford on the other. He then made choice of the earls 
 of March, Argyle, Gowrie, Montrose, Marischal, and Rothes, 
 as his permanent council, and to evince the sincerity of his 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. - 71' 
 
 reconciliation, he paid a visit to the earl of Gowrie, at Ruth- 
 ven castle, and again granted him a full pardon. 
 
 When James had regained his liberty, the earl of Arran, 
 VvhOj by favour of the lords, had been permitted to reside up- 
 on his estate of Kinneil, was extremely anxious to be admitted 
 into the royal presence, and the king, who continued to cher- 
 ish his affection for the worthless favourite, notwithstanding 
 his repeated professions to the contrary, was no less anxious 
 to see him. The nobility in vain opposed his return, and Sir 
 James Melville, with as little effect, pointed out the mischie- 
 vous consequences of his recall, and entreated that the king 
 would not receive him into confidence. The king promised 
 that he would not admit him to his confidence, that he only 
 wished a single interview, and would not suffer him to remain ; 
 but the earl was admitted, and all the king's professions and 
 promises were speedily forgotten. No sooner had Arran re- 
 gained the ascendency, than moderation was cast aside, and 
 every regard to truth and common honesty banished the king's 
 counsels. His most solemn declarations were disregard- 
 ed, and measures, the very opposite of those he had promised 
 to follow, were most unblushingly pursued. An insidious 
 proclamation was issued, offering pardon to such as were 
 concei'ned in the Raid of Ruthven, provided they showed 
 symptoms of real penitence, asked forgiveness in time, and 
 did not by their future conduct, awaken the remembrance of 
 that treason. Such a proclamation, so different from the 
 full, free freedom, and act of indemnity, so repeatedly 
 promised, when the king was under no restraint, plainly warn- 
 ed the nobles of their fate, if they ventured to confide in the 
 word of a king, or the mercy of an unprincipled, now an ex- 
 asperated favourite. They therefore began to take measures 
 to secure their safety, while the king, with his usual duplicity, 
 pretended to be both ignorant of the extent, and grieved at 
 the nature of Arran's proceedings. 
 
 When Elizabeth was informed of the revolution that had 
 taken place in the Scottish court, she wrote James a severe 
 letter, reproaching him with his breach of faith, and remind" 
 ing him of the account he himself had written her of the dan- 
 gerous course the duke of Arran was pursuing ; " and yet," 
 
72 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 she adds, " you would make them guilty who delivered you 
 therefrom ! I hope you more esteem your honour than to give 
 it such a stain, since you have so oft protested that you was 
 resolved to notice these lords as your most affectionate sub- 
 jects, in the full persuasion, that all they had done was by 
 them intended for your advantage ;" and concludes by request- 
 ing him to proceed no further, till she should send a trusty 
 messenger to advise with him. James, in an humble, shuffling 
 answer, professes to take her " sharp admonition at this time, 
 as proceeding from a sisterly love ;" and after thanking her 
 for her friendly attempts to procure his liberty, excuses his 
 conduct from " the time," being " unfit to dispute too precise- 
 ly upon circumstances that were determined by those who 
 were masters of him and the state," and meekly ends thus : — 
 " When you desire that I proceed no further, until a trusty 
 messenger may come from you, I intend to stay from doing 
 any thing, till then, that you may be justly offended with."* 
 The trusty messenger, promised by Elizabeth, was the sec- 
 retary Walsingham, the minister, next to Burleigh, on whom 
 the English queen most depended. He came attended by a 
 magnificent train of upwards of " six score horsemen," but 
 travelled gently in a coach, on account of his age and the in- 
 firm state of his health. 
 
 While the English minister was slowly prosecuting his jour- 
 ney, Arran was rashly pursuing his violent measures. The 
 lords who prudently declined trusting Arran, and had with- 
 drawn from court, were required, by a new proclamation, to 
 surrender themselves prisoners, or, as the expression of the 
 day was, put themselves in ward ; but they all refusing, except 
 the earl of Angus, were denounced rebels. Arran, whose 
 aim it was to engross the whole power of the kingdom, and 
 
 * I cannot conceive how Dr. Robertson, book vi. should represent James, 
 on this occasion, a§ replying with " becoming dignity," for he refers to the 
 very letters I quote, and their account certainly comports but very little with 
 dignity. Spotswood, indeed, p. 326, mentions a conversation with "Walsing- 
 ham, in which he makes James use language similar to what Dr. R. represents 
 as the contents of the letter, but Melville is, I think, in this instance, from 
 having been personally employed, the preferable authority. — Melville, p. 
 279, 283. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. TS~ 
 
 drive from court every one but his own satellites, treated the 
 earl of Gowrie with so much insolence, that he forced him to 
 retire, and even after the king had invited him back, obliged 
 him again to withdraw, and form the resolution of leaving the 
 country. About the same time, he was appointed governor 
 of Stirling castle, of which town he was also provost, and 
 shortly after persuaded the king to take up his residence in 
 the castle, on purpose that no one, except with his permission, 
 might find access to the royal presence. 
 
 Walsingham, on his arrival in Edinburgh, was welcomed 
 by Sir James Melville, in name of the king, and conducted by 
 him to Perth, where the king had appointed to receive him. 
 He had there several interviews with his majesty, but refused 
 to have any personal communication with the earl of Arran, 
 who felt the affront so keenly, that he sought, upon every oc- 
 casion, to insult the ambassador.* No change in the political 
 situation of Scotland, nor any alteration of the relative cir- 
 cumstances of the two kingdoms followed this embassy, which 
 renders the conjecture not improbable,! that his chief errand 
 was to discover the capacity and disposition of the Scottish 
 king, who was now arrived at that time of life when, with 
 some degree of certainty, conjectures might be formed con- 
 cerning his character and future conduct ; yet it is not unlike- 
 ly, that whatever other business the aged ambassador might 
 have had to propose, he declined entering upon, when he 
 found Arran so high in favour; for he expressed himself to 
 Sir James Melville, in the language of strong disappointment 
 and regret, at the company by whom he found his majesty 
 surrounded, which, he said, " had he known before he set out, 
 he would have shifted the journey." James, however, who 
 possessed plausible and showy powers of conversation, made 
 rather a favourable impression on the English secretary, who, 
 ■notwithstanding the unworthy treatment he had met with, 
 gave his mistress an advantageous i-eport of his abilities. 
 
 * He refused the captains of Berwick, and other respectable members of 
 Walsingham's retinue, admission to the king, and, at his departure, instead 
 of a rich diamond ring, the king had ordered to be given him, he substituted 
 a paltry crystal. — Melville, p. 296. 
 
 f Melville, p. 297. Robertson. 
 VOL. in. K 
 
74 IflSroRT OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 The altered measures of the court had destroyed all confi- 
 dence, and the distractions of the country, in consequence, 
 increased, while Arran, the chief cause of the whole, whose 
 ambition seemed to have grown more insatiable from its late 
 check, procured himself to be appointed lord high chancellor, 
 and ffovernor of Edinburgh castle. A convention of the 
 estates was summoned for the 17th of December. At this 
 meeting, Arran having duped the nobles, and — according to 
 Melville — deceived the king, rendered the confusion more in- 
 extricable, and instead of soothing, augmented the disorder 
 of the state. He represented to the nobility, as they arrived 
 in Edinburgh, the king's gracious intention, to grant to each 
 individually, after suffering some very trifling punishment, a 
 pardon for his particular share in the offence, provided they 
 would consent to a vote of the convention, allowing, in gen- 
 eral, the enterprise to have been treason ; to which, if they 
 would not consent, they would be considered as vilifiez's of 
 the king's honour, and contemners of his promise. 
 
 Considering Arran's representations as an especial message 
 from the crown, the estates, on the first day of meeting, pass- 
 ed an act, recommending a rigorous prosecution of those who 
 had not embraced the offer of pardon at the time appointed, 
 and ordering the act of council, passed at St. Andrews, to be 
 erased from the council books. This act was productive of 
 the most pernicious effects to the conspirators, some of whom 
 were banished to Ireland, others confined wdthin certain dis- 
 tricts, and the earl of Gowrie, notwithstanding his reconcilia- 
 tion to the king, and his special pardon, deemed it prudent 
 to request leave to exile himself to France. 
 
 The return of Arran to power, was not less baneful to the 
 clergy than to the nobles. The church had, during the ten 
 months James was under the direction of the confederater" 
 lords, enjoyed a temporary calm ; ministers were allowed to 
 preach with freedom, to exercise discipline, and to hold their 
 ecclesiastical assemblies ; but no sooner was he reinstated, 
 than persecution commenced. Several of the most respectable 
 individuals were interrosrated before the council on their sen- 
 timents respecting the -Raid of Ruthven, which they were 
 urged to condemn, and approve of the measures since pur- 
 
 45 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ¥$ 
 
 sued. In this difficult situation they acted with much pru- 
 dence; aware that any unguarded expression miglit expose 
 tliem to a criminal prosecution, they requested liberty to re- 
 ply in writing. In their answers, they declared that they ad- 
 hered to the act of the general assembly, with regard to the 
 Raid of Ruthven ; that, as individuals, they did not conceive 
 it fell within their sphere to intermeddle with political discus- 
 sions, but if his majesty were desirous to obtain the judgment 
 of the church, they recommended him to apply to the general 
 assembly. That l^ody, however, without waiting for his maj- 
 esty's command, at their next meeting, expressed their opin- 
 ion, by presenting a list of their grievances to the king at 
 Stirling: " They lamented the impunity enjoyed, through his 
 sufferance, by papists, apostates, and convicted traitors ; his 
 evident partiality to the enemies of God, both in his own realm 
 and in France ; the employment of men, of the most dissolute 
 lives, in his service, and the dismissal of upright, zealous, 
 loyal noblemen, who had ever been faithful to him from his 
 infancy ; they reminded him, that since his acceptance of the 
 government, the church had had many fair promises, but in- 
 stead of performance, its liberties and pi'ivileges were daily 
 infringed ; and they deplored the wanton perversion of law, 
 which excited universal discontent, and rendered both life and 
 property insecure ; and concluded with entreating his majesty 
 to call the wisest and most moderate of the nobility to his 
 councils, that, by their advice, the hearts of all good subjects 
 might be united in maintaining God's truth, and in preserving 
 his highness' estate and person." The king made a specious 
 reply, but the historian of the church * observes, the commis- 
 sioners received small contentment. 
 
 During the winter, the misgovernment of Arran became 
 every day more insupportable, and the ministers, whose in- 
 trepid patriotism formed the only apparent barrier to his ty- 
 ranny, were harassed in the most vexatious manner. Tlie 
 intrepid Dury, who had been already banished, but whose 
 sufferings could not induce him to sit the silent spectator of 
 his country's oppression, was summoned before the council 
 
 * CaldcrvoocL 
 
ifJ HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 for having, in one of liis sermons, vindicated the conduct of 
 the noblemen concerned in the Raid of Ruthven, and, defend- 
 ing what he had said, he wa^ ordered to ward himself in the 
 town of Montrose. But the most outrageous proceeding was 
 the process against Andrew Melville, then justly considered 
 the leader of the church. In the beginning of February he 
 was summoned to answer before the privy council, for some 
 seditious and treasonable speeches uttered by him in his ser- 
 mon on a fast which had been kept the preceding month. 
 Melville without hesitation obeyed, and the university sent 
 Mr. Robert Bruce, and Mr. Robert Wilkie, to the king and 
 council, with the most ample testimonial, declaring that they 
 had been constant attendants on his doctrine, and had never 
 heard either in his class or in his pulpit, any sentiment in- 
 consistent with the truth of God, or in the least subversive of 
 his majesty's government, to which he had constantly exhort- 
 ed his hearers to yield obedience, and to respect even the 
 meanest magistrate in authority. Similar attestations were 
 given him by the town council, the kirk session, and presby- 
 tery of St. Andrews. At his first appearance he gave an ac- 
 count, which he afterward embodied in his protestation, of the 
 sermon for which he was accused. His text was the address 
 of Daniel to Belshazzar, before he explained the handwriting 
 on the wall, in which he applied the example of the father in 
 reproof of the son ; and the general doctrine which he [Mel- 
 ville] deducted from the passage, and supported by other places 
 of Scripture, was, that it is the duty of ministers to apply ex- 
 amples of divine mercy and judgment in all ages to kings, 
 princes, and people, in their time ; and the nearer the persons 
 are to us, the greater interest have we in the example. " But 
 if nowadays," said he, " a minister should rehearse in the 
 court the example that fell out in king James III.'s days, who 
 was abused by the flattery of his courtiers, he would be said to 
 wander from his text." He denied ever having used the words, 
 " That our Nebuchadnezzar — meaning the king's mothei' — was 
 twice seven years banished, and would be restored again ;" and 
 solemnly protested, that he never, upon any occasion, said, 
 " The king is unlawfully promoted to the crown," or used any 
 words which could by possibility be construed to such a mean- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. qm 
 
 ing. The simple doctrine, he said, which he wished to estah- 
 lisli, was, that whether kings be advanced to the throne by in- 
 heritance, by election, or by any other ordinary means, it is 
 God that maketh kings, a truth which is easily forgotten by 
 them, and not by usurpers or robbers only, when exalted to 
 the regal dignity, but even by good men, who have been ex- 
 traordinarily placed in such high stations, as David, and Sol- 
 omon, and Joash, who all forgot the God that had advanced 
 them, and were therefore punished ; and instead of any appli- 
 cation, he offered up a prayer — according to his accustomed 
 manner whenever he spoke of his majesty — that it would please 
 the Lord of his mercy never to suffer the king to forget the 
 goodness of that God who had raised him to the throne while 
 yet an infant, and his mother still alive, and in opposition to 
 the greater part of the nobility, and who had preserved him 
 hitherto since the weighty burden of government was laid up- 
 on his shoulders. The council not being satisfied with this 
 explanation, and having resolved to proceed with the trial, he 
 requested, first, that as he was accused of certain expressions, 
 alleged to have been used by him in preaching and prayer, 
 his trial should be I'emitted, in the first instance, to the eccle- 
 siastical courts, as the orduiary judges of his ministerial con- 
 duct, according to Scripture, the laws of the kingdom, and an 
 agreement made between certain commissioners of the privy 
 council and of the church ; secondly, that he should be tried 
 at St. Andrews, whei'e the alleged offence was committed; or, 
 third, if his first request were refused, he should enjoy the 
 special privilege, lately confirmed by his majesty himself to 
 the university of St. Andrews, of having his case first submit- 
 ted to the rector and his assessors; fourthly, that he should 
 enjoy the benefit of the apostolic canon, Against an elder, re- 
 ceive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses ; 
 fifthly, that he should have the benefit of a free subject, by 
 being made acquainted with his accuser, who, if the charge 
 turned out false and calumnious, might be liable to the pun- 
 ishment prescribed by act against those who alienate the king 
 from his faithful subjects. In fine, he protested that if Wil- 
 liam Stuart was the informer, he had just cause to except 
 against him, inasmuch as he bore him deadly malice, and had 
 
78 HISTORY OF SCOTI-AND. 
 
 frequently threatened him bodily injury, and could not there- 
 fore be received as a witness. 
 
 On the second day, commissioners from the presbytery of 
 St. Andrews, attended to protest for the liberty of the church, 
 and also commissioners from the university; to re-pledge Mel- 
 ville to the court of the rector, but were refused admission, 
 and the court was about to proceed, when Melville gave in his 
 protest and declinature, expressed in language similar to the 
 requests and explanations he had made the day before. The 
 king and Arran, violently enraged at the bold stej) Melville 
 had taken, endeavoured, by alternate threats and entreaties, 
 to induce Melville to withdraw his declinature, but finding 
 him resolute in demanding that his cause should be remitted 
 to the proper judges, at last, Stuart was brought forward as 
 his accuser, and a number of witnesses were examined, but 
 nothing criminal could be proved against him. Failing to 
 establish their charge, but determined on vengeance, a new 
 accusation, and one never heard of, but in the most arbitrary 
 courts, was brought forward, and Melville was found guilty of 
 declining the judgment of the council, and of behaving impro- 
 perly before them, and was condemned to be imprisoned in 
 the castle of Edinburgh, and further punished in person and 
 goods, at his majesty's pleasure. But learning that the place 
 of' confinement was changed to Blackness, a damp and un- 
 wholesome dungeon, and that if he entered ward, it was pro- 
 bable he would only be released to go to the scaffold, without 
 waiting the legal time for the execution of the sentence, he 
 secretly fled from Edinburgh, and took refuge in Berwick.* 
 
 In the then state of justice in Scotland, the line of conduct 
 adopted by Melville, was the only safe method he could have 
 pursued. To have submitted in the first instance to the privy 
 council, would have been certain ruin, besides owning a juris- 
 diction which he did not believe to be leffal, and which, even 
 if in common cases it had, he was not in the present instance 
 bound to obey, as there were two special exemptions, which 
 were still in force, and which he pleaded — the agreement of 
 
 * Calderwood, pp. 145-7. M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. i. pp. 287, 299.. 
 Cook's Hist. Ch, of Scot. vol. i. pp. 377-9. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. ^ 
 
 the court* with the church, and the privileges granted to the 
 university of St. Andrews. The claims of the church were 
 high, but in that age necessary, for they had to meet and re- 
 sist the exorbitant demands of unqualified despotism. In the 
 present day, when there are other methods of opposing the 
 encroachments of power, and when the jurisdiction of the sev- 
 eral courts are better defined, the claim of hearing, even in 
 the first instance, charges of sedition or treason, or any civil 
 offence committed by their members, would never be listened 
 to. In matters referring to religion and morals, the pulpit 
 has, and ought to have a liberty unrestrained by any civil 
 power, but in politics, and private character, it is widely dif- 
 ferent, for the obvious reason, that while in the senate, or at 
 the bar, any improper observations may be instantly challenged 
 and corrected, the pulpit admits of no immediate reply, and 
 besides, there is a natural tendency in church courts, to en- 
 croach upon the civil jurisdiction, and to protect their mem- 
 bers, which would render such a privilege, of very doubtful 
 advantage. 
 
 The escape of Melville, was made the grounds of a new 
 stretch of power by the privy council, and further severities 
 against the fugitives. An act was passed, ordaining that such 
 
 * An agreement had been entered into, between the ci)mmissioners of the 
 coimcil, and certain ministers, after the fii'st imprisonment of Dury, to avoid 
 any future dissension, in which it was stipulated, if the king v/as offended at 
 the doctrine of any preacher, he should cause a complaint to be given in 
 against him to the ecclesiastical courts, instead of summoning him to appear 
 before the privy council ; and this was done in the case of Balcanquhall, one 
 of the ministers of Edinburgh, who, in a sermon, had said, "that within these 
 four years, popery had entered into the country and court, and was maintain- 
 ed in the king's hall, by the tyranny of a great champion, who was called 
 Grace — alluding to Lennox — but if his Grace continued in opposing himself 
 to God and his word, he would come to little Grace in the end." The as- 
 sembly, before whom the cause was brought, having been unable to find either 
 sedition or treason in the expressions, declared the doctrine to have been 
 " good and sound." The king was dissatisfied with the decision and this was 
 afterward alleged as an excuse for bringing the other causes immediately be- 
 fore the privy council, as if the assembly had bound themselves to condemn 
 m eveiy case, when his majesty thought fit to accuse. James never forgot the 
 acquittal of Balcanquhall ; being an inveterate punster himself, he probably 
 thought the preacher had invaded his prerogative. 
 
80 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 preachers as were accused, should henceforth be apprehended 
 without the formality of a legal charge, and it was declared 
 treason to hold any communication with those who had left 
 the kingdom. An order was at the same time issued, for all 
 who had obtained leave to depart, to set out without delay to 
 the places of their destination. Notwithstanding these warn- 
 ings, and his knowledge of the inveterate enmity of Arran, 
 the earl of Gowrie, unwilling to leave his native land, still 
 delayed his departure. While lingering about Dundee, he 
 received information that the lords who ha(J gone to Ireland, 
 had determined to endeavour the liberation of their country, 
 by removing Arran from the king's council. Little persua- 
 sion was necessary to induce him to enter into their designs, 
 but as he waited their motions, his protracted stay excited 
 suspicion, and colonel Stuart, the captain of the king's guard, 
 was sent to apprehend him. The colonel surprised him at his 
 lodgings, but notwithstanding he defended himself for six 
 hours, and endeavoured to excite the inhabitants to come to 
 his assistance, by exclaiming, that he was prosecuted for the 
 sake of religion, he was, however, overpowered, and carried 
 prisoner to Kinniel, the earl of Arran's seat. 
 
 Two days after, the earls of Angus, Marr, and the master 
 of Glammis, surprised Stirling castle, where they intended to 
 fortify themselves, and issued a proclamation, declaring that 
 their only object in seizing arms, was to deliver the king from 
 evil counsellors, but the apprehension of Gowrie, of whose 
 fidelity they were uncertain, as he had formerly deserted them, 
 the tardiness of their friends at home, and their disappoint- 
 ment of aid from England, cast a gloom over their minds, and 
 rendered their prospects hopeless ; and the king having raised 
 an army vath uncommon expedition, the chiefs fled to Eng- 
 land, and the castle surrendered to Alexander, master of Lev- 
 ingston, upon the first summons. The speedy abruption of 
 this ill-concerted attempt, rendered the favourite more secure, 
 and added strength to his party. Gowrie first felt its effects. 
 The extensive estates of that nobleman, had attracted the 
 avarice of Arran's wife,* and his opposition in the council, 
 
 * He, [Arran] shot directly at the life and lands of tlie earl of Cowrie, for 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. tJ?! 
 
 had drawn down upon him the hatred of the earl himself, both 
 which cii'cumstances conduced to render him peculiarly ob- 
 noxious. He was therefore ordered to Stirling, to stand trial, 
 but before he set out, he was induced by the hope of pardon 
 held out to him, and a promise that nothing he might disclose 
 would be used in evidence against him, to reveal all he knew 
 concerning the conspiracy, and the names of those who, though 
 not actually engaged, were considered as favourable to the 
 design. 
 
 On his arrival at StirUng, he wrote to the king, requesting 
 an interview, in order to reveal some secret of importance, but 
 the request was not only denied, but the concealing from his 
 majesty a secret — the nature of which was not known to his 
 accusers — made part of the indictment preferred against him. 
 It was in vain he objected deadly enmity to some of his judges, 
 and the promises that had been made to him previously to his 
 trial; all his objections were over-ruled, he was sent to an 
 assize, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to suffer the 
 death of a traitor. In the evening of the same day, he was 
 beheaded, but the quartering of the body being dispensed 
 with, his servants were permitted to bury the whole remains 
 of the unfortunate nobleman. He died with firmness and 
 resignation, expressing on the scaffold the usual regret of 
 disappointed courtiers, who, in their career of ambition, have 
 been more anxious to study the humours or caprice of princes, 
 than to hold fast their own integrity. His lands were divided 
 among the dominant party. On the same day, two servants 
 of the earl of Marr were executed, and the rest who were in 
 the castle at the time of its surrender, were banished. 
 
 A temporary calm ensued, and the unnatural vigour which 
 a government always acquires after the suppression of an im- 
 successful insurrection, promised to ensure its continuance. In 
 the usual method of adopting more severe and arbitrary mea- 
 sures, to crush entirely the spirit which had just been broken, 
 James hastened to Edinburgh, and summoned a parliament, 
 which, in the present state of affairs, consisted entirely of the 
 
 the Highland oracles had shown unto his wife, that Gowrie should be ruined, 
 as she told to some of her familiars." Melville, p. SIO. 
 VOL. HI. L 
 
82 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 friends or supporters of Arran, who were disposed to enact 
 whatever he should be disposed to dictate. As the church 
 was the peculiar object of his resentment, whose freedom of 
 discussion, the king and his favourite equally hated and feared, 
 the ministers who knew this, were extremely anxious in watch- 
 ing the proceedings of the court, and the court was equally 
 anxious to prevent them from knowing what was in agitation ; 
 the lords of the articles were sworn to secrecy, and the busi- 
 ness of parliament was carried on with shut doors. The min- 
 isters, however, having learned the nature of some of the acts 
 proposed, deputed Mr. David Lindsay, a man whose wisdom 
 and moderation the king pretended greatly to respect, to wait 
 upon his majesty, and to entreat that no law might pass, af- 
 fecting the interest of the church, till the assembly was first 
 consulted, but Arran being informed of the message, caused 
 him to be arrested, on the charge of corresponding with the 
 fugitives, in the palace yard, as he was proceeding to the king, 
 detained him that night in Holyroodhouse, and next morning, 
 sent him prisoner to Blackness, where he lay till the fall of 
 the favourite. They then instructed some of their number to 
 proceed to parliament, and protest in name of the church, 
 against any encroachment on their liberty, but they were re- 
 fused admission. 
 
 Such was the unconstitutional, precipitate, and hidden man- 
 ner in which the king and Arran procured the enactments of 
 this parliament, and the acts were in every respect worthy of 
 the manner in which they were obtained. The late usurpa- 
 tions of the privy council were confirmed. The king's au- 
 thority was declared to extend over all persons, and all causes, 
 and to decline his majesty's judgment, or the council's in any 
 matter, was pronounced treason. To impugn the authority, 
 or to innovate or procure the diminution of the power, of any 
 of the three estates, was forbidden under the same penalty. 
 All jurisdictions and judicatures, spiritual and temporal, 
 which had hitherto been exercised, but not formally sanction- 
 ed by parliament, were prohibited. Commissions were to be 
 given to the bishops, and such others as shall be constituted 
 king's commissioners in ecclesiastical causes, to put order to 
 all ecclesiastical matters in their dioeeses : and it was ordain- 
 45 .;. . .. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. S3 
 
 ed, that none of whatever function, quality, or degree, should 
 presume, privately or publicl}', in sermons, declamations, or 
 familiar conferences, to utter any false, untrue, or slanderous 
 speeches, to the reproach, or contempt of his majesty, his 
 council, or proceedings, or to the dishonour, hurt, or preju- 
 dice of his highness, his parents, and progenitors, or to med- 
 «lie in the affairs of his highness, and his estate, present, by- 
 gone, or in time coming, under the pains contained in the acts 
 of parliament, against the makers and tellei's of leaslngs, which 
 were to be executed with all rigour, even upon those who 
 heard such speeches, and did not reveal them. These acts, 
 overturninof the whole that had been done since the reforma- 
 tion, establishing the supremacy of the king in council, re- 
 storing the estate of bishops, abolishing, or at least rendering 
 subservient to the royal will, every church court, from the 
 general assembly, to the session,* and preventing every kind 
 of political discussion, passed through the parliament without 
 opposition. It was not expected that the ministers would be 
 equally silent and submissive, orders were therefore sent to 
 the magistrates, to silence, or drag from the pulpit, any indi- 
 vidual Avho should presume to censure, or make observations 
 on these statutes. As the acts, however, were not yet publish- 
 ed, the magistrates, who were unwilling to use force with their 
 ministers, delayed interfering, and the next day being sabbath, 
 the ministers declaimed with great freedom on die subversion 
 of their civil and religious liberty. On monday, when the acts 
 were proclaimed at the market-cross, Lawson, Balcanquhall, 
 and Pont, who was also a lord of session, fearlessly made 
 solemn public protestation, in name of the kirk, with the cus- 
 
 * " On the 28th May, 1584, a special license was granted by his majesty, 
 in \'irtue of his dispensin-g power, for holding the weekly exercise and meet- 
 ings of the kirk session in Edinburgh, notwithstanding our late act of Parlia- 
 ment, or any pains contained therein, anent the which we dispense be thir 
 presents. Cald. vol. iii. p. 376. An intimation of a similar kind was made to 
 the elders of St. Andrews, by Adamson. Record of Kirk Session of St. An> 
 drews, June 17th, 1584. But where the ministers or elders were unconform- 
 able to the will of the court, they were prevented from assembling. The kii-k 
 session of Glasgow, wliich used to meet every week, did not assemble from 
 July istb, 1584, to March Slst, 1585." Wodrow's Life of Mr. D. Weems. 
 M'Crie't Life cf Melville, vol. i. pp. SI 1, Si 2. Note. 
 
84 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ternary ceremonies. Arran, enraged at their boldness, threat- 
 ened loudly,* deprived Pont of his situation, as senator in the 
 college of justice, and issued orders to apprehend all. concern- 
 ed in the protest ; but they, dreading what would follow, made 
 a timely escape to Berwick, a number of other eminent min- 
 isters followed their example, and those who remained, were 
 subjected to the most vexatious and cruel treatment. One 
 instance of characteristic barbarity deserves to be recorded. 
 Nicol Dalgliesh, a distinguished scholar, who had been many 
 years regent in St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews, and was 
 now minister of the parish of St. Cuthbert's church, was capr 
 itally tried, for praying for his distressed brethren. The jury 
 acquitted him, but he was instantly re-indicted npon a new 
 charge of holding communication with rebels, merely because 
 he had read a letter, which one of the ministers of Edinburgh 
 had sent to his wife. Unconscious of crime, he was persuad- 
 ed to throw himself on the king's mercy. Sentence of death 
 was, notwithstanding, passed, and though it was not executed, 
 yet, by a refinement of cruelty, the scaffold was erected, and 
 kept standing for several weeks, before the window of his 
 prison.f In addition to all their other grievances, the min- 
 isters were required to subscribe a bond, in which they en- 
 gaged to obey the late acts of parliament, and own the author- 
 ity of the bishops, under pain of being deprived of their 
 livings. Numbers refused, but the king invited the leaders to 
 a private conference, and Adamson, archbishop of St. An- 
 drews, having inserted a qualifying clause — " according to 
 God's word," — disjoined the oppositionists, and several, whom 
 threats could not bend, were juggled into compliance. Among 
 these were Dury, Craig, and the venerable Erskine of Dun ; 
 they who continued firm in their resistance, were forced to 
 join their brethren in exile. Desolation aiid astonishment 
 now appeared in every part of the Scottish church ; nor did 
 the universities escape in the general tempest, the professors 
 of such as were considered unfriendly to the court, were ban- 
 
 * They were threatened, •' though their craig were as great as anc hay stack, 
 their head should lie at their heels." — Calderwood, p. 160. 
 
 f M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. i. p. 314. Calderwood, p. 170. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 85 
 
 ished, or thrown into jail, the students dismissed, and the 
 colleges shut up.* 
 
 The tendency of the late acts of parliament, the flight and 
 dispersion of the ministers, the attacks upon the seats of learn- 
 ing, and the fondness displayed for the order of bishops, ren- 
 dered the king suspected of favouring popery. This rumour 
 being general, he published a declaration, explaining these 
 acts, in which he attempted to show their necessity, and that 
 their sole object was to settle the fonn and polity of the kirk. 
 The only effect which this produced, was to call forth the 
 friends of fi'eedom, justice, and the presbyterian form of church 
 government to reply, which they did both in prose and verse, 
 and as they were superior in argument, and their reasonings 
 more congenial to the public feeling, they increased the hatred 
 which' all ranks bore to the administration of xirran. The 
 ministers of Edinburgh who had fled, as soon as they reached 
 Berwick, wrote nn affectionate, and admonitory epistle to their 
 deserted flocks, informing them of the reasons which had in- 
 duced them to take this step. " It was not," they told them, 
 " the fear of death, or love of life, which had moved them to 
 withdraw for a season, but the open cruelty with which, by 
 the late acts they were threatened, and in which their flocks 
 too, must have been involved, the whole ecclesiastical discipline 
 plucked out of theii* hands, to whom Christ Jesus had com- 
 mitted the spiritual government of the church, and intrusted 
 to those who had their calling of the world and of men, not 
 of God. The charges given, and that to members of their own 
 congregations, for their apprehension, if they dared to speak 
 the truth freely, and the danger which their presence must 
 have occasioned to their people, after these orders were issued, 
 had compelled them, from motives of affection and love to 
 them, to absent themselves. Besides, they thought it lawful 
 to follow the example of their Lord, and by fleeing to escape 
 the rage of men, reserve themselves for a better time." 
 
 Upon receipt of this letter, the town council of Edinburgh, 
 fearing lest it might be brought as a charge against them, 
 
 , * The universities of Glasgow r.nd Aberdeen, were U-eated in this manner. 
 Cotton MSS. quoted bv M'Crie, Life of Melville, vol. i. p, 316. 
 
86 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 immediately transmitted it to the king, who, with the charac- 
 teristic meanness of a base mind in power, that dehghts to 
 add insult to injury, insisted on the leading inhabitants of 
 Edinburgh subscribing a letter, drawn up by his orders ; and 
 addressed to their ministers, reproaching them with contempt- 
 uously, irreverently, and in opposition to their own conscience, 
 slandering the good and necessary laws established by his 
 majesty and the parliament, and endeavouring to disturb the 
 realm, and excite sedition, adding, they had now discovered 
 the«iselves, by deserting their flocks, and declaring themselves 
 fugitives and rebels, and had made them, [the subscribers,] 
 offend his majesty, by holding any communication with them. 
 In conclusion, they thanked God, the ruler of the secret 
 thoughts of all hearts, that they had been manifested to their 
 own shame, and the church's happiness, which was thus re- 
 lieved from wolves instead of pastors, and they hoped his 
 majesty would provide them with good, and quiet spirited 
 teachers ; finally, they committed them to God, and exhorted 
 them to repent unfeignedly of their offences. All the power 
 of the court, could only procure sixteen names to this ungen- 
 erous production, but among these were some, who, in other 
 times, had been the most zealous and forward in the cause. 
 
 To open avowed oppression, Arran added the more infa- 
 mous mode of supporting his power, and advancing his ambi- 
 tion, by fictitious conspiracies, and a system of domestic es- 
 pionage. Drummond, of Blair, who had been imprisoned in 
 Edinburgh castle, on suspicion of being connected with the 
 malecontents, and on purpose to extort information from him, 
 when it was found that he had none to give, was set at liberty. 
 But scarcely was he liberated, when he was apprehended up- 
 on a new warrant, for some pretended offence, and examined 
 before the privy council at Edinburgh, and then carried to 
 Falkland, where he underwent another examination before the 
 king. Having been tampered with by Arran, he declared 
 that while in prison, Robert Douglas, the provost of Glen- 
 cluden, was also confined there, and that they had had several 
 conferences about overturning the present government, and 
 putting the earl of Arran to death. In some of their conver- 
 sations, the provost informed him that the earl of Crawford 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. ' §f 
 
 was friendly to the scheme, and the Hamiltons, Douglases, 
 and the other fugitives in England, were likewise parties to 
 the plot. Douglas, on being examined, denied that any such 
 conversations had ever taken place, and offered combat to 
 Drummond. 
 
 As it would have been difficult to have proved the conver- 
 sation, the prosecution was not carried farther against Doug- 
 las ; it however answered a double purpose, Marr, the gov- 
 ernor of the castle, was removed for not being sufficiently 
 watchful over the conduct of the prisoners, and the governor- 
 ship bestowed upon Arran; and greater rigour was exercised 
 upon those who held any correspondence, of whatever nature, 
 with the exiles. David Home of Argathy, and Patrick, his 
 brother, were executed for exchanging some letters with the 
 commendator of Dryburgh, although their contents referred 
 only to some private accounts, which remained unsettled when 
 he was forced to go into exile ; and in order to encourage that 
 race of miscreants, detested by all honourable men, and evei'y 
 upright administration — public informers, proclamation was 
 made : — That whoever should discover any treasonable cor- 
 respondence or conspiracy, besides a full pardon, should re- 
 ceive a reward. -. .:.: . • 
 
 When rulers show a willingness to receive accusations, and 
 offer a bounty for the discovery of treason, it is seldom long 
 ere they are gratified, either by the destruction of the inno- 
 cent upon false evidence, or the conviction of the unwary, 
 who have been entrapped by designing villains ; nor did the 
 present proclamation fail to produce these consequences. 
 Malcolm Douglas of Mains, and John Cunningham of Drum- 
 whassel, gentlemen of considerable property, and universally 
 respected, had become objects of suspicion to the court, 
 Douglas especially, who was dreaded on account of his cour- 
 age and independence of spirit. This pointed them out as 
 proper persons to be denounced, and one Robert Hamilton 
 of Ecclesmachan, allured by the offered reward, and encour- 
 aged by the situation they stood in with the court, accused 
 them of having conspired to intercept the king during a hunt- 
 ing match, and detain him in some strong hold till the lords 
 should advance, into whose hands they had agreed to deliver 
 
8S ' HISTORY Oi' SCOTLAND. 
 
 him. This information, although generally believed to be a 
 forgery, was greedily listened to by Arran ; but as another 
 witness was wanting to render the accusation valid, it was 
 agreed that Sir James Edmonston of Duntraith, one of their 
 most familiar acquaintances, should be charged with the same 
 crime, and by operating upon his fears, and then offering him 
 pardon, endeavour to extort some corroborative evidence. 
 Under the influence of this refined torture, the courage of Sir 
 James yielded, and he incurred the everlasting reproach of 
 being accessory to the murder of his friend. The plan of 
 procedure thus settled, colonel William Stewart was despatch- 
 ed to apprehend the victims, and finding them residing secure- 
 ly in their own houses, arrested the whole without resistance, 
 and brought them to Edinburgh. They were all three put to 
 trial, and Edmonston having, as was agreed, pleaded guilty, 
 the others were also condemned, although the absurdity of 
 the charge, from the impossibility of the attempt, and the cir- 
 cumstances of the pi'isoners, was perfectly and convincingly 
 evident. Drumwhassel and Mains were executed the same 
 day in the High-Street of Edinburgh. Hamilton, the in- 
 ibrmer, shunned and detested by all, was protected by Arran, 
 with whom he resided till a new revolution took place, and 
 the favourite was forced to abscond, when he, likewise en- 
 deavouring to make his escape, was overtaken and killed by 
 Johnston of Westraw, who had vowed to revenge the death 
 of Douglas. These executions spread a general gloom over 
 the face of the community, and the dread of spies and inform- 
 ers created such universal distrust, that the common intez- 
 course of society was interrupted, no one knowing in whom 
 to repose confidence. Meanwhile AzTan continued to concen- 
 ti'ate, in his own pei'son, all the high offices of state, and to 
 grasp at all the power of the realm. On the death of the earl 
 of Argyle,* he was raised to the office of chancellor, and be- 
 sides being govez-nor of Stirling and Edinbuz-gh castles, he 
 procured himself to be chosen provost of the city ; yet still 
 unsatisfied, he at length obtained the title of lieutenant-gen- 
 eral of the whole kingdom. 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 339. Crawford says, before the death of Arg-yle — Affairs 
 of State, appendix, }). 447. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. " S0's 
 
 Elizabeth, whose poUcy was ever adapted to the varying 
 circumstances of the times., perceiving the difficulty, or rather 
 the impossibility, of managing the affairs of Scotland as she 
 had formerly done, except through the medium of the king's 
 favourites, despatched Davidson, one of her principal secre- 
 taries, to Scotland, to attach Arran to her interest. Arran, 
 who had in vain attempted to ingratiate himself with Walsing- 
 ham, received the advances of Davidson with the utmost 
 eagerness, and readily entered into the views of England, 
 for, hated by the nobility of his own country, and aware of 
 the fickleness of his prince, he looked forward to the friend- 
 ship of Elizabeth as the firmest support of his authority. 
 
 Soon after, a meeting was appointed with lord Hunsdon, 
 the governor of Berwick, at Foulden, on the borders, to which 
 the lieutenant-general proceeded with a splendid train. At 
 this interview he renewed his professions of attachment to the 
 English interest, and, in return, lord Hunsdon promised, on 
 the part of his queen, that the exiled lords should be removed 
 to the interior, to prevent their intriguing in Scotland. At 
 the same time, Arran, by a secret stipulation — as Elizabeth 
 was uneasy on the subject — engaged to keep James unmarried 
 for three years, under pretext that the queen had provided a 
 match for him of the blood royal in England, who would be 
 marriageable about that time, and on his union with whom, 
 her majesty would declare him her heir. 
 
 Arran, who had dreaded the interference of England on 
 behalf of the fugitive lords, now relieved from all dread upon 
 that account, immediately on his return called a parliament, 
 in which Angus, Marr, Glammis and a number of their fol- 
 lowers, were attainted, and their estates divided, as v/as the 
 custom, among the chiefs of the dominant party. But the ex- 
 orbitance of Arran's power, joined with his imperious temper, 
 which would admit of no partner, disgusted a number of his 
 own supporters, and a party was secretly forming against him 
 at the time when he thought he had most firmly fortified him- 
 self against any attack. The master of Gray, who had lately 
 been introduced at court on his return from his travels, pos- 
 sessed those qualifications which generally attracted the king 
 — a graceful person, and an insinuating address. He had al* 
 
 VOL. III. M 
 
90 HISTORY Oi SCOTLAND. ^ 
 
 ready made considerable progress in the favour of his sover- 
 eign, and, ambitious and restless, he viewed with impatience 
 the overpowering influence of Arran, Sir Lewis Bellenden, 
 the justice clerk, a man of a high spirit, submitted reluctantly, 
 and even the secretary, John Maitland, who owed to him his 
 office, deserted his declining fortune, and entered into the 
 schemes of his opponents ; but while plotting his ruin, with 
 the instinctive dissimulation of courtiers, they continued to 
 flatter and fawn upon the man they had devoted to destruction. 
 The increasing predilection of James for Gray, did not long 
 escape the penetration of Arran, who, in order to get rid of a 
 rival, procured that he should be sent as ambassador to the 
 court of England, to negotiate with Elizabeth for the perform- 
 ance of Hunsdon's promise — the removal of the banished lords. 
 Gray, during his residence in France by renouncing the 
 protestant religion, and pretending great zeal for the captive 
 queen, had gained the confidence of the duke of Guise, and 
 her friends there, by whom he was employed in managing a 
 secret correspondence with her. On his arrival at the English 
 court, he professed himself a protestant,* and, flattered by 
 the attention of Elizabeth, he abandoned his former connexions 
 without hesitation, and submitted implicitly to the direction of 
 the English government. He undertook to preserve the king 
 under the influence of England, and he betrayed the unfortu- 
 nate Scottish queen, by revealing to her enemies, all the secrets 
 with which his high pretensions in her service had made him 
 be intrusted. It was always the practice of Elizabeth's ministers 
 to play a double game with Scotland, and never to allow any 
 of the factions that distracted that country to be entirely de- 
 stroyed, but alternately to feed the hopes of both, and thus 
 keep both in constant dependance. Their conduct on this 
 occasion was in unison with their general policy. To gratify 
 the king, and yet not wholly cast oif the nobles, they avoided 
 ihe request of sending them out of the country, but ordered 
 them to reside in Norwich, at a distance from the borders; 
 and Gray having gained, as he supposed, the object of his 
 mission, was dismissed by the queen loaded with presents, 
 
 * CaltlcTwood, p. 170. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 91 
 
 and carrying letters to his master, filled with the highest com- 
 mendations of his talents and conduct. Seizing the oppor- 
 tunity of his absence, Arran had insidiously endeavoured, by 
 misrepresentations, to prejudice James against Gray ; but his 
 success in the negotiation, and the praises he received, in» 
 creased his ci'edit with the sovereign, and enabled him, at 
 convenient seasons, to recompense, with " court charity," 
 these secret services.* 
 
 Still unsatisfied while the exiles were suffered to remain in 
 England, James sent another embassy, at the head of which 
 was Bellenden, the justice clerk, to communicate the particu- 
 lars of Mains' and Drumwhassel's conspiracy, and demand 
 the expulsion of their associates. The lords, on his arrival, 
 were brought from Norwich to London, ostensibly to hear the 
 accusations against them ; and in a conference with the am- 
 bassador, before Elizabeth's council, they easily cleared them- 
 selves from this imputation. Other negotiations succeeded, 
 and Bellenden, who evidently had preconcerted the plan with 
 Gray before he left Scotland, and used his public character as 
 a cloak for his private intrigue, consulted with the men he 
 had been commissioned to accuse, about the removal of Arran, 
 and their own return to their native country. Elizabeth and 
 her ministers, were privy to the whole, and as they could 
 place no dependance on so venal and profligate a man as Ar- 
 ran, encouraged the enterprise, but, at the same time, to pre- 
 vent suspicion, redoubled to him the assurances of the queen's 
 regard. 
 
 Although standing on the brink of a precipice, Arran, un- 
 aware of his danger, instead of attempting to sooth, continued 
 to exasperate the discontent by which he was surrounded. 
 As insatiable in his avarice as in his ambition, he imprisoned 
 the earl of Athol, because he would not divorce his wife, a 
 daughter of Cowrie's, and entail his estates on him; lord 
 Home, because he refused to part with the lands of Dirleton, 
 which lay contiguous to some of his property ; and the master 
 of Cassillis, because he would not accommodate him with a 
 sum of money which he thought he could spare. Regardless 
 
 ■ * Melville, p. SI 7. ^ • - . 
 
92 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of the miseries he inflicted on the country, he stuck at no 
 measure, however desperate, to satisfy his cupidity or revenge. 
 Having required lord Maxwell to exchange the barony of 
 Mernis, and the lands of Maxwellheugh, for the estate of 
 Kinniel, which he possessed by the forfeiture of the Hamil- 
 tons, when Maxwell refused to part with his paternal inheri- 
 tance for a possession of very doubtful tenure, not daring 
 openly to avow the cause, he involved the district in confusion 
 and bloodshed, and had not the plague prevented, would have 
 kindled the flames of civil war throughout the whole country. 
 To accoiuplish his puipose, he first prevailed with Johnston, 
 the hereditary enemy of Maxwell, to accept of the ofl[ice of 
 provost of Dumfries, and then procured an order from the 
 king to the inhabitants for his election. Maxwell, who per- 
 ceived the affi'ont intended him, collectuig his vassals, pre- 
 vented Johnston from entering the town, and caused himself 
 to be continued in the situation. On this, the king was im- 
 mediately informed that his authority was despised, and there 
 would be no peace in that quarter, unless the power of Max- 
 well was curbed, and he, using as a pretext, the non-appear- 
 ance of one of the clan Armsti'ong, for whom Maxwell was 
 bound, denounced him as a rebel, and issued a commission to 
 the laird of Johnston to pui'sue hhn, who, in addition to his 
 own men, was to receive the assistance of two companies of 
 hired soldiers. 
 
 Maxwell, as soon as he heard of these preparations, assem- 
 bled his forces, and sent a detachment under his natural 
 brother, to intercept the king's troops before they could join 
 Johnston. They encountered each other on Crawford moor, 
 where, after a sharp conflict, the mercenaries were defeated, 
 one of their captains killed, and the other taken prisoner. 
 Johnston, on the other hand, that he might not appear to be 
 idle, wasted Maxwell's estates with fire and sword, and car- 
 ried off great quantities of plunder. Maxwell retorted by 
 burning the house of Lockwood, and ravaging Annandale : 
 and this system of mutual retaliation continued till Johnston 
 was defeated and taken prisoner. The court, enraged at this 
 disaster, summoned a convention of the estates, who granted 
 3 subsidy of twenty thousand pounds, for levying soldiers to 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 suppress Maxwell, and the king commanded all south of the 
 Forth, who could bear arms, to be in readiness to attend him 
 upon an expedition into the disturbed districts. But the 
 plague raged with such violence in Edinburgh during the 
 summer, that the expedition was suspended, and another 
 revolution taking place in the king's council shortly after, it 
 was wholly laid aside. 
 
 A fortunate coincidence of circumstances, together with the 
 wisdom of Elizabeth's councils, had hitherto contributed to 
 preserve England comparatively tranquil, amid the agitations 
 which convulsed almost every other neighbouring kingdom ; 
 but the formidable conspiracy of crowned heads against the 
 liberty and Reformed religion of Europe, known by the name 
 of the Holy Leagiie, in which the pope, the Spanish king, and 
 the Guises, who ruled France, were combined to crush the 
 protestant states, now threatened that kingdom, which was 
 considered the bulwark against the despots and bigots who 
 wished to restore the passive obedience and implicit faith of 
 the dark ages. Elizabeth, who knew that the power of Eng- 
 land was an object of aversion and dread to the members of 
 the league, proposed to unite all the protestant princes in a 
 counter-league for their mutual defence. With this intent 
 she sent ambassadors to Denmark and Germany, and under 
 the same pretence, despatched Sir Edward Wotton to the 
 Scottish king. The chief aim of Wotton's embassy, though 
 veiled under this pretext, was to re-establish English influence 
 in Scotland upon a sure basis, and this he was instructed to 
 attempt not by any formal propositions, but by ingratiating 
 himself into the favour of the king, under the mask of an 
 agreeable companion, and while he appeared wholly intent 
 upon promoting his amusement, to seize every favourable op- 
 portunity to influence his mind, and, at the same time, to cul- , 
 tivate assiduously the affection of the nobles who were in op- 
 position to Arran, prom.ote their designs, and lend them every 
 assistance. 
 
 Wotton was well qualified for the task, he excelled in all 
 the exercises for which James had a passion, was gay, humor- 
 ous, and entertaining, had travelled much, and, a quick ob- 
 server of men and manners, he had a fund of amusing anec- 
 
94 - HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 dote and adventure, and early initiated into political intrigue, 
 he possessed all that pliancy of temper and morals which 
 qualifies a man to fill, with advantage to his employers, the 
 important situation of a privileged spy. A strict alliance be- 
 tween the two kingdoms, in defence of the true religion, was 
 what the nation universally desired, and the aspect of affairs 
 on the continent rendered imperiously necessary. James en- 
 tered warmly into the proposal, and having summoned a con- 
 vention of the estates to St. Andrews, in a " long and pithy 
 speech," enumerated the dangers that threatened religion, 
 and enforced the necessity of Reformed princes uniting to- 
 gether. The convention seconded the zeal of the king, and 
 passed an act, empowering him to enter into an alliance with 
 " his dearest sister," offensive and defensive, for the preserva- 
 tion of their common faith. What probably contributed, in 
 no small degree, to stimulate James' zeal in the cause of the 
 Reformed, was a mark of motherly affection his dearest sister 
 had lately shown, in settling upon him an annual pension of 
 five thousand pounds, a gift which his empty exchequer ren- 
 dered extremely acceptable. 
 
 Notwithstanding Wotton's ostensible business was at an 
 end, he still continued in the Scottish court amusing the king, 
 and intriguing w^ith the nobles. In his private interviews with 
 the master of Gray, secretary Maitland, and Bellenden, a 
 plan was concerted for bringing back the banished nobles, 
 and enabling them to gain the ascendency ; but, at the same 
 time, he continued on the most friendly footing with Arran, 
 and used him to answer his purpose on after occasions. 
 
 Among the other causes of Elizabeth's inquietude, was her 
 dread lest James, by marriage, should obtain such a dowry 
 as would render him independent, or contract an affinity that 
 might make him indifferent or averse to her management; 
 •and having heard that an embassy was preparing in Denmark 
 for Scotland, Wotton's mission had this also in view, to learn 
 the nature of the errand, and throw obstacles in the way, if its 
 oloject was any matrimonial project. 
 
 In the course of the summer the embassy arrived, consist- 
 ing of three noblemen magnificently attended, who were in- 
 troduced to the king at Dunfermline, where they presented 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 95 
 
 their claim respecting the restoration of Orkney and Shetland 
 to the Danish crown. James received them courteously, and 
 appointed them to reside at St. Andrews till their despatches 
 were ready. But under the influence of Wotton and Arran, 
 every day that he fixed to give them their audience of leave 
 was broken, and they were detained at St. Andrews, mocked 
 and insulted by the emissaries of Arran, who, besides the in- 
 stigations of Wotton, was irritated against them because some 
 of their attendants having known him a private soldier in 
 Sweden, they treated him with neglect. Wotton, however, 
 who had discovered that they were attempting to negotiate a 
 marriage between one of the princesses of Denmark and the 
 king, paid them the most marked attention, and, while he re- 
 presented to James the ignoble descent from a race of mer- 
 chants, the barbarous language and strange customs of the 
 Danish monarchs, which rendered any match in their family 
 degrading to a prince whose lineage was the most ancient in 
 Europe, he condoled with the ambassadors on the usage they 
 received, and, under a promise of secrecy, informed them of 
 the contemptuous manner in which their king and country 
 were spoken of at the Scottish court, which he represented as 
 a scene of the lowest debauchery, and most riotous excess. 
 
 Enraged at the treatment they received, the ambassadors 
 were on the point of departing, when they were happily pre- 
 vented, by the interference of Sir James Melville, who, hav- 
 ing himself been educated from infancy among courtiers, had 
 penetrated the designs, and discovered the arts of the Eng- 
 lish envoy. In a confidential conversation, he exposed the 
 artifice by which the king had been misled, and they ill used, 
 and entreated them not to yield to the underhand dealings of 
 their opponents, nor afford them a tiiumph, and involve the 
 two countries in hostilities, by an abrupt departure. With 
 considerable difficulty he succeeded in undeceiving the king, 
 to whom he explained the alliances which Denmark had form- 
 ed with the most ancient houses on the continent, and the 
 near relationship in which they stood to himself. He likewise 
 represented the deceitful manner in which Wotton had acted, 
 and expatiated on the honour that had been done him, by 
 sending so splendid an embassy. James, who was liable to be 
 
96 HISTORY OF SCOTLANt». 
 
 influenced by the last speaker, expressed his satisfaction at his 
 information, and said he would not for his head, but that the 
 verity had been shown him. 
 
 Wotton, counteracted in this attempt, by the superior dex- 
 terity of Melville, bent his attention with greater keenness, to 
 accomplish the more important object of his mission, the re- 
 moval of Arran from the councils of the king. In this he was 
 aided by a circumstance, not uncommon in these troublous 
 times, but rendered important by the rank of the nobleman 
 who fell. At a meeting between the wardens on the borders, 
 to arrange their differences, and settle the restitutions, a quar- 
 rel ensued, in which Sir Francis Russel, son of the earl of 
 Bedford, was killed. KeiT, of Fei'nihurst, the Scottish warden, 
 was accused of being accessory to the murder, at the instiga- 
 tion of Arran, whose niece he had married, and application 
 made to the Scottish king that he should be delivered up, but 
 Arran opposing this, Wotton entered a complaint, which was 
 strongly seconded by the master of Gray, and in consequence, 
 Arran was committed prisoner to the castle of St. Andrews, 
 and Fernihurst to Aberdeen. By a bribe to the master of 
 Gray, Arran, in a few days procured his liberty, and v/as 
 permitted to retire to his estate of Kinniel, but before he set 
 out, James contrived to borrow from him a massy gold chain, 
 of considerable value, vv'hich he bestowed as a present on the 
 Danish ambassadors, who, about the same time, were honour- 
 ably dismissed. The absence of Arran, afforded Wotton, and 
 the friends of the exiles, the fairest opportunity for maturing 
 their plans, which they did not fail to improve. Their friends 
 were all prepared for their reception, and the whole country 
 directed to expect their arrival. James alone appeared ignor- 
 ant of the plot, and the first notice he received, was informa- 
 tion sent to him, while hunting in the neighbourhood of Ham- 
 ilton, that the banished lords had passed the borders, and 
 were joined by Maxwell, with the forces he had raised, to 
 oppose Johnston. Surprised at the intelligence, he immediate- 
 ly sent for Arran, and returned to Stirling, where he was met 
 by another equally unexpected discovery. Wotton, not con- 
 tent with effecting the return of the nobles, had formed the 
 design of seizing the kin^^'s person in the park of Stirling, and 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 97 
 
 carrying him to England, but the design being discovered, 
 Wotton departed, " without bidding good night," only he left 
 a letter for the king, in which he alleged the return of Arran 
 to court as his excuse. 
 
 Meanwhile, the lords continued to advance. On their en- 
 tering Scotland, they issued a declaration, which they dispers- 
 ed widely, explaining the motives by which they were impelled 
 to take arms ; these were, to deliver the king from evil coun- 
 sellors, restore the liberty of the church, procure the repeal 
 of the late acts, deliver the country from oppression, and pre- 
 serve the relations of amity with England, They also enu- 
 merated the crimes of Arran, whom they depicted in the 
 most odious colours, and charged with having aimed at the 
 crown,* and classed colonel Stuart along with him, as the 
 chief corrupters of the king, but named none of the other 
 attenders at court. This marked distinction, connected with 
 the letter left by Wotton, which the king had shown Arran, 
 created dissensions among the courtiers. Arran and Stuart 
 immediately accused Gray of being accessory to the plot. 
 Gray denied it stoutly, and to such a height was the quarrel 
 carried, that Arran, with his associates, the earls of Crawford 
 and Montrose, had determined to have assassinated Gray and 
 Bellenden, had they not withdrawn. Meanwhile, the prepar- 
 ations for resistance were either thwarted, or rendered inef- 
 fectual, the castle was unprovisioned, and the few troops that 
 had been assembled, were heartless in the cause. Nor were 
 the lords unacquainted with the state of affairs, they therefore 
 hastened their march, and on the last day of October, 1585, 
 arrived at St. Ninians, not quite a mile from Stirling, where 
 they halted, and drew up in order of battle. The gates of the 
 town were shut, and Arran had undertaken to guard the entry 
 by the bridge that night, but by means of their friends, they 
 entered the place in another direction, and took possession 
 without resistance. On the cry that the town was taken, 
 Arran, having locked the gate of which he had the command, 
 
 * He, in the plenitude of his power, had deduced his descent from Mur- 
 dac, the regent, who suffered in the reign of James I., and had had the in- 
 solence or folly, to renounce formally in parliament, all claim or preten- 
 sion to the inheritance of the crov/n. Spotswood, p. 341, 
 VOL. III. N 
 
98 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 threw the keys into the Forth, and fied. Colonel Stuart at- 
 tempted resistance in the market-place, and might perhaps 
 have turned the fortune of the day, had he been at all sup- 
 ported, for the borderers, according to their usual custom, 
 had already dispersed to examine the contents of the stables, 
 but his numbers were insignificant, and were quickly dispersed. 
 Next day, the castle was invested, and being totally un- 
 prepared for a siege, the king found himself under the neces- 
 sity of coming to some agreement. The lords were equally 
 anxious. They declared, " that nothing was more dear to 
 them than the king's honour and safety, but, banished their 
 country, robbed of their estates, their friends cruelly prosecut- 
 ed, and all access to his majesty denied, they were forced, in 
 order to save themselves from ruin, to act as they had done, 
 yet, if admitted into his majesty's presence, they would hum- 
 bly solicit his forgiveness." When this was reported to the 
 king, who was in no situation to resist any demand they might 
 have chosen to make, he appeared gratified with their sub- 
 mission, and replied he had never approved of Arran's vio- 
 lence, although, at the same time, he could not help being 
 dissatisfied at the line of conduct pursued by the lords, yet, 
 for the sake of public peace, he would pardon and overlook 
 every thing. Only he required, that none who were with him, 
 should suffer harm, particularizing the earls of Crawford, 
 Montrose, and colonel Stuart, and if this were provided foi', 
 he would willingly consent to admit them to an interview. To 
 this the lords answered, that if the two earls were removed 
 from his majesty's presence, and committed to the charge of 
 some responsible noblemen, and colonel Stuart dismissed from 
 his office, and it bestowed upon another, they would promise 
 to prosecute no revenge. These requisitions being consented 
 to, they were introduced into the royal presence, when, failing 
 upon their knees, lord Hamilton, as first in rank, implored 
 his majesty's mercy and favour. The king, in return, thus 
 addressed him : " I never, my lord, ever saw you before, and 
 I must confess, that of all this company, you have been most 
 wronged. You were a faithful servant to my mother, and in 
 my minority, when I was incapable of judging, you were in- 
 deed hardly used. As for the rest of you, your own conduct 
 
 45 
 
HISTOKY OF SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 procured your sufferings, yet, as I believe none of you meant 
 any harm to my person, I give you all my hand and heart, 
 and I vyfili remember nothing that is past, provided for the 
 future you behave as dutiful subjects." A pardon in the most 
 ample form was then granted them, and next day publicly 
 proclaimed by sound of trumpet. The earls of Craw^ford and 
 Montrose vi^ere committed to the charge of lord Hamilton, 
 who was also appointed governor of Dunbarton castle. Colo- 
 nel Stuart was allowed to retire, and the command of the 
 guard was given to the master of Glammis. Stirling castle 
 was committed to the earl of Marr, and the castle of Edin- 
 burgh to Sir James Hume, of Coldinknows. So soon as these 
 arrangements were settled, a parliament was summoned to 
 meet at Linlithgow, to establish the tranquillity of the country. 
 At this parliament, the king's pardon was ratified, the forfeit- 
 ures reversed, and the returned nobles restored to all their 
 honours and estates. Arran, deprived of his title, which re- 
 verted to the right owner, stripped of the fruits of so many 
 crimes, and declared a public enemy, protracted for some time 
 his wretched existence in a distant corner, under his original 
 obscure name of captain James Stuart, by which he must in 
 future be designated, and which it had been happy for him 
 he had never excbaneed for another. 
 
 o 
 
 As the redress of the grievances of the church had constant- 
 ly formed a leading feature in all the proclamations the nobles 
 had published, this formed part of their petition at first, and 
 the king had acceded to it in general terms. But, as he had 
 a known antipathy to the ministers, secretary Maitland, who 
 soon discovere-d, that if their own claims v.'ere agreeably adjust- 
 ed, the nobles would not be too rigorous in their stipulations 
 for the church, previously to the meeting of parliament, con- 
 certed with them, to gratify him in this, as well as in the len- 
 ity shown to the members of the late atrocious administration.* 
 
 * James identified liis own character with that of the administration, by 
 the affection he retained for the worthless favourite, after his dismissal. This 
 is mentioned by H. Woddryngton, in a letter to secretary Walsinghani, Jan. 
 uary 7th, 1585, and by the French ambassador, in a letter to D'Esneval, Oc- 
 tober Slst, 1586. Nor did he fill up the office of chancellor, vacant by his 
 disirissal, but created secretary Maitland vice chanccUcr, apparently in li,:.j)c 
 
100 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 In consequence, the king appeared resolute to support the 
 arbitrary laws, enacted under Arran's influence, and would 
 not hear of their repeal, as trenching on his prerogative. The 
 nobles, with the exception of the earl of Angus, basely sacri- 
 ficing their honour to their interest, deserted the church, 
 whose most eminent preachers had suffered so much in their 
 cause, and instead of any acts being passed in their favour, 
 they enforced the one which was considered the most tyran- 
 nical of the whole, and annexed the punishment of death, to 
 be executed with all rigour, against such as should publicly or 
 privately speak to the reproach of the king's person or gov- 
 ernment, or should misconstrue his proceedings. Perhaps the 
 nobles, who were extremely solicitous to ingratiate themselves 
 with the king, might think they were in some measure relieved 
 from the obligation of their promises, by an unfortunate dis- 
 sension which arose between the ministers who had left the 
 country, and those who remained. In a sermon preached by 
 one of the former at Linlithgow, he introduced the subject of 
 the bond, and blamed the subscribers ; Craig, one of those 
 who had subscribed, in a subsequent discourse, delivered 
 before the members of parliament, replied, and defended their 
 conduct, blamed the ministers who had fled, and maintained 
 the doctrine of tlie royal prerogative in its widest extent. The 
 dissension was allayed by the interposition of the more mod- 
 
 of his return. M'Crie's Lite of Melville, p. 351. Note. Two anecdotes, for 
 which we are indebted to the research of Dr. M'Crie, still farther establishes 
 this identity of the king and his servant, by the savage inhuman-ity, and callous 
 want of principle which they exhibit. The countess of Gowrie, after the ex- 
 ecution of her husband, having been several times repulsed in her suits on 
 behalf of her children, one day met the king, and " reaching at his cloak to 
 stay his majesty, Arran putting her from him, did not only overthrow her, 
 which was easy to do in respect of the poor lady's weakness, but marched 
 over her, who, partly with extreme grief, and partly with weakness, swooned 
 presently in the open street, and was fain to be conveyed into one of the next 
 houses, where^ with much ado, they recovered life of her." Davidson to 
 Walsingham. William, prince of Orange, the patriotic assertor of the liberties 
 of the Low Countries, fell at this time, by the hands of a hu-ed assassin. When 
 the news came to Scotland, the king said openly, that the prince had met with 
 such an end as he deserved, and the greater part of the court rejoiced at thy 
 event. Life of Melville, icl. ii, pp, 827, 328, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 eiate, but Craig's sermon could not be recalled, and the 
 doctrines which had been openly advocated, and the argu- 
 ments which had been used in the pulpit, afforded, I am in- 
 clined to believe, a handle to the nobles for declining to inter- 
 fere in the business. 
 
 Repulsed by the nobles, the ministers waited on the king, 
 by whom they were most ungraciously received. At his de- 
 sire, they drew up animadversions upon the acts of parliament, 
 which they delivered in writing, and his majesty spent a whole 
 day in his cabinet, in writing a reply to them with his own 
 hand, in which he commences v/ith this declaration, which he 
 said should be as authentic as an act of parliament. " I for 
 my part, shall never, neither my posterity ought ever, cite, 
 summon, or apprehend, any pastor or preacher, for matters 
 of doctrine in religion, salvation, heresies, or true interpreta- 
 tion of the Scripture, but according to my first act, which 
 confirms the libertie of preaching the word, and ministration 
 of the sacraments, I avov/ the same to be a matter mere ec- 
 clesiastical, and altogether impertinent to my calling, and 
 disclaim for myself and posterity, all power and jurisdiction." 
 He then defines what he understood by a bishop. " I allow 
 not a bishop according to the traditions of men, or inventions 
 of the pope, but only according to God's word, not to tyran- 
 nize over his brethren, or to do any thing of himself, but with 
 advice of his whole diocess, or at least with the wisest number 
 of them, to serve him for a council, and to do nothing alone, 
 except teaching the word, administering the sacraments, and 
 voting in parliament :" and he thus concludes, " I confess and 
 acknowledge Christ Jesus to be the head, and lawgiver of his 
 church, and whatever person arrogates to himself as head of 
 the church, and not as member, to suspend or alter any thing 
 which the word of God has only committed to them, that man, 
 I say, committeth manifest idolatry, and sinneth against the 
 Father, in not trusting the word of his Son ; against the Son, 
 in not obeying him, and taking his place ; and against the 
 Holy Ghost, the said Holy Spirit bearing contrary record to 
 his conscience." To this declai'ation there was no re])]y 
 made, and as the parliament was anxious to rise, the meeting 
 of ministers also dissolved, having presented by their commis- 
 
102 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 sionersj a supplication to tiie king, in which, after praising 
 God for his majesty's judgment and knowledge, they craved 
 that the weighty subject of establishing, upon a permanent 
 basis, the perfect policy and government of the church, might 
 be gravely considered in a conference of the most learned and 
 pious men within the realm ; and that, till next parliament, 
 they might have liberty to hold their ordinary assemblies, and 
 exercise their discipline, as before the restrictive acts were 
 passed ; that all ministers and masters of colleges, should be 
 restored to their charges and livings. When the parliament, 
 from which such great things had been expected, separated 
 without havinff enacted one statute to secure the civil or re- 
 ligious liberty of the country, from being again laid prostrate 
 at the nod of the monarch, or of any minion he might choose 
 to exalt, the clergy, who had most severely felt the yoke, and 
 who knew the value of the king's promises, were sorely disap- 
 pointed, and some of the more violent among them, gave pub- 
 lic vent to their indignation. In particular, James Gibson, 
 minister of Pencaitland, in a sermon which he preached at 
 Edinburgh, used the following indecorous, though perhaps 
 not altogether unfounded expressions. " I thought that cap- 
 tain James Stuart, lady Jezebel his wife, and William 
 Stuart, had persecuted the church, but now I have found the 
 truth, that it was the king himself. As Jeroboam and his 
 posterity were rooted out for staying of the true worship of 
 God, so, I fear, that if our king continue in his present course 
 he shall die childless, and be the last of his race." For this 
 language, he was called before the privy council, and declar- 
 ed, in terms of the late act, to have been guilty of treason. 
 He was committed to prison, but shortly after liberated.* A 
 more ludicrous scene took place in the High Church a few 
 days after. Balcanquhall, in the course of his sermon, hav- 
 ing attacked the order of bishops, the royal polemic arose, 
 and demanded what Scripture he had for his assertions ? Bal- 
 canquhall replied he could bring plenty ; the king denied it, 
 
 * Gibson was afteiv,arcl brought before the general assembly, and having 
 promised to make satisfaction, br.t failed, he was again summoned, and having 
 neither sent a reasonable excuse, nor appeared hinibelf, he was declared con- 
 tumacious, and suspended. Caldciwood, p. ?21. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 103 
 
 and offered to wager his kingdom that he would prove the 
 contrary. The divine not appearing anxious to take the bet, 
 liis majesty sat down triumphantly, adding : " It was a custom 
 of ministers to busy themselves with such causes in the pulpit, 
 but he would look after them !" And, in pursuance of his 
 promise, sent for the preacher to" the palace, and argued the 
 subject with him for more than an hour. 
 
 Adamson, archbishop of St. Andrews, first felt the effects 
 of the restoration of the church courts. He was a man of con- 
 siderable ability, a polite scholar, an elegant poet, and an at- 
 tractive preacher, but immoderately ambitious, and of a very 
 doubtful private character. At the establishment of the Ref- 
 ormation he was settled minister of Ceres in Fife, but gave up 
 his charge to accompany the eldest son of Sir James Macgill, 
 clerk-register, on his travels to France, and during his resi- 
 dence in that country, applied himself to the study of law. 
 On his return to Scotland he practised at the bar, but gave it 
 up, and accepted the living of Paisley, from which he removed 
 to become chaplain to Morton, who, on the refusal of Mel- 
 ville to accept the dignity, appointed him to the see of St. 
 Andrews. In the assembly which met in October, 1576, he 
 affirmed he did not intend to prosecute his presentation, but 
 before their next meeting he was installed in the archbishopric 
 and primacy of all Scotland. After much shifting and tergi- 
 versation, he submitted to the general assembly, and subscrib- 
 ed the book of discipline, concerning episcopacy and church 
 government; but afterward, being sent on a mission to Eng- 
 land, his high episcopalian views were confirmed, and on his 
 return to Scotland, he acted as chief promoter of those stat- 
 utes by which presbytery was overturned, and strenuously de- 
 fended by his pen, the worst deeds of the late administration. 
 
 At a meeting of the synod of Fife, Mr. James Melville, in 
 his opening sermon, attacked Adamson, who was present, and 
 accused him of overthrowing the Scriptural government estab- 
 lished in the church of Scotland, and exercising an unlawful 
 office. The synod immediately adopted the preacher's invec- 
 ]ive as charges against the archbishop, and, although he tle- 
 clined their authority, put him upon his ti'ial. He then ob- 
 jected to several members, as his declared enemies, being al- 
 
104 HISTOUY or SCOTLAND. 
 
 lowed to sit in judgment, mid on this objection being over- 
 I'liled, he protested and appealed to the general assembly. 
 Notwithstanding which, the synod proceeded, and a sentence 
 of excommunication, which Dr. Robertson characterizes as 
 " equally indecent and irregular," was pronounced against 
 him.* The archbishop, in return, excommunicated Melville, 
 and several others of his opponents, a proceeding not less 
 precipitate and improper, and, at the same time, appealed to 
 the king and pi'ivy council. The king declined the appeal to 
 himself, and referred the whole to the decision of the general 
 assembly, who, without entering into the merits of the question, 
 agreed to remove the sentence of excommunication, on the 
 bishop's disclaiming all supremacy over the church, acknowl- 
 edging his error in advancing any such pretensions, if he ever 
 did so, and craving pardon for his imperious behaviour and 
 contempt of the synod of Fife ; and promising, in time coming^ 
 to conduct himself as a pastor ought, suitably to the character 
 of a bishop, as described by Paul ; and to submit his life and 
 doctrine to the judgment and censure of the general assembly, 
 without reclaiming or appealing from its decision. On the 
 archbishop's subscribing a declaration to this effect, the as- 
 sembly declared they held the sentence of the synod of Fife as 
 nnpronounced, and restored the bishop to the state he was in 
 immediately before. Notwithstanding this was the most pru- 
 dent measure they could have followed, in counteracting the 
 bad tendency of proceedings both violent and rash, yet some 
 of the members protested against the act, and the king is re- 
 presented, by Spotswood, as having given a deceitful consent, 
 temporizing in the hope of being able, at some future period, 
 to restore the bishops to their full authority and power. 
 
 Previously to the meeting of the general assembly, the king, 
 who used every means in his power to introduce his favourite 
 episcopacy, appointed a conference between several of the 
 most moderate of the ministers, and some members of the 
 privy council. At this conference a number of articles were 
 agreed upon, preparatory to bringing the polity of the church 
 under the consideration of the assembly, in which the name 
 
 * History of Scotland, book vii. 
 
HISTOUY OF SCOTLAND. 105 
 
 and office of bishop was allowed, but his ministrations were 
 to be confined to one congregation ; he was to act as modera- 
 tor of the presbytery within whose bounds he resided, and 
 possess the right of visitation, but under their control, and 
 his life and doctrine were subject to be tried by the general 
 assembly. These propositions were now laid before the as- 
 sembly, and in substance adopted. 
 
 About this time, the king incurred heavy and merited cen- 
 sure, for his unaccountable conduct to Archibald Douglas. 
 This man was deeply implicated in the murder of his father, 
 but having made his escape, had fled into England six years 
 before. The earl of Morton, and Binnie, a servant of his 
 own, both of whom were executed for being privy to the deed, 
 declared that he was present at the perpetration of the crime, 
 and James had often required Elizabeth to deliver him up, 
 which she had refused ; yet now he obtained the king's license 
 to return to Scotland, and stand a mock trial, when, being 
 declared innocent by. a jury, he was not only received into 
 favour, but sent back as ambassador to the court of the Eng- 
 lish queen. 
 
 More eager upon settling the controversies of the church, 
 than attentive to the civil administration of his kingdom, the 
 internal state of the nation presented at this period a melancholy 
 picture of lawless outrage. During the summer a quarrel 
 arose between the chief of the M'Leans and the chief of the 
 M'Niels, which exhibits, in a striking point of view, the fee- 
 bleness of the o;overnment, and the barbarism of the Hieh- 
 lands and Isles. M'Lean, v/ho was married to a sister of 
 M'Niel's, had received his education on the continent, and 
 by his superior civilization, his suavity of manners, and style 
 of living, was highly popular in that quarter. M'Niel, piqued 
 at his popularity, had frequently quarrelled with him, and, a 
 last, to such a height did his envious feelings rise, that he 
 determined to satiate his rancour with his blood. In order to 
 accomplish this savage purpose, he laid a plan of the most 
 detestable deceit. He sent a message to his brother-in-law, 
 proposing that they should lay aside all animosity, and hence- 
 forth live in that harmony which became persons so jiearly 
 related; and to show to the whole world their reconciliation, 
 
 VOL. III. o 
 
106 
 
 HISTOUY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 he offered to spend a few days in conviviality at his house, 
 provided he would promise to return with him, and do the 
 same at his. M'Lean replied by the messenger, that he would 
 receive his visit with pleasure, and as to his repaying it, they 
 could talk about that at meeting. On receiving this answer, 
 M'Niel came next day, and was cordially welcomed by 
 M'Lean, with whom he spent some time in the greatest seem- 
 ing cordiality, and when he was about to depart, insisted on 
 M'Lean accompanying him, offering to leave his eldest son 
 and brother-german as pledges for his safety. M'Lean, over- 
 come by his importunity, at length consented to go, but re- 
 fused to accept any pledge, lest he should seem to distrust his 
 kinsman's professions. Accordingly he set out along with 
 him, accompanied by about forty-five of the principal men of 
 the clan. 
 
 They arrived at Kintyre, M'Niel's residence, early in the 
 morning, and the day was spent in feasting and merriment. 
 At night, after they had retired to rest, M'Niel beset the 
 house in which M'Lean and his company were lodged, and 
 calling for them, invited them to come and renew the conviv- 
 iality. M'Lean replied, they had already drunk enough, and 
 wished to be left to their repose, as it was now time to go to 
 sleep. But it is my will, said M'Niel, that you rise and 
 come out. On which M'Lean, suspecting treachery, arose, 
 dressed himself, and opened the door, when perceiving 
 M'Niel standing with his sword drawn, he asked him if he 
 meant to break his faith? I gave no faith, said the inhospi- 
 table savage, and I now mean to have my revenge on you and 
 yours for the wrongs I have suffered. M'Lean had that night 
 taken his nephew, a little child, to bed with him, and being 
 put to his defence, held the boy upon his left shoulder as a 
 target. M'Niel, perceiving that he could not hurt M'Lean 
 without injuring his son, and the child crying for mercy to 
 his uncle, promised to spare his life if he would give up his 
 tveapons, and surrender himself his prisoner. M'Lean, who 
 saw no other alternative, yielded to the ruffian, and was con- 
 veyed to a place of confinement. His attendants, with the 
 exception of two, submitted to necessity, and followed the 
 example of their chief These two defended the door with 
 
 45 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 107 
 
 such obstinate desperation, that the banditti found it impossi- 
 ble to force it, and in their rage set fire to the house, which 
 was burned together with its resolute defenders. They who 
 had submitted to the mercy and promise of the barbarian, 
 were brought out, part next morning, and the remainder on 
 the day following, and beheaded in presence of M'Lean. 
 M'Lean himself, who was reserved for the same fate, would 
 have perished also, but M'Niel was disabled by a fall from his 
 horse, and the execution was delayed. In the interval, in- 
 formation was sent to the king of the horrible transaction, 
 who immediately despatched a herald to demand that M'Lean 
 should be delivered to the earl of Argyle; but the message 
 was treated with contempt, and the unfortunate chief detained, 
 and compelled to yield to the most unreasonable conditions 
 before he obtained his Hberty. No sooner, however, had he 
 regained it, than, regardless of his extoi'ted engagements, he 
 entered M'Niel's domains with fire and sword, and massacring 
 without distinction, man, woman, and child, took a cruel re- 
 venge on the wretched dependants, for the infamous treachery 
 of their barbarous lord. 
 
 Not long before this, the earl of Eglinton, a young noble- 
 man of the highest expectations was assassinated by some of 
 the Cunninghames, which was also the occasion of much 
 bloodshed. 
 
 The nobles, who now surrounded the king, were attached 
 to England both by interest and inclination, and anxiously 
 promoted every measure to preserve peace between the two 
 nations. The treaty which had been proposed last year, was 
 now concluded by commissioners from the two sovereigns, 
 who met at Berwick, in the month of June, 1586.* The 
 preamble to the treaty, set forth the combination of the popish 
 princes, for the extirpation of the true religion, as the occasion 
 of this " straiter friendship;" and its object was declared to 
 be the defence of the evangelic religion. The chief stipula- 
 tions were — that it should be offensive and defensive against 
 nil who attempt to disturb the exercise of true religion within 
 
 * The commissioners for Scotland were, Francis, earl of Bothwell, lord 
 Boyd, and Sir James Home of Cowdenknowes ; for England, the' earl of 
 Rutland, lord Evers, and Sir Thomas Ramlr^lpli. 
 
103 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the two kingdoms, notwithstanding any leagues existing be- 
 tween the aggressor and either of the contracting parties ; that 
 in case of invasion, mutual aid should be afforded according to 
 the following stipulations : — If England were invaded in parts 
 remote from Scotland, the Scottish king should, when requir- 
 ed, send a body of forces, not exceeding two thousand horse, 
 and five thousand foot, into any part of England at the ex- 
 pense of the queen ; in like manner, if Scotland should be in- 
 vaded, the queen of England should send a body of forces, 
 not exceeding six thousand foot, and three thousand horse, to 
 be supported by the Scottish king ; or that if England should 
 be invaded on the north, within sixty miles of Scotland, the 
 Scottish king, when required, should assemble the whole of 
 his array, and keep them in the field for thirty days, or if 
 necessary, for as long as his subjects are bound to fight in 
 defence of their own country; and if Ireland were invaded, 
 none of the inhabitants of the Flighlands, or the Isles, were to 
 be allowed to pass over to assist the queen's enemies. The 
 other articles referred to the preservation of tranquillity on 
 the borders, and provided for the amicable adjustment of any 
 disputes which might unfortunately arise. In pursuance of 
 which arrangements, the earl of Angus, the most virtuous and 
 patriotic of the Scottish nobles, was appointed lieutenant of 
 the marches, and had a sufficient force, both horse and foot, 
 allowed him to suppress the thieves, and restrain the turbulent. 
 
 This treaty, so necessary for Scotland, and so advantageous 
 for both kingdoms, was highly grateful to the people, and as 
 Elizabeth had accompanied it by a letter, written with her own 
 hand, assuring the king, that nothing should be allowed to 
 take place, which might derogate from his right and title to 
 the English crown, it had every appearance of being long 
 and sincerely adhered to, when a circumstance took place, 
 which, had James been a prince of any spirit, would never 
 have been attempted by Elizabeth, or would have rendered 
 peace impracticable, the union with England more hopeless 
 than ever, and probably overturned the throne of one or other 
 of the sovereigns — the trial and execution of Mary, queen of 
 Scots ; but it is necessary to go back a little. 
 
 Worn out with the accumulated afflictions of disappointed 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAKD. 109 
 
 hope, long confinement, and bodily distress, Mary, who had 
 now passed the meridian of Hfe, was become more humble in 
 her wishes, and professing to lay aside the ambition of reign- 
 ing, appeared anxious to obtain only a little more liberty, and 
 to spend the remainder of her chequered life in dignified re- 
 tirement, with the name and rank, but without the authority 
 or pomp of a queen. She proposed to Elizabeth, that she 
 should be associated with her son in the title to the crown of 
 Scotland, but that the administration should remain wholly in 
 him, while she herself was content to I'emain in England, 
 under the inspection of the English court. To this proposal, 
 Elizabeth returned no answer, so long as Lennox was in fav- 
 our, and there was any probability of its being acceded to by 
 the Scottish administration, but immediately on his dismissal, 
 and when she knew any proposition of the kind would never 
 be listened to in Scotland, she pretended to accede to Mary's 
 proposals, and alleging that no obstacle prevented an entire 
 accommodation, if the Scottish council would concur, she 
 ordered her ambassador, Bowes, to open a negotiation, but 
 "without allowing any person to appear on behalf of the captive 
 queen. As she anticipated, the privy council of Scotland in- 
 curred the odium of a refusal, and James himself was induced 
 to declare, that he never had listened to any proposals for an 
 accommodation with his mother. This transaction must have 
 convinced Mary, had she needed to be convinced, of the du- 
 plicity of Elizabeth, and of the vanity of expecting any mitiga- 
 tion to the rigour of her fate from that quarter ; and Elizabeth, 
 who had vi^ith feline cruelty sported vv'ith the feelings of her 
 prisoner, could not venture to intrust her with liberty. It was, 
 therefore, natural for Mary to hearken to every overture that 
 promised her freedom, and to enter into any correspondence, 
 from which she could hope to derive the means of escape, and 
 it was as natural for Elizabeth, who must have intensely hated 
 the woman she had so deeply injured, to suspect her as con- 
 nected with every conspiracy that was either feared, or dis- 
 covered in her kingdom. Had her own subjects been united, 
 perhaps time, and the sufferings of Mary might have softened 
 her, but the zeal of the Roman Catholics, irritated by being 
 deprived of power, daily threatened insurrection or assassina- 
 
110 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 tion, and personal fear knows no pity. Her safety demanded, 
 that she, to whom the Romanists looked up as their lawful 
 queen, and whose sufferings they attributed to her attachment 
 to their religion, should not be placed in a situation to hold 
 direct communication with them, and while it is impossible to 
 justify the tantalizing treatment she received, it must be allow- 
 ed that Elizabeth, after having first used her ungenerously, 
 was constrained by policy to use her unjustly. 
 
 Deprived of all means of directly communicating with any 
 of her partisans, the ingenuity of the Scottish queen had found 
 means of holding a private correspondence with them, and as 
 this was a constant object of dread to Elizabeth and her min- 
 isters, informers, spies, and counterfeit letters were employ- 
 ed to discover the secrets of the unhappy Mary. In the course 
 of these precautionary measures, a letter was intercepted from 
 Francis Throckmorton, a Cheshire gentleman, addressed to 
 the queen of Scots, on which he was immediately taken into 
 custody. Among his papers were found two lists, one of the 
 principal harboui's in the kingdom, their situation and sound- 
 ings, the other of all the eminent Roman Catholics in Eng- 
 land. At his first examination, he denied all knowledge of 
 any conspiracy, and although tortured, still maintained his 
 innocence, but when the rack was produced a second lime, he 
 confessed his secret correspondence with the Scottish queen, 
 and discovered a design to invade England, formed by the 
 pope, the duke of Guise, and the king of Spain. The English 
 exiles were to accompany the invading force, the papists at 
 home were to join them on landing, and Mendoza, the Span- 
 ish ambassador, was employed in hastening the crisis, by 
 encouraging the disaffected in the country, and conducting 
 the correspondence with the continent, but this confession he 
 disavowed at his trial, as having been forced from him through 
 fear. Induced by the hope of pardon, he returned to it after 
 sentence was passed upon him ; but at the place of execution, 
 when he had nothing to fear or hope, he solemnly retracted it 
 before he suffered, and subsequent events have shown that 
 there is a strong probability of the whole having been a fabri- 
 cation. This plot, however, real or fictitious, furnished Eliz- 
 
lilSTORY OF SCOTLAND. Ill 
 
 abetli with a pretext lor increasing lier severity towards the 
 Scottish queen. 
 
 Scarcely were the terrors occasioned by Throckmorton's 
 conspiracy abated, when the pubHc apprehensions were again 
 roused by a new discovery. One Crichton, a Jesuit, on his 
 passage from Flanders to Scotland, was chased by a pirate, 
 and he in contusion, tore some papers to pieces, and threw 
 them away, but by some extraordinary accident, the wind 
 blew the pieces back into the vessel, on board of which he 
 was, and they were picked up by some of the passengers, who 
 carried them to Sir William Wade, clerk of the privy coun- 
 cil, late ambassador at the Spanish court, who, with great 
 industry, joined them together, and found that they contained 
 the account of a plot, formed by the king of Spain, and duke 
 of Guise, for invading England. The circumstances attending 
 this story, render it still more doubtful than the declaration 
 of Throckmorton, but it answered the same purpose, it point- 
 ed the indignation of the people of England against the queen 
 of Scots, and awakened their fears and affections for their own 
 sovereign. 
 
 While these feelings were inflamed, an association was 
 formed by the earl of Leicester, and other courtiers, to de- 
 fend the queen against all her enemies, foreign and domestic, 
 and a bond was framed, the subscribers to which, engaged by 
 the most solemn oaths : — " That if any violence should be 
 offered to her life, in order to favour the title of any pretender 
 to the crown, they not only engaged never to allow or ac- 
 knowledge the person or persons by whom, or for whom, such 
 a detestable act should be committed, but vowed in the pre- 
 sence of the eternal God, to prosecute such person or persons 
 to the death, and to pursue them with their utmost vengeance, 
 to their utter overthrow and extirpation." Mary, alarmed at 
 the danger which she saw threatening her safety, requested 
 permission to sign the bond, but instead of any attention being 
 paid to her request, or any alleviation given to her sufferings, 
 she was removed from the charge of the earl of Shrewsbury, 
 a nobleman who had fulfilled his trust with fidelity, but with 
 humanity, for fifteen years, and given in custody to Sir Amias 
 Faulet, and Sir Drue Drury, men of inferior rank, whose 
 
ill2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 dependance and expectations would enforce the most severe 
 vigilance, and the most rigid execution of the harshest orders. 
 
 Another conspiracy, with which Mary had no concern, 
 occasioned an act of the English parliament, that ultimately 
 brought her to the block. William Parry, a doctor of laws, 
 and a Roman Catholic, who had been condemned for some 
 capital crime, but pardoned and allowed to travel, set out for 
 Italy. At Milan he became acquainted with Palmio, a Jesuit, 
 who persuaded him that he would perform not only a lawful, 
 but a meritorious action, if he took away the life of the sov- 
 ereign who had spared his. Campeggio, the pope's nuncio, 
 approved also of this pious deed. Passing to Paris, he was 
 still farther encouraged by Thomas Morgan, a gentleman of 
 great credit in the party, and Ragazzoni, the papal nuncio in 
 that capital. Hence he wrote to the pope, informing him of 
 his design, and craving absolution, and his paternal benedic- 
 tion, and through cartlinal Como, received a plenary indul- 
 gence, and an answer that his design was highly applauded. 
 When he arrived in England, he procured an introduction to 
 the queen, and entreated her to relax somewhat of her severity 
 towards the Roman Catholics. He likewise got himself 
 elected a member of the house of commons, where he made 
 some violent harangues against the severe laws for restrain- 
 ing papists. At length, when he found all his attempts un- 
 successful, he determined to carry his desperate design into 
 execution, and he communicated his intentions to INevil, who 
 entered zealously into the plan, and was ambitious to share in 
 the merit of its execution. A treatise published by Dr. Allan, 
 afterward created a cardinal, confirmed them in their pur- 
 pose; .but still some lingering hesitation, arising from the 
 remains of moral feeling, which all the sophistry of Rome had 
 not been able quite to eradicate, induced them to allow sev- 
 eral favourable opportunities for assassinating the queen to 
 escape, and in the meantime, the earl of Westmoreland hap- 
 pening to die in exile, Nevil, who was next heir, and whose 
 zeal had been stimulated by his poverty, conceiving that by 
 some extraordinary service, he might recover the forfeited 
 estates and honours, which he wisely deemed preferable to 
 martyrdom in the cause of papacy, revealed the conspiracy to 
 
HISTOUY Of fcan'LAND. 113 
 
 Elizabeth's ministers, and Parry being apprehended and 
 brought to trial, confessed his guilt, and suffered the last 
 punishment of the law. 
 
 These repeated conspiracies were calculated to keep alive 
 a constant agitation in the country. Under such alarming cir- 
 cumstances, when parliament met, the statute alluded to, pass- 
 ed, enacting, " that if any rebellion shall be excited in the king- 
 dom, or any thing attempted to the hurt of her majesty's per- 
 son, by, or for any person pretending a title to the crown, the 
 queen shall empower twenty-four persons, by a commission 
 under the great seal, to examine into, and pass sentence upon 
 such offences ; and after judgment given, a proclamation shall 
 be issued, declaring the person whom they find guilty, excluded 
 from any right to the crown, and her majesty's subjects may 
 lawfully pursue every one of them to the death, with their aid- 
 ers and abettors ; and if any design against the life of the queen 
 take effect, the persons by or for whom such a detestable act 
 is executed, and their issues being in any wise assenting, or 
 privy to the same, shall be disabled for ever from pretending 
 to the crown, and be pursued to death in the like manner." 
 This act, of which it would be difficult to say whether it be 
 more cruel or unjust, was so plainly levelled at Mary, that 
 she immediately considered it a warning to prepare for the 
 worst, and from that time seems to have looked forward to her 
 destruction as resolved upon, although it does not appear she 
 ever dreamed that she would present the novel and unprecc" 
 dented spectaole of a sovereign prince being brought to trial, 
 before the bar of another, whose subjects were to be her judges- 
 
 Motives of policy may account for, or extenuate the grand 
 injuries of imprisonment, or of death, which Elizabeth inflict- 
 ed on her rival, but it is difficult to conceive any reasons, 
 except such as degi'ade her character, that could influence her 
 in rendering the few remaining days of her less fortunate 
 cousin more wretched, by removing the only pleasures which 
 her situation admitted — the attendance of her confidential ser- 
 vants, and the liberty to distribute her alms among the poor ; 
 destroying every vestige of comfort, by confining her, during 
 the depth of winter, to two cold, miserable chambers, after 
 years of imprisonment had broken her constitution ; and by 
 
 VOL. in. p 
 
114) HISTOKY OF SCOTLANM). 
 
 adding insult and indignity to the other hardships of her lot. 
 Nor can it be alleged, that these outrages upon humanity, 
 Were committed without the knowledge of Elizabeth, for Maiy 
 often expostulated, in the high unbroken spirit of a queen, 
 with her oppressor, but her letters were treated with neglect, 
 and it was not till Castlenau had remonstrated with vigour 
 against the indignities to which she was exposed, that his im- 
 portunity prevailed in procuring her removal to more tolerable 
 lodgings at Tilbury. 
 
 One bitter ingredient was only wanting, to jfiU up the cup 
 of Mary's suffering, and that, at the instigation of Elizabeth, 
 was mingled by the hand of her son, James was persuaded 
 by Gray, upon his return from England, to write his mother, 
 whom he had hitherto treated with respect, a harsh and cruel 
 letter, refusing to acknowledge her queen of Scotland, or to 
 consider her affairs as connected in any manner with his. 
 Indignant at this undutiful behaviour, in the anguish of dis- 
 appointed affection, she gave vent to her sorrow, in a letter 
 to the French ambassador. " Was it for this," said she, 
 " that I have endured so much, in order to preserve for him 
 the inheritance to which I have a just right? I am far from 
 envying his authority in Scotland. I desire no power there, 
 nor wish to set my foot in that kingdom, if it were not for the 
 pleasure of once embracing a son, I have hitherto loved with 
 too tender affection. Whatever he either enjoys or expects, 
 he derives it from me. From him I never received assistance, 
 supply, or benefit of any kind. Let not my allies treat him 
 any longer as a king, he holds that dignity by my consent, 
 and if a speedy repentance do not appease my just resentment, 
 I will load him with a parent's curse, and surrender my crown 
 with all my pretensions, to one who will receive them with 
 gratitude, and defend them with vigour." 
 
 But the long protracted sufferings of the Scottish queen 
 were now drawing to a close, and a conspiracy, originating 
 in the fiery zeal of the Roman Catholics, and their hatred 
 to Elizabeth, intended to procure Mary liberty, and the 
 throne of England, led her to a scaffold. The English sem- 
 inary at Rheims, inflamed with rage against the queen of 
 England, whom they considered as the chief obstacle to the 
 
 45 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. - ' 115 
 
 restoration of their religion, had adopted the fanatical notion, 
 that the bull of pope Pius V. by which he excommunicated, 
 and deposed that princess, was dictated by the immediate in- 
 spiration of the Holy Ghost, The assassination of heretical 
 sovereigns was inculcated as a sacred duty, the accomplish- 
 ment of which, or even a failure in the holy attempt, entitled 
 the worthy son of the church to the gratitude of all her mem- 
 bers, and ensured his entrance into the society of the saints 
 and martyrs, and the inheritance of an eternal crown of glory. 
 Dr. GifFord, Gilbert GifFord, and Hodgson, who had been 
 educated at that college, imbibed these wild doctrines, and 
 instilled them into the mind of John Savage, a man of desper- 
 ate courage, who had served some years in the Low Countries, 
 under the prince of Parma. Elevated by these enthusiastic 
 reveries, and the exhortations of the priests. Savage bound 
 iiimself by a solemn vow, to murder Elizabeth. 
 
 About the same time, John Ballard, a trafficking priest of 
 that seminary, returned to France, from a mission to Eng- 
 land. In his progress through these kingdoms, he had ob- 
 served the universal spirit of discontent which animated the 
 Roman Catholics, who only wanted a leader, and a little as- 
 sistance from abroad, to break out into open insurrection, and 
 upon this he had built a project for overturning the throne of 
 Elizabeth, advancing Mary to her place, and re-establishing 
 the ancient religion. He communicated his ideas to Mendoza, 
 the Spanish ambassador in Paris, who strongly encouraged 
 him to expect assistance from his master, and the duke of 
 Guise. But Charles Paget, a zealous Englishman of the 
 same communion, and a devoted partisan of the queen of 
 Scots, strenuously insisted upon the removal of Elizabeth, and 
 the delivei'ance of Mary, as necessary preliminaries to the re- 
 establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in England. 
 Ballard was, in consequence, sent back to England, furnished 
 with an introduction to Anthony Babington, a young gentle- 
 man of good family, and large property, in the county of 
 Derby, a zealot for the Romish faith. While in France, 
 Babington had got acquainted with the bishop of Glasgow, 
 Mary's ambassador at that court, and some other of her exiled 
 adherents, by whose representations his young and warm mind 
 
Ilv5 UiyiOKY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 was so much interested in the fate of the unfortunate queen, 
 that he was recommended to her without his knowledge, as a 
 person well qualified for her service. On his return to Eng- 
 land, she wrote to him a confidential letter, and for somt 
 time he was the medium through whom her foreign corres- 
 pondence was managed ; but after she was committed to the 
 custody of Sir Amias Paulet, and Sir Drue Drury, their 
 vigilance rendered it unsafe, and he desisted for some time 
 from attempting to do any thing in that business. Subse- 
 quently, when Ballard arrived, he waited upon Babing'ton, 
 and imparted to him the design of invading England, and 
 placing the queen of Scots upon the throne. Babington, 
 whose views were similar to those of Paget's, immediately re- 
 presented the impracticability of any attempt to overturn the 
 established order of things during the life of Elizabeth, and 
 Ballard, in return, acquainted him with the vow which Savage 
 had made. He, however, considered this as too great an at- 
 tempt to be intrusted to one individual, and proposed to join 
 five others in the desperate enterprise along with him, which 
 beinfj agreed uuon, he eno;aoed Barnwell, of a noble family in 
 Ireland, Charnoc, a gentleman of Lancashire, Abington, 
 whose father had been cofferer to the household, Charles Til- 
 ney, the heir of an ancient family, and Tichbourne of South- 
 ampton, to assist in the assassination of the queen, while he, 
 at the same time, joined by Edward Windsor, brother to the 
 lord of that name, Thomas Salisbury, Robert Gage, John 
 Travel's, John Jones, and Henry Donne, all of them men of 
 good families, united together by the bonds of private friend- 
 ship and religious zeal, would effect the rescue of the queen 
 of Scots, by attacking her guards with a hundred horse, when 
 she should be taking an airing. 
 
 While the conspirators were maturing their plans, as they 
 thought, with the most profound and impenetrable secrecy, 
 not a step that they had taken was unknown to the sagacious 
 Walsingham. He had in his pay Maud, a Roman Catholic 
 priest, who accompanied Ballard to France, and informed 
 him of the outline of the plot; Polly, another of his spies 
 who pretended great zeal for the cause, had engaged in the 
 conspiracy for the purpose of betraying it, and dailv rf^porteo 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 117 
 
 to the secretary the proceedings of the conspirators. But still 
 the whole extent of the conspiracy was not known, when Gif- 
 ford, the priest, arrived in England, to invigorate the resolu- 
 tion of Savage, and manage the correspondence of Mary. 
 
 From some motives of interest or remorse, this unprincipled 
 seducer turned infoi'mer, and transferred his services to the 
 ministers of Elizabeth. He was employed by the conspirators 
 to manage a private con^espondence with Mary, and to inform 
 her of their designs, and he immediately applied to Walsing- 
 ham, to afford him facilities for carrying it on. Walsingham 
 directed him to Sir Amias Paulet, and proposed that Paulet 
 should connive at Gifford's corrupting one of his servants, 
 but Paulet's stern integrity would not consent to allow any of 
 his servants to be tampered with. A brewer, however, who 
 supplied the family with ale, was bribed to carry letters to. the 
 captive queen, which were thrust through a chink of the wallj 
 and answers returned by the same means. The letters thus 
 conveyed were all subjected to the inspection of Walsingham, 
 who, after opening them and taking copies, sealed them so 
 carefully that the deceit could not be perceived, and forwarded 
 them regularly to their destination. Babington, in his letters, 
 informed Mary of all their plans, for her escape, for the assas- 
 sination of Elizabeth, and the projected insuri'ection, and she, 
 in reply, commended his zeal for the Roman Catholic religion, 
 approved of their designs, and promised the highest rewards 
 to the gentlemen who were to carry them into execution. 
 Besides the letters, Walsingham became possessed of another 
 means of detection, by which, after being already acquainted 
 with the names, he became also acquainted with the faces of 
 the conspirators. Babington, with a folly which tends great- 
 ly to invalidate the accounts given of his superior ability, had 
 caused a picture to be painted of himself standing in the midst 
 of the six assassins, with this motto affixed : — Quorsom hac- 
 alio properantihus ? Of this picture Walsingham obtained a 
 copy, which was brought to Elizabeth, and so well was it 
 performed, that one day, when walking abroad, she recog- 
 nized Barnwell, one of the conspirators. 
 
 Every thing being now arranged, Babington became im- 
 patier.t for the arrival of the foreign auxiliaries, and furnished 
 
118 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Ballard with money to proceed to France, and urge their de- 
 parture ; but as it was difficult to obtain a passport, he pro- 
 cured an introduction to Walsingham, and applied to him for 
 two, one for Ballard, under a feigned name, and one for him-* 
 self. Affecting great loyalty for the queen, and promising; 
 from his connexion with the Roman Catholics abroad, to pro- 
 cure important information respecting their designs, Walsing- 
 ham allowed him to proceed, pretended to give credit to his 
 professions, treated him with the greatest apparent cordiality, 
 expressed a high value for his proffered services, and promis- 
 ed him an ample reward ; at the same time, gave him reason 
 to expect that he v/ould soon be furnished with the passports. 
 
 The conspirators having been allowed to bring their plot 
 almost to the point of execution, Elizabeth, to whom alone 
 Walsingham had communicated his proceedings, alarmed for 
 her life, insisted upon his immediately putting a stop to the 
 further prosecution of the design. A warrant was issued, in 
 consequence, for seizing Ballard, and this incident alarming 
 the others, they began to consult about their own safety. 
 Some proposed that they should immediately endeavour to 
 escape ; others, urged by their zeal or their despair, recom- 
 mended that the attempt upon the queen sh-ould be instantly 
 made. Babington, who at first was in the utmost consterna- 
 tion, when he saw the seizure of Ballard followed up by no 
 other measures against any of the rest, and as the pretext 
 under which Ballard had been apprehended was, that being a 
 popish priest, he had entered the kingdom without license, 
 recovered his composure, and even waited upon Walsingham 
 to endeavour to procure his hberation. That subtle statesman 
 expressed his regret at Ballard's arrest, which he attributed 
 solely to tl)e officiousness of the spies employed to detect 
 priests and Jesuits, and promised his utmost endeavours to 
 procure his release. Meanwhile, he gave orders to have 
 Babington more narrowly watched, vv-hich Babington hav- 
 ing perceived, made his escape, and gave the alarm to his 
 associates,*' who all fled, but after skulking a few days in 
 
 * Scutlainore, the person employed to watch Babington, received the note 
 from Walsingham, desiring him to be more vigilant in his office, while at sup- 
 per with him at a tavern, and having held it carelessly while he read it, Bab 
 
HISTORY DF SCOTLAND. llW 
 
 disguise, they were taken and coaimitted to prison. On their 
 examination they accused each other, and finally discovered 
 all they knew. Fourteen were executed, seven of whom were 
 embowelled alive. 
 
 The execution of the conspirators was immediately followed 
 by deliberations in the English cabinet about the disposal of 
 Mary. Elizabeth, and those more immediately in her confi- 
 dence, had already determined her fate. They proposed that 
 she should be brought to public trial, under the statute which 
 had been enacted last year with especial reference to her case ; 
 otliers, who thought that it would be derogatory to the royal 
 blood to see a queen tried like a common felon, were averse 
 to this proceeding, and advised, that as her constitution was 
 now broken by long confinement and disease, she should be 
 suffered to sink silently under her accumulating infirmities. 
 Leicester recommended that she should be secretly carried off 
 by poison, and sent a divine to Walsingham, to silence his 
 scruples on the subject; but Walsingham rejected with ab- 
 horrence the proposal, and continued fixed in his opinion, 
 that the Scottish queen should be brought to an open trial, 
 which at least would have a show of justice, although, from 
 the state of public opinion with regard to Mary, and the 
 means which had been taken to connect her death with the 
 safety of their own queen, little more than a mere form was to 
 be expected from any jury the court would select to judge the 
 cause. 
 
 The English ministers were, perhaps, even more than Eliz- 
 abeth interested in procuring the death of Mary. They had 
 injured and insulted her beyond the possibility of forgive- 
 ness. She was unequivocally the next heir to the English 
 crown, and her claims were supported by a powerful body in 
 the nation, whose religion was similar to hers, and adverse to 
 that of the state. The people, who were not accustomed to 
 
 ington had an opportunity of also perusing its contents ; on which he rose 
 from the table, and leaving his cloak and sword behind him, went out as if 
 to settle the reckoning, but proceeded instantly to Westminster, and changing 
 his clothes, withdrew into St. John's wood with some others, and lurking 
 about for ten days, were at last discovered near Harrow-on-the-Hill, hid in 
 barns, and dressed like countrymen. — Cambden. 
 
120 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 make nice distinctions, would most probably adhere to her 
 who had no rival, and her exaltation to the throne, from 
 which she was only excluded by the life of Elizabeth, would 
 be the signal for their ruin. Their personal safety demanded 
 the sacrifice of Mary, A general alarm was therefore artfully 
 kept up by them, and various publications had been dissemi- 
 nated, to persuade the nation that the safety of the two queens 
 was incompatible, and the public voice was made to echo the 
 sentiments of the confidential advisers of the crown. 
 
 While all England was agitated by these discussions, so 
 strict was the vigilance exercised, that the person most deeply 
 interested in them, had been kept in utter ignorance of all 
 that had taken place. With the same studied cruelty that 
 had all along been used towards her, the communication of 
 Babington's trial and execution, the discovery of the con- 
 spiracy, and the imputation with which she was loaded as ac- 
 cessary to it, were abruptly announced to her by Sir Thomas 
 Georges, who was despatched by Elizabeth for this purpose. 
 The time he chose for surprising her with the intelligence, 
 was just as she had got on horseback to ride out with her 
 keepers. Struck with astonishment, she would immicdiately 
 have returned to her apartment, but was not permitted. She 
 was led, for some days, from one gentleman's house to an- 
 other, till she was at last lodged in Fotheringay castle, in the 
 county of Northampton. Her two secretaries, Naue, a 
 Frenchman, and Curie, a Scot, with her principal domestics, 
 were all arrested ; her private closet was broken open ; her 
 cabinet and papers, among which was her correspondence 
 with persons beyond sea, and with many noblemen in Eng- 
 land, were sealed and sent to London. About sixty different 
 keys to cyphers were found, and nearly two thousand pounds 
 in money, which was also secured. 
 
 Having determined to dispense with the essentials of justice, 
 and subject to a trial a sovereign princess, over whom no law 
 allowed her any power, Elizabeth resolved to render the scene 
 as imposing as possible. According to the act, forty commis- 
 sioners were appointed to hear and decide in this important 
 "ase, and to these men, the most illustrious for rank and office 
 in the kingdom, were added five judges. Some difficulties 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 121 
 
 were started about tlie designation of Mary, which were at 
 last resolved, by adopting the one considered the most humil- 
 iating : " Mary, daughter and heir of James V. late king of 
 Scots, commonly called queen of Scots, and dowager of 
 France." The commissioners came to Fotheringay on the 
 ilth of October, and next morning delivered to Mai'y a letter 
 from Elizabeth, written in the most bitter style, and filled 
 with invective, informing her that she had at last been com- 
 pelled, by a regard to her own safety, to institute a public 
 inquiry into her conduct, and requiring her to submit to the 
 laws, whose protection she had so long enjoyed. Mary re- 
 plied, that she had always considered the association, and the 
 act of parliament, as aimed at her life, and that she would be 
 brought to bear the blame of whatever was concerted in other 
 countries ; but she was surprised that the queen of England 
 should consider her as a subject, and command her to submit 
 to a trial. She was a sovereign queen, and would do nothing 
 prejudicial to the honour of royalty, to her own dignity, or to 
 that of the king, her son. Besides, she was igiiorant of the 
 laws and statutes of England, was destitute of counsel, nor 
 did she know who, in that kingdom, were entitled to be called 
 her peers, or had a right to sit in judgment upon her conduct. 
 She affirmed solemnly, that she was guiltless of the crime im^ 
 puted to her, nor had she ever countenanced any attempt 
 upon the life of Elizabeth, and she demanded to be charged 
 only upon her own v^'ords or writings, which she was confident 
 were never criminal, and challenged their production. Next 
 morning the commissioners sent her a copy of her answer, 
 which she said was accurately enough taken, only she had 
 omitted one material objection. It was said that she should 
 be subject to the laws of England, because she had lived a 
 long time under their protection ; now it was notorious to the 
 whole world, that she came to England to implore the assist- 
 ance of the queen, her sister, not to subject herself to her 
 authority ; but she had been ever since detained in prison, 
 and had enjoyed no protection from the laws, nor did she so 
 much as understand their nature. 
 
 For two days she continued to decline the authority of the 
 commissioners, and would not admit that Elizabeth possessed 
 
 VOL. in. o 
 
122 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 any jurisdiction over hex-, except what was usurped by force. 
 The judges, who had affected to find a difficulty about a mere 
 trifle, the style and title by which Mary was to be indicted, 
 found none in setting aside the two substantial and incontro- 
 vertible pleas which she urged against her trial — her royal 
 dignity and forcible imprisonment. A deputation was sent 
 to her by the commissioners on the second day, but still she 
 refused, even although threatened to be })roceeded against in 
 absence, when Hatton, the vice-chamberlain, by an insidious 
 speech, at last prevailed upon her to consent to appear. He 
 told her : " That she was accused, but not condemned ; that 
 if innocent, she injured her reputation by allowing a sentence 
 to be passed against her without taking the opportunity of 
 publicly clearing herself before a court of upright and honour- 
 able men ; and that the queen herself had told him at his de- 
 parture, that nothing would give her greater pleasure than to 
 find that the charges were groundless." 
 
 On the 14th of October, Mary made her first appearance 
 before the commissioners, and at no period in her life does 
 the unfortunate queen of Scots appear so interesting, as when 
 the whole legal and political array of England was marshalled 
 against her, and she, friendless and alone, without counsel, 
 and without even the use of her ovv^n papers, had to combat 
 at once the greatest lawyers, most acute counsellors, and most 
 implacable enemies.* The chancellor opened the business of 
 the court by informing Mary, that she was accused of com- 
 passing the death of the queen, conspiring against the safety 
 of the realm, and attempting the overthrow of the protestant 
 religion ; and that they were commissioned to examine the 
 truth of the accusation, and hear her answer. The queen 
 then rose and protested, that although she had condescended 
 to appear there to vindicate her innocence, her appearance 
 was not to be construed as any acknowledgment of the author- 
 ity of the judges; she was a queen, and no subject of Eliza- 
 
 * The judges met in the great hall of the castie. At the upper end of the 
 room, was placed a chair of state for the queen of England, under a canopy 
 of state ; over against it belov*', at some distance, near the beam that ran 
 across the room, stood a chair for the queen of Scots. By the walls on both 
 sides were placed benches, on which sat the commissioners. — Cambden. 
 45 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 123 
 
 beth's, and if she stood before them, it was only to secure her 
 honour and reputation. The chancellor answered, that all 
 who resided in England were amenable to the laws of Enjj- 
 land, and the statute upon which her accusation was founded, 
 recognized no distinction of persons. The commissioners or- 
 dered both protest and answers to be recorded, and proceeded 
 with the trial. The attorney- general then read the commis- 
 sion for her trial, in which the act was specified. When he 
 had finished reading, she strongly protested against the act, 
 as passed directly and purposely against her. Cecil — lord 
 Burleigh — replied, every person in that kingdom was bound 
 by the laws, however enacted ; and the commissioners deter- 
 mining to proceed, Mary at length said, she would, notwith- 
 standing the protestation, hear and answer respecting any 
 facts committed against the queen of England. On this the 
 attorney-general proceeded with the charge against her, de- 
 tailed all the proceedings of Babington's conspiracy, and pro- 
 duced copies of Babington's letters and confession, and some 
 letters in cipher from herself to Babington, in which mention 
 was made of the earl of Arundel and Northumberland. Mary, 
 who had hitherto remained unmoved, when she heard this 
 passage, burst into tears, and exclaim.ed : " Alas ! what has 
 the noble house of the Howards endured for my sake." The 
 confessions of Savage and Ballard were next read, acknowl- 
 edo-insf that Babington had communicated to them several let- 
 ters he had received from the queen of Scots ; after which, 
 other letters in cipher were brought forward, wherein she 
 approved of the conspiracy, and these letters were substanti- 
 ated by the confessions of her own secretaries, Naue and Curie. 
 Mary, who answered the articles sereatim, denied that she 
 knew Babington, or ever received any letteis from him ; 
 affirmed that she never had entered into any plot against the 
 queen's life, and to pro-ve such a charge, it was requisite not 
 to produce copies which might be forged, but the letters 
 themselves in her own handwriting or subscription, which 
 they could not. As to Ballard, she never saw him, and being 
 a prisoner, she could not prevent the plots of a foreigner. 
 The ciphers, she said, she knew nothing about, and besides 
 the ease with which her enemies could procure them to be 
 
124 HISTORY OF SCOl'LAND, 
 
 counterfeited, they contained internal evidence of their bein* 
 fabrications ; for how could she ever think of employing the 
 earl of Arundel, who was at the time shut up in the tower, or 
 the earl of Northumberland, quite a youth, and totally un- 
 known to her ; but she was afraid this was a practice too fa- 
 miliar to the secretary, who, she had heard, had frequently 
 plotted against her life. At this remark Walsingham rose, 
 and protested that neither in his private nor public capacity, 
 had he done any thing unbecoming an honest man. But his 
 regard for the safety of the queen and the realm, had made 
 him diligently search out all plots and designs against them, 
 and if Ballard had offered his assistance, he would not only 
 not have refused, but have rewarded him for his services; and 
 if he had tampered with any of them unfairly, how was it 
 tliat none of them accused him when their lives were at stake ? 
 With this answer Mary declared herself satisfied, and begged 
 of him that he would give no more credit to those who slan- 
 dered her, than she did to those who slandered him. Spies, 
 she added, were men who were little to be depended upon. 
 
 At the second sitting, in the afternoon, copies of the letters 
 Mary had received, informing her of the conferences held at 
 Paris, for the purpose of invading England, were read, and 
 proved by the evidence of her secretaries, Naue and Curie, 
 given before the privy council. These, she observed, had no 
 reference to a design upon the queen's life, and as any attempt 
 to invade an enemy's kingdom had never been considered 
 unlawful, she neither affirmed nor denied the fact, but re- 
 marked upon the proof adduced from the testimony of her 
 secretaries, that she believed Curie the Scot to be an honest 
 man, but no competent witness, as he was wholly under the 
 direction of Naue, tlie Frenchman, who she feared was not 
 inaccessible to corruption, who might have written as her 
 letters, what she never dictated, they ought therefore to have 
 been produced in court, and examined in her presence,* and 
 
 * Hume endeavours to defend, but I think unsuccessfully, the keeping back 
 these witnesses. "The not confronting of witnesses," he concludes, "was 
 not the result of design, but the practice of the aj;e." Hist, of Eng. vol. v. ch. 
 42. Note. Now by an act of the ISth of EUzabeth, to which he himself re- 
 fers, it was expressly declared that witnesses should be confronted with the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. ISS 
 
 she was persuaded their evidence would have acquitted her. 
 To elude the force of this objection, which it was impossible 
 fairly to meet, Burleigh brought forwai'd two new charges, 
 which had no connexion witli the crime they were commis- 
 sioned to investigate, and accused her of intending to send the 
 king her son to Spain, and to make over to Philip II. her 
 right to the English crown. To the first she did not deign 
 to reply, and as to the second, affirmed her right to convey to 
 whoever she chose, all lier hereditary claims, but this, she 
 added, was no proof of her having consented to any project 
 for killing the queen of England. The invasion of the king- 
 dom, and the overthrow of the protestant religion were then 
 introduced, and her letters to Inglefield, Mendoza, and Paget 
 read. These she said, merited no answer, being also uncon- 
 nected with the charge of her accession to the conspiracy 
 against the life of her sister, to whom she had often told, that 
 slie would use every effort to procure her liberty. 
 
 Next day, when the court met, Mary repeated her protes- 
 tation against its authority, and complained of the manner 
 in which she had been treated by the introduction of much 
 extraneous matter, and that all her letters were publicly 
 read, even when containing matters altogether foreign to 
 the impeachment. When she sat down, Burleigh said he 
 would answer her in his double capacity of commissioner and 
 privy counsellor; as a commissioner, he informed her, her 
 protest was recorded, and a copy would be delivered ; that 
 their authority was founded on letters patent, under the queen's 
 own hand, and the great seal ; and as to reading her letters, 
 of which she complained, the circumstances which were not 
 immediately connected with the charge, were so interwoven 
 with others that were, that it was impossible to separate them, 
 
 ;:cctisetl, and although Mary was not tried under that act, yet the principle 
 was acknowledged in the law of England. It is needless to say this was " a 
 novelty," it was an enactment previous to the act under M'hich Mary was 
 tried, had been introduced into practice, and was not repealed by that act. 
 The letter of Elizabeth, quoted in the same note, contains strong symptoms of 
 the omission being designed. She had been consulted about allowing Naue 
 and Curie to be produced, and " she was willing to agree to it, only she thought 
 it needless," a very intelligible hint to the managers of the trial. 
 
126 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and rendered it necessary to read the whole. She here inter- 
 rupted him, and reminded him, that the letters were not au- 
 thenticated, that those produced had no subscription or ad- 
 dress, might be directed to others than the persons alleged, or 
 things might be inserted in them, which she had never author- 
 ized, and that having bee^ deprived of all her papers, she 
 was prevented from every means of vindicating herself, or 
 detecting what was false. To this the lord treasurer replied, 
 that as nothing was charged against her, that had taken place 
 previous to the 19th June last, her memory could easily fur- 
 nish whatever was necessary' for her defence ; besides, the 
 papers could be of no service to her, as Babington and her 
 secretaries had owned that they came from her, and it was 
 for the commissioners to judge, whether their affirmation, or 
 her denial was most worthy of credit. As a privy counsellor, 
 he would allow that she had made many efforts t® procure her 
 liberty, but it was owing to herself and the Scots, that they 
 had proved fruitless. The Scottish lords had refused to give 
 the king as a hostage, and during the very last negotiation, 
 Morgan, one of her agents, had sent Parry to England, to 
 assassinate the queen. At this unmanly, unfair, and insidious 
 insinuation, Mary cried out, Ah ! you are my adversary ! 
 Yes, said he, I am an adversary to all queen Elizabeth's ene- 
 mies. The last evidence produced against Mary, was her 
 letters to Paget, telling him that in her opinion there was no 
 way left to reduce the rebellious Netherlands, but by placing 
 a true Catholic on the English throne. A copy of a letter to 
 her from cardinal Allen, in which he calls her his most dread 
 sovereign lady, and told her that the business was recom- 
 mended to the prince of Parma's care, and some passages out 
 of her letter to Mendoza, mentioning her design to make over 
 her right to the throne of England to the king of Spain. 
 
 In her final reply, Mary, who was chiefly anxious to free 
 herself from the only charge which could be considered crim- 
 inal, compassing the queen's death, again repeated her denial 
 of any knowledge of the proposed attempt, or any connexion 
 with Babington's conspiracy, asserting that Babington and 
 her secretaries had accused her, to save themselves, and Naue 
 and Curie, had, probably from fear, confessed any falsehoods 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 127 
 
 that were suggested, imagining that her royalty would protect 
 her. But, besides, their testimony was wholly unworthy of 
 credit, for having sworn never to reveal any of her secrets, 
 they could not, without perjury, give evidence against her. 
 She never had heard of any such person as Ballard, but one 
 Hallard had offered her his service, which she refused, be- 
 cause she knew he was one of Walsingham's spies. All the 
 rest of the charges, even if proved, were of no importance, for 
 they did not bear upon the pi'incipal charge. She could not 
 hinder foreigners fi-om giving her what titles they pleased, 
 nor could she be accountable for the conduct of persons in 
 other countries, while she was herself a prisoner in this. 
 With respect to her design of making over her rights to the 
 crown of England to the king of Spain, her friends, from the 
 state of her health, had suggested its propriety, and she, with- 
 out hope of ever obtaining her liberty from the justice of the 
 queen of England, or by any other means, had now resolved 
 not to refuse foreign aid. When Mary had concluded, Bur- 
 leigh asked her if she had any thing else to offer in her de- 
 fence, upon which she demanded to 'be heard before parlia- 
 ment, or the queen in council. To this no reply was made, 
 and the court adjourned to the star chamber, Westminster, 
 without coming to any decision. 
 
 When the court again assembled, Naue and Curie were 
 brought before them, and confirmed their former declaration 
 upon oath, and the commissioners unanimously declared Mary 
 to have been privy to Babington's conspiracy, and " also, that 
 the said Mary, pretending a title to the crown of this i-ealm, 
 has had compassed, and imagined within this realm, divers 
 matters, tending to the destruction of the royal person of our 
 sovereign lady the queen, contrary to the tenor of the statute, 
 made for the secui'ity of the queen's life." 
 
 It were superfluous to enlarge on the unfairness of this trial, 
 as, even on the supposition of Mary's guilt, and allowing that 
 Elizabeth had possessed a jurisdiction over her, to remove 
 from her every means of defence, usually granted to the lowest 
 criminal, to refuse confronting Naue and Curie with the ac- 
 cused, and afterward to produce them before the commission- 
 ers in the star chamber, and to allow lier declared enemies 
 
128 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 to sit in judgment, were acts of oppi-ession or partiality, in- 
 compatible with equity. It is indeed evident from the whole 
 proceedings, that Mary's death was determined upon, before 
 these commenced, and that the solemn farce was got up, to 
 throw an air of justice over an action which the parties wished 
 to perpetrate, and did not well know otherwise how to accom- 
 plish; for, however the council of EHzabeth may have been 
 persuaded of Mary's participation in Babington's conspiracy, 
 and however strong the presumptions may be that she really 
 was, yet the evidence adduced, did not amount to legal proof. 
 On the same day that sentence was pronounced, the judges 
 gave their opinion that this sentence did not derogate in any 
 manner from the title of James, the king of Scotland, to the 
 English crown. 
 
 Four days after the sentence was pronounced, a parliament 
 was summoned, which was opened by commission, the queen 
 professing, that from motives of tenderness and delicacy, she 
 could not be present, as she foresaw that the affair of the 
 queen of Scots would come under consideration, and she had 
 not courage to stand the 'discussion. Both houses immediate- 
 ly entered upon an inquiry into the late conspiracy, the dan- 
 ger that threatened the queen's life, as well as the peace of 
 the kingdom, and the safety of religion. The whole proceed- 
 ings at Fotheringay were laid before them, and unanimously 
 approved of. The sentence of tlie commissioners was likewise 
 ratified, and declared to be just, and well founded, and a joint 
 address was voted to the queen, beseeching her to allow its 
 publication, and consent to its being carried into execution. 
 Yet the reasons they brought in support of these violent 
 measures, were not founded on the clearness of Mary's guill, 
 but on the restlessness of her character; and expediency, rather 
 than justice was urged, to hasten the punishment of a danger- 
 ous and designing rival. Ker own safety, and the safety of 
 lier people, it was alleged, could never be secure, so long as 
 she was suffered to live, whom the utmost vigilance could not 
 prevent from intriguing, and who, even in the solitude of a 
 prison, had for so many years kept the kingdom in a state of 
 constant agitation and alarm. Elizabeth replied to their pe- 
 tition, in an ambiguous, embarrassed, and seemingly irresolute 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 129 
 
 speech. She stated the numerous dangers she had escaped 
 adverted to the increashig aiFection of her people after a reign 
 of twenty-eight years, which she considered as little less than 
 miraculous, and which were she to lose, she might continue to 
 breathe, but would cease to live. She then expressed her 
 grief at the crimes of one so nearly allied to her by blood, <>i 
 the same stock, and of similar dignity, yet, were her own 
 life only concerned, and not the welfare of her people, she 
 could willingly and readily pardon ; or, if by her death Eng- 
 land would be rendered more flourishing, and obtain a better 
 prince, she would cheerfully lay down her life, as it was for 
 her people's sake alone she desired to live. She expressed 
 great reluctance to execute the sentence on her kinswomar, 
 affirmed the late statute, so far from being framed to ensnare 
 her, was intended rather to warn and deter her from engaging 
 in any treasonable practices; and nov/ it had enabled her to 
 .^elect a number of the noblest personages of the land to ex- 
 amine so weighty a cause, instead of sending a princess to be 
 tried before a jury of twelve ordinary men; then, after allud- 
 ing to her absenting herself from parliament, lest she should 
 have had her troubles increased, by hearing the matter men- 
 tioned, she assured them it did not proceed from any dread 
 of danger, or apprehension of any treacherous attempts, and 
 immediately added, " but I will now tell you a farther secret 
 — though it be not usual for me to blab foi"th in other cases 
 what I know — it is not long since these eyes of mine, saw and 
 read an oath, wherein some bound themselves to kill me with- 
 in a month," and concluded by telling them, that it was her 
 custom to deliberate long in lesser matters than this, before 
 she resolved, and hoped they would not expect any immediate 
 decision from her, on a subject of such immense magnitude. 
 In the meantime, she besought Almighty God to illuminate 
 and direct her heart, to see clearly what would be best for the 
 good t>f the church, the prosperity of the commonwealth, and 
 their nnitual safety, and the result she would immediately 
 communicate to them. 
 
 A few days after, Elizabeth sent a message to both houses 
 of parliament, entreating them to devise some expedient, by 
 which the life of the queen of Scots might be saved, and the 
 
 vol.. III. R 
 
130 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 safety ot the state secured. The message was taken into im- 
 mediate consideration, and four ways were suggested to save 
 Mary, but all were declared inefficient: — Her repentance — 
 which was not to be expected ; her oath and bond, that she 
 would engage in no conspiracies for the future — these were 
 not to be trusted; her giving hostages — a vain precaution; or 
 allowing her to depart the kingdom — the most dangerous of 
 all, for, if while a prisoner, she had stirred up so many in her 
 cause, what would she not attempt if set at liberty; there, 
 therefore, remained no method for securing public tranc[uillity, 
 and the queen's safety, but by carrying the sentence into im- 
 mediate execution, and an address was voted to her majesty to 
 that eifect, in which they represented the impropriety of de- 
 lay, for if it were injustice to deny the execution of the law to 
 the meanest of her subjects, how much more to refuse it to 
 the unanimous demand of the whole people. Although this 
 was the point to which all Elizabeth's proceedings tended, her 
 second answer was equally indecisive, though not quite so 
 ambiguous as the first, for it more plainly insinuated the ne- 
 cessity of the death of Mary. She complained of the distres- 
 sing situation to which she was reduced, by having her safety 
 made to depend upon the ruin of another, and the great re- 
 luctance that she, who had pardoned so many rebels, felt, in 
 appearing cruel toward so great a princess, notwithstanding 
 their resolution, that her security was desperate without the 
 death of the other. " But so far," continued she, " am I 
 from cruelty, that though it were to save my own life, I would 
 not offer her the least violence; neither have I been so careful 
 to prolong my own life, as how to preserve both hers and 
 mine, which now, that it is impossible to do, is my most 
 grievous affliction." To show however, " what manner oi 
 woman she was, about whose preservation they had taken 
 such extraordinary care," she expatiated at length upon her 
 care for religion, her love to her people, and her constant 
 labours for their advantage, from the first day she had swayed 
 the sceptre, and then, after expressing her gratitude for their 
 labours, dismissed the committee of parliament, in a state of 
 as great uncertainty as ever, with regard to her final deter- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 131 
 
 mination. * The queen having thus obtained from their ur- 
 gent entreaties, a plausible apology for ordering the execution 
 of Mary whenever she chose, the parliament was prorogued, 
 and the sentence published by proclamation. 
 
 As soon as parliament broke up, lord Buckhurst, and 
 Beale, the clerk of the council, were sent to acquaint Mary 
 with the sentence pronounced against her, with the earnest 
 supplications of that assembly, and the clamorous importunity 
 of the people for its execution, as the established religion of 
 ICngland was not considered secure, so long as she continued 
 alive. Mary received the intelligence, as what she had long 
 expected, not only with firmness, but even with triumph, 
 attaching to herself from the last expressions, the character of 
 a martyr for her religion. She added, " It was not strange 
 that the English, who had so often murdered their own sov- 
 ereigns, should now treat her, who was sprung from the same 
 origin, in a similar manner." After the annunciation of the 
 sentence, Paulet, her keeper, was ordered to treat her no 
 longer as a sovereign princess. Her canopy of state was 
 taken down, and he told her she was now to be considered as 
 a dead person, incapable of any dignity. She only replied, 
 that she had received her royal character from the hands of 
 the Almighty, and no earthly power could bereave her of it. 
 In her last letter to Elizabeth, however, she complained, 
 though mildly, of the indignities to which she was exposed, 
 while she expressed her gratitude to heaven, that they were 
 now drawing to an end, and she preferred, as her dying re- 
 quests, that her body might be buried in Catholic ground, in 
 France, near the remains of her mother, that she might not 
 be put to death in private, but in the presence of her servants, 
 
 * The conclusion of her speech is curious. " And now for your petition, 
 I desire you for the present to content yourselves with an answer without 
 answer. Your judgment I condemn not, neither do I mistake your reasons 
 but I must desire you to excuse those thoughtful doubts and cares, which as 
 yet perplex my mind, and to rest satisfied with the profession of my thankful 
 esteem of your affections, and the answer I have given, if you take it for any 
 answer at all. If I should say I will not do what you request, I might say 
 perhaps more than I intend, and if I should say I will do it, I might plunge 
 myself into as bad inconveniences, as you endeavour to preserve me from.'' 
 
13'2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 who might bear testimony to her constancy in the faith, and 
 that afterward they might be allowed to depart without mol- 
 estation, wherever they chose, and enjoy the legacies she had 
 bequeathed them in her will; and she besought her in the 
 name of Jesus, by the soul and memory of Henry VII. their 
 common ancestor, and by the royal dignity with which they 
 were both invested, to grant her these favours. To this let- 
 ter no answer was returned. 
 
 No sooner were the extraordinary proceedings against 
 Mary known, than Henry III. of France ordered L'Aubes- 
 pine, his res-ident ambassador, to interpose in behalf of Mary, 
 and, in addition, he despatched Bellievi-e with the professed 
 intention of interceding for her life, but it is said, with private 
 instructions to hasten her death. 
 
 With, perhaps, more sincerity, but with as little eiFect, the 
 young king of Scots solicited Elizabeth to mitigate the sentence 
 of his mother. Whenever he heard of her trial and condem- 
 nation, he despatched Sir William Keith, a gentleman of liis 
 bedchamber, to London, with a letter to the queen, expressing 
 his astonishment that English nobility and counsellors should 
 presume to pass sentence upon a queen of Scotland, descend- 
 ed from the blood royal of England; but he would be still 
 more astonished, were she to stain her hands with the blood 
 of his mother, equal in rank to herself, and of the same sex. 
 This he could not believe possible; yet, if she did entertain 
 any such intention, he desired her to recollect that neither his 
 honour as a king or a son, would suffer him quietly to allow 
 an independent princess, and his mother, to be put to an ig- 
 nominious death. No answer being returned to this remon- 
 strance, James instructed his envoy to remonstrate still more 
 strongly on the insult offered to royalty itself, in allowing a 
 sovereign to be treated as a common subject, and to remind 
 Elizabeth, that both nature and a sense of honour would call 
 for revenge, if she Inflicted so enormous an injury, and that it 
 would be impossible for him to justify himself to his own sub- 
 jects, or to the world, if he should patiently endure it; and he 
 further instructed him to procure a delay, till he should send 
 an ambassador with such overtures as might at once satisfy 
 the (jueen, and save his mother. At the same time, he made 
 
MiSTOUy OF SCOTLAND, 1^3 
 
 a show of vigorous preparation, as if to carry his llneats into 
 execution. Sir William Keith acted up to his instructions, 
 and urged Elizabeth with so much honest smcerity, that she 
 broke into a violent rage, and would instantly have dismissed 
 the Scottish ambassador, had not her courtiers interposed, 
 and at their entreaty she consented to suspend the execution, 
 till the promised ambassadors should arrive from Scotland. 
 
 Immediately on learning that they might still arrive in time 
 to prevent the catastrophe, James sent the master of Gray, 
 and Sir Robert Melville, to the English court. They offered 
 that the Scottish king would pledge himself, and give some of 
 his chief nobility as hostages, that no plot or conspiracy, 
 against her crown or person, should hereafter be carried on 
 or countenanced by his mother, or if she were sent to Scot- 
 land, eff'ectual measures would be taken to prevent the possi- 
 bility of such an occurrence. Calling in the earl of Leicester 
 and her chamberlain, Elizabeth sneeringly repeated to them 
 the offers that had been made. Wlien these offers were reject- 
 ed, the ambassadors proposed that Mary should resign all right 
 and pretension to the English crown to her son, from whom 
 no danger to the protestant interest, or to the realm, could be 
 dreaded; on which, Eliziibeth exclaimed with an oath: — 
 " That were to cut mine own throat. He shall never come 
 m that place ;" assigning, as a reason, the little confidence 
 she could repose in the loyalty of courtiers, were she to name 
 a successor, any of whom, she said, for a dutchy, or an 
 earldom, would procure some desperate knave to kill her; 
 and with another oath, confirmed the royal estimate of their 
 value. One of the envoys then remarked, that the king would 
 be more unequivocally in his mother's place if she were re- 
 moved by death. " Well, tell your king," said Elizabeth, 
 sternly, " what I have done for him to keep the crown on his 
 head since he was born. For my part I intend to preserve 
 the league between us, which if he break, his be the blame;" 
 and with these words she was retiring, when Sir Robert Mel- 
 ville following, begged that the execution might be delayed 
 but eight days. " No, not an hour," was her reply. But 
 while Gray in public acted along with the other envoys, in 
 private, he performed a most perfidious part, and encouraged 
 
134 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Elizabeth to carry the sentence into execution, engaging to 
 pacify the king, and prevent any rupture between the two 
 kingdoms. Elizabeth, who was an admirable judge of char- 
 iicter, knew the prince with whom she had to deal, and en- 
 deavoured to work both on his fear and his cupidity. While 
 she talked in a high tone to James' ambassadors, she employ- 
 ed her ministers to state to him, in confidential letters, all the 
 disadvantages which would arise from any attempt of his to 
 revenge the death of his mother; and by representing her in 
 the worst colours, as a determined enemy to his religion, and 
 wholly alienated from his interest, to show that she was un- 
 worthy of being revenged. In the meantime, she herself hes- 
 itated, and dissembled. She wished the death of her rival, 
 but she also wished to escape the infamy of the action. In 
 order, therefore, to give the appearance of necessity to what 
 she had resolved upon, numerous rumours were circulated to 
 procure additional solicitations, and prevent the public mind 
 from relapsing into indifference. At one time the Spanish 
 fleet was arrived at Milford haven ; at another, the duke of 
 Guise had landed in Sussex with an army; now, the queen of 
 Scotland had escaped out of prison, and was raising troops in 
 the north ; then, sevei'al plots were laid to kill the queen, and 
 set fire to the city of London. And to give some appearance 
 of credibility to such vague alarms, L'Aubespine, the ambas- 
 sador, was examined before the council, upon a charge of 
 having hired two assassins to murder the queen. By these 
 means, the passions of the people were inflamed to madness, 
 and a universal cry raised for the blood of the unfortunate 
 Mary, as the only means of allaying the public terror. 
 
 Although it cannot be supposed that the affection of James 
 for his mother, whom he never saw, was very ardent, * yet 
 
 * It does not appear that James ever, during the whole time of his mother's, 
 captivity, made one application to Elizabeth in her favour, till a sense of 
 shame forced him upon the present occasion, and it is very problematical 
 whether then he was sincere; for when his mother's danger was mentioned to 
 him by lord Hamilton, at the request of Courcelles, the French ambassador, 
 his unfeeling answer was: " That the queene, his mother, might well drink 
 the ale and beerc which herselfe had brewed ; and further, that having bound 
 herselfe to the queene of England to doe nothing againste her, she ought to 
 
nrSTORY OF SCOTLAND. 135 
 
 common decency re(iuired that he should show some interest 
 in her fate, and some resentment at the manner in which she 
 was treated. He therefore, as soon as he understood that her 
 execution was determined, recalled his ambassadors, and or- 
 dered prayers to be offered up for her in the churches. To 
 prevent any opposition, he prescribed a form to which he 
 tliought there should have been little objection: — " That it 
 might please God to illuminate her with the light of his truth, 
 and save her from the danger that threatened her." All min- 
 isters were charged, by public proclamation, to use this form, 
 on pain of incurring his majesty's displeasure, and commis- 
 sioners and superintendents were commanded to suspend from 
 preaching such as refused. With this requisition some of the 
 nnnisters of Edinburgh, either from an idea that the king was 
 usurping power in the church by prescribing a form, or that 
 praying for Mary implied a belief of her innocence, and a 
 censure of Elizabeth, would not comply. On which, the king- 
 appointed a public fast, and ordered solemn prayers to be 
 made for her, at the same time directing the bishop of St. 
 Andrews to officiate in St. Giles' church on the occasion. 
 The ministers, to prevent his officiating, prevailed upon Mr. 
 John Cowper, " a young man not entered as yet in the func- 
 tion," to take possession of the pulpit, and exclude the bishop. 
 When the king arrived he found the service begun, and stop- 
 ped Mr. Cowper in the middle of his prayer, telling him, that 
 that place was destined for another; but added, since you are 
 there, if you will obey the charge that is given, and remember 
 my mother in your prayers, you may go on. To this the 
 preacher replied: — " Ke would do as the Spirit of God should 
 direct him." On which he was commanded to leave the pul- 
 pit; but hesitating to obey, the captain of the guard went to 
 pull him out, when he relnctautly left his post, exclaiming: — 
 
 have kept her promise ; notwithstanding, he woiilde no waye faiie in his dutie 
 and naturall obii^atione he ov.glit her." To Sir George Douglas who repre- 
 sented to liim how discreditable it would be to bim to allow Elizabeth to put 
 his mother to death, the king said that he knew " she bore him no more 
 good will than she did the queene of England, and that, in truth, it was meete 
 for her to meddle with nothing but prayer and serving of God." — Courcelles 
 Negotiation, quoted by Dr, M'Crie, Life Of Melville, vol. i. pp. 366-7. 
 
136" HISTORY OV SCOTLAND. 
 
 This day shall be a witness against the king in tlic great da}' 
 of the Lord, and denounced a wo against the inhabitants of 
 Edinburgh. The bishop of St. Andrews then went up and 
 finished the service. For this conduct Cowper was called 
 before the council, and sentenced to be imprisoned in Black- 
 ness ; and those who at first refused, afterward yielded to 
 pray for Mary. * 
 
 When Elizabeth had sufficiently excited the fears of the 
 vulgar, and received as many solicitations as afforded her a 
 decent excuse for complying with what was her own wish, she 
 
 * In the above statement I have chiefly followed Spotswood, as I do not 
 see any good grounds for rejecting his account. It is clear that Cowper must 
 have pre-occupied the pulpit of St. Giles by the advice, or with the approba- 
 tion of the ministers of Edinburgh, and it is not improbable that a young 
 man, who could be persuaded to take possession of a pulpit the king had 
 destined for another, might with equal imprudence utter the speech attributed 
 to him. Dr. M'Crie thinks that Spotswood, who must have seen the record 
 of the privy council, " has introduced circumstances not warranted by the 
 record; which if true, it would scarcely have failed to mention." It [the 
 record] says nothing of the king's giving Cowper liberty to proceed if he wouM 
 pray for his mother, nor of Cowper's re[)ly ; nor was Cowper imprisoned for 
 refusing to pray for the queen, but " bccaus his Matie desyrit him to stay 
 efter he had begwyn his prayer in the pulpit, w*in St. Geill's kirk in Edin- 
 burgh, declaring that y"^ was ane vther appoyntit to occupy that rewme. 
 That he vtterit thir words following, thay ar to say, That this day suld here 
 witnes aganis his Matie in the greit day of the Lord," and denounced a wo 
 against the inhabitants of Edinburgh. — Record of Privy Council, February 5d, 
 1586. Now the circumstances mentioned by Spotswood, might easily have 
 taken place, yet not be narrated in the books of the privy council. Prayinj; 
 for Mary was a question about which the nation was divided. Contempt of 
 the king's authority, in taking possession of the pulpit, which he knew the 
 king had expressly ordered to be filled by another, and denouncing a threat- 
 ening against his majesty, in presence of the congregation, when ordered to 
 come down, was conduct, the criminality of which could admit of no dispute. 
 Therefore the higher and more evident charge was preferred against him and 
 inserted, while the dubious one was left out. This transaction occurred pre- 
 viously to the 3d of February; the ministers of St. Andrews complied with 
 the requisition on the 8th, and Courcelles, in a letter written on the 28th of 
 the same month, says, that even those who at first refused, yielded. So that, 
 as Spotswood states, the whole might at first refu'^e — though they afterward 
 rame in — and it is not unlikely the punishment of Cowper might have some 
 influence in settling their scruples. — Vide M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. i. [). 
 oG'l, Note, .and 565, >Jote. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 137 
 
 ordered Davidson, one of her secretaries, to draw out the 
 warrant, which when she had signed, she gave it him, and 
 jocularly bade him tell Walsingham what she had done, 
 " though I am afraid," she added, *' he will die for grief 
 when he hears it." Next day she sent to Davidson, telling 
 him she had altered her mind, and desired him to forbear 
 executing her former orders. When Davidson came and in- 
 formed her it had already passed the great seal, she blamed 
 his precipitancy, and said she thought a better mode might 
 be adopted, hinting at a more private ; but Davidson rejected 
 the proposal, and answered that the just and the openest was 
 always the best and safest course. Still she would willingly 
 have had Mary removed in some other way, and ordered a 
 letter to be written to Paulet, complaining of his remissness 
 in sparing so long the life of her enemy ; but Paulet, who 
 knew the danger as well as disgrace which would have been 
 the consequence, refused to comply, and, in his answer to the 
 queen, told her, she might dispose of his life at her pleasure, 
 but he would never consent to an action which would leave an 
 indelible stain on his honour. Elizabeth, vexed at his refusal, 
 called him a dainty and precise fellow, who would promise 
 much, but perform nothing. Davidson, when he parted from 
 the queen, went directly to the council, and acquainted them 
 with the whole transaction. They were of opinion, that the 
 execution should be hastened, each professing that the blame 
 of the business would be equally borne by every member, and 
 a commission signed by all present, was transmitted by Beale 
 to the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, empowering them, to- 
 gether with the high sheriff of the county, to see the sentence 
 carried into execution. 
 
 On Tuesday, 7th February, 1586, the two earls came to 
 Fotheringay castle, and being introduced to Mary, in the 
 presence of her domestics, read their commission, and desired 
 her to prepare for death next morning at eight o'clock. She 
 heard the dreadful annunciation with composure, and replied, 
 " I did not think that queen Elizabeth, my sister, would have 
 consented to my death, but since it is so, death is to me most 
 welcome. That soul is not worthy of the joys of heaven, that 
 cannot look forward to the stroke of the executioner without 
 
138 HISTORY OF scon. AND. 
 
 dismay." The earls then reminded her of her crime, the fair 
 and honourable trial she had had, and the necessity imposed 
 on Elizabeth of executing the sentence, as it was found she 
 and her could not both exist together; for even since her sen- 
 tence was known, new conspiracies were attempted, and would 
 be while she was permitted to live. She had now had long- 
 warning to prepare, and they hoped she was ready to die; but 
 that no Christian duty might be said to be omitted, that might 
 be for her comfort, and tend to the salvation of her body and 
 soul in the world to come, they offered her, as a spiritual 
 counsellor, the dean of Peterborough. But she refused his 
 assistance, saying, she was prepared to die in the Roman 
 Catholic faith, which her ancestors had professed, and re- 
 quested that she might be allowed now in her last moments, 
 a priest of her own persuasion to attend her; but this was 
 peremptorily denied, and the earl of Kent told her, that her 
 death would be the life of their religion. She then asked 
 what answer had been returned to the requests she had made 
 to the queen, but the earls had received no instructions. 
 When Babington's conspiracy was mentioned, she solemnly 
 protested that it was entirely unknown to her, and expressed 
 her belief that it was not for the conspiracy, but for her re- 
 ligion, that her life was sought; and when Kent denied that 
 she would have been touched for her religion, had she not 
 conspired against the queen of England, she again protested 
 her innocence, and added, that although she herself forgave 
 those who had persecuted her to death, there was a God who 
 Avould take vengeance on the guilty, and when she was dead, 
 it would appear how injuriously she had been treated. After 
 the departure of the earls she hastened supper, that she might 
 have time to arrange her affairs. At supper she ate sparingly, 
 as was her custom, and conversed cheerfully with her attend- 
 ants, remarking to Burgoin her physician, that although they 
 pretended that she must die for conspiring against the queen's 
 life, the earl of Kent had let out the secret; her religion was 
 her real crime. She then called in her servants, and drank 
 to them. They pledged her on their knees, and asked pardon 
 for any omission or neglect of duty, while she requested them 
 to forgive any offence she might unwittingly have committctl 
 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 139 
 
 towards them. She then distributed her money, clothes, and 
 jewels, among them, according to their rank and merit, and 
 also wrote to the king of France, and the duke of Guise, re- 
 commending them to their protection. At her wonted time 
 she retired to bed, slept some hours quietly, and afterward 
 spent the rest of the night in prayer. About day dawn she 
 dressed herself in a rich mourning habit of silk and velvet, 
 such as she generally wore on festivals, and employed the re- 
 mainder of her time in devotion. At eight o'clock, Andrews, 
 the sheriff, entered her apartment, and informed her the hour 
 was come, and she must attend him to the place of execution. 
 She replied that she was ready, and with a calm and unaltered 
 countenance, followed, leaning upon two of Paulet's guards, 
 on account of a rheumatic affection in her limbs. At the foot 
 of the stairs she was met by the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, 
 Sir Amias Paulet, Sir Drue Drury, and many otlier gentle- 
 men of distinction. Here also Sir Andrew Melville, her stew- 
 ard, was waiting to take his last farewell. As soon as she 
 approached he fell on his knees, and weeping, lamented the 
 situation of the queen, and his own unhappy lot in being the 
 messenger destined to carry such melancholy tidings to his 
 native country. " Do not lament for me, my good Melville," 
 replied she to her disconsolate servant, " rather rejoice that 
 thou shalt this day see Mary Stuart delivered from all her 
 cares ! And take this message from me, that I die true to my 
 religion, and unshaken in my affection towards Scotland and 
 France. Thou hast been ever faithful to me, though of a dif- 
 ferent persuasion, yet as ther^ is but one Christ, I charge 
 thee, as thou shalt answer to him, carry these my last words 
 to my son; tell him that I enjoin him to serve God, to protect 
 the catholic church, to rule his kingdom in peace, and to take 
 v/arning from me, never to put himself in the power of an- 
 other. Assure him that I have done nothing prejudicial to 
 the crown of Scotland, and it is my wish that he would main- 
 tain his amity with the queen of England. Serve him faith- 
 fully as thou hast served me. Farewell." Then turning to the 
 noblemen, she requested that her servants might be permitted 
 to attend her at her death. At first Kent objected, lest their 
 weeping and cries should disturb both himself and the s;pecta- 
 
1*<) HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 tors, or lest they might indulge in some superstitious practices, 
 which it would be improper for him to allow, and instanced 
 tlie dipping their handkerchiefs in her blood. " My lord," re- 
 plied the queen of Scots, " I can promise they shall not incur 
 any blame for such actions as you mention," and repeated her 
 request. Kent still refusing, " I am," cried she indignantly, 
 " cousin to your queen, of the same blood royal, married queen 
 of France, anointed queen of Scotland ;" on which, perceiving 
 how invidious their obstinacy would appear, the commission- 
 ers consented that she might take a few of her servants along 
 with her, and she chose Melville, her physician, apothecary, 
 and surgeon, and two of her maids. 
 
 The scaffold, about twelve feet broad, and two feet high, 
 was erected in the same hall in which she had been tried, 
 opposite the chimney, where a large fire had been kindled. It 
 was covered, as well as a chair, the cushion, and block, with 
 black cloth. Mary entered the hall, and surveyed with sol- 
 emn composure, all the dreadful apparatus of death, and sign- 
 ins herself with the cross, she sat down on the chair. The 
 room was crowded wuth spectators, who beheld with mingled 
 emotions of admiration and pity, the fortitude and the fate of 
 the royal, and still lovely sufferer; for, neither her age, infir- 
 mities, nor misfortunes, had yet destroyed her former beauty. 
 When silence was procured, Beale read with a loud voice, the 
 warrant for her execution, to which she listened, as if her 
 thoughts had been employed on some more interesting sub- 
 ject. This finished, the dean of Peterborough began a dis- 
 course, such as he thought suitable to her present condition, 
 and attempted to administer some consolation, but the topics 
 on which he insisted being harsh, controversial, and ungrate- 
 ful, she repeatedly requested him to desist, as she could not 
 attend to him. St'ill he persisted, and pled his orders from 
 her majesty's council, for his ungracious persevei*ance, till at 
 last, in a peremptory tone, she desired him to be silent, as 
 she had nothing to do with him, and he had nothing to do 
 with her. Some of the noblemen then interfered, and desir- 
 ed him to trouble her no farther. " Yes !" said she, " that 
 will be best, I am decidedly attached to the ancient Catholic 
 religion, in it I was born, I have lived in it, and in it I am 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 14il" 
 
 determined to die." The earl of Kent replied, yet would they 
 not cease to pray to God for her, that he would vouchsafe to 
 open her eyes, and enlighten her mind with the knowledge of 
 the truth, that she might die therein. In that, my lord, an- 
 swered the queen, you may do as }'ou choose, as for me, I 
 will pray by myself. The dean then commenced a prayer, 
 while she apart prayed in the Latin tongue. When the dean 
 had finished, Mary, with an audible voice, and in the English 
 language, commended to God the afflicted state of the church, 
 prayed for the prosperity and happiness of her son, and for 
 queen Elizabeth, that she might live long, and have a peaceful 
 reign. She then added, that she hoped only to be saved 
 through the blood of Christ, at the feet of whose figure re- 
 presented on the crucifix, she would willingly shed her own; 
 then lifting it up, and kissing it, she said, " As thy arms, O 
 Jesus ! were spread abroad on the cross, so with the out- 
 stretched arms of thy mercy, receive me, and forgive my sins." 
 The earl of Kent, who was displeased at her using a crucifix 
 in her devotions, reproved her for her attachment to such 
 popish trumpery, and exhorted her to have Christ in her heart 
 and not in her hand. She replied, it was difficult to hold 
 such an object in the hand, without feeling the heart affected. 
 She then, with the assistance of her two women, began to 
 disrobe herself of her upper garments, and the executioner 
 offering to assist, she put him back, saying, she had not been 
 accustomed to be served by such grooms, nor undressed be- 
 fore so great a multitude. Her upper robe being taken off, 
 she herself loosened her doublet, which was laced on the back, 
 and put on a pair of silken sleeves. She then kissed her maids, 
 and bade them farewell. At this last mark of tenderness, 
 they burst into tears, on which she turned to them, and put- 
 ting her finger to her lips, as a sign of silence, said, I promis- 
 ed you would be silent, pray for me ! Then kneeling un- 
 dauntedly down, she repeated. In thee, O God, I trust, let me 
 not be confounded for ever ! and one of her maids having 
 covered her eyes with a handkerchief, she laid her neck on 
 the block, crying aloud, in mane tuus Domi?ie — into thy hands, 
 O Lord, I commit my spirit. The executioner at two blows, 
 separated her head from her body, and he held it up, yet 
 
142 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 streaming with blood, while the dean of Peterborough exclaim- 
 ed, So perish all queen Elizabeth's enemies. The earl of Kent 
 pronounced a solitary amen. The rest of the spectators re- 
 mained silent, their attention fixed on the melancholy scene 
 before them, every harsher feeling being hushed by sympathy 
 for the misfortunes of a woman, and a queen, whose tresses, 
 prematurely gray, bore witness to the weight and intensity of 
 her afflictions. Mary was forty-four years, and two months 
 old, w.hen she ended on the scaffold, a life chequered beyond 
 , the common lot of humanity, and nearly nineteen years of 
 which had been passed in captivity. Possessed of exquisite 
 personal beauty, she was also endowed with admirable natural 
 talents. To the most fascinating manners, she added every 
 elegant accomplishment of her sex. Affable and polite in her 
 demeanoui', gay and sprightly in her disposition, she possess- 
 ed, or could counterfeit, all the softer graces, which render a 
 lovely woman irresistibly captivating. But here panegyric 
 must stop; her passions were violent, and under no resti'aint, 
 she was impatient of contradiction, capable of the most pro- 
 found dissimulation, and the most terrible revenge. 
 
 Mary's misfortunes, and the unjust treatment she received 
 from Elizabeth, her protracted imprisonment, and melancholy 
 death, have contributed to throw into shade, the causes which 
 led to her sufferings; for, while we view with pity the pres- 
 sure of her calamity, we are apt to forget the extent of her 
 crimes. Yet, historical trcith requires that they be not alto- 
 gether passed in silence. During the short time she allowed 
 Moray to direct her councils, no king in Scotland ever had 
 more cheerful obedience, and if her own intolerant spirit, and 
 ardent attachment to the Romish church, and her repeated 
 breach of promise, had not alienated the minds of her pro- 
 testant subjects, and raised their suspicions, she w^ould have 
 been allowed the quiet exercise of her own religion, nor would 
 any of the ministers have dared to insult her. Her first at- 
 tachment to Darnley, was as indelicate and imprudent, as her 
 subsequent hatred was implacable and deadly. Her connex- 
 ion and mai'riage with Both well, can be defended upon no 
 principles, M'hich do not at the same time obliterate everj' 
 distinction between innocence and guilt. Her unhappy edu- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 143 
 
 cation, as a queen from her birth, in a lascivious and tyran- 
 nical court, which early corrupted her morals, and perverted 
 her judgment, which intent on producing a graceful and 
 princely exterior, neglected to cultivate the better affections 
 of the heart, can unfortunately account for the rash and ob- 
 stinate perversity with which she rushed upon her ruin, even 
 allowing that she possessed the materials, which, under other 
 tuition, might have formed a model of almost spotless perfec- 
 tion. 
 
 When Elizabeth was informed of Mary's execution, she 
 affected the utmost astonishment, rage, and sorrow, she put 
 herself in deep mourning, was frequently in tears, refused her 
 ministers all access to her presence, and secluded herself with 
 her maidens, to bewail the deplorable misfortune, which, con- 
 trary to her wishes, and fixed purpose, had befallen her kins- 
 woman. She had now accomplished one great object of her 
 wishes, and had got rid of a rival, whom, during all her reign, 
 she feared and hated. Her next drift was to persuade the 
 world, that this consummation was without her knowledge, 
 and in opposition to her will. For this purpose, with a 
 hypocrisy more glaring than any she had yet practised, she 
 rolled over the whole blame upon Davidson, her secretary, an 
 honest, upright servant, whom she had employed as her in- 
 strument, and who had not been sufficiently initiated in her 
 artifices to avoid the snare. * He was immediately deprived 
 of his office, thrown into prison, and soon after, tried in the 
 star chamber. The secretary, confounded at the charge, and 
 knowing the danger of contending with the queen, acknowl- 
 edged himself guilty of an error, which he said he could not 
 attempt to vindicate, without failing in the respect and duty 
 he owed her majesty; but he protested it was by the advice 
 of the whole council, that the warrant was put in execution, 
 as they were afraid lest the queen or the state might incur any 
 damage by delay. Yet he would not contest, he left the whole 
 with the queen, to whose conscience, and the verdict of the 
 judges, he entirely submitted himself. On this confession, 
 
 * He had been only made secretary a few days before the trial of queen 
 Mary, probably with the intention of taking advantage of his unsuspecting 
 integrity. 
 
l-t4 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 after enduring the reproaches of the very counsellors, who, if 
 there was any guilt, were more deeply involved than himself, 
 he was condemned to be fined in ten thousand pounds, and 
 imprisoned during the queen's pleasure. He suffered a long 
 confinement, was beggared by the fine, and all the favour he 
 ever received, was an occasional pittance to save him from 
 starvation. Such is the gratitude of courts. 
 
 Filial affection is an instinctive passion, in some degree felt 
 by every human being, and one of the mysterious ties in our 
 nature, that link us to our kind. By it we are interested in 
 the fate of those to whom we have owed our birth, although 
 we may never have seen them, or never knew any of the en- 
 dearments of a mother's love, or the kindness of a father's 
 protection. In James this was neither vigorous nor strong, 
 and Elizabeth knew well, that whatever feeling the death of 
 his mother might produce, it might be acute, but it would be 
 only momentary; * she therefore despatched Mr. Robert 
 Carey, a son of lord Hunsdon, with a letter, in her own hand- 
 writing, calculated to meet its first ebullition. It was of this 
 purport. My dear brother, I would you knew, though not 
 that you felt, the extreme anguish that overwhelms my mind, 
 on account of that miserable accident which has happened, 
 far contrary to my inclination. I have therefore sent my 
 kinsman, whom you have been formerly graciously pleased to 
 
 *■ Alexander Stuart, sent in company with the ambasi^adors " with more 
 secret charge," had said to Elizabeth, " were she even deade, yf the king at 
 first shewed himselfe not contented therewith, they might easily satisfy him in 
 sen ding him doges and deare." On being informed of this, the king was in 
 ir.arvilose collore, and sware and protested before God, that yf Stuart came, 
 he would hange him before he putt off his bootes, and yf the queene medled 
 with his mother's life, she should knowe he would follow somewhat else than 
 doges and deare. (February 10th.) Courcelles expresses his fears, that if 
 Mary's execution should happen, James would " digeste it as patiently as he 
 liath done that Tifhich passed between the queene of England, and Alexander 
 Stuart, whose excuse he hath well allowed, and vseth the man as weU as be- 
 fore." (February 28th.) Courcelles' Negotiation, quoted by Dr. M'Crie. And 
 neither Courcelles, nor Stuart were much mistaken in their remarks, as the 
 following anecdote, preserved by Wodrow, fully evinces. A little after the 
 king had got on his mournings for his mother, one day when Mr. Melville 
 came in to wait upon his majesty, he was laughing heartily, frisking and 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 145 
 
 favour, tliat he may instruct you truly of that, which my pen 
 refuses to write. I beseech you, that as God and many others, 
 know my innocence in this case, so you will believe, that if I 
 had commanded it, I should not have disavowed it. I am 
 not so base minded, as that the fear of any living creature 
 should make me afraid to do what is just, nor so degenerate 
 or vile, as to deny it when done. Openness best becomes a 
 king, and I shall never stoop to dissemble. This assure 
 yourself of from me, that as I know it was deserved, I would 
 never have laid the blame on another, but neither will I im- 
 pute to myself, that which I did not so much as think of. 
 You will learn the particulars from the bearer, and believe 
 me, you have not in the wodd a more loving kinswoman, and 
 more dear friend, nor any that will watch more carefully to 
 preserve you and your state, and if any would persuade you 
 to the contrary, consider them as more attached to others 
 than to you. Thus in haste I have troubled you, beseeching 
 God to send you a long and happy reign. 
 
 James refused either to see the messenger, or receive the 
 letter, and his resentment seemed for the time both lively and 
 sincere. The estates of Scotland, who were then sitting, par- 
 ticipated in these feelings, and urged him to revenge, profes- 
 sing their readiness both to expend their lives and estates in 
 the quarrel, and lord Sinclair, when the courtiers appeared 
 
 dancing about the room with no little levity, as was not unusual with him while 
 in his younger years. Mr. Melville observed him a little, and the following 
 lines struck him in the head extempore, from his bright poetical fancy, and 
 smiling, he turned to a nobleman, and repeated them. The nobleman was 
 mightily pleased, and burst out into laughter. The king soon came up, and 
 asked the reason. The nobleman waved it, saying it was a merry tale of Mr. 
 Andrew. The king would know it. Mr. Melville said it might be offensive 
 to his majesty. The king said he would not be offended, and so Mr. Andrew- 
 repeated them. Be these circumstances as they will, the lines contained 
 much wit and salt — 'they were . • . / , 
 
 Quid sibi vult, tantus lugubri sub veste cachinnus, 
 Scilicet hie matrem deflet, ut ilia patrem. 
 
 Why the loud laugh ? beneath tlie vesture sad. 
 He mourns his mother, as she did his dad, 
 VOL. III. T 
 
14)6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 in mourning, presented himself in armour, as the proper 
 mourning for the queen. Carey, on not being admitted into 
 the king's presence, consulted with his court, and received 
 instructions to deliver his letter to some of the council, with 
 a memorial to be laid before James, expressing the queen's 
 determination never to have put his mother to death, notwith- 
 standing the solicitations of her nobility, and the cries of her 
 people, and informing him that she had delivered the warrant 
 to her secretary, Davidson, to be kept secret, and not to be 
 produced, except in case of actual invasion by an enemy, or 
 any insurrection by rebels to procure her liberty. But the 
 secretary having shown it to the council, they, without her 
 consent, sent a mandate for the execution, which she protested 
 to God, was done before she knew it, for which the secretary 
 should not escape her high displeasure, and this the envoy 
 heard her express with such a heavy heart, and sorrowful 
 countenance, that had his majesty been present, he would 
 have rather been inclined to pity her grief, than blame her 
 for a fact to which she never gave consent. James, how- 
 ever, would not immediately listen to these excuses, and Eliz- 
 abeth, uncertain what effects violent counsels might produce 
 on his facile disposition, employed those who were best affect- 
 ed towards England among his ministers, to sooth his mind, 
 and prevent any sudden or rash sally. 
 
 Walsingham wrote to lord Thirlstane, the secretary, who 
 then stood high in James' favour, a long letter, in which he 
 employed every argument that could operate upon the hopes 
 or fears of the young monarch, * to induce him to lay aside 
 all hostile intentions, and continue to cultivate the amity 
 of Elizabeth. He was absent, he said, from court, when 
 the execution of the king's mother happened, but on his 
 return, he had communicated to Douglas what some of the 
 king's best friends considered the course he ought to pursue 
 in consequence of this remediless accident, in order to pre- 
 
 * " The kinge of Scotts will not declare himself openly against her, (Eliz- 
 abeth) though his mother be put to death, vnlcsse the queen and the statts 
 would deprive him of his right to that crowne, which himself hath vttered to 
 earl Bothwill, and chevaliere Seaton." Courcelles' Negotiation, quoted as 
 before- 
 
 47 ■ ■ ' 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 147 
 
 serve friendship between the two crowns, so necessary for 
 the welfare of both. But as he would not interfere, he there- 
 fore stated to him, the reasons which should prevent any 
 interruption of the harmony subsisting between the two na- 
 tions. The ground of the quarrel would be revenge, and 
 that on account of an act of justice founded on necessity, a 
 cause of war, which no good man would support, and on 
 which no blessing could be expected. But setting this aside, 
 motives of policy forbade a rupture, the king could not hope, 
 inferior as he was in force-, to attack England with any pros- 
 pect of success, Vv'ithout foreign assistance, and the exam- 
 ples, both of ancient and modern times, with which a prince 
 of his knowledge must be familiar, should teach him how 
 precarious and dangerous it is to depend upon such aid. 
 The only two powers to which he could apply, were France 
 or Spain, and his religion rendered him obnoxious to both, 
 neither of whom would wish to see his power increased by the 
 union of the crowns, an event which must be prejudicial to 
 the Catholic cause; and such an union was not only repugnant 
 to the general policy of France, because, in case of war, this 
 would prevent her from distracting the forces of England as 
 formerly, by involving Scotland in her quarrels, but particu- 
 larly so to the present king, who would not wish to see a ne5,r 
 relation of the house of Guise aggrandized, lest he should 
 lend them assistance to usurp his throne, which they had but 
 lately attempted. Spain was a more likely, but more danger- 
 ous ally, whose monarch aimed at the whole empire of the west 
 of Europe, and he pretended to have a claim superior to the 
 Scottish king upon the crown of England, as descended from 
 Lancaster, being the nearest Catholic heir by blood, and pos- 
 sessed by gift of the rights of his mother. Nor would the 
 king's changing his religion procure him any advantage. 
 Catholic princes would never aid him, merely because he was 
 a Catholic, and the Protestants of England would hate him 
 for his apostasy, while the Catholics would never believe in 
 his repentance. By reviving his mother's pretensions, he 
 would forfeit the certain prospects of his succession, and by 
 resenting her death too violently, he would force all the 
 noblemen in England who had assented to it, to oppose his 
 
1^ HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ever obtaining that crown, and however some persons might 
 (endeavour to persuade him that his honour required him to 
 seek vengeance, yet the true honour of a prince consists in 
 moderation. Having used every endeavour to save her life, 
 so long as there was any hope, he had performed his duty, 
 and there remained now only, that he should rather consult 
 the dignity of a prince, than prosecute any private revenge. 
 These, and similar considerations, induced James, who was 
 sensible of his own weakness, and who delighted more in the 
 polemical arena, than in the tented field, to lay aside all 
 thoughts of revenge, and return by degrees, to his usual cor- 
 respondence with the court of England, and although a num- 
 ber of his courtiers were known to have tampered with the 
 English ministers during the trial of the queen, and after the 
 sentence to have hastened the execution, the master of Gray 
 was the only person who was punished, perhaps, however, 
 more through court intrigue and his own insolence, than from 
 any regard the king paid to the memory of his mother. * 
 
 Sir William Stewart had about this time returned to court, 
 and attached himself to the master of Gray, who was then 
 engaged in a plot with lord Maxwell, for the destruction of 
 lord Thirlstane, Sir James Home of Cowdenknowes, and Mr. 
 Robert Douglas, the collector. Gray, believing that Sir 
 William would readily assist him in removing those who were 
 the determined enemies of his brother, particularly lord Thirl- 
 stane, as having been one of the chief instruments in bringing 
 back the lords to Stirling, revealed to him the design. Sir 
 William pretended to agree to the proposal, but aware of the 
 treacherous disposition of Gray, and of the little confidence 
 that could be reposed in him, went directly and informed the 
 king. Lord Thirlstane having also received similar informa- 
 tion, complained to the council, and desired that it should be 
 investigated; on which, both Stewart and Gray were examin- 
 ed, when Stewart adhered to what he had said to the king, 
 and Gray as strenuously denied having ever held any such 
 conversation with him, and the dispute becoming warm, 
 
 * When Gray was banished, the queen's death was not mentioned, " lest 
 he should have accused others." Courcelles' Negotiation, quoted by M'Crie, 
 Life of Melville, vol. i. p. 367. Note. , ., , 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 149 
 
 Stewart asserted that Gray was unworthy of any credit; for, 
 having been sent to London on an embassy to endeavour to 
 save the life of the king's mother, he had treacherously con- 
 sented to her death. A report of Gray having written a letter 
 to the queen of England, advising her to put the queen of 
 Scots to death, and of his having used as an argument, the 
 adage, Mortui non mordent^ the dead do not bite, had been 
 vei'y generally current, though, on account of the favour in 
 which he stood with the king, no one had ventured to accuse 
 him ; but now when he was challenged to his face with his 
 conduct, the council, who viewed him with the common kind- 
 ness that courtiers bear to favourites, seized the occasion, and 
 requested the king to bring him to trial ; and the king, whose 
 affection had begun to grow cool, consenting, the accused 
 and the accuser were both committed to Edinburgh castle. 
 Three days after, they were again brought before the council, 
 when Stewart repeated his former charges, and, in addition, 
 stated that Gray liad engaged in a correspondence inimical to 
 religion, both with the king of France and the duke of Guise, 
 informing them that the king intended to ask their assistance 
 to revenge the death of his mother, but desiring them not to 
 grant it unless he came under an obligation to extend liberty 
 to the Catholics for the exercise of their religion. Gray, per- 
 ceivinir that he had lost the favour of his master, on beinff 
 desired to make an ingenuous confession, if he expected 
 mercy, acknowledged that he had endeavoured to procure 
 toleration for the Catholics; that he disliked some of the offi- 
 cers of state, and did wish an alteration, but that he had ever 
 entertained the highest regard for his majesty's person, and 
 hoped his errors would be imputed to his youth, and a foolish 
 ambition. Being interrogated respecting his letter to the 
 queen of England, he owned that when he perceived her re- 
 solved to take away the queen of Scots' life, he advised her 
 rather to do it in a private way, than publicly, under form 
 of justice. He likewise acknowledged that he had used the 
 words, Moriui non mordent, but not in the sense alleged 
 against him. He was found guilty on his own confession, and 
 sentenced to perpetual banishment from Scotland, under pt>in 
 
150 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of death in case of returning, and prohibited from going either 
 to England or Ireland.. 
 
 Captain James, who ever since his disgrace had skulJted 
 privately among his friends, supposing this a favourable op- 
 portunity for obtaining revenge on the rest of his enemies, 
 ventured from his lui'king place, and in a letter to the king, 
 oifered to prove that lord Thirlstane, and some of the other 
 counsellors, were equally accessory to his mother's death with 
 Gray, and had even formed a design of delivering the king 
 himself into the hands of the English. But time had ex- 
 tinguished the king's favour for one who so little deserved it, 
 and his ministers now were both more able and complaisant, 
 than those who, after the Raid of Ruthven, gave way to his 
 superior influence. The king, on receiving the information, 
 laid it before his council, and an order was sent to Captain 
 James to enter ward within the palace of Linlithgow, and re- 
 main there till the truth of his accusation should be examined, 
 under pain of being forfeited as a sower of discord between 
 his majesty and his nobility. Failing to comply with this 
 mandate, the office of chancellor, of which he had still retained 
 the title, was declared vacant, and bestowed upon lord Thirl- 
 stane, who had for a considerable time performed its duties. 
 
 The king had now completed his twenty-first year, and he 
 issued a proclamation, summoning a parliament to meet on 
 the 29th of July; previously to which, he attempted the truly 
 royal design of completely reconciling all his nobles, especial- 
 ly such as had cherished inveterate feuds, or were 1 nown to 
 be open en'emies at the time. He invited them all tu Edin- 
 burgh, and prevailed upon the whole to profess a mutual 
 oblivion of injuries, except lord Yester, who refused to ac- 
 commodate his difference with lord Traquair, till a few months' 
 confinement in the castle brought him to a better temper. 
 The highly delighted monarch entertained the rest magnifi- 
 cently in the palace of Holyroodhouse, and thence they walk- 
 ed to the Cross in procession, hand in hand, where, in pres- 
 ence of the people, they pledged each other, and drank, amid 
 rhe rejoicing of the spectators, to the continuation of the har- 
 mony now so happily effected. 
 
 Before the meeting of parliament, the general assembly con- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 151 
 
 veiled at Edinburgh, to consider some jiropositions from the 
 king, respecting the ministers who had used insulting lan- 
 guage towards him, and about receiving Montgomery again 
 into communion. In answer, they replied, that if there was 
 any prospect of the king's acceding to their requests for the 
 security of the protestant religion, and restoring to the church 
 the same libei'ty enjoyed before the year 1584, they would 
 endeavour on these points to satisfy his majesty. Commis- 
 sioners were at the same time appointed to attend parliament, 
 and watch over the interests .of the church, among whom was 
 the venerable Erskine of Dun, now in extreme old age, and 
 almost the last of the original promoters of the reformation. 
 
 When parliament sat down, their attention was first direct- 
 ed to the rights of the lords spiritual, to meet along with them. 
 The commissioners of the church who attended, petitioned for 
 the removal of the prelates, as they possessed no authority 
 from the church, and the majority of them had neither func- 
 tion nor charge in it. Bruce, the abbot of Kinloss, defended 
 their right as the first estate in the realm, a right which the 
 churchmen had ever enjoyed, and. complained against the min- 
 isters, for, after having first deprived them of their ecclesiasti- 
 cal dignities, now wishing to exclude them from their places 
 in the state. Pont, who, though a bishop, * was one of the 
 commissioners, replying in rather keen language, the king put 
 an end to the debate, and desired the petition to be presented 
 in a regular manner to the lords of the articles. This, which 
 was a specious way of getting rid of a troublesome discussion, 
 being adopted, the petition was refused. But as a douceur to 
 
 * Pont was presented by the king to the bishopric of Caithness without so- 
 licitation, but before accepting it, he consulted the general assembly, whether 
 tliey thought he might do so with a good conscience and without slander, as 
 he meant to officiate at one church, and submit to all the regulations of the 
 assembly. They thought, in consideration of his severe losses, that he might 
 accept the temporalities, and as he was a bishop indeed, according to the 
 character described by St. Paul, they did not object to the name. But in a 
 letter to the king, to prevent misconception, they added: " As to that cor- 
 rupt estate or office of those who have been deemed bishops heretofore, we 
 find it not agreeable to the word of God, and it hath been damned in divers 
 others of our assemblies, neither is the said Mr. Robert willing to accept of 
 it in that manner." — Calderwood, pp. 215-6. 
 
152 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 soften their disappointment, they obtained the ratification of 
 all the laws passed in favour of the protestant religion during 
 the minority of the king, the enactment of a new and severe 
 statute against seminary priests and Jesuits, the most able, ac- 
 tive, and insidious enemies of the reformation, and an act an- 
 nexing the unappropriated church lands to the crown. This 
 last, so important in its consequences, was recommended to 
 the presbyterians, as the most effectual preservative against 
 episcopacy, by this most irrefragable consideration: " If you 
 take away," said its proposers, " the rich benefices, you will 
 not be troubled with indolent bishops."* The king, who did 
 not immediately perceive the tendency, was induced to give 
 his consent to what he afterward pronounced a vile and per- 
 nicious act,f by the necessities into which his profusion to 
 his favoui'ites was constantly plunging him. 
 
 The revenues of the crown had become nearly inadequate 
 to meet the ordinary expenditure, as the administration of the 
 government, owing to the extending connexion of Scotland 
 with other nations, was now more heavy, and the increase of 
 luxury rendered the court more extravagant, while the depre- 
 ciation of the currenc}'^, since the discovery of India and 
 America, the limited bounds of the royal domains, and the 
 waste of so many minorities, rendered the monarch more in- 
 digent. To meet the public exigency some new fund was 
 necessary, but the nobles had not been accustomed to endure 
 taxation, and there was little or no commerce to tax. The 
 property of the church, which was still considerable, was 
 therefore the only source from which any supply could be 
 drawn ; and as the presbyterian ministers performed the duty, 
 it seemed no great injustice to withdraw the emoluments from 
 the bishops, who did nothing. The nobles were urgent for 
 the bill, because it secured to them the legal possession of all 
 the grants of church lands they had obtained from regents, or 
 from the king in his minority — which he now might have re- 
 voked — and which they held by a precarious tenure, having 
 previously no proper parliamentary sanction, and the minis- 
 ters — whose aims were not high — were secured in a moderate 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 565. Calderwood, p, 218. Pari. 11. Jac. VI. c. 28. 
 f Basilicon Doron. lib, 2. 
 
HJSTORY OF SCOTLAND. 153 
 
 living from the tithes,, v/hich then, with the majority of the 
 Scottish clergy, was the utmost of their temporal ambition. 
 
 Another act, passed this session, produced a considerable 
 change in the Scottish parliament, by introducing representa- 
 tives for the counties among the commons, and although its 
 effects were not immediately perceived, it eventually counter- 
 acted the beneficial tendency of the otkers. This may seem 
 strange and paradoxical, but a very short view of the constitu- 
 tion of the Scottish parliament will uni'iddle the apparent con- 
 tradiction, and show that a measure essentially despotic, may 
 be promoted by means apparently favourable to freedom.* 
 The three estates, as their name implied, consisted of the lords 
 temporal — the great and small barons — the lords spiritual, 
 bishops, abbots, and priors; and the commons, consisting at 
 first of a few commissioners of boroughs, who all met together 
 in one chamber, where the lord chancellor presided. The 
 numbers naturally varied considerably at different times, from 
 deaths, minorities, and forfeitures, among the nobility; from 
 vacancies among the ecclesiastics ; and from a general disin- 
 clination in the boroughs to be at the cost of sending a repre- 
 sentative, as they had to pay his expenses during the time he 
 served. 
 
 In 1488, the whole of the titled Scottish nobility amounted 
 to about forty. The dukes were confined to the royal family, 
 the others were earls and lords; the lesser barons were lards, 
 or lairds, generally designated from their estates; they held 
 immediately of the crown, but their properties were compar-. 
 atively small. As peers of parliament, however, they were 
 upon an equal footing with the titled nobles, and consider- 
 ably exceeded them in number. The roll of parliament, 
 1472, gives the following, as the proportion in which that 
 assembly was formed: — One duke, four bishops, six abbots, 
 
 * It was not till after the revolution, when the lords of the articles were 
 declared a grievance, by Conv. Est. 1689, and actually suppressed, 1690, that 
 freedom of discussion was known in the Scottish parliament. Of course, the 
 king's influence depended upon the number of votes he could command. 
 There appears, likewise, to have been a discretionary power sometimes used 
 by the king, in only calling such as he knew were friendly to the measures he 
 intended to propose. 
 
 VOL. ITT. U 
 
154 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 four priors, eight earls, fourteen lords, thirty-four lesser bar- 
 ons, the commissaries of the burghs, eleven;* and here it 
 will be observed, the number of the lesser barons was nearly 
 equal to both the clergy and the peers, and this proportion 
 continued down to the time of the reformation, when a most 
 important change took place in the constitution, by the exclu- 
 sion of the ecclesiastics, or their reduction to comparative in- 
 significance in the high council of the land. The nobles were 
 hereditary; the clergy, ex officio, members; their rights were 
 always definite, and known; those of the burgesses are more 
 dubious ; they are noticed first in the parliament of Bruce, 
 1326; f but it does not appear whether they were summoned 
 as a constituent part of the parliament, or simply for a par- 
 ticular purpose in the then exigencies of the country, to 
 authorize, or rather regulate the mode of taxation about to 
 be imposed on the boroughs. In that of David II. held at 
 Scone, 20th July, 1366, are enumerated certain burgesses, 
 summoned from each burgh, " for especial reasons," In an- 
 other council, held at the same place, 27th September, 1367, 
 thirteen delegates are mentioned from the burghs of Edin- 
 burgh, Aberdeen, Perth, Montrose, Haddington, and Lin- 
 lithgow. The object was to levy a tax. At the parliament in 
 the same place, 12th June, 1368, " appeared the prelates, 
 lords, and burgesses." Here no specific object was mention- 
 ed, and the business of the parliament appears to have been 
 general. From this period the burgesses seem to have met, 
 and voted along with the other members of parliament. It 
 may, however, be proper to remark, that almost all the mem- 
 bers of parliament considered it as a grievous burden to be 
 constrained to attend, except those who were immediately 
 connected with government, or had some particular purpose 
 to serve. The smaller or lesser barons were extremely averse, 
 and penalties were considered necessary to compel them to do 
 their duty. James I., who wished to form his parliament on 
 the English model, taking advantage of this disposition, pro- 
 cured an act, exempting the minor barons from personal at- 
 tendance, and empowering them to choose two commissioners 
 
 * Kaimes' Essay on British Antiq. p. 125. f Abercroniby, p. 635. 
 
 47 . 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. I'5i5 
 
 for each county to represent them ; but this act was never 
 carried into effect by that monarch, and the kings i-etained 
 the power of enforcing the personal attendance of all the 
 minor barons, as vassals of the crown. 
 
 A love of ease often forms the failing of some of the noblest 
 minds, and the arguments by which they can defend the su- 
 periority of their choice are so plausible, that they were ill to 
 refute, did not the whole practical knowledge of life refute 
 them. The active politician, though of inferior talents, suc- 
 ceeds in getting into place and power, while the far superior 
 endowments of a better competitor are buried in the shade, 
 merely because he declines the contest, from motives it were 
 difficult, even for the most ingenious, to suppoit, did he stop 
 to analyze them. This principle, however, which in more 
 ignoble cases receives its proper name of indolence, operates 
 with stronger power among half cultivated men, who are glad 
 to get rid of what costs a continuity of thought or of exertion. 
 It pi'oduced, among the Scottish chieftains of early ages, those 
 anomalies in the constitution of Scotland, which rendered, in 
 these times, the Scottish parliament the most passive thing 
 upon earth, while the Scottish nobles were the most untracta- 
 ble and ungovernable of human beings. They could not be 
 troubled with public business, and with pleasure allowed the 
 fatigue to be taken out of their hands by committees. The 
 first of these was chosen in the parliament held at Perth, 6th 
 March, 1368, when the scarcity of the season was assigned as 
 the reason for committing the whole business into the cogni- 
 zance of a select number, while the rest were allowed to gohome. 
 This committee consisted of sixteen barons, sixteen clergy, 
 and eight burgesses; but in the last general council of David 
 II., the committees assumed a rather different form, and ap- 
 pear as the first undoubted institution of the Lords of the 
 Articles, afterward to present so prominent a part in the 
 parliament of Scotland. At this meeting some were elected, 
 by the general and unanimous consent of the three communi- 
 ties assembled, to treat and deliberate on certain " special" 
 and " secret" affairs of the king and kingdom, before they 
 came to the knowledge of the said general council. This 
 committee consisted of six for the clergy, fourteen for the 
 
156 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 barons, and seven burgesses, which plainly shows, that it had 
 first originated with the members of parliament, and was more 
 likely to have proved an instrument of oligarchical, than of 
 kingly tyranny ; but the impatience of civil drudgery, which 
 the warlike nobles possessed, threw the advantage into the 
 hands of the king, who was surrounded always with the high 
 dignitaries of the church — men clear sighted to perceive, and 
 ambitious enough to seize every avenue that led to influence. 
 In consequence, from being a committee of parliament, it be- 
 came completely a king's committee, and was latterly as much 
 under his control, as his own privy council. * The lords of 
 the articles had the sole arrangement of whatever business 
 was to come before parliament, to receive, or to reject peti- 
 tions, recommendations, &c. and to shape, previously to their 
 meeting, all their acts. After the institution of this body, the 
 Scottish parliament became merely a court for registering 
 edicts, in which any opposition to the royal will., would pro- 
 bably have been held as treasonable as any opposition in the 
 field. f The Scottish king had no negative voice in parlia- 
 ment. Whatever acts were presented to him, as passed by 
 the estates, he was bound to ratify; but this was merely nu- 
 gatory, as no acts were presented to him which had not pre- 
 viously received his sanction ; or if any such had been, they 
 were silently removed before they received the confirming 
 touch of the sceptx-e. This James VI. in his speech to the 
 commons at Whitehall, distinctly states. He remarks : " It 
 has likewise been objected, that in the parliament of Scotland, 
 the king has not a negative voice, but must pass the laws 
 agreed on by the lords and commons. I can assure you, that 
 
 * They were elected at this time in equal numbers from each estate; eight 
 from the nobles, eight from the clergy, and eight from the representatives of 
 boroughs ; to which were added, eight of the principal officers of the crown. 
 
 -{- " For here I must note unto you, the difference of the two parliaments 
 in these two kingdoms, for there [in Scotland] they must not speake without 
 the chauncellor's leave, and if any man doe propound or vtter any seditious 
 or vncomely speeches, he is straght interrupted, and silenced by the chaun- 
 cellor's authority." — King James' Works, p. 521, 528. Such was the liberty 
 of speech in the days of James VI. It did not improve under any of the suc- 
 ceeding Stuarts, - - 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. . Mf 
 
 the form of parliament there, is nothing inclined to popularity. 
 About twenty days before parliament, proclamation is made 
 to deliver to the king's clerk-register, all bills to be exhibited 
 that session. They are then brought to the king to be per- 
 used, and considered of by him, and only such as I allow of 
 are put into the chauncellor's hands, to be proposed to parlia- 
 ment. Besides, when they have passed them for laws, they 
 are presented to me, and I, with my sceptre put into my 
 hands by my chauncellor, must say, I ratify and approve all 
 things in this parliament, and if there be any thing I dislike, 
 they raze it out before." 
 
 Such being the constitution of a Scottish parliament, it 
 might seem of little consequence, how the minor arrange- 
 ments, the collecting of its subordinate constituent parts, was 
 conducted. But the reformation had greatly strengthened the 
 power of the aristocracy, by destroying that of the clergy, and 
 by the erection of many priories and abbeys into temporal 
 lordships, and in the same proportion had the influence of the 
 crown been weakened. The king, therefore, in order to 
 counterbalance this, procured an act, similar to that of James 
 I. to be passed ; by which, representatives were chosen for 
 the counties, and ever after continued to form a part of the 
 Scottish pai'liament. By this means the king regained his full 
 influence, it being always, or for the most part, in his power 
 to direct the election of the representatives of the shires. 
 
 Europe had for some years resounded with the warlike pre- 
 parations of Spain, the object of which was unknown, but the 
 magnitude of the scale on which they were conducted, evinced 
 its importance. Philip, by the conquest of Portugal, acquired 
 the command of the commerce and wealth of India, as he had 
 already possession of the treasures of America, and both were 
 expended on this vast armament. A fleet, the greatest known 
 in modern times, was collected at Lisbon, which had been 
 appointed the rendezvous, and a numerous army, compos- 
 ed of veterans, esteemed the best soldiers in Europe, was as- 
 sembled ready to embark. Elizabeth, who knew the enmity 
 of Philip, and the provocation she had given him, by aiding 
 his heretical subjects in the Netherlands, by allowing her ships 
 to insult the coasts of Spain, and threaten his dominions in the 
 
158 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 New World, was neither inattentive to her danger, nor to the 
 means of defence. Aware of the importance of having Scot- 
 land secured, she instructed her ambassador, Ashby, to warn 
 James of the impending danger which threatened his own 
 crown equally with hers. The bigoted disposition of Philip, 
 left no room to doubt, but that when he subdued England, he 
 would not allow Scotland, so obnoxious to the court of Rome, 
 to remain long unmolested, and she used besides, other argu- 
 ments, which she supposed might have equal weight — she 
 promised him a dutchy in England, with suitable estates at- 
 tached to it, besides a pension of five thousand pounds per 
 annum, and to maintain for him a body guard. The king of 
 Spain, who was equally anxious to gain James, was not less lib- 
 eral in his promises; he flattered him with the hope of sharing 
 in his conquest, and offered him his daughter, the infanta Isa- 
 bella, in marriage. But it required little penetration to per- 
 ceive that the safety of Scotland was closely joined to that of 
 England, and that Philip was not a monarch who would con- 
 quer kingdoms to give them awary, James, therefore, pursued 
 the line of conduct which his own interest imperiously de- 
 manded, rejected the offers of Philip, and adhered to his al- 
 liance with the queen of England. 
 
 Philip, in addition to his negotiation with the king, had 
 sent over numerous emissaries, priests and Jesuits, to tamper 
 with his nobles, and seduce his subjects from their adherence 
 to the Protestant faith, and their loyalty to their prince. James 
 Gordon, a Jesuit, uncle to the earl of Huntly, and Edmond 
 Hay, of the same ordei*, a man of great ability, and insinuat- 
 ing manners, had been particularly active, so much so, as to 
 draw upon them the attention of the court, and a proclama- 
 tion was issued for their apprehension, together with a long 
 list of others who had attracted the attention of the ministers; 
 but through the interest of their friends, particularly Huntly, 
 who was on the eve of his marriage with Lennox's daughter, 
 upon their representations to the king, and their promise tc 
 leave the country as soon as they could find a convenient 
 opportunity, they were permitted to remain and disseminate 
 their doctrines till the beginning of the year, James content- 
 ing himself, during the winter, with writing a commentary on 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. iBO 
 
 the Apocalypse, and proving the {)ope to be antichrist, by 
 which, probably, he expected to effect their conversion, an 
 issue more desirable to him as an author, than their banish- 
 ment. The ministers, although equally zealous with his ma- 
 jesty, in endeavouring to counteract by argument, the efforts 
 of the enemy, who were preparing a par.ty to join the invaders, 
 if they should effect a landing, deemed it expedient to resort 
 to some more efficacious and prompt measures, An extraor- 
 dinary meeting of the general assembly was called, to take 
 into consideration, the dangers hanging over the church and 
 commonwealth, through the machinations of the Jesuits. The 
 meeting was unusually crowded, and all were equally impress- 
 ed with the alarming state of public affairs. In order that 
 their deliberations might be conducted without confusion, and 
 that the several opinions and advice of the members might be 
 more easily collected, the ministers, nobles, and lesser barons 
 and commissioners, met each apart. The result of their sepa- 
 rate conferences were next day delivered to the assembly, 
 when it was proposed to proceed in a body to the king, to 
 require that the laws against Jesuits, seminary priests, and 
 their accomplices, should be put in execution, and offering 
 their lives, lands, and fortunes, to be employed in the service 
 of their country. The king, when informed of their intention, 
 considering this as a reproof of his own carelessness, got petted 
 and angry, and asked if they meant to threaten him with their 
 power, and dictate to him? and refused to receive the assem- 
 bly, but sent for a few, to whom he expressed his dislike at 
 the manner of their proceedings, which he did not think suf- 
 ficiently respectful. Yet, as the subject was important, and 
 as it was necessary to take immediate steps, he desired them 
 to tell the assembly, that he would appoint some members of 
 his privy council to meet with any deputation they would 
 appoint, and concert measures for the common safety.* The 
 joint committee proceeded cordially, and notwithstanding the 
 king wished to temporize with Huntly, Errol, and Crawford, 
 who were at the head of a faction that openly espoused the 
 cause of Spain, the grand objects were in some measure at- 
 
 * Spotswood, pp. 305-6. 
 
160 HISTORY OF SCOILAND. 
 
 tained, by shaming him into more active measures, and origin- 
 ating a bond * among themselves, under his sanction, for the 
 mutual defence of king, church, and state, which was recom- 
 mended by the ministers, and eagerly entered into by persons 
 of every rank. In this solemn obligation, they consider the 
 Reformed religion, and the king's estate, to have the same 
 friends and enemies, and both to be equally threatened by 
 foreign preparations, for prosecuting that detestable conspira- 
 cy, named the holy league, and by the emissaries of the foreign 
 powers, and their accomplices within the realm, and they en- 
 gage before God, to defend and maintain both, against every 
 attemp.t, foreign or domestic, particularly the threatened in- 
 vasion; and bind and oblige themselves, to assemble with their 
 friends in arms, at such time and place, as his majesty should 
 appoint, and hazard their lives, lands, and goods, in defence 
 of the true religion, and his majesty's person; and also engage 
 upon their truth and honour, that they would do their utmost 
 to discover Jesuits and vassals of Rome, that every private 
 interest should yield to the public welfare, and that every 
 private quarrel or feud, should be submitted to the arbitration 
 of persons to be appointed by his majesty.f 
 
 Immediately after the assembly rose, James took active 
 measures to disperse an insurrection which happened in the 
 south. Lord Maxwell, who had received liberty to go abroad, 
 had resided some months in Spain, where, having seen the pre- 
 parations for invading England, he returned home, and land- 
 ed at Kirkcudbright, about the end of April, as it was then 
 expected that the Spanish fleet would steer for the west of 
 Scotland, where they might land more safely, and with the 
 assistance of the disaffected in that quarter, enter England by 
 
 * Dr. Robertson, Hist, of Scot. Book vii. confounds this Bond with the 
 National Covenant, which was entered into, 1580, vide p. 38. This was 
 especially a bond against the Spanish invasion, which, however, the Dr. 
 verjf properly characterizes, " as a prudent and laudable device for the de- 
 fence and liberties of the nation. Nor were the terms other than might have 
 been expected from men, alarmed with the impending danger of popery, and 
 threatened with an invasion by one of the most bigoted, and most powerful 
 princes in Europe." 
 
 f Calderwood, pp. 523-5. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 161 
 
 the borders. A number of the unruly and necessitous bor- 
 derers flocked to him on his landing, and his partisans were 
 increasing so rapidly, that lord Herries, the warden, finding 
 himself unable to put them down, gave information to the 
 king, who immediately charged Maxwell to appear before the 
 council. Maxwell, instead of obeying the summons, began 
 to fortify the castles of which he had possession, which so 
 provoked the king, that, collecting what troops he could, upon 
 the spur of the moment, he set out for Dumfries, with such 
 unexpected despatch, that he had nearly surprised Maxwell 
 in that town, but some short resistance ha-ving been made, he 
 had time to escape. Next day, the castles of Lochmaben, 
 Langholm, Treve, and Carlaverock, were summoned, and all 
 of them surrendered except Lochmaben, the governor of 
 which, trusting to the king's want of artillery, refused, but 
 the king having boiTowed a few pieces from the English war- 
 den, after a shot or two had been fired, the garrison surren- 
 dered to Sir William Stuart, brother to captain James, upon 
 condition that their lives should be spared. The captain, 
 having refused to surrender when summoned by the king in 
 person, was hanged, the rest were dismissed. Next day, the 
 king despatched Stuart after lord Maxwell, who was endea- 
 vouring to escape by sea, and he having overtaken him, brought 
 him prisoner to Edinburgh, to the king. Soon after, Stuart 
 was killed in a casual rencounter, by the earl of Bothwell, in 
 the High-Street of Edinburgh. 
 
 Scarcely had the king returned to his capital, when intelli- 
 gence arrived of the sailing of the Spanish Armada, on which 
 he immediately summoned a meeting of the estates, and, in an 
 opening speech, pointed out to them the close union that ex- 
 isted between the interest of Scotland and England, and that 
 an invasion of England, as it was an invasion of his right, 
 would be but a prelude to the invasion of Scotland; the pre- 
 text for invading England was religion, but in this view, both 
 kingdoms were the same. " For myself," continued the king, 
 " I have ever thought mine own safety, and the safety of re- 
 ligion, to be so conjoined, as that they cannot well be separat- 
 ed, neither desire I to live, or to reign longer, than while I 
 am able to maintain the same. I know that the opinion of 
 
 VOL. III. X 
 
162 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 some is, I have now a fair opportunity for revenging the 
 wrong and unkhidness done me, by the death of my mother, 
 but, whatever I think of the excuses which the queen has made 
 me, I will not be so foolish, as to take the help of one stronger 
 than myself, nor will I seek to gratify my own passions at the 
 expense of religion, and the risk of putting in hazard, not 
 only this kingdom, but those that belong to me after her de- 
 cease." Maitland, the chancellor, seconded the sentiments of 
 the king, and suggested the most proper plan of defence to be 
 adopted. As Elizabeth had not required any assistance, he 
 recommended that their principal attention should be directed 
 to secure their own country from invasion; that a general 
 enrolment should be made, of the whole population fit to bear 
 arms, and noblemen appointed in every district, to take the 
 command, watches to be appointed at all the seaports, and 
 beacons erected upon the most conspicuous eminences, to 
 alarm the country on the appearance of any fleet, and that the 
 king and council should remain at Edinburgh, to direct and 
 superintend the whole. The estates unanimously approved 
 of the measures proposed, with the exception of Bothwell, 
 who wi^hed to take advantage of the present circumstances, 
 for attacking England, but the king desired him to attend to 
 his own duty as admiral, and look to the ships. 
 
 While the country exhibited a general appearance of vigor- 
 ous exertion, all the Protestant population, as if animated 
 with one soul, actively seconding the measures of government, 
 James wrote a letter to Elizabeth, offering to aid her with the 
 whole of his forces. The queen of England, who was highly 
 gratified with these demonstrations of cordial co-operation, 
 despatched Sir Robert Sidney, to thank the Scottish king, 
 and to offer in return, her assistance, if the Spaniards should 
 land in Scotland. In conversation with this ambassador, on 
 the probable subjection of Scotland, in case England were 
 overcome, James told him the only favour he expected from 
 the Spanish king, was similar to that promised by Polyphemus 
 to Ulysses, to be devoured last. 
 
 At this most important juncture, the king was influenced 
 by Maitland, almost the only able statesman that ever enjoyed 
 any thing of his confidence, and he perceived the necessity 
 4.7 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 163 
 
 of acting in conjunction with the ministers, who possessed so 
 much influence with the people ; the consequence was, that 
 the public measures, which were directed by the council, 
 wei"e M'ise, and well adapted to the exigencies of the time, 
 while those in which the king was personally engaged, be- 
 trayed a woful degree of indecision, and imbecility. A little 
 after the convention dissolved, colonel Semple, an agent of 
 the prince of Parma, arrived at Leith, on a pretended mis- 
 sion to the king, but his communication was of so trifling a 
 nature, that it raised suspicions of its being merely a covert 
 for some darker purpose. He was accordingly ordered to be 
 watched, and was taken in the very act of unsealing despatch- 
 es from abroad. When detected, he readily oflered to go 
 before the council, but contrived to inform Huntly, who was 
 allov/ed by the king to reside with his new married lady in 
 the precincts of Holyroodhouse, of his procedure, and was in 
 consequence, forcibly rescued on his road to the palace. In- 
 formation of this being carried to tlie chancellor, who was 
 attending the evening service of St. Giles — it was a pub- 
 lic fast — he instantly collected a number of people, and went 
 in pursuit of Huntly, who must have been taken, but the king, 
 who was returning from Falkland, met him in the street, and 
 would not allow him to proceed. Huntly, however, was sent 
 for to the chancellor's, and having made some frivolous ex- 
 cuse, was permitted to depart, on promising to produce Sem- 
 ple next day, but during the night, Semple made his escape, 
 and was never more heard of, and the only punishment in- 
 flicted on Huntly for this daring and treasonable outrage, was 
 being forbid the king's presence for a few days. * 
 
 At length the long threatened expedition arrived in the 
 English channel. The instructions of the Spanish monarch 
 were, first to scour the straits of all the enemy's vessels, then 
 join an armament under the duke of Parma, and sailing di- 
 rectly up the Thames, by one decisive blow, seal the fate of 
 England ; and so certain were they of success, that no pre- 
 cautionary measures were taken to lessen the disasters of a 
 defeat, by securing some friendly port, where they might have 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 370. 
 
10% HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 found shelter from enemies or storms, or repaired their dam- 
 ages. The admiral of the fleet disobeyed his orders, and 
 sailed direct for Plymouth, where he understood the English 
 fleet, dispersed by some late gales, had gone to refit, but the 
 English, who had been informed by a Flemish or Scottish 
 pirate of their approach, were prepared to meet them, and 
 had put to sea, with the intention of taking advantage of any 
 favourable circumstance which might arise, and the activity 
 of Sir Francis Drake, was successful in cutting off" two of the 
 largest ships. As the Armada proceeded, it continued to be 
 harassed by the smaller, but more managable vessels of their 
 enemies, and when they reached Calais, before which they 
 anchored, a successful stratagem was practised against them, 
 by sending a number of small vessels, filled with combustibles, 
 into the midst of the fleet. Alarmed at their appearance, the 
 Spaniards cut their cables, and endeavoured to escape, with- 
 out order, and in the greatest trepidation. The English at- 
 tacked them in their confusion, and did considerable damage, 
 while the elements conspiring with the enemy, spread terror 
 and ruin throughout this immense armament, a few weeks 
 ago, presumptuously designated invincible. 
 
 The duke of Parma, blockaded by the Dutch, had only a 
 fleet of transports, and the floating bulwarks to which he had 
 trusted, scarcely able to defend themselves, could neither 
 relieve the blockade, nor protect him on his passage. He, 
 therefore, gave up all idea of attempting it, and the Spanish 
 admiral, who saw his fleet daily diminishing, prepared to 
 return home; but the wind proving contrary for sailing through 
 the channel, he resolved to stretch northward, and, making a 
 sweep round the island, return by the western ocean. A 
 violent tempest overtook them, after they had passed Orkney, 
 and the sailors, unable to contend, yielded to its fury, and the 
 scattered Armada perished miserably among the Hebrides, 
 and on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. A few only re- 
 turned to Spain, to carry thither the melancholy tidings, 
 which filled almost every family of note with mourning; for 
 such had been the anxiety of the grandees to share in the 
 glory of conquering England, that there was hardly one house, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. l65 
 
 who had not furnished a father, brother, or son, as a soldier 
 or volunteer, on this holy expedition. 
 
 The rejoicings in both kingdoms, on account of this most 
 propitious event, were, among the Protestants, ardent and 
 sincere. In Scotland, they were expressed in the most lively 
 manner, yet, notwithstanding the zeal manifested against the 
 errors of popery, and the determined resistance to its tyranny, 
 it is pleasant to know that it did not operate in extinguishing 
 the feelings of humanity to the most bigoted of the Romish 
 persuasion, when shipwrecked upon their coasts, and thrown 
 helpless among a people they had embarked to destroy. 
 Hundreds of the sufferers, who were forced ashore, were 
 kindly treated, supplied with necessaries, and sent back in 
 safety to their own country.* The Roman Catholics, how- 
 
 * Robertson's Hist, of Scot. Book vii. The following is too remarkable to 
 be omitted. James Melville, minister of Anstruther, a seaport on the south- 
 east coast of Fife, was early one morning, before the overthrow of the Armada 
 was known in Scotland, informed by one of the baillies of the town, that a 
 ship filled with Spaniards, had entered their harbour, but that the strangei's 
 were come to ask mercy, not to give it, and the magistrates requested his 
 advice how to act. The principal inhabitants having convened, it was agreed, 
 after consultation, to give audience to the commander, and that their minis- 
 ter, who had some acquaintance with the Spanish language, should convey to 
 him the sentiments of the town. Intimation of this having been sent to the 
 vessel, a venerable old man, of large stature, and martial countenance, entered 
 the town-hall, and making a profound bow, and touching the minister's shoe 
 with his hand, addressed him in Spanish. " His name was Jan Gomez de 
 Medina. He was commander of twenty hulks, being part of the grand fleet, 
 his master Philip, king of Spain, had fitted out, to revenge the insufferable 
 insults which he had receiv'ed from the English nation; but God, on account 
 of their sins, had fought against them, and dispersed them by a storm, the 
 vessels under his command, had been separated from the main fleet, driven 
 on the north coast of Scotland, and shipwrecked on the Fair Isle ; and after 
 escaping the merciless waves and rocks, and enduring great hardships from 
 hunger and cold, he, and such of his men as were preserved, had made theit 
 way in their only remaining bark to this place, intending to seek assistance 
 from their good friends and confederates, the Scots, and to kiss his majesty's 
 hand, (making another profound bow,) from whom he expected relief and 
 comfort to himself, his officers, and poor men, whose case was most pitiable." 
 When James Melville was about to reply in Latin, a young man, who acted 
 as interpreter, repeated his master's speech in English. The minister then 
 addressed the admiral. " On the score of friendship, or of the cause in which 
 
166 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ever, who had anticipated the triumph of their religion In 
 the ruin of their country, disappointed by the unexpected 
 failure of the Spanish Armada, became dispirited and en- 
 raged, in proportion as they had been sanguine and confi- 
 dent, and began immediately to engage in new intrigues, and 
 the duke of Parma endeavoured to revive their hopes, by 
 representing the loss in the late expedition, as greatly exag- 
 gerated, and encouraging them with the hope of a new arma- 
 ment being despatched in the spring, before the tempestuous 
 weather should set in, and, in the meantime, remitted a large 
 
 they v.'ere embarked, the Spaniards, he said, had no claims on them ; the king 
 of Spain was a sworn vassal to the bishop of Rome, and on that ground, they 
 and their king defied him; and with respect to England, the Scots were in- 
 dissolubly leagued v.ith that kingdom, and regaixled an attack upon it as the 
 same with an attack upon themselves. But although this was the case, they 
 looked upon thera in their present situation, as men, and fellow creatures, 
 labouring under privations and sufferings, to which they themselves were 
 liable; and they rejoiced at an opportunity of testifying how superior their 
 religion was to that of their enemies. Many Scotsmen, who had resorted to 
 Spain for the purposes of trade and commerce, had been thrown into prison 
 as heretics, their property confiscated, and their bodies committed to the 
 flames. But so far from retaliating such cruelties on them, they would give 
 them every kind of relief and comfort which was in their power, leaving it to 
 God to work such a change in their hearts as he pleased." This answer 
 being reported by the interpreter to the Spanish admiral, he returned most 
 humble thanks, adding, that he could not answer for the laws and practices 
 of his church, but as for himself, there were many in Scotland, and perhaps 
 some in that very town, who could attest that he had treated them with favour 
 and courtesy. After this, the admiral and his officers were conveyed to 
 lodgings which had been provided for them, and were hospitably entertained 
 by the magistrates and neighbouring gentlemen, until they obtained a license 
 and protection from his majesty to return home. " The privates, to the 
 number of threttin score, for the maist part young berdles men, sillie, trauchled 
 and hungered, were supplied with keall, pottage, and fish." 
 
 The sequel of the story is gratifying. Some time after this, a vessel belong- 
 ing to Anstruther, was arrested in a Spanish port. Don Jan Gomez, was no 
 sooner informed of this, than he posted to court, and obtained her release 
 from the king, to whom he spoke in the highest terms, of the humanity and 
 hospitality of the Scots, he invited the ship's company to his house, inquired 
 kindly after his acquaintances in the good town of Anstruther, and sent his 
 warmest commendations to their minister, and other individuals, to whom he 
 considered himself as most particularly indebted. Melville's Diary, quoted by 
 Dr. M'Crie. 
 
ll HISTORY OF SCori^ANO. 167 
 
 sum of money to Bruce, a seminary priest in Scotland, to be 
 applied as he saw proper, in securing the nobles already gain- 
 ed, and in endeavouring to make new proselytes. 
 
 At the head of the party, stood the earls of Huntly, Crav/- 
 ford, Errol, and lord Maxwell, who styled himself earl 
 of Morton. All these entered into a correspondence with 
 the prince of Parma, and offered their services to the king 
 of Spain, advising him to make an attempt upon England 
 through Scotland, which they lamented had not been done 
 by the Armada, for if it had, it could scarcely have failed of 
 success. Huntly, who had basely reconciled himself to the 
 church, excused himself for his compromise, by pleading ne- 
 cessity, and promising to atone for his hollow compliance, by 
 some good service, tending to the advancement of the cause 
 of God, who, he said, had given him such favour with his 
 majesty, as to enable him to remove the former guard, and 
 replace them by persons wholly at his devotion, who, so soon 
 as the promised aid should arrive, should ensure the downfall 
 of the hei'etics' power, and the triumph of the Catholics. 
 Errol, who had been newly converted to the Catholic faith, 
 said, that ever since his conversion, he thought himself bound 
 to promote the Catholic king's enterprises, and as the promo- 
 tion of that religion, which was the greatest, and most im- 
 portant cause in the world, was so intimately connected with 
 them, he was now become altogether his ; and the united de« 
 sire of the whole was, that Philip would send six thousand 
 veteran troops, and as much money as would support six 
 thousand more, with which they engaged, within six hours 
 after their arrival, to advance into England, to assist the 
 forces he might be able to land there. They besides, advised 
 him, that the most likely plan to ensure success, would be to 
 divide his forces, and instead of attacking England with his 
 whole army at one point, to make a simultaneous attack upon 
 it, from Ireland and Scotland, which would distract the at- 
 tention of the government, and while they made their greatest 
 efforts on the side of Scotland, believing the main force to be 
 in that quarter, a descent might be made directly upon the 
 coasts of England, which would be left naked and defenceless. 
 
 The foreign emissaries, who foresaw that a number of diffi- 
 
1^" 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 culties or hinderances might retard any attempt from abroad, 
 urged the popish lords, in the meantime, to do something at 
 home, which might induce the king to hasten his operations, 
 and make him more anxious to send his promised aid. A 
 plan was formed at their instigation, to get possession of the 
 king's person, and to remove from his presence the chancellor 
 and treasurer, for they despaired of effecting their purpose 
 while they directed his councils. In this scheme to overturn 
 the cabinet, they calculated upon the assistance of other noble- 
 men, who, although not Roman Catholics, were discontented. 
 Bothwell, a grandson of James V.* whose restless disposition 
 would never allow him to remain long quiet, and the earl of 
 Montrose, proposed to assemble a force at Quarrel-holes, be- 
 tween Leith and Edinburgh, and thence proceed directly to 
 Holyroodhouse, and take possession of the king's person. 
 Maitland and Glammis were to be excluded, or, if found in 
 attendance, were to be killed. This plan was, however, dis- 
 concerted, by the king's remaining with the chancellor, in 
 whose house he had lodged during the greater part of the 
 preceding winter. The conspirators, when they learned that 
 the king had fixed his residence within the walls, halted at 
 different places, a considerable way from the city. Huntly 
 alone, presuming on the king's affection, proceeded, and on 
 the evening on which they had appointed to meet, with the 
 most daring audacity, entered the presence chamber, where 
 the king was conversing with the chancellor, attended by 
 Kinfauns, the earl of Crawford's brother, and some of Errol's 
 most determined followers. The unexpected appearance of 
 the men, and their threatening look, excited suspicion in some 
 of the chancellor's friends, who, anxious for his safety, press- 
 ed round him, and on the king's retiring — which he did after 
 he had conversed a little with Huntly — guarded him to his 
 own apartments, immediately above those of the king. As 
 soon as he withdrew, he sent a message to the king, to inti- 
 mate respectfully the insult that had been offered his majesty, 
 and point out the impropriety and danger of su£Fering so many 
 armed men to remain in the house. On which, the earl and 
 
 * A son of John Stuart, prior of Coldingham. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 169 
 
 his men were ordered to withdraw, and the rooms were shut; 
 but next morning, the king sent for him, and straitly interro- 
 gated him as to his errand in town, and why he came with 
 armed attendants. His answers were vague and unsatisfac- 
 tory, and he was forthwith committed to the castle. Informa- 
 tion was also received that day of the advance of some of the 
 others with bodies of men, and the whole plot was discovered. 
 On which, Errol and Bothwell were sunjmoned to appear be- 
 fore the council, which refusing to do, they were denounced 
 rebels. Huntly, after a very short confinement, was, upon a 
 promise of better behaviour in future, set at liberty by the 
 king, and allowed to go north. In his progress thither he 
 had an interview with the earl of Crawford at Perth, which 
 they intended to fortify as convenient head quarters for as- 
 sembling their forces; but hearing that the treasurer had ar- 
 rived in that quarter, and had appointed a meeting of his vas- 
 sals at Meigle, they gave up their intention, and proceeding 
 against him, pursued him to the house of Kirkhill, which, on 
 his attempting to defend, they set fire to, and forced him to 
 surrender. After which thev marched north. 
 
 Prosperity had not lulled the vigilance of Elizabeth, and as 
 she was well acquainted with the state of Scotland, she watch- 
 ed with jealousy the proceedings of the disaffected, then ren- 
 dered more dangerous and daring by the impunity which they 
 hoped from the facile disposition of the king, or the incom- 
 prehensible refinement of his ingenious king-craft. All the 
 treasonable correspondence of the Popish lords was intercept- 
 ed in England by her agents, and the extensive conspiracy 
 discovered. Alarmed at the danger with which she v.as 
 threatened, she wrote a very sharp lettei: to James, and re- 
 proaching him with his remissness and lenity in former cases, 
 exhorted him to take some strong measures now, and to j^un- 
 ish with severity those concerned in the present wide spread 
 treasonable project. In compliance with the queen's injunc- 
 tions, a proclamation was issued, ordering the Jesuits, semi- 
 nary priests, and their abettors, particularly Hay, Crichton, 
 and Bruce, to quit the country under pain of death ; but in- 
 stead of obeying the mandate, they resorted to Huntly, Craw- 
 voL. in. V 
 
170 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ford, and Errol, and instigated them to repay the clemency 
 of their sovereign, by breaking out in open insurrection. 
 
 The three combined lords accordingly collected their forces, 
 and in the beginning of April entered Aberdeen, where they 
 issued a proclamation in the king's name, declaring that he 
 was held captive, and calling upon all his loyal subjects to aid 
 those who had taken arms to procure his liberation. They 
 were the more readily induced to take this step, by the hope 
 that Bothwell, and his friends in the south, would be able to 
 create such a diversion as would prevent the king, for some 
 time, from bringing any force against them. But the king 
 having proclaimed Bothwell, and the chief of his followers, 
 rebels, resolved to march against the more formidable party 
 in the north, and crush them before they had time to con- 
 solidate their strength. Having hastily assembled a small 
 army, he advanced rapidly to Currie, a small village, about 
 ten or twelve miles distant from Aberdeen, where he learned 
 that the confederates, three thousand strong, were in full 
 march to meet him. They did not, however, dare to trust 
 their forces, many of whom had joined them in the belief that 
 they had the king's commission, and the leaders disagreeing 
 among themselves, they dispersed at the bridge of Dee. On 
 hearing of their dispersion, the king went to Aberdeen, where 
 he received the submission of several who had joined the re- 
 bels, and offers of service from numbers of the noblemen and 
 barons. From Aberdeen he proceeded to Edinburgh, where 
 he was joined by the treasurer, who had obtained his liberty, 
 and was commissioned by Crawford and Huntly to carry their 
 offers of submission to the king, as was the chancellor that 
 of Bothwell. The parties were desired to enter ward, and 
 submit to trial ; but the king would consent to no conditions. 
 With this the earls found it advisable to comply, and on the 
 4th of Mav were indicted in eight distinct charges of treason: 
 — for practising with Jesuits, priests, and foreigners, against 
 religion; receiving Spanish gold, and hiring soldiers to dis- 
 turb the peace of the realm ; for entering into a treasonable 
 bond to surprise and fortify Perth ; for conspiring to take the 
 king prisoner, and kill his counsellors; for having set fire to 
 the house of Kirkhill, and taken the treasurer, Glammis, 
 47 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. i7j 
 
 prisoner; for having' convoked the lieges by proclamation, un- 
 der pretence that the king was detained prisoner against his 
 will; for coming with displayed banners against the king at 
 the bridge of Dee; for having maltreated the king's herald, 
 and prevented him from proclaiming the king's letters; and 
 for having hired strangers, soldiers, and others, to invade the 
 town of Leith during the king's absence. This last particu- 
 larly applied to Bothwell. Huntly pleaded guilty, and threw 
 himself on the king's mercy; the others were found so, part by 
 their own confession, and part proved upon them, but sen- 
 tence was suspended by the king's warrant, and they were 
 committed to prison during his majesty's pleasure — Bothwell 
 to Tantallon, Crawford to Blackness, and Huntly to Edin- 
 burgh castle. After a few months' confinement they, and all 
 the rebels, were pardoned, amid the rejoicings in prospect of 
 the kind's marriacje. 
 
 Ever since the embassy from Denmai'k, James had directed 
 his thoughts thither for a suitable consort. Mr. Peter Young, 
 who had been one of his tutors, was sent, soon after the am- 
 bassador's return, to visit that court, and inform him of the 
 appearance, manners, and qualifications of the princesses ; 
 which, if favourable, he determined early to send a more hon- 
 ourable embassage. Soon after, colonel Stewart, who had a 
 pension from the king of Denmark, under cover of his own 
 business, went also thither, and carried with him some written 
 instructions, to enter into a negotiation with the king about a 
 marriage; and both these envoys returned home highly pleased 
 with the manner in which they had been treated, and full of 
 the praises of the young princesses. 
 
 Elizabeth, from the moment she had heard of the Danish 
 embassy, was jealous lest it would end in a marriage, and be- 
 gan to p'ractise all her arts to prevent it; but James, resolved 
 upon matrimony, despatched another embassy to forward the 
 match. Scarcely, however, had they sailed, when Guilaume 
 (le Saluste Sieur du Bartas, the celebrated French poet, who 
 had been invited by the Scottish king to pay him a visit, ar- 
 rived in Scotland. Henry IV., then king of Navarre, who 
 was at that time anxious to secure the alliance of all the prot- 
 estant princes, took advantage of this visit, to propose a ti'ealy 
 
172 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 with the king of Scots, and to offer him in marriage his sister, 
 the princess of Navarre. James, gratified by the attention of 
 Henry, and flattered by the poet, acceded to the proposals, 
 and sent lord Tungland, along with Du Bartas, to France, to 
 bring him a report of the princess of Navarre. The princess 
 rejected the match, in consequence of her attachment to the 
 Compte de Soissons; and the king of Denmark, who had been 
 informed of the mission by the English agents, and was al- 
 ready disgusted with the delays, and tired with the repetition 
 of embassies, which came to nothing, gave his eldest daughter 
 in marriage to the duke of Brunswick. 
 
 Disappointed in his hopes from both, James, who was now 
 arrived at full manhood, and stood, as he himself expressed 
 it, alone, without father, mother, brother, or sister, imagin- 
 ing that the failure had proceeded from his own ministers, 
 made his addresses to the princess Anne, Frederick's second 
 daughter. Thwarted once more by a vote of his council, 
 who, gained by England, pronounced against his marriage 
 with Denmark, and Elizabeth, at the same time, sending him 
 a message to dissuade him from the match, the king became 
 irritated, and his love, rendered more ardent by opposition, 
 prompted him to a measure, which nothing but the violence 
 of his passion could excuse. He incited, by some of his con- 
 fidential servants, the deacons and craftsmen of Edinburgh to 
 mob the chancellor, and threaten his life if any more obstacles 
 were thrown in the way of his gratification. The rough argu- 
 ments of the trades had the desired effect, and the earl Maris- 
 chall was despatched to Denmark, with full powers and in- 
 structions under the king's own hand. The marriage articles 
 were easily settled, and the young queen, who was married 
 by proxy, set sail for Scotland. James, whose expectation 
 was now upon the stretch, was yet doomed to feel other dis- 
 appointments. A violent storm drove the fleet into Norway 
 in so shattered a condition, that they could not proceed upon 
 the voyage, and it was determined that the queen should win- 
 ter in Norway. The king's belief in witchcraft was solid and 
 sincere, yet, notwithstanding the general suspicion, that the 
 witches, both of Norway and Scotland, were leagued against 
 him, his amatory impatience got the better of his fears, and 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 173 
 
 he determined to proceed himself to the north, and bring 
 home his bride. Without communicating his design to any 
 of the council, he set sail, accompanied by the chancellor, a 
 number of noblemen, and a splendid train, and after a rough 
 voyage of five days, arrived at a small port near Upsal, where 
 the queen was. On the Sunday following, the marriage was 
 solemnized by the king, Lindsay, the minister of Leith, who 
 acted as his chaplain, performing the ceremony in the French 
 language. On an invitation from the court of Denmark, he 
 repaired to Copenhagen, and spent the winter in feasting and 
 entertainments, which were augmented by the solemnization 
 of the queen's sister's marriage, early in the spring; nor was 
 it till the latter end of April that he thought of returning to 
 his own dominions. * 
 
 Previously to his departure, the king had arranged a kind 
 of regency to manage in his absence, at the head of which he 
 placed the duke of Lennox, assisted by Bothwell and Sh* 
 Robert Melville, and the other officers of state resident con- 
 stantly in Edinburgh. He appointed also various noblemen 
 to attend to the peace of the borders, and the internal state of 
 the country; and the church, through the wise measures of 
 the chancellor, being now on good terms with the court, Mr. 
 Robert Bruce, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, was nomi- 
 nated an extraordinary member of the privy council. During 
 the whole of the king's absence, the country remained in a 
 state of tranquillity, such as it had not known for many years 
 — a tranquillity which the king attributed chiefly to the zealous 
 exertions of the clergy, of which, although he afterward re- 
 quitted them so ungratefully, he appeared at the time to be 
 fully sensible. In some of his letters to Bruce, which are still 
 preserved, he tells him, that he was worth the quarter of his 
 kingdom, and that he would reckon himself beholden to him 
 while he lived for the services he had done him, and would 
 never forget the same, f 
 
 * Sir James Melville's Memoirs, p. 553, 359. Spotswood, p. 377. Calder- 
 wood, p. 224. M'Crie's Life of Melville, p. 569. Note, 
 
 •j- After thanking Bruce, he adds the following irreverent intimation, desir- 
 ing him to " see that he waken up all men to attend his coming, and prepare 
 themselves accordingly, for his diet would be sooner, nor perhaps it was 
 
174 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 In the beginning of May the royal party arrived at Leith, 
 and were received with the greatest demonstrations of jo}^, by 
 the immense crowds who had assembled to welcome them on 
 their landing. On the 17th the ceremony of the queen's cor- 
 onation was performed with great solemnity in the chapel of 
 Holyroodhouse, at which all the foreign ambassadors were 
 present, and an immense concourse of the nobility and gentrv. 
 Three sermons were preached on the occasion, in three dif- 
 ferent languages, Latin, French, and English; after which, 
 while the royal party retired for a little, Andrew Melville re- 
 cited a Latin poem, composed by him in celebration of the 
 event, which the king, in returning thanks, said, had done 
 him and the country such honour as he could never requite.* 
 Robert Bruce, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, had the 
 honour of anointing the queen, and David Lindsay, minister 
 of Leith, assisted by the chancellor, created lord Thirlstane 
 on the occasion, placed the crown on her head. The solem- 
 nity continued from ten in the morning till five at night. 
 Next Tuesday she made her public entry into Edinburgh, 
 and was received wrth shows and pageants, as customary at 
 the time. Sunday following, they attended divine service in 
 the High church. After sermon, the king harangued the 
 congregation. He told them he was come to thank God for 
 his safe return, them for their good conduct, and the ministers 
 for their great care in remembering him in their prayers dur- 
 ing his absence. He confessed that many things in the gov- 
 ernment had, through the heedlessness of his youth, been ill 
 attended to, but now that he had got married, he would settle, 
 and devote himself entirely to the high duties of his station, 
 administer justice impartially, and see the kirks better pro- 
 vided. 
 
 looked for : and as our Master saith, He will come like a thief in the night, 
 and whose lampes he found burning provided with oile, these he would cunne 
 thanks, and bring into the banquet house with him; but these that lacked 
 their burning lampes provided with oile would be barred at the door ; for 
 then would he not accept, their crying, Lord, lord, at his coming, that had 
 forgotten him all the time of his absence." — Calderwood, p. 248. 
 
 * It was next day printed by the king's orders, who added, all the aKobas- 
 sadors joined in soliciting its publication. The title was, tTK^a.-jurxiou, A liti/c 
 Garland. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOaXANI). 175 
 
 The successful activity which the ministers had displayed 
 during his absence, in preserving peace and good order, tend- 
 ed still more to reconcile the king to the ministers, and even 
 the Presbyterian form of church government, and drew from 
 him, at the next meeting of the general assembly, his famous 
 panegyric on the purity of that church. In a rapture, and 
 with his hands lifted up, he praised God that he was born in 
 such a time as in the light of the Gospel, and in such a place 
 as to be king in such a kirk, the purest kirk in the world, 
 " The kirk of Geneva," exclaimed he, " keepeth Pasch and 
 Yule, what have they for them, they have no institution. As 
 for our neighbour kirk in England, their service is an evil- 
 said mass in English ; they want nothing of the mass but the 
 liftings. I charge you my good people, ministers, doctors, 
 elders, nobles, gentlemen, and barons, to stand to your purity; 
 and I forsooth, so long as I brook my life and crown, shall 
 maintain the same against all deadly." This speech was re- 
 ceived by the assembly with a transport of joy ; there was 
 nothing heard for a quarter of an hour, but praising God, and 
 praying for the king. Yet there were some who did not give 
 the king full credit for his declaration ; Davidson, minister 
 of Prestonpans, said to some who were sitting by him, I know 
 well, for all these professions the king makes, he will not 
 prove sincere, but will bring in the English modes, and rob 
 us of our privileges. 
 
 About this time too, Adamson, bishop of St. Andrews, who 
 had been esteemed the most vii'ulent, as he was among the 
 most able of the enemies of Presbyterianism, having been de- 
 prived of the revenues of his see by the act of annexation, and 
 reduced to poverty in his old age, recanted his episcopal sen- 
 timents, and professed deep sorrow for the opposition he had 
 made to the discipline and judicatures of the church. De- 
 serted, and left to starve by the king, the worst of whose 
 measures he had always advocated, he was supported in his 
 sickness and distress, by the men he had uniformly opposed. 
 But these circumstances, while they highly redound to the 
 credit of their benevolence, naturally create doubts as to the 
 sincerity of any expressions of contrition the b-ishop might 
 utter — dependance is seldom unallied to dissimulation. 
 
176 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Immediately on the king's return, the country, which had 
 been so quiet during his absence, presented a scene of blood- 
 shed and confusion. The almost certainty of escaping pun- 
 ishment, encouraged crime, and to such an extent was this 
 false clemency carried, that the bonds of society were loosened, 
 an universal anarchy prevailed, and in no period of history, 
 even when the feudal aristocracy was entire and unbroken, 
 was Scotland more distracted by the quarrels of the nobles, 
 and the license of their retainers. The turbulent Huntly, 
 kept the north in a constant state of inquietude, and depend- 
 ing upon easily obtaining the king's pardon, not only com- 
 mitted the grossest outrages, but acted as if he had been an 
 independent prince. His pretensions occasioned a deadly 
 feud between him and the earl of Moray, * which long kept 
 these districts in a perturbed state, and some time after, ended 
 fatally to the latter. It thus originated: — A servant of one of 
 the Gordons having been killed in a private quarrel, by the 
 tutor of Ballendalloch, one of the Grants, Huntly, searching- 
 for the offender, attacked and took by force, the house of the 
 chief. The Grants, who considered this an insult to their 
 clan, applied to the earl of Moray, along with the clan Chat- 
 tan and the Dunbars, who all dreaded Huntly's power, in 
 order to unite for mutual protection. Huntly, who could 
 brook no opposition to his power in that quarter, having 
 heard that Moray and his relation the earl of Athol, were to 
 meet these clans in Forres, assembled a body of men, and 
 went thither to dissolve the meeting, but before he arrived, 
 they had separated, and Moray was returned home. Disap- 
 pointed in his object, Huntly proceeded to Moray's residence, 
 which he surrounded with his men, and threatening the earl 
 in the most insulting manner, provoked a discharge of some 
 musquets from the house, by which that Gordon was shot, 
 whose servant the tutor of Ballendalloch had killed. Both 
 sides assembled their followers, and although occasionally the 
 king's injunctions to desist were attended to, the contest con- 
 tinued till Huntly went to the south. Almost at the same 
 
 * Moray was the son of the Good Regent, was esteemed the handsomest 
 man of his age, and was generally known by the name of The honnie Earl of 
 Moral/. .. . . 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. WT 
 
 time, KeiT of Ancrum, was assassinated in Edinburgh, by 
 Kerr of Cessford, under covert of night, but the assassin, after 
 being in hiding for a few months, was pardoned. 
 
 While these sanguinary feuds were neither repressed nor 
 punished, the king spent the winter in attending the discovery 
 and examination of witches and sorcerers, and although the 
 confessions which were extorted from the unfortunate crea- 
 tures, were at variance with credibility and common sense, 
 and so ridiculous, that it would be impossible to read them 
 without a smile, did not the cruelty of their persecutors raise 
 other sensations than those of mirth, yet, upon such incoher- 
 ent ravings, were many men and women committed to the 
 flames, for a crime, in their cases, certainly imaginary. In the 
 course of these examinations, some of the suiferers accused 
 Bothwell of having consulted them with regard to the time of 
 the king's death, and he, upon this vague charge, was sent to 
 Edinburgh castle. On being arrested, he protested against 
 his commitment, alleging, that the devil, who was a liar from 
 the beginning, ought not to be credited, nor yet the witches, 
 his sworn servants. When his cause came before the council, 
 it was proposed to send him out of the country for some time, 
 a report of which being carried to him in prison, indignant at 
 the treatment he had already received, and dreading worse, 
 he, after being about a month confined, corrupted his keeper, 
 and made his escape. His flight was construed into a con- 
 fession of guilt, and the king caused him to be denounced 
 traitor upon a former sentence, and, by proclamation, prohib- 
 ited all his subjects from having any intercourse with him. 
 This proceeding exasperated Bothwell, who imputed the whole 
 to the chancellor, against whom he vowed vengeance. There 
 were others about the king's person, who disliked Maitland, 
 and were willing to engage in any scheme to remove him from 
 the royal councils; with them Bothwell consulted, and having 
 collected a few followers, a conspiracy was formed for sur- 
 prising his majesty and his whole court in the palace. 
 
 It was proposed to introduce Bothwell and his followers by 
 a back passage, that lay through the duke of Lennox' stables, 
 who was immediately to seize the gates, take the keys from 
 the porters, and then to proceed to the king's chamber, and 
 
 VOL. III. z 
 
iTS HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 secure him. As the king was totally unprepared, and dream- 
 ing of no danger, there did not seem the least risk of the en- 
 terprise failing, when the accession of James Douglas of Spot, 
 an accidental circumstance that should have rendered the 
 issue more certain, completely defeated it A few days before, 
 George Hume of Spot, Douglas' father-in-law, was killed by 
 some Mersemen of the name of Home, and Sir George Hume, 
 his nephew, the king's equerry, suspecting Douglas, accused 
 him of being author, or accessory to the murder, from a 
 dread lest his father-in-law should bestow upon Sir George, 
 some lands which Douglas claimed in right of his wife. Upon 
 this accusation, some of Douglas' servants were taken into 
 custody, and confined in the palace, on purpose to be ex- 
 amined by torture ! * The chancellor strenuously opposed 
 this infamous and unjust mode of procedure, but the king 
 insisted, and when Douglas, who also lodged in the palace, 
 saw that there were no means of preventing it, he joined the 
 conspirators. At the hour appointed, Bothwell and his fol- 
 lowers were admitted by his accomplices, and had already 
 reached the inner court of the palace without noise, when 
 Douglas, eager to release his servants, proceeded with a party 
 to force the rooms where they were confined. The noise of 
 the hammers, in attempting to break open the doors, gave the 
 first alarm. The king, who was then in the queen's apart- 
 ments at supper, on hearing the noise, fled to the tower as a 
 place of safety. Bothwell, after directing one body of his men 
 to proceed to the chancellor's room, and secure him, went 
 himself with the rest to the queen's apartments, where he ex- 
 pected to find the king; but the chancellor, with a few ser- 
 vants, resolutely defended his chamber, and the door of the 
 queen's being barricaded, while Bothwell called for fire to 
 burn them. Sir James Sandilands, one of the gentlemen of 
 the king's bedchamber, receiving information of the king's 
 danger, entered through the chapel, and drove the assailants 
 from the palace, the chief of whom, taking advantage of the 
 darkness, escaped by the same way by which they had enter- 
 ed. Nine of the lower order were taken, and hanged next 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 386. 
 i7 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 179 
 
 morning. Of the king's party, only one person was killed, 
 Shaw, an equerry, who was shot by Bothwell, as he attempted 
 to take him. 
 
 On the failure of this attempt, Bothwell fled to the north, 
 and the king, suspecting that he had gone to the earl ot 
 Moray, his cousin-german, to engage him in his cause, de- 
 spatched lord Ochiltree to Moray, to invite him to the south, 
 on pretence of effecting a reconciliation between him and 
 Huntly. But, in the meantime, a rumour having been raised, 
 that the earl was seen in the palace along with Bothwell, on 
 the night when it was attacked, Huntly, who was at court, 
 carried the story to the king, whose timid and suspicious 
 temper being alarmed, gave him, although the known and 
 avowed enemy of Moray, a commission to apprehend, and 
 bring him to trial. In the meantime, this nobleman, unaware 
 of the intrigues of his enemy, had arrived at Dunibirsle, a cas- 
 tle belonging to his mother, lady Downe, on the north bank 
 of the Forth, where he was residing in the utmost security, 
 without interfering with the changes of the court, or the ani- 
 mosities of the nobles. Huntly having heard of his arrival, 
 and of his security, went with the sheriff of Moray, and some 
 of his own retinue, and surrounding the house, required him 
 to surrender. The garl, suspicious of his intentions, refused 
 to put himself into the power of his enemy, and attempted 
 a defence, but the house being set on fire, those within were 
 forced to come out. The eai'l remained behind till night- 
 fall, when rushing through the midst of his enemies, he out- 
 ran them, and reached some rocks at a distance, where he 
 would have been safe, they supposing he had escaped, but 
 unfortunately the lip of his helmet, which, unknowingly to 
 him, had caught fire, discovered the place of his retreat, and 
 he was inhumanly put to death. The untimely death of this 
 young nobleman, heir of the regent Moray, and endeared to 
 the people by the similarity of his character, excited the deep- 
 est indignation. 
 
 Next morning after the murder, James went with the great- 
 est unconcern, to enjoy his usual pastime of hunting about 
 Innerleith and Wairdie, opposite Dunibirsle, whose flames 
 v/erc yet hardly extinguished, but on his return to town, he 
 
ISO HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 was met by the general and loud lamentation of the citizens, 
 which so terrified him, that he sent for some of the ministers, 
 whom he desired to clear him to the clamorous multitude, 
 from any participation in the deed. On which the ministers 
 replied, that the only way to clear himself, was to inflict ex- 
 emplary punishment on the perpetrators. As there appeared, 
 however, no disposition on the part of the court to prosecute 
 this atrocious crime, the discontent increased, and so openly 
 were the king and his ministers insulted, that he deemed him- 
 self unsafe in the capital, and removed to Glasgow with his 
 council, till Huntly entered into ward at Blackness castle, 
 and the popular feeling in some degree subsided. After re- 
 maining in confinement about three or four days, Huntly was 
 allowed to depart, upon giving surety to appear when called 
 upon, and not long after, without even undergoing the form 
 of a trial, was permitted again to return to court. * 
 
 The king's careless temper, and the number of craving, 
 worthless minions, whom he encouraged about court, which 
 reduced him to a state of almost absolute poverty, f his lenity 
 towards the popish faction, and his remissness in pursuing the 
 murderers of the amiable Moray, which lowered him in the 
 estimation of the people ; the attempts of Bothwell, and the 
 
 * Dr. Robertson says, " the power of the chancellor, with whom he — 
 Huntly — was now closely confederated, not only protected him from the sen- 
 tence which such an odious act merited, but exempted him even from the 
 formality of a public trial." I have not been able to discover any traces of 
 this close connexion, nor am I inclined to believe that it existed. The duke 
 of Lennox was, at this time in opposition to the chancellor, Sir J. Melville's 
 Mem. p. 396, and I think it pretty evident, from a comparison of Spotswood, 
 Melville, and Calderwood, that the chancellor had been constantly thwarted ; 
 m his measures, by the perverse partialities of James, that bane of his govern- 
 ment, from the first moment to the last ; and to the influence of Lennox, who 
 appears to have been a favourite with the queen, to the liking the king him- 
 self had to Huntly, and to the hatred which he bore to the regent Moray's 
 memory, I would attribute the ease with which he passed over the murder of 
 the son, who, as he inherited his father's virtues, would naturally inherit his 
 cousin's hatred. 
 
 f Hudson mentions, " that while he was at the Scottish court, both the 
 king's and queen's table had like to have been unserved by want, and that the 
 king had nothing he accounted cnrtain to come into his purse, but what he 
 had from the queen of England." Rymcr, vol. xvi. p. \49. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 181 
 
 number of adherents who abetted him, which rendered his 
 own palace insecure; the cabals in his court, which obstructed 
 and enfeebled the operations of his government; the odium 
 which the chancellor incurred from the faults of the sovereign, 
 all conspired to produce a crisis, equally alarming to that min- 
 ister and to his master. Surrounded with so many difficulties, 
 the only resource that remained, was to cultivate the friend- 
 ship of the church, and thus regain the affections of the peo- 
 ple. The clergy, headed by able and persevering, as well 
 as zealous and intrepid directors, saw their opportunity, 
 and resolved to improve it. . At a meeting of the general 
 assembly, held previous to the meeting of parliament, it was 
 resolved to petition for a legal establishment of the presbyter- 
 ian form of church government, and for a repeal of all these 
 acts, which had proscribed the liberty of the church. In con- 
 sequence, they arranged their demands under four heads, to 
 be presented to the king, and directed the committee appoint- 
 ed to present them, to be accompanied by some others of their 
 brethren, to wait upon his majesty, and solemnly admonish 
 him, to take into his serious consideration, the state of the 
 church, and of the realm, the many murders, and acts of 
 oppression, which daily multiplied through the impunity which 
 the perpetrators enjoyed, and the inattention to the execution 
 of justice which the government displayed, and to attend to 
 the proper discharge of his kingly office in both, as he would 
 escape the fearful judgment of God, and avert his wrath from 
 himself and the land. 
 
 Parliament met on the 5th of June, 1592, when the articles 
 prepared by the general assembly were laid before it. They 
 were: — That the acts, 1584, made against the discipline of 
 the church, liberty, and authority thereof, be annulled, and 
 the present discipline, whereof the church hath had the prac- 
 tice, be ratified; that the act of annexation should be rescind- 
 ed, and the patrimony of the church restored ; that abbots^ 
 priors, and other prelates, representing the church, and, with- 
 out power and commission, acting for it, be not suffered in 
 time coming to vote for the same, either in parliament, or in 
 any other convention ; and that the country, which is polluted 
 with fearful idolatry and blood, be purged. An act was upon 
 
182 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 this passed, ratifying the general assemblies^ provincial syn- 
 ods, presbyteries, and particular sessions, &c. and declaring 
 them, with the jurisdiction and discipline belonging to them, 
 to be in time coming, most just, good, and godly, notwith- 
 standing all acts made to the contrary; the powers of the pro- 
 vincial synods and presbyteries are defined ; the times and 
 manner of meeting for the higher courts are settled ; general 
 assemblies are to be held once a year or oftener, pro re nata, 
 as circumstances should require; his majesty, or his commis- 
 sioners, if present, shall, at each assembly, before its dissolv- 
 ing, appoint the time and place for the meeting of the next, 
 or, if they be absent, the assembly themselves shall appoint it 
 as they were wont ; provincial synods are to meet twice a 
 year; all the acts in favour of popery are repealed, which had 
 not formerly been rescinded — declared that the act of 1584, 
 respecting the king's supremacy, shall be in no ways prejudi- 
 cial to the privilege God hath given to the spiritual office- 
 bearers in the church, concerning heads of religion, matters 
 of heresy, excommunication, appointment or deprivation of 
 ministers, or any suqh essential censures, having warrant in 
 the word of God; and it declared the act of the same parlia- 
 ment, granting commissions to bishops and other judges, con- 
 stituted in ecclesiastical causes, to receive his majesty's pre- 
 sentations to benefices, and to give collation, to be expired of 
 itself, and to be null and of no avail in time coming ; and 
 therefore ordains all presentations to benefices to be directed 
 to the particular presbyteries, with full power to give collation, 
 and to manage all ecclesiastical causes within their bovmds, 
 provided they admitted such qualified ministers as were pre- 
 sented by his majesty or other patrons. 
 
 ^ Thus was the establishment of presbytery at length obtain- 
 ed, from a prince who hated it with the most rooted antipathy, 
 by the unyielding perseverance with which its supporters pur- 
 sued their object, amid opposition and persecution, and the 
 admirable dexterity with which they seized every favourable 
 opportunity that occurred for its advancement. At this period 
 the supporters of presbytery were the assertors of civil liberty. 
 When the parliaments were the mere puppets of the court, 
 and the courts of law — for they could hardly be denominated 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTL^N'O. ' 183 
 
 courts of justice — were subservient to the nod of the kings or 
 their favourites, the church of Scotland maintained the only 
 spirit of independence in the land, and to this, more than to 
 their religious tenets, was owing the implacable animosity of 
 James. Had the genius of presbytery been as congenial to 
 the spirit of despotism as that of prelacy, Scotland would 
 never have been persecuted about bishops. 
 
 " The act of parliament, 1592," says a writer who has well 
 studied the subject, " which still continues to be the charter 
 of the church of Scotland's liberties, has always been regarded 
 by presbyterians in an important light, and as a great step in 
 national reformation. It repealed several statutes which were 
 favourable to superstition, and hostile to the independence of 
 the kingdom ; it reduced the prerogative of the crown, which 
 had lately been raised to an exorbitant height, and by legally 
 securing the religious privileges of the nation against arbitrary 
 encroachments, it pointed out the propriety and practicability 
 of providing similar securities in behalf of political rights ; it 
 gave the friends of the presbyteriao constitution the advantage 
 of occupying legal ground, and enabled them, during a series 
 of years, to oppose a successful resistance to the efforts of the 
 court to obtrude on them an opposite system ; and as often as 
 the nation felt disposed to throw off the imposed yoke of epis- 
 copacy, they availed themselves of this charter, and founded 
 upon it a claim of right to the re-enjoyment of their ancient 
 liberty." * 
 
 When the parliament rose, the king went to Falkland, and 
 Bothwell renewed his intrigues to obtain possession of his 
 person. Notwithstanding the numerous warnings he had re- 
 ceived, the king still persisted in retaining at court the men 
 who were ready, upon every opportunity, to deceive and be- 
 tray him. With them Bothwell concerted to be admitted 
 into the palace, and he had also leagued with the earl of 
 Angus, the Johnstons, and some others, to support him 
 against any efforts the surrounding country might make to 
 relieve his majesty. James had received notice that a plot 
 was in agitation, and been advised to take some precautionary 
 
 . ' * M'Crie's Life of Melville, p. 403. ■ \ , 
 
1S4. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 measures ; but the party who were privy to the scheme, per- 
 suaded him to treat this with contempt, and even to allow the 
 messenger, sent to inform him of his danger, to be treated 
 with insulting derision. The messenger, irritated by such a 
 reception, retired in disgust, but meeting the earl of Bothwell 
 and his party on the Lomond hills, he turned with them, as if 
 he had been one of themselves, and afterward taking advan- 
 tage of the darkness of the night, he advanced with greater 
 speed, and arrived before them at Falkland. Entering the 
 palace, he locked the gates behind him, and called out to the 
 king to fly to the tower. The conspirators within finding the 
 plot discovered, did not move, and Bothwell, instead of the 
 ready admission he expected, finding that it would be neces- 
 sary to force an entrance, after the exchange of a few shot, 
 and having seized the horses in the royal stables, retired, with 
 his fatigued and worn out followers, who had marched two 
 days and two nights without either food or rest, to the adjacent 
 hills till sunrise, when fearino: the arrival of assistance to the 
 king, now that the country was alarmed, he fled by the way of 
 Stirling to the borders. Next day, upwards of three thousand 
 men arrived to protect the king, who set out with them in 
 pursuit of the enemy, but either afraid of their strength, or 
 uncertain of the road they had taken, he proceeded to Queens- 
 ferry, and thence to the capital. A number of Bothwell's 
 followers, overcome by fatigue, were taken asleep on the hills, 
 but allowed to escape. He himself took refuge in England, 
 and the courtiers who were implicated in his treason, were, as 
 usual, pardoned, and received into favour. Lord Spence had 
 a form of a trial, after which he returned to his post. 
 Wemyss, younger of Logie, a gentleman of the king's bed- 
 chamber, was confined in the palace, but having, by a strata- 
 gem of one of the queen's maids — who deceived his guard, 
 and let him out at a window by a cord — made his escape, the 
 whole was turned into a jest, his treason was forgotten in the 
 mirth which the young lady's artifice occasioned, and her in- 
 genuity was rewarded by the hand of her lover, who, in a few 
 days, resumed his situation at court. 
 
 Such conduct did not tend to lessen the number of Both- 
 well's friends. There was something popular in his daring, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 185 
 
 restless character, and among the borderers he found, without 
 difficulty, open abettors, both barons and gentlemen. James, 
 to suppress the symptoms in favour of the fugitive, made an 
 excursion to Jedburgh in the month of October, and bound 
 the suspected over to hold no farther communication with 
 him, a futile, but common method of obtaining a precarious 
 submission from these unruly chieftains. At his return he 
 found his court, which had for some time past been split into 
 factions, now in a state of undisguised hostility, from the fol- 
 lowing cause: — The chancellor had obtained from the king, 
 in consequence of the annexation act, the lordship of Mussel- 
 burgh, that formerly belonged to the abbacy of Dunfermline ; 
 the rents of this abbacy had been settled upon the queen, and 
 she, instigated to ask all that had ever belonged to it, insisted 
 upon lord Thirlstane's surrendering the lordship. His refusal 
 displeased her majesty, and Lennox, EitoI, lord Ochiltree, 
 with all the lords who had envied the influence of the chan- 
 cellor, espoused her quarrel, on which, Thirlstane withdrew 
 from the court, at a time w^hen his abilities were most wanted. 
 The effects of his retirement soon appeared. While the 
 southern districts were restless, and the government disjointed 
 and enfeebled, the north was wasted with cruel and sanguin- 
 ary outrages. The clan Chattan, in revenge for the dealh of 
 the earl of Moray, entered the lands of Strathspey and Glen- 
 muck with fire and sword. Huntly retaliated upon the pos- 
 sessions of the M'Intoshes, and both parties accidentally en- 
 countering each other at a place called Staplegate hill, the 
 clan Chattan were defeated with considerable slaughter. The 
 victory was followed up by Huntly with shocking barbarity. 
 In order to tranquillize these distiicts, the king despatched 
 the earl of Angus with a commission of lieutenancy, and he 
 happily succeeded in restoring peace. 
 
 About this time, captain James Stuart, leaving his skulking 
 place, obtruded himself upon the king, hoping that, as his 
 ablest adversary was in disgrace, he might establish himself 
 at court, and regain his office of chancellor. The reception 
 he met with clearly indicated that, hated as he was by the 
 whole community, he still held a place in his majesty's affec- 
 tions, and, emboldened by this, he applied to the presbytery 
 
 VOL. III. A A 
 
196 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of Edinburgh, and offered to give them satisfaction for any 
 offences he might formerly have committed ; but the presby- 
 tery, with great plainness, told him : — That they could have 
 no opinion of him but evil, for ought they yet saw ; that it 
 would not be words, but good deeds that would change their 
 minds ; and exhorted him, if he had any kind of piety, or 
 godliness, or religion, about him, that he should show the 
 fruit thereof by a better repentance than they had yet seen, 
 and demonstrate its sincerity by his exemplary conduct. 
 They, at the same time, sent a deputation to warn the king, 
 as he respected the advantage of the church, the weal of the 
 country, or his own honour, to give no countenance to him, 
 and to protest, if he were again admitted to his council, or to 
 any office of trust, the church would be innocent of all the 
 evil that might ensue. This firmness of the ministers was by 
 no m-eans agreeable to the king who would fain have retained 
 Stuart about him; but the opposition was too strong to be 
 resisted, and he retired without being able to obtain a footing. 
 Shortly after, he was killed by James Douglas of Parkhead, 
 in revenge for the death of his uncle, the earl of Morton. As 
 he had lived detested, he died unlamented ; the only sensation 
 his murder occasioned, was astonishment that a wretch, whose 
 insolence in power had created him so many enemies, should 
 have been suffered to exist so long.* 
 
 In the end of the same year, and in a good old age, the 
 venerable John Erskine of Dun, superintendent of Angus, 
 died. He early distinguished himself in arms by his success- 
 ful defence of Montrose ; f but his more lasting claims upon 
 the gratitude of his country, arise from his early, uniform at- 
 tachment to the cause of the reformation. He was among the 
 first men of rank who openly espoused it, and through the 
 arduous struggle he never shrunk from danger, while the 
 amenity of his manner softened down, in some instances, the 
 unpalatable truths he was commissioned to deliver to royal 
 ears. He was, of the first reformers, the only one who enjoy- 
 ed any thing like court favour ; but it was without any dere- 
 liction of integrity, or any compromise of principle. After 
 
 * Melville's Memoirs, p. 39^ f Buchanan, book xv. 
 
 •*9 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 187 
 
 the establishment of the reformation, he was first a superin- 
 tendent, and afterward a parochial minister. At his death, 
 October 16th, he was in his eighty-second year. 
 
 No sooner was one conspiracy discovered, and the conspir- 
 ators pardoned, than another was set on foot; but the close 
 of 1592 was distinguished by one of greater extent than any 
 of these which had yet alarmed the nation, and it was discov- 
 ered and disconcerted chiefly by the exertions of the clergy. 
 The constant state of agitation in which the public mind had 
 been kept, was increased by the activity of the seminary 
 priests, and the various reports of plots and invasions which 
 rapidly succeeded each other. The ministers participated 
 strongly in the public feeling, and about the middle of No- 
 vember an extraordinary meeting was held in Edinburgh, to 
 consult on the state of the country, when, after communicat- 
 ing to each other the intelligence they had received, the con- 
 viction was general, that some plot existed for the overturn of 
 religion, and that it was upon the eve of being carried into 
 execution. On the ITth of that month, a deputation was sent 
 to the king, to lay before him the result of their inquiries and 
 deliberations. He expressed himself satisfied that just causes 
 of alarm existed,* and sanctioned the measures they proposed 
 to adopt, which were : — To enjoin every presbytery to inform 
 the well affected gentlemen within their bounds of the prac- 
 tices of their enemies, and exhort them to prepare to resist 
 them, and at the same time, to exert themselves to compose 
 all feuds existing among the friends of tlie Protestant cause ; 
 to appoint a committee to sit in Edinburgh during the present 
 emergency to watch over the safety of the church, and an or- 
 dinary agent to obtain information of the movements of the 
 Papists, and of all suspicious characters, arriving from or go- 
 ing to Popish countries ; and to enjoin the ministers every- 
 where to exert themselves to obtain such information as might 
 lead to the detection of their designs, which information was 
 to be transmitted immediately to the committee, by whom it 
 
 * Calderwood, in his printed history, p. 271, says," He," the Icing, "grant- 
 ed that some missives should be directed to some well affected noblemen and 
 barons, to desire them to repair to Edinburgh, to consult upon the means 
 how to disappoint the designs of the adversaries." 
 
188 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 was to be laid before the privy council ; nor was it long before 
 the precautionary steps adopted by the ministers were proved 
 to have been not less wise than necessary. 
 
 Andrew Knox, having learned by some private informa- 
 tion, that George Kerr, a doctor of laws, and brother of lord 
 Newbattle, was lying at the island of Cumbrae, ready to 
 proceed for Spain, went from Glasgow, accompanied by a 
 number of students, and took him into custody. On examin- 
 ing his papers, there were found among them, letters of cre- 
 dence to some Jesuits in Spain, and blanks, signed by the 
 earls of Huntly, Angus, and Errol, with a commission to 
 William Crichton, a Jesuit, to fill them up, and address 
 them to the persons for whom they were intended. Kerr was 
 immediately conveyed to Edinburgh, under a strong guard, 
 and being brought before the council and a number of the 
 ministers, the letters found on him were opened, and the whole 
 conspiracy discovered. The king of Spain was to land thirty 
 thousand troops on the west coast of Scotland, where they 
 were to be met by the Catholic lords, with as many men as 
 they could bring into the field. Fifteen thousand of the 
 Spanish troops, accompanied by the lords, were to march 
 directly to England, the remainder were to remain in Scot- 
 land, and on being joined by the Scottish Catholics, were to 
 suppress the Protestant religion, or procure full toleration for 
 the Popish faith. The earl of Angus, not knowing of the 
 apprehension of Kerr, came from the north direct to Edin- 
 burgh, and was, on his arrival, sent to the castle by the magis- 
 trates. Graham of Fintry, an associate of Kerr's, was appre- 
 hended a few days after. The privy council and ministers 
 sent letters to James, who was enjoying Christmas at Alloa, 
 with the earl of Marr, lately married to the duke of Lennox's 
 sister,* to urge his return to Edinburgh. On his arrival, 
 whether peevish at having his amusement interrupted, or vex- 
 ed that others should have discovered more penetration and 
 care for the country than himself, instead of thanking the zeal 
 and loyalty of the people, he expressed his high displeasure 
 at the presumption of the magistrates of Edinburgh, for en- 
 
 * Sister-in-law to the earl of Huntly. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 189 
 
 croaching on his prerogative, in apprehending a nobleman of 
 such high rank as the earl of Angus, and but lately returned 
 from so confidential an employment, without any warrant 
 from him. 
 
 A meeting of some of the barons and the ministers was held 
 soon after the king's return, to deliberate upon the proposals 
 to be laid before the next convention of the estates, when it 
 was agreed that it was necessary to bring the traitors, who 
 were in prison, to immediate trial, and to proceed with the 
 utmost rigour against those who were at large, to endeavour 
 to apprehend them, or if this were impracticable, to forfeit 
 them for non-appearance. A deputation from this meeting 
 was instructed to lay the result before the king, and the 
 members were in readiness to go to Holyroodhouse, when 
 some of the king's counsellors strongly opposed their pro- 
 ceeding, alleging that the king was highly offended at the 
 meeting, and detained them, arguing the point for about an 
 hour, till lord Lindsay, whose patience was exhausted at 
 this teasing and vexatious interruption, broke up the con- 
 ference, by exclaiming, *' I will go down with the barons, 
 go who will." On which they all set out for the palace, 
 accompanied by the magistrates, and a numerous train of the 
 inhabitants, anxious to hear the king's decision. When they 
 arrived, only two were suffered to approach the royal pre- 
 sence, where they were lectured in private for an hour and a 
 half. At last the great hall was opened, and the others were 
 admitted. The first salutation they received for this expres- 
 sion of solicitude about the best interests of their king and 
 country, was a reprimand for having met irregularly, and 
 without waiting his summons, in particular, he upbraided the 
 ministers by saying, that when he wished it, they were not 
 wont to obey his call so readily.* They replied that they had 
 the authority of the privy council for their meeting, and that 
 it was not a time to stand upon forms, when they saw his 
 person, the church, and commonwealth in such extreme jeop- 
 ardy. And he, upon considering the subject a little more 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. ii. p, 28. Calderwood, pp. 277, 278. See 
 Note, p. 40. 
 
190 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 coolly, when the evidence was laid before him, excused them 
 on account of their good intentions, and the magnitude of the 
 danger. The crime, he said, was such as he could not pardon 
 if he would, and the trials should immediately be proceeded 
 in. A proclamation was issued, declaring, that although the 
 pernicious effects of the insidious activity of Jesuits and sem- 
 inary priests had been made evident, and their introduction 
 or residence in the country, prohibited by many acts and pro- 
 clamations, yet they continued to remain in the kingdom, and 
 had seduced many of the subjects to apostatize from the re- 
 ligion in which they had been instructed, and to enter into a 
 treasonable conspiracy for introducing strangers into the realm, 
 to overthrow his highness, and all professing true religion, to 
 conquer his ancient kingdom, and ruin the liberty which this 
 country had enjoyed for so many ages, by subjecting it to the 
 slavery and tyranny of that proud nation, which hath made 
 such unlawful and cruel conquests in diverse parts of the world, 
 as well upon Christians as infidels, which conspiracy being 
 discovered by the providence of God, his majesty was deter- 
 mined to bring to trial, and punish the guilty in such a man- 
 ner, as to be an example to all posterity, and commanded all 
 faithful subjects, who wished to live free in their native land, 
 nor see their wives and children made slaves, in souls and 
 bodies, to merciless strangers, to abstain from all intercourse, 
 under whatever pretence, with Popish emissaries, on pain of 
 treason, and to put themselves in arms, by ail good means 
 they can, remaining in readiness to pursue or defend, as they 
 shall be certified by his majesty, or otherwise find the occasion 
 urgent. All ranks concurred in supporting vigorous measures 
 for restoring peace to the country, and confi.ding in the sin- 
 cerity of the court, the convened barons and gentlemen offered 
 to raise a guard of three thousand hoi'se, and one hundred 
 foot, to protect the king's person, and to maintain them as 
 long as any necessity existed, but under condition that it should 
 not be drawn into a precedent, or used in any manner preju- 
 dicial to the liberty of the realm. The offer was accepted, 
 and the array of the country was ordered to meet the king at 
 Aberdeen, on the 20th of February. 
 
 Before the king set out for the north, Graham of Finti'V 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 191 
 
 was brought to trial, and, as generally happens with the in- 
 ferior agents in cases of abortive treason, was condemned to 
 suffer the sentence of the law, in order to appease the people, 
 and executed accordingly on the 10th of February. On the 
 night of his execution, a placard was affixed in a conspicuous 
 place of the city, asserting, that all the preparations and ap- 
 pearances would end in nothing, for the greatest criminals had 
 been allowed to escape by connivance of the court. The king, 
 at the appointed time went north, and was met by a number 
 of the noblemen and gentlemen, who joined in a bond for the 
 defence of religion, his majesty's person and government, and 
 the liberty of the country, against thraldom of conscience, and 
 the domination of strangers, especially against the authors of 
 the late treasonable conspiracy, vvhom it enumerates, and also 
 adds, those who wei'e guilty of the late wilful fire-raising at 
 Dunibirsle, and the murder of the earl of Moray. In the same 
 bond, his majesty promises, on the word of a prince, that he 
 will neither grant favour nor pardon to any of the earls, with- 
 out the special advice, and consent of the lieutenant and com- 
 missioner for the time, antl six of the principal barons at least 
 subscribing the said bond.* Angus, who had contrived to 
 procure his liberty by the connivance of his keepei's, before 
 the king left Edinbui'gh, went directly north, and joined 
 Huntly and Errol. They all, upon hearing of his arrival at 
 Abei'deen, left their places of residence, and retired to the 
 mountains, but sent their ladies to intercede for them with his 
 majesty, and present him with the keys of their castles, which 
 they had in charge to surrender. The king received them 
 courteously, and told them that if their husbands would ap- 
 pear and stand trial, they should suffer no wrong, but if not, 
 the crime with which they were charged, involved so deeply 
 the safety of the state, that it was out of his power to prevent 
 the law from taking its course. Then placing garrisons in 
 their castles, and appointing the earls Athol and Marischall 
 
 * Robertson represents this Bond as forced upon the barons by the king. 
 Hist, of Scot, book viii. From its tenor, it is more likely that it originated 
 with the former, and shows distinctly that the Protestant nobles in the north 
 entertained the same low opinion of his majesty's sincerity, as the barons and 
 ministers in the south. 
 
192 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 his lieutenants in the north, he returned to the capital.* But 
 so little confidence could his own council place in him, tliat 
 they passed an act, forbidding any one to solicit his majesty 
 in favour of the conspirators, and authorized his chaplains to 
 administer an oath to his domestics, that they would not in- 
 tercede with him for indulgence or pardon to any who had 
 been connected with the plot.f 
 
 A few days after the king's return from the north, lor<^ 
 Burgh, or Borough, arrived from the queen of England upon 
 an especial embassy, to congratulate him upon the discovery 
 of the conspiracy, and to offer her assistance in pursuing, and 
 punishing those who were liable to be tried capitally. She 
 reproached him with his former remissness, and urged him 
 to act with the decision becoming a king, and if he could not 
 apprehend the persons, at least to confiscate the estates of the 
 criminals, by which he would render them unable to give him 
 further disturbance, and would increase the revenue of the 
 crown, and she wished particularly, to be acquainted with his 
 resolutions on this point, that she might be able to inform 
 her allies of the measures adopted in the two kingdoms, for 
 defeating the projects of Spain, a subject interesting to all 
 Protestant princes. James thanked the ambassador for her 
 majesty's friendly communication, and desired him to assure 
 her, that he had made a beginning, and was fully resolved to 
 prosecute the guilty with the utmost rigour ; but at the same 
 time, he wished her to reflect upon the danger of his having 
 so many powerful noblemen in a state of rebellion, and the 
 difficulty of pursuing them in their fastnesses, and among the 
 barren wastes where they lurked, and he had no doubt but 
 she would send him a supply of money, to enable him to sub- 
 due them, as it was more dangerous for her kingdom, that the 
 Spaniards should obtain a footing in Scotland, than in either 
 France or the Low Countries, both of which she had liberally 
 supplied. Borough then represented to his majesty, that as 
 he had so many other rebels to contend with, and Bothwell 
 had already suffered considerable punishment, it might tend 
 to lessen his difficulties, if he would consent to accept his sub- 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 392. f Calderwood, p. 284. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 193 
 
 mission, and again i-eceive that nobleman into favour. But 
 the king would listen to no proposal in Bothwell's favoui'. 
 He said, if the queen had any regard for him, she, so far 
 from interceding in behalf of one who had been guilty of such 
 unpardonable offences, would allow him no refuge in her king- 
 dom. He again desired the ambassador to assure his royal 
 mistress, that he would bring the Popish lords to trial, and 
 dismissed him. 
 
 It soon appeared, however, that the suspicions entertained 
 of the king were well founded, and that, notwithstanding all 
 his promises, professions, and oaths, he had no intention of 
 proceeding to extremities with the three earls. He could not 
 avoid summoning a parliament, but before it met, Kerr had 
 escaped, and the most material witness being thus removed, 
 nothing was done against them, as full legal evidence could 
 not be produced. Surrounded with difficulties, and without 
 any minister in whom he could confide, James, at this junc- 
 ture, proposed to recal lord Thirlstane, and that" minister 
 having yielded up the contested lordship of Musselburgh to 
 the queen, was about to resume his situation at court, when 
 the duke of Lennox, the earl of Athol, lord Ochiltree, and all 
 of the name of Stuart, in order to prevent it, combined to bring 
 back Bothwell, also a Stuart, and an enemy of the chancellor's, 
 and endeavour to restore him to the king's favour. 
 
 Two days after the dissolution of parliament, when the 
 noblemen were all admitted without restraint to the palace, to 
 take leave of the king, Athol invited Bothwell to a house 
 which he occupied near Holyroodhouse, and his lady, early 
 in the morning, taking Bothwell and John Colvil, one of his 
 followers, along with her, entered the royal apartments, as if 
 to bid the king farewell. The king, who was in an adjoining 
 closet, came out, and when he saw a number of armed men 
 standing, attempted to get to the queen's chamber, but the 
 door being locked, he cried aloud. Treason ! Treason ! Upon 
 this, Bothwell falling on his knees, entreated mercy. Nay, 
 said the king, wfiose spirit was roused by the insult, you have 
 betrayed me, and sitting down in a chair, bade him strike, and 
 finish his treason ! Bothwell, still on his knees protested in 
 the most solemn manner, that he only came there to beg 
 
 VOL. IIL B B 
 
194 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 pardon, and to submit entii'ely to his majesty's pleasure. 
 The king replied, it was not the manner of suppliants to come 
 with arms in their hands, but the earl of Marr, and Sir Wil- 
 liam Keith entering during this conversation, the king, who 
 perceived himself entirely at the mercy of Bothwell's adher- 
 ents, grew calmer, and when a number of the citizens of 
 Edinburgh, who had heard of the disturbance, were led by 
 their provost, to attempt the king's relietj he, by Marr's ad- 
 vice, addressed them from a window, and thanking them for 
 their promptitude in coming to his assistance, desired them 
 to return to their homes, and await his orders. For some 
 time Bothwell behaved humbly, and endeavoured to ingratiate 
 himself with his sovereign, offering to stand trial for the ac- 
 cusation of the witches, which had been the origin of the 
 whole troubles, and as to every thing else, he threw himself 
 upon his mercy, and would only plead in extenuation, the 
 extremities to which he and his friends had been driven, and 
 which led him to commit misdemeanours, he would not now 
 attempt to defend. But perceiving that his submission pi*o- 
 duced no effect, he altered his tone, and let fall some threat- 
 ening insinuations, which so alarmed the monarch, that 
 through the mediation of the English ambassador, he signed 
 a capitulation, and promised, on the word of a prince, to 
 perform it. By it a fiill pardon was to be granted to Bothwell 
 and his friends, for all past misconduct, attempts upon the 
 king's person, or contempt shown his authority, and all their 
 forfeitures were to be reversed, a ratification of which was to 
 be procured in parliament. The chancellor, lord Hume, the 
 master of Glammis, and Sir George Home, were to be dis- 
 missed the king's council, and forbid his presence, and Both- 
 well and his friends to be esteemed good subjects, and treated 
 as if they had never ojBfended. 
 
 Extorted agreements, under whatever sanctions they may 
 have been concluded, are never to be depended upon, and 
 unless Bothwell or his friends could have kept the king in a 
 state of complete bondage, it was not to be expected that the 
 late arrangement would be lasting. He was now of an age 
 that did not admit of his being long held in unwilling con- 
 straint, and he had with difficulty, when really a prisoner, 
 
 49 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 195 
 
 signed the articles, evidently from a desire to obtain a little 
 more liberty, and with an intention of never observing them, 
 for the negotiations had been protracted nearly three weeks 
 from the time of the surprise, and the very next day after he 
 agreed to the stipulations, he set out for Falkland. Lennox, 
 and some others of the faction, accompanied the king, on 
 purpose to prevent the former members of his government 
 from obtaining access to him, and Bothwell in the interim, 
 was tried, and acquitted from the charge of having imagined 
 the king's death, by consulting with witches. But all their 
 efforts were in vain, the bondage was too irksome, and James 
 was determined to break it, although by a step yet more hu- 
 miliating than the constraint itself. Under pretence of set- 
 tling some disturbances that had occurred on the Highland 
 borders, he called a convention of the nobles at Stirling, and 
 by some want of dexterity on the part of Bothwell's friends, 
 not very easily accounted for, they allowed themselves to sink 
 into a feeble minority at the meeting. Some few observations 
 having been made about the state of the Highlands, and the 
 means of tranquillizing them, at opening, as the business for 
 which the nobles had assembled, the king interrupted the 
 desultory conversation. He had summoned them, he said, 
 to lay before them a subject that interested himself person- 
 ally, and as it nearly touched his honour, he begged their 
 advice. Then enumerating; all the indignities he had suffered 
 from Bothwell, from the first to this last attempt, he asked 
 whether they thought the conditions binding, which had been 
 extorted from him by those who undertook to mediate, and 
 which he declared he had only granted under the influence of 
 fear. The convention gave as their opinion, that the king 
 was not bound by the conditions thus granted ; that the deed 
 of Bothwell was treasonable, and the pardon depended en- 
 tirely upon his good pleasure. Gratified by this declaration, 
 the king replied, that for the sake of peace he would, now 
 that he was at liberty, grant a pardon, if it were humbly sued 
 for, but he wished the convention, by a public act, to declare 
 the whole transaction unlawful, which they did. 
 
 Intimation of this act was immediately sent to Bothwell, 
 and he was allowed till the 20th November to make his sub- 
 
196 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 
 
 mission, after which he should withdraw himself out of the 
 kingdom, to such part beyond seas as his majesty should ap- 
 point. At first, Both well appeared willing to acquiesce in the 
 conditions, but upon learning that his most inveterate enemies 
 were received into the king's most intimate favour, he at- 
 tempted to revive his league with Athol and Montrose, and 
 to obtain by force, an unconditional ratification of his pardon, 
 if not the fulfilment of the former stipulations ; but the king 
 being on his guard, Athol retired quietly, and Montrose, on 
 being made prisoner, excused himself, while Bothwell, frus- 
 trated in raising a new commotion, fled to the borders, and 
 was denounced as a rebel. 
 
 Disappointed and grieved at the issue of the king's north- 
 ern expedition, the ministers were still more incensed at the 
 bold and insolent boasting of the Popish lords, who vaunted 
 that they would soon oblige the heretics to return into the 
 bosom of holy church, and the synod of Fife happening to 
 meet at the time, they appointed a solemn fast on account 
 of the impunity granted to murder and treason, and the con- 
 sequent audacity, open blasphemy, and increased activity of 
 the enemies of the Protestant cause ; and they named a 
 committee to wait on the king, and represent to him the dan- 
 ger of countenancing and favouring Papistical traitors; they 
 took, likewise, measures for assembling a convention of the 
 commissioners from the difl^rent counties, in Edinburgh, to 
 deliberate on the perils of the time ; and the more to mark 
 their dissatisfaction at the leniency of the court, and their 
 detestation of crimes which shook the vv^hole frame of society, 
 and loosened the bonds of good order and subordination in 
 Scotland, then at best but frail and ill jointed, they, after grave 
 deliberation, excommunicated the three earls and their adher- 
 ents ; they also ordered the excommunication to be commun- 
 icated to the neighbouring provinces, that it might be circulat- 
 ed as extensively as possible throughout the nation.* 
 
 * This excommunication has been considered as irregular, as none of the 
 conspirators resided within the bounds of the synod, or were subject to its 
 jurisdiction, Robertson, book viii. The synod rested their claims of jurisdic- 
 tion on the following grounds ; that many of the conspirators had been stu- 
 dents at St. Andrews, and had had communion with that kirk ; that the carls 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 197 
 
 When the king heard of these proceedings, he was highly 
 incensed, and sent for Mr. Robert Bruce, wishing him at least 
 to prevent the publication of the sentence in Edinburgh, and 
 when he informed him that that was beyond his power, the 
 king uttered a threat against the discipline of the church, 
 which showed his rooted enmity, and which circumstances, 
 unfortunately, afterward enabled him to display more bane- 
 fully. From the church he turned to the most popular bar- 
 ons, whom he endeavoured to gain over to an approval of his 
 scheme, but here too, he was unsuccessful.* 
 
 Finding that his measures were universally disapproved of, 
 the king, before setting out upon an expedition to the borders, 
 to pursue the laird of Fernihurst for resetting Both well, and 
 in which he was accompanied by lord Hume, renewed his 
 promise to the ministers of Edinburgh, that he would show 
 no favour to the Popish lords ; yet, on that same day, before 
 he had marched above a dozen of miles, did he receive them 
 
 of Angus, Errol, and lord Home, were married, made a profession of faith, and 
 subscribed the articles of communion within the province of Fife, and that, 
 when the murder of the earl of Moray had been committed by the earl of 
 Huntly, the laird of Auchendowne, and Sir James Chisholm, the general 
 assembly advised them to be excommunicated by the synod of Fife. They, 
 therefore, considered them all as persons who had either become subject to 
 the jurisdiction of the synod, by frequently communicating with the churches 
 under their charge, or, as having committed crimes within their bounds, over 
 which the synod had authority to take cognizance. Calderwood, pp. 290, 291. 
 * A curious conversation between the king and lord Hamilton on this 
 subject has been preserved. James paid a visit to Hamilton house, for the 
 purpose of sounding that nobleman's views. He introduced the conversation 
 by saying, that he was confident he enjoyed the friendship of his lordship, 
 notwithstanding any reports which had been circulated to the contrary. *' Ye 
 see, my lord," continued he, " how I am used, I have no man in whom I may 
 trust more than in Huntly ; if I receive him, the ministers will cry out I ani 
 an apostate from the religion, if not, I am left desolate." " If he and the 
 rest be not enemies to the religion," said his lordship, " ye may receive them, 
 otherwise not." " I cannot tell," replied his m.ajesty, " wliat to make of that, 
 but the ministers hold them for enemies, always I would think it good they 
 enjoyed liberty of conscience," Upon this, lord Hamilton exclauued, " then 
 Sir, we are all gone, we are all gone. If there were no more to withstand 
 them, I will withstand." The king, perceiving he had gone too far, on the 
 approach of his servants put an end to the conversation, saying with a smilt;, 
 " My lord. I did this to try your mind !" Calderwood. 
 
198 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 into his presence, and make the most friendly arrangements 
 for hastening on their trial, in such a manner as to secure an 
 accjuittal. By arrangements with some persons about his maj- 
 esty, if not with his majesty himself,* the earls, Angus, 
 Huntly, and Errol, were apprized of the king's route, and 
 judging, from his open, marked condemnation of the synod of 
 Fife's proceedings, that they would find him propitious, they 
 met him at Fala, threw themselves upon their knees before 
 him, and in the language of suppliants, entreated him not to 
 condemn them unheard, offering to enter ward whenever, and 
 at whatever place, his majesty should be pleased to direct. 
 Such of the council as were present were favourable, and they 
 were ordered to repair to Perth, and remain there till proper 
 arrangements could be made for bringing them to trial. 
 
 The convention of commissioners assembled in Edinburgh 
 a few days after this interview had taken place, and a deputa- 
 tion, consisting of James Melville, Patrick Galloway, Napier 
 of Merchiston, the laird of Calderwood, and three burgesses, 
 was immediately despatched to Jedburgh to lay their repre- 
 sentations before the king. The deputies were instructed to 
 complain of his allowing an ejfcommunicated Popish lord to 
 attend his person, of having admitted the rest to his presence, 
 and of such arrangements having been made as were calculated 
 to defeat the ends of justice ; and to request that the time and 
 place of trial might be altered, or, if he would not alter the 
 day, that the professors of the truth should be allowed to 
 guard his person, and pursue the lords to the uttermost, as 
 they were determined to perish, rather than that these traitors 
 should be permitted to remain in the country. James, irri- 
 tated at these demands, spoke at first in a high tone, refusing 
 to acknowledge an assembly that had met without his permis- 
 sion; and though it was urged that they had his repeated 
 consent by proclamation, his majesty would not concede the 
 point of form, but persisted in refusing to hearken to them in 
 their collective capacity, though by an evasion agreeably to 
 his general policy, he consented to answer their petition, and 
 
 • James solemnly protested before God, that he did not know of iht> ap- 
 proach of the three earls ; but there is no confidence to be placed! on his de- 
 clarations, and all presumptive evidence is against him. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 199 
 
 explain his conduct to them as individual subjects. The earl 
 of Hume, he said, would, in a few days, satisfy the church, 
 which if he did not, he should be forbid the royal presence ; 
 the lords, he averred, had been introduced into his presence 
 without his knowledge, and he could not refuse to them what 
 he would not have refused to the meanest person in his do- 
 minions — a fair and equitable hearing ; but the day of trial he 
 had himself, upon consideration, perceived to be too short, as 
 he had also seen that Perth would not be altogether conven- 
 ient. He had, in consequence, appointed a meeting of the 
 estates to be held at Linlithgow the last of the month, by 
 whose advice he would be regulated as to the future proceed- 
 ings. He could not, however, help expressing his surprise 
 that the ministers, who had so often complained of his delay- 
 ing to bring the earls to trial, should now be themselves so 
 urgent for delay. But, however, he was resolved to do his 
 duty, and see that the trial was fairly conducted. On being 
 reminded of his own declaration, that " the crime was above 
 the reach of his power to pardon," he answered, he would 
 take care of that ; and when they repeated their offer of guard- 
 ing his person, he replied, he would choose his own guard, 
 and wished none to come uninvited. This answer did not 
 tend to allay the anxiety of the commissioners, and they re- 
 solved not to relax in their exertions. 
 
 The king, on his return to Edinburgh, fearing that, by 
 some decisive step, they might endanger his temporizing poli- 
 cy, issued a proclamation, exculpating himself from any tardi- 
 ness in proceeding against the Popish lords, which he attri- 
 buted to the treasons of Bothwell, and the state of the country, 
 having prevented him from proceeding in that business as he 
 had intended ; but now that he was free, he had summoned a 
 convention of the estates to consider of the most proper meth- 
 ods to be taken for bringing these lords to trial, maintaining 
 the true religion, and preserving the tranquillity of the coun- 
 try ; and therefore prohibited all convocations of his subjects, 
 under pain of being considered seditious, and if any had al- 
 ready met, commanded them to return to their houses. 
 
 The convention of estates met at Linlithgow, but was very 
 thinly attended, and the petitions and representations of the 
 
200 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Popish lords were remitted to a committee, to meet at Holy- 
 roodhouse next month, with the officers of state, and their 
 determination to have the force of an act of parliament. Six 
 of the ministers were allowed to be present, and confer with 
 them if they should desire it. 
 
 Previously to the meeting of this committee, offers were 
 made by the lords to give satisfaction to the church and the 
 king's majesty ; and the king, when they met, made a long 
 speech on the danger of proceeding to extremities Mdth noble- 
 men of such influence and power. After a show of deliberation, 
 an act, termed an act of abolition, prepared by the council, 
 was brought in and sanctioned. This act declared, and by 
 irrevocable edict ordained, that the true religion, established 
 in the first year of his majesty's reign, should be the only re- 
 ligion professed in the kingdom, and forbade the receiving or 
 resetting of priest or Jesuits, under the penalties enacted by 
 law; that such as had never professed, or had declined from 
 their profession, should either conform to the established re- 
 ligion before the 1st of February, or depart from the realm, to 
 such parts beyond sea as his majesty should direct, not to return 
 till such time as they had resolved to embrace the truth, and 
 satisfy the church, but to retain full and legal possession of their 
 estates ; that all process against the earls of Angus, Huntly, 
 and Errol, the laird of Auchindowne, and Sir James Chisholm, 
 on account of the intercepted letters or correspondence with 
 Spain, be dropped; that such of them as should profess the 
 reformed religion, and remain in the country, should find se- 
 curity to remain in their profession, and abstain from any in- 
 tercourse with Jesuits ; while those who went abroad, were 
 to find security that they would not engage in any intrigues 
 with foreigners against the welfare of their country ; and the 
 1st of January, 1594, was fixed as the day on which they 
 were to declare their resolution respecting which of the alter- 
 natives they meant to accept, otherwise they should lose the 
 benefit of the act. 
 
 While the king was engaged in manoeuvring with the Pop- 
 ish lords, the south-western districts were ravaged by a civil 
 war, between the Maxwells and Johnstons. Johnston, in the 
 month of July, had committed great depredations on the lands 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. §01 
 
 of Sanquhar and Drumlanrig, and killed eighteen persons, 
 who had followed the marauding party to try and recover 
 some of their cattle. A commission was, in consequence, sent 
 to lord Maxwell, the warden, to pursue and punish the crim- 
 inals. Previously to this, he had entered into a bond with 
 the chief of the Johnstons, for mutual aid and offence ; which 
 lords Sanquhar, Drumlanrig, and the other proprietors of 
 that district, fearing would prevent his faithfully discharging 
 his commission, and knowing his fondness for power, waited 
 upon him, and offered to assist him with their whole forces 
 ill repressing the influence of the Johnstons. Maxwell, 
 thinking this a good opportunity for securing his preponder- 
 ance in Nithsdale, embraced the offei', and a bond was signed 
 with them, and a number of the other clans in the neighboui- 
 hood. The news of this association reaching Johnston, he 
 entered into a counter alliance with the Scotts, the Elliots, and 
 the Grahams. The feud being now openly avowed, Maxwell 
 levied forces, and placed a company of foot in Lochmaben, to 
 await his arrival in Annandale. Johnston, who had heard of 
 this, suddenly attacked the party, and dispersed them with 
 the loss of their captain, and several soldiers killed. A num- 
 ber of those who fled took refuge in a church, but it being set 
 fire to, they surrendered. Maxwell, roused at this intelli- 
 gence, and eager to wipe off the disgrace, hastily assembled 
 about two thousand men, and entered Annandale with dis- 
 played banners as the king's lieutenant, with the intention of 
 destroying Johnston's castles of Lochwood and Lockerby. 
 Johnston, who was inferior in numbers, made use of a border 
 stratagem ; he placed a strong body in ambush, and sent out 
 a few stragglers to insult and provoke Maxwell's men. The 
 ruse took, and a number of lord Maxwell's followers pursued 
 the decoys, and fell in with the concealed party, by whom 
 they were driven back in disorder on their main force, and 
 threw them into confusion. Johnston, who stood with the 
 remainder of his troops upon a rising ground, observing the 
 issue of the skirmish, as soon he saw his enemies giving 
 way, rushed doWn upon them, and completed the rout. 
 Lord Maxwell himself was slain in the chase. 
 
 VOL. III. c c 
 
202 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 The act of abolition pleased no party. The Protestants 
 were dissatisfied with the lenity shown to the lords, and began 
 to suspect the king as cherishing an affection for them, on 
 account of his partiality for their principles. The earls de- 
 voted to the Romish faith, in the real spirit of that religion, 
 refused to be contented with any thing short of complete as- 
 cendancy, and, buoyed up by the hopes of foreign aid, carried 
 on their correspondence with Spain, and allowed the time 
 appointed for accepting the offered terms to expire, without 
 making any advance towards a reconciliation. On the 18th 
 of January, a convention of the estates met, and pronounced 
 them to have forfeited the benefit of the articles ; and the 
 king, after having used every means to persuade them to sub- 
 mit, was reluctantly forced to require them by proclamation, 
 to surrender themselves to stand trial ; but none of them chose 
 to obey. 
 
 Elizabeth, whose vigorous government exhibited such a 
 contrast to the king-craft of James, was greatly displeased at 
 his unaccountable proceedings with the nobles, and sent lord 
 Zouche to represent to him the danger to which he exposed 
 himself by his false clemency, and expostulate with him on 
 the violation of the repeated promises he had made to her, to 
 come to no agreement with the rebels without her concurrence. 
 James, who was not fond of being urged upon this point, be- 
 haved at first rather distantly to the English ambassador, nor 
 did the asperity with which he executed his commission ren- 
 der him more agreeable, but as the friendship of the English 
 queen, in his present situation, was absolutely necessary, he 
 renewed his promises of prosecuting the lords to the utmost, 
 and the recent act of the estates, together with the royal pro- 
 clamation, gave some weight to his assurances. Zouche, in 
 consequence, represented to his court that the Scottish king 
 was now sincerely determined to proceed with vigour, and in- 
 timated, at the same time, that a little supply of money would 
 be requisite to enable him to raise a force sufficient to restore 
 tranquillity to the kingdom ; but Elizabeth, not quite so cred- 
 ulous as her ambassador, returned evasive answers to the pe- 
 cuniary demands. 
 
 Not long after, the English ambassador, although he had 
 
 49 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. ^03 
 
 declared himself satisfied with the conduct of the court, en- 
 o-aged in intrigues with the discontented nobles, which could 
 onlv serve to increase the difficulties of James, and obstruct 
 his operations against the northern lords. Bothwell, whose 
 restless, ill-directed spirit, kept the nation in continual tur- 
 moil, now professed himself a defender of the cause of the 
 reformation, and there are strong grounds for suspecting that 
 he was instigated in his rash attempts by Elizabeth, at least, 
 it is sufficiently plain, that he was encouraged by Zouche. 
 Having collected about four hundred horsemen on the bor- 
 ders, Bothwell came unexpectedly to Leith on the 2d April, 
 about three o'clock in the morning. Lord Hume arrived on 
 the same morning, with not much more than half the number, 
 but he was ordered immediately to march against the earl. 
 The king, who remained at Edinburgh but poorly attended, 
 went to the High church, and after sermon addressed the 
 people. He promised to pursue the excommunicated lords, if 
 they would at the present emergency assist him against Both- 
 well, and, if it should please God to give him the victory, he 
 would never rest till he had inflicted exemplary punishment 
 upon Huntly and the others. The citizens, encouraged by 
 their ministers, ran with alacrity to arms, and James, accom- 
 panied by them on foot, with some artillery he had ordered to 
 be brought from the castle, took post in Burrough moor. As 
 soon as Bothwell learned the movements of the king he left 
 Leith, and was proceeding by the back of Arthur's seat for 
 Dalkeith, when he encountered Hume, and charging him 
 briskly, easily put him to flight;* but too eager in the pur- 
 suit, his horse fell under him, and he was so much bruised 
 that, unable to follow up his success, he retired to Dalkeith, 
 and next morning dismissed his forces, and was conveyed 
 himself to a place of safety. Although the king had received 
 such undoubted proof of the loyalty and affection of the min- 
 isters upon this occasion, yet because Bothwell had pretended 
 that he took arms in the popular cause, to drive from his 
 majesty's councils those who favoured the emissaries of Rome, 
 
 • Calderwood affirms that the king, when he heard of the defeat of lota 
 Hume, " came riding into Edinburgh at the full gallop," p. 299. 
 
204 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and a rupture with England; and had insidiously spread ru- 
 mours that he was secretly aided by the ministers, such was 
 the obliquity of James' feeling on this subject, that he readily 
 entertained suspicions of their conduct, and did not hesitate 
 to accuse them publicly of abetting his enemy. The court 
 faction propagated a still more base report, that money, col- 
 lected to assist the suffering church of Geneva, had been ap- 
 plied in raising soldiers to assist this desperado.* 
 
 Upon the defeat of this attempt, James despatched lord 
 Colville, and Bruce, commendator of Kinloss, to Elizabeth. 
 In his letter he took occasion to vent his spleen against lord 
 Zouche, who, " although commended by her for a wise, re- 
 ligious, and honest man," " was, in his opinion, fitter to carry 
 the message of a common herald, than manage a friendly cor- 
 respondence between neighbouring princes ;" for " he had 
 seen nothing in him but pride and vnlfulness," and he retort- 
 ed the accusation of breach of promise against " his loving 
 sister," by reminding her of the many solemn declarations she 
 had made, both in letters written by her own hand, and by 
 her ambassadors, that she would give no protection to Both- 
 well, yet he had not only been suffered to reside in England, 
 but had received a considei'able sum of money from her sub- 
 
 * The king charged the ministers, in a conference he had v/ith them and 
 the magistrates, for their treasonable silence with regard to Bothwell, while 
 they were so urgent against the Popish iords ; and in particular, named Bruce, 
 as conspiring to place the crown on Both well's head. Bruce demanded the 
 names of his accusers, and after much shuffling, the king mentioned the mas- 
 ter of Gray, and one Tyrie, a Papist ; but Gray denied that he had given any 
 such information, and offered combat to any individual — his m jesty excepted 
 — who should af&rm he had defamed that minister. Spotswood has recorded 
 the slander against James Melville, minister of Anstruther, of perverting the 
 use of the collections, and it is difficult to believe that he did not do so in- 
 tentionally, as it was a public fact, that the assembly had received the receipts 
 for the monies transmitted, also a letter of acknowledgment from Beza ; and, 
 besides, the character of Melville was of itself a guarantee for the faithfiil ap- 
 plication of the cash delivered to his care. In his diary, alluding to the ac- 
 cusation of being connected with Bothwell, he says : — " I never had ado witK 
 him directly nor indirectly ; yea, after good Archibald, earl of Angus, I knew 
 not one of the nobility of Scotland with whom I could communicate my 
 mind, touching public affairs, let be to have any dealing by action." — Cal- 
 derwood, p. 299, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 205 
 
 jects, to enable him to carry on his treacherous attempt in 
 Scotland. He could not think this was done with her know- 
 ledo'e, it was so great a breach of princely honour ; but how it 
 could be concealed from her, he could not imagine, it was so 
 unlike the penetration and prudence that distinguished her 
 government. In his public despatches he informed the queen, 
 that as the Popish lords had not embraced the conditions he 
 had offered, he would show them no more indulgence, and 
 instructed his ambassadors to repeat his request for a little 
 money to assist him. Elizabeth felt his reproaches, and made 
 a feeble attempt at apology, but assured him she would no 
 longer allow Bothwell to find an asylum in her dominions, a 
 promise she faithfully kept. The application for money was, 
 as formerly, unsuccessful. 
 
 Hardly was Bothwell put down, when the country was 
 alarmed with more serious dangers. A vessel arrived in the 
 north with despatches from Philip, and a supply of money, 
 and the assembly, at this time the only court in the country 
 that watched over the public welfare with unremitting atten- 
 tion, immediately took the alarm, ratified the excommunica- 
 tion pronounced by the synod of Fife, and sent several of their 
 most active members to Stirling, where the king then was, to 
 represent the danger of the country, and suggest such reme- 
 dies as the exigencies of the times required. The king replied, 
 that he would attend to their suggestions, and in return, sent 
 Su' Robert Melvin, and Hume of North Berwick, to the as- 
 sembly, to remind them of their duty. 
 
 Tremblingly alive to any thing that seemed to trench on 
 the shadow of his prerogative, while he remained apparently 
 insensible at proceedings that threatened the essence of his 
 power, he protested, by his commissioners, that the royal 
 prerogative should not be prejudged by the convening of the 
 assembly; desired that they would enforce their resolution 
 against speaking irreverently of his majesty in the pulpit, and 
 censure John Ross, who had not paid attention ; that they 
 would excommunicate Andrew Hunter, the^/5^ open traitor 
 of their function who had joined with Bothwell ; and enjoin all 
 their mmisters to dissuade their congregations from concurring 
 
206 HISTORY OK SCOTLAND. 
 
 with the treasonable attempts of the said Bothwell, or other 
 traitors. With these demands the assembly complied. * 
 
 Parliament met in the beginning of June, but after waiting 
 for some days, there were scarcely as many attended as was 
 requisite to carry on the public business, fear or affection 
 having detained a great number of the nobles at home. They 
 proceeded, however, to pronounce the most rigorous sentence 
 of the law on all concerned in the late conspiracies, who were 
 declared guilty of treason, their estates forfeited, and their 
 banners torn at the public market place. Several severe acts 
 were likewise passed against PajDists. The chief difficulty, 
 however, remained, how to carry these acts into execution. 
 The personal influence of the king was at a very low ebb, his 
 professions could obtain no credit, and his exchequer was 
 empty. His first resource was Elizabeth, and he, immediately 
 upon the rising of parliament, despatched Sir Richard Cock- 
 burn to request her assistance, while he himself proceeded to 
 Stirling, to celebrate the baptism of his first son, Henry, 
 prince of Scotland, whose premature grave was watered by a 
 nation's tears, and the only one of his male descendants who 
 was universally and unequivocally mourned.f 
 
 * In the proceedings of this assembly is mentioned a singular superstition 
 prevailing in Garioch, of setting aside a certain portion of every farm to the 
 devil. "Anen-t ye horrible superstition which prevailed in Garioch, and 
 dyvers pairts of ye cuntrie, in not laboring a parcel of ground dedicat to ye 
 devil, under ye name of ye Guidman's Crofte, ye kirk, for remedie yerof, hes 
 found meit yat ane article be formit to ye parliat. yat ane act may proceid 
 from ye estattes yerof, ordayning all persons, possessors of ye said lands, to 
 cause labor ye samen, betwix and a certain day to be appointed yerto, uther- 
 ways, in caise of disobedience, ye said landes to fall in ye kingis handis, to 
 be disponit to sick personis as pleises his maj. wha will labor ye samyn."— 
 Cook's Hist, of the Ch. of Scot. vol. ii. p. 41. 
 
 f " The next month passed in receiving the ambassadors come to assist the 
 baptisme, which, in the latter end of August next, was performed with great 
 solemnity. From England the earl of Sussex was sent ; the king of Denmark, 
 the duke of Brunswick, Megelburgh, with the estates of the United Provinces, 
 had their ambassadors present ; but from the French king there came not any, 
 though they also were expected at the day appointed for the solemnity. The 
 prince was brought from his own chamber to the queen's chamber of presence, 
 and laid in a bed dressed in a most stately form. The ambassadors entered 
 into the chamber. The countess ot Marr, accompanied with a number of 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 207 
 
 Next month was spent by the court in festivities, in receiv- 
 ing the foreign ambassadors, and in preparations for the cere- 
 mony, which was performed with great magnificence, in the 
 end of August, by the bishop of Aberdeen, a circumstance 
 noticed as marking the alienation of the king's mind from the 
 presbyterians, and indicative of his having even then formed 
 the idea of restoring prelacy. 
 
 ladies, took up the prince, and delivered him to the duke ot' Lennox, who 
 presented him to the ambassadors. Sussex, as having the first place, received 
 him, and carried him in his arras to the chappell, the rest marching in their 
 ranks, and followed by the ladies of honour, the mistresse, nurse, and others 
 of inferior note. Before them went the lord Hume, carrying the Ducal 
 crown ; the lord Levingston carried the towel or napkins ; the lord Seaton 
 the bason ; and lord Semple the laver. Above the Enghsh ambassador there 
 was a pale or canabie, [canopy,] borne by the lairds of Cessfor, Buccleugh, 
 Duddope, and Traquier. The prince's train was sustained by the lords Sin- 
 clair and Urquhart. In this manner they walked toward the chappell, a 
 guard of the youths of Edinburgh, well arrayed, standing on each side of the 
 way, and the trumpets sounding. Being entered the chappell, the king arose 
 from his seat, and received the ambassadors at the door of the quire, and then 
 was the prince delivered to the duke of Lennox, who gave him to the nurse. 
 After which, the ambassadors were conveyed to their places, ordered in this 
 manner : — Upon the king's right hand was a chair set for the French king's 
 ambassador, but this was empty ; next to him the ambassador of Denmark 
 was placed ; on the left, the English ambassador and Legier did sit, and after 
 them, the ambassadors of Brunswick, Megelburgh, and the States. Every 
 chair had a tassel board covered with fine velvet, and the ambassador of Eng- 
 land, besides the others, bad office men standing by him to wait. The service 
 did then begin, and upon the end thereof the English ambassador arose, and 
 presented the prince to the bishop who was appointed to administer the sac- 
 rament ; this was Mr. David Cunninghame, bishop of Aberdeen. The action 
 finished, Mr. David Lindsay, minister at Leith, had a learned speech in 
 French to the ambassadors ; after which, they returned to [from] the chappell. 
 Then was the prince laid upon a bed of honour, and his titles in this sort 
 proclaimed by the lyon herauld : — Henry Frederick, knight and baron of 
 Renfrew, lord of the Isles, earl of Carrick, duke of Rothsay, prince and 
 Stewart of Scotland. This done, certain pieces of silver and gold were cast 
 forth at a window among the people, and a number of knights created at 
 night, for it was in the afternoon the baptisme was ministered. The ambassa- 
 dors, with their train, and the noblemen present, were royally feasted, noth- 
 ing lacking that was required to such a triumph. The rest of the month was 
 spent in plays, running at tilt, and such other exercises as might give delight 
 to strangers." — Spotswood, pp. 406-7. 
 
208 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 No sooner were the ambassadors dismissed, than the king's 
 direction was forcibly attracted to the north. EHzabeth could 
 not by any arguments be induced to trust James with the 
 money requisite to enable him to put his forces in motion, 
 and the forfeited earls, in the interval, were strengthening, by 
 new alliances, their already formidable power. Bothwell had 
 now joined them, and his restless spirit projected a new plan 
 for seizing once more the king's person, and committing him 
 to Blackness castle, to be kept there in captivity till the lords 
 could come south, and dictate their own terms. By the ap- 
 prehension of one Orme, a servant of Bothwell' s, the whole 
 was discovered, and he, agreeably to James' method of pun- 
 ishing the minor culprits, together with the keeper of Black- 
 ness castle, was executed in the High-street of Edinburgh. 
 In this alarming state of affairs, the king issued a commission 
 to the earls of Argyle, Athole, Forbes, and a number of bar- 
 ons, who were at enmity with the excommunicated lords, to 
 attack their estates, and take possession of their castles ; but 
 Argyle pleaded youth, and the rest declined, till some of the 
 ministers adding their exhortations to the king's orders, Ar- 
 gyle took the field about the end of September, and marching 
 across the mountains to Badenoch, laid siege to the castle of 
 Ruthven ; but on the advance of the earls, he retreated to 
 near Drimmin, to wait the arrival of lord Forbes, and the 
 M'Kenzies, who were hastening to join him. Huntly, appriz- 
 ed of the advance of these re-enforcements, although inferior 
 "m number, and Argyle advantageously posted, determined 
 to attack him before Forbes should arrive; and dividing the 
 forces, which were about nine hundred in all, into two bodies, 
 marched from Strathbogie to Auchendowne, Errol leading the 
 van. When Argyle perceived the enemy approach, he left 
 his camp, and proceeded to occupy the neighbouring hills, 
 which he did without molestation. He there drew up his 
 army, amounting to nearly ten thousand, in three divisions. 
 M'Lean of the Isles commanding the van, and Argyle himself 
 the rear, which occupied the heights, while his flanks were 
 defended by bogs and precipices. M'Lean was ordered to 
 begin the attack, but Huntly had with him some pieces of ar- 
 tillery, which he opened upon his line as he advanced, and 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 209 
 
 the Highlanders who composed it, astonished at the sound 
 and effect of the cannon, with which they were totally unac- 
 quainted, fell flat on their faces, and could with difficulty be 
 persuaded to rise during the firing of the ordnance. Errol, 
 who perceived this, advanced briskly to attack them in rear, 
 but from the nature of the ground, was forced to make a cir- 
 cuit, during which, the Highlanders got time to rally theii 
 spirits, and resuming coui'age, poured in a flight of arrows 
 upon them, which did considerable execution, killed Auchin- 
 downe, and severely wounded Errol, then surrounding 
 Errol's band, threatened to annihilate them ; Avhen Huntly 
 perceiving their peril, advanced with his division, and after a 
 hard struggle of two hours, succeeded in throwing the first 
 line into confusion, and the others, struck with trepidation, 
 fled, notwithstanding all the exertions of Argyle, a gallant 
 youth, then only eighteen, who was borne off the field, weep- 
 ing with indignation at the disgrace of his clan. M'Lean, 
 with a few of the Islanders, stood firm amid the general con- 
 fusion, and retired in good order. Huntly pursued with 
 keenness over crags, which would appear dangerous to a man 
 on foot; nor did he stop till the almost perpendicular rocks 
 forbade the advance of cavalry. In this battle, generally 
 known by the name of the battle of Glenlivet, Argyle lost 
 Campbell of Lochnel, and his brother, M'Niel of Barra, and 
 about seven hundred of his men, Huntly lost his uncle, 
 Auchindowne, and twelve men killed, but a great many were 
 wounded. 
 
 The king, who was at Dundee when the intelligence of 
 Argyle's defeat reached him, * pushed forward, and arrived 
 at Aberdeen. He was joined on his march by the Irvines, 
 Keiths, Leslies, Forbeses, and some of the other clans who 
 were at variance with Huntly, and the earls, who were weak- 
 ened by their loss at Glenlivet, and the desertion of numbers 
 of their retainers, who would not bear arms against the king 
 in person, fled to the mountains. Still the whole expedition 
 had been fi'ustrated, but for the ministers who accompanied 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 409. Account of the battle of Strathaven, or Balrinnes, 
 printed with Scottish Poems of the 16th Century. 
 VOL. III. D D 
 
210 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the king. His troops were ready to disband for want of pay, 
 and so little confidence was placed in his majesty's professions, 
 that he could not command the funds necessary to satisfy them, 
 till James Melville was despatched to the south, to raise a 
 contribution. Several of the chiefs also, were willing to spare 
 the castles of the earls, but lord Lindsay opposed so strongly 
 the impolitic forbearance, that the king issued orders for de- 
 molishing Strathbogie, a seat of the earl of Huntly's, Slaines 
 castle, belonging to the earl of Errol, and destroyed, or gar- 
 risoned the rest of the strength of their retainers. * Reduced 
 now to the last extremity, and despairing of being able to 
 raise any further commotions, the lords implored and obtained 
 permission to leave the kingdom, and gave security not to 
 return without the king's consent, nor to engage in any de- 
 signs while abroad, against the Protestant church, or the 
 tranquillity of the kingdom. 
 
 Bothwell, who had so often disturbed the peace of the court, 
 and kept the king in a state of such frequent personal alarm, 
 having by his last confederacy with the Popish earls, entirely 
 lost what favour he ever possessed among any of the people, 
 forced to abscond, was shortly after excommunicated, and 
 being denied the protection of England, fled first to France, 
 then to Spain, and afterward to Italy, where, having abjured 
 the Protestant religion, he lived many years in obscurity and 
 indigence, dissipating all the dreams of his early ambition, in 
 low and contemptible debauchery. His forfeited estate was 
 divided among Buccleugh, Kerr of Cessford, and lord Hume. 
 Buccleugh got Crichton, Kerr the abbey of Kelso, and Hume 
 the abbey of Coldingham. Nor could he ever obtain any 
 favour from the king, even upon the most humble submission. 
 On the 3d of October, lord Thirlstane, the chancellor, died, 
 after a lingering illness. In him James lost an able and a 
 faithful minister, who, in a difficult situation, retained the 
 confidence of a changeable prince, without forfeiting that of a 
 iustly suspicious people. His death occasioned an alteration 
 in the measures of government, and the church soon felt the 
 consequence of the change. In the commencement of his 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 307. 
 49 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 211 
 
 career, he supported the detested administration of Arran, 
 but he soon perceived the mischief incident to a king's pro- 
 fessing a religion, or an attachment to forms of religion differ- 
 ent from what his people are attached to, and he effected an 
 apparent coalition between the king and the church, which 
 was conducive of the best effects in the most trying times, and 
 which, had it been steadily preserved, would have rendered 
 his majesty happy at home, and respected abroad, but which, 
 being forcibly torn asunder, entailed on him uneasiness and 
 embarrassment to the end of his life, while it exposed the 
 church and state to the most dreadful convulsions. 
 
 The year 1595, was marked by the common people as a 
 hlack year. The land was not only distracted by the feuds 
 of the Maxwells in the west, the restlessness of Bothwell in 
 the south, and the more threatening conspiracies of the Pop- 
 ish lords in the north, but afflicted with a dearth, owing to 
 the failure of the harvest, and a general spirit of licentious- 
 ness, owing to the relaxation of the laws. From among other 
 instances, which demonstrate the state of misrule in which the 
 country was, I shall notice one. David Forrester, a respecta- 
 ble citizen of Stirling, returning from Edinburgh, was waylaid 
 and murdered by assassins employed by the lairds of Airth and 
 Dunipace, who envied him on account of the influence he had 
 with his superior, the earl of Marr. This nobleman, grieved 
 for the death of Forrester, collected his vassals, and brought 
 the body from Linlithgow — near which the murder had been 
 committed — to Stirling, to be interred, marching in m.nrtial 
 array, and exhibiting on a white sheet, a picture of the de- 
 ceased, with all his wounds, in order to excite the public indig- 
 nation. After the burial, the earl attempted to bring the per- 
 petrators to justice, but the lords Livingston and ElphLngston 
 protecting them, it was found impossible, notwithstanding the 
 king issued his proclamation, commanding the offenders to 
 stand trial, and prohibiting the interference of any party. 
 
 All the embassies, promises, and even the late proceedings 
 of James, could not procure him any pecuniary aid from the 
 economical Elizabeth, and his own thoughtless habits, and 
 those of the queen, keeping him m constant penury, it became 
 necessary for him to look more narrowly into the state of his 
 
212 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 proper revenue. As he was incapable of doing this himself, 
 he delegated the task to eight gentlemen, from their number 
 named Octavians. To them he gave the powers which had been 
 intrusted to the collector and comptroller's offices, to appoint 
 and discharge all the inferior officers, chamberlains, secreta- 
 ries, and clerks, the whole command of the exchequer, and 
 the arrangement of the household. He bound himself, neith- 
 er to add any to their number, nor in case of vacancy by 
 death, to admit any other, except by the advice and approba- 
 tion of the survivors. No letter of his, alienating any of the 
 property of the crown, or granting pensions, gifts, or licenses^ 
 was to be held valid, unless also subscribed by at least five 
 of the eight. All their acts and decisions, were to have the 
 same force as the sentence of judges in civil causes, and they 
 had also power of arresting and destraining upon their own 
 authority, without the interference of any other ordinary 
 court. So full and extensive were the powers granted to this 
 commission, that when the act of council authorizing it, was 
 published, it was remarked, that the king had left himself 
 nothing but the name, and henceforth his subjects could look 
 to him neither for advancement nor reward. Nor was it long 
 before the Octavians engrossed the whole of the executive 
 power into their hands ; the only office of importance they did 
 not acquire, was that of the chancellor, Avhich they allotted to 
 the president, but which the king did not dare to confirm, 
 on account of his religion, dreading the effect that appoint- 
 ing a Papist to such a high office might have upon the nation, 
 especially as he knew that the ministers would not suffer it in 
 silence. 
 
 This innovation on the constitution of the kingdom, intro- 
 duced by the indolence of the king, and which amounted, in 
 fact, to the establishment of a power superior to the sovereign, 
 occasioned at first considerable discontent, and was eventually 
 the cause of much mischief. The men to whom such exten- 
 sive power was intrusted, were several of them known to be 
 attached to Popery, and the church viewed the appointment 
 with a very natural jealousy. The favourites of the court too, 
 eyed them with no pleasure, as restraints upon the bounty of 
 the king, and usurping these pensions or perquisites, which 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 213 
 
 they thought of right belonged to them, while the old officers 
 of the crown, who had been displaced by them, swelled the 
 ranks of the discontented. 
 
 Rumours had been very prevalent during the last year, of 
 renewed preparations by Spain for the invasion of England, 
 and towards the close, it was ascertained that Philip had col- 
 lected a considerable force, to attempt either that kingdom or 
 Ireland. Upon this occasion, James issued a proclamation — 
 January 2d. — enforcing the necessity of their making one 
 cause with England, and reiterating what was daily enforced 
 upon them, that tl^-e conquest of the southern, would involve 
 the subjugation of the northern parts of the island; he called 
 upon them to renounce their barbarous private enmities. In 
 particular, he charged the inhabitants of the borders, under 
 the highest penalties, to desist from all hostile attempts against 
 England, required them assiduously to cultivate friendship 
 with their neighbours, and commanded, that wrongs done the 
 English, should be punished with equal rigour, as those com- 
 mitted against their fellow subjects. Elizabeth, who was no 
 less desirous of maintaining amity, issued similar oi'ders. 
 
 An outrage, committed by one of the English under war- 
 dens shortly after, had nearly interrupted the harmony of the 
 sovereigns, if the different circumstances of the countries had 
 not prevented such incidents being regarded now in so ser- 
 ious a light as formerly. Lord Scroope was warden of the 
 west marches of England, the laird of Buccleugh had charge 
 of Liddisdale. Early in the year, their deputies held a meet- 
 ing on the banks of the Kershope, a small rivulet that divides 
 England and Scotland, for redressing some trifling disputes. 
 These meetings were wont to be announced by sound of 
 trumpet proclaiming truce, and the truce always continued 
 from the time of meeting, till next day at sunrise, during 
 which, all who had been at them, were considered as privi- 
 leged men. At this meeting, one William Armstrong, a 
 notorious robber, against whom the English were exasperat- 
 ed, on account of his numerous depredations, attended in 
 company with the Scottish deputy. This man, after taking 
 leave, trusting to the usual customs of the border, was riding 
 securely home, along the course of the Liddel, on the Scottish 
 
214 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 side, when he was espied by the Enghsh party, who were also 
 returning home, pursued, and after a chase of some miles, 
 taken, and brought to the English deputy, Mr. Salkeld, who 
 carried him prisoner to the castle of Carlisle. Buccleugh 
 complained of this breach of truce to lord Scroope, and desir- 
 ed Armstrong to be set at liberty. This Scroope answered 
 he could not do without an order from the queen and council. 
 Buccleugh then applied to the resident at the Scottish court, 
 but obtaining no satisfaction, he laid the case before the king, 
 who demanded from Elizabeth the liberation of the prisoner. 
 To this demand also, no attention being paid, Buccleugh, 
 who now considered both his master's honour and his own as 
 implicated, determined at all events, to set Armstrong free. 
 Learning that the castle of Carlisle, where he Was kept, was 
 open to a surprise, he prepared scaling ladders, and instru- 
 ments for forcing an entrance, and having ordered two hun- 
 dred horsemen to meet him at Morton tower, about ten miles 
 from Carlisle, an hour before sunset, he proceeded to within 
 a short distance from the town, where he halted in a meadow, 
 and caused eighty of his company to dismount, and leading 
 them himself, went forward to attempt an escalade, but the 
 ladders proving too short, he effected a breach in the old and 
 feeble walls, sufficient for one man to enter, who opened the 
 postern, and admitted the rest. The watchmen, alarmed by 
 the noise, made a little resistance, but were soon overpowered, 
 and kept prisoners, while the assailants proceeded to the 
 chamber where Armstrong was lodged, and breaking open 
 the door, brought him away in triumph. Lord Scroope and 
 his deputy were both in the place at the time of the rescue, 
 and the prisoner as he passed along, insultingly wished them 
 both good night. Buccleugh, when he had gained his object, 
 released the watch, and would not suffer his attendants to 
 touch any of the spoil ; his object, he said, being only to vin- 
 dicate his king's honour. The whole party returned safe, 
 about two hours after daybreak. 
 
 The queen of England, when informed of this enterprise, 
 was highly offended, and ordered her resident ambassador, 
 Bowes, to remonstrate strongly with the Scottish court, and 
 demand that Buccleugh should be delivered up ; for the sur- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 215 
 
 prise of a fortress, and the forcible release of a prisoner from 
 her warden, were affronts which could not be borne. The 
 king replied, that he might with as much propriety, demand 
 that lord Scroope should be delivered up to him, for the in- 
 jury he had committed, as it was as much an insult to seize 
 one of his subjects unlawfully, as it was for his subjects to 
 release a prisoner who had been unlawfully seized, yet for the 
 sake of peace, he would cheerfully comply with any reasonable 
 arrangements. Buccleugh was in consequence, first commit- 
 ted to St. Andrews, and afterward sent prisoner to England, 
 but was not long detained, the queen being satisfied with this 
 show of submission. 
 
 No two means for procuring the same end, could be more 
 diametrically opposite, than those which James and the church 
 proposed, for promoting the peace and security of the state at 
 this juncture. When the general assembly met in the month 
 of March, the king in person proposed, that a general contri- 
 bution should be levied thi'oughout the whole kingdom, to 
 meet the expences necessary for defending the country against 
 the general enemy. The ministers advised the appropriation 
 of the forfeited estates for that purpose ; James meditated the 
 recall of the banished lords ; the church insisted upon their 
 being prosecuted to the uttermost. The king contended, that 
 the best method of dealing with them, was to use gentle means ; 
 the ministers considered them as incorrigible, and that the 
 only way to render them innocuous, was to render them in- 
 capable of doing mischief. Witli such views, it was impossi- 
 ble there could be much cordial co-operation, and what tended 
 still farther to prevent it, was the impossibility of accounting, 
 upon any principle of common policy, for the persevering 
 lenity of the king, to men who had so often abused his mercy, 
 and were at that moment plotting against the realm : it was, 
 therefore, imputed to a fondness for the principles of the lords, 
 and excited the utmost jealousy with regard to every thing 
 the king did. At this distance of time, we may account for 
 James' conduct, upon principles which do not imply any 
 strong predilection for the church of Rome ; we may impute 
 it in part to a wish to conciliate the Roman Catholics, a 
 powerful body in England, and not a despicable party in 
 
216 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Scotland, and perhaps, we do not err much in attributing the 
 greatest weight to the facility ol' his temper, and the peculiar 
 crafts of his politics ; but when we recollect that the Presbyter- 
 ians required a correctness of moral conduct in the prince, 
 and a decency of manners in the court, with neither of which 
 was the king disposed to comply ; that their ministers, with 
 honest uprightness, occasionally reproved the irregularities 
 of both, while the Roman Catholics encouraged the laxity of 
 speech and behaviour in which James delighted, and offered 
 no restraint to the licentiousness of his courtiers ; and that 
 the Protestants admonished, while the Papists flattered, it is 
 not difficult to believe that though his judgment must have 
 declared against the grosser superstitions of Popery, his kind- 
 liness must have been all upon that side, and that he felt a 
 partiality for the Catholics, which he did not for the Presby- 
 terians. 
 
 Aware of the powerful attraction of a king's example, the 
 ministers dreaded the effects it might have upon the nation, 
 but particulai'ly upon those of their own function, who were 
 more immediately within the sphere of court influence, and 
 in order to counteract that coolness and carelessness which 
 they feared, and awaken that zeal in their profession, which 
 was necessary to ensure the stability of the church, a measure 
 was adopted at this assembly, which was pregnant with the 
 most important consequences. 
 
 At the approach of any threatened danger we have seen, in 
 the course of the history, bonds entered into for the preserva- 
 tion of the religion and liberty of the country, and in times of 
 imminent peril, the practice had been productive of the happi- 
 est results. It was now proposed to renew these sacred obli- 
 gations, not by subscribing as formerly, but, after a confession 
 of their own sins and that of the nation, solemnly to dedicate 
 themselves to the Lord, by uplifting their hands. The mem- 
 bers of assembly met first in the Little church, on Tuesday 
 30th of March, at nine o'clock in the morning. John David- 
 son, minister of Prestonpans, presided on the occasion, and 
 his sermon and prayer, in which he made acknowledgment of 
 sins, with promise of an>«;ndment, had so powerful an ef- 
 fect upon the congregation, that they melted into tears, and 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 2'IT 
 
 before dismissal, rising in their seats, they all lifted up their 
 right hands, and renewed their covenant with God, protesting 
 to walk more circumspectly, and use greater diligence in fu- 
 ture. At the desire of the assembly, as many of the ministers 
 were not present, this covenant was renewed in a similar man- 
 ner by all the synods, presbyteries, and almost all the differ- 
 ent congregations in the country, except the sessions of Edin- 
 burgh ; such ardour and unanimity in the cause were display- 
 ed throughout the land. A standing committee was appoint- 
 ed by the assembly to watch the measures of government, and 
 the intrigues of their enemies, who relaxed nothing in their 
 exertions. 
 
 What, perhaps, gave rise to this appointment, was the 
 avowed intention of his majesty to bring back the Popish 
 lords. A short time before the meeting, he had communicat- 
 ed this wish to Bruce, and endeavoured to procure his con- 
 currence in some plan by which it might be brought about. 
 Instead, however, of any approach to accommodation, the 
 assembly addressed to him a remonstrance, urging more rig- 
 orous proceedings. With this he was highly dissatisfied, and 
 in a subsequent conversation with Bruce, he represented the 
 advantages which would result to him, if the exiles were re- 
 conciled, and allowed to come home ; that the queen of Eng- 
 land was now at an advanced period of life, and if any rival 
 should dispute the succession, he would require the undivided 
 aid of all his subjects ; besides, having so many nobles in a 
 state of banishment, while it weakened his strength at home, 
 was calculated to hurt his character with strangers. He there- 
 fore thought, if they could be induced to embrace the reform- 
 ed religion, and acknowledge their errors, without which they 
 should never experience his favour, that no prudent man, or 
 any loyal subject, could be averse to their recall, and wished 
 his opinion on the subject. Bruce frankly owned that there 
 was much force in his majesty's reasons, and that he saw no 
 harm in his recalling Errol and Angus, upon their conforming 
 to the established religion, but Huntly had rendered himself 
 so hateful to the people, that he did not think he could with 
 propriety be pardoned. The king, on the contrary, could see 
 no reason why Huntly should not be received as well as the 
 
 VOL. III. E E 
 
219 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 others, if he would satisfy the church, and consent to such 
 conditions as he should prescribe ; and he was the more anx- 
 ious for his return, as he was married to his cousin, who he 
 looked upon as his own daughter, and was, besides, the most 
 powerful, and the one who could be of the greatest service ; 
 he therefore wished Mr. Bruce to re-consider the subject. At 
 next meeting, the king urged all his former arguments in fav- 
 our of Huntly; to which Bruce replied, I see. Sir, your reso- 
 lution is taken to bring back Huntly ; if you do, I shall op- 
 pose it, but do as you choose, only when he comes I must 
 retire, as we cannot both enjoy your friendship. The king 
 decided to receive the traitor, and to dismiss his friend. 
 
 Neglected abroad, the usual fate of unsuccessful rebels, 
 Huntly and his companions were now anxious to return, and 
 presuming upon the disposition of the king, they ventured 
 separately to land in their native country. Huntly, who ar- 
 rived first, remained for some time in the north, and by means 
 of his friends, forwarded a supplication to the king, praying 
 that he might be permitted to return, promising to reside 
 at whatever place the king chose to appoint, and offering se- 
 curity for his good behaviour. In the month of August, a 
 convention of the principal nobles, with some of the ministers 
 who were thought the most moderate, was held at Falkland, 
 to consider the offers made by Huntly; and the president 
 urging strongly the policy of calling home the exiles, lest like 
 Coriolanus and Themistocles they should join the enemies of 
 their country, it was agreed that Huntly might be received 
 upon certain terms, to be drawn up by the king and privy 
 council, and this resolution was approved and ratified by a 
 convention of the estates held at Dunfermline. 
 
 So soon as the resolution to recall the exiled lords was con- 
 firmed, the commissioners appointed by last general assembly 
 met at Cupar in Fife, and sent a deputation to remonstrate 
 with the king, who, after a stormy interview, dismissed them 
 with an assurance, that no proposals should be hearkened to 
 from the Popish lords, unless they left the kingdom, and that 
 even then he would show them no favour, until they satisfied 
 the church.* But, notwithstanding, the design of restoring 
 
 * M'Crie's Life ofMelville, vol. ii. p. 68. 
 
 49 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 219 
 
 the lords was persevered in. Lady Huntly was invited to the 
 baptism of the king's infant daughter,* and lady Levingston, 
 a Roman Catholic, was nominated to the charge of the young 
 princess. These ominous circumstances renewed and aggra- 
 vated the fears of the ministers, and the presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, as had been agreed upon at Cupar, called together the 
 commissioners of the general assembly, who, with deputies 
 from the different synods, drew up a representation, dictated 
 by the most lively apprehensions of danger, which they sent 
 to all the presbyteries, with an earnest exhortation, that every 
 minister, as well in public teaching as in private conference, 
 should impress upon the minds of his people the critical situ- 
 ation of the country ; urge a universal personal reformation 
 
 * The following is a copy of one of the royal invitation cards to this prin- 
 cess's baptism, which appears to have been a pic nic. " Right trusty friend, 
 we greet you well. Having appointed the baptism of our dearest daughter to 
 be here at Halyrood house, upon Sunday, the fifteenth day of April next, in 
 such honourable manner as that action craveth, we have therefore thought 
 good right effectually to request and desire you to send us such offerings and 
 presents against that day as is best then in season, and convenient for that 
 action, as you regard our honour, and will merit our special thanks. So not 
 doubting to find your greater willingness to pleasure us herein, since you are 
 to be invited to take part of your own good cheer ; we commit you to God. 
 From Halvrood house, this tenth day of Februarj', 1598. 
 
 JAMES R. 
 
 Right trusty Friend, the Laird of ? , , tt- n-. i- i i •• 
 
 ■D ^c r> .u T^ij » ( Arnot's Hist, of Edmb. ch. u. p. 15. 
 
 ' Balfour, Bethune Elder." 3 ^ 
 
 The following epistle forms no bad companion to the above : — " Letter 
 from the earl of Pembroke to Sir Edward Zouch, bears witness. Honest 
 Ned I know you love your master dearly and his pleasures, which makes me 
 put you in trust with this business, myself not being able to stay in the town 
 so late. I pray you, therefore, as soon as it grows dark, fail not to send the 
 close cart to Bassingborn for the speckled sow ye saw the king take such a 
 liking unto this day, and let her be privately brought to the man of the ward- 
 robe by the same token, that I chid him for letting the other beasts go care- 
 lessly into the garden while it was day, and he will presently receive her into 
 hrs charge. Some may think this a jest, but I assure you it is a matter of 
 trust and confidence. So assuring myself of your secret and careful perform- 
 ance of it, I rest 
 
 Your affectionate Friend, 
 
 PEMBROKE." 
 Lord Hailes' Memorials, vol. ii. p. 50. 
 
1^0 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 upon all ranks, themselves setting the example ; intimate anew 
 the sentence of excommunication against the Popish lords, 
 and proceed summai'ily against all their abettors within their 
 bounds. They also appointed a certain number of ministers 
 from the four quarters of the kingdom, to sit permanently in 
 Edinburgh, along with the ministers of the city, under the 
 name of the standing council of the church, who were to con- 
 sult and watch over the safety of religion ; the expenses of 
 these delegates to be defrayed by the part of the country they 
 represented. This council immediately entered upon its 
 function, and summoned Seaton, one of the Octavians, and 
 president of the court of session, to appear before the synod 
 of Lothian, and answer for his conduct in advising the recall 
 of Huntly. This assumption of power was resisted by the 
 president, who ^ent some members of the court to represent 
 its illegality, when a compromise was entex'ed into. The 
 summons was withdrawn, and Seaton voluntarily came for- 
 ward, and cleared himself of having had any share in the ob- 
 noxious transaction. 
 
 We cannot judge of the propriety of extraordinary expedi- 
 ents, adopted in novel and perilous conjunctures, by common 
 rules, applicable to ordinary times. Under a settled regular 
 government, the formation of such a committee, to dictate to 
 the legislative, and control the executive, would never be 
 tolerated, and would involve a charge of treason, or at least 
 sedition ; but the loose, undefined nature of the Scottish con- 
 stitution, admitted of expedients in times of danger, justified 
 only by necessity, and which never could be allowed as pre- 
 cedents. In this view the proceeding of the ministers may 
 admit of apology, and to estimate its full force, we must never 
 lose sight of the circumstances under which the council was 
 instituted. The whole real power of the kingdom had been 
 devolved upon eight men, a majority of whom were favourable 
 to the Catholic leaders. These leaders had repeatedly been 
 in arms against their country ; had corresponded with foreign 
 enemies, and invited them to invade the island ; they had been 
 repeatedly pardoned, and always when pardoned commenced 
 anew their machinations. The well grounded fears of invasion 
 had not subsided, and the massacres in the Netherlands, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 231 
 
 passing before then* eyes, proclaimed the consequences of 
 subjugation by his most Catholic majesty, while the king, who 
 appeared to have no participation in the feelings or the fears 
 of his people, had bestowed his cousin upon the ringleader of 
 the rebels, and was himself suspected of favouring their i-e- 
 ligious sentiments. 
 
 Indolent as he was, the king perceived the critical situation 
 in which he was placed, and endeavoured to escape from it by 
 negotiation. Unfortunately the ministers, estimating their 
 own strength too highly, were inexorable in their demands, 
 and by pushing their pretensions too far, lost their vantage 
 ground. A deputation of the chief officers of state was sent 
 to confer with a select number of the commissioners of the 
 church, and proposed on the part of his majesty, that neither 
 the excommunicated earls, nor any of their abettors, should 
 be received into favour, until they had satisfied the church, 
 and requested to know whether, upon doing this, he might 
 extend to them the mercy of the crown. The council, as a 
 preliminary, required that the earls be sent out of the country, 
 and not permitted to return until they had made their offers 
 of satisfying the church, a condition which his majesty himself 
 had promised, to a deputation of the brethren at Callander, to 
 insist upon ; but it was their opinion, that as the earls stood 
 condemned by the law of God, and the highest tribunal of 
 the land, it was not within the reach of the king's prerogative 
 to pardon them. The proposition was then modified, and it 
 was required, whether the church would receive into its bosom 
 the earls upon their sincere repentance and satisfying them ? 
 Their reply to this was equally stern as before : — The church 
 would receive them, but always without pi'ejudice of the mag- 
 istrate's duty 1 James, fretted at what he considered their 
 obstinacy, openly expressed his displeasure, and their unfor- 
 giving disposition, and their dictation were the common topics 
 of his invective. Some of the more moderate of the clergy, 
 who wished to avoid an open rupture with the king, on hear- 
 ing of the strong disapprobation he expressed, proposed send- 
 ing a deputation to inquire into the cause, and offer an ex- 
 planation ; but unluckily they took the same opportunity to 
 reiterate their griefs. They found his majesty in no humour 
 
222 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 to receive their remonstrances. Their constant railing at him 
 and his measures in their sermons, he told them, had given 
 sufficient ground for his discontent, and there never would be 
 any cordial agreement between them until their marches were 
 rid, and the limits of their jurisdictions properly settled. He 
 required : — That they should not introduce public affairs into 
 the pulpit, or, if they did, they should inform him previously 
 of the nature of the observations they meant to make ; that the 
 assembly should at no time be convened without his authority, 
 and none of their acts be considered binding until they receiv- 
 ed his sanction, in the same manner as an act of parliament ; 
 and that synods, presbyteries, or sessions, should take no 
 cognizance of any matter within the reach of common law. 
 
 It was now evident, that the court meant to bring to issue, 
 the question of the liberty of the pulpit, for, as both the king 
 and the Octavians dreaded the freedom of ministerial repre- 
 hension, they were determined to silence it, and as the minis- 
 ters viewed this liberty as the palladium of the church and 
 state, they were prepared to defend it to the uttermost. When 
 parties are strongly excited, both sides in common proceed to 
 unwarrantable extremities, and their mutual accusations — un- 
 consciously sometimes — are ever exaggerated. The king and 
 the ministers were mutually irritated, and in this disposition 
 of mind, the question at issue was to be tried. Their mutual 
 accusations or representations must, therefore, of course, be 
 received with hesitation, and particularly, as there was a third 
 party, the courtiers, who, without caring much about either, 
 wished to promote the dissension, in order to answer their 
 own purposes of interest or ambition, and invented or colour- 
 ed a number of stories to inflame the quarrel. Mr. David 
 Black, of St. Andrews, a zealous minister, highly respected 
 by his brethren, was pitched upon as the person whose case 
 was to decide the prerogative of the king, and the rights of the 
 church. He had in some of his discourses, used unguarded 
 expressions, which were carried to the king by spies, or by the 
 interested party, and Black was, in consequence, summoned 
 to appear before the council, " to answer to such things as 
 should be inquired of him at his coming, touching certain 
 indecent and uncomely speeches, in divers his sermons made 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 223 
 
 at St. Andrews." The ministers, who instantly saw that the 
 blow was aimed at the whole body, and went, as in the days 
 of Arran, to stifle all complaint against measures, however 
 dangerous, or to prevent that publicity, which gives to the 
 complaints of the least powerful, their only strength to resist 
 encroachment, advised Black to decline the authority of the 
 king and council, as the subject was spiritual,* and at the 
 same time, wrote to the several presbyteries, to warn them of 
 this attack upon the liberties of the church, to exhort them to 
 unanimity, and to study diligently the points under dispute, 
 and directed two of their number to collect all the acts of 
 council and parliament, passed in favour of the liberty and 
 discipline of the church. 
 
 Black, in obedience to the summons, appeared November 
 10th, when the council, wishing to obtain simply a general re- 
 cognition of their power to judge in cases of freedom of speech 
 in the pulpit, restricted the libel to a charge, which it was 
 imagined, would not come within the term spiritual. In some 
 of his discourses, it was alleged, that he had styled the queen of 
 England an atheist ; this was told to the English ambassador, 
 who was urged to make a complaint to the king. The minis- 
 ters were not, howevei', to be so juggled. The remark related 
 to the religious character of the queen, and so was a spiritual 
 matter. Some of the ministers were then delegated to wait 
 upon the king, to hear and reason with him upon the matters 
 in dispute, when the answers they received were favourable ; 
 and with regard to Black, the substance of the charge was 
 treated so lightly, that the king said. As for Mr. David Black, 
 he thought not much of that matter, only let him compear and 
 clear himself in judgment, and he shall satisfy the English 
 ambassador. " But take care. Sir," added he, " that you de- 
 cline not my judicatorie, for if you do, it will be worse." The 
 English ambassador, who had been unwillingly dragged into 
 the business, expressed himself satisfied with a private explan- 
 ation, but this was not what the king wanted, it was a public 
 
 * The summons, it must be observed, stated no treasonable or seditious 
 speeches to have been uttered by Black, consequently, as it stood, the charges 
 were strictly "for speeches uttered in the pulpit," which might have been 
 errors in doctrine. 
 
224 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 acknowledgment of his supreme right to judge in ecclesiastical 
 matters, and therefore, instead of dropping the subject, when 
 the party said to be offended, declared himself satisfied, a new 
 libel, containing new charges, collected since his former ap- 
 pearance, and consisting of detached passages from his ser- 
 mons for three years back, was exhibited against Black. 
 
 Meanwhile, the ministers, determined to assert their right of 
 freedom of speech, and desirous to preserve a memorial of their 
 proceedings, which, whether successful or not in the struggle, 
 might bear witness that they did not surrender without an 
 effort, drew up a written declinature of the king and council's 
 jurisdiction in matters spiritual, which they transmitted to all 
 the presbyteries for their approval, and in a short time receiv- 
 ed the signature of four hundred ministers. Whenever this 
 process was known, the king issued a proclamation, command- 
 ing the commissioners to leave Edinburgh, declaring the com- 
 mission unlawful, and forbidding all such convocations in fu- 
 ture, under the pain of rebellion. The ministers, immediate- 
 ly suspecting the Octavians as the authors of these harsh but 
 decisive proceedings, after resolving that they would continue 
 together as long as they could, sent a message to the eight 
 lords. " The church," they said, " at their entrance into 
 office, enjoyed peace and liberty, now it was disturbed and 
 perplexed, and her enemies spared and pardoned, they, there- 
 fore, charged them as the authors of the church's troubles." 
 The president, in name of the counsellors, declared that they 
 had never interfered in ecclesiastical business, that without it 
 they had sufficiently exposed themselves to envy and ill will, 
 they, therefore, left them and the king to settle it between 
 them. As the ostensible advisers of the crown had disavowed 
 any concern in the acts of the court, the ministers were now 
 placed in direct hostile attitude to his majesty himself; they 
 again tried the effect of a personal interview, but as he insisted 
 upon their allowing the validity of his claim, as the condition 
 of his stopping the process, and as they believed that such 
 an acknowledgment would be opening a door to farther en- 
 croachment, which, in the end, would altogether subvert the 
 ecclesiastical government, or so confound it with the civil, as 
 to lay it open to the intrusion of any profane prince, and each. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 225 
 
 tloublful of the other, stood upon the utmost punctilio, no 
 conciliatory proposal proved availing. The ministers, on the 
 sabbath before the trial, one of the last days of their liberty, 
 sounded the alarm in all the pulpits. The king, the same 
 day, celebrated with great magnificence, the baptism of his 
 daughter. 
 
 On the 30th of November, Black was brought to trial upon 
 the new charges, which were : — That he had affirmed that the 
 Popish lords had returned into the country with the king's 
 knowledge, and that in doing this, he had detected the treach- 
 ery of his heart; that he had called all kings, the devil's 
 bairnes ; that in his prayer for the queen, he had used these 
 expressions, we must pray for her for fashion's sake, but we 
 have no cause, for she will never do us any good ; that he had 
 called the queen of England an atheist ; that in discussing a 
 suspension gi'anted by the lords of council and session, he 
 had called them miscreants and bribers ; that speaking of the 
 nobility, he said they were degenerate, godless, dissemblers, 
 and enemies to the church ; that in speaking of the coun- 
 cil, he called them cormorants, and men of no religion ; and 
 lastly, that he had convocated diverse noblemen, barons, and 
 others within St. Andrews, in June 1594, and caused them 
 take arms, thereby usurping the power of the king and the 
 civil magistrate. Mr. Black, in answer affirmed, that all the 
 accusations were false and calumnious, and produced testi- 
 monials to the purity and loyalty of his doctrine, from the 
 provost, baillies, and council of St. Andrews, and from the 
 rector, dean of faculty, professors, and regent of the univer- 
 sity, which he contended ought to be preferred before any 
 report whatever. He again declined the authority of the king 
 and council as to all the charges except the last, on which he 
 offered to stand trial, but they over-ruled his declinature, and 
 found themselves competent to try the whole of the oiTences 
 specified ; at subsequent diets, the court would have beeii sat- 
 isfied with a very mild punishment, but as this would have 
 implied a dereliction of the principle, the ministers would not 
 consent to any adjustment on such a basis ; the council then 
 found Black guilty, and sentenced him to be confined beyond 
 the north water, till his majesty resolved what farther pun- 
 
 YOL. Ill, F F 
 
22G HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ishnient to inflict. The ministers, considering Black's sen- 
 tence as a declaration on the part of the court, of their in- 
 tention to carry into full effect, their pretensions to spiritual 
 jurisdiction, proclaimed the next Sabbath to be kept as a fast, 
 with solemn prayers for averting impending judgments. The 
 king, who conceived this to be a personal attack, published a 
 declaration, in which he disclaimed any intention of violating 
 the rights of the church, affirmed his resolution to maintain 
 religion, and the ecclesiastical discipline established by law, 
 and to suffer nothing to be done in prejudice thereof. On 
 the same day, he ordered Mr. David Black to go into ward, 
 and repeated his command to the commissioners, to remove 
 themselves from Edinburgh, and ordered that the ministers, 
 before they received their stipends, should subscribe a bond, 
 obliging themselves to obey the king and privy council. 
 
 After their departure, some of the king's counsellors, think- 
 ing the ministers of the city would now be more easily prevail- 
 ed upon to come into the plans of the court, proposed to his 
 majesty, to send for them, and attempt some new negotiation. 
 When this was intimated to the clergy, they refused to enter 
 into any communing, unless the commissioners were brought 
 back as openly, as they had been disgracefully dismissed, and 
 the court had given hopes that this might be the case, when 
 an incident occurred, which afforded a handle to the king to 
 break off his correspondence, and led to measures, which for 
 a time laid the church at his mercy, and enabled him to 
 obtain a precarious, and unsatisfactory dominion in ecclesi- 
 astical affairs. 
 
 Of whatever delinquencies the Octavians might have been 
 guilty, they at least merited the praise of rigid economy in 
 the management of the revenue, and incurred the hatred of 
 the courtiers, and hangers on about the palace, whose share 
 in the plunder of the public they curtailed, in particular, the 
 gentlemen of the bedchamber, known by the name of cubicu- 
 lars, who, from their ready access to the royal ear, were wont 
 to abuse the simple temper of the king. These now wished 
 to get quit of the superintendence of the counsellors, or 
 involve the public in confusion, that, in the scramble, they 
 might procure the reversion of some of their old perquisites. 
 
 49 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND- 227 
 
 To accomplish their ends, they first went to tlie ministers, 
 and assured them that the Octavians were the chief promoters 
 of Mr. David Black's prosecution ; that they projected other 
 dangerous expedients, and if not closely watched, they would 
 soon overturn the present established religion ; that the major- 
 ity of them were Papists themselves, and without their con- 
 nivance and encouragement, the Popish lords would never 
 have ventured to return. They then reported to the Octav- 
 ians, as the charges of the ministers against them, all the sus- 
 picions they had carefully instilled into the minds of the minis- 
 ters, and hinted not obscurely, that the citizens of Edinburgh, 
 enraged by these insinuations, had conspired against their 
 lives. To the king, they I'epresented the citizens as under 
 guard every night, to prevent any injury being offered to their 
 ministers, and next, they warned the ministers to take care of 
 themselves, as Huntly had been admitted to a pi'ivate inter- 
 view with the king, and induced him to adopt severe courses, 
 while his retainers were waiting in the neighbourhood to sup- 
 port them. Suspicions on both sides were raised to the ut- 
 most pitch, and under their influence the king ordered twenty- 
 five of the principal citizens to leave town within twenty-four 
 hours. Having succeeded with his majesty, the cubiculars 
 caused intelligence of this fact to be conveyed to Mr. Robert 
 Bruce, who gave the letter to Mr. Walter Balcanquhal, as he 
 was about to ascend the pulpit to preach the usual week day 
 sermon. 
 
 Already sufficiently disposed to view in the darkest light, 
 the measures of the court, this information, of which the min- 
 isters never doubted the correctness, was communicated to the 
 congregation in the application of the discourse, and produced 
 a very powerful sensation. After sermon, the barons and 
 gentlemen were invited to meet with the ministers in the little 
 kirk, to consult upon the steps necessary to be taken at such 
 a crisis. The call was immediately comphed with. Mr. Robert 
 Bruce addressed them when they were assembled, on the dan- 
 gers to which the church was exposed by the return of the 
 Popish lords, and the favour shown to them, contrasted v/ith 
 the rigour exercised toward the professors of the Reformed 
 religion, and desired them to hold up their hands, and swear 
 
228 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 to defend religion against all opposers. Two commissioners 
 from each of the estates, were then sent to wait upon the king, 
 who was accidentally in the tolbooth with the lords of session, 
 at the time. On being admitted, Mr. Robert Bruce informed 
 his majesty of the purport of the message ; *' they were com- 
 missioned," he said, " by the noblemen and barons convened 
 in the little kirk, to lay before him the dangers that threatened 
 religion, by the manner in which the ministers and zealous 
 professors were treated." " What dangers see you ?" said the 
 king. " We see" answered Bruce, " the most sincere profes- 
 sors banished the city, and lady Huntly, an open Papist, en- 
 tertained at court, nor is it thought that her husband is far 
 off." " W^hat have you to do with that," asked his majesty, 
 and then changing the subject, " How durst you convene 
 against my proclamation ?" " We dare do more than that," 
 replied lord Lindsay warmly, " and will not suffer religion to 
 be overthrown." Numbers of people now rushing into the room, 
 the king, without deigning an answer, retired abruptly, and 
 ordered the gates to be shut behind him. During the absence 
 of the deputation, Cranstoun, a forward minister, was reading 
 to those who were in the church, passages from the Old Testa- 
 ment, and had selected among the rest, the story of Haman 
 and Moidecai. The deputies, on their return, reported that 
 they had been unable to obtain a favourable answer from the 
 king, and could expect none, so long as the present counsel- 
 lors remained about him. It therefore behoved them to con- 
 sider what course they should take. " Our only course," said 
 lord Lindsay, "is for us who are here to remain together, 
 pledge ourselves to each other, and send notice to our friends 
 to come to us," a proposal which met with universal approba- 
 tion, and Bruce exhorted them to persevere, but with calm- 
 ness and moderation. In the meantime, a report had been 
 industriously spread in the town, that the king had behaved 
 very ungraciously to the ministers, and a rumour was whisper- 
 ed through the tolbooth, that the town was arming, before 
 there was any appearance of a tumult. The incendiaries 
 gained their end, a crowd gathered, and some ran to the tol- 
 booth, and some to the little kirk, where the ministers and 
 nobles were assembled. At this moment, an unknown person, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND " 229 
 
 but generally alleged to have been an emissary, came running 
 to the church, crying, " Fy ! save yourselves, the Papists are 
 coming to massacre you." 
 
 In any circumstances almost, an alarm is easily spread in a 
 crowd, but if there have been any previous undefined appre- 
 hensions existing among them, the shock is electric. So it 
 was here, the cry got up. To arms ! to arms ! Some one 
 within the church exclaimed, the sword of the Lord and of 
 Gideon. " These are not our weapons," said Bruce, and 
 endeavoured to calm the meeting, but the panic had seized 
 them, they rushed to the street, and increased the confusion. 
 The doors of the tolbooth, at the first sound of a disturbance, 
 had been shut, and the mob who were collected before them, 
 bawled out for president Seaton, and some other of the ob- 
 noxious members of the council to be delivered to them, that 
 they might take order with them, calling them abusers of the 
 king, and adding, perhaps, a few opprobrious epithets, as 
 usual on similar occasions, but they proceeded to no further 
 violence, for one of the deacons of the crafts, with a guard of 
 craftsmen, was instantly upon the spot, and Sir Alexander 
 Hume, the provost, who was on a sickbed, no sooner heard 
 of the tumult, than he arose, came into the street, and addres- 
 sing a few conciliatory speeches to the rioters, persuaded them 
 to disperse, and go quietly home, which they did. In a short 
 time tranquillity was completely restored, nor does there 
 appear to have been a blow or a wound given or received 
 upon the occasion.* During the disturbance, the king di- 
 rected the earl of Marr and two other noblemen, to proceed to 
 the ministers, and ask the reason of the riot. They found 
 them walking in the churchyard behind the church, regretting 
 the unfortunate occurrence, which they could only account 
 for, from the people's being dissatisfied at learning the re- 
 jection of their petition, and requested the noblemen to repre- 
 sent to his majesty, that they were wholly unconnected with 
 the tumult, which they had done their utmost to repress. The 
 earl of Marr on this, advised them to state their grievances 
 in a respectful petition, and present it to his majesty, by whom 
 
 * Caldei-wood, p. 365. Spotswood, pp. 427 — 8. 
 
230 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 he promised it would be heard and answered. They then 
 returned to the little kirk, and after a short deliberation, 
 sent lord Forbes, the laird of Bargenny, and principal Rollock, 
 with their requests to the king, who still remained with the 
 lords of session. They asked that all the proceedings against 
 the church, for the last four or five weeks, should be rescind- 
 ed; that the president, comptroller, and advocate, as being 
 suspected Papists, and avowed enemies to the church, should 
 have no voice in what concerned it ; and that the citizens of 
 Edinburgh be permitted to stay at home, on giving surety to 
 appear when called on. The king answered them smoothly, 
 he promised to call his council in the afternoon, and satisfy 
 them in every thing they could with reason desire, and if the 
 lord provost and baillies would intercede for the citizens, their 
 petition would be granted. His majesty then walked down 
 the streets peaceably to his palace, attended by the lords. 
 
 In the afternoon, the noblemen and barons assembled with 
 the ministers, and in compliance with the desire of the king, 
 a petition was drawn up, and a deputation sent to the palace, 
 to present it to the council. They arrived at Holyroodhouse 
 about five o'clock in the evening, but instead of being receiv- 
 ed, as his majesty had promised, they were told that he 
 was then greatly displeased, and were advised to defer asking- 
 admission till next day, and lord Ochiltree having prevailed 
 on the laird of Bargenny to decline the office that evening, the 
 deputies withdrew without accomplishing their errand. 
 
 Next morning early, before an opportunity could be found 
 for again presenting the petition, the king was on his road to 
 Linlithgow, happy, no doubt, in having escaped the imminent 
 danger to which he was exposed, of hearing the grievances of 
 his people, or the unpardonable affront offered to his author- 
 ity, in daring to censure his ministers. He left a proclama- 
 tion, which was immediately published at the market cross, 
 stigmatizing the late riot, which it magnified into a treason- 
 able uproar, excited by the ministers, and ordering the courts 
 of law to leave a city, unfit for the ministration of justice, and 
 also commanding all the nobility to return to their own houses, 
 and not to reassemble in any place, without his majesty's per- 
 mission. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 2Sfl 
 
 A measure so unexpected, because so unproportionably se- 
 vere, especially when contrasted with the lenity shown to the 
 reiterated treasons of the rebel lords, struck both the ministers 
 and the citizens with the most lively apprehensions; but they 
 took different courses to avoid the impending storm. The 
 magistrates, afraid of the consequences of removing the royal 
 court and courts of justice, resolved to yield and implore his 
 majesty's clemency. The ministers, determined to brave the 
 tempest, exhorted the nobles present not to separate, and en- 
 deavoured to procure the adherence of others to their cause. 
 They wrote to lord Hamilton, and to several noblemen, upon 
 whose co-operation they reckoned, and invited them to come 
 to Edinburgh and support the liberties of the church, and also 
 attempted to convoke a general assembly of the ministers, 
 whom they invited to town, and recommended to bring along 
 with them the gentlemen they considered as best affected. 
 The court, on the other hand, followed up the first proclama- 
 tion, by ordering the ministers of Edinburgh, with a number 
 of the citizens, to enter into ward in the castle, and command- 
 ing the provost and magistrates to enforce the order. 
 
 By a piece of meanness, if not treachery, lord Hamilton, 
 instead of answering the letter addressed to him by the minis- 
 ters, sent a vitiated copy to the king, in which they were 
 made to approve of the tumult, by attributing it to the motion 
 of God's Spirit, expressions which were not used by them. 
 This was seized upon by James' advisers, as a plausible pre- 
 text for additional severity, and they summoned the minis- 
 ters to appear at Linlithgow, to answer before the privy coun- 
 cil, super inquirendis ; but the ministers, upon consulting with 
 their friends, were advised, in the then temper of the court, 
 to decline appearing, and, accordingly, some of them sought 
 refuge in England, and some concealed themselves in Fife. 
 A deputation from the town council was sent on Monday — 
 the king left Edinburgh on Saturday — to Linlithgow, to clear 
 themselves from blame, and to offer any reparation in their 
 power to his majesty and council for the indignity offered 
 them in the late riot, provided they were declared innocent of 
 the crime, which from their hearts they detested. The king, 
 however, would receive no apology. " Fair words," he told 
 
232 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 them, " could not atone for such a fault, but he would come 
 ere it was long, and let them know he was their king." Next 
 day, the tumult was declared by the council to be treason, and 
 all guilty of being concerned in it, traitors ; the judicatories 
 were ordered to be removed to Leith, and the court of session, 
 after the 1st of February, to Petth. At this denunciation, 
 which was aggravated by reports of the extremities advised by 
 the sycophants about court, who talked of bringing in the 
 borderers, of spoiling and then burning the city, of razing it 
 to the foundation, sowing it with salt, and erecting a pillar on 
 the place where Edinburgh stood, the capital was in despair, 
 and hopeless of obtaining any mitigation from their own ap- 
 plication, they employed some gentlemen in favour with the 
 king to intercede for them, who represented : — That in all 
 great towns there were generally some turbulent spirits, and 
 it would, indeed, be hard if a tumult raised by them, which 
 the magistrates had quelled, and the promoters of which 
 they were anxious to bring to punishment, should be visited 
 upon those who had faithfully done their duty. They there- 
 fore entreated his majesty to relent towards the town. The 
 king, who must have perceived the force of this application, 
 after some hesitation, replied : — That he did not think the riot 
 could have assumed so alarming an appearance, miless it had 
 been encouraged by some persons of note; but at any rate, 
 the magistrates were guilty of culpable negligence, in not 
 having prevented it ! His resolution, however, was to pro- 
 ceed by law, and not to use any violent course. He had ap- 
 pointed the estates to meet in the same place where the dis- 
 honour was done him, and would regulate his conduct, both 
 as to trial and punishment, by their advice. 
 
 On the day preceding the convention the king came to 
 Leith, and gave orders for his entry into the city next day — 
 new-year-day — which was done with all the circumstance of 
 military pomp, as if some mighty conqueror had been enter- 
 ing the capital of his enemy, after an obstinate and irritating 
 siege. The keys of the town were delivered with great for- 
 mality to one of the king's officers. A guard of armed men 
 was stationed in the streets, and the citizens commanded to 
 remain within their houses, and such as did appear, forbidden 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 
 
 233 
 
 I 
 
 to carry any weapon. Tiie earl of Marr, lords Seaton and 
 Ochiltree, were orilered to take charge of the town, and su- 
 perintend the arrangements, the migistrates not being allowed 
 to officiate on this solemn occasion. When all the prelimi- 
 naries were adjusted, the king, accompanied by a great tram 
 of nobles, entered the town on horseback, and marched in 
 procession up the High Street to tlie tolbooth, where the 
 estates were assembled. After some desultory discourse about 
 the riot, the king was advised to call the magistrates, and 
 hear what they had to offer in extenuation of this enormous 
 offence. The provost, baillies, and town council, were tlien 
 brought in, who, falling upon their knees with a humiliation 
 not more contemptible than useless, offered to clear themselves 
 upon oath, of all previous knowledge or active participation 
 in the seditious tumult, to resign their office to such as his 
 majesty should appoint, and, with a meanness unfortunately 
 not peculiar to these times, made a voluntary surrender of 
 their religious and civil Hberty into the hands of the king, 
 disclaiming in future their right to choose their own ministers, 
 or elect their magistrates, and this under protestation of their 
 being innocent of any crime! Yet all this sufficed not; the 
 king dismissed them in doubt whether he would deign to ac- 
 cept of their degraded privileges. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, with her usual sagacity, on being inform- 
 ed of these commotions, wrote a letter to the king, " to dis- 
 suade him from pursuing a rigorous course vwith his best sub- 
 jects, whose interest was inseparably connected with his own, 
 and whose only fault consisted in an over zeal for tlie welfare 
 of the church, Avhich they believed to be in danger," and 
 which, although it might be rash, and in the manner *■' such 
 as no king ought to bear with, yet was not so inexcusable at 
 the instant when the new banished lords returned, and were 
 seen to be winked at, and allowed full liberty ; and as spring 
 was advancing, when aid from abroad was promised, together 
 with the arrival of many letters from Rome and elsewhere, 
 containing the names of envoys authorized by the king — as 
 they gave out, but she hoped falsely — to assure the Catholics 
 of his conformity, and of his intention, when the opportunity 
 ofi^ered, to establish the party of his enemies, and desert his 
 
 VOL. III. G G 
 
234 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 own." The king professed himself pleased with this letter, 
 as he had no intention of dealing rigorously, but only wished 
 to enforce obedience upon his subjects, "and make his ad- 
 vantage of their disorders !" * 
 
 In th« next meeting of the estates, which was held in Holy- 
 roodhouse, the tumult was pronounced treason, and it was 
 determined to prosecute the town criminally before the court 
 of justiciary. The whole magistrates, as representing the 
 town, were ordered to enter themselves in ward within Perth, 
 before the 1st of February, to remain there prisoners till 
 tried. The day of trial, after several adjournments, was at 
 last fixed for the 5th March, and instead of all the magis- 
 trates, two baillies, the dean of guild, treasurer, four of the 
 principal deacons, and four of the council, with their clerk, 
 in all thirteen, were ordered to attend with a commission 
 from the provost and council, as representatives of the city. 
 When the day came, they appeared all except one who had 
 the king's dispensation ; but this excuse was not admitted, 
 and the whole were found guilty of not fulfilling the ordnance 
 of the council, which required thirteen to be present. The 
 town was denounced, the burgesses declared rebels, and all 
 their public property confiscated to the king. The report of 
 this sentence filled the city with consternation ; the magis- 
 trates threw up their offices, and refused to act ; and for fif- 
 teen days, the capital continued without either ministers or 
 magistrates. At last, by the intercession of some nobles, the 
 provost, baillies, council, and deacons of crafts, were admitted 
 into the royal presence at Holyroodhouse, and falling on 
 their knees, with tears in their eyes, bewailed their negfio-ence 
 in not preventing what they had repeatedly protested they 
 could not foresee, and besought his highness to take pity on 
 the town, throwing themselves entirely on his mercy. The 
 king sharply reprimanded them, and, in a long speech, ex- 
 patiated on the magnitude of their offence ; then commanded 
 them to retire till he should deliberate upon their fate. On 
 being recalled, they were ordered to deliver up to his majesty 
 the houses in the churchyard where the ministers used to 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 433. 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 235 
 
 dwell, who were henceforth to live separately ; to protect the 
 lords of session during tlieir sitting, under a heavy penalty ; 
 to give up the lower council house for exchequer chambers ; 
 and to pay a fine of twenty thousand marks. On these con- 
 ditions being accepted, the king was most graciously pleased 
 to pardon the town, and by proclamation, recalled the courts 
 of justice. Such was the punishment inflicted for a riot, in 
 which no person was hurt, no property damaged, which the 
 strictest investigation could trace to no specific origin, and in 
 which, after the most minute diligence, no respectable indi- 
 vidual in the city could be implicated. 
 
 In the midst of these turmoils, the Cubiculars ejEFected the 
 overthrow of the Octavians. Harassed by the dissensions 
 of which they were supposed the instigators, envied by the 
 other courtiers, and not agreeing among themselves, they 
 found it expedient to resign their commission, lor the king, 
 says Spotswood, loved peace though with his own loss, and 
 the revenue, as formerly, was carelessly collected, and ex- 
 travagantly spent. But Jaiues was so eager in pursuing his 
 plans for reducing the ministers to subjection, and altering 
 the constitution of the church, that this revolution in the 
 state, important although it was, must be classed among the 
 more uninteresting occurrences of the time. 
 
 Having gained so complete a victory over the capital, t-he 
 king did not allow the opportunity to slip for attempting his 
 innovations in the church. These he had for some time medi- 
 tated, and the preparatory steps were taken, previously to the 
 riot in Edinburgh, by preparing a series of questions to be 
 agitated, the discussion of which would tend to unsettle the 
 minds of the people, with regard to the form of church gov- 
 ernment established by law. The ministers of Edinburgh 
 were, as ministers of the metropolis, and as men of superior 
 ability, looked up to with reverence by the majority of their 
 brethren, and viewed by the king as the chief obstacle to his 
 design ; and the miserable riot, by falsehood and exaggera- 
 • tion, had afforded the means of getting rid for the time of 
 theu' personal opposition, and gave a handle to the court, 
 which they did not fail to improve, for shaking their influence, 
 by representing them as turbulent and seditious. Fifty-one 
 
230 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 questions were printed and circulated through the presbyter- 
 ies, and a general assembly was summoned to be held at 
 Perth, to take these questions into consideration.* At the 
 same time, Sir Patrick Murray, one of the gendemen of the 
 bedchamber, was despatched on a mission to the north, to 
 induce the ministers there to come into the measures of the 
 :ourt. He was instructed to acquaint them with the late 
 dangerous tumult, and the treasonable conduct of the minis- 
 ters of Edinburgh, whom they were to be directed to look 
 upon as wishing to usurp an authority to which they had no 
 right, and the commissioners as exercising an unlawful office. 
 He was to endeavour, if possible, to procure their subscrip- 
 tions to the bond, and desire them to send commissioners to 
 the ensuing general assembly, to resolve the proposed ques- 
 tions, and to act independently and for themselves, nor be- 
 lieve the misrepresentations given of his majesty, as if he in- 
 tended to usurp any improper authority in the church. They 
 were likewise to be required to accept the earl of Huntiy's 
 offers to satisfy the church, and absolve him from the sentence 
 of excommunication. In their answers, the presbyteries ex- 
 pressed themselves unable to judge of the question respecting 
 the tumult, on account of their want of information ; but their 
 opinion in general was, that the guilty should be punished, 
 and if ministers, doubly. The bond, they in general declin- 
 ed subscribing, notwithstanding the penalty annexed, as 
 they already acknowledged his authority, and where it re- 
 fers to the liberty of speech in the pulpit, that was a subject 
 for the deliberation of the next assembly ; and as for the earl 
 
 * These questions, which are given at large in Spotswood, were such as : — 
 Whether the external government of the church might not be disputed ? 
 Whether it was lawful for ministers in the pulpit to express the names of 
 counsellors, magistrates, or others, except for notorious vices, and after pri- 
 vate admonition ? Whether is it lawful to convocate the general assembly 
 without his majesty's hcense, &c. ? All tending to unsettle the form of church 
 government, which all had sworn to uphold, and which had been legalized in 
 the strictest manner by act of the estates. Encroachments upon an establish* 
 ed, well working constitution, however small, are at all times to be deprecated, 
 especially when, under the profession of strengthening it, the executive is 
 evidently grasping at unnecessary power. Had these questions been dismissed 
 at once, the troubles which Ibllowcd might, perhaps, have been prevented. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 23*? 
 
 of Hunth', his repentance should be most acceptable to them, 
 and they were willing to confer with him, and use every 
 mean for his conversion; but they did not find him so will- 
 ing to conform as they wished, nor did he appear very ear- 
 nest about his being absolved. In his private communications 
 with the ministers. Sir Patrick plied them with every topic 
 most likely to engage their interest or ambition, by holding 
 out the favour of the king, with whom they needed only to 
 be acquainted to perceive how much his character had been 
 mistaken, and who, notwithstanding his quarrel with the 
 ministers of Edinburgh, was still warmly attached to the rest 
 of the ministers of Scotland, and they who had been unac- 
 customed to any attention from the court, flattered by the 
 appeal now made to them, assured him that the king would 
 have no cause to complain of their conduct at the ensuing 
 assembly, 
 
 A convention of the ministers met at Perth, March 1st, in 
 obedience to the royal summons. It was numerously attend- 
 ed, but had an unusual proportion of the north country mem- 
 bers ; yet, notwithstanding, it was with difficulty, after a 
 sharp contest of three days, that it was decided, by a majority 
 of voices, to be a lawful general assembly extraordinarily con- 
 vened ; the commissioners from Fife protesting : — That noth- 
 ing which might be done should be held valid, or improved to 
 the prejudice of the liberties of the church of Scotland. The 
 questions proposed by the king were hotly debated, but in 
 the end, the project of the court was virtually approved, by 
 the leading ones being answered in such a manner as to al- 
 low the king, or the pastors, to propose, in a general assembly, 
 whatever point they desired to be resolved or reformed in the 
 external government of the church ; to give up the liberty of 
 discussing public questions in the pulpit, or reproving public 
 men either by name, or in such a manner as the ch-iracter 
 might be recognized ; to disclaim the right of meeting to syn- 
 ods, presbyteries, or sessions, except in particular specified 
 cases, without the authority of the king ; and to allow that no 
 minister should be chosen in any of the principal towns with- 
 out his majesty's consent. Content with these concessions, 
 the king did not push his encroachments farther at this time, 
 
233 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 but having procured a ratification of these articles from the 
 convention of estates, which Avas sitting at Perth at the same 
 time, he deferred the considei'ation of the other questions till 
 the meeting of the next general assembly, to be held at Dun- 
 dee on the 10th of May following. The influence v/hich the 
 court had acquired in the assembly, was still more evident 
 from a commission given by them at the king's desire to a 
 number of the northern ministers, to confer with the Popish 
 lords, and to procure their re-introduction into the bosom of 
 the church. This assembly was the first in which the king, 
 adopting a new method of management, and by operating 
 upon the unsuspecting simplicity of some, and the needy self- 
 ishness of others, rendered the ministers themselves the in- 
 struments of their own enthralment. 
 
 Pleased with their complaisance, the king appeared willing 
 to relax in his prosecution of those who had been harshly 
 treated on account of the tumult, and replied to their inter- 
 cessions for the gentlemen M'ho had been ordered to leave 
 town, " That he had no intention of harassing innocent men, 
 and would easily settle with them, but with the mhiisters, 
 whom he esteemed the most guilty, he was uncertain what 
 course to pursue." The members of assembly continued, 
 " From the whole of the examinations it appeared, that all, but 
 particularly Mr. Robert Bruce, were chiefly instrumental in 
 allaying the disturbance, and instead of punishment, deserved 
 a reward." To which the king answered, that granting they 
 did repress it, they were the first cause of exciting it, and if 
 they were punished for that, he had no objection to their 
 being rewarded for the other. He would, nevertheless, con- 
 sent to their being released, upon giving security to appear 
 when called upon. * The four ministers were, in consequence, 
 allowed to return, and on the 21st of April, were introduced 
 to the king, who expressed his satisfaction at their having 
 fled, as, he said, he might perhaps have done in his ftiry, what 
 he would afterward have repented.f They were not, how- 
 ever, allowed to resume their clerical functions. 
 
 One of the objections to the legality of the assembly at 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 442. f Calderwood, p. 402. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 239 
 
 Perth was, that it was convened solely by the warrant of the 
 king, and not opened by the regular moderator. For this 
 reason, some of the most strenuous supporters of the discip- 
 line of the church, when the day on which the assembly, ac- 
 cording to the regular method of proceeding, should have 
 ':,een held, met at St. Andrews, and being constituted by Pont, 
 the moderator of the last regular assembly, agreed to dismiss, 
 and refer all business to an assembly to be held at Dundee, 
 May 10th, the day appointed by the king and convention at 
 Perth, by this form asserting the right of the church to con- 
 voke and hold her assemblies, a right which the king wished 
 to usurp entirely to himself. 
 
 In consonance with the resolution of the assembly at Perth, 
 the general assembly met at Dundee, and ratified with some 
 modifications of no great importance, the acts of that session, 
 which it declared a lawful meeting. Whenever the court 
 wished to gain any end, or silence any opposition, it had been 
 latterly their custom, to introduce the subject of stipends to 
 the notice of the assembly, and as a great number of the min- 
 isters were but very meanly supported — and even that was 
 precarious — they were certain of always attracting the atten- 
 tion of a considerable party. Under this cover, and for the 
 ostensible purpose of planting churches, the king obtained 
 from this assembly, the nomination of a standing council of 
 fourteen ministers — seven to constitute a quorum — for the 
 purpose of " advising in all affairs concerning the weal of the 
 church, and entertainment of peace and obedience to his maj- 
 esty within this realm," by whose means all matters which 
 were to come before the general assemblies, were previously 
 arranged at court, and the king enabled to introduce what- 
 ever innovations he afterward chose, or, as quaintly expressed 
 by James Melville, it was " the very needle which drew in 
 the thread of Episcopacie." 
 
 As soon as the assembly was dissolved, Sir Patrick Mur- 
 ray, by the king's command, accompanied the commissioners 
 of the church to the north, to see the three earls perform the 
 prescribed conditions, and be absolved from the sentence of 
 excommunication. But while the king was so anxious to 
 accomplish this favourite object, and was endangering the 
 
240 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 peace and best interests of his kingdom, to procure for con- 
 victed traitors a reconciliation with the church, and a re- 
 turn to court, their accomphces were engaged in new plots, 
 which, it is no great violation of charity to believe, were con- 
 certed with their knowledge, for it was not till after their 
 failure, that the earls consented to comply with tlie terms to 
 which they had agreed. James Gordon, a relation of Huntly's, 
 and a Jesuit, arrived in the country to dissuade him from 
 compliance, and at the same time, a plan was concerted, to 
 seize and fortify the isle of Ailsa, for the purpose of receiving 
 a Spanish force. Ailsa is an insulated rock, situate on tlie 
 western coast of Scotland, betwixt the shore of Ayrshire and 
 Cantyre, about two miles in circumference ; it rises to a great 
 height, and is inaccessible, except by one narrow footpath, 
 which a few resolute men could defend against any force. On 
 the top stood the ruins of an old castle. This rock had been 
 taken possession of, by one Hugh Barclay of Ladyland, who, 
 in the former year had made his escape from Glasgow castle, 
 where he was confined, fled to Spain, and having returned 
 as an agent, was employed in victualling this place. He was 
 surprised by Mr. Knox, Avho, five years before, had appre- 
 hended Kerr with the blanks, but rather than allow himself 
 to be taken, rushed into the sea, and drowned himself. The 
 Popish earls, when apprised of his death, professed their sin- 
 cere repentance, took whatever oaths were required, subscrib- 
 ed the articles of faith, and were absolved in the church of 
 Abei-been. 
 
 James was so completely intent on his ecclesiastical pro- 
 jects, that the history of Scotland at this period, consists of 
 little else than a detail of the meeting of assemblies, commis- 
 sions, and parliaments for remodelling the church, and of the 
 shifts and tergiversations of the king to bend the clergy to his 
 purpose. Shortly after the assembly rose, he called a meet- 
 ing of the commissioners at Falkland, and proceeded to ex- 
 ercise the power which he considered the assembly to have 
 bestowed, when they nominated this council. He called the 
 presbytery of St. Andrews before him, revised a sentence of 
 deposition they had pronounced, and restored the offender to 
 his office. He next heard a complaint of Lindsay of Balcar- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 241 
 
 ras, against Mr. Wallace, one of the ministers of St. Andrews, 
 for some injurious speeches which he accused him of having 
 used in the pulpit. The complaint had been brought before 
 the presbytery, but dismissed because it could not be sub- 
 stantiated by the evidence of two witnesses, on which the 
 secretary preferred it before the commission, and Wallace 
 was summoned to answer. Wallace declined the judicature, 
 as the case had been tried before the presbytery, from whose 
 decision there was a plain, legal appeal to the assembly, and 
 the moderator of the presbytery protested against the pro- 
 ceedings of the commissioners, as usurping a greater power 
 than the assembly claimed, of judging in a case within the 
 jurisdiction of a presbytery, without any appeal from that 
 presbytery^ to the neglect of the inferior judicatures. *' Then 
 I will protest too," said the king, " as one of the principal 
 motives which induced me to crave, and the assembly to grant 
 this commission, was to take cognizance of such casesj and see 
 justice done." The commissioners dismissed both declina- 
 ture and protest, declared themselves competent to judge of 
 the complaint, and appointed the case to be heard at St. 
 Andrews, whither they proceeded in a few days. Here the 
 secretary appeared, but Wallace persisting in his declinature, 
 was removed from his charge, as was also Mr. David Black, 
 who had a little before resumed his ministry. 
 
 From the church, the royal visitation proceeded to the 
 university, and the conduct of Andrew Melville, the rector, 
 underwent a strict, and not very friendly investigation, but 
 nothing culpable could be brought against him. Spotswood 
 mentions only his having sometimes, in his divinity lectures, 
 agitated political questions, which, considering the close and 
 intimate connexion then subsisting between civil and ecclesi- 
 astical government, it was hardly possible for a professor in 
 his situation to avoid. 
 
 The Romish power was so closely entwined about the power 
 of the state, and presented such imposing claims of right, and 
 the sovereigns, in virtue of the example of the Christian em- 
 perors, aimed at such authority over the religious concerns 
 of their subjects, that a total confusion of jurisdictions was 
 introduced. This, so long as both united to support tyranny 
 
 VOL. III. H H 
 
242 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ;md superstition, occasioned no great difficulty, but when the 
 light of reason and of revelation began to shine at the Refor- 
 mation, it became a necessary part of a divinity professor's 
 prelections, to inquire into the respective jurisdictions of mag- 
 istrates and ministers, and in so doing, he was naturally led 
 to discuss the abstract questions respecting the origin of 
 power, and the responsibility of those who exercised it, dis- 
 cussions from which no good government need ever fear any 
 bad effects. James considered this as an abuse, and in order 
 to correct it, he prescribed to every professor, the subjects 
 he was to teach. * He also nominated a council to superin- 
 tend all academical proceedings, and prevailed upon the com- 
 missioners to pass a resolution, that no professors, particular- 
 ly professors of divinity, should, unless they were pastors, 
 teach in any of the congregations, or possess a seat in any of 
 the judicatures of the church. These arbitrary regulations, 
 though professedly for the benefit of literature, were directed 
 against one man, particularly the last, which was intended to 
 get rid, in an oblique manner, of Andrew Melville's appear- 
 ance in the general assembly, whose intrepid conduct, and 
 commanding eloquence, the king was terrified to face. 
 
 On the borders, the outrages still continued. In no part 
 of the country was the mischief of a feeble or relaxed govern- 
 ment sooner felt. The English were ever ready to take ad- 
 vantage of the confusion, and the unruly marauders of Tyne- 
 dale and Redsdale, broke into the Scottish side, and ravaged 
 all Liddisdale. The laird of Buccleugh, keeper of these 
 marches, to be avenged for the affront, made an inroad on 
 the English side, and having taken thirty of the most active 
 of the robbers, hanged them, and brought off considerable 
 spoil. The freebooters in Sir Robert Kerr's district, were en- 
 couraged to commit depredations on the east marches, where 
 
 * This charge is not mentioned in the acts of visitation, M'Crie's Life of 
 Melville, vol. ii. p. i 14. but it might still be understood, and, as it is extremely 
 firobable that the proposal of another professor might be a mere cloak, I have 
 retained Spotswood's account, and as a council was appointed to manage the 
 funds of the college, there is no impossibility, but some charge of negligence 
 may have been circulated against Melville. The simple absence of thess 
 cliarges in the acts, does not warrant an accusation of vitiating the record. 
 SI 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 343 
 
 the disordei*s were aggravated by a personal quarrel between 
 him and Sir Robert Carey, lord Hunsdon's fourth son. The 
 complaints made by her wai'dens. against the repeated exces 
 ses of the Scots, at last induced Elizabeth to send Sir Robert 
 Bowes, to remonstrate with the Scottish king on the subject, 
 to exhibit to him an abstract of the injuries sustained by 
 the English, and to assure him, that the remoteness of her 
 borderers did not lessen her care for their preservation ; and 
 if he did not use his authority, she would send such a force, 
 as would afford protection to her subjects, and repress the 
 insolence of the banditti who annoyed them. A protracted 
 negotiation was the consequence, but it ended in the last treaty 
 which it was ever necessary to sign between the two nations, 
 on such subjects. By it mutual pledges were to be given, to 
 ratify the conditions within a certain time, or the wardens 
 were to enter themselves prisoners, the party failing to the 
 party who fulfilled their obligation. Buccleugh, and Sir 
 Robert Kerr, having failed in delivering their pledges, were 
 obliged lo enter themselves prisoners in Berwick. Buccleugh 
 entered first, and remained from October till February, when 
 the pledges of his district being delivered, he was restored to 
 liberty. Sir Robert Kerr was delivered up by lord Hume, 
 and notwithstanding the sti'ife and I'ivalry which had long 
 existed between him and Sir Robert Carey, he, with that 
 romantic magnanimity, not uncommon among the chieftains 
 of the border, put himself under his guardianship ; nor was 
 this proof of confidence misplaced, Carey returned it with 
 generous hospitality, and their past enmity was succeeded 
 by a sincere and lasting friendship. Kerr was not able to 
 procure the speedy delivery of his pledges, and was ordered 
 to be carried to York. Thither Carey conducted him, and 
 intrusted his friend to the care of the archbishop. He was 
 afterwards liberated, and returned to his charge, as warden 
 of the eastern marches. An earthquake, which, in the month 
 of July, shook the nortliern districts, was considered to por- 
 tend internal commotions, and the real calamities of the 
 country, were aggravated by the credulity of the people, who 
 pictured to themselves yet more dreadful evils from the con- 
 
2'14. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 vulsions of nature, phenomena sufficiently alarming, without 
 being prophetical. 
 
 But this credulity was more perniciously exemplified in the 
 belief of witchcraft, which was productive during this summer, 
 of some very distressing consequences. A great number of 
 unfortunate beings were apprehended, and tortured to force 
 a confession. Among others, one Margaret Aiken was ap^ 
 prehended upon suspicion, and being threatened with the 
 rack, the poor wretch, in a fit of terror, confessed herself 
 guilty. On being interrogated respecting her associates, she 
 named several persons, and, in order to save her own life, 
 promised to clear the whole country of that description of 
 criminals, as she knew, from particular marks, who held 
 communication with his satanic majesty. Her declaration 
 being believed, she was for several months can-ied through 
 diiferent counties, and all she pointed out were apprehended. 
 Numbers on her testimony were tried, and particularly in 
 Glasgow, several innocent women were condemned, and put 
 to death, till some suspicions arising, her pretensions were 
 put to the test. The same individuals whom she had de-' 
 nounced on one day, were brought to her on another in dif- 
 ferent dresses, and when they w^ere not recognised by her, or 
 were declared innocent, she was sent to Fife, where she had 
 been originally brought from. At her trial, she confessed 
 that every thing she had affirmed of herself or others was 
 false, and repeated this declaration at the stake, to the hor^ 
 ror of those who had been active in persecuting the unfor- 
 tunates taken up on her accusation, and the king recalled 
 the commission he had granted to proceed against them, all 
 being ordered to be liberated, except such as emitted vol- 
 untary confessions, who were to be detained till the estates 
 should determine the form of procedure against them. 
 
 Towards the end of the year, [December 2d,] a parliament 
 was held, to reverse the sentence of forfeiture passed against 
 the three earls, and restore them to their estates and honours. 
 At this meeting, the commissioners of the church presented a 
 petition, requesting that the ministers might be allowed to 
 sit and vote in the supreme council of the nation, as the third 
 estate. It had been complained in foi'mer assemblies, that 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 245 
 
 persons who were possessed of the temporalities of bishoprics 
 and abbacies, voted in parliament in name of the church, 
 without any authority from them, and suggested that com- 
 missioners on their part might be advantageously intrusted, 
 with powers to assist and vote on ecclesiastical business in 
 parliament, but the observations had been vague and inde- 
 finite, nor had any precise opinion been ever expressed by 
 the church upon the subject, and so far from receiving any 
 encouragement of late, the dread of innovation, and the sus- 
 picions entertained of the king, had prevented its being men- 
 tioned at all in the two last assemblies, nor had it been agi- 
 tated in any of the inferior courts. Taking advantage, how- 
 ever, of these previous surmises, the king, who knew any 
 direct proposal to bring in Episcopacy, would have met with 
 an unanimous and decisive opposition, chose this disguised 
 method of introducing it, to afford those who were not averse 
 either to the state, or emolument of a hierarchy, an excuse 
 for giving their support to a plan, from which, if it had been 
 avowed, their pride, and repeated professions of adherence to 
 the Presbyterian form of church government, would have 
 deterred them. The more consistent and discerning part of 
 the ministers, immediately took the alarm, and endeavoured 
 to influence the nobility against the proposal, their well 
 founded terror of Prelacy, overcoming every allurement of 
 personal advantage which was held out to bribe their com- 
 pliance, but the superior weight of the court, and the argu- 
 ments and promises of the king prevailed, and an act was 
 passed, ordaining, " That such pastors as his majesty should 
 invest with the office of bishop, abbot, or other prelate, should 
 have the same right to vote in parliament, as ecclesiastics 
 had in former time, and that all vacant bishoprics, or such as 
 might become vacant, should be only given to actual preach- 
 ers or ministers, or to persons who were fit to fulfil, and 
 would pledge themselves to perform the duties of the office. 
 A qualifying clause was appended, to render the act palatable. 
 The spiritual power and jurisdiction of the bishops, was left 
 to be consulted and agreed upon by his highness and the 
 general assembly, without prejudice in the meantime, to the 
 jurisdiction and discipline of the church established by law. 
 
246 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Still the commissioners were aware that it would be difficult 
 to reconcile their brethren to this step, and in circular letters 
 which they addressed to the presbyteries, by order of the 
 king, appointing a meeting of the general assembly to be 
 held at Dundee, they apologized for their conduct, as if they 
 had only followed out the views of the church ; took credit to 
 themselves for having overcome all the obstacles which stood 
 in the way ; represented the act as a mean of rescuing the min- 
 isters from contempt and poverty ; and concluded by inform- 
 ing them, that steps were taking to provide sufficient stipends 
 for the cures. When the measure came to be discussed in 
 the inferior judicatories, those who used in common to take 
 the lead were neither unanimous nor satisfied ; in the synod 
 of Lothian the opposition prevailed, and in that of Fife it was 
 violent and powerful. At a debate in the latter, Ferguson, 
 the oldest minister, and the last of the primitive reformers, 
 reminded them of the efforts the church had made to get rid 
 of bishops, and remarking, on the insidious manner in which 
 it was attempted, to restore what it had cost so much labour 
 to destroy, he compared it to the craft of the Greeks at Troy, 
 who, unable to enter the city by force, had persuaded the 
 Trojans with their own hands to pull down their walls, and 
 receive as an honour what was intended for their destruction. 
 He therefore warned them to reject the proffered boon, and 
 advised them, as the prophetess did her countrymen, Equo 
 ne credite Teucri. Davidson, who happened to be present, 
 seconded his venerable friend, and representing the parlia- 
 mentary commissioner as a bishop in disguise, concluded with 
 his well known apothegm : — " Busk ! busk ! busk him ai 
 bonnilie as ye can, and fetch him in as fairlie as ye will, we 
 can see him well eneuch, we see the horns of his mitre." 
 Every little art was practised to ensure a majority agreeable 
 to the king at the ensuing assembly, and when it met, Mel- 
 ville, who, disregarding the regulations of the royal visitor at 
 St. Andrews, attended, was ordered by the king to retire, 
 first from the meeting, and afterward from the town ; but al- 
 though the leader was dismissed, a considerable portion of 
 his spirit remained, and it was not till after the ministers had 
 been a week assembled, that the principal object of their 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 247 
 
 meeting was laid before them. It was introduced by a speech 
 from his majesty, in whicli he enumerated the services he had 
 done the church, in removing controversy, estabhshing dis- 
 cipline, and in his endeavours to restore her patrimony; to 
 effect which, he said, it was necessary for ministers to have 
 a vote in parliament. " 1 mind not," said he, " to bring in 
 Papistical or Anglican bishops, but only to have the best 
 and wisest of the ministry appointed by the general assembly 
 to have place in council, to deliberate on theii' own affairs, 
 and not to stand always at the door like poor supplicants, 
 despised and disregarded." When put to the vote, it was 
 carried by a majority of ten : — That it was necessary and 
 expedient for the weal of the church, that the ministry, as 
 the third estate of the realm, in name of the church, should 
 have a vote in parliament. The number to be admitted was 
 agreed to be fifty-one, the same as that which had power to 
 sit under the Papal hierarchy, and the choice of them to be- 
 long partly to the king, and partly to the church ; but the 
 name by which they were to be called, bishop or commission- 
 er, the manner of choosing, the duration of their commission, 
 for life or annually, their revenues, and the precautions nec- 
 essary for guarding against corruption, were referred to be 
 first discussed in the inferior judicatories, then three commis- 
 sioners from each of the provincial synods were to meet with 
 the king and the doctors, or theological professors, whose 
 decision, if unanimous, was to be final, if not, to be reported 
 to the next general assembly.* 
 
 In the interval, the king held several meetings with the 
 commissioners, for considering the restrictions. The most 
 interesting was in the palace of Holyroodhouse, where the 
 principal ministers, from the different quarters pf the country, 
 convened by royal mandate. Here, instead of proceeding as 
 was wished, to discuss the points left for consideration, the 
 primary question itself, whether it were lawful for ministers 
 to have a seat in parliament, was brought under review. 
 Those who supported the affirmative, argued that the gospel 
 does not destroy civil polity, and the ministry is a part of the 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 451. 
 
248 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 body politic, they therefore ought to be represented in parlia- 
 ment as well as any other description of persons in the state, 
 to give their advice, and consent to the passing of laws by 
 which they were to be governed ; that ministers are not pro- 
 hibited from discharging the relative duties of life, and to 
 exclude them entirely from secular employments, which were 
 no hinderance to their spiritual functions, was carrying the 
 doctrine to a length as absurd as the Papistical forbidding to 
 marry ; that there was as much distraction, and as much time 
 spent in commissions, in visiting churches, waiting on meet- 
 ings for fixing stipends, and in presenting articles and peti- 
 tions to the estates, as there would be in attending upon par-^ 
 liament; that it was allowed ministers might wait upon his 
 majesty, to give him advice in matters of state ; that the as- 
 sembly had often craved that none should vote in parliament 
 for the church, but such as had a commission from them; 
 and that Protestant bishops had sat in them since the refor- 
 mation. They who opposed the measure contended : — That 
 Christianity was distinct from civil polity ; that it might exist 
 under a Heathenish, Turkish, or any form of government, 
 for a seat in the high council of a land constituted no part of 
 the gospel; that the ministry was no civil corporation, nor 
 was it recognised as a distinct body in the state, and as part 
 of the body politic, ministers, like the rest of thtjir fellow 
 subjects, were represented by the commissioners of shires and 
 burghs in parliament ; that they knew little about the weight 
 or importance of the ministerial function, who thought the 
 due discharge of it compatible with the holding of any civil 
 office, and quoted a saying of queen Elizabeth's, when slie 
 bestowed a bishopric : — " Alas ! we have marred a good 
 preacher to-day ;" that occupation in the necessary duties of 
 life, was very different from being entangled in public civil 
 offices, nor did presenting an occasional petition bear any 
 analogy to a regular attendance in parliament; that visiting 
 churches was a ministerial duty, and if their time was spent 
 in looking after their stipends, that was a matter of necessity, 
 not of choice. They allowed that the question had been agi- 
 tated in the assemblies, but it was never found how it could 
 stand with the office of a minister to be a lord in parliament. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 249 
 
 The worldly dominion, dignity, and titles which it imports, 
 were found wholly irreconcilable to the injunctions of the 
 gospel, and opposite to the declarations and example of Jesus 
 Christ, who professed that his kingdom was not of this woi'ld, 
 rejected the offer of the Jews to make him a king, and refused 
 to divide the inheritance among the brethren, or to judge the 
 woman caught in adultery as a civil offence. When it was 
 asked : — Who could vote for the church if not the ministers ? 
 It was suggested that deacons, or elders, commissioned by 
 the general assembly, and liable to render an account to them 
 for their conduct, if any vote were necessary — which was not 
 granted — might be appointed; but no assembly, before the 
 last one, ever craved a seat in parliament for the ministers ; 
 and ever since the church had condemned Episcopacy, 1580, 
 she had objected to any ecclesiastical person being a member of 
 the legislature. On the discussion as to the time for which a 
 member should sit, if for life ? It was argued : — That no man 
 would put himself to the trouble and expense of going to par- 
 liament, if his seat were only for one year ; that he could not 
 in that time acquire a knowledge of business, or experience fit 
 to manage the affairs of the church. To this it was replied : — 
 That they were consulting at present for the good of the church 
 and the commonwealth, and not for the convenience of indi- 
 viduals ; and that the general assembly was better able to man- 
 age the affairs of the church than a few commissioners, who, as 
 had been experienced, were more likely to attend to themselves ; 
 that persons, by being appointed for life, might gain more 
 knowledge in the laws of men, but would know less of the 
 law of God ; they might be made better courtiers and politi- 
 cians, but they would be worse ministers of the gospel; their 
 constant attention being directed to secular matters, they 
 would become careless about their flocks, anxious for their 
 personal aggrandisement, eager for wealth and pre-eminence, 
 and in spite of caveats, would obtain superiority over their 
 brethren. They would become more ambitious to flatter the 
 prince than to serve the church, and he, in reward for their 
 services, would protect them even when acting against her 
 interest ; and although for their misconduct they might merit 
 deposition, lie would preserve them, their lordships, and their 
 VOL. II r. II 
 
250 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 livings. The meeting was then told : — That if they did not 
 consent to the voters being appointed for life, they would lose 
 the benefit. " The loss will be but small," answered Andrew 
 Melville, who was present as a doctor. " But then the min- 
 isters would be left to contempt and poverty." " It was their 
 Master's lot before them," rejoined Melville, " and better 
 poverty with sincerity, than promotion with corruption." 
 The name of the voters was then considered, whether com- 
 missioners or bishops ; the latter, it was said, was the Scrip- 
 tural title, and as parliament had restored the title, it would 
 be a pity to refuse the privilege, by startling at a name, a 
 thing indifferent. Melville replied : — The name was Scrip- 
 tural, but as they were to get an addition to their office, let 
 them also get an addition to their name, and it too might be 
 Scriptural, Peter calls such, AXXorg/o imaxomi, busy bishops. 
 But seriously the name bishop was applied in the Scriptures 
 to all ministers of the gospel; now, however, in common 
 speech it had become the designation of corrupt officers in 
 the church, as Antichristian and Anglican bishops, and al- 
 though the term in itself were indifferent, it had through 
 abuse become evil, and was so intimately connected with the 
 ideas of corruption and worldly pomp, that it was improper 
 to be used. Night closed the debate, and next day, when it 
 was renewed, an unlucky observation of Melville's, that the 
 Scriptures had been profaned rather than gravely handled, 
 was immediately taken home by his majesty, who very polite- 
 ly gave the speaker the lie. Melville replied : — He had in- 
 cluded himself in the censure ; but the king was petted, and 
 broke up the conference, as he said he found some men so 
 wedded to their ov/n conceits, they would not listen to reason. 
 He would therefore refer the matter to the next general as- 
 sembly, and if they refused the offer, let the blame of the 
 poverty and contempt of the church fall upon themselves. 
 As for himself, he should not want one of his estates, and he 
 would fill it with such as would do their duty to him and to 
 the country. 
 
 Two objects entirely engrossed James' attention at this 
 period — his succession to the throne of England, and his as- 
 cendency in the Scottish church. To accomplish the first, 
 
 51 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 251 
 
 he sent embassies to the Protestant princes of Germany, to 
 explain his title to the English crown, and require assistance 
 if any competitor should arise. In the meantime, he request- 
 ed that they would send a joint embassage to Eliza'beth, to 
 request her to inform them who she intended for her success- 
 or. The princes readily enough offered their assistance, but 
 declined sending any embassy. He likewise instructed Bruce, 
 the abbot of Kinloss, his minister at the court of Engiasd, to 
 solicit Elizabeth to acknowledge his title by some public act ; 
 but he could obtain from her nothing except evasive or gen- 
 eral answers. The private intrigues of this ambassador were 
 more successful; several of the nobility gave him the most 
 unreserved assurances of their determination to support his 
 master's claim, in opposition to whatever pretender might 
 arise. But his greatest difficulty was in managing the Roman 
 Catholics, whom nothing less than a complete re-establish- 
 ment in all their former power would satisfy, and who could 
 only be brought to acquiesce in James' accession by the hope 
 of seeing in him the restorer of the ancient faith. His anxiety 
 to sooth them had produced a general suspicion of his being 
 inclined to embrace their opinions, and a circumstance which 
 was discovered about this time, tended greatly to confirm 
 this. James had sent a secret mission to the court of Rome, 
 and in a letter to Clement VII. promised that the Catholics 
 should be treated with greater indulgence ; and, in order that 
 his holiness might not have his ear abused by false reports, 
 he wished a resident at the Papal court, who could infoinn 
 him always of the truth, and for this purpose he recommend- 
 ed Drummond, bishop of Vaison, a Scottishman, for whom 
 he asked the dignity of a cardinal's hat. This letter the 
 master of Gray, who then resided in Italy, had procured a 
 copy of, which he transmitted to Elizabeth, and she, having 
 previously heard something of the correspondence, imme- 
 diately despatched Bowes into Scotland, to inform James of 
 the information she had received, and reproach him with his 
 dishonourable conduct. Jame^, with the utmost confidence, 
 denied all knowledge of any such letter, and affirmed the 
 whole to be a contrivance of his enemies, to hurt his character 
 with the Protestants ; and his secretary, Elphingston, witli 
 
252 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 equal vehemence, perhaps with equal veracity, asserted the 
 same story. Aftervi^ard, however, the fact became too patent 
 to be denied, and the secretary was under the necessity of 
 saving his master's honour by compromising his own. Arch- 
 bishop Beaton also was sent to France as ambassador from 
 Scotland, and likewise restored to the temporalities of the sec 
 of Glasgow, another secret transaction which did not escape 
 detection, by the vigilance of the ministers. His publications 
 too were not calculated to inspire his subjects with confidence 
 in the steadiness of his principles. In his Basilicon Doron, 
 or instructions to prince Henry, he openly avows his hatred 
 toward the instructions and writings of his venerable preceptor, 
 and his enmity to the memory of our great reformer. He not 
 only warns his son against such " infamous invectives as 
 Buchanan's or Knox's chronicles," but exhorts him, if any of 
 these infamous libels remain until his day, to use the law 
 upon the keepers thereof. " For in that point," says he, " I 
 would have you a Pythagorist, to think that the very spirits 
 of these archi-bellowses of rebellion have made a transition in 
 them that hoards their books, or maintains their opinions, 
 punishing them even as if it were their authors risen again." * 
 And he endeavours to excite the passions of the prince against 
 the more zealous of the ministry, whom he stigmatizes as 
 puritans. " Take heed, therefore, my son, to such puritans, 
 very pests in the church and commonweal, whom no deserts 
 can oblige, neither oaths or promises bind, breathing nothing 
 but sedition or calumnies, aspiring without measure, railing 
 without reason, and making their own imaginations, without 
 any warrant of the word, the square of their conscience." 
 " I protest before the great God, and since I am here upon 
 my testament, it is no place for me to lie, that ye shall never 
 find, with any Highland or border thieves, greater ingrati- 
 tude, and more lies and perjuries, than with these phanatick 
 spirits." f In his Trew Law of a Free Monarchy, which is 
 evidently intended as an antidote to Buchanan's De Juri 
 Regni, he, without circumlocution, inculcates the principles 
 of the purest despotism, and enforces on his people the most 
 
 * King James' Works, p. 176. f lb. p. 160. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 unlimited obedience. *' Even when a king, as described by 
 Samuel, takes their sonnes for his horsemen, and some to 
 run before his charet, to ear his ground, and to reape his 
 haruest, and to make instruments of warre, and their daugh- 
 ters to make them apothecaries, and cooks, and bakers ; nor 
 though he should take their fields and their vineyards, and 
 their best olive trees, and give them to his servants, and take 
 the tenth of their seed, and of their vineyards, and of their 
 flocks, and give it to his servants, had they a right to mur- 
 mur ; the king was only accountable to God, and the chiefs 
 of the people had the example of Elias pointed out for their 
 imitation, who, under the monstrous persecution and tyranny 
 of Ahab, raised no rebellion, but did only " file to the wil- 
 dernes; where for fault of sustentation he was fed by the 
 corbies." * 
 
 It has been questioned whether theatrical representations be 
 calculated to promote the cause of virtue and good morals, 
 and the arguments of their most strenuous supporters have 
 not yet been able to establish an affirmative. With the fa- 
 thers of presbytery there was no question upon the subject. 
 Common play-actors were esteemed a nuisance, and their 
 habits and manners did not then tend to do away the stigma. 
 Yet while straining every nerve to establish, as he professed, 
 purity in the church, James procured a company of comedians 
 from England, and licensed them to play within the burgh. 
 The ministers, as guardians of public morals, could not pass 
 over in silence their unruly and immodest behaviour, and as 
 they did not think their performances likely to advance the re- 
 ligious improvement of the people, an object v/ith them of the 
 most supereminent insportance, the sessions, by their advice, 
 prohibited attendance at such places, under pain of church cen-. 
 sures. The king, who conceived his dear prerogative in dan- 
 ger, and considered this order — which was in fact but such a 
 regulation as every society had a right to impose upon its 
 members — as destructive of his license, called the session be- 
 fore the privy council, and ordered them to annul their act, 
 nor restrain the people from their innocent amusements. The 
 
 *■ King James' Works, p. 198. 
 
254 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ministers were inclined to resist, but the other members of 
 the session, afraid of a new contest with the king, yielded, 
 and next day proclamation was made for all the lieges who 
 chose to attend the play. 
 
 Busied as the king was with his future prospects and his 
 church business, his exchequer began to put him in mind that 
 he had other concerns. His foreign embassies and extraor- 
 dinaries forced him to look to the administration of his rev- 
 enues ; but such was the mismanagement since the retreat of 
 the Octavians, that the earl of Cassillis, who purchased the 
 office of treasurer, was so much annoyed with the multitude 
 of precepts, and the demands for money, that he was glad to 
 get rid of the post, after having expended forty thousand 
 merks, all of which he lost. Lord Elphingston succeeded; 
 but the same system of heedless extravagance and consequent 
 embarrassment continued till the king left Scotland. 
 
 The borders stilJ continued turbulent, but Sir Robert 
 Carey, who, with his friend Sir Robert Kerr, were now war- 
 dens, both cordially uniting, and neither affording protection 
 to the robbers of either kingdom, no very serious disturbance 
 took place. The only incidents worth recording, were the 
 destruction of a tribe of outlaws, and a polite interruption 
 v/hich Carey gave to the Scottish hunters, who, he thought, 
 were using too much freedom in his district. The outlaws 
 were a banditti of the name of Armstrong, who had taken 
 possession of the wildest tracts on the western border, and 
 committed grievous outrages, particularly on the adjacent 
 English distz'ict. Disowned by both kingdoms, the English 
 warden, with permission of the king of Scots, determined to 
 punish them. Learning that they had retired at his approach, 
 to an impervious forest to take shelter, he surrounded it 
 with his horse, and entering with his foot soldiers, took their 
 chiefs prisoners, whom he carried to England, and exacted 
 such conditions on the rest, as secured tranquillity for some 
 time. The Scottish gentlemen, who were pursuing the deer 
 on his borders without permission, were by Carey's orders 
 taken prisoners, and brought to Widdrington castle, where 
 he then resided, but after bein^g hospitably entertained, v/ere 
 dismissed, on giving their word not to renew their sport with- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 255 
 
 out leave. Afterward they always obtained liberty of hunt- 
 ing when they asked, and Carey himself often joined the chase. 
 The circumstance deserves notice merely as showing the 
 milder spirit which the expected union of the two kingdoms 
 was beginning to spread among the border chieftains, with 
 whom in former times, such an occurrence would have been 
 the signal for rapine and bloodshed. 
 
 The year 1600 commenced in Scotland, by act of the es- 
 tates, on the 1st day of January, previously to which, the new 
 year was reckoned from the 25th of March. The general 
 assembly, which was to decide the fate of presbytery, was 
 announced by sound of trumpet at the cross of Edinburgh. 
 It met at Montrose, as the most convenient place for the 
 ministers of the north, who were considered by the king as 
 the most manageable. The attendance of members was full, 
 and each side promised themselves the victory. The friends 
 of the establishment reckoned upon the unanswerable force 
 of their arguments ; their opponents trusted to the more 
 cogent influence of the crown. Both parties had used their 
 utmost exertions, and as their numbers were nearly equal, 
 the contest was looked forward to, with all that keenness and 
 anxiety which naturally arise, when interests are nearly bal- 
 anced. Had the general question been put to the vote, it is 
 difficult to say whether even the personal authority of the 
 king, together with his previous management, would have been 
 adequate to have carried the point, but all argument was stop- 
 ped, by a royal intimation that this had been already decided. 
 On the vote, whether the parliamentary representatives should 
 be elected annually, or for life, it carried for annual election, 
 by a majority of three, but this was afterward altered, so as 
 to render the annual election a mere form. The final resolu- 
 tions of this meeting were, that the general assembly should 
 nominate six for every vacant benefice, out of which number, 
 the king was to choose one, who was to take a seat in parlia- 
 ment under the name of commissioner ; but he who was thus 
 chosen, was to have no power to propose in parliament, coun- 
 cil, or convention, any thing ir name of the church, without 
 their special instructions, and was bound at every general 
 assembly, to give an account of the manner in which he had 
 
256 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 executed his trust, submit to their censure, and abide by their 
 decision without appeal. He was to attend faithfully upon 
 his own particular congregation in every point, as a pastor, 
 and submit to the trial or censure of his own presbytery, as 
 any other minister. In the administration of discipline, col- 
 lation of benefices, visitation, and other points of ecclesias- 
 tical government, he was neither to usurp or claim any power 
 or jurisdiction above any of his brethren, under pain of de- 
 privation, and if deposed by the general assembly, synod, or 
 presbytery, from his office in the ministry, he was to lose his 
 vote in parliament, ipso facto. Under such restriction, were 
 the first representatives of the Scottish church in parliament 
 to be chosen, but, as they were agreed to on the part of the 
 king, with no intention that they should ever stand in force, 
 and merely to have matters peaceably ended, and the inno- 
 vations introduced without noise, so they were broken the 
 very first opportunity that presented itself, and the bishoprics 
 of Ross, Caithness, and Aberdeen, were clandestinely filled 
 by the king, and a select number of such ministers as would 
 agree to whatever he chose to propose, without any attention 
 to the caveats. * 
 
 James, during the whole time this question respecting the 
 bishops was in agitation, toiled incessantly ; every other royal 
 care was dismissed, as of inferior moment ; his cabinet and 
 court were filled with ministers, his days were consum.ed in 
 public disputation, and his nights in private conferences ; he 
 was closeted with clergymen from sunset till the gray dawn, 
 and scarcely could his privy counsellors obtain an audience. 
 This anxiety of James to procure the introduction of Prelacy, 
 did not proceed from any regard to it as a religious institu- 
 tion — and this the reader of Scottish history during his reign, 
 and that of his son and grandson, must never forget — but 
 from a pious love for despotism. He saw the ease with which 
 the English clergy were managed, from the dependance which 
 that body had upon the king, as the head of the church ; that 
 all hopes of preferment lay in royal favour ; that advancement 
 in the hierarchy, must be sought by subserviency to the prince, 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 453. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 257 
 
 and as there could be no bishop without the king, he conclud- 
 ed there could be no king without a bishop, and he succeeded 
 in fatally inculcating the lesson on his son, till he forced the 
 English nation to try whether their affairs might not go on with- 
 out either. It is a truth never to be lost sight of by a Scottish- 
 man, in reading the history of the Stuarts, that it was the 
 struggle for unlimited tyranny on the part of the prince, and 
 for freedom of conscience on the part of the people, which 
 originated all the troubles, and that civil liberty in this coun- 
 try, is the child of religious freedom. 
 
 The king, having now obtained some respite from his eccle- 
 siastical labours, retired to Falkland, to spend the vacation. 
 While here enjoying himself in the amusement of hunting, his 
 royal person became the object of a new conspiracy. At this 
 distance of time, and without any additional information, it 
 would be improper to endeavour rendering this inexplicable 
 transaction more plain by conjecture. We must therefore trans- 
 mit it as we have received it, only with this caution, that as 
 our information is entirely derived from one side, and that the 
 side whose interest it was to blacken the characters of the suf- 
 ferers, we may be pardoned for not seeing clearly, either that 
 the escape of the king was so miraculous, or the guilt of his 
 host so transcendent as his majesty would have wished pos- 
 terity to believe. 
 
 The authors of this attempt, were John, earl of Gowrie, and 
 Alexander Ruthven, his brother, the sons of that earl who w as 
 concerned in the Raid of Ruthven, and who was judicially 
 murdered under the administration of Arran. They had 
 been restored to their honours and estates by James, and 
 although they had not figured much in public life, at one 
 time appear to have engaged the personal regard of the king ; 
 but they unfortunately enjoyed — what under weak princes is 
 always a crime — the universal affection of the people. Their 
 father's misfortunes had created an interest in their favour, 
 which their courteous and liberal manners confirmed; they 
 were exemplary in their conduct, and esteemed religious by 
 men themselves sincere ; they were adorned by all the accom- 
 plishments possessed by the nobility in that age, and had re- 
 ceived a superior education, which was improved by travel- 
 
 VOL. in, K K 
 
258 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ling ; open, generous, and brave, they might have been objects 
 of envy, but were not persons who would have been suspected 
 as conspirators. Yet, that they did engage in a conspiracy is 
 certain; the following are the particulars. Early one morn- 
 ing, as the king was about to follow his sport in the park, 
 Alexander Ruthven accosted him, and informed him of his 
 brother's having intercepted a person with a great quantity ot 
 foreign gold, whom he suspected to be a Jesuit, and prayed 
 the king to come with him, as he did not doubt but he would 
 learn something of importance from his examination. James, 
 unwilling to lose the chase, wished at first, to send a commis- 
 sion to the magistrates of Perth, to examine the man, but 
 Ruthven strongly urging that he should go thither himsel£; 
 he promised to proceed as soon as the sport was over. After 
 the death of the buck, the king, accompanied by the duke of 
 Lennox, the earl of Marr, and a few attendants in their hunt- 
 ing dresses, set out for the earl's house. At a little distance 
 from the town, Ruthven, whose behaviour during the whole 
 time had been restless and perturbed, rode forward to inform 
 his brother of the king's approach. The earl soon after, ac- 
 companied by a number of the citizens of Perth, met the king, 
 and in a pensive and melancholy mood, conducted his majesty 
 to his residence, apologizing for the want of preparation suit- 
 able to his dignity, by the honour being unexpected.* After 
 the king had taken a slight repast, and while his attendants 
 were at dinner in another room, Alexander whispered in his 
 ear, that it would now be a proper time to go and examine 
 the stranger. On which he arose, and desiring Sir Thomas 
 Erskine to follow, went with him. He was led to the foot of 
 a staircase, which when he had ascended, Ruthven turned, 
 and told Sir Thomas, his majesty did not wish his further 
 attendance, then shutting the door, he led the king through a 
 suite of rooms, the doors of which also he locked behind him, 
 and at last brought him to a small apartment, where a man 
 stood cased in armour, with a sword and dagger by his side. 
 At sight of him the king, startled, asked if that was the pei*- 
 son : "We have another business in hand," said Ruthven, seiz- 
 
 » Spotswood, p. 458. 
 51 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 25§ 
 
 mg the dagger from the man in armour, and pointing it to the 
 king's breast, " remember how my father was treated, now 
 you must answer for it, submit without resistance or noise, 
 else this shall avenge him." The king expostulated with 
 Ruthven ; " The deed," he said, " was done in my minority, I 
 never approved of it, and if my blood is now shed, you cannot 
 expect to escape." The man in armour stood all the while 
 trembling, and Ruthven, whose mind had not been thorough- 
 ly made up to use force, or suddenly struck with the difficulty 
 and danger of the attempt, hesitated, and after swearing the 
 king to keep silence, he withdrew by a back passage, to con- 
 sult with his brother. The attendants, who were impatient at 
 the absence of the king, were told by one of Gowrie's servants, 
 that he had set out for Falkland, and they ran to take horse, 
 the earl urging his servants to hasten their departure. Wliile 
 this bustle was going forward in the street, Alexander Ruth- 
 ven returned to James, and, telling him there was now no 
 remedy but he must die, made an effort to bind his hands. 
 The king resisted, and in the struggle, dragged Ruthven to- 
 ward a window, which looked into the street, and which he 
 had persuaded the person who was with him to open, while 
 they were left alone together during Ruthven's absence, from 
 which, perceiving the earl of Marr, he cried out with a wild and 
 affrighted voice. Help ! Earl of Marr, help ! Treason ! I am 
 murdered ! Marr and Lennox, on this ran, with the greatest 
 number of attendants, to the main entry, but found the doors 
 fastened, and it was some time before they could force an 
 entrance, but Sir John Ramsay, ascending the back passage, 
 which led to the chamber where the king was, was in the 
 room in an instant. The king and Ruthven were struggling 
 when he entered, and James called out to him as soon as he 
 saw him, to strike the traitor, which he did twice, and thrust 
 him out of the room. As he was descending the staircase, he 
 was met by Sir Thomas Erskine, and Sir Hugh Herries, who 
 asked him where the king was, and on receiving an ambiguous 
 answer, killed him on the spot During the scuffle, the man 
 in armour had escaped unobserved. Sir Thomas Erskine and 
 Herries, were followed by one Wilson, a footman, who had 
 only time to shut up the king in a closet, when the earl of 
 
260 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Gowrie burst in with two swords, one in each hand, followed 
 by seven well armed attendants, and threatened all with instant 
 death, when some of them exclaiming, You have murdered 
 the king, do you wish also to kill us ? Gowrie, struck with 
 amazement, pointed his swords to the floor, and remained stu- 
 pified. Ramsay perceived his consternation, and before he 
 could recover, pierced him through the heart. The servants, 
 seeing their master fall, ran, only Thomas Cranstoun, who 
 was severely wounded, was detained prisoner. Erskine and 
 Herries received slight hurts in the scuffle. The noise still 
 continuing at the main door, when it was ascertained that it 
 proceeded from Lennox, Marr, and their party, the king — 
 who had ventured out of the closet, on hearing the danger 
 was over — desired it to be opened, and after receiving their 
 congratulations, he kneeled down in the middle, commanding 
 them to kneel around, and " conceiving a prayer, gave thanks 
 to God for his deliverance, and that the device of these wicked 
 brothers was turned upon their own heads." 
 
 The rage of the people, who were ardently attached to tne 
 earl, their provost, on hearing the fate of the two brothers, 
 was unbounded. They flew to arms, and surrounding the 
 house, called for the earl, threatening to destroy it, and all 
 within it, if he were not delivered up to them. The king 
 himself addressed them from the window, admitted their mag- 
 istrates, with a number of the citizens, and explained to them 
 all that had happened, and with no little difficulty, succeeded 
 in pacifying the infuriated assemblage. Although the earl 
 was killed, having been run through the body, no blood ap- 
 peared. This circumstance, however, which might perhaps, 
 have ranked among the other inexplicables in which the con- 
 spiracy is still involved, was explained in the account publish- 
 ed by the king. A small parchment bag, full of magical 
 characters, and words of enchantment, was found in his pocket, 
 and "while these were about him, the wound of which he 
 died, bled not; but as soon as they were taken away, the 
 blood gushed out in great abundance," * In the evening, the 
 
 * This constituted part of the narrative, which Robert Bruce was banished 
 for not believing ! Arnot more naturally accounts for the circumstance. 
 Lord Gowrie had received the deep and mortal wound, by the thrust of a 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 261 
 
 king returned to Falkland, having left the two dead bodies in 
 charge of the magistrates of Perth. Diligent search was made 
 among the earl's papers, for any thing that might throw light 
 on the conspiracy, or the number of the conspirators, but 
 nothing could be found. Three of the earl's servants were 
 executed for taking arms against the king, and aiding the 
 conspiracy, but they all persisted in affirming, that they had 
 no knowledge whatever of any plot, and had they known that 
 the king's life was to be attacked, they would rather have shed 
 their blood in defending him, than have been guilty of the 
 smallest disrespect towards him. The important personage 
 who had been concealed in the chamber, who, it was imagin- 
 ed, could make great discoveries, was in vain sought for. The 
 agitation of the king had been so extreme, that he gave a 
 wron^ description of his appearance, and Younger, the earl's 
 secretary, coming from Dundee, to clear himself from the 
 imputation, was unluckily killed by mistake. At last, Andrew 
 Henderson, the chamberlain, upon a promise of his life, con- 
 fessed that he was the man, but for what pui*pose he had been 
 placed there, he did not know. No clue could be obtained to 
 unriddle the object of the conspiracy, nor was it known whether 
 any other than Gowrie and his brother were acquainted with, 
 or concerned in the plot. No i-eason could be assigned for this 
 dark and desperate treason on the part of Gowrie ; the king 
 had restored him the estates of his father, and as if to atone 
 for the injustice done the family, had made Alexander a gen- 
 tleman of his bedchamber, and procured the marriage of their 
 sister to the duke of Lennox ; and, besides being unimpeachable 
 in his conduct, he had no suspicious connexion with any party 
 in the state ; he had declared in warm terms, his gratitude to 
 the king for his kindness, nor was there any reason to suspect 
 him of hypocrisy. His abilities and his profession made him 
 be looked upon as a young nobleman from whom his country 
 might expect much, and in these troublous times, so big with 
 portent to religion and liberty, he was fondly considered as ' 
 one peculiarly fitted to be her hope and stay in the hour ol 
 
 small sword, and he had not immediately bled externally, but on his clothes 
 and Ins belt being taken off, and the body being turned into different pos- 
 tures in the stnpping, the blood bid gushed out. Crim. Trials, p. ri2. 
 
262 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 danger. Whether it was most natural for such a nobleman 
 to attempt the assassination of the king ? or whether it was 
 more likely for the king to wish to get rid of such a nobleman ? 
 were queries to which so mysterious an affair could not fail to 
 give rise, and as the king's character did not stand very high 
 for truth or honour, the nation was apt to draw the most un- 
 favourable conclusions ; and to this day, the fact of a conspir- 
 acy had remained doubtful, but for an incident which occurred 
 nine years after, and which I shall here narrate, in order to 
 give a complete view of the whole business. 
 
 A notary in Eyemouth, whose name was Sprot, had men- 
 tioned some particulars that implied a personal knowledge of 
 the crime. These rumours, getting into circulation, reached 
 the privy council, and they, deeming the matter worthy of 
 their attention, ordered Sprot to be apprehended, in the 
 month of April, 1608. When examined before the council and 
 by torture, he persisted for about two months in denying the 
 fact, or in contradictory statements, to which no credit was 
 given. At last he confessed that Logan of Restalrig, a gentle- 
 man of large fortune, but dissolute morals, was concerned in 
 the conspiracy with Gowrie, and a correspondence had been 
 carried on between tliem by means of Barr, a confidential ser- 
 vant of Logan's, who inadvertently communicated the secret to 
 him, and had shown him some of the letters from the conspir- 
 ators, two of which he had purloined, one from Gowrie, and 
 another from Logan, which the earl had returned after having 
 read. Sprot was tried, and convicted upon his own confes- 
 sion, and hanged the same day he was convicted, lest he should 
 retract. He, however, persevered, and having promised to 
 give the spectators a sign of the truth of his deposition, he 
 thrice clapped his hands after the executioner had thrown him 
 over. 
 
 Logan and his servant were both dead, the two noble broth- 
 ers, Ruthven, had suffered all that the law could inflict, and 
 there remained only the innocent offspring of Logan who could 
 suffer — The act which authorized the trial of a deceased trai- 
 tor's memory, or the forfeiture of his estate, limited the time to 
 five years after his death, and expressly declared that his trea- 
 ',on should have been notorious during his life ; neitlier of these 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 263 
 
 requisitions were observed in the trial of Logan; the strict 
 form, indeed, was kept in the most odious and disgusting part 
 of the letter, by digging up the mouldering bones of the ac- 
 cused, and pi'oducing them at the bar, but both the laws of 
 humanity, and the law of the land, were outraged by the sen- 
 tence, which declared his posterity infamous, and escheated 
 his estate ; nor was the sentence unanimous, till the urgent 
 entreaties of Dunbar induced the lords of the articles to signify 
 their assent with " tears of joy," to a verdict which was to wipe 
 away every imputation from the character of the king, but 
 which still left the subject of the treason involved in obscurity. 
 The letters whicli Sprot had mentioned in his confession were 
 not produced upon his trial ; the judges appear to have doubt- 
 ed the truth of his tale, and seem to have hanged the unfor- 
 tunate notary in a hurry, because they did not believe he was 
 guilty, and were afraid of losing his evidence in support of a 
 conspiracy for which the king's credit was pledged. Spots- 
 wood, who sat upon his trial as one of the assessors to the 
 justice-general, was uncertain whether or not he should men- 
 tion in his history the arrangement and execution of Sprot. 
 " His confession, though voluntary and constant, carrying 
 small probability, it seemed a very fiction, and a mere inven- 
 tion of the man's own brain ; for neither did he show the let- 
 ter, nor could any wise man think that Gowrie, who went 
 about that treason so secretly, would have communicated the 
 matter with such a man as this Restalrig was known to be ;" 
 but the letters, which were five in immber, were afterward 
 discovered among Sprot's papers, and produced before the 
 privy council, where two were compared with papers of Log- 
 an's handwriting, and from their similarity, sworn to as Log- 
 an's, by persons well qualified to judge of their authenticity. 
 The letters, however, although conclusive as to the fact of the 
 conspiracy, afford no certainty as to its nature, but they plain- 
 ly enough show that the death of the king was not the object ; 
 and the supposition of our latest historians is perhaps the 
 most accurate : — That the scheme was limited entirely to ob- 
 tain possession of the king's person, and gain the whole direc- 
 tion of the government, and that had it succeeded, it would 
 have been a counterpart to the Raid of Ruthven. Yet even 
 
264 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 this solution is liable to objection, from the circumstance of 
 none of the nobility in Scotland being party to the plof, and 
 the impossibility of Gowrie, without some very effectual as- 
 sistance, being able to retain possession of the king long 
 against his inclination. 
 
 Accounts of this transaction were speedily transmitted to 
 Edinburgh, and the council, without waiting for particulars, 
 summoned the ministers, and commanded them instantly to 
 assemble the people, and return God public thanks for the 
 king's preservation from this vile and horrible treason. When 
 the deliberate and matured accounts of this conspiracy contain 
 a number of extravagant and improbable circumstances, the 
 first rumours cannot be supposed to have been very consistent ; 
 and when the king and some of the principal evidence did not 
 agree in their details, after they had had time for reflection, it 
 may easily be imagined, that an express, sent off under the 
 agitation of the moment, might neither be remarkably clear 
 nor convincing, either as to the magnitude or the reality of 
 the danger. The ministers viewed the whole story with a 
 very doubting and suspicious eye, and, refusing to be made 
 the vehicles of conveying to the people, under semblance of a 
 solemn address to God, the impression of a deliverance, in 
 the truth of which they did not believe, they offered to give 
 thanks for the king's safety, but declined doing more. " For 
 nothing," they said, " ought to be delivered from the pulpit, 
 but what was known and believed by the minister to be truth." 
 As nothing could move them from this determination, the 
 council proceeded to the Cross in a body, and the bishop of 
 Ross, who was found more compliant, addressed a narrative 
 of the king's danger and deliverance to the crowd, and offered 
 up public thanksgiving. 
 
 Next Monday the king came to Edinburgh, and, accom- 
 panied by a considerable train of noblemen and gentry, went 
 to the Cross, where Patrick Galloway, the minister of his own 
 chapel, delivered a sermon, in the course of which he gave a 
 full account of the conspiracy. The day after, his majesty, in 
 a council held in the palace, set apart one thousand pounds 
 of the yearly rent of Scoone, to be distributed among the 
 poor annually, as a memorial for ever of his gratitude for this 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 265 
 
 special interposition of providence ; an order was at the same 
 time issued for public and solemn thanksgiving, to be offered 
 up in all the churches in the kingdom, on the last Tuesday of 
 September, and the Sabbath follo\ving. Yet still the ministers 
 of Edinburgh, and many of their brethren, continued incred- 
 ulous, and the more anxious the king Avas to enforce belief, 
 the more extensively did he increase suspicion. Stronger ar- 
 guments were then resorted to. All who would not give their 
 assent to the royal statement, were commanded to remove 
 from Edinburgh within forty-eight hours, and prohibited from 
 preaching within his majesty's dominions under pain of death. 
 Against this mode of reasoning it is difficult to contend, it 
 sometimes biases vei'y strong minds ; and the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, all but Robert Bruce, were induced to declare 
 themselves satisfied of the reality of a treasonable attempt 
 having been made upon the king ; but their unbelief was only 
 forgiven upon condition of their declaring in certain churches, 
 their persuasion of the truth of the treason, begging pardon 
 pubhcly of God and of the king for having ever doubted, and 
 seriously rebuking all such as still hesitated to believe. Bruce, 
 with a firm, unbending courage, worthy of the name, refused 
 to compromise his integrity. All that the threatenings, argu- 
 ments, or promises of the court, could induce him to say, was 
 that : — " He would reverence the king's account of the acci- 
 dent, but could not say he was persuaded of its truth." In- 
 stead of pi'oducing evidence which would have silenced every 
 objection, or yielding in the least to conscientious scruples, 
 James was determined that Bruce, whether he believed it or 
 not, should declai'e that he did. " Will cannot be restrain- 
 ed," replied Bruce in one of his conversations with the king, 
 " I might lie unto you with my mouth, but I cannot trust 
 \\ithout evidence." " Then I see you will not believe me," 
 said James. Bruce, who could not say that he would, was 
 banished to France. 
 
 Parliament, less scrupulous than the ministers, proceeded 
 immediately to forfeit the inheritance of Gowrie, and inflict 
 on the inanimate bodies all the contumely awarded traitors. 
 The carcasses of the two brothers were produced in court, 
 an indictment preferred against them, witnesses examined, 
 
 VOL, III. L L 
 
266 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and all tlie rxmtine of a legal trial gone through ; they were 
 sentenced, carried to the cross, hung upon a gibbet, quarter- 
 ed, and the ghastly heads affixed on the tolbooth ; the very 
 name itself was abolished; and to hand down to all future 
 ages the memoiy of the most wonderful escape, it was ordain- 
 ed that the 5th day of August should be kept yearly in all 
 times and ages to come, by all subjects of the realm of Scot- 
 land, as a perpetual monument of their most humble, hearty, 
 and unfeigned thanks to God, for this miraculous and extraor- 
 dinary deliverance from the horrible and detestable parricide, 
 attempted against his majesty's most noble person.* In this 
 parliament four ministers voted as bishops. 
 
 As the prospect of James' mounting the English throne 
 drew nearer, his connexion with the courtiers of Elizabeth 
 grew closer, and he became deeply interested in the intrigues 
 of her cabinet. But in his intercourse with the parties into 
 which her ministers and favourites split, James' timid, tem- 
 porizing policy, was perhaps of some service, as it led him to 
 flatter the hopes of each, while he committed himself to none. 
 For some time two rivals, of very diiferent character, had 
 aimed at superiority — the earl of Essex, and Sir Robert Cecil, 
 son of lord treasurer Burleigh ; the one an open, brave, high 
 spirited nobleman ; the other an assiduous, able, and insinu- 
 ating courtier. In their struggles for power, Essex attached 
 himself to the king of Scots, Cecil cultivated the favour of 
 his mistress ; and while the first sought to attain his end by 
 his impetuosity, the latter gained his object by his patient 
 prudence. The means by which the crafty secretary obtained 
 the advantage over the more unguarded soldier, belongs to 
 English history. But when driven to despair, the latter at- 
 tempted to regain by violence an ascendency in the govern- 
 ment ; he endeavoured to link his fortune with that of the 
 Scottish monarch. Previously to his breaking out into open 
 insurrection against his sovereign, he had written to James, 
 informing him of some surmises, respecting an attempt to be 
 made in favour of the Spanish Infanta's claims to the crown 
 of England, and urging him to take ai-nis and assert his right ; 
 
 * Galderwood, p, 446. Robertson. laing. Spotswood. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 26V 
 
 but James wisely refused to hazard a certain succession by a 
 premature attempt, and although he encouraged the corre- 
 spondence of the earl, he did not approve of any of his rash 
 proposals. Disappointed in obtaining the concurrence of the 
 Scottish king, he, with a few followers, attempted to force his 
 way into the presence of his sovereign^, and dictate to her the 
 choice of her advisers; but he had miscalculated upon his 
 strength, and failing in his enterprise, atoned for his rashness 
 on the scaffold. 
 
 James, as soon as he heard of the apprehension of Essex, 
 sent off the earl of Marr, and Bruce, abbot of Kinloss, as 
 ambassadors extraordinary to England, with instructions to 
 intercede in behalf of Essex ; but before they reached London, 
 that unfortunate nobleman had perished by the hands of the 
 executioner, and the Scottish ambassadors, finding they came 
 too late to save the earl, congratulated the queen on her hap- 
 py escape from such an audacious conspiracy. Elizabeth, al 
 though she was not unacquainted with the king's correspond- 
 ence with Essex, received the congratulations of the legation 
 with great apparent cordiality, and added two thousand per 
 annum to the pension she allowed James, as a mark of her 
 increasing esteem. The ambassadors remained for some time 
 in England, and in private confirmed the inclinations of the 
 English nobility, who now, as Elizabeth's days began to draw 
 towards a close, turned their eyes towards the rising sun, and 
 offered him assurances of their attachment and support. 
 Cecil too, about this time, made advances towards them, and 
 opened a cautious coi-respondence with the king of Scots, who 
 had now the pleasure of seeing all the obstacles, which had 
 threatened to interrupt his ascent to the British throne, daily 
 vanishing, and a general feeling in his favour, smoothing his 
 way to the long and ardently wished for succession. 
 
 Amid this exhilarating prospect, the only dark spots arose 
 irom the Roman Catholics, whom James had so unwisely 
 courted. The pope, who was also anxiously looking for the 
 decease of Elizabeth, sent briefs to England, warning all who 
 professed the Romish faith, to acknowledge no man as king 
 after the queen's death, whatever his right by blood, unless 
 fie should swear to promote the Catholic, Roman religion to 
 
268 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the utmost of tiis power ; and Hamilton and Hay, two active 
 intriguing Jesuits, arrived about the same time in Scotland, 
 to disseminate similar sentiments, and continued for years to 
 find coujatenance and protection in the north. A temporary 
 chagrin at this conduct, and a sense of the dissatisfaction 
 which his Scottish subjects felt at the treatment of the minis- 
 ters of Edinburgh, on account of the Gowrie case, many of 
 whom sympathized both with their incredulity and sufferings, 
 appear to have awakened in the king's bosom a glow of affec- 
 tion towards the simpler, but more friendly and honest insti- 
 tutions of his native land. At a meeting of the general assem- 
 bly, which was held at Bruntisland, after the ministers had 
 been deliberating on the causes which had produced a defec- 
 tion from the purity, zeal, and practice of the true religion in 
 all the states of the country, and on the remedies for these 
 evils, the king rose, and with tears confessed his offences and 
 mismanagement in the government of the kingdom ; and lift- 
 ing up his hand, he vowed, in the presence of God and of the 
 assembly, that he would, by the grace of God, live and die 
 in the religion presently professed in the realm of Scotland, 
 defend it against its adversaries, minister justice faithfully to 
 his subjects, discountenance those who attempted to hinder 
 him in this good work, reform whatever was amiss in his 
 person or family, and perform all the duties of a good and 
 Christian king better than he had hitherto performed them. 
 The members, at his request, pledged themselves for the dis- 
 chai-ge of their duty, and this mutual vow was next Sabbath 
 published from the pulpits as a proof of the sincere harmony 
 subsisting between the king and the church.* 
 
 About the same time, a plan was projected for civilizing the 
 Western Islands. These islands remained in a state little re- 
 moved from barbarism, under a merely nominal subjection to 
 the crown of Scotland. The conflicts of the clans were car- 
 ried on there with circumstances of horrid cruelty, without 
 regard to the mandates of a power whose feeble arm could 
 not reach them, and the king, who " thought no other of 
 them all than as wolves and wild boares," considered them a 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 456. M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. ii. pp. 17<i— 5. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 269 
 
 race incapable of culture in their native soil, and whom it 
 would be necessary to transplant to a more favourable situa- 
 tion to learn civilization, concurred in the measures for this 
 jjurpose. A number of gentlemen, chiefly belonging to Fife, 
 either suggested or seconded the plan of removing the inhabi- 
 tants to the continent, and supplying their place with more 
 industrious Lowlanders ; and having obtained a charter from 
 his majesty, confirmed by parliament, they undertook to 
 plant colonies in Lewis. They were induced to do this from 
 the account they had received of the fertility of the island, 
 and the distracted state of the inhabitants, owing to a dispute 
 about the succession of the chieftain. Rory M'Leod, the old 
 chief, had married a daughter of M'Kenzie's of Kintail, by 
 whom he had a son named Connal ; but divorcing her, he 
 declared her son illegitimate, and married a sister of the chief 
 M'Lean, by whom he had two sons, Torquil Dhu, and 
 Norman ; besides these, he had three children, Niel, Rory, 
 and Murdo, by other women. On his death, Torquil Dhu 
 seized the island, and was acknowledged by the inhabitants as 
 lawful heir, and Connal, retiring to his mother's kindred, be- 
 sought their assistance to conquer his rightful inheritance ; 
 but as Torquil was the favourite of the clan, it would have 
 been dangerous, if not desperate, to attempt attacking hini 
 openly. He was, therefore, enticed on boai'd a Dutch vessel, 
 which some of Connal's friends had piratically seized, and while 
 waiting, as he supposed, for a banquet, was made prisoner 
 along with all his attendants, carried to the peninsula of Kin- 
 tail, and treacherously put to death. On this, the bastard 
 brothers, Niel and Murdo, declared for Norman, and took 
 possession of the island in his name; and Connal seeing no 
 hopes of establishing himself, surrendered his right to M'Ken- 
 zie, lord Kintail. At this juncture the colonists arrived in 
 Loch Stornoway. On their landing i they were opposed by 
 the M'Leods, but soon dispersed them, and commenced 
 building a village near where the town of Stornoway now 
 stands. Learmont of Balcokny, having seen the operations 
 commenced, embarked on board one of the largest vessels to 
 return to Scotland for stores ; ])ut while his vessel lay becalm- 
 ed, and suspecting nothing, he was suddenly attacked by ? 
 
270 HISTOIIY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 fleet of Birlings * under Murdo, boarded, aud all in the ship 
 killed except himself, who was taken prisoner, and detained 
 till ransomed by his friends. The remaining settlers had 
 detached Niel, who, enraged at receiving none of the 
 plunder from Murdo, was indaced to betray his brother. 
 Having taken him with twelve of his retainers, he delivered 
 him into the hands of the colonists, and beheaded the others 
 upon the spot. Murdo was sent to St. Andrews, where he 
 was tried and hanged. The colonists, now thinking them- 
 selves secure, made a partition of the lands, and forced the 
 natives to swear allegiance; but while they were proceeding 
 quiedy with their settlement, they were unexpectedly attack- 
 ed by Norman M'Leod, their buildings plundered and set on 
 fii'e, and themselves forced to make a formal resicnation to 
 him of all their pretended right to the island ; to engage to 
 procure for him a free pardon from the king for all their past 
 conduct; and to leave as hostages Sir James Spence and 
 Thomas Monypeny of Kinkell, till the conditions were faith- 
 fully fulfilled. S'lr James Anstruther was then allowed to de- 
 part v/ith the wretched survivors, and obtaining from ihe 
 king the promised pardon, the hostages were delivered up. 
 Thus the whole attempt was rendered abortive. 
 
 What might have been the success of this plan, had the 
 colony been established, it is needless to conjecture, but it 
 luust have been expensive and slow, and attended with much 
 bloodshed.f On this account, perhaps, the failure is scarcely 
 to ')e regretted, but it is impossible not to lament that the 
 attention of the church of Scotland should have been diverted 
 by vexatious disputes, from the more peaceful plans which 
 they had formed for civilizing the natives, by again enlight- 
 ening them by the introduction of knowledge into these 
 isles, whence the first rays of Christianity had beamed on 
 tlie regions of the north. In the year 1597, the general as- 
 sembly had under their consideration, the condition of the 
 Flighlands and Islands of Scotland, and if any judgment 
 may be formed from the report of those of their number 
 
 * Small boats peculiar to these islands. 
 + Spotswoocl, p. 4(SS. Conflicts of the clans 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 271 
 
 who visited the north, or if any similar disposition existed in 
 the Hebrides, they might have been brought within the pale 
 of the community, and rendered quiet and useful subjects, 
 with little expense to the state. The chief of the clan M'ln- 
 tosh, offered to support what ministers might be sent to in- 
 struct his vassals, '' Get me men," said he, " and I will 
 give you surety, both for the safety of their persons, and the 
 payment of their stipends," and a general desire for instruc- 
 tion was represented as pervading all the population.* It 
 James suggested the project for civilizing the Hebrides, he seejns 
 to have given up both the Highlands and Boi'ders in despair, 
 reserving their amelioration, till armed with the power of Eng- 
 land, a period which vvas now fast approaching. 
 
 Elizabeth, who, during her long reign, had enjoyed an al- 
 most uninterrupted state of good health, began, during the 
 winter, to exhibit symptoms of approaching dissolution. Her 
 appetite failed, she could not sleep, and a settled dejection 
 took possession of her mind ; she courted solitude, and shun- 
 ned company, sat constantly in the dark, and was often in 
 tears. Various reasons were assigned for her melancholy, 
 but what now has obtained most credit is, that some incidents 
 occurred, which discovered the malice of Essex' enemies, 
 and the arts by which she had been induced to sign the death 
 warrant of a man she tenderly loved. When Essex stood 
 highest in her favour, he hinted, in one of their fond inter- 
 views, the possibility of losing her affection, through the in- 
 sidious arts of rivals in his absence, when she, pulling a ring 
 from her finger, gave it him as a pledge of her constancy, and 
 assured him, into whatever misconduct he might be betrayed, 
 or however misrepresentation might prejudice her against 
 him, that ring would procure him a favourable hearing, and 
 recall her kindness whenever it was presented. After his 
 condemnation, he resolved to try the efficacy of this gift, but 
 by mistake it was intrusted to the countess of Southampton 
 to deliver, and her husband, who was one of Essex' most 
 implacable enemies, prevailed on her to keep back the im- 
 portant message. She did so, and Elizabeth, disappointed 
 
 * James Melville's Diary, quoted by Dr. M'Crie, Life of Melville, vol, ii. 
 p. 177. . 
 
2*72 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 in this last appeal, which she attributed to his obstinacy, in 
 a moment of irritated pride, was persuaded to consent to the 
 death of a person, who, she thought, disdained to ask for 
 mercy. Struck with remorse, the countess on her deathbed, 
 begged an interview with the queen, and, entreating her for- 
 giveness, discovered the fatal secret. Elizabeth, in an agony 
 shook the dying countess in her bed, exclaiming, " God might 
 pardon her, but she never could." From this date, she re- 
 signed herself entirely to the melancholy suggestions of hope- 
 less regret. She refused food and sustenance, nor could she 
 be persuaded either to go to bed, or take medicine. Her 
 deep sighs and groans declared the pangs of an incurable 
 sorrow, which she could not conceal, but was unwilling to 
 communicate. The anguish of her mind soon preyed upon 
 her body, and the issue of this inward torture appeared neither 
 distant nor doubtful. Her council having assembled, sent a 
 deputation to know her intention as to her successor, to whom 
 she answered, that her throne had been the throne of kings, 
 and she would have no mean person to sit upon it ; and on 
 Cecil requesting her to be more explicit, she asked, who could 
 she mean but her nearest relative, the king of Scots "^ Being 
 then admonished by the archbishop of Canterbury, to fix her 
 thoughts upon God, she replied that she did so, nor did her 
 mind wander in the least from him. Soon after, she sunk into 
 a kind of slumber, from which she never awoke. She died in 
 the seventieth year of her age, and in the forty-fifth of her 
 reign, on the 24tli day of March, 1603, and on the same day, 
 the king of Scots was proclaimed at Whitehall, and at the Cross 
 in Cheapside, king of England. 
 
 As a queen, Elizabeth's long and successful reign, justifies 
 the encomiums which historians have paid to her prudence 
 and wisdom. The vigour of her administration, and the 
 propriety with which she chose her counsellors, her dignified 
 deportment, and independent frugality, the respect which 
 England commanded abroad, and the increasing prosperity 
 enjoyed at home, claim, and have received their just meed of 
 praise. Her policy towards Scotland, was of a more doubt- 
 ful character, nor can her attention to preserve a balance 
 between the rival factions in that unhappy country, and tlie 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 273 
 
 consequent bloodshed of wliich this equipoise was the occa- 
 sion, be mentioned without censure. Her treatment of Mary 
 was inhospitable, unjust, ungenerous, and inhuman. 
 
 Sir Robert Carey, lord Hunsdon's youngest son, brought 
 the first intelligence of the queen of England's death to James. 
 After being five years warden of the middle march, he paid 
 a visit to court in the last winter of the queen's life, and per- 
 ceiving her declining health, formed the resolution of being 
 the first messenger of the tidings. He set out from London 
 on the day she died, and travelling without intermission, ar- 
 rived in Edinburgh on Saturday at night, just as the king 
 had o-one to bed. He was immediately admitted to his maj- 
 esty, and kneeling by his bedside, informed him of Elizabeth's 
 death, and was the first person in his dominions, who had the 
 honour of saluting him king of England, Scotland, France, 
 and Ireland. He confirmed his despatches, by presenting his 
 new sovereign with a ring, that his sister, lady Scroop, had 
 taken from the finger of the deceased queen. James received 
 the news of his elevation with a composure, which his pre- 
 paratory expectation enabled him, without much exertion, to 
 preserve, but as Carey was only a private messenger, he did 
 not make it public, till the arrival of a regular notification. 
 
 All England was prepared for the accession of the Scottish 
 king, and their sorrow at the loss of their queen, was swal- 
 lowed up in the high expectations they formed of their new 
 monarch. The privy council, as soon as they possibly could, 
 despatched Sir Charles Percy, brother to the earl of North- 
 umberland, and Thomas Somerset, earl of Worcester's son, 
 with a letter to the Scottish king, signed by all the peers and 
 privy counsellors then in London, containing an official ac- 
 count of the queen's death, and of the joy which the procla- 
 mation of his accession had occasioned in London. They 
 ariived three days after Carey, and the king's titles were then 
 solemnly proclaimed. James immediately prepared to take 
 possession of his new kingdom ; he intrusted the govern- 
 ment of Scotland to the privy council, and the care of his 
 children to several noblemen, the Prince to the earl of Marr, 
 Charles, duke of Albany, to the president of the session, 
 and Elizabeth to the earl of Linlithgow, and appointeti 
 
 VOL. III. M M 
 
274 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the queen to follow in about a month. On the Sabbath foU 
 lowing, he attended in the church of St. Giles, where a ser- 
 mon was delivered by Mr. John Hall, in which he recount- 
 ed the numerous mercies his majesty had received, and as 
 none of the smallest, he noticed his peaceable succession 
 to the crown of England, evidently the work of God's own 
 hand, who had directed the hearts of so numerous a people 
 to exhibit such unanimity in his righteous cause, and there- 
 fore exhorted him to thankfulness, and a steadfast adherence 
 to maintain God's truth. After sermon, the king rose, and 
 addressed the congregation in a long valedictory oration, 
 made many professions of unalfcerable affection for his people, 
 and promised frequently to revisit them, once in the three 
 years at least, to take an account pei'sonally of the proper 
 execution of justice among them, to gratify them with a sight 
 of his royal person, and afford them an opportunity, from the 
 meanest to the highest, of pouring their complaints into his 
 paternal bosom, and even when absent, he would never forget 
 he was their native prince, assured them he would not change 
 their ecclesiastical polity, and promised, as God had promot- 
 ed him to greater power, so he would use it in endeavouring 
 to remove corruption. 
 
 At such a time, amid the exultation of all ranks on his 
 great fortune, it was expected that the king would have pass- 
 ed a general act of oblivion, and forgotten for ever the of- 
 fences which had occurred during his encroachments on the 
 church, but he carried his animosities with him, and left not 
 one token of forgiveness behind him. Robert Bruce, after 
 the Scottish parliament had found Gowrie guilty of the treason, 
 declared his willingness to acquiesce in their sentence, and 
 had been allowed to return to his native country, but not 
 restored to his office. By the advice of his friends, he now 
 came to Edinburgh, and by the king's own invitation, had 
 an interview with him, yet he obtained no mitigation of his 
 sentence. Andrew Melville was left in ward at St. Andrews, 
 and John Davidson in Edinburgh. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 5th of April, he set out on his journey, 
 accompanied by the duke of Lennox, the earls of Marr, 
 Moray, Argyle, and a number of other noblemen, the bishops 
 51 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 275 
 
 of Ross, Dunkeld, and several of the ministers, besides many 
 barons, and gentlemen of inferior rank. At Haddington, he 
 was met by a deputation from the synod of Lothian, to whom 
 he renewed his assertions, that he did not intend to make 
 any further innovations in the church, and desired them to 
 tell their brethren, that it was his anxious desire to promote 
 peace, and he hoped they would live together in unity. On 
 the first day he lodged at Dunglas, the house of lord Hume, 
 and next day, his train swelling as he went along, proceeded 
 towards Berwick. On the boundary he was received by the 
 marshal. Sir John Carey, accompanied by the garrison, who 
 saluted him with several vollies of rausquetry, which were an- 
 swered by the cannon on the walls, while the shouts of an im- 
 mense multitude, mingled with, and almost equalled the thun- 
 dering welcome. As the king entered the gates, the keys of 
 the town were delivered to him by William Selby, the gentle- 
 man porter, whom he knighted on the occasion. He was re- 
 ceived at the market-place by the mayor, who presented him 
 with the town's charter, and a purse of gold. From the market- 
 place he went to the church, to give God thanks for granting 
 him a peaceable entrance into his new kingdom. Next day 
 he visited the fortifications, port, and magazines, and review- 
 ed the military. While here he was called upon to exercise 
 his authority, intelligence being brought of some serious dis- 
 turbances, created by a formidable banditti, about three hun- 
 dred strong, in the western marches, who extended their 
 ravages as far as Penrith. To repress these outrages, he 
 despatched Sir William Selby, with two hundred foot, and 
 fifty horse of the garrison, empowering him to require assist- 
 ance from all the troops on his line of march, English and 
 Scottish, by which means, Selby soon found himself at the 
 head of a formidable force, at whose approach the plunder- 
 ers fled, and the chiefs being taken, were sent to Carlisle, 
 and executed. 
 
 During the I'est of the king's progress, all ranks vied in their 
 demonstrations of joy, and the nobility of the counties through 
 which he passed, entertained him with the most splendid 
 magnificence. From Berwick to London occupied a month, 
 and on his arrival in the capital, so delighted had he been 
 
276 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 with his reception on the road, that he compared it to a con- 
 tinued hunting excursion. On the 7th of May he entered the 
 metropolis, amid the acclamations of immense multitudes. 
 Thus were the two rival nations, whose deadly quarrels had 
 so long deluged the island with blood, united under one 
 monarch. Yet was not the union accompanied immediately 
 by those advantages, which at first sight, and to a superficial 
 view, it seemed so well adapted to promote. It had been 
 confidently anticipated, that the subjects of one monarch 
 would forget all mutual animosity, and the king himself was 
 highly charmed with a quibble he delighted to repeat, that 
 his accession had turned the borders of hostile nations, into 
 the heart of one loving people. 
 
 Inhabiting the same island, sprung from a kindred root, 
 and speaking a similar language, it did not appear being too 
 sanguine, to reckon upon a speedy and coi'dial coalescence 
 between the English and the Scots, especially as during the 
 whole reign of Elizabeth, there had been constant peace be- 
 tween the two countries, and both, during the last years of 
 her life, had looked forward to the event with expectation, 
 while a concurrence of fortunate circumstances had smoothed 
 the way to its accomplishment, without any of those irritating 
 incidents, which frequently attend less important transfers of 
 property or power. Yet, by a little attention to the relative 
 situation of the countries, it will be easily perceived, that there 
 were a sufficient number of opposing points, to render it a 
 matter of no surprise, that a century should elapse, ere the 
 component parts of this homogeneous mass, should amalga- 
 mate into one solid indestructible body. 
 
 Inured to rapine and licentiousness, the spirit of the bor- 
 derers could not at once be suppressed, or their habits altered, 
 and having been more accustomed to observe the movements 
 of their neighbours, than consult the regulations of their 
 rulers, they were inclined in general to disturbance, by ra- 
 pacity of disposition, or mutual provocation, without reference 
 to the friendship or hostility of the two governments. Time, 
 therefore, was requisite to introduce a sense of common hon- 
 esty, among men who were wont to consider force as right, 
 lo habituate tiiem to a regular distribution of justice, and re- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 277 
 
 concile them to the pursuits of honest industry. Nor are the 
 antipathies which spring up among nations, who, for centur- 
 ies have been in use to consider themselves as natural ene- 
 mies, which are incorporated with the education, and handed 
 down in the sports of the children, easily eradicated from the 
 minds even of the well informed part of the community, nor 
 are they at once to be rooted out, by the mere accident of 
 being united under one prince. The English had been taught 
 to look upon the Scots as their vassals, over whom they had 
 a right of superiority, and the pride of national independence, 
 which the Scots had so long struggled for, induced them to 
 eye all the advances of the English with suspicion. The 
 nobles, partaking of these feelings, became more envious, and 
 their rivalry more rancorous, than is common among the 
 polished hypocrites, who alternately flatter and betray each 
 other in the courts of their native princes. The English, who 
 had hitherto solely filled the highest offices in the state, look- 
 ed with jealousy upon the Scots, who were admitted to places 
 of honour and trust, and the Scots, who, in the exaltation of 
 their king to the throne of England, had considered that 
 kingdom as an acquisition which would enable him to gratify 
 their ambition, imagined themselves to have the first claim 
 on the royal munificence, and viewed with chagrin, every 
 drop of the current that flowed past them. The English were 
 accustomed to despise the Scots as a poor, and the Scots to 
 envy the English as a rich people, and the intercourse be- 
 tween the middling and lower ranks of both countries had 
 been so circumscribed, that an interchange of good offices, 
 or a knowledge of each other, had not weakened the mutual 
 prejudices of either. At that time, trade and commerce 
 too, were becoming of importance, and as in their infan- 
 cy, the advantages are always attempted to be seemed to 
 one party by restrictions, and the free interchange of com- 
 modities between nations for their mutual advantage, which, 
 even in this self-styled enlightened age, is but partially prac- 
 tised, was not then understood. The narrow views, and 
 selfish policy of the merchants and legislatures, loaded vvith 
 restrictions, the imports and exports of the two nations, and 
 Scotland and England, standing then in the posiiion ofsUtin- 
 
278 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 gers, lately enemies, the mistaken jealousies of trade, were 
 added to the other causes of distrust and suspicion. 
 
 These considerations might have checked the ardent ex- 
 pectations of speculators upon the immediate practicability of 
 incorporating the two nations ; but in nothing are men so apt 
 to be deceived as in political theories. Unfortunately such 
 is the intractability of the material, that, however beautiful 
 the elevation, and well arranged the plan may be in the 
 drawing, scarcely one of the superstructures, which political 
 architects have attempted to rear, at once, and by previously 
 laid down rules, have either been convenient or durable. 
 We are indebted to the arrangement of circumstances, and 
 the adaptation of means to the end, by that over-ruling " prov- 
 idence which ever shapes our ends, rough hew tliem as we 
 may, " for almost all that is valuable in the constitution of 
 society, or the formation of governments. It is humbling to 
 reflect how little either of national prosperity or happiness 
 has been the result of human foresight ; or how little . rulers 
 and people are taught wisdom by experience. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Book III. 
 
 Scotland, at the accession of James to the Enghsh throne 
 presented an extremely wretched picture of a factious, poor, 
 ill-governed kingdom, hastening to anarchy, and surrounded 
 with barbarism. The borders were inhabited by lawless 
 banditti, who lived by rapine and plunder. The Highlands 
 were possessed by a diiferent race, of a strange language, but 
 equally unacquainted with the restraints of government, or 
 the manners of civilized life, their kindness was limited to 
 their clan, and their loyalty to their chief: and the gloomy 
 indolence of the mountains was only interrupted by conflicts 
 among the ferocious chieftains, or plundering incursions on 
 their wealthier neighbours. The islands were the haunts of, 
 perhaps, more unreclaimed savages than either, whose pira- 
 cies infested the western coasts, and who were often trouble- 
 some, but seldom advantageous to the Scottish crown. The 
 Lowlands, harassed by the licentiousness which a weak gov- 
 ernment, and the partial administration of justice, never fail 
 to produce, were, besides, distracted by religious dissension, 
 which the mischievous, intermeddling policy of their polemical 
 king increased and prolonged. 
 
 Nor was the accession of James productive of any of the 
 expected advantages. Its first effects were hurtful. The 
 loss of the pageantries, trappings, and immediate retainers 
 of the prince, was severely felt in a metropolis which had 
 no commerce, and hardly any other source from which to 
 supply the deficiency thus occasioned in the circulation of 
 
280 IIISTORV OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 money, and the consequent want of employment among the 
 lower ranks, many of whom depended for subsistence upon 
 the expenditure of the royal retinue. The removal of the 
 king to a more wealthy country increased the splendour of 
 the court, and the nobles of his poorer state, attracted round 
 him by the hope of advantage, were induced to imitate the 
 manners, and rival the expense of their richer competitors 
 for royal favour. They thus exhausted their fortunes at a 
 distance, and impoverished their tenants, by drawing from 
 them the supplies necessary to support tlieir rank in their 
 visits to England ; and the intercourse between the two na- 
 tions being so slender, the money expended never returned 
 to Scotland, whose exports, limited to a few raw materials, 
 were insufficient to replace the continual drain. The cessa- 
 tion of hostilities between the two nations, and the pacific 
 maxims of the monarch, diminished the importance of mili- 
 tary followers among the nobles, and the produce of their 
 estates, heretofore consumed in rude and plentiful hospitality 
 on the spot, was now converted into money, and expended 
 on foreign luxuries and artificial grandeur, in a distant 
 capital, whei'e it did not produce half the influence or the 
 power, but, while it was doubly exhausting to the vassal 
 and his lord, ruptured the ties that held them together, and 
 in depressing the cultivators of the soil, at the same time re- 
 duced the noble, from the pi'oud station of a chief, to the 
 mean and beggarly rank of a courtier, constraining him to act 
 the tyrant to his dependants, and in turn bow the knee to a 
 master. 
 
 James was fully aware of the difference in his situation, 
 which the possession of the wealth and power of England 
 had produced ; and he was not a prince to forego any oppor- 
 tunity of exerting or extending his prerogative. He accord- 
 ingly employed the means which his personal aggrandizement 
 afforded him, to support the despotic claims he had advanced 
 while in Scotland, but which his circumscribed finances had 
 hitherto prevented his being able to sustain; and the Scottish 
 nobles, who had alternately resisted and obeyed his mandates 
 m his native kingdom, now, either dreading the effects of his 
 vengeance, or courting the favour of his good fortune, re- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 281 
 
 ceived his commands without a remark, and obeyed them 
 without a murmur. — To the church the union of the two crowns 
 was peculiarly disastrous, as it enabled the king to allure and 
 reward deserters from the ranks of presbytery, and facilitated 
 the introduction of the Episcopal form, whose dignitaries, being 
 his own creatures, he found at all times supple and subservient 
 to his purposes of encroachment. 
 
 A few weeks after his arrival in London, the king was join- 
 ed by his queen in no pleasant mood. On his journey, which 
 had been prolonged beyond his expectation, he despatched 
 John Spotswood, created archbishop of Glasgow, in room of 
 Beaton who had died at Paris, to attend her on her journey ; 
 but the flimily of Marr, to whom the care of her eldest son, 
 prince Henry, had been intrusted, refused to allow him to 
 accompany his mother to England, and the queen, incensed 
 at the treatment, fevered and miscarried ; nor was it till about 
 the end of the month of June that she could with great diffi- 
 culty be prevailed on to see the earl, previously to the coro- 
 nation. When his majesty advised her to thank God for the 
 peaceable possession they had obtained of the kingdom of 
 England, which, he said, was chiefly owing to the earl's good 
 offices in his last embassy, in wrath she replied— for she 
 seems to have been a woman of high spirit — " She would 
 rather never have seen England, than have been beholden to 
 him for it." This affair was brought before the council, and 
 an act passed, on the humble submission of Marr, declaring : 
 — That he had done nothing in that business derogatory to 
 the honour of the queen, as the refusal, on the part of his 
 family to restore the prince to his mother, was without his 
 knowledge. 
 
 This domestic incident was not the only untoward circum- 
 stance that occurred previously to the coronation. A con- 
 spiracy, still unexplained, was detected, for which two Cath- 
 olic priests, lord Gray a Puritan, lord Cobham, and Sir 
 Walter Raleigh, men of very opposite principles, were 
 brought to trial. The two priests were executed, lords Gray 
 and Cobham pardoned after they were upon the scaffold, and 
 Sir Walter Raleigh reprieved and confined to the tower, but 
 after an interval of fifteen years, to the everlasting infamy of 
 
 VOL. III. N N 
 
282 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 James, he was beheaded, upon this sentence, although the 
 evidence of his participation, or even accession, to the con- 
 spiracy was more than doubtfuL* 
 
 At last, on the 27th of July, St. James' — his saint's day — 
 amid the desolation and melancholy occasioned by a terrible 
 pestilence, the king and queen were solemnly inaugurated at 
 Westminster ; but the splendid pageants, erected in honour 
 of their majesties, through which the procession passed, were 
 left without spectators, and the terrific annunciations of death 
 were heard in the solitudes of one part of the city, while the 
 royal cavalcade was hurrying through the streets of the other. 
 Immediately after the coronation, the king issued a mandate, 
 forbidding the nobility to repair to London before winter, and 
 the court left the capital. 
 
 Long ere he left Scotland, James had meditated a union 
 between the two kingdoms, but he considered uniformity in 
 religious worship as a prerequisite to accomplish, or at least 
 what was necessary to consohdate his scheme. In England, 
 as in Scotland, there were two parties in the church — the one 
 entirely subservient to the court, the other differed from 
 them in several points of polity and worship, and from the 
 greater strictness of their lives, doctrine, and discipline, were 
 denominated Puritans.f These last, considering that James 
 
 * Prince Henry is reported to have said, when once speaking of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh : " I wonder at my father. Oh ! were I a king, I would not keep so 
 noble a bird in so vile a cage." 
 
 f The scrupulousness of the Puritans has been ridiculed as if they contended 
 merely for trifles, and philosophers now smile at the pertinacity with which 
 they refused to conform to the cut of a robe, or the use of a ceremony which 
 may be considered as unimportant. The defenders of high church principles, 
 who attempt to extenuate the conduct of the king and bishops, by represent- 
 ing the subjects of dispute as trifles, unintentionally pronounce the severest 
 censure upon those who so rigorously enforced them ; nothing but the most 
 downright despotism, the veriest wantonness of tyranny, would persist in 
 forcing another to obey in a trifle of no importance, merely for the pleasure 
 of extorting obedience, when the other accounted that trifle a matter of con- 
 science. But the Puritans had studied human nature too deeply, and were 
 too well acquainted with the influence that show and form have upon the 
 iimltitude to account either trifles ; nor do they deserve the name of philoso- 
 phers who affect to despise them. In politics in our day, we have seen what 
 fearful energy they can be made to possess. A cockade, or short hair, are 
 51 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 283 
 
 had been educated among the presbyterians, with whose ten- 
 ets they in general coincided, had hailed his accession to the 
 English throne, as friendly to their freedom. He, although 
 he had condescended to flatter them before he got into power, 
 viewed them both with jealousy and distaste, as hostile to his 
 liigh monarchical principles. As the Puritans occupy so pro- 
 minent a place in the succeeding part of this and in the fol- 
 lowing reigns, it may not be improper to give a short sketch 
 of their history and opinions, contrasted with those of their 
 opponents, the high church party. 
 
 In the reign of Edward VI. the English reformers divided 
 into two parties, the one wished entirely to root out popery, 
 the other merely to lop off a few of the most obnoxious 
 branches. While Edward lived, the former had the ascend- 
 ant, at his death, on the accession of Mary to the crown, those 
 of both parties who could escape, fled to the continent, and 
 at Frankfort, where they found refuge, their disputes were 
 revived, and carried to a hurtful and disgraceful height. 
 When Elizabeth succeeded her sister, the exiles retui'ned, 
 l)ut their dissentions returned with them. The queen, who 
 as Knox describes her, was neither true Protestant, nor res- 
 olute Papist, was fond of the pomp of the Romish ritual, 
 though, from political motives, an enemy to the adherents of 
 the pope, she, therefore, retained in the church service, the 
 copes and other garments which had been laid aside in the 
 last years of her brother's reign, and kneeling at the sacra- 
 ment, wlwch had been left as a matter of indifference, was, by 
 an act for the uniformity of common prayer, and service in 
 the church, and administration of the sacraments, authorized 
 as the only proper posture for receiving the holy communion. 
 Those who wished for a simpler and purer mode of worship, 
 began now in derision to be styled Puritans. The difference 
 between the court Reformers and the Puritans, were such as 
 
 certainly in themselves as unimportant matters as a cope or surplice ; yet who 
 would have said that that person was contending for a trifle, who should 
 have insisted that ofScial men in Ireland were to appear in a tri-coloured 
 cockade, or cropped ; and these were not deemed surer maiks of affection to 
 Fi'ench principles and anarchy, than copes and garments were estecmcci 
 bodges of distinction amontr the adherents of Rome. 
 
284. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 subjected the latter to severe persecution, till carried to an 
 extreme, it roused a spirit of resistance, and the throne was 
 overturned in the struggle. The court Reformers asserted, 
 that every prince had authority to correct all abuses of doc- 
 trine and worship within his own territories. The Puritans 
 would not admit such extensive power to belong to the crown, 
 or that the religion of the whole nation, should be at the dis- 
 posal of one single lay person. The court Reformers allowed 
 the church of Rome to be a true church, though corrupt in 
 some points of doctrine and government, and the pope to be 
 the true bishop of Rome, though not of the universal church. 
 The Puritans affirmed the pope to be antichrist, the church 
 of Rome to be no true church, and all her ministrations to be 
 superstitious and idolatrous. Both allowed that the Scrip- 
 tures were a perfect rule of faith, but the bishops and court 
 Reformers, denied that they contained the standard of dis- 
 cipline, or church government, affirming, that our Saviour 
 and his apostles, left it to the discretion of the civil magis- 
 trate in Chi'istian nations, to accommodate the government 
 of the church to the policy of the state. The Puritans con- 
 sidered the Scriptures to be a standard of church disciplinei, 
 as well as doctrine, at least, that nothing should be imposed 
 as necessary, but what was expressly contained in, or derived 
 from them, by necessary consequence, but if there were any 
 discretionary power left any where, it rested not with the civil 
 magistrate, but was vested in the spiritual officers of the 
 church. The court Reformers maintained, that the practice 
 of the primitive church, for the four or five first centuries, 
 was a proper standard for church government and discipline 
 in some respects, better than that of the apostles, being nrore 
 fitted to the splendour of a national establishment, and there- 
 fore, retained the titles of archbishops, metropolitans, arch- 
 deacons, suffi-agans, rural deans, &c. &c. The Puritans were 
 for keeping close to the Scriptures ; they considered the ex- 
 ample of the apostles as what they were bound to follow, who, 
 they apprehended, had ordered the form of church govern- 
 ment to be aristocratical, and formed after the model of the 
 Jewish. Court Reformers maintained, that things indiffi^rent 
 in their own nature, such as rites, ceremonies, or habits, might 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 285 
 
 be settled, and made necessary by the command of the civil 
 magistrate. The Puritans insisted, that the things left indiffer- 
 ent in the Scriptures, ought not to be made necessary by any 
 human law, but that such rites and ceremonies as had been 
 abused to idolatry, were not to be considered as indifferent.* 
 
 Such were the opinions of the two parties at the accesion, 
 and these James wished to reconcile before he made any at- 
 tempt to produce a conformity between the Scottish and the 
 English churches. The Puritans, presuming upon the king's 
 professions, urged their petitions for liberty of conscience, 
 and reformation of abuses, with a freedom a'nd a frequency, 
 which displeased his majesty. The Episcopalians, who dread- 
 ed the effects of his Scottish education, though they might 
 well have known from his publications, the bent of his affec- 
 tions, took a safer method to ensure the royal favour. On 
 every occasion they flattered all his prejudices, maintained 
 that monarchical government should be absolute, listened to 
 his declamations with wonder and admiration, and carried 
 their servility so far, that in addressing him, they frequently 
 fell upon their knees, and used language, which if not pro- 
 fane, bordered on the very verge of profanity, and is such as 
 it is not possible to read without a blush, f 
 
 The king, who, during his progress, had promised to at- 
 
 * Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i, pp. 134 — 137. 
 f It would perhaps, be going too far to assert, that there is any necessary 
 connexion between Episcopacy and despotism, but it is impossible to read 
 this portion of our history, or indeed any part of our history under the Stuart 
 dynasty, after the accession, without perceiving an intimate and close con- 
 nexion between Prelacy in the church, and tyranny in the state. The doctrine 
 of the bishops was passive obedience, their practice, servility. Ye are the light 
 of our eyes ! Ye are the breath of our nostrils, was the Prelatic flattery in 
 England ; to which James most graciously replied, that he never had met witli 
 such a set of sensible, grave men in his life ; he was now in the land of prom- 
 ise ; in his native coimtry, he had absolutely been contradicted by beardless 
 boys ! When Prelacy was introduced into Scotland, the same spirit came 
 along with it. Archbishop Gladstanes, in a letter to James, styles him, " His 
 earthly creator," and he frankly acknowledges, that the members of that 
 hierarchy were constrained to support every measure of the king, because, 
 " no estate may say that they are your maj. creatures as we may say, so there 
 is none whose standing is so slippery when your maj. shall frown, as we ; 
 for at your maj. nod, we must stand or fall." Calderwood, p. 645. 
 
286 HISTORY OF SCOTI-AND 
 
 tend to the petitions of the Puritans, * either in order, ap- 
 parently to fulfil this promise, or to display his own theolo- 
 gical knowledge, and overwhelm all opposition by the strength 
 of his arguments, or the power of his majesty, appointed a 
 conference to be held at Hampton court, between the chief 
 leaders among them, and his principal bishops. 
 
 At this conference, which took place 14th January, 1604, 
 James exhibited himself in the double capacity of umpire and 
 advocate. The whole had been previously arranged with the 
 bishops, and the king's declaration at the opening of the 
 meeting, clearly evinced that the Puritans were not called 
 upon to reason, but to submit. He told them, *' that fol- 
 lowing the example of all Christian princes, who usually be- 
 gan their reigns with the establishment of the church, he had 
 now, at entering upon the throne, assembled them for settling 
 a uniform order in the same ; for planting unity, removing 
 dissensions, and reforming abuses, which were natural to alf 
 politic bodies ; and that he might not be misapprehended, and 
 his designs in assembling them misconstrued, he assured them 
 that his meaning was not to make any innovation of the gov- 
 ernment established in the church, which he knew was ap- 
 proved of God, but to hear and examine the complaints that 
 were made, and remove the occasion of them, therefore, he 
 desired them to begin, and show what were their grievances." 
 
 The Puritan leaders, who plainly perceived that the king 
 was entirely set against them, urged their petitions under the 
 greatest disadvantages, for although men of learning and 
 ability, they did not possess that firmness and fortitude, which 
 could have enabled them to outbrave the frowns of the mon- 
 arch, and to state with energy, the grievances which pressed 
 heavy on their consciences. Dr. Reynolds, who was their 
 principal speaker, stated their objections to the doctrines, and 
 to the discipline of the church of England. The doctrine as 
 contained in the articles, he complained of as being in some 
 places obscure, and in others defective, and in the discipline 
 he regretted the little care shown in providing the ]:)eople 
 
 * When James was on his way to London, the Piu-itans presented him a 
 petition, commonly called, from the number of names affixed to it, the viil- 
 Icnary petition, stating their grievances. He received it favourabl3% 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 287 
 
 with pious and learned pastors, objected to their forced sub- 
 scription to the Book of Common Prayer, which contained 
 many things they could not conscientiously admit, and they 
 required the laying aside the sign of the cross in baptism, and 
 the vestments, which they considered relics of Rome. In the 
 discussions which followed, the king himself personally re- 
 plied, sometimes by arguments, and sometimes by threats, till 
 browbeaten and insulted by the head of the Episcopalian 
 church, and his supple bishops, the poor Puritans, unequal 
 to the contest, were forced to be silent. In the course of the 
 discussion, James evinced his detestation of the Presbyterian 
 form of church govei'nment, that which he had declared to 
 be the purest kirk upon earth, and his affection for the church 
 of England, whose service he had deprecated as so nearly 
 allied to that of Rome. When Dr. Reynolds was stating the 
 propriety of ministers having occasional meetings, the king, 
 forgetting both the dignity of his rank, and his situation as 
 judge, rudely interrupted him with " You aini at a Scottish 
 Presbytery, which agrees as well with monarchy, as God and 
 the devil. Then Jack, and Tom, and Will, and Dick shall 
 meet, and at their pleasure censure me, my council, and all 
 my proceedings. Stay, I pray you, one seven years, before you 
 demand this of me." 
 
 At the conclusion of the debate, the king, who would not 
 allow the ministers to speak, chose to consider their forced 
 silence as acquiescence, and condescendingly observed, " obe- 
 dience and humility are the marks of good and honest men, 
 such as I believe you to be, but I fear many of your sort are 
 humorous, and too busy in perverting others. The excep- 
 tions against the Common Prayer Book, are matters of mere 
 weakness, they v/ho are discreet will be gained by time, and 
 gentle persuasions, and if they be indiscreet, it is better to 
 remove them, than the church should suffer by their conten- 
 tions. For the bishops, I will answer, that it is not their 
 design immediately to enforce obedience, but by fatherly 
 admonitions and conferences, to gain those that are disaffected, 
 but if any be of an obstinate and turbulent spirit, I will have 
 them enforced to a conformity." 
 
 The Episcopalian party were highly delighted with his 
 
288 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 majesty's conduct in managing the conference, so much so, 
 that the lord chancellor [Egerton,] said aloud, he had often 
 heard of the offices of priest and king being united in one per- 
 son, but never saw it verified till now, and Whitgift, archbish- 
 op of Canterbury exclaimed, " he verily believed the king spoke 
 by the inspiration of the Spirit of God." 
 
 The Scottish church viewed these proceedings with very 
 different feelings. Mr. Patrick Galloway, one of their ac- 
 credited ministers, sent down to the presbytery of Edinburgh, 
 a full statement of the conference, and its result. When read 
 in the presbytery, it was heard with profound silence, and no 
 one ventured to hazard an observation, till James Melville arose, 
 and moved two resolutions. " First, that they should express 
 their brotherly compassion, and their sincere participation in 
 the sorrow of their many godly and learned brethren in a neigh- 
 bouring country, who, having expected a reformation, are dis- 
 appointed and heavily grieved, and if no other way could be 
 found for help, that they would at least help by prayer to God 
 for their comfort and relief; and next, that as the presbytery 
 of Edinburgh had ever been the Zion and watchtower of the 
 church, the ministers should take cai,_, that no peril or 
 contagion come from the neighbouring church, and give warn- 
 ing, if need be, to the presbyteries throughout the realm; 
 especially, that they should observe and watch over the pro- 
 ceedings of the next parliament, summoned to consult respect- 
 ins: the union of the two kingdoms" — and this was no idle or 
 useless jealousy. 
 
 Soon after, the king issued a proclamaticr, ordering all 
 Jesuits and foreign priests, to quit the kingdom, but the effect 
 of this proclamation, which was in unison with the feelings of 
 his people, was destroyed by the manner in which it was ex- 
 pressed. In explaining his motives, he was anxious to show 
 that it was not dislike to the general principles of the Roman 
 Catholic religion, that induced him to banish the Jesuits, but 
 only his aversion to that peculiar tenet which inculcated the 
 pope's unlimited power over crowned heads. 
 
 James' reign in England, was distinguished as a reign of 
 proclamations. Immediately after the one against the Jesuits, 
 he issued another against the Puritans, enjoining them to 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 289 
 
 conform vvitJi the established church, whicli was received with 
 almost universal dissatisfaction, as it was in opposition to the 
 rising spirit of the people, and manifested the most determin ■ 
 ed hatred against a large portion of his Protestant subjects, 
 afid which, when contrasted with the tenderness he had ex- 
 pressed for the consciences of the Roman Catholics, gave rise 
 to suspicions and discontents that continued to increase dur- 
 inof his whole reign. 
 
 The king, who possessed considerable speculative talents, 
 but whose practical powers were of the lowest order, in spite 
 of the obvious obstacles to any union at that time between 
 the two kingdoms, had fondly entertained the idea of its easy 
 accomplishment; and he imagined, as the benefits appeared 
 according to his theory so plain, it would be impossible any 
 objection could arise. * He, accordingly, as soon as the plague 
 had subsided in London, assembled a parliament, the chief ob- 
 ject of vv'hich was to consider of the eligibility of his scheme, or 
 rather, according to his politics, of the means to carry it into 
 immediate execution. His overweening vanity, however, and 
 the extravagant length to which he pushed the pretensions of 
 his royal prerogative, created, ei'e the session had well begun, 
 a distrust and jealousy between the commons house and him, 
 which led them to receive with coldness, if not with dislike, any 
 proposition in which they saw him keenly interested.f His open- 
 ing speech was of tedious length, and although characterized 
 by Hume as " a performance, which few productions of the 
 
 * For myself I protest vnto you all, when I first propounded the union, I 
 then thought there could have been no more question of it, than of your 
 declaration and acknowledgement of my right vnto this crowne, and that as 
 two twinnes, they would haue growne vp together. The error was my mis- 
 taking ; I knew u-ane owne ende, but not others feares. K. James' Work?, 
 p. 510. 
 
 f In his writs summoning parliament, and in his proclamation for its as- 
 sembling, he assumed the right of dictating what kind of members ought to be 
 chosen for the commons house. Hume attempts to gloss this over, but, thanks 
 to the sturdy resistance of the commons of that day, and their clearer views cf 
 tlie danger of kingly influence in elections, the fountain of English liberty was 
 not scaled. His other attempt was to render all contested elections subjeci 
 to the decision of the crown. Here too, the manly good sense, and firmness 
 of the commons defeated him, and to these two independent acts of the 
 VOL. III. O O 
 
290 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 age surpass, either in style or matter," is wholly unintelligible 
 when he deals in generals, and when he descends to particu- 
 lars, is reprehensible, as avowing doctrines totally inconsistent 
 with the increasing knowledge of the times, with the laws and 
 customs of the people, and with every principle of common 
 prudence.* In it he avowed undisguisedly, his despotic prin- 
 ciples of government, his leaning to the Popish creed, and 
 his antipathy to the Puritans. " He acknowledged the Ro- 
 man church to be our mother church, although defiled with 
 some infirmities and corruptions," and after objecting strongly 
 to the temporal supremacy claimed by the pope, and the doc- 
 trine which authorized the assassination of heretic princes, 
 added, " 1 could wish from my heart, it would please God to 
 make me one of the members of such a general Christian 
 union in religion, as, laying wilfulness aside on both hands, 
 we might meet in the midst, which is the centre and perfection 
 of all things. For if they would leave, and . be ashamed of 
 such new and gross corruptions of theirs, as themselves can- 
 not maintain, nor deny to be worthy of reformation, I would 
 on my part be content to meet them in the midway, so that 
 all novelty might be renounced on either side, for as my faith 
 is the true ancient Catholic, and Apostolic faith, grounded 
 upon the Scriptures, and the express word of God ; so will I 
 
 English house of commons, may be traced all the privileges a British lower 
 house now enjoys. The principles of rational liberty, which Buchanan had 
 in vain endeavoiu-ed to impress on the mind of James, had taken deep root 
 in the nation, and these arbitrary, though abortive attempts to shackle the 
 English parliament, had a strong and lasting influence on the affairs of 
 Scotland. 
 
 * To exemplify his intelligibility, I quote the following. After mentioning 
 that he had assembled the parliament to express to them his thanks for the 
 manner in which he had been received as king, and his inadequacy to do so 
 with such eloquence as the occasion required, he says, he ever misliked lip 
 payment, and adds, " Therefore, for expressing my thankfulness, I must resort 
 unto other tAvo reasons of my convening of this parliament, by them, in action, 
 to utter my thankfidness ; both the said reasons having but one ground, which 
 is the deeds whereby all the days of my life, I am, by God's grace, to express 
 my said thankfulness to you, but divided in this, that in the first of these two, 
 mine actions of thanks are so inseparably conjoined with my person, as they 
 are in a manner become individually annexed in the same," &rc. &c. For the 
 rest I refer to the speech itself. K. James' Works, p. 486- 
 51 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 291 
 
 ever yield all reverence to antiquity in the points of ecclesias- 
 tical polity, and by that means shall I ever, with God's grace, 
 keep myself from being either an heretic in faith, or schismatic 
 in matters of polity." He was less measured with respect to 
 the Puritans, " This sect, which," said he, " I call a sect 
 rather than a religion, do not so far differ from us in points 
 of religion, as in their confused foi-m of policy and purity, 
 being ever discontented with the present government, and 
 impatient to suffer any superiority, which makes this sect in- 
 sufferable in any well governed commonwealth. As to my 
 course respecting them, I refer to my proclamations." 
 
 A majority of the house of commons were semi-puritans, or 
 at least, men who had a rooted abhorrence of Popery ; to them 
 such sentiments gave universal disgust, and led them to view 
 every proceeding of the king's with suspicion. They besides, 
 had national antipathies to overcome, they perceived the num- 
 ber of Scots who had already flocked to England, and they 
 feared a further influx. In a conference between the two 
 houses, however, lord Ellesmere, the chancellor, procured 
 their consent to the nomination of fort^'-four commissioners, 
 to treat with the Scots respecting a union. 
 
 When the Scottish parliament, which met at Perth, on ac- 
 count of the plague then raging in Edinburgh,* assembled, 
 their aversion to a union was not less than that of the Eng- 
 lisli. Private consultations were frequently held among the 
 nobles, and their fears for national independence were stimul- 
 ated and strengthened by the ministers, who trembled for the 
 safety of the church. At the first mention of a proposed 
 union, the ministers had taken an alarm, and the commission- 
 ers of the general assembly, petitioned that a meeting might 
 be held before parliament met, to consider the proper steps 
 for securing the order and discipline of the church of Scot- 
 land from danger ; but the king refused this, as he said the 
 
 • I have attempted in vain to get some data to estimate the ravages of the 
 plague in Scotland. At this period I can only ascertain that in several years 
 it was dreadful, and I can account for it from the nauseous food on which 
 the poor vassals were forced to subsist on account of the scarcity they lived 
 upon garbage and carrion, and the fluids which should have carried i'lfe 
 and vigour to the body, carried disease and death. 
 
i392 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 union was entirely a political measure, in which the church 
 had ho interest, and where their rights would not at all be 
 Compromised. It was alleged on the part of the church, that 
 it was evident from the whole of the king's procedure, that a 
 uniformity in the church government of the two realms was 
 intended, and as this could not take place without the one 
 yielding to the other, it was to be feared this submission would 
 be required of the Scots. The synod of Fife, took a wider and 
 sounder view of the subject than their sovereign, they rejoiced 
 in " the pui'pose of the union, as most loveable and good," at 
 the same time they perceived its practicabilit}^, without a uni- 
 formity between the ecclesiastical establishments, and instruct- 
 ed the commissioners to oppose any innovation in the doctrine 
 or discipline of the church, or any assimilation of statuary 
 laws.* This fact, of political union without ecclesiastical 
 uniformity, or the suiTender of the ancient laws of either na- 
 tion to the other, which has now been demonstrated to be 
 beneficial by the experience of more than a century, was one 
 which the royal theologian could not comprehend, and which 
 among the court party, the enlightened Bacon alone seems to 
 have understood. 
 
 After some difficulty, f thirty-six commissioners were chos- 
 en by the Scottish parliament, but their powers were restrict- 
 ed, and they were not intrusted with any discretionary lati- 
 tude of action, which would allow them to trench on the in- 
 dependence, rights, or liberties of their country. The whole 
 proceedings of this parliament were adverse to the union, 
 and the only attempts which they made at any approximation 
 to a closer alliance, were recommending the removal of such 
 
 - • Calderwood, p. 480. 
 1 1 differ with diffidence, which I must always do when I venture to dissent 
 on political subjects, from Mr. Laing ; but it does not appear to me, that 
 the Scottish nobles were so easily intimidated into the measures of James as 
 he asserts. Hist. vol. iii. p. 10. nor can I find those marks of haste which he 
 mentions. He quotes the State Papers, MSS. Advocates' Library. Ambas- 
 sadors have been always allowed to be legalized spies. State papers in gen- 
 eral may be compared to special pleadings, which, in a majority of cases, are 
 special falsehoods, and we know how grossly the affairs of Scotland were mis- 
 represented to James, as he confessed when he visited it. I cannot, there- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 29S 
 
 statutes, or local usages, as might perpetuate the memory of 
 past, or occasion the renewal of fresh hostilities between the 
 two kingdoms. 
 
 It does not appear that the Scottish parliament ever medi- 
 tated more than a federal union ; but we gather from James' 
 own works that he understood, by an incorporating union, 
 prescribing the English law to the Scottish nation.* He 
 had felt the effects of the rough, tumultuary freedom of his 
 native subjects ; he had seen the submission of the English to 
 Elizabeth ; but he had not perceived that it was the superior 
 prudence of her government, more than any superiority of 
 the law, that had ensured obedience; and he imagined that, 
 by introducing the English laws, he would introduce the 
 English habits of submission. The Scots, although not pos- 
 sessed of personal,f were proud and tenacious of national 
 independence ; and this feeling, which from the days of Bruce 
 had been enforced and inculcated upon the public mind, was 
 associated with a jealousy and hatred of England, which it 
 was difficult either to eradicate or subdue. They had little 
 or no commerce. Their exports were chiefly raw material, 
 and their imports, the luxuries, the wines and brandies of 
 France, or the absolute necessaries of life, the products of 
 Flemish industry. Among the latter, it is curious to observe, 
 
 fore, trust them with the same frankness that I do cotemporary historians or 
 memoir writers. Now from both Calderwood and Spotswood it appears to 
 be clear, that the Scottish nobles were by no means very quick in their mo- 
 tions, nor, even after being admonished, did they readily accede to the pro- 
 posals of the king, or send commissioners till they had provided instructions, 
 which were in diametrical opposition to the views of the court ; and this is 
 evident from the last clause of these instructions, in which they are ordered 
 not to derogate from any " fundamental laws, ancient privileges, and rigiits, 
 ofdces, dignities, or liberties of the kingdom." 
 
 * " It was not his [James'] desire to deprive England of its laws, but to lay 
 Scotland subject to the same laws. He did desii'e that they should be sub- 
 jected both to one rule, and to one law." " I mean such a general union of 
 laws as may reduce the whole island, that as they live already under one 
 monarch, so they may be governed by one law." — K. James' Works, p. .512. 
 
 •j- It is a strange, but a true fact, that personal security, in which the es- 
 sence of personal liberty consists, was not known in Scotland till after the 
 revolution. 
 
294 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 that even cart wheels were brought from Flanders, so low 
 was Scottish art. The advantages, therefore, ' of any liberal 
 intercourse with England, were despised, while the whole of 
 Europe lay open to the speculations of their itinerant pedlars ;* 
 and France offered them peculiar advantages and immunities. 
 Their value of the English mai'ket may be judged of by the 
 clause inserted in their preliminary arrangements : — That 
 sheep, black cattle, wool, hides, leather, and yarn, should 
 be prohibited from exportation, and reserved by both nations 
 for internal consumption. The reverse has since been proved 
 to be for the benefit of. both. The English commissioners 
 were equally inimical to any treaty which ' would admit the 
 Scots to a participation of their rights, and proposed terms 
 to which they knew the Scottish commissioners would not 
 consent. They proposed, as the basis of a union, a uni- 
 formity of laws, and when the Scots indignantly refused to 
 submit to any statutes but their own, and the English would 
 listen to no accommodation, the consultations were continued, 
 but without any hope of adjustment. 
 
 After a protracted conference, which, in obedience to the 
 king's mandate, had been held at Westminster, the commis- 
 sioners from both kingdoms, although they could not conde- 
 scend on the basis of a union, agreed upon several concilia- 
 tory measures. All hostile ordinances, in both countries, 
 asainst each other, were declared to be for ever annulled : the 
 name of the borders to be disused, and all the laws, customs, 
 treaties, or whatever tended to keep alive the remembrance of 
 the former feuds, to be abolished. The Post nati^ all persons 
 born after the decease of the late queen, and since the acces- 
 sion of the Scottish king to the English crown, were declared 
 entitled to the privileges of native born subjects in each king- 
 dom ; and all the inhabitants of the island were rendered 
 capable of inheriting lands, honours, dignities, and offices in 
 any of the divisions, but were excluded from holding situa- 
 
 * The Scots and Jews monopolized the trade of Poland, and many of the 
 former returned with fortunes to their native country. They were generally 
 pedlars or vagrant merchants; but the Scottish emigrants were not all of this 
 description ; the majority consisted of military adventurers, who lent their 
 mercenary swords to the highest bidder. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 295 
 
 tions undei' the crown, or a place in the legislature, except 
 in their respective native countries, till a union. Several 
 regulations were adopted relative to foreign trade, and . the 
 admission of the natives of the two kingdoms into the tradine 
 companies established in either ; but the main object, the in- 
 corporating union, was postponed for further consideration 
 by mutual consent. Such seem to have been the mutual feel- 
 ings of the English and Scottish people toward each other at 
 this period, and even a century of repose was not sufficient 
 to dissipate them. The king had, however, previously as- 
 sumed, by virtue of his prerogative, the title of king of Great 
 Britain, commanding this to be used in all proclamations, 
 and the names of England and Scotland to be discontinued. 
 He likewise ordered all the places of strength upon the bor- 
 ders to be dismantled, and their iron gates to be turned into 
 ploughshares; the garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle were 
 dismissed ; and in memory of the union, which he calculated 
 upon as being already effected, he caused several gold and 
 silver medals to be struck, on which were engraved various 
 inscriptions, Quce Deus conjunxit nemo separat ,-* and, Faciam 
 eos in gentem unam.\ 
 
 Time often effects, what reason in vain attempts to accom- 
 plish — Yet a proud and an independent, but a poor nation, 
 which has received severe injuries from a more powerful and 
 richer neighbour, may well be excused for listening with 
 cautious reluctance to any proposals for a union; and a 
 wealthy nation, which has accepted a sovereign from one in- 
 ferior, cannot be blamed for being jealous, lest her patrimony 
 should be devoured by a crowd of needy dependants on the 
 bounty of a native king. 
 
 Notwithstanding his repeated and earnest pi'ofessions, fre- 
 quently accompanied by tears, James, before he left Scotland, 
 had violated his promises, and, in several instances, interfered 
 with the independence of the Scottish church ; but now, in 
 the plenitude of his power, he began to aim at its total sub- 
 version. The assembly which had legally the right of meet- 
 
 • Whom God hath joined, let no man separate. 
 f I will make of them one nation. 
 
296 HISTORY OF Scotland. 
 
 ing once a-year, and which, in case neither tlie king nor his 
 commissioner were present, could themselves nominate the 
 day, had been first prorogued on account of the accession, 
 and again discontinued in the succeeding years, till the union 
 should be adjusted ; on this, the presbytery of St. Andrews, 
 considering the rights and liberties of the church as invaded, 
 by tlie interruption of the meeting of her highest court, re- 
 solved to send commissioners to keep the diet, because it had 
 been only adjourned in an unofficial manner by Sir David 
 Murray, while the law of the country, the practice of the 
 church, and the consent of the king formerly given, warrant- 
 ed their sitting. The commissioners accordingly repaired to 
 the place of meeting at Aberdeen, and in presence of several 
 other clergymen, and three public notaries, presented their 
 commission, protested * that no detriment should result to 
 the church of Christ, and lamented that, from the failure of 
 their brethren to appear, no regular assembly could be con- 
 stituted ; for owing to some mistake in the intimation, and 
 the severity of the weather, by which the rivers were swollen, 
 several other ministers did not arrive till after the assembly 
 was dissolved, and aa:!ong them Welsh, afterward so severely 
 persecuted. Their fears were diffused through the whole 
 church, who, as formerly mentioned, dreaded, and that just- 
 ly, some attempts to assimilate their order and discipline to 
 that of the church of England, on purpose to facilitate a 
 union. Suspicious, therefore, of a third prorogation, a num- 
 ber of presbyteries and synods, who saw that, in submitting 
 
 * Mr. Laing strangely misrepresents this occurrence ; he says : " Three 
 zealots, who assembled, protested that no detriment should result from this 
 measure to the kingdom of Christ, and their apprehensions were diiFused 
 through the whole church ;" and he quotes Calderwood. Now Calderwood 
 states expressly that it was the presbytery of St. Andrews which took the 
 alarm, " and constituted and appointed three of their brethren, Mr. James 
 Melville," — designated by Mr. Laing himself, ' a mild and amiable character,' 
 Hist, of Scot. vol. iii. p. 41. — " Mr. \Villiam Erskine, and William Murray, as 
 their commissioners to the general assembly, and gave them full and express 
 commission to pass to Aberdeen, and there, and for the said presbytery, to 
 vote, reason, and conclude," &c. From which it is evident they were not 
 " three zealots," but three regularly constituted commissioners, deputed by 
 one of the leading presbyteries, and who met in obedience to their direction. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 297 
 
 to such arbitrary interdicts, they would be deprived of their 
 len^al privileges, and that their times of meeting, which would 
 then depend solely upon the will of the sovereign, would first 
 be delayed, then wholly discontinued, determined to keep 
 the time appointed in the last prorogation. Accordingly, on 
 the 2d July, 1605, nineteen ministers, the deputies from nine 
 presbyteries, met at Aberdeen, and proceeded to constitute 
 the assembly, when Straiton of Laurieston^, the king's com- 
 missioner, presented a letter from the lords of privy council, 
 addressed : — " To our trusty friends and brethren of the 
 general assembly, convened at Aberdeen;" a style recognizing 
 the lawfulness of their meeting, and acknowledging their pub- 
 lic collective character. It was determined, before they could 
 receive his communication, that it was necessary to constitute 
 the assembly by choosing a moderator and clerk, and on the 
 suggestion of Straiton. — who, however, declined being present 
 at the election- — chose John Forbes, minister of Alford, as 
 their moderator, and proceeded to read the letter, which en- 
 joined them immediately to dissolve their meeting, without 
 naming another day for again assembling. While the letter 
 was reading, a messenger at arms entered, and in the king's 
 name commanded them to dissolve on pain of rebellion. As 
 me assembly could not agree to this, without breaking down 
 the constitution of the church, they expressed their willing- 
 ness to comply with the order for their dissolution, but re- 
 quested it might be done in a regular manner by his majesty's 
 commissioner, naming a day and place for next meeting. 
 This he refused to do, and, in consequence, the moderator 
 appointed the assembly to meet at the same place, on the last 
 Tuesday of September, and dissolved the assembly. Lauries- 
 ton afterward asserted that he had, on the day previously to 
 the meeting discharged it by proclamation at the Cross of 
 Aberdeen; but of this he could bring no proof, and as he was 
 himself at the meeting, and never gave any intimation of the 
 charge, it was generally believed that he violated the truth, 
 not less with regard to the date than to the publication of the 
 charge, in order to soften the indignation of the king and of 
 the prelates, who were offended at the countenance he had 
 given to the assembly. The conduct of this assembly, at once 
 
 VOL. III,. p P 
 
298 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 firm and moderate, exhibited a rare example of temperate, 
 legal resistance jto despotic power; for in every view of the 
 question, it is evident that all law was on their side, and only 
 the mandates of the king against them. But with the oppress- 
 or there was power, and these men, who in fact had only as- 
 serted the supremacy of the law, in opposition to the unwar- 
 ranted claims of absolute tyranny, were afterward doomed to 
 be martyrs, not mo-re to the religious than to the civil rights 
 of the community, by a cruel perversion of that law they had 
 so strenuously supported. 
 
 It does not appear that the privy council would have been 
 inclined to prosecute the members of/the Aberdeen assembly, 
 but the king was irreconcilable to any appearance of encroach- 
 ment on his divine right, and instantly, on receiving informa- 
 tion of the proceedings of that assembly, transmitted orders 
 to the law officers, to proceed with the utmost rigour against 
 the ministers who had presumed to act in opposition to his 
 command. * Mr. John Forbes, the moderator of the late 
 assembly, who had arrived in Edinburgh, in order to repre- 
 sent to the privy council the real state of the case, and to de- 
 precate any alleged disobedience or disrespect for the king's 
 authority, was apprehended on the 24th July, and brought 
 before the council, which met at an unusual time, between six 
 and seven o'clock in the morning, f and was composed of a 
 more than ordinary proportion of bishops. Refusing to con- 
 demn the assembly, and referring the legality of its meeting, 
 and its proceedings, to the decision of the first regularly ap- 
 pointed meeting of that body, he was ordered to enter ward 
 in the castle of Edinburgh. John Welsh, who happened to 
 be in the city at the same time, was also summoned before 
 the council, and declining to answer upon oath to what he 
 considered ensnaring and insidious questions, was first com- 
 mitted to the tolbooth, and then he and Forbes were sent to 
 the damp cells of Blackness castle, which might, in these times, 
 
 * The king's letter to secretary Balinerino, is dated 19th July, 1605, in 
 the Haddington collection, quoted by Dr. M'Crie. Forbes, the moderator, 
 was committed prisoner on the 24th, and Welsh on the 25th of the same 
 month, previously to which they had remained unmolested. 
 \- Caldervvood, p-. 494. 
 53 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 299 
 
 have been considered the bastik of Scotland. Several other 
 mmisters v^ere distributed through different prisons.* 
 
 It is necessary here to recollect, that the establishment ot 
 the church of Scotland w^as essentially a part of the constitu- 
 tion of the country, and that her rights and privileges were 
 guarded by the most sacred compact that can exist between a 
 king and a people. f An open attack upon the church was, 
 therefore, considered as a stretch of prerogative not to be 
 borne in silence, and the imprecations against it were neither 
 low nor inaudible. The king, in order to quiet them, issued, 
 according to his practice, a long proclamation, couched in 
 almost as equivocal language as any other of his royal produc- 
 tions. In it he expresses his desire to maintain the good and 
 laudable customs of each of the realms, and his intention to 
 make no encroachments upon either; and in a passage, which 
 from any other pen would have been deemed keenly ironical, 
 adds : " This charge [of encroachment] none of our subjects 
 will be so credulo.us as to believe, knowing how careful we 
 have been to maintain both religion and justice, and to reform 
 the evils that did in any sort prejudice the integrity of either 
 of the two, whereby justice hath attained, under our govern- 
 ment, to a greater perfection and splendour than in any of 
 our predecessors' times, and many abuses and corruptions in 
 the discipline of the church amended, that otherwise might 
 have brought the purity of religion in extreme danger; neither 
 of which was done by our sovereign and absolute authority — 
 although we enjoy the same as freely as any king or monarch 
 in the world — but as the disease of the civil body ever was 
 cured by the advice of our three estates, so were the defects 
 of the church by the help and counsel of those that had the 
 greatest interest therein." Copies of the proclamation were 
 sent to the imprisoned ministers, but produced no effect; they 
 were too well acquainted with the court to put any confidence 
 in promises so often broken, or be influenced by a paper, the 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 494. 
 f At the assembly in May, 1597, his majesty declared the act of parliament, 
 respecting the meeting of church courts, to be " the most authentick form of 
 consent that any king can give," — Buik of the Universal Kirk. 
 
300 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 leading assertions of which they knew were not founded on fact. 
 They were in consequence again brought before the council, 
 and ordered to stand on their defence; when they, in respectful 
 terms, declined the jurisdiction of the privy council, as in- 
 competent to take cognizance of a matter purely ecclesiastical. 
 For this offence solely were they, by the king's direction, in- 
 dicted for high treason, under an act made during the infa- 
 mous administration of Arran, but which had subsequently 
 been repealed., Six were selected as peculiar objects of pro- 
 secution — John Forbes, minister at Alford, John Welsh at 
 Ayr, Robert Drury at Anstruther, Andrew Duncan at Crail, 
 John Sharp at Kilmany, and Alexander Strachan at Creigh. 
 The trial was attended with every circumstance which could 
 tend to aggravate the suffering of the prisoners, or exhibit the 
 determined disregard for justice which actuated the court. 
 
 The ministers, who had been warded in Blackness castle, 
 when the pestilence reached its gates, requested to be removed 
 to some place distant from the contagion. This was a re- 
 quest too equitable to be granted, and they were detained 
 there till the 10th of January, 1606, when, between the hours 
 of two and three o'clock in the morning, they were awakened 
 by sound of trumpet, and summoned to their trial. At that 
 time, the roads in Scotland were almost impassable, and in 
 the depth of a northern winter, in a half cultivated land, must 
 have been wretched indeed. The prisoners, however, set out 
 cheerfully on their journey, and arrived at Linlithgow palace, 
 as the sun was rising. They were here met by a number of 
 ministers from various parts of the country, among whom 
 were most conspicuous, Andrew and James Melville. Every 
 art was tried to endeavour to induce them to pass from their 
 declinature, previous to any trial, but threats and promises 
 were held out in vain, and they proceeded to the court, which 
 sat in the Tolbooth, about two in the afternoon, accompanied 
 by the whole of the ministers, who had attended to support 
 them. In this extremity, two of their advocates deserted 
 them, and refused to plead. Mr. Thomas Hope, and Mr. 
 Thomas Gray, stood forward as their defenders. The justici- 
 ary court had as assessors, a number of the highest officers of 
 state, whose presence on the bench was intended, and calcu- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 801 
 
 hited to overawe the jury. Sir William Hart presided as jus- 
 tice depute. A number of most unanswerable objections were 
 stated, to what, in Scottish law, is termed the relevancy of the 
 indictment, or in other words, to the propriety, accuracy, or 
 justice of the charges brought against the prisoners. It was 
 urged, that they did not decline his majesty's civil authority ; 
 that they did not even decline his ecclesiastical authority, if 
 exercised according to the rules of the church, and the acts of 
 parliament; that even upon the obnoxious one of 1584, their 
 conduct was unimpeachable and unattackable ; but although it 
 were, that act was repealed, in as far as it affected the rights 
 of the church, by the act 1592. The opinion of the court was 
 then asked, in a new and unusual manner. The judges on 
 the right and left hand of the chancellor, requested those 
 seated on their respective sides, to deliver their votes, not viva 
 voce, but by whispering, or what Calderwood expressively 
 styles, " rounding in the ear." Suspicions have been express- 
 ed, that the votes thus collected were not fairly put down; it 
 may be so, some may have through timidity, allowed their 
 names to go to the wrong side, though, from the complexion 
 of the court, it is not probable, but that there was a sufficient- 
 ly pliable majority to secure the sentence of relevant, which 
 was pronounced upon the libel. The prisoners' defence was 
 ably conducted, and the arguments similar to what had been 
 used against the legality of the indictment, but in the speeches 
 of the accused themselves, there was an impressive solemnity, 
 which it required all the threats and promises of an overbear- 
 ing court to overcome, and to the credit of the jury, they could 
 secure after all, only a small majority. Forbes' concluding 
 speech, was powerful and eloquent, the finale might almost 
 be deemed prophetical. Addressing Dunbar, " My lord," 
 said he, " I adjure you before the living God, that you report 
 to his majesty in our names, this history out of the book of 
 Joshua." He then narrates the league obtained from Israel 
 through deceit, by the Gibeonites, and afterward noticed the 
 plague which fell upon Saul and his posterity, for violating the 
 oath of God, which was made between the Gibeonites and the 
 princes of the people, adding, " Now my lord, warn the king, 
 that if such a high judgment fell upon Saul and his house, for 
 
303 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 destroying them who deceived Israel, and only because of the 
 oath of God which passed among them, what judgment will 
 fall upon his majesty, his posterity, and the whole land, if he 
 and ye violate the great oath that ye have all made to God, to 
 stand to his truth, and to maintain the discipline of his kirk, 
 according to your powers." * 
 
 When the jury retired, although they had been packed, yet 
 such was the commanding effect of truth and of genius, that 
 in the presence of those from whom they expected every ad- 
 vancement, the jury hesitated, and it was not till after several 
 visitations from the crown officers, and a promise that no harm 
 should be done to the prisoners, that a verdict was at last, by a 
 majority of three, obtained against them. The names of the 
 minority deserve to be perpetuated. Sir John Levingston 
 of Dunipace, Sir Archibald Stirling of Kier, Gavin Home of 
 Johnscleugh, Robert Levingston of Westquarter, Thomas 
 Levingston of Panton, and James Shaw of Sauchie, they 
 withstood every temptation, and declared their pannels inno- 
 cent simpliciter. But the verdict was still illegal, as the act, 
 91 James VI. expressly declares, that if any stranger enter 
 where an assize is enclosed, after they be enclosed, that verdict 
 is null and void in law, and the pannel, though guilty, shall 
 have the advantage of the circumstance, yet in this case, the 
 justice, the assessors, all had access, and all tampered with 
 them. The crown officers went alternately between the pris- 
 oners and the jury, and sensible of their own infamous pro- 
 ceedings, they wished the process to be stayed, and promised, 
 that if the prisoners, even after their verdict was pronounced, 
 would withdraw their declinature, that mercy would be ex- 
 tended, but fortunately for their own fair fame, and for the 
 liberties of their country, they preferred preserving their in- 
 tegrity. The verdict was delivered at midnight, and the pan- 
 nels on hearing it, embraced each other, and gave God thanks 
 for having supported them during their trial. The sentence 
 was delayed till his majesty's pleasure should be known, and 
 the day following, they were remanded to Blackness castle. 
 Andrew and James Melville, with some other ministers, ac- 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 515. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 303 
 
 companied them, and parted with tears, at the gates of that 
 inhospitable jail, more confirmed than ever, in the cause in 
 which they had engaged. While the accomplices of crime 
 fly each other in the hour of danger, it is delightful to observe 
 adversity binding the virtuous more strongly together. The 
 letter from the king's advocate, announcing the conviction to 
 the king, I subjoin in a note, with lord Hailes' remarks. * It 
 
 * Sir Thomas Hamilton, King's Advocate, to King James, * 
 Most Sacred Sovereign, 
 My conceived fears, that my silence could not find out any lawful excuse, 
 if i should not advertise your Majesty of the progress and event of the crim- 
 inal persuit off Mess. John Forbes, Welch, and others their complices, before 
 your Majesty's justice, for their treasonable declining your Majesty, and your 
 secret Council's judgement, makes me bold to write in that matter ; which, 
 as well in respect of a most high point, and large part of your Majesty's au- 
 thority royal, brought in question by the ignorant and inflexible obstinacy of 
 these defenders, as in regard of the most careful expectation of a great part 
 of your highness's subjects, in this your kingdom, over doubtsomly distracted. 
 During the uncertain event thereof, partly by superstitious, and partly by 
 feigned zeal to their profession, and affection to their persons for their pro- 
 fessions sake; being of so high and dangerous consequence, as the miscarrying 
 thereof might have exemed a great part of your Majesty's Subjects from your 
 Majesty's Jurisdiction and obedience in matters of doctrine and discipline, and 
 all things which they should have pleased to affirm to be of that nature, and 
 therewith have given them occasion, and as it were lawful liberty, or liberty 
 by your Majesty's own laws and sentences, to have maintained that liberty 
 once purchased, and daily to have increased the same, to the manifest peril, 
 not only of further impairing, but with time, of utter subversion gf your ro}al 
 power within this kingdom. God having' now brought it to that good end, 
 that after langsum, difficil, and most contentious travels, they are convicted 
 by assize of that treasonable declinator, I should omit as necessary a point of 
 my duty, as if i had not replied to their most probable alledgeances, if I should 
 conceal from your Majesty, that the first and greatest praise of this good suc- 
 cess should be given to your Majesty's self, for foreseeing this matter to be oC 
 such difficulty and danger, as it required the particular direction of your 
 Majesty's own most excellent wisdom, by the report and prosecution of my 
 lord of Dunbar, who, I am assured, in all his life was never so solicitous for 
 the ev>nt of the trial of other men's lives; for at his here coming, finding 
 that matter full not only of foreseen, but also of unexpected difficulties, his 
 care and diligence therein has been so assidious, wise, and provident, that 
 having made secret choice of this time and place — which by effect has proved 
 most proper — and so vively expressed to yom' Majesty's Justice, Justice Clerk 
 
 * The Scottish phnses in this letter are retained, the most remarkable axe, lan^su)?i, for tedioiia, 
 but, for witliout, and panne/, for persons arraigned. 
 
304 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 is an important document respectmg the state of justice iu 
 this country at that period, and places the unfairness, and the 
 illegality of the trial, and the despotic tyranny of the courtj in 
 
 and other members of that court, your Majesty's care of the maintainance of 
 your royal power brought in question by that process, with the undoubted 
 favours which they might expect by doing their duty, and most certain disgrace 
 and punishment, if in their defaults any thing should miscarry. He proceed- 
 ed thereafter to the preparation of sufficient forces, able to execute all the 
 lawful commandments of your Majesty's council in your service; and for that 
 purpose having brought with him to this town, a very great number of hon- 
 ourable barons and gentlemen, of good rank and worth of his kindred and 
 friendship ; finding beside other great impediments, the chief peril to consist 
 in the want of an honest assize, who without respect of popular favours, re- 
 port, threatnings, or imprecations, would serve God and your Majesty in a 
 Good Conscience : and for known default of constancy, and good affection in 
 others, he was compelled to cause his own particular and private kinsmen and 
 friends make the most part of the assize, who being admitted upon the same, if 
 he had not dealt in that point but [without] scrupulosity or ceremonies to resolve 
 them of the wonderful doubt, wherein by many means, chiefly by the thunder- 
 ing imprecations of the pannel, and contentious resistance of their own associ- 
 ate assizers, they were casten that whole purpose had failed, to our infinite 
 grief, and your Majesty's over great prejudice, for the good success whereof I 
 shall ever thank God, and ever pray him and your Majesty, to put us to as 
 few essays in the like causes as may possibly stand with the weal of your Maj- 
 esty's service, in respect of the scarcity of skilled and well affected assizers in 
 these causes ; for if my lord of Dunbar had wanted your Majesty's most provi- 
 dent directions, or if we had been destitute of his wise and infinitely sollicitous 
 dilligence and action in this purpose, in all men's Judgements it had losed, 
 wherein our misluck could never have found any excuse, which might either 
 have given satisfaction to your Majesty, or contentment to our own minds, 
 albeit our consciences and actions did bear us record, that we served with 
 most faithful affection and careful diligence. But now we have to thank God 
 that it is well ended, and I roust humbly crave your Majesty's pardon for my 
 boldness and overlong letter, which shall be always short in comparison of 
 ray long and endless prayers to God for your Majesty's health, content, and 
 long happy life. At Lithgow, the ] 1th January, 1606. 
 Your Sacred Majesty's 
 
 Most humble and faithful Servitor, 
 Th. Hamilton.* 
 
 * This letter gives a more lively idea of those times than an hundred Chronicles can do. We see 
 here the prime minister, in order to obtain a sentence agreeable to the king, address the judges witJi 
 promises, and threats, pack the jurj', and then deal with them without scruple or ceremony. It is 
 also evident, that tlie king's advocate disliked the proceedings as impolitic and odious, but that he 
 had not resolution to oppose them. The detail of this trial and of its consequences, may be found in 
 Spotswood and Calderwood. Lord Hailes' Memorials and Letters on the Affairs of Great Bnlain, 
 during the reign of James VI. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 3Q3r 
 
 a stronger light, than any other commentary on the subject 
 could do. The king, for a considerable time, would not de- 
 clare his determination as to the punishment of the condemned 
 ministers, and in the meanwhile, he ordered the trial of the 
 others to be proceeded in, notwithstanding the request con- 
 tained in the letter of the lord advocate ; but, induced by the 
 strong remonstrances of his privy counsellors, who repre- 
 sented the impossibility of finding an assize who would con- 
 vict them, and the disgrace that it would occasion to the gov- 
 ernment, James reluctantly yielded, and they were without 
 trial, banished to the most barbarous quarters of the kingdom, 
 to the Western Islands, to Orkney, Shetland, and the High- 
 lands. The six convicted ministers were banished to France. 
 
 These proceedings, so manifestly iniquitous, increased the 
 national dislike to the bishops: — who were universally consid- 
 ered the authors of this injustice — and their hatred to Episco- 
 pacy, of which it was the first-fruits. 
 
 During the time the fate of the oppressed patriots was de- 
 pending, proclamations were issued, forbidding the ministers, 
 under pain of death, to pray for their persecuted brethren, 
 and prohibiting, under severe penalties, any expression of 
 approbation, respecting the northern conventicle, or any dis- 
 approbation of the proceedings of government. But the min- 
 isters boldly made supplication for the conscientious sufferers, 
 and the nation openly avowed their discontent. The discovery 
 of the gunpowder plot occurring about the same time, it was 
 thought that the king's heart would have been mollified to- 
 wards the imprisoned ministers, but he would listen to no 
 intercession in their favour, and while he appeared anxious to 
 show that he did not consider all the Papists as implicated in 
 the treason, many of whom he said, were " honest men," he 
 ungratefully, wantonly, and foolishly, in addressing the Eng- 
 lish parliament on the occasion, stigmatized his most faithful 
 subjects, the Puritans, whose cruelty he declared worthy of 
 fire, because they would admit no salvation to any Papist. * 
 
 The king resolved to follow up this blow, ere the terror 
 which he supposed it must have struck had subsided, by a 
 
 * K. James' Works, p 503, 
 VOL. III. Q O 
 
30G HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 more decisive measure in favour of Episcopacy, than any he 
 had yet attempted. He ordered a parliament to be assembled, 
 and despatched his favourite minister. Sir George Hume, now 
 created earl of Dunbar, to secure the votes of the nobles, or 
 in modern phrase, to manage the house. He executed his 
 commission with dexterity, and by his intrigues, obtained a 
 complete ascendency for the crown. The nobles of the first 
 rank were new anxious to preserve the royal favour, and al- 
 though decidedly averse to Episcopacy, were afraid to offend 
 the king, lest the grants of the church lands should be revok- 
 ed. These Dunbar gained by the promise of a full confirma- 
 tion, the prospect of immediate advantage rendering them 
 averse to believe, what they considered as gloomy forebodings, 
 that their compliance now, was only laying the foundation for 
 future tyranny. A number of new temporal lords were creat- 
 ed, from the monastic benefices secularized, termed lords of 
 erections ; they durst not oppose the crown, who could easily 
 have stripped them of their possessions ; and the few indigent 
 bishops, who, in opposition to the caveats, had consented to 
 this illegal alienation of the church lands, were entirely at the 
 king's devotion. The commons were more intractable, but 
 the earl's art succeeded in overcoming even their scruples. 
 The parliament met at Perth, August, 1606, and was the first 
 that set an example of national servility. The royal preroga- 
 tive was confirmed without limitation, and the king acknowl- 
 edged absolute prince, judge, and governor, over all persons, 
 estates, and causes, both spiritual and temporal, and by a 
 flattery more like the degraded senate of Rome, than a Scot- 
 tish parliament, all acts which might derogate from the royal 
 authority, if any such should in future be enacted, were pre- 
 viously declared null and void. 
 
 Empty titles are, perhaps, the vainest of all human distinc- 
 tions, and the bishops had hitherto, although called to par- 
 liament, merely possessed the name, the church lands having 
 been dilapidated by the nobles during the king's minority, 
 and what remained, appropriated to the support of the crown, 
 by the act of annexation. An act therefore was introduced, 
 to restore the state of bishops to their ancient and accustom- 
 ed honours, dignities, prerogatives, livings, lands, tithes, 
 53 
 
HISTOUY OF SCOTLAND. 307 
 
 rents, and estates, and to repeal the act of annexation. The 
 chapters, which the general assembly had abolished, were at 
 the same time revived. Though it is not easy sometimes to 
 account for the contradiction which appears in the conduct 
 of individuals, that which is displayed in the acts of public 
 bodies, has long been proverbial. It is not therefore, sur- 
 prising to find this parliament, by one vote alienating the 
 royal domains, and by another, granting the king a subsidy 
 of four hundred thousand merks, * more than double any 
 former taxation, to be raised in four years. The bishops, as 
 might have been expected, were among the foremost to sup- 
 ]>ort this, to the Scots, unusually heavy burden. 
 
 As the business which was to come before parliament had 
 been generally understood, the ministers repaired to Perth in 
 considerable numbers, to endeavour, by every means in their 
 power, to oppose it. They were sanguine in their expecta- 
 tions of being supported by the chancellor, the earl of Dun- 
 fermline, on account of a quarrel he had had with Dunbar, 
 but Spotswood, archbishop of Glasgow, having I'epresented 
 him to the king as having had some dealings with the min- 
 isters, and that he had commended the assembly at Aber- 
 deen, and their exertions in the cause of liberty, he, with 
 considerable difficulty, escaped being brought to trial; in con- 
 sequence, to wipe away all suspicion, and recover the fav- 
 our of his majesty, he now entered warmly into his schemes. 
 The representatives of the burghs likewise, from whom they 
 expected assistance, and who at first promised to stand by 
 them, deserted to the royal standard. Left alone, they re- 
 mained steady to the cause of the church and of the country. 
 
 No sooner did the ministers learn that the lords of the 
 articles had under their consideration, the erection and en- 
 dowment of bishoprics, than they desired to be heard, but 
 were refused. They then gave in to them a protestation, 
 which was contumeliously rejected b}' the chancellor in their 
 name, who, at the same time told them, that the bishops 
 should be restored to the same state they were in sixty years 
 ago. They therefore, presented a copy to each of the estates, 
 
 ♦ Little more than 22,000 pounds sterling. 
 
308 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and to several noblemen. In it they reminded them of their 
 sacred oath, and that even the king himself had solemnly 
 sworn and subscribed repeatedly, together with the whole 
 subjects of the realm, that confession of faith, in which was 
 an engagement to prevent setting up the dominion of bish- 
 ops, whom they denominated the first steps of the antichris- 
 tian hierarchy, an ordinance of man, which the experience of 
 past ages had testified to be the ground of great idleness, 
 palpable ignorance, unsufFerable pride, pitiless tyranny, and 
 shameless ambition ; they recalled to their remembrance, the 
 zeal they had formerly shov/n in the cause, and earnestly ex- 
 horted them not now to fall off. They then stated, that the 
 bishops, when restored to a place in parliament, were restor- 
 ed under especial provision, that nothing derogatory, or pre- 
 judicial to the established church, her discipline, or her juris- 
 diction should follow ; that the general assembly, fearing the 
 corruption of the office, had circumscribed and bound them 
 by a number of caveats, and had not agreed even to the name, 
 lest it should be supposed to import the pomp and tyranny 
 of papal bishops, but ordered them to be styled commission- 
 ers for the church, to vote in parliament, and concluded, by 
 solemnly protesting against the erection of bishoprics, or the 
 establishment of bishops. 
 
 The ministers had now done every thing in their power, 
 except entering a public protest on the last day of the parlia- 
 ment, the day on which all the acts were finally ratified, and 
 for this purpose, they made choice of Andrew Melville, who, 
 with considerable difficulty obtained admission, but when he 
 stood up to speak, he was ordered to be removed, and the 
 petition was not allowed to be heard. He did not depart, 
 however, until he had made the object of his mission known. 
 Shortly after, they published what was called " a verification 
 of the protestation," this paper is remarkable for the clear 
 perception which is displayed in it, of the dangers that the 
 re-establishment of a hierarchy in Scotland threatened, and 
 in a few years after, it might, with little variation, have form- 
 ed a historical record, instead of a faithful warning. " Set 
 me up these bishops once," say they, — " called long since, 
 the prince's led-horse — things, if they were never so unlaw- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 309 
 
 fulj unjust, ungodly, and pernicious to kirk and realm, if 
 they shall be borne forth by the countenance, authoritie, care, 
 and endeavour of the king — supposing such a one, as God 
 forbid, come in the roome of our most renowned sovereign , 
 for to the best hath oft times succeeded the worst — they shall 
 be carried through by his bishops, set up and entertained by 
 him for that effect, and the rest of the estates not onely be 
 indeed as ciphers, but also beare the blame thereof, to their 
 great evil and dishonour. If one will ask, how shall these 
 bishops be mox-e subject to be carried after the appetite of an 
 evil pi'ince than the rest of the estates ? the answer and reason 
 is, because they have their lordship and living, their honour, 
 estimation, profit, and commoditie of the king, the king may 
 set them vp, and cast them downe, give them, and take from 
 them, put them in and out at his pleasure; therefore they must 
 bee at his direction, to do what liketh him ; and in a word, 
 he may do with them by law, [i. e. deal with them without 
 regard to law,] because they were set up against law. But 
 with other estates he cannot do so, they having either herit- 
 able standing in their roomes by the fundamental lawes, or 
 a commission from the estates that send them, as from the 
 burgesses or barons. Deprave me once the ecclesiastical 
 estate, which have the gift of knowledge and learning beyond 
 others, and are supposed — because they should bee — of best 
 conscience, and the rest will be easily miscarried, and that so 
 much the more, that the officers of estate, lords of session, 
 judges, lawyers, that have their offices of the king, are com- 
 monly framed after the court's affection. Yea, let chancellor, 
 secretarie, treasurer, president, comptroller, and others that 
 now are, take heed to themselves that these new prelates of 
 the kirk- — as covetous and ambitious as ever they were of old 
 — insinuating themselves by flatterie and obsequence into the 
 prince's favour, attaine not to the bearing of all these offices 
 of estate and crowne, and to the exercising thereof as craftily, 
 avariciously, proudly, and cruelly, as ever the Papistical pre- 
 lates did; for, as the holiest, best, and wisest angels of light 
 being depraved, became the most wicked, craftie, and cruell 
 divells, so the learnedest and best pastor, perverted and poy- 
 soned by that old serpent with avarice and ambition, becomes 
 
310 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the falsest, worst, and most cruel man, as experience in all ages 
 hath proved. If any succeeding prince please to play the ty- 
 rant and governe all, not by lawes, but by his will and pleas- 
 ure, signified by missives, articles, and directions, these bishops 
 shall never admonish him as faithful pastors and messengers 
 of God, but as they are made up by man, they must, and will 
 flatter, pleasure and obey man; and as they stand by affection 
 of the prince, so will they by no means jeopard their standing, 
 but be the readiest of all to put the king's will into execution, 
 though it were to take and apprehend the bodies of the best, 
 and such, namely, as would stand for the lawes and freedome 
 of the realme, to cast them into dark and stinking prisons, or 
 put them in exile from their native land. The pitiful exper- 
 ience in times past, makes us bold to give warning for the 
 time to come, for it hath been seen and felt, and yet dayly is 
 in this island; and finally, if the prince be prodigal, or would 
 enrich his courtiers by taxations, imposts, subsidies, and ex- 
 actions layd upon the subjects of the realme, who have been, 
 or shall be so ready to conclude and impose that by parlia- 
 ment as these, who are made and set up for that and the like 
 service ?" 
 
 The prelates were not long in displaying to the nobles, that 
 the predictions of the protestors were not altogether chimeri- 
 cal. On the first day of the parliament, ten bishops rode, two 
 and two, between the earls and the lords, but on the last, after 
 the bill, restoring them to their honours, had passed the 
 estates, they would not ride unless they got their ov/n place 
 next the marquises, but went on foot to the parliament house. 
 They were now restored to their honours, titles, and in some 
 measure to their incomes, yet still they had obtained no spiri- 
 tual power in the church; and as this could not be accomplish- 
 ed by a mere act of the legislature, it was necessary to effect 
 it through the medium of the church itself; but there were 
 several members, whose talents and influence were dreaded, 
 whose integrity it was found impossible to corrupt, and whose 
 firmness neither threats nor persecution could bend ; these it 
 was requisite to get removed before any, even of the prelimi- 
 nary, steps could be proposed. They were therefore called 
 up to London, by an especial letter from the king, under the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 311 
 
 pretence of holding a conference " to treat of matters concern- 
 ing the peace of the church of Scotland, and that his majesty 
 might make the constant and unchangeable favour he had 
 ever borne to all the dutiful members of that body manifestly 
 known to them, by which means they might be bound in duty 
 and in conscience to conform themselves to his godly inten- 
 tions ; and if otherwise, after this more than princely conde- 
 scension, any turbulent spirits should persist maliciously in 
 undutiful contempt of- the royal authority, it would then be 
 made manifest that the severity which he might be forced to 
 use, was extorted from him against his nature by their obsti- 
 nacy." These letters were addressed to Andrew Melville, 
 James, his nephew, William Scott, minister of Cupar, John 
 Carmichael of Kilconquhar, M^illiam Watson of Bruntisland, 
 James Balfour of Edinburgh, Adam Coult of Musselburgh, 
 and Robert Wallace of Tranent. On the part of the prelates, 
 were invited the two archbishops, and the bishops of Gallo- 
 way, Dunkeld, and Orkney. 
 
 The meeting took place at Hampton court, and the sub- 
 jects proposed by his majesty were : — The illegal assembly 
 held at Aberdeen, and the best means for obtaining a peace- 
 able meeting of that judicatory, to establish good order and 
 tranquillity in the church. The presence-chamber was 
 crowded with nobility, and several English bishops and deans 
 stood behind the tapestry, and at the doors of the apartment. 
 The king was seated with the prince on his one hand, and 
 the archbishop of Canterbury on the other. . The bishops 
 first gave their opinion, which was merely an echo of the 
 king's; they condemned the meeting as turbulent, factious, 
 and unlawful. The king then asked the ministers to give 
 their opinions, beginning with Andiew Melville, and put the 
 question in a general form : — Whether eight or nine minis- 
 ters, meeting without warrant, and without either moderator 
 or scribe, and informally without sermon, being also discharg- 
 ed by open proclamation, could make an assembly ? Melville 
 replied: — That an ordinary meeting of a court, established 
 by law, could not be declared unlawful on account of its thin- 
 ness, and the members at Aberdeen were suificiently numer- 
 ous to prorogue the assembly to a future day, which was all 
 
312 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 they did, and all they had proposed to do. As to their war- 
 rant, it was founded on the Scripture, his majesty's laws, and 
 the commissions they received from their presbyteries. The 
 presence of a former moderator or clerk was not necessary to 
 the validity of an assembly, for, in case of their absence, they 
 might, according to reason and the practice of the church, 
 choose others in their room. The charge of wanting sermon 
 Was false — ^^one was preached by a minister of Aberdeen at 
 the opening; and with regard to the alleged forbidding of the 
 assembly on the day before it met— turning to Lauiieston, who 
 was the king's commissioner, he said, in a tone of the most 
 impressive solemnity: — " I charge you, in the name of the 
 church of Scotland, as you will answer before the great God, 
 at the appearance of Jesus Christ, to judge the quick and 
 dead, to testify the truth, and tell whether there was any such 
 discharge given." He paused for a reply, but Laurieston 
 made no answer. The king relieved his convicted commis- 
 sioner from penance, by desiring Melville to state the reasons 
 why he would not condemn the ministers ? He answered: — 
 That he would not prejudge the question. The rest of his 
 colleagues also refused to pronounce, or to anticipate, the 
 sentence of their brethren, as the king, by proclamation, had 
 remitted their trial to a general assembly. They were then 
 asked: — What advice they would give for pacifying the dis- 
 sensions raised in the church? To which they unanimously 
 replied: — A free general assembly. Before they reached 
 home, they were overtaken by a messenger, with a charge, 
 commanding them not to return to Scotland, nor to approach 
 the courts of the king, queen, or prince, without special license. 
 Unable to intimidate these intrepid men by public exhibi- 
 tions, it was next endeavoured tb ensnare them by private ex- 
 aminations. They were brought before the Scottish council, 
 and asked whether they prayed for the imprisoned ministers, 
 acknowledged their assembly, or approved their treasonable 
 declinature; James Melville spiritedly replied: — I am a free 
 subject of the kingdom of Scotland, that has laws and privileges 
 of its own, as free as any kingdom in the world, to which I will 
 stand; there hath been no summons lawfully execute against 
 me; the noblemen here and I are not in our own country. 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 313 
 
 the charge, super inquirendis^ was declai'ed long since to be 
 unjust; I am bound by no law to criminate or furnish an ac- 
 cusation against myself. My lords, remember what you are; 
 though I be but a mean man, I am a true born Scottishman, 
 and deal with me as you would be dealt with yourselves, ac- 
 cording to the laws of the Scottish realme." He was succeed- 
 ed by his uncle Andrew, who, in a still bolder strain, told 
 the members of the council: — " That they did not know what 
 they were doing; and that they had degenerated fi'om the 
 ancient nobility of Scotland, who wei'e wont to hazard their 
 lives and lands for the freedom of their country and the gos- 
 pel, which they were betraying and overturning." 
 
 While thus forcibly detained in England, they were obliged 
 to attend at the chapel royal, where a series of discourses 
 were preached, with more warmth than argument, against the 
 Presbyterian form of church government, and in defence of 
 Episcopacy. To these they listened with attention, but they 
 were not allowed to answer, neither when the sermons were 
 delivered, xnva voce, nor when they afterward appeared in 
 print ; yet they do not appear to have ever been provoked to 
 use any angry expression, although one of the Episcopalian 
 champions, in the height of his zeal, addressed his majesty, 
 and alluding to the order of his fettered opponents, repeatedly 
 exclaimed: — Down with them! Down Avith them! 
 
 When a person in power wishes to get rid of a troublesome 
 inferior, it is easy to make or find an occasion for a quarrel. 
 Never was this better exemplified than in the case of Andrew 
 Melville. On the festival of St. Michael, which was celebrat- 
 ed with much pomp, Andrew Melville and his nephew were 
 ordered to be present. The music and the entertainments of 
 the day were not much to the taste of the Scottishmen; but 
 the elder Melville viewed with peculiar abhorrence the decor- 
 ating of the chapel, particularly the altar, on which stood 
 two shut books, two empty cups, and two unlighted candles. * 
 
 * The prince de Vcndorae, who was present, said, he did not see what 
 f.hould hinder the churches of Rome and England to unite ; and one of his 
 attendants said, almost in the very same words which king James had used in 
 his famous eulogium on the kirk of Scotland: — " There is nothing of the 
 mass wanting here but the adoration of the Host." 
 vor,. iTi. K n 
 
314 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 After leaving the chapel they were conducted into the royal 
 closet, where they saw the king touch several for the cure of 
 the scrofula, thence called the king's evil. 
 
 On returning to his lodgings, Andrew Melville gave vent 
 to his indignation in the following epigram : 
 
 Cur stant clausi Anglis libri duo regio in ara, 
 
 Lumina caeca duo, pollubra sicca duo ? 
 
 Num sensum culturaque Dei tenet Anglia clausum, 
 
 Lumina CEeca suo, sorda sepulta sua ? 
 
 Romano an ritu dum regalem instruit aram 
 
 Purpuream pingit religiosa lupam? 
 
 A copy of which having been surreptitiously obtained by the 
 king, he was summoned before the English privy council, 
 where he frankly avowed being the author of the lines, but de- 
 nied having published them, or given a copy. Bancroft, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, then pronounced the verses a libel on 
 the church, and even thought they contained treason. Mel- 
 ville, whose patience had been exhausted, vehemently broke in 
 upon the archbishop's harangue. " My lords," exclaimed he, 
 " Andrew Melville was never a traitor; but, my lords, there 
 was one Richard Bancroft — let him be sought for — v/ho, during 
 the life of the late queen, wrote a treatise against his majesty's 
 title to the crown of England, and here " — pulling it from his 
 pocket — " here is the book." Then rising in warmth, and 
 advancing as he spoke, he shook the primate's lawn sleeves, 
 calling them " Romish rags," and lamented that such a man 
 should have the ear of his majesty. In a similar strain of im- 
 passioned invective he attacked bishop Barlow, who came to 
 the assistance of Bancroft; and when a Scottish nobleman 
 desired him to remember where he was, and to whom he was 
 speaking, he replied: — I remember it very well my lord, and 
 am sorry that your lordship, by sitting here and countenancing 
 such proceedings against me, should furnish a precedent 
 which may yet be used against yourself or your posterity." 
 He was then removed, and after the council had deliberated 
 a little recalled, when he was admonished by the chancellor, 
 to add modesty and discretion to his learning and years, and 
 told that he had been found guilty of scandalum magnatiim, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 315 
 
 For this trifling offence, if it can be called an offence, neither 
 the genius, learning, services, piety, nor age, of the venerable 
 Melville, could procure a pardon. He was first committed 
 to the custody of Dr. Overall, dean of St. Paul's, and after- 
 ward sent prisoner to the tower, where he was confined for 
 four years. His release was obtained through the intercession 
 of the duke of Bouillon, who wished to place him at the head 
 of the Protestant university at Sedan, but not without consid- 
 erable opposition from the queen regent of France, who was 
 anxious to prevent such a man from settling in that country. 
 He was himself extremely desirous to return to his native 
 land, but all the interest that was used on his behalf was fruit- 
 less, and in the month of April, 160, he embarked from the 
 tower of London for the place of his exile. Of his late years 
 not much is known. He died at Sedan, 1622, after a labori- 
 ous life spent in the service of literature, his country, and the 
 church. His nephew, James, a man of a more mild and 
 amiable disposition, was confined first to Newcastle, and after- 
 ward in Berwick, within sight of his native country, which he 
 was never permitted to visit. The others were sent to Scot- 
 land, but restricted to separate and remote districts. 
 
 This open breach of faith, and notorious act of oppression, 
 it is impossible to stigmatize in language too strong. The 
 ministers were invited to an amicable conference, and to give 
 their advice upon the state of the church, which when they 
 had obeyed, they were insulted, imprisoned, and banished, 
 without a trial, and without even the imputation of a crime. 
 Throughout the whole transaction there is a mean, pitiful 
 vindictiveness, that, while it marks strongly a spirit of implac- 
 able animosity and personal revenge, places James and his 
 counsellors in the most despicable point of view. At the same 
 time, the noble, independent spirit of the plain, persecuted 
 ministers, throws a lustre around their character, which shines 
 with peculiar brilliance when contrasted with the low, syco- 
 phantish behaviour of their mitred opponents. * 
 
 * In this statement I have chiefly followed Dr. M'Crie, whose long account 
 of the conferences and treatment of the ministers in their London expedition, 
 is not one of the least interesting passages in his able Life of Andrew Melville. 
 
316 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 The men, whose talents were most formidable, and whose 
 influence was most dreaded, being thus disposed of, the bish- 
 ops returned to be present at a convention of the ministers of 
 the church. This convention was summoned to consult with 
 certain members of the privy council, upon the remedies for 
 bypast distractions, the best method for preventing the dan- 
 gers arising from the great increase of Papists, for settling 
 peace and good order in the kirk, and ensuring obedience to 
 the royal authority. The members were nominated by the 
 king, who, in letters addressed to the different presbyteries, 
 directed them to choose such persona as he knew v/ould prove 
 subservient to his will. The numbers varied in the different 
 presbyteries; from some six, and from others only half that 
 number were selected ; and, calculating upon the opposition 
 of some of the presbyteries to this mandate, those named 
 were, by private letters, commanded to attend whether they 
 received commissions from their presbyteries or not. By this 
 means about one hundred and thirty-six ministers were col- 
 lected, several of whom had no commission from their pres- 
 byteries to vote, and some were even interdicted; they, nev- 
 ertheless, assumed the name and title of a legal assembl}^ 
 It would still, perhaps, have been too rash a step to propose, 
 even in a meeting constituted as this was, the complete estab- 
 lishment of Episcopal jurisdiction. An overture was there- 
 fore laid before them from the king, in which his majesty 
 expressed his opinion, that the greatest cause of the misgov- 
 ernment of church affairs was their being committed into the 
 hands of ignorant and inexperienced men, and declared it to 
 be his " advice and pleasure, that one of the most godly and 
 grave, and meetest for government, should presently be nom- 
 inated as m.oderator of each presbytery, to continue in that 
 office until the jars among the ministers were removed, and 
 the noblemen, professing Papistry within the kingdom, either 
 reduced to a profession of the truth, or repressed by a due 
 execution of the laws; that the moderators should have an 
 additional stipend of one hundred pounds, * and the bishops 
 to ibe the moderators of the presbyteries within whose bounds 
 
 * Scottish money. 
 
lliSroriY OF SCOTLAND, 317 
 
 they resided." Such was the overture, as originally proposed 
 and carried; but when published as an act of assembly, after 
 it had been revised at court, it was found that the bishops 
 were not only appointed moderators of the presbyteries within 
 whose bounds they resided, but also perpetual moderators of 
 the provincial synods. The moderators and the clerks of 
 presbyteries, now rendered permanent, and entirely depend- 
 ant upon the bishops, were declared to be official members of 
 the general assembly. At the close of the assembly, an ad- 
 monition was given to the brethren, to beware of speaking 
 any thing unadvisedly against his majesty. It was afterward 
 discovered, that a large sum of mone}^ had been distributed 
 by Dunbar, in addition to all his other arguments, in order 
 to attain his object. 
 
 When the assembly rose, the synods and presbyteries were 
 charged to receive their constant modeiators. A number of 
 the presbyteries complied, but all the synods, except Angus, 
 refused. They protested against the assembly as illegal, not 
 having been duly elected, and demanded, at least, to see the 
 act they were called upon to obey ; but not a copy of it, no 
 not even an extract, could be produced, and they were re- 
 quired to take the mere word of the king's commissioner in 
 its room. As this did not satisfy them, the ministers were 
 sent to prison, or declared rebels, and forced to abscond for 
 disobedience. The synods were interrupted, dispersed, and 
 prohibited, and the whole land was thrown into confusion, by 
 the intemperate violence with which the agents of government 
 endeavoured to carry into effect an act they had not to pro- 
 duce, and which several of the members of the Linlithgow 
 convention contended was essentially different from their im- 
 perious mandates. * 
 
 * As a specimen of the manner these men, who were constantly professing 
 to seek the peace of the church, endeavoured to obtain that object, I subjoin 
 an abstract of their proceedings at Perth, when they attempted to carry into 
 effect the choosing of a constant moderator — a project, the sole end of which 
 was to prevent confusion. Upon the first Tuesday of April the synod ot 
 Perth met. The comptroller. Sir David Murray, lord Scoone, was present as 
 commissioner, and his orders were, to pul! the 1 ist moderator out of the pu'- 
 pit, if, in his opening sermon, he touched upon any of the late proceed; ng-. 
 
318 HISTORY Ot" SCOTLAND. 
 
 Had James, instead of endeavouring to enforce a uniformity 
 in religion, and establish his power on the wreck of the 
 church, turned his attention seriously, now that he had the 
 means, to enforce obedience to the laws; had he dropped his 
 favourite apothegm : — No bishop, no king, and adopted in its 
 place: — No law, no king, his name might have still been 
 fondly cherished in his native country, and the crown of 
 Britain have descended in peace to his posterity; but he con- 
 tinued to pursue his mischievous plans, and to create fresh 
 dissensions in a country the prey of hereditary feuds, which 
 nothing but a strict, unrelaxed administration of justice could 
 have repressed. The privy council had successfully inter- 
 posed in procuring a temporary accommodation among some 
 of the principal families, but still they were unable to prevent 
 the terrible effects of private revenge. The earl of Crawford 
 had assassinated Sir Walter Lindsay, his own relation, and 
 afteiward continued to reside in Edinburgh openly, and in 
 
 particularly those of the convention held at Linlithgow. He chose for his 
 text, Amos, chap. vii. ver. 12, 13. " Also Araaziah said unto Amos, O thou 
 seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and pro- 
 phesy there : but prophesy not again any more at Bethel ; for it is the king's 
 chapel, and it is the king's court," and it was with difficulty the commis- 
 sioner was prevented from laying violent hands upon him. In the afternoon 
 they met, and were proceeding quietly to choose their moderator, when 
 Scoone entered, and stopped them, because they had not waited till he pro- 
 duced his commission. They told him : — If he had a commission from th» 
 king or council, it was the duty of the new moderator to receive it. The 
 commissions were then read, desiring them to choose a constant moderator 
 from a list of four, sent according to the act of the assembly at Linlithgow. 
 The synod requested a sight of the act, but no act could be produced, 
 and several of the members who had been at Linlithgow asserted : — That 
 they heard nothing mentioned in the convention about the moderators of 
 synods. Scoone threatened to dissolve the meeting if one of the four were 
 not chosen ; often repeating : — Ye shall not make a Laurieston of me ! This 
 they told him they could not do, for one of them was dead, another unfit by 
 disease, the third refused to accept, and the fourth had entered by violence 
 against the protestation of the presbytery. The commissioner still insisting, 
 the synod said it was hard to be desired to obey an act which could not be 
 produced; which fourteen of their number, who had been at Linlithgow, de- 
 clared upon their consciences was never proposed, either in private confer- 
 ence or public meeting, especially as it was against the acts of assembly, and 
 the discipline which the king and the whole estates had sworn and subscribed. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 319 
 
 defiance of the law, till David, Sir Walter's nephew, collect- 
 ed an armed force to avenge his death, and lord Spynie, 
 their mutual uncle, a noblemen of great promise, interposing, 
 was unfortunately slain. The earl of Morton, and lord Max- 
 well, having both pretensions to hold courts in Eskdale, 
 when neither would submit, they prepared to appeal to arms, 
 on hearing which, the council charged both to disband their 
 forces. Morton obeyed, but Maxwell still persisting, he was 
 by some means apprehended, and lodged in Edinburgh castle. 
 After two months' confinement, he contrived to make his 
 escape. In consequence, he v/as proclaimed an outlaw, and 
 owed his safety to the fidelity of his domestics and friends. 
 Rendered desperate by his situation, and being unable to 
 procure satisfaction for his personal injuries in a court of jus- 
 tice, he determined to avenge his own quarrel. Having in- 
 vited the chief of the Johnstons, who had killed his father, to 
 a friendly interview, under pretence of employing his interest 
 
 Tiiey therefore proceeded, notwithstanding the opposition of the commission- 
 er, who raged violently, and chose a nnoderator according to their usual legal 
 method. Mr. Henry Levingston, who was chosen, was then desired to take 
 his place; Scoone threatened him, if he dared, and rose to resist him hy 
 force. The moderator gave way, and going to the middle of the table, said 
 meekly : " Let us begin at God, And be humbled in the name of Jesns 
 Christ." The commissioner, on seeing his threatenings disregarded, struck 
 his breast, and roared out in an infuriated tone : " The devil a Jesus is here," 
 upset the table, and covered those who were kneeling near it with the green 
 cloth; but the immoveable moderator proceeded with his prayer, and be- 
 sought the Lord to be avenged on the blasphemy of his name, and contempt 
 of his glory, trampled under foot by profane men. The commissioner then 
 removed, and sent an order to the baillies to dismiss these rebels. The 
 baillies replied : — They could not do so on their own authority, without a 
 meeting of the town council. Their next meeting, however, was prevented 
 from being held in the church, as the doors were locked. The people, who 
 had assembled in great numbers weeping, cursed the instruments of that dis- 
 turbance, and would have proceeded by violence to break open the door*;, 
 but the ministers restrained them, and the meeting was held in the open air, 
 the zeal of- the citizens quickly furnishing every accommodation in their 
 power. This, said the moderator, is the fruit of the convention at Linlithgow. 
 After the commissioner was gone, the business was finished quietly; but the 
 moderator of the former synod was put to the horn, and forced to abscond, 
 because a minion of the crown had raised thh disturbance. — Calderwood, 
 p. 56-7. 
 
320 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 to procure the king's pardon, he treacherously murdered 
 him, by sending a brace of bullets through his back. 
 
 In the summer of 1605, the scheme of colonizing Lewis 
 was resumed, and Lumsden of Airdrie, and Sir George Hay 
 of Netherliff, to whom some of the original projectors had 
 made over their right, went thither in the autumn to put it 
 into execution. With the assistance of M'Kay and M'Ken- 
 zie they obliged a number of the inhabitants to remove from 
 the island, and give hostages not to return. * Having ac- 
 complished this, and thinking they had secured possession, 
 the leaders left a force, such as they conceived sufficient to 
 maintain it, and retui'ned south. The colonists, although 
 occasionally assaulted by the Islanders, kept their position 
 all winter. In the spring Airdrie returned to them with 
 supplies, and they immediately began to build, manure the 
 lands, and prepare fpr a permanent establishment; but the 
 funds beginning to fail, the soldiers deserted, and the exiled 
 natives, assisted by a number of the neighbouring Islanders, 
 made an invasion about the end of harvest, and by continual 
 skirmishing, so wearied out the new possessors, that they 
 were glad, for a small sum of money, to make over their 
 rights to the chief of the clan M'Kenzie. 
 
 During this year the project was again revived, and the 
 Islands were now offered to the marquis of Huntly for ten 
 thousand pounds Scots, Lewis and Sky excepted ; but he re- 
 fused to give more than four hundred, for liberty to subdue 
 what he was uncertain whether he might be able to retain. 
 The negotiation was broken off, and we hear no more of 
 James' attempts at reducing the Hebrides.-}- 
 
 More severe and effectual measures were taken with the 
 borderers; the most desperate, and those who were most 
 dreaded were carried to the continent by Buccleugh, where 
 the greater part fell in the Belgic wars. The remainder, un- 
 able to resist, and unwilling to rest, were extirpated by the 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 557. Spotswood, p. 496. 
 
 t It was a strange idea to employ the savages of Badenoch to civilkc the 
 Darbarians of the Western Isles, and at a time when the governnient was 
 professing a strong hatred at Popery, to sell them to a Papist. 
 
HISTORY OB SCOTLAND. 321 
 
 cruel policy of the earl of Dunbar, and the debatable lands, 
 which had hitherto afforded the freebooters an asylum, were 
 divided and appropriated to each kingdom. Yet many years 
 elapsed ere they were brought under a proper subjection to 
 the laws, and the thieves of Annandale, till the labours of the 
 persecuted ministers, after the restoration, introduced among 
 them a knowledge of religion and morality, continued to har- 
 ass and rob the western borders. 
 
 A meeting of the estates was this year held, to forward the 
 political union with England, and they appear to have been 
 sufficiently obsequious; but the English parliament not prov- 
 ing quite so manageable, the project was at that time laid 
 wholly aside, and it is worthy of remark, and it ought to en- 
 dear to every Briton, the invaluable rights and privilege of a 
 free parliament; that while the political union of the two 
 kingdoms was discussed, and that with a considerable degree 
 of jealousy and asperity on both sides, in the high councils ot 
 England and Scotland, even as then constituted, no proscrip- 
 tions, imprisonments, or exile, was the consequence; while 
 the uniformity in church discipline, which was urged by pre- 
 rogative, alone was carried on with a relentless cruelty, 
 which eventually and justly proved fatal to the race of the 
 Stuarts. 
 
 About this time the hopes of the nation and the court were 
 raised high, by the discovery of a silver mine in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Linlithgow. Some specimens were of the richest 
 kind, yielding, from one hundred ounces of ore, about sixty 
 ounces of silver. But James disgusted the Scots, by order- 
 ing the produce of the mine to be conveyed to London to be 
 refined in the tower, and was himself soon disappointed, the 
 vein being speedily wrought out or lost. The gold mines of 
 Crawford muir were also resumed with similarly extravagant 
 expectations, and similarly insignificant results. They repaid 
 an expense of three thousand pounds, by a produce of not 
 quite three ounces of gold. 
 
 It would be as tiresome as useless to repeat all the protes- 
 tations and promises of the king and the bishops, respecting 
 their desires for peace, and their aversion to encroach on the 
 liberties of the church, or overthrow her discipline; in every 
 
 VOL. III. s s 
 
322 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 instance they were broken; and the low cunning, the false- 
 hood, the dissimulation, the cruelty, and the injustice of 
 their proceedings, might have remained an unparalleled stain 
 upon our history, had not the atrocious reigns of Charles II. 
 and his brother outdone them in iniquity. The appointment 
 of the constant moderators had upon trial been proved to be 
 obnoxious to the people and the ministers, when uninfluenced. 
 The king, who foresaw this opposition, and pronounced that 
 in many places it would be conscientious, desired force to be 
 used.* But the bishops employed a more powerful and less 
 invidious instrument. A nurnber of the ministers were in 
 extreme poverty, and the bishops had obtained the power of 
 regulating their stipends ; nor could they even procure what 
 was allotted to them until they, and the constant moderators, 
 gave a warrant to that effect, and Calderwood laments the 
 sad, but natural influence which this had upon many of the 
 weaker brethren.f The bishops, besides, in their private in- 
 terviews, urged the folly of contending with the king, whose 
 intentions they affirmed had been greatly misrepresented, 
 and from the circumstances of dependance in which the min- 
 isters were now placed, their arguments were heard with a 
 less scrupulous ear, than in other situations they would pro- 
 bably have been. 
 
 Whenever any new aggression was to be made upon the 
 church, the attention of the ministers was always directed to 
 
 * " As touching the conclusion taken for the constant moderators, his 
 majesty aid thank them for their travels ; but whereas they were of opinion 
 that the act atiould be universally received — for so much the assembly had 
 written — he said that he knew them too well to expect any such thing at 
 their hands. Their consciencious zeal to maintain parity, and a desire to 
 keep all things in a continuall, constant volubility, he said, was such as they 
 would never agree to a settled fonn of government. Besides, he knew that 
 divers of those who were nominated to the places of moderation would refuse 
 to accept the same, lest they should be thought to affect superiority above 
 their brethren : that therefore he would have the council to look to that 
 business, and direct charges as well for those that were nominated to accept 
 the moderation, as to the ministers of every presbytery to acknowledge them 
 that were nominated." — Spotswood, p. 503. What a tribute to the disinter- 
 estedness of the " sincerer sort of the ministrie," extorted from an enemy! 
 
 f Calderwood, p. 57. 'i. 
 53 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 323 
 
 the prevalence and danger of Popery, and the marquis of 
 Huntly was made use of by the court to keep them in alarm 
 or employment, while the measures were in preparation which 
 it wished to forward. As it was an object of importance to 
 obtain the sanction of an assembly, which had the show of 
 legality, to the proceedings of the convention at Linlithgow, 
 the bishops raised the usual cry, and availing themselves of 
 the feelings it gave rise to, represented the necessity of har- 
 mony among the professors of the Protestant faith in the time 
 of danger, and of a meeting of the general assembly, to devise 
 the most eifectual means for resisting Popish intrigue. Pre- 
 viously to which, however, a conference was held at Falk- 
 land, where it was agreed to leave the questions relative to 
 church government untouched till the next general assembly, 
 and that then nothing should be introduced which might en- 
 gender strife, but that all matters of controversy should be 
 left to a select committee for their private discussion. 
 
 The assembly met at Linlithgow, July 26th. It was com- 
 posed chiefly of such as had been influenced by the bishops, 
 besides about forty noblemen and gentlemen, whom the king 
 had ordered to be there, and who, although not members, 
 claimed a right to vote. A sentence of excommunication was 
 pronounced against Huntly ; but the main object was to ob- 
 tain an insidious truce, under the fascinating names of peace 
 and accommodation, that during its continuance, the prelates 
 might pave the way for their complete establishment. They 
 knew that the men who were opposed to them feared an oath, 
 and would keep it sacred, while they were under no such 
 scrupulous restraint. After many professions of mutual re- 
 gard, it was agreed, for want of time, as was alleged, to leave 
 what related to discipline and polity to be settled by a select 
 number of individuals, and the whole members promised 
 upon oath to lay down all rancour and distraction of heart 
 and affections, which either of them had borne against other 
 in any time by-past, and be reunited and reconciled in hearty 
 affection ; and to abstain in the mean time in public and pri- 
 vate from reviving the dissensions by their disputes, or, as 
 Calderwood phrases it, by " word, deed, or countenance." 
 On their return home, they were to recommend the same to 
 
324 , HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 their presbyteries, and all the contraveners of this amicable 
 arrangement were to be liable to the censure of the synods. 
 A commission was also appointed to correspond with the 
 king, and in it was included all the bishops. At the conclu- 
 sion of the assembly, a motion was made to request the com- 
 missioner, and those who were to go to court, to implore the 
 king, in name of the assembly, to grant the banished and 
 confined ministers their liberty. 
 
 Men without guile themselves, are the most liable to be 
 imposed upon by low craft and self-interested cunning, especi- 
 ally when it is veiled under professions of kindness and of 
 fair dealing. The ministers allowed themselves to be com- 
 pletely duped. The bishops, at the very moment when they 
 were chaunting : " Behold how good a thing it is for brethren 
 to dwell in unity," * were preparing memorials to the king, . 
 to urge him to the prosecution of the refractory ministers, 
 and complaints against the leniency of the council. 
 
 Previously to the meeting of the Linlithgow convention, 
 1606, Mr. Welsh and his companions were carried from 
 Blackness to Leith, in the month of November, in the even- 
 ing, to embark for the place of their banishment ; but on 
 their arrival, owing to some delay, accidental or intended, 
 the master of the vessel was not ready at the time, and Mr. 
 John Murray, minister at Leith, received them into his house, 
 and hospitably entertained them till two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, when they were called upon to go on board, and he ac- 
 companied them to the beach, where numbers were waiting 
 to take a farewell of their revered preachers. Having prayed, 
 and sung the xxiii. Psalm, they went into the boat that was 
 waiting, and left that land which some of them were destined 
 never more to revisit, attended by the blessings of the assem- 
 bled nmltitude. Murray's Christian charity was a crime 
 which these pleaders for brotherly love could never forgive. 
 For this, and some other frivolous causes, he was summoned 
 before the privy council, and strictly examined, but dismiss- 
 ed. The prelates, not satisfied, represented the case to the 
 king, and Murray was imprisoned in Edinburgh castle ; but 
 
 * The general assembly closed by singing the cxxxiii. Psalm. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 325 
 
 because this was too near his old parish, and too comfortable, 
 they now requested his majesty that he might be sent to some 
 more distant province. They, at the same time, instructed 
 their agent, Gavin Hamilton, bishop of Galloway, to apolo- 
 gize for their agreeing to supplicate for the confined ministers, 
 from the circumstances in which they were placed; and to 
 show that they were sincere in their enmity, enjoined him to 
 urge his majesty to send orders to the council, to remit noth- 
 ing of the rigour of their confinement, unless they humbly 
 acknowledged their faults, which Hamilton was to dwell upon 
 as chiefly committed against his majesty's prerogative. They 
 also insinuated that the temporalities granted to the lords of 
 erections should be reclaimed; that all presentations to vacant 
 churches should revert to his majesty; that they should be 
 admitted to seats in the court of session ;" * and they con- 
 clude, by recommending a general order to be sent for the 
 disarming of the country — a proposal which ought to have 
 opened the eyes of government to their critical situation, and 
 convinced them of the misrule which could render such a 
 proceeding necessary. A well governed people may at all 
 times be trusted with weapons ; it is only when maleadminis- 
 stration has spread misery and .discontent that rulers need re- 
 sort to so ungracious a measure. 
 
 Immediately after the discovery of the gunpowder treason, 
 an oath of allegiance was demanded from all English subjects, 
 particularly Papists, in which they were required to abjure 
 the power claimed by the Pope of deposing kings, and dis- 
 posing of their kingdoms, and, what seems constantly to have 
 haunted James : " That damnable doctrine, that princes 
 which be excommunicated may be lawfully murdered by their 
 subjects, or any other whatsoever." The Pope, in two breves, 
 strictly forbade any of the Roman Catholics to take the oath, 
 and cardinal Bellarmine wrote a letter to the Romish arch- 
 priest, Blackwell, who had taken it, exhorting him to repent- 
 ance, and stedfast adherence to his spiritual allegiance, even 
 although he should suffer the crown of martyrdom. To 
 
 * Memorial by the bishops, to be proposed to his most excellent majesfj, 
 — Calderwood, p. 602. 
 
320 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 counteract the effect of these dangerous publications, James 
 wrote a reply, entitled, Triplici nodo Triplex cuneus. or an 
 Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance, as an Answer to the 
 Breves, &c. In about half a year, Bellarmine answered the 
 royal disputant under the name of Matthoeus Tortus. In it 
 he accused James of deceiving the Roman Catholics, and of 
 having departed from these principles of toleration which he 
 had professed; asserted that some of his officers of state had 
 given the pope and cardinals reason to hope that he would 
 profess himself a Catholic when he came to the throne of 
 England ; that he had himself written letters full of courtesy 
 to cardinals Aldo, Brandino, and Bellarmine ; and what was 
 the most serious of all, he had written a letter with his own 
 hand to pope Clement VIII. soliciting a cardinal's hat for the 
 bishop of Vaison. This letter, which both James and his 
 secretary had solemnly denied any knowledge of [vide page 
 251.] when questioned by Elizabeth, and which, from that 
 time, had remained unnoticed, being thus brought forward 
 in the face of Europe, could not now be answered by the 
 royal negation. Lord Balmerino, who was then at court, 
 was asked by the king : — If any such letter had been written 
 at any time ? He reminded his majesty that such a letter had 
 been written by his majesty's own knowledge ; but perceiving 
 that this was a subject the king was inclined to forget, he 
 chose rather to throw himself upon the king's mercy than 
 stand upon his defence, and humbly entreated his pardon, as 
 what he had done was with the best intentions, to purchase 
 the pope's favour, and forward his claims upon England. 
 He was afterward examined before the privy council, where 
 it is said he confessed that he had written the letter without 
 the king's knowledge, and presented it, among other papers, 
 for signature to his majesty, who subscribed it without a per- 
 usal. * Balmerino himself, however, in his narrative asserts, 
 that the king was not ignorant of the correspondence with 
 Clement, nor was he averse to it, only he hesitated about 
 conceding to the pope his apostolical titles ; but when he — 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 508. The archbishop was his decided enemy, of course 
 Iiis testimony is liable to suspicion. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 327 
 
 the secretary — had affixed them, and presented tlie letter 
 along with other despatches to different cardinals, he signed 
 it without hesitation ; and this narrative, which bears an air 
 of truth, coincides with the answer he gave James when first 
 questioned on the subject. But it was necessary that the 
 character of a Protestant king, notwithstanding he gloried in 
 a Popish title, " Defender of the Faith," should be free froai 
 any imputation of holding a correspondence with the pope ; 
 and Dunbar and Spotswood were bent upon the secretary's 
 ruin. After much art and intrigue he was induced, upon a 
 promise of his life being spared, and his estate secured, to 
 acknowledge that the letter had been surreptitiously obtained, 
 after the king had refused to have any intercourse with the 
 Roman pontiff. 
 
 He was early next year sent to Scotland to stand trial, and 
 after being exhibited in Edinburgh as a spectacle, in a public 
 procession to his place of confinement, he was delivered to 
 lord Scoone, who conveyed him with a guard of horse to 
 Falkland prison, whence, after a month's confinement, he 
 was carried to St. Andrews, to appear before the court of 
 justiciary. He was accused of having acted treasonably and 
 undutifully, to the disparagement of his majesty's honour, life, 
 crown, and estate. In answer, he repeated his former de- 
 claration, and was found guilty upon his own confession ; but 
 no sentence was pronounced till the king's pleasure should 
 be known. After trial he was carried back to Edinburgh, 
 where he received, by the king's orders, the doom of a trait- 
 or; but the pievious promise was kept; he received a pardon, 
 and after being imprisoned for some months in Falkland, he 
 was permitted to retire to his estate. He died in about two 
 years after. He was a man possessed of excellent talents for 
 public business, and at first favoured the schemes of the king ; 
 but when he perceived the encroaching spirit of the prelates, 
 he silently endeavoured to counteract their influence. He 
 prevented their obtaining seats in the court of session, of 
 which he was president; and, perhaps, it was to that, and 
 his opposing the restitution of the church lands, that he owed 
 the enmity of the clergy, and that his character, has been 
 handed down to us as stained by insatiable avarice, as his 
 
338 HISTORY OF SCOTI.AXD. 
 
 integrity on the bench, in opposition to the secret influence 
 of Dunbar, in all probability hastened his disgrace. 
 
 The parliament, which had been repeatedly prorogued, at 
 last met in the end of June, and the bishops, who had receiv- 
 ed a " new light" during the pernicious truce, now fully con- 
 vinced of the Scriptural authority of Prelacy, rode in great 
 pomp to the opening of the session, the archbishops before 
 the earls, and the rest of the bishops before the lords. At 
 this meeting, the commissary, or consistorial courts, which 
 had been taken from the clergj'^ at the reformation, as incon- 
 sistent with the ministerial office, were restored to the bish- 
 ops, and all spiritual and ecclesiastical causes which occurred 
 within their dioceses, were ordered to be determined by them 
 or their commissioners. An act also was passed, respecting 
 the dresses of the judges, magistrates, and churchmen, the 
 regulating of which was referred to his majesty, that he might 
 display his royal taste in the cut and colour of the official 
 garments. Patterns accordingly were sent from London not 
 long after, for the apparel of the lords of Session, the justices, 
 and other inferior judges, for advocates, lawyers, and all that 
 lived by that profession, and command was given to every one 
 whom the statutes concerned, to provide themselves in the 
 habits prescribed, under pain of rebellion ! But the greatest 
 anxiety appears in providing proper raiment for the dignified 
 clergy, I quote the act. " Considering what slander and 
 contempt have arisen tx> the ecclesiastical estate of this king- 
 dom, by the occasion of the light and indecent apparel used 
 by some of that profession, and chiefly these having vote in 
 parliament, it is therefore statuted, that every preacher of 
 God's word, shall hereafter wear black, grave, and come- 
 ly apparel, beseeming men of their estate and profession ; 
 likewise, that all priors, abbots, and prelates, having vote in 
 parliament, and especially bishops, shall wear grave, and de- 
 cent apparel, agreeable to their function, and as appertains 
 to men of their rank, dignity, and place." The grave con- 
 clusion of the act is exquisitely ludicrous. " And because 
 the wholly estates humbly and thankfully acknowledge, that 
 God of his great goodness, has made the people and subjects 
 of this country so happy as to have a king reign over us, who 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 329 
 
 is most godly, wise, and religious, hating all erroneous and 
 vain superstition, just in government, and of long experience 
 therein, knowing better than any king living, what appertains, 
 and is convenient for every estate in their behaviour and duty, 
 therefore, it is agreed and assented to by the said estates, that 
 what order so ever his majesty, in his great wisdom shall 
 think nri.eet to prescribe for the apparel of churchmen, the 
 same being sent in writ by his majesty to his clerk of register, 
 shall be a sufficient warrant to him for inserting thereof in 
 the books of parliament, to have the strength and effect of an 
 act." 
 
 Soon after the parliament rose, Spotswood was created an 
 extraordinary lord of session, which was the more obnoxious, 
 as his father, the venerable superintendent of Lothian, had 
 procured a declaration from the general assembly, that the 
 ministerial function was incompatible with the discharge of 
 any civil office. But the design of re-introducing ecclesiastics 
 to the court of session, was laid aside on the institution of a 
 new tribunal, which conferred on them a power almost equal 
 to what the Soanish inquisition possessed. The king, in vir- 
 tue of his prerogative alone, issued a commission under the 
 great seal, to the two archbishops of St. Andrews and Glas- 
 gow, authorizing them to hold in their respective cities, 
 courts of high commission, to call before them, at such place 
 as they should think meet, any persons within the bounds of 
 their provinces, and take cognizance of their lives, conversa- 
 tion, and religious opinions, and if found guilty or contu- 
 macious, to punish them by fine, imprisonment, or excom- 
 munication, which they were empowered to command the 
 preacher of the parish where the offender resided, to pi*o- 
 nounce, and in case of his refusal or delay, they were to call 
 him before them, and punish his disobedience by suspension, 
 deprivation, or imprisonment. In these commissions, a num- 
 ber of noblemen and gentlemen were conjoined with the arch- 
 bishop and bishops, but this was a feeble protection against 
 the illegal institution, as the archbishop with four, made a 
 quorum, and he could at any time summon four devoted to 
 his will, while the nobles, or such as might have opposed his 
 proceedings, were engaged in other avocations; but they could 
 
 VOL. HI, T T 
 
330 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 form no court without the presence of the archbishop. The 
 jurisdiction of these courts was as extensive, as their power 
 was despotic, it reached to every rank, and from their de- 
 cisions there was no appeal. Schools and colleges were sub- 
 jected to their visitations. 
 
 Possessed of such extensive powers, as lords of the high 
 commission, lords of parliament, council, exchequer, session, 
 and regality, constant moderators of presbyteries, patrons of 
 benefices, and commissioners of the general assembly, their 
 authority in the church became irresistible, and they thought 
 they might now venture to call a meeting of her once formid- 
 able high judicatory, and submit the question of episcopacy 
 to their determination. In a common letter sent to the king, 
 requesting him to call an assembly, they promised to be an- 
 swerable to his majesty for the performance of what they 
 undertook, and assured him the ministers, even the most 
 refractory, would suffer things to proceed, and be quiet, be- 
 cause they could no longer strive. The assembly was, in 
 compliance with their wishes, appointed to be held at Glasgow, 
 in the month of June, 1610; but still, although the most able 
 of their opponents were banished, imprisoned, or confined 
 within their respective parishes, they durst not trust the re- 
 mainder with a free election. His majesty, in missives sent to 
 the different presbyteries, nominated the persons they should 
 appoint as members, and the archbishops sent circulars along 
 with them, exhorting them to obedience, and " not to provoke 
 the king's majesty to wrath, without any necessary occasion." 
 The earl of Dunbar was sent down as king's commissioner, 
 and with him three English doctors, to consult and arrange 
 the business that was to be brought before the assembly. 
 With these injunctions, the greater part of the presbyteries 
 complied, and an assembly, composed of the bishops, the 
 constant moderators, and the representatives of presbyteries, 
 met at the appointed time. 
 
 From a body so composed, no opposition to the measures 
 of the court was either expected or received. The convoca- 
 tion of general assemblies was declared to be a branch of the 
 royal prerogative, and the assembly held at Aberdeen, 1603, 
 pronounced unlawful. The constant moderation of the pro- 
 33 . . 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 331 
 
 vincial synods was confirmed to the bishops, and no sentence 
 of excommunication or absolution, could be pronounced with- 
 out their permission. All presentations were to be directed 
 to the bishop of the diocess, by whom the presentee was to 
 be tried; and in cases of deposition, he was to sit in judg- 
 ment, and pronounce sentence on the delinquent. Every 
 minister at his admission, was ordered to swear obedience to 
 his majesty and his ordinary;* the visitation of the clergy 
 within their diocess, was likewise conceded to the bishops. 
 By way of salvo it was added, that in the exercise of discip- 
 line, the bishops were to be assisted by the ministers within 
 the bounds, all mention of the hated word presbytery, being 
 carefully avoided, and that they were to be subject in all things, 
 life, conversation, office, and benefice, to the censures of the 
 general assembly, and if found culpable, they might be de- 
 
 * The following was the form of the oath, which is in essence an oath of 
 supremacy, and was made explicitly so in the ratification by act of parliament. 
 I, A, B. nominated and admitted to the church of D. utterly testif}', and de- 
 clare in my conscience, that the right excellent, right high, and mighty prince 
 James the sixth, by the grace of God, king of Scots, is the only lawful su- 
 preme governor of this realm, as well in things temporal, as in the conserva- 
 tion and purgation of the religion ; and that no foreign prince, prelate, state, or 
 potentate has, or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-em- 
 inence, or authoritj', ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm ; and there- 
 fore I utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superior- 
 ities, and authorities, and promise, that from this time forth, I shall and will 
 bear faith and true allegiance to his highness, his heirs, and lawful successors, 
 and to my power, shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, privileges, pre-em- 
 inences, and authorities, granted and belonging to his highness, his heirs, and 
 lawful successors, or united and annexed to his royal crown. And farther, I 
 acknowledge and confess to have, and hold the said church, and possessions of 
 the same, under God only, of his majesty and crown royal of this realm, and 
 for the said possessions, I do homage presently unto his highness in your pre- 
 sence, and to his majesty, his heirs, shall be lawful and true. So help me God 
 Calderwood, p. 632. He remarks, p. 638, that the words, " to his ordinary," 
 appear an interpolation in the register. In the ratification, the terms, conser- 
 vation and purgation of religion, were exchanged for, " in matters spiritual 
 and ecclesiastical, as in things temporal." 
 
 Subjoined to the oath of submission to the king, a clause promising obe- 
 dience to the ordinaries was likewise interpolated by the parliament. I, A. B. 
 admitted to the church of D. promise and swear to D. bishop of that diocess, 
 obedience, and to hi.s successor in all lawful things. So help me God. 
 
332 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 prived, with his majesty's advice and consent. But, as if 
 convinced of the frailty of their cause, and knowing the aver- 
 sion of the people to their order, it was forbid to any minis- 
 ter, either in the pulpit, or in public exercise, to argue against, 
 or disobey the acts of this present assembly, under the penalty 
 of deprivation, and particularly, that the question of equality, 
 or inequality in the ministry, should not be discussed in the 
 pulpit under the same forfeiture. The assembly had consent- 
 ed to use the terms, ministers within the bounds, in the full 
 understanding that presbyteries were meant, but the earl of 
 Dunbar announced that he had his majesty's orders to abolish 
 presbytery by proclamation. At this, the members, who had 
 allowed themselves to be cozened out of the most important 
 rights of Presbyterianism, when the intention was openly 
 avowed without circumlocution to take away the lesser, 
 evinced by their universal alarm and grief, that their affec- 
 tions were still placed on that mode of church government, 
 the whole assembly entreated the commissioner to desist from 
 making that proclamation, for some time at least, till his 
 majesty should be informed of the proceedings of that assem- 
 bly. To this he consented, at the request of some noblemen, 
 who promised to intercede with his majesty, that he should 
 be blameless for the delay, and who had probably been in- 
 structed before the meeting, in the part they were to perform. 
 When the assembly broke up, the bishops were loud in their 
 praises of unity, but besides the artifice and falsehood which 
 had been used, it cost his majesty not less than forty thousand 
 raerks, as arrears of stipends to the moderators, and as travel- 
 ling expenses to the others, particularly the north country 
 ministers, to accomplish this desirable end. The powers 
 granted to the bishops at this assembly, were afterward con- 
 firmed by act of parliament, but all the restraining clauses 
 were abolished — they were freed from the jurisdiction of the 
 general assembly, and rendered accountable only to the king. 
 The assembly and the parliament had conferred upon the 
 Scottish bishops, all the honour and power they had to bestow, 
 but to imprint that indefinable, indelible sanctity of character, 
 which is communicated by the imposition of a true bishop's 
 hands, was beyond the reach of humble presbyters ; they had 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 333 
 
 not themselves received it, the fathers of their church despis- 
 ed it, and as it could only be obtained through the polluted 
 channel of Rome, thought they were fully as well without it. 
 The English bishops were more highly favoured. Although 
 they had withdrawn their allegiance from the Papal see, they 
 could boast of having derived their consecration from that only 
 ancient, true, though corrupted, church, and through her could 
 trace their spiritual pedigree up to the apostles, to whom the 
 sacred trust was originally committed. As the legitimate, 
 though disowned heirs of this succession, they assumed the ex- 
 clusive right of dispensing the divine institution of ordination 
 to the inferior clergy, and consecrating and setting apart their 
 brethren to the higher offices. James had adopted the views 
 of the English bishops upon this subject, and soon after the 
 assembly at Glasgow was dissolved, called the archbishop of 
 Glasgow, and the bishops of Brechin and Galloway, to court, 
 as they were still deficient in this great requisite. At their first 
 audience, his majesty told them that he had, at great expense, 
 recovered the bishoprics, * but could not make bishops, nor 
 were there any persons in Scotland who could. He had, 
 therefore, sent for them to England, that being consecrated 
 themselves, they might at their return, give ordination to 
 their brethren. The archbishop stated some scruples, lest 
 his church might perhaps suppose this a mark of subjection 
 to the English, as the archbishops of York and Canterbury 
 had formerly laid claim to clerical superioi'ity, but his majesty 
 was prepared for this, and had provided against it, by appoint- 
 ing the bishops of London, Ely, and Bath to officiate, none of 
 whom had ever made any such pretensions. But the bishop of 
 Ely started a more formidable objection, the Scottish bishops 
 had never received any ordination from a bishop, and there- 
 fore, must first be ordained presbyters. The archbishop of 
 Canterbury resolved this doubt, by remarking, that when 
 there were no bishops, ordination by presbyters must be held 
 valuh otherwise it might be doubted, if there were any lawful 
 vocation in a number of the Protestant churches. The bishop 
 
 ^ The king bought back the alienated lands and revenues for a sum, cal- 
 culated at above 300,000 Dounds sterling. 
 
SS-ii HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of Ely acquiescing in the observation, the three Scottish 
 bishops were regularly invested with the apostolical character, 
 and despatched to their own country, to communicate a similar 
 sanctity to their unconsecrated priesthood. Episcopacy was 
 now triumphant, bul the lowest presbyter who had preserved 
 his integrity, had no reason to envy the triumph. 
 
 In reviewing the means by which this was accomplished, 
 the perjuries of the Icing and of the prelates, the persecu- 
 tions — Prelacy, both in England and Scotland, as a creature 
 of the state, was introduced by force, and secured by perse- 
 cution — the dissimulation and the bribery, the utter contempt 
 for every principle of civil liberty, and the open avowed sup- 
 port of the most tyrannical measures ; or the consequences, 
 the complete subversion of all that was fr^e in the Scottish 
 constitution, and the establishment of unlimited despotism in 
 the hands of the king and the priests, it is obvious, that the 
 determined opposition the hierarchy encountered from our 
 forefathers, so far from springing from a dark and gloomy 
 fanaticism, arose from a hatred to that tyranny which oppres- 
 sed them, and a rational predilection to that form of ecclesi- 
 astical government, which was endeared to them by the friendly 
 assiduities of their ministers, from whose affectionate labours 
 and kindly intercourse they received instruction in health, and 
 consolation in times of sickness or distress. The Presbyterian 
 minister forms a connecting link in society between the lowest 
 and the highest, he is the almoner of the rich, and the advocate 
 of the poor, while the prelate's rank, state, and income, which 
 places him on a level with the peers of the realm, precludes 
 that intercourse between him and his flock, which the apostles 
 cultivated, and which, more than ordination, convej^ed in un- 
 interrupted succession, is calculated to confer the apostolical 
 character. Andrew Melville, when he heard of the overthrow 
 of Presbytery, and the erection of a hierarchy on its ruins, in 
 the bitterness of his heart, expressed, either as a wish or a 
 prophec}'^, his desire that the main instrument in that most 
 unpropitious revolution, might never again set his foot in 
 Scotland, and he never did. Upon the accomplishment of 
 this grand object, Dunbar went to London, and soon after 
 died at Whitehall. He was unlamented in Scotland, except 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 335 
 
 by the bishops, but James had to regret the loss of a servant 
 obedient to his most arbitrary mandates, which he carried 
 into effect with a zeal and success that entitled him to no 
 gratitude from his country. A feeble effort was made by the 
 officers of state, who, under the sway of the favourite had 
 dwindled into mere puppets, to regain their proper influence, 
 by re-establishing the Octavians, but a worthless minion suc- 
 ceeded, who, without the abilities, attained the power of the 
 earl, and engrossed by himself or his friends, all the high 
 offices of trust and emolument-* Kerr, of the family of Ferni- 
 hurst, created earl of Somerset, first the page, afterward the 
 pupil, and now the favourite of James, was appointed treasur- 
 er, collector, and comptroller of the revenue by his master, 
 who delighted in the idea of having a statesman of his own 
 training, at the head of affairs. His relations were promoted 
 to the chief places in the administration; Sir William Kerr of 
 Ancrum, his cousin-german, received the command upon the 
 borders, which Sir William Cranston had held, Sir Gideon 
 Murray, his maternal uncle, was made deputy treasurer, and 
 Sir Thomas Hamilton, the king's advocate, his brother-in- 
 law, was first made register, and afterward secretary. Sir 
 John Skeene, one of the ablest lawyers, and best antiquaries 
 in Scotland, who had long held the situation, had sent his son 
 to court with his resignation, which was not to be produced, 
 unless he himself got the appointment; but the intrigues of 
 Somerset prevailed, the younger Skeene was induced to pre- 
 sent the resignation without procuring the reversion, and the 
 office was bestowed upon Hamilton. 
 
 But the rapacity of Kerr's kinsmen, was as craving as their 
 ambition. — Lord Maxwell, on his return to the country, after 
 skulking some time in disguise, was apprehended in Caithness, 
 brought to Edinburgh, and executed, but the crime for which 
 he suffered, was not the one he had committed. In his absence, 
 he had been found guilty of wilful fire raising, and as this im- 
 plied a species of treason, by w^hich his estates were forfeited, 
 he was executed on this verdict. The attainder of so ancient a 
 family alarmed the nobles, nor were their fears allayed by the 
 
 * Commonly called Carre by the Englibh writers, and by some of our own. 
 
336 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 heartless and cruel persecution which James authorized, or al- 
 lowed to follow his own cousin-german to his ruin. Mary had 
 conferred on Robert Stuart^ her illegitimate brother, the islands 
 of Orkney, and the title of earl. His son, impoverished by ex- 
 pensive buildings, and attendance at court, sought to replen- 
 ish his finances, by measures which his enemies represented as 
 oppressive, and which if so, were visited with a retaliation not 
 less illegal or despotic; but the real crime of the unfortunate 
 earl, was most probably his extensive possessions, the secular 
 portion having attracted the avidity of the favourite, and the 
 Episcopal revenues, of which he had received a grant from the 
 crown, equally alluring, were as keenly eyed by the prelates. 
 Among his other Episcopal expenses, the king purchased a 
 large mortgage, with which his estates were attached, and 
 when, after a three years' imprisonment, the earl would not 
 consent to resign his right of redemption, his estates were 
 seized, and himself reduced to a pitiful allowance, scarcely fit 
 to meet his necessities. Reduced to despair, he instructed his 
 natural son, the Bastard of Orkney, to take arms, and regain 
 the castle of Kirkwall, but he himself had been removed to 
 Dunbarton rock, and was prevented from joining him. The 
 castle was reduced by the earl of Caithness, and the Bastard 
 surrendered, on condition that he should not be questioned 
 respecting his father's guilt, but his filial piety did not avail. 
 The father was convicted on the son's confession, the claims 
 of kindred, and the descent from one common parent were 
 pled in vain, every avenue to royal mercy was closed, and the 
 favourite and the prelates divided the plunder. 
 
 About the same time, terrible vengeance was inflicted upon 
 the clan Macgregor. A feud had existed between them and 
 the Colquhouns, whom they defeated in several engagements, 
 and slaughtered with the common unrelenting barbarity of 
 savages. Having repeatedly ravaged the district of Lennox, 
 a commission was given to the earl of Argyle, who, joining his 
 forces with the marquis of Huntly, advanced against them. 
 On their approach, the Macgregors filed to the wildest parts 
 of the Highlands, and endeavoured to find refuge in the caves 
 and forests, but their pursuers were indefatigable, till at last, 
 further resistance being hopeless, their chief, reduced to de- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 337 
 
 spair, surrendered to Argyle, upon condition of being trans- 
 ported out of the kingdom. The engagement was perfidiously 
 fulfilled by the privy council, who ordered him to be carried 
 to Berwick, and then brought to Edinburgh, where he suffer- 
 ed the death of a rebel, along with seven innocent hostages. 
 Rendered desperate by their situation, the wretched remnant 
 spread their spoliations over the surrounding country, and in 
 return, they were pursued and slaughtered as outlaws by Ar- 
 gyle, till a few houseless orphans were almost the sole surviv- 
 ors of the race. Nurtured on the wilds, and hardened by the 
 endui'ance of evei'y inclemency of weather, the children grew 
 up a set of banditti, whose depredations caused the clan to 
 be abolished, and the name suppressed by act of parliament, 
 1633.. This act was repealed at the restoration, revived in 
 1693, and only finally abrogated in the reign of George III. 
 
 The fate of the Macdonalds forms a striking conti'ast to the 
 inexorable cruelty with which the Macgregors were treated, 
 and exhibits a melancholy picture of the manner in which 
 justice and mercy is distributed, when left to the caprice, or 
 the passions of individuals, unrestrained by any fixed rule. 
 This clan revolted in Cantyre, and seized a castle in Islay, but 
 they were reduced by Argyle, who obtained quiet possession of 
 their lands, and no further punishment followed. Their chief, 
 guilty of the most flagrant crimes, and stained with the most 
 atrocious murders, who had repeatedly resisted and defied the 
 government, fled, but in a few years was recalled, and not 
 only pardoned, but had a liberal pension bestowed upon him ! 
 
 The ill judged favouritism of James, joined with the inso- 
 lence and rapacity of the Scots, produced frequent quarrels 
 between them and the English, which invaded even the court 
 and the king's presence, and had almost produced an univer- 
 sal conspiracy against the Scottish residents in London, when 
 the ferment was in some measure allayed, by an act of exem- 
 plary justice, the more remarkable, as it is almost a solitar3' 
 instance. Lord Sanquhar, in playing with an English fencing 
 master, of the name of Turner, had the misfortune to lose an 
 eye, by an unlucky thrust of his opponent's foil. When at 
 the French court, some time after, the king asked how he 
 came by the accident, and on being informed, sarcastically 
 VOL. ni. u u 
 
338 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 asked, Does the fellow live? Sanquhar, imagining this a 
 i*eproach, immediately returned to England, and employed 
 one Carlisle, to assassinate Turner, which he did, just as he 
 was entering his lodgings. The meanness, as well as atrocity 
 of the crime, excited universal detestation, and Sanquhar, 
 who surrendered himself, was put upon his trial, convicted, 
 and, notwithstanding every solicitation in his favour, was pub- 
 licly hanged at the Palace-gate of Westminster. But this act 
 of justice, was counterbalanced by one of wanton, unmanly op- 
 pression. Lady Arabella Stuart, the king's cousin-german,* 
 was secretly married to the grandson of the earl of Hertford, 
 but James having discovered the transaction, saw treason in 
 it, committed Seymour, her husband, to the tower, and con- 
 fined the lady at Lambeth, whence she was afterward ordered 
 to repair to Durham. She escaped, however, from her keepers, 
 disguised in male apparel, and embarked on board a French 
 ship, that had been prepared for her reception. Seymour at 
 the same time escaped fi'om the tower, but being prevented 
 from joining his lady, got a passage in a vessel belonging to 
 Newcastle, and was landed on the coast of Flanders. A squa- 
 dron was instantly despatched after the fugitives, which un- 
 fortunately overtook the vessel that carried the lady Arabella, 
 and she was sent to close confinement in the tower, where, 
 either the rigour of her treatment, or the weight of her suffer- 
 ings, and the poignancy of her disappointment deranged her 
 intellects, and the daughter of a Darnly sunk insane into a 
 premature grave. 
 
 About this time, two events took place, which were to have 
 a material effect upon the future fortunes of Britain — the 
 marriage of James' only daughter with the prince palatine, 
 and the death of his eldest and most accomplished son, 
 prince Henry, at the age of eighteen, a youth of the greatest 
 promise, and upon whom the eyes of all the Protestants in 
 Europe were already turned. With the nation he was an 
 universal fevourite, as his sentiments were liberal, his conduct 
 exemplary, and his recreations those manly exercises which 
 receive the approbation of the wise, and excellency in which 
 
 * She was the daughter of his fatlier's youngest brother. 
 3^ 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 339 
 
 engages the aamiration of the multitude. Such was the com- 
 manding tone of his mind and manners,, that he attracted 
 the esteem of foreign sovereigns, was a check upon the licen- 
 tiousness of the royal favourites, and an object of jealousy to 
 his father. The king, who could not suffer the heir of his 
 diadem to match with less than princely rank, was desirous 
 that he should marry an arch-dutchess of the house of Austria, 
 or a daughter of the duke of Savoy, but the prince was averse 
 to enter into so close an alliance with a, Papist, and in the 
 last letter he ever wrote, entreated his father, if he must 
 marry any of these princesses, it might be the youngest, of 
 whose conversion he could have some hope. He openly re- 
 probated the influence Somerset had over his father, and 
 lamented the facility with which he allowed himself to be 
 governed by the most profligate sycophants, and the waste 
 which these occasioned of the public money. 
 
 While the preparations were going forward for his sister's 
 marriage, and the court was a scene of joyous festivity, Henry 
 was seized with a fever, accompanied with the most violent 
 symptoms, which, in a few days terminated fatally, threw a 
 temporary gloom over the court, and spread throughout the 
 nation, with the exception of the Roman Catholics, a grief, 
 deep, sincere, and universal. The general opinion at the 
 time was, that he was poisoned either through the arts of the 
 Papists, or the envy of his father. Of this crime the Roman 
 Catholics appear to have been falsely accused, and, for the hon- 
 our of human nature, we would willingly believe in the inno- 
 cence of the father ; but the proofs that the favourite was not 
 guiltless are too strong to be disregarded, and I am inclined 
 to suspect with Mr. Fox,* that the premature death of this 
 prince was not by the visitation of God. Burnet tells us, that 
 " Colonel Titus assured him he had it from king Charles I. 
 himself, that he knew his brother was poisoned by Somerset ;" 
 and a letter from that king, when prince, to his sister, pub- 
 lished by Hearn, seems to corroborate it. He says : " I 
 know you have understood, by our father's secretary's letters, 
 what great changes the poisoning of Overburry has made. I 
 
 * History, 4th Edition, p. 9. 
 
340 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 suspect Other matters shall be found out, by the which it will 
 appear, that more^ treacherous purposes were perchance in- 
 tended against some, and practised against others ; but of this 
 you will hear more within a short time." The court mourn- 
 ing was laid aside as soon as etiquette would allow, and the 
 marriage of the princess celebrated with a pomp, splendour, 
 and gayety, calculated to dissipate any feelings of regret the 
 sudden death of the heir apparent might have occasioned. 
 
 The union of the two crowns, which had proved ruinous to 
 the liberties of Scotland, promised now to prove equally so to 
 her trade, poor as it already was. Hitherto the Scottish 
 merchants had been treated as the most favoured nation by 
 the French, and the duties upon their imports and exports 
 were comparatively trifling ; but being considered no longer 
 as an independent state, the same duties were ordered to be 
 levied from them as from the English. In the Low Countries 
 they were similarly treated, and in the Baltic a prohibitory 
 system was adopted. The convention of burghs petitioned 
 James to interfere. In consequence, the staple was removed 
 from Middleburgh to Campvere, and the port of Stralsund was 
 re-opened to their trade ; but they do not appear to have been 
 replaced upon their former footing. Among the plans which 
 his majesty had recommended for advancing the prosperity of 
 his ancient kingdom, the improvement of the fisheries was 
 particularly pointed out ; but this year he imposed, by virtue 
 of his own prerogative, an excise upon herrings, which was 
 so rigorously exacted by one captain Mason, an Englishman, 
 that the people, particularly on the coast of Fife, threatened 
 to leave off the trade rather than pay it. At their complaints 
 the privy council interfered, and the collecting was stopped.* 
 
 The laws against the Jesuits and seminary priests were 
 severe, but those which enacted the penalty of death had re- 
 mained a dead letter in the statute book, nor could they with 
 decency have been executed, when the Popish lords were 
 treated with so much lenity by the king. The general aver- 
 sion of the people, however, to the bishops, and the per^ 
 suasion every- where openly expressed, that they were favour- 
 
 * Balfour. MSS. quoted by Guthrie, vol. ix. p. 20. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 3'11 
 
 able to, and intended introducing Popery, demanded some 
 signal display of zeal on the part of the prelates to counteract 
 these untoward feelings and remarks. They therefore ap- 
 prehended Ogilvy, a Jesuit, at Glasgow, and informed the 
 king of the circumstance, requesting directions how to pro- 
 ceed. He sent down a commission to the secretary, deputy- 
 treasurer, and advocate, to proceed to the examination and 
 trial of the accused. When interrogated: — When he came 
 into Scotland? upon what errand? and with whom he associ- 
 ated? he frankly answered the two first questions, that he had 
 arrived in June, and came to save souls ; but he honourably 
 declined the last, declaring he would utter nothing that might 
 implicate another ; nor could promises nor threatenings shake 
 his resolution. The commissioners, enraged at his stedfast 
 fidelity, endeavoured to extort a confession by depriving him 
 of his natural rest for several nights, and in the delirium thus 
 occasioned, he made some incoherent discoveries ; but as soon 
 as allowed a little sleep, arid tired nature was restored, he re- 
 tracted what he had said in a state of mental confusion, and 
 firmly persisted in refusing to name any person with whom he 
 had associated, or any place whither he had resorted. 
 
 The king, on being informed that nothing satisfactory could 
 be obtained from him without torture, prohibited it from be- 
 ing used with a man of his profession, who, if he were only 
 a Jesuit, and had said mass, they should banish the coun- 
 try, and prohibit his return under pain of death ; but along 
 with this humane declaration he transmitted a series of ques- 
 tions, which were dangerous to a Jesuit if he answered with 
 sincerity, but useless if he had recourse to the evasions or 
 mental reservations familiar to his order. He replied with 
 sincerity. He acknowledged the supremacy of the pope in 
 spirituals, and his power to excommunicate Christian princes; 
 and he pronounced the oath, imposed on Roman Catholics in 
 England, treason against God. He would not, however, an- 
 swer any of the interrogatories respecting the power of the 
 pope to depose kings, or absolve the subjects of an excom- 
 municated monarch from their oath of allegiance, and declined 
 the question of: — Whether it was lawful to murder a king 
 who was put without the pale of the Romish communion? as 
 
342 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 one which the church had not yet decided. His refusal to 
 answer questions criminating himself was most iniquitously 
 construed, as a declining of the authority of the king and 
 council, and he was convicted of high treason, and executed 
 that same afternoon. 
 
 Moffat, another member of the society, was apprehended 
 nearly about the same time, but he took a wiser course, or at 
 least a safer one; he condemned without hesitation all the 
 positions about which Ogilvy had scrupled, and was allowed 
 quietly to leave the country, James, with affected humanity, 
 declaring, that he would never hang a priest for his religion.* 
 Next year, 1614, the archbishop of St. Andrews dying, 
 Spotswood, archbishop of Glasgow, was advanced to the 
 primacy, and Law, bishop of Orkney, succeeded him as arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow. Considerable inconvenience having arisen 
 as was alleged from the high commission being divided into 
 two courts, with separate and distinct jurisdictions, they weBe 
 both united, and, by a new mandate from the king, any of the 
 archbishops, with four of the other members, were authorized 
 to hold a court in any of the districts of Scotland. The tur- 
 bulent, restless, and irreclaimable marquis of Huntly, was 
 among the first who appeared before this tribunal, after its 
 being remodelled. Notwithstanding his numerous professions, 
 he still remained devoted to the Popish religion, and desired 
 his officers to prevent his tenantry from attending upon the 
 sermons of some Protestant clergymen, who had been sent to 
 labour for their conversion. For this offence he was called 
 before the high commission, and by them committed to the 
 castle of Edinburgh. He had not remained there three days, 
 when the chancellor granted a warrant to set him at liberty. 
 The bishops who were in town, highly offended at this pro- 
 ceeding, waited upon his lordship, and complained of his 
 conduct ; but he asserted the dignity of his office, and his 
 constitutional power to liberate any person committed to pris- 
 on by authority of the high commission. To intimidate him, 
 he was threatened with the displeasure of the church; but he 
 replied: — He cared not whether the church were pleased or 
 not. 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 523, Arnot's Criminal Trials. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 343 
 
 A change of circumstances often produces a strange revolu- 
 tion in men's sentiments. The prelatical clergy were vehe- 
 ment in their outcries against the presbyterian ministers for 
 using freedoms with public men in the pulpit; but no sooner 
 was their own illegal powers called in question, than they 
 themselves made the pulpits resound with exclamations against 
 the highest officer of state, because he dared to exercise his 
 undoubted right.* Representations were instantly transmit- 
 ted to the king by both parties. The prelates complained of 
 the chancellor for interfering with the prerogatives of the high 
 commission, and sent the bishop of Caithness to lay their 
 grievances at the foot of the throne. The chancellor accused 
 the bishops of turbulence, presumption, and insolence, and 
 complained of the liberty they took in censuring the public 
 actions of statesmen in their sermons. The marquis, the cause 
 of the disturbance, having previously to his imprisonment ob- 
 tained leave from the king to proceed to London, had already 
 commenced his journey. James, reduced to a perplexing al- 
 ternative, the highest officer of the crown being placed in op- 
 position to the highest court in the church, was under the 
 necessity of declaring which should have the chief preponder- 
 ance in the state. He decided for the child of his own crea- 
 tion, appro-^ed what the high commission had done, and sent 
 a messenger to forbid Huntly from approaching the court, 
 and ordering him to return to his confinement in the castle. 
 The marquis earnestly entreated the messenger to carry to his 
 majesty his humble supplication, and inform him that his in- 
 tention in coming to London was to give him complete satis- 
 faction, and to comply with whatever his majesty should re- 
 quire. The king, pleased with his promises and submission, 
 and desirous of seeing him reconciled to the Protestant church, 
 permitted him to proceed, and recommended him to the in- 
 structions of the archbishop of Canterbury. Huntly was not 
 difficult to convert, nor was his probation long ; and the only 
 obstacle which prevented his being received into the bosom of 
 the English church, was his being under the excommunication 
 of her Scottish sister ; but the prelates themselves, by sending 
 
 * Spotswood, p. 525. 
 
344 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the bishop of Caithness to London, had provided a remedy. 
 His lordship, as the representative of the Scottish church, at 
 the desire of the king, revoked the sentence; after which, the 
 archbishop of Canterbury pronounced the absolution, and 
 administered the sacrament to the hopeful proselyte in the 
 chapel at Lambeth. 
 
 The Scottish bishops, devoted as they were to the crown, 
 did not receive this intelligence of the royal interference with 
 that submissive meekness which became them;* but their 
 murmurs were silenced by an explanation from his majesty, 
 and an apologetical letter from the archbishop of Canterbury, 
 accompanied by a supplication from the marquis to the general 
 assembly, acknowledging his offence, promising to continue 
 stedfast himself, and to educate his children in the Protestant 
 religion, and praying for a full absolution from the church of 
 Scotland. The prayer of his petition was granted, and he 
 was formally absolved at a meeting of the general assembly, 
 convoked at Aberdeen ostensibly for this purpose, and for 
 checking the growth of Popery in the north ; but there were 
 other objects of more importance brought before this assembly, 
 the pertinacious attachment to which was the cause of all the 
 disasters of the following reigns. 
 
 James had now brought the church of Scotland, in its out- 
 ward form, to a similarity with that of England ; but he was 
 desirous also to assimilate it in its worship to the Anglican 
 rites and ceremonies. At the Aberdeen assembly the subjects 
 were first introduced, and after the south country ministers 
 had been worn out, by long conferences upon the hackneyed 
 
 * The king's conduct toward Huntly occasioned rather a ludicrous con- 
 fusion in the statements of the bishops. Cowper, bishop of Galloway, who 
 preached in the High church of Edinburgh, on the 7th of July, extolled his 
 majesty's fatherly care, and gracious behaviour toward the kirk, who would 
 not suffer the marquis to come into his presence, but had ordered him to re- 
 turn to ward ; and he inveighed against the chancellor for the favour he had 
 shown that nobleman. Next day — the 8th — letters were received from court, 
 announcing that Huntly was received into the bosom of the church of Eng- 
 land ! And on the l4th, Spotswood, from the same pulpit whence the chan- 
 cellor had been denounced, apologized for the king, promised that he would 
 be a good boy in future, and never would do the like again ! — Calderwood, 
 p. 655. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 346 
 
 topic of Popery, and compelled, by the exhausted siate oi their 
 finances, to return home, it was ordained : — That a uniform 
 order of liturgy be set down, to be read in all churches on the 
 ordinary days of prayer, and every Sabbath day before sermon; 
 and that a book of canons be made and published.* Regula- 
 tions were also adopted respecting the Episcopal catechising 
 of children, who were to be recommended in prayer by the 
 bishop, an interim ceremony, till confirmation could be intro- 
 duced. When the assembly rose, the archbishop of Glasgow, 
 and the bishop of Ross, were sent with the acts to his majesty 
 to procure his royal assent. He declared himself well satisfied 
 w^ith the whole, except the act substituting catechising and 
 prayer for confirmation, which he denominated " mere hotch- 
 potch." Along with his approval, he sent down several arti- 
 cles to be inserted among the canons of the church. These, 
 better known afterward as the articles of Perth, startled even 
 the bishops, who represented the danger of introducing them, 
 and the irregularity of inserting among the canons what had 
 not received the sanction of the church. James acquiesced 
 for the time, but unfortunately did not relinquish a design 
 which those most attached to Prelacy, and interested in its 
 success, were compelled to acknowledge was both premature 
 and impolitic. 
 
 * At this assembly it appears first to have been enacted, that ministers 
 sliould keep regular registers of births, deaths, and baptisms. 
 
 VOL, III. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Book IV. 
 
 At his departure from Edinburgh, the king had promised to 
 visit his native country every third year. His poverty oc- 
 casioned by senseless profusion, had hitherto prevented liim 
 from fulfilling his promise. But the money, [^250,000,] 
 which he received from the Dutch, on delivering up the cau- 
 tionary towns, enabled him to redeem his pledge. In a letter 
 to the council, informing them of his resolution, he ascribed 
 the longing he had to see the place of his breeding, to " a 
 salmon like instinct ;" and with his usual disregard of truth, 
 commanded a proclamation to be issued, declaring that he 
 intended to make no alteration in the civil or ecclesiastical 
 state of his native kingdom, adding, however, what he might 
 imagine a saving clause, that he would endeavour to do some 
 good at his coming, and to discharge some points of his kingly 
 office in reforming abuses, both in the church and common- 
 wealth. Previously to his setting out, he sent directions for 
 the royal chapel of Holyroodhouse to be repaired. An organ 
 was ordered to be erected, and a loft for the choir, and Eng- 
 lish carpenters were sent down, to superintend and assist in 
 the alterations. They brought with them wooden statues of 
 the twelve apostles, finely gilt, to be placed in stalls, but the 
 populace, impressed with the idea, that these were forerun- 
 ners of the restoration of idolatry, began to exhibit symptoms 
 of aversion, which it might not have been safe to despise. 
 " The organ came first," said they, " now the images, and ere 
 long, we shall have the Mass." Cowper, bishop of Galloway, 
 53 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 347 
 
 who resided in Edinburgh, as dean of the chapel royal, per- 
 ceived the brooding discontent, and wrote an epistle to his 
 majesty, to which he procured the signatures of the archbish- 
 op of St. Andrews, the bishops of Aberdeen and Brechin, and 
 numbers of the ministers of Edinburgh, entreating him to 
 countermand his order for erecting the statues, on account of 
 the offence that was taken at them. The king deemed it pru- 
 dent to comply, but in an angry answer, accused the object- 
 ors of ignorance, who could not distinguish between pictures 
 intended for ornament, and images erected as objects of wor- 
 ship, sarcastically observing, that they could allow the figures 
 of lions, dragons, or devils to be represented in their churches, 
 but would not allow that honour to the prophets and apostles. 
 Jealous of his prerogative, he took care in the close to inform 
 them, that he had stopped the setting up of the figures, " not 
 to ease their hearts, or confirm them in their errors, but be- 
 cause the work could not be properly finished within the time 
 intended." 
 
 The king arrived at Berwick in the month of May, and 
 the parliament, which stood summoned for the 17th of that 
 month, was prorogued to the 13th of June. From Berwick, 
 he was conducted by slow journies to his ancient capital, 
 which, after an absence of fourteen years, was again favoured 
 with a sight of the sovereign. He was accompanied by a 
 splendid train of English nobility. The citizens of Edin- 
 burgh, either wishing to display their wealth before the stran- 
 gers, who so often reproached their poverty, or impress the 
 king with a favourably idea of their loyalty, prepared to re- 
 ceive him with the utmost pomp and magnificence. He was 
 met without the West Port, by the magistrates and council 
 in their robes, and the principal burghers dressed in black 
 velvet. The deputy town clerk, Mr. John Hay, compliment- 
 ed the monarch in a strain which must have been truly grati- 
 fying to his royal ears. " This is that happy day of our new 
 birth," exclaimed the enraptured deputy, " ever to be retained 
 in fresh memorie, wherein our eyes behold the greatest human 
 felicity our hearts could wish, which is to feed upon the royal 
 countenance of our true phcenix, the bright star of our north- 
 ern firmament, the ornament of our age, wherein we are re- 
 
348 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 freshed, yea revived, with the heat and beames of our sun— 
 the powerful adamant of our wealth — by whose removal from 
 our hemisphere, we were darkened, deep fear and sorrow had 
 possessed our hearts. The very hills and groves, accustomed 
 before to be refreshed with the dew of your majesty's pre- 
 sence, not putting on their wonted apparel, but with pale 
 looks representing their misery for the departure of their 
 king !" " Receive then, dread sovereign, from your majesty's 
 faithful and loyal subjects, the magistrates and citizens of 
 your highnesses good town of Edinburgh, such welcome as 
 is due from those, who with thankful hearts, do acknowledge 
 the infinite blessings plenteously flowing to them, from the 
 paradise of your majesty's unspotted goodness and virtue. 
 Wishing your majesties eyes might pierce into their very 
 hearts, there to behold the excessive joy inwardly conceived 
 of the first messenger of your majesty's princely resolution to 
 visit this your majesty's good town." In a similar, or even 
 more bombastic style, did the orator continue for nearly an 
 hour, but the citizens of the good town gave more substantial 
 proof of their loyalty, they invited the king to a sumptuous 
 banquet, and presented him with ten thousand merks Scots, 
 in double golden angels, and in a gilt silver bason. 
 
 After resting a few days in Edinburgh, he resumed his 
 progress through the principal counties, and was received 
 wherever he went, with the most lively demonstrations of 
 joy, with splendid pageants, and royal entertainments, and 
 he was welcomed in classic strains in every university, city, 
 and nobleman's mansion that lie visited. Happily the Scot- 
 tish muse was silent; no Caledonian bard hailed his approach, 
 and the native poetry of the country was for a while spared 
 the degradation of being prostituted to flatter the ear of a 
 despot, and a pedant. But his chief delight was in scholastic 
 disputations. He ordered all the professors of Edinburgh 
 college, to attend at Stirling, where he presided as judge, yet 
 mingling in the debates, and to the astonishment of his ad- 
 miring courtiers, displayed his erudition and ingenuity, by 
 occasionally defending and opposing the same thesis. His ap- 
 probation was conveyed in quibbles on the professors' names, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 349 
 
 with which he was nimself so highly charmefl, that he directed 
 them to be turned into English and Latin verse. * 
 
 The principal object of James' journey to Scotland was to 
 
 enforce obedience to the rites and ceremonies which he had, 
 
 at the request of the bishops, withdrawn, as, from the facility 
 
 with which he had changed the form of church government, 
 
 he never doubted but that he would, when present, be easily 
 
 able to alter the nfiode of worship, and for this purpose he had 
 
 prepared an act, vesting almost unlimited power in his own 
 
 hands, and that of the bishops. The nobles, who at this time 
 
 appear to have been wholly uninterested about the fate of the 
 
 church, felt a nearer concern in the fate of the church lands. 
 
 They had already sufficient evidence of the rapacity, insolence, 
 
 and ambition of the prelates ; of their subservience to every 
 
 measure of the king, and of the king's unbounded partiality 
 
 for them ; they therefore, and not without reason, began to 
 
 entertain fears for the preservation of the rich estates which 
 
 they had granted them from the spoils of the ecclesiastics at 
 
 the reformation. When the parliament met, their suspicions 
 
 of the king appeared in their rejecting several of the nobility 
 
 whom he had recommended to be chosen lords of the articles, 
 
 and electing some who were known not to be warmly attached 
 
 to the court, in their room. A violent opposition was made 
 
 to the admission of any officers of state, except the chancellor. 
 
 * The names of the professors were John Adamson, James Fairlie, Patrick 
 Sands, Andrew Young, James Reid. His majesty's witty remarks were : — 
 " Adam was the father of all, and Adam's son had the first part of this act. 
 The defender is justly called Fairlie, [wonder,] his thesis had some fairlies in 
 it, and he sustained them very fairly, and with many fair lies given to his 
 oppugners. And why should not Mr. Sands be the first to enter the sands ? 
 But now I see clearly that all sands are not barren, for certainly he hath 
 shown a fertile wit. Mr. Young is very old in Aristotle. Mr. Reid need not 
 be red with blushing for his acting this day. Mr. King disputed very kingly, 
 and of a kingly purpose, concerning the royal supremacy of reason above anger 
 and all passions. Charters, the principal, (he did not dispute,) his name agrees 
 with his nature, for charters contain much matter, yet say nothing, yet put 
 great matters in men's mouths." Some apology might, perhaps, be requisite 
 for copying such contemptible stuff; but as James' literature has been so 
 highly praised even by excellent judges, Bacon, Drummond, Hume, &c. I 
 thought the reader would not be displeased to see a specimen of his taste. 
 
350 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 treasurer, and master of rolls; and the contention arose so 
 high, that the estates were nearly dispersing, and the king 
 had at one time determined to dissolve the parliament ; but a 
 compromise was effected, although not till an unusually late 
 hour at night, when the meeting broke up in bad temper, and 
 the king and the estates went down to the palace in great 
 confusion, some riding in their robes, and some on foot, and 
 without the regalia being borne before them. 
 
 Having carried their main point, and secured the possession 
 of their estates, the nobles did not appear unwilling to gratify 
 the king by legalizing his assumed spiritual supremacy, and 
 an act secretly passed the lords of the articles, declaring: — 
 That whatsoever his majest}'- should determine in the external 
 government of the church, with the advice of the archbishops, 
 bishops, and a competent number of the ministry, should 
 have the force of a law; which, as the bishops were complete- 
 ly at his nod, and he was left judge of what was a competent 
 number of the ministry, was committing unlimited power, in 
 ecclesiastical affairs, into his hands. The ministers attached 
 to presbytery obtained, through some of their friends, intel- 
 ligence of the design, and prepared a protestation against 
 any innovation. They expressed their astonishment that a 
 proposition of this kind should have been listened to, after 
 the bishops had assured them, that they would consent to 
 nothing in the parliament, respecting the discipline and order 
 of the church, without their special knowledge and advice. 
 They pled the establishment of the church by law, and the 
 power granted and confirmed to the assemblies by several acts 
 of parliament, to make canons and constitutions for their reg- 
 ulation ; the king's repeated promises that he would make no 
 innovation ; and what ought to have brought a blush over the 
 royal cheek, if it had been capable of blushing, his majesty's 
 own letter, only a few months old, which at his own command 
 had been read in all the pulpits of the kingdom, affirming that 
 he intended no alteration during his journey. This protesta- 
 tion was delivered to the abbot of Crosraguel to be presented 
 to the king ; but while he was waiting in an antichamber in 
 the palace, the archbishop of St. Andrews requested to hear 
 its purport. Scarcely, however, had Hewit commenced, when 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 351 
 
 his grace endeavoured to take it forcibly from him, and in the 
 strup-gle the paper was torn. Another copy was prepared to 
 be presented to the estates, when the bill was about to be rat- 
 ified, but the king, who understood its nature, and, callous 
 as he was, could not be altogether insensible to the shame of 
 being so openly convicted of frequent and deliberate falsehoods, 
 directed the article to be withdrawn as unnecessary, the pre- 
 rogative of the crown conveying more extensive powers than 
 this act was intended to confer. Chapters, however, were 
 constituted, and the form prescribed in which they should 
 elect to the vacant sees such bishops as his majesty might be 
 pleased to name. 
 
 Although the obnoxious act was relinquished, and the 
 protest was never read, those who had been active in the op- 
 position were followed with vindictive persecution. Imme- 
 diately on the dissolution of parliament, Simpson, who had 
 signed the protestation, * was summoned before the high 
 commission, and required to deliver up the names of all the 
 original subscribers to that deed ; and because he could not 
 produce the lis't, it having been previously given to Calder- 
 wood, the laborious and faithful historian of the church, he 
 was committed prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, and 
 Calderwood summoned to appear before the high commission 
 at St. Andrews, to answer for being present at a " mutinous 
 assembly of certain of the ministry, and promoting subscrip- 
 tions to a seditious protestation, in contempt of Almighty 
 God, and the reverence he owed to his majesty, his sovereign 
 lord !" Simpson, and Hewit, one of the ministers of Edin- 
 burgh, were both likewise ordered to attend. The king was 
 present to superintend the proceedings of the high commission. 
 Before the accused were called, in a speech to the court, he 
 pointed out the mode of procedure they ought to adopt 
 " We took this order with the Puritans of England;" said he, 
 " they stood as long as they were deprived only of their bene- 
 
 * The protestation was only signed by Simpson, in name of the protestors, 
 whose names were on a separate paper, pledging themselves to adhere; but 
 this paper was not intended to be produced, unless absolutely necessary, either 
 to the king or the parliament, until the subscription of those who were ab- 
 sent, but friendly to the cause, had been obtained. — Calderwood, p. 676. 
 
362 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 fices, because they preached still on, and lived upon the be- 
 nevolence of the people friendly to their cause ; but when we 
 deprived them of their office, many yielded to us, and are be- 
 come the best men we have. Let us take the like course with 
 the Puritans here." Hewit and Simpson, on adhering to the 
 protestation, were deprived and confined, the one to Dundee, 
 and the other to Aberdeen; but Calderwood, as the more 
 eminent, was persecuted with greater rigour. In the court, 
 and in the presence of the king, while harassed with vexatious 
 and ensnaring questions, he was not only reviled and threat- 
 ened by the parasites who surrounded him, but jostled, tug- 
 ged, shaken by the shoulders, and subjected to every method 
 of teasing which could tend to disorder or confuse him ; but 
 he defended himself with calm, collected intrepidity, and, not- 
 withstanding his treatment, maintained a respect toward James 
 as his sovereign, which raises our admiration of his principles, 
 while it excites our wonder at his patience. He was asked by 
 the king, who most preposterously appears to have presided in 
 a court in which he declared he had no rightful seat : — Why 
 he dared to assist at that mutinous meeting? " When that 
 meeting is pronounced mutinous," replied he, " then it will 
 be time enough for me to answer that question." " Acknow- 
 ledge your rashness, Mr. David," said the secretary, while 
 numbers of those who were standing near were whispering to 
 him : — Come in the king's will ; it is your best way ; he'll 
 pardon you." " What was done," answered Calderwood 
 firmly, " was done with deliberation." " But what moved 
 you to protest ?" said the king. " A proposition passed the 
 lords of the articles for cutting off our general assemblies " 
 " Hear me, Mr. David," continued his majesty, after having 
 asked him how long he had been a minister, " I have been 
 an older keeper of general assemblies than you ; their office is 
 to preserve doctrine pure, prevent schisms, draw up confes- 
 sions of faith, and present petitions to the king in parliament; 
 but as for rites, ceremonies, and things indifferent, these may 
 be concluded by the king, with advice of bishops, and a com- 
 petent number of ministers." Calderwood asserted, that the 
 general assembly had exercised all these powers for fifty-six 
 years, and that they had already decided upon what was a 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 353 
 
 competent number of ministers in his majesty's presence, and 
 with his majesty's own consent ; it consisted of the commission- 
 ers from the presbyteries to that judicatory. The royal dis- 
 putant, who at eveiy turn w^as met by his own declarations, 
 interrupted the speaker, by asking him to explain what was 
 meant by the last clause of the protestation — a clause in which 
 they said that they would rather incur his majesty's censure, 
 than obey an ordinance that did not regularly proceed from 
 the church orderly convened — James having construed this 
 into a tlireat of disobedience to his measures. Calderwood 
 in explanation remarked, that whatever the phrase might ap- 
 pear to convey, the meaning of the protestors was, that they 
 would give passive obedience to his majesty, but could not 
 give active obedience to any unlawful regulations which should 
 flow from the article in question. " Active and passive obe- 
 dience," repeated the king ; " that is," continued Calderwood, 
 "' we will rather suffer than act." " I'U tell thee, man," said 
 the king, " what is obedience ; the centurion when he said to 
 his servants, to this man go, and he goeth ; to that man come, 
 and he couieth ; that's obedience." When Calderwood was 
 replying to this truly royal definition of obedience, " Mr. 
 David let alone," cried the secretary, irritated at the pre- 
 sumption that dared to question the dictates of his majesty, 
 " confess your error." " Convince me first, my lord, that I 
 am in one ;" and turning to the king, " I have now, Sir, an- 
 swered my libel, I ought to be urged no farther." " True, 
 man ! ye have answered to your libel," replied the king, " but 
 consider I am here, I may demand of you when, and what I 
 will," " But surely. Sir, I get great wrong if I be compelled 
 to answer here in judgment to more than is in my libel." 
 " Answer, Sir," said the king, " I am informed you are re- 
 fractory, you attend neither synod nor presbytery, nor in any 
 way conform." " I have been confined these nine years, [to 
 my own parish,] so my conformity, or non-conformity, in that 
 point, could not very well be known." " Good faith ! thou 
 art a very knave !" was his majesty's princely retort, " see 
 these false Puritans, they are ever playing with equivocations !" 
 and then, after some ensnaring questions by the archbishop 
 of Glasgow, the king interposed : — " If ye were relaxed, would 
 
 VOL. III. Y Y 
 
354 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 you obey now ?" Mr. Calderwood repeated his objection to 
 the fairness of being forced, to answer questions relative to 
 other subjects than those for which he had been summoned 
 before that court ; but added : — " Since I must answer, I shall 
 either obey, or give a reason for my disobedience." He was 
 on this removed, and after a little called in to hear his sen- 
 tence of suspension. Calderwood, addressing the king, told 
 him : — " I heard your majesty, in the public disputations, 
 disclaim the power of deprivation ; suspension is a degree of 
 deprivation, and both are ecclesiastical censures." " It was 
 not I," said the king, ' playing with equivocations,' " it was 
 the archbishop of St. Andrews. I would have removed, but 
 they would not let m.e !" " Tlien," said Calderwood, turning 
 to the archbishop and bishops, " neither can ye suspend or 
 deprive me, for ye have no farther power in this court than 
 by commission from his majesty, and his majesty cannot com- 
 municate that power to you which he claimeth not for himself." 
 At length the king, irritated, perhaps, more at his poignant 
 and unanswerable replies than even at the firmness of the ac- 
 cused, ordered the archbishop of St. Andrews to intimate, 
 that unless he quietly submitted to be suspended spiritually, 
 he should be suspended corporally. " My body," replied the 
 intrepid minister, " is in your majesty's hands, do with it as 
 pleaseth your majesty; but as long as my body is free I will 
 teach, notwithstanding of their sentence." He was now, as 
 contumacious, deprived, and ordered into close confinement, 
 the bishop of St. Andrews observing, he deserved to be hang- 
 ed like Ogilvy, the Jesuit, for declining the king's authority. 
 He was afterward banished for life, * but found an asylum in 
 the United Provinces, whence his numerous publications were 
 circulated over his native country, with an effect which, had 
 he been allowed quietly to remain minister of Crailing, they 
 might never have produced. I have detailed his case at some 
 length, as it shows, in a striking point of view, the nature of 
 
 * When the king was petitioned by lord Cranston, that Calderwood's voy- 
 age might be deferred — it was now winter — till spring, " As for the season of 
 the year," replied the humane monarch," if he be drowned in the seas, he 
 will have to thank God that he hath escaped a worse death ! " — Calderwood, 
 p. 686. 
 
 55 
 
fllSTORY OF SCOTLAND. 355 
 
 those royal and Prelatical pretensions which our fathers have 
 been stigmatized for resisting.* — When a remonstrance to 
 parliament, as a late historian remarks, was punished as se- 
 ditious by the high commission, ecclesiastical, or rather regal 
 tyranny, was carried to the extreme; and he might have 
 added : — A remonstrance, the justice of which was acknow- 
 ledged by the obnoxious act being withdrawn. 
 
 The protestors being thus disposed of, in order to strike 
 terror into the minds of the otk'er ministers who were as- 
 sembled at St. Andrews, and ensure their compliance, his 
 majesty laid before them the articles which he wished them 
 to adopt ; these were, kneeling at the sacrament of the holy 
 supper; the administration of this sacrament, and of bap- 
 tism, in cases t)f sickness, in private ; the institution of fes- 
 tivals ; and the rite of confirmation by the bishops. He de- 
 sired them to state what scruples they had regarding them, 
 and their reasons, if they had any, why they ought not to be 
 admitted ; telling them, however, with the same breath, that 
 it was of no consequence whether they approved them or not, 
 he would enforce them ; for it was " a power innated, and a 
 special prerogative, that we Christian kings have to order 
 and dispose of external things in the polity of the church as 
 we by the advice of our bishops, shall find most fitting ; and 
 as for your approving or disapproving, deceive not yourselves, 
 I will never regard it, unless you bring me a reason which I 
 cannot answer." The communion had already been repeat- 
 edly administered in the chapel of Holyroodhouse, and was 
 received in a kneeling posture by the bishops, officers of 
 state, and several of the nobility, without remonstrance, or 
 
 * In the conduct of the supporters of Episcopacy and tyranny during the 
 reigns of the Stuarts — and in the Scottish history of that period the terms are 
 synonymous — there is a marked disregard to truth, and their detected lies 
 were reiterated with as unblushing confidence, as if they never had been re- 
 futed. Their practise was : — They first asserted a falsehood ; when convicted, 
 they re-asserted it ; when challenged to proof, they repeated their assertion, 
 and by dint of barefaced, shameless repetition of what they knew to be mali- 
 cious calumny, they affixed a stain upon the principles, profession, and con- 
 duct of men, whose sense of moral integrity forbade their retaliating with 
 such weapons, and whose liability to be convicted of a libel, if they dared to 
 gpeak the truth, often obliged them to keep an involuntary silence. 
 
356 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 any apparent reluctance; even the ministers of Edinburgh 
 were silent, and neither in public or private made the small- 
 est opposition to the innovation. The king, deceived by this 
 apparent submission, and by the representations of the bish- 
 ops,* was astonished and irritated when the assembled min- 
 isters, instead of receiving his speech with acclamations, and 
 overwhelmed by his wisdom and condescension, acknowledg- 
 ing with gratitude this proof of his fatherly kindness, came 
 forward, and respectfully requested to be allowed to with- 
 draw for a little, that they might consult among themselves, 
 and return a uniform answer. The request was granted, 
 and they retired to the parish church ; in about two hours 
 they returned, with an unanimous request for a general as- 
 sembly, that the ceremonies he enjoined might receive the 
 sanction of the church. James, who was extremely averse to 
 that court, hesitated, because he alleged, if the assembly 
 should refuse them, his difficulties would be greater than 
 they then were, and when he enforced them by his authority, 
 which he was determined to do, he would be reproached as a 
 tyrant and a persecutor ; nor was it till Mr. Patrick Gallowaj 
 had pledged himself for their compliance, that the royal 
 consent was given, and a meeting was ordered to be held in 
 St. Andrews, on the 25th November, to ratify and confirm 
 the obnoxious articles. 
 
 The king, whose journey, instead of promoting peace, had 
 scattered everywhere new causes of discord, soon after took 
 a sullen and ungracious departure, from a disappointed and 
 dissatisfied people; no benefits had accompanied his progress, 
 and no blessings attended his return. Wiiile passing through 
 Lancashire, mortified and soured at the resistance he had 
 experienced in his native country, he received a petition from 
 some labourers and mechanics, complaining, that they were 
 debarred from all recreations on a Sunday, after divine ser- 
 vice. He exercised his power as supreme head of the church, 
 in a manner not greatly calculated to recommend that branch 
 of the prerogative to Presbyterians. Considering the Judai- 
 
 * The king called the bishops dolts and deceivers, because they had made 
 him believe they had dressed matters so, that he had no more ado, v/hen he 
 came in the country, but to give his presence. — Calderwood, p. 685. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 357 
 
 cal observance of the Sabbath as one of the strong bulwarks 
 of Puritanism, against which his hatred was now more than 
 ever excited, he took advantage of the petition, and issued a 
 proclamation, to allow and encourage all lawful games ana 
 pastimes, and commanded that his subjects should not be pre- 
 vented from dancing, leaping, or vaulting, exercising archery, 
 having May games, Whitson ales, or Morrice-dances, after 
 divine service on the Sundays, w^hich term he ostentatiously 
 used, in opposition to the appropriate name Sabbath, or " the 
 day of rest," which had been early adopted in the Reformed 
 churches, and was the common appellation of the Lord's Day 
 in Scotland.* 
 
 When the assembly met at St. Andrews, notwithstanding 
 every precaution had been taken to procure such only to be 
 returned members, as were considered favourable to the 
 measures of the king, or who, it was thought, could be in- 
 timidated or flattered into any thing, the articles could neither 
 pass in private conference, nor in the public assembly. In 
 vain did the bishops urge them not to provoke his majesty 
 to just anger, but to prefer his favour to the applause of the 
 factious. All that could be obtained, was a partial acquies- 
 cence in the private administration of the sacrament of the 
 Supper, but with such restrictions as perfectly nullified the 
 virtue of the consent. The intending communicant was to de- 
 clare upon his conscience, that he believed his disease to be 
 deadly, and give the minister twenty-four hours wai-ning ; that 
 
 * This proclamation, equally pernicious with the decree of the French con- 
 vention abolishing the Sabbath, had not even the praise of daring impiety. It 
 was hypocritically pretended to be for the advancement of religion, and to 
 attract the people to places of worship ! For none were to be allowed to 
 profane the afternoon of the day, who had not been at their parish church at 
 the morning service. It was disapproved of highly, however, by the English 
 Episcopalians, and in particular, by the mayor of London, who ordered the 
 king's own carriages to be stopped, as they were passing through the city on 
 the Sabbath. The court being next day to remove, the king, when he heard 
 of the interruption, started up in a great rage, swearing that he thought there 
 had been no more kings in England but himself, and sent a warrant to the 
 lord mayor, ordering him to let them pass. He did so, but returned this 
 answer, " "While it was in my power, I did my duty, but that being taken 
 away, it is my duty to obey." 
 
358 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 there should be at least six persons, of. good religion and 
 conversation, present, to receive the communion at the same 
 time. A convenient place in the house, and all things neces- 
 sary for the minister's reverent administration of the sacra- 
 ment, were also to be provided. But along with this an act 
 was passed, which went at least obliquely to censure the prac- 
 tice of kneeling. The ministers were ordained to distribute 
 with their own hands, the elements to every communicant, 
 and " to the end the minister may give the same more com- 
 modiously, he is, by advice of the magistrates and honest men 
 of the session, to prepare a table, at the which the same may 
 be conveniently ministered." The other articles were referred 
 to the decision of another assembly, on account, as was al- 
 leged, of the inclemency of the season, and the shortness of 
 the intimation having prevented many of the representatives 
 of presbyteries from attending this. The two acts were foi- 
 warded to the king, with an apologetical letter. His majesty, 
 however, so far from being pleased with the concessions, was 
 highly enraged at what he considered as an insult, and in a 
 passionate epistle to the archbishop of St. Andrews, taunting- 
 ly asks, what is meant by a convenient room for administer- 
 ing the sacrament in to a dying man ; for " what it importeth 
 we cannot guess, seeing no place can be so convenient for a 
 sick man, sworn to die, as his bed ?" Then noticing the 
 order to the magistrates and honest men of the session, to 
 prepare a table, at which the sacrament may be commodious- 
 ly ministered, he sarcastically remarks, " Truely, in this we 
 must say, that the minister's ease, and commodious sitting on 
 his taile, hath been more looked to, than that kneeling, which 
 for reverence, we directly required to be enjoyned to the 
 receivers of so divine a sacrament." He accompanied his 
 reproof with a strict injunction to observe the festival of 
 Christmas, and an order to the council, prohibiting them to 
 pay stipend to any minister who had opposed the passing of 
 the articles. In a postscript written with his own hand, he 
 added," Since your Scottish church hath so far contemned 
 my clemency, they shall now find what it is to draw the anger 
 of a king upon them." 
 
 These letters, which were intended to operate upon tlie 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 359 
 
 fears, the necessities, and expectations of the poorei' clergy, 
 were shown to the ministers of Edinbui'gh, and a number of 
 others who bad come thither from the country, to solicit an 
 augmentation of their stipends. The effect was as anticipat- 
 ed ; it requires not only uncommon strength of principle, but 
 of nerve, for a man to resist in the hour of temptation, when 
 threatened with poverty on the one hand, and flattered with 
 offers of competence on the other. It is no wonder then that 
 some of the Scottish ministers yielded to the solicitations of 
 their supei'iors, even against their own conviction. The 
 wonder is, that so many were found firm in the day of trial. 
 
 Unauthorized by the church, on the arbitrary mandate of 
 the king alone, the bishops proceeded to celebrate the festival 
 of Christmns, December 25th, 16 17, in their respective cath- 
 edrals, but the bishop of Galloway officiated as dean in the 
 royal chapel of Holyroodhouse, and the roofs of that vener- 
 able pile once more re-echoed to the sound of choristers, and 
 of instrumental music. The retainers of the court, with the 
 servants of the bishops alone attended, the people in general 
 pursued their usual occupations, with more than ordinary in- 
 dustry, and the empty churches impressively pointed out the 
 deep and universal detestation in which this illegal attempt to 
 introduce holydays, denounced by both the assembly and par- 
 liament as superstitious, was held. But the king, who wished 
 to establish in Scotland, what he found it impossible to effect 
 in England, that his proclamations should have the force of 
 a law, ordered the observance of the festivals to be proclaim- 
 ed at the Cross of Edinburgh, and the magistrates to take 
 sti'ict charge, that these days were not profaned by the exer- 
 cise of any ordinary occupation. By his royal edict, he also 
 commanded, that all the servants of the crown should com- 
 municate kneeling, at Easter and Pentecost, with which they 
 complied, and they received the sacrament in this posture, 
 administered by the bishop of Galloway', who before his ac- 
 ceptance of the mitre, Calderwood informs us, was displeased 
 if invited to partake of a Christmas pie. 
 
 The bishops, sensible of the reverence entertained for the 
 decrees of the high judicatory of the church, notwithstanding 
 their obedience to the king, did not seem altogether satisfied 
 
360 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 without the sanction of a general assembly, and therefore, 
 strenuously urged the king to allow one to be called. His con- 
 sent was reluctantly given, and on the 25th of August, 1618, 
 the last which met in his reign, was held at Perth. In a letter 
 to this assembly — his farewell one to the representatives of the 
 Scottish church — he exhibits, in genuine unpalliated deformity, 
 the pernicious effects of adulation and power on a weak mind, 
 in increasing his arrogance, and nourishing his I'evenge. Be- 
 cause the meeting at St. Andrews had not, without hesitation, 
 passed his illegal articles, " He had once determined to set 
 himself above all law, and never again to call an assembly, 
 but, by the innate power given him of God, to make his will 
 the rule of their obedience, and he would not now, he declar- 
 ed, be satisfied by mitigations, delays, or shifts, he would only 
 be content with a simple and direct acceptation of the articles 
 in the form he had sent," and the rancour he had long in- 
 dulged against the ministers of Scotland, and so frequently 
 displayed, he unambiguously avows. " What and how many 
 abuses were offered us by divers of the ministry there, before 
 our happy coming to the crown of England, we can hardly 
 forget, and yet like not much to remember. Neither think 
 we that any prince living, could have keeped himself from 
 falling in utter dislike with the profession itself, considering 
 the many provocations that were given us," but he desired, 
 that on this occasion, they would let the world see by their 
 proceedings, what a dutiful respect and obedience they owed 
 to their sovereign prince, and natural king and lord. This 
 letter was transmitted by the dean of Winchester, sent ex- 
 pressly to bring a particular account of the meeting. The 
 articles which the assembly were required to adopt and autho- 
 rize in the form sent, I insert at full length, both on account 
 of their important consequences, and that the reader may 
 have a full view of the subject. 
 
 I. Kneeling at the Sacrament. Seeing; we are com- 
 manded by God himself, that when we come to worship him, 
 we fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker, and con- 
 sidering withal, that there is no part of divine Avorship more 
 heavenly and spiritual, than is the holy receiving of the bles- 
 sed body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 3Gi 
 
 like as the most humble and reverent gesture of our body in 
 our meditation, and the lifting up of our hearts best becometh 
 so divine and sacred an action. Therefore, notwithstanding 
 that our church hath used since the Reformation of religion 
 to celebrate the holy communion to the people sitting, by 
 reason of the great abuse of kneeling, used in the idolatrous 
 worship of the sacrament by the Papists ; yet, seeing all 
 memory of bypast superstitions is past, in reverence of God, 
 and in due regard of so divine a mystery, and in remembrance 
 of so mystical a union as we are made partakers of, the as- 
 sembly thinketh good, that the blessed sacrament be celebrat- 
 ed hereafter, meekly and reverently upon their knees. 
 
 II. Private Communion. If any good Christian, visited 
 with long sickness, and known to the pastor, by reason of his 
 present infirmity, be unable to resort to the church for re- 
 ceiving the holy communion, on being sick, shall declare to 
 the pastor upc-n his conscience, that he thinks his sickness to 
 be deadly, and shall earnestly desire to receive the same in 
 his house, the minister shall not deny him so great a comfort, 
 lawful warning being given to him the night before, and that 
 there be three or four of good religion and conversation, free 
 of all lawful impediments, present with the sick person, to 
 communicate with him, who must also provide a convenient 
 place in his house, and all things necessary for the admin- 
 istration thereof, according to the order prescribed in the 
 church. 
 
 III. Private Baptism. The ministers shall often admon- 
 ish tlie people, that they defer not the baptism of infants any 
 longer than the next Lord's day after the child be born, un- 
 less upon a great and reasonable cause, declared to the min- 
 ister, and by him approved, the same be postponed. As also, 
 they shall warn them that without great cause, they procure 
 not their children to be baptized at home in their houses, but 
 when great need shall compel them to baptize in private 
 houses — in which case the minister shall not refuse to do it, 
 upon the knowledge of the great need, and being timely re- 
 quired thereto — then baptism shall be administered after the 
 same form as it should have been in the congregation — and 
 the minister shall the next Lord's day after any such private 
 
 VOL. TIL z z 
 
362 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 baptism, declare in the church, that the infant was so baptiz- 
 ed, and therefore ought to be received as one of the true flock 
 of Christ's fold. 
 
 IV. Confirmation of Children. Forasmuch as one of 
 the special means for staying the increase of Popery, and 
 settling of true religion in the hearts of the people is, that a 
 special care be taken of young children, their education, and 
 how they are catechised, which in time of the primitive church 
 most carefully was attended, as being most profitable to cause 
 young children in their tender years, drink in the knov/ledge 
 of God and his religion, but is now altogether neglected, in 
 respect of the great abuse and errors which crept into the 
 Popish church, by making thereof a sacrament of confirma- 
 tion; therefore, that all superstitions built thereupon may be 
 rescinded, and that the matter itself being most necessary for 
 the education of youth, may be reduced to the primitive in- 
 tegrity, it is thought good that the minister in every parish, 
 should catechise all young children of eight years of age, and 
 see that they have the knowledge, and be able to make re- 
 hearsal of the Lord's Prayer, Belief, and Ten Commandments, 
 with answers to the questions of the small catechism, used in 
 our church, and that every bishop in his visitation, shall 
 censure the minister who shall be found remiss therein ; and 
 the said bishops shall cause the said children to be presented 
 before them, and bless them with prayer for the increase of 
 their knowledge, and the continuance of God's heavenly 
 graces with every one of them. 
 
 V. Observation or Festivals. As we abhor the supersti- 
 tious observation of festival days by the Papists, and detest 
 all licentious and profane abuse thereof by the common sort 
 of professors, so we think that the inestimable benefits receiv- 
 ed from God by our Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, passion, 
 resurrection, ascension, sending down of the Holy Ghost, was 
 commendably and godlily remembered at certain particular 
 days and times by the whole church of the world, and may 
 also be now ; therefore, the assembly admitteth, that every 
 minister shall upon these days, have the commemoration of 
 the foresaid inestimable benefits, and make choice of several 
 and pertinent texts of Scripture, and frame their doctrine and 
 
 S5 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 363 
 
 exhortation thereto, and rebuke all superstitious observation, 
 and licentious pi'ofanation thereof. 
 
 The general objections to these articles, were strong and 
 unanswerable. Viewed as matters not of vital importance to 
 religion, enforcing them upon scrupulous minds or tender 
 consciences, was directly in opposition to the Apostolic in- 
 junctions, to take heed, lest by any means this power of yours, 
 be an occasion of falling to them that are weak, and " to give 
 no offence, neither to the Jew, nor to the Grecian, nor to the 
 church of God." They were likewise calculated to create 
 divisions, and give rise to disputations, from which the Scot- 
 tish church had hitherto been remarkably free, to excite a 
 zeal for things of comparatively little moment, while the more 
 essential duties of Christianity were overlooked, and by their 
 admission, to open a dooj for other more serious inroads 
 upon the established religion. But there was one obstacle 
 which ought to have been insurmountable even to their in- 
 troduction, and which should have prevented any man of 
 sound moral feeling, from ever listening for a moment, to 
 any proposal on the subject, the sacred obligation of the 
 oaths by which they were pledged, under the most awful re- 
 sponsibilities, to resist all innovation in the church discipline, 
 not authorized by the word of God, especially the introduc- 
 tion of any rites and ceremonies of man's invention, which had 
 formed part of the sacred service in the church of Rome. 
 
 Besides these objections to the articles in toto, there were 
 specific reasons for their individual rejection. The doctrine 
 of transubstantiation, so strenuously inculcated in the Romish 
 church, had entirely altered the institution of the Holy Sup- 
 per. Instead of a sacrament, it was transformed into a sac- 
 rifice, which the priests offered up anew for the sins of the 
 people, every time they consecrated the wafer, and when the 
 host was elevated, the devotee knelt and worshipped the 
 bodily presence of his Lord. This absurd and idolatrous 
 reverence, the Scottish Reformers viewed with abhorrence. 
 They considered the sacrament instituted as a memorial for 
 ever, of their dying Saviour's love, in partaking of which, 
 they held spiritual communion with him as the head, and with 
 the brethren as the members of that mystical body, the church. 
 
364 HISTORY OF SCOTLANn. 
 
 The disciples received the bread and wine from the hands of 
 the Saviour himself, in a reclining posture, with what pro- 
 priety then could his ministers require, that when they dis- 
 tributed the elements, they should be received kneeling, un- 
 less the ordinance were viewed as somethino; different from 
 what Christ had instituted, and as receiving from fhem a 
 holiness and a character, which the immediate visible pre- 
 sence of the Lord could not bestow. This argument, of v/hich 
 it is not easy to elude the force, induced the Scottish church 
 to adopt the sitting posture in communicating, which was 
 indubitably the most consistent with their view of the subject. 
 In accordance with their own opinions, the Papists, who 
 believed in the efficacy of the sacrifice of the mass for the 
 salvation of the soul, ordered it to be administered to the 
 sick and dying, in private, in order to prepare them for the 
 kingdom of heaven, but the Scottish church objected to this, 
 as leading men to a superstitious reliance upon an ordinance 
 for safety, instead of resting upon the one sacrifice, which the 
 Saviour himself had offered up for his people. Baptism was 
 considei'ed by the Romanists, as a sacrament which effectually 
 purified its subjects from the guilt and stain of original sin, 
 and enabled the infant soul to appear pure in presence of the 
 Creator ; and therefore, if a child were sickly, or apparently 
 in danger, this essential rite was administered in private. The 
 Scottish ministers, who considered it as a sign or seal of the 
 admission of a member within the pale of the visible church, 
 allowed it only to be administered in presence of the church, 
 and forbade it in private, on account of the abuse to which it 
 was liable. The imposition of hands after baptism, seems to 
 have been an early, if not a primitive practice, but the bishops 
 of succeeding ages raised it to the rank of a sacrament, under 
 the name of Confirmation. The Scottish church, who only 
 saw in it the unauthorized addition of a new sacrament, re- 
 jected as useless, a ceremony, the necessity of which it re- 
 quires some consideration to perceive, and they objected to 
 the bishop's prayer and blessing, as the introduction of the 
 supernumerary in disguise. The festivals of the church 
 of Ptome, commemorative of the varied events of the life of 
 Chiist, or instituted in honour of the apostles and saints, had 
 
HISTOKY OF SCOTLAND. 365 
 
 been solemnly abjured by the Scottish nation ; but a number 
 of them had been retained in the English service-book, and 
 James wished at first to try how the Scots would relish the 
 adoption of a few of the most important. Christmas, Good 
 Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost were selected. The 
 assembly objected, that the day of Christ's birth was uncer- 
 tain, that Christmas was a revival of the Roman Saturnalia, 
 that Easter had been disputed in the earlier ages, and that the 
 king himself had declared, " that for Pasch and Yule there was 
 no institution." But the articles were not allowed to be openly 
 discussed, they were submitted to the consideration of a pri- 
 vate committee, composed so as to ensure a decided majority 
 for the court. When their report was brought before the 
 assembly, all opposition was quashed by the insidious manner 
 in which the question was put. Without reference to the 
 merits of the case, the members were asked, Whether will you 
 consent to the articles, or disobey the king ? Nor were they 
 allowed any discriminating power; they were explicitly told, 
 whoever opposed any one of the articles, would be held as 
 opposing the whole, and before the vote was taken, Spots- 
 wood, to intimidate them, mentioned, that the name of every 
 one who opposed, should be presented to his majesty. The 
 articles were carried by a considerable majority, but a min- 
 ority of forty-five, whom no promises could allure, and no 
 threatening could terrify, saved the Scottish church from 
 absolute degradation. 
 
 When the assembly rose, the bishops prepared to enforce 
 the observance of the obnoxious rites.*' In a few weeks they 
 
 * Furious zealots, either in religion or politics, are commonly among the 
 first apostates when motives of interest are held out, and it is notorious that 
 such rencgadoes are always the most violent persecutors. A ludicrous in- 
 stance is related by Calderwood of William Struthers, one of the ministers of 
 Edinburgh. " At a certain time being in Glasgow, when he saw Spotswood, 
 then [arch]bishop of Glasgow, afar off, he went into a booth, and fell in a 
 swerf. [swoon.] After they had given him aquavits, and he had recovered, 
 they asked what accident had befallen him ? He answered, saw ye not the 
 character of the beast coming ?" On the promulgation of the articles of 
 Perth, he was one of the most strenuous in imposing them, and one of the 
 most fawning on those in power, and was himself made a bishop ! 
 
366 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 
 
 were ratified by the privy council, and proclaimed at the 
 cross of Edinburgh. Respect for the festivals was inculcated 
 under the severest penalties, and the same wise and religious 
 monarch, who recommended pastimes and revelry on the 
 Lord's day, commanded a cessation and abstinence from all 
 kinds of labour and handy work on the five arbitrary holy 
 days, and denounced " all who should do in the contrair," as 
 seditious, factious, disturbei's of the peace, liable to be pun- 
 ished in their persons and goods with all rigour and extrem- 
 ity. But acts and proclamations become futile when opposed 
 to the universal sense of a people, and the articles of Perth 
 had no greater recommendation. By the zealous and the 
 sincere they were viewed with abhorrence, and moderate men 
 were disgusted with the manner in which the bishops forced 
 upon the nation, things which they themselves contended for 
 as indifferent, and which some of the most forward in now 
 pressing had, not many months before, been the loudest to 
 condemn. The minority, who had supported the honour of 
 the church in the assembly, did not quietly submit to what 
 they considered an illegal stretch of power. They disclaim- 
 ed the authority of the Perth assembly, as unlawfully con- 
 stituted, and its proceedings as irregular, where freedom of 
 debate had not been allowed, and in which the sentiments 
 of the majority had not been fairly expressed. The articles 
 were keenly scrutinized, and while the ministers declaimed 
 against them from the pulpit and the press, as at variance 
 with the principles of the reformation, and inconsistent with 
 the Scriptures, the laity viewed them with disgust, as a ser- 
 vile imitation of the English ritual, humiliating to the national 
 dignity. 
 
 In the month of November, an unusually bright comet 
 made its appearance for several nights together, which amaz- 
 ed the nation, as the forerunner of some terrible calamity' ; 
 but the historians of the day are uncertain whether it por- 
 tended the death of James' queen, Anne, or the troubles in 
 Germany, both of which events followed soon after. The 
 character of the queen is described as amorous, bold, intrigu- 
 ing, immersed in politics, and possessed of little reverence 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 367 
 
 for her husband's spiiit, or talents for government ; * but her 
 influence over the king was inferior to that of Buckingham, 
 with whom she was under the necessity of coalescing to dupe 
 James, and her court was debased by that low, coarse buf- 
 foonery which she had adopted to please his taste, and gain 
 her ends. Yet her letters show her to have been a woman of 
 discernment, and warrant the conclusion, that her faults were 
 rather the effects of her situation than of her natural disposi- 
 tion. 
 
 The marriage of the elector Palatine with the princess 
 Elizabeth occasioned the ruin of the prince. The states of 
 Bohemia had revolted from the house of Austria, and taken 
 arms in defence of their liberty and religion, and claimed 
 from the emperor Ferdinand, that all the edicts enacted in 
 favour of the Protestant religion should be observed, and 
 that the ancient laws and fi'ee constitutions of the country 
 should be restored. Ferdinand armed for the recovery of 
 his authority, and, besides his own subjects, formed a power- 
 ful alliance with all the Catholic princes of the empire — with 
 the king of Poland, and particularly with his own relation, 
 the king of Spain, who furnished large supplies of veterans 
 from Italy and the Netherlands, together with vast sums of 
 money, to crush the spirit of freedom, ere its breath should 
 infect the neighbouring states. The Bohemians, alarmed at 
 the powerful combination, sought the assistance of the evan- 
 gelical union in Germany — all of whom, except the duke of 
 Saxony, acceded to the league — and invited Frederick, son- 
 in-law to the king of Britain, and nephew of Maurice, who 
 ruled Holland, to accept their crown, which they considered 
 as elective. Without consulting either of his relations, Fred- 
 erick accepted the offer, and marched his forces to assert his 
 right. He was supported by two thousand, four hundred 
 English volunteers, who were rather not forbidden than 
 frankly permitted to embark for the continent. 
 
 James, whose ideas of the divine rights of kings were so 
 exalted, that he concluded subjects must ever be in the 
 wrong f when they stood in opposition to those who inherited 
 
 * Laing, vol. iii. p. 87. f Hume, vol. vi. p. 101. 
 
368 IIISTOKY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 or acquired this high title, from the very first regarded the 
 proceedings of the Bohemians as a revolt against their legiti- 
 mate sovereign, and not only refused assistance, but forbade 
 the object of their choice, his own son-in-law, to be prayed 
 for under the title of king. The English entered keenly into 
 the dispute, and considering their honour as implicated in 
 the fate of the daughter of their monarch, and their religion 
 in that of Bohemia, would, at the first rumour, have flown 
 to the assistance of their Protestant brethren ; but when ac- 
 counts were received of the unfortunate battle of Prague, 
 which blasted all the hopes of the Palatine, and laid his 
 coimtry at the feet of the conqueror, their murmurs and 
 complaints were vehement and loud against what their gen- 
 erous feelings viewed as a cold-hearted, pusillanimous neu- 
 trality. 
 
 James, who had allowed the time, when he might have in- 
 terposed with effect, to pass away, after his only daughter 
 and her family were fugitives and exiles, had recourse to ne- 
 gotiations and arguments to procure the restoration of her 
 husband's dominions, and exhausted his funds in fruitless 
 embassies, as expensive as military expeditions. His neces- 
 sities urged him to apply to his English parliament; but their 
 subsidies, though liberal, were not adequate to supply his 
 profusion, and he was advised to summon the estates of Scot- 
 land. James had found the last so troublesome, that he was 
 extremely averse to this project, and it was not till after re- 
 peated attempts to introduce benevolences, or the raising 
 money by voluntary loans, had failed, that he despatched the 
 marquis of Hamilton as his commissioner to hold a parliament. 
 Hamilton was well qualified for the task allotted, and he en- 
 tered upon it with alacrity- Before he reached Edinburgh 
 he began to tamper with the lords who came to meet him by 
 the way, and, taking them unawares and unprepared for 
 business, gained their promise to support the king, ere ever 
 they understood the extent of the measures he meant to pro- 
 pose. He then arranged his mode of proceeding with the 
 archbishop of St. Andrews, the dean of Winchester, and 
 the principal officers of state, and when the plan was fixed, 
 made a show of consulting the nobility. During the inter- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 369 
 
 mediate days, he continued " his dealing with particular men 
 of every estate, and specially the noblemen whose favour he 
 pressed to conciliate, by hearty conversation and feasting," * 
 With the ministers he pursued another course. A number 
 had assembled in Edinburgh to watch the proceedings of 
 parliament, and petition against the articles of Perth; the 
 petition was suppressed, and the petitioners imprisoned. But 
 some having assembled with the commissioners for the shires 
 and burghs in unofficial meetings, where the questions to 
 come before parliament were the subjects of conversation, the 
 council, afraid of their influence and arguments, issued an 
 arbitrary order for the whole instantly to quit Edinburgh 
 under pain of horning. They did so, but left a protestation, 
 which was afterward affixed to the Cross. 
 
 The parliament sat down, or, in Scottish phrase, the rid- 
 ing of the estates, took place on the 25th July. The business 
 was opened by the marquis of Hamilton in a long speech, 
 filled with very fulsome praises of the piety, wisdom, and 
 love of the king for his subjects, and very false assertions re- 
 specting his motives and conduct. His pecuniary embarras- 
 ments, v/hich notoriously arose from his waste and misman- 
 agement, were represented as the effects of his constant dis- 
 bursements to support his son-in-law, and prevent his utter 
 overthrow, till he, by mediation and treaty, should procure 
 restitution of his patrimony, " in which the expense of his am- 
 bassadors, ordinary and extraordinary, was such as were not 
 communicable to the vulgar sort;" and he asserted, that his 
 majesty, influenced solely by his care for the Protestant re- 
 ligion, had married his daughter to the elector Palatine, in 
 preference to accepting the offers of powerful Catholic princes, 
 who would have bribed him with infinite treasures to have 
 granted them the honour of his royal alliance. He therefore 
 exliorted them to inci'ease the quantity of their wonted con- 
 tributions, assuring them, in his majesty's name, if they 
 should behave themselves worthily, his majesty would not 
 hereafter trouble them with any more demands for monies. 
 In enforcing their ratification of the articles of Perth, he de- 
 
 * Earl of Melrose to K. James. Hailes' Mem. vol. i. p. 28, 102. 
 vol,. III. 3 a 
 
3*70 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 clared, if they would obey and confirm the acts already made, 
 the king would never propose any future alteration. The 
 chancellor followed in a similar strain; after which, the lords 
 of the articles were chosen, " with such dexterity, " says 
 secretary Melrose in a letter to the king, " that no man was 
 elected — one only excepted* — but those who, by a private 
 roll, were selected as best affected for your majesty's ser- 
 vice."! This dexterity consisted in a flagrant invasion of the 
 rights of parliament by the king's commissioner, who intro- 
 duced a new method of choosing this body, which gave the 
 king a complete command of their election. Formerly the 
 temporal lords nominated eight of the spiritual, the spiritual 
 eight of the temporal, and the commons, from their own 
 numbers, eight commissioners for the shires, and eight for 
 the burghs. On this occasion the prelates chose eight noble- 
 men, who, in return, chose eight prelates, and these sixteen 
 selected the requisite number of barons and burgesses from 
 the third estate. A subsidy, equal to the largest ever granted, 
 was voted, but not without very considerable opposition to 
 the manner in which it was to be raised. To a general land 
 tax there was little objection ; but an imposition of five per 
 cent on annual income was vigorously opposed by the third 
 estate, the lesser barons and the burgesses, who objected to 
 the inquisitorial nature of the tax, and the mischief which 
 would arise to many, a disclosure of whose circumstances 
 might shake their credit, and occasion their ruin ; :]; and so 
 averse were numbers of the noblemen and barons to this plan, 
 that the commissioner resorted to what would now be consid 
 
 * Sir John Hamilton, baron of Preston, seems the obnoxious person here 
 pointed out. He made a firm stand against the articles of Perth, in the pri- 
 vate meeting of the lords of the articles, and resisted every solicitation of his 
 chief, the marquis, and secretary Hamilton, to vote for them in public. 
 When reminded of his duty to his majesty, he replied : — " He would not 
 offend God willingly, nor make to himself a hell in his own conscience, for 
 the pleasure of any man." He was then requested to absent himself, if he 
 would not vote as desired ; but he persisted in his resolution to defend and 
 support the cause of truth. 
 
 f Hailes' Memorials, vol. i, p. 94, 
 
 J Melrose's Letter to K. James. Hailes' Mem. vol. i p. 99-100. 
 55 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 871 
 
 ered the exti'eme of despotism ; he forbade their assembling 
 together to consult, or reason upon the business before parlia- 
 ment previously to giving their vote, and with the assistance 
 of his friends, laboured night and day to sow discord, and 
 prevent them from acting in unison. To effect this he used 
 still more infamous means. He employed spies to insinuate 
 themselves into the company of the noblemen and commission- 
 ers for the shires and burghs, who pretended a dislike to the 
 proceedings of the bishops, and approved of all they heard 
 from those who were sincere in their aver£»on to the innova- 
 tions, and at night they returned with their report to their 
 employer, who thus knew the dispositions of his opponents, 
 and was prepared to meet them.* He intended to have had 
 recourse to severity, but the dissatisfaction was so general, 
 that it was necessary to employ more mild means, which in 
 the end proved successful. The amount of the supply, which 
 was understood to be four hundred tliousand pound Scots, 
 equivalent to about thirty-three thousand pounds Sterling, 
 was not specified, in order to spare the pride of the country, 
 whose poverty it would have exposed. 
 
 The articles of Perth were brought forward last. They 
 had not passed the lords of the articles unanimously, and they 
 encountered considerable resistance in the estates, all the ef- 
 forts of the officers of the crown having been only able to 
 procure a majority of twenty-seven in their favour. On the 
 last day of the parliament, the inhabitants of Edinburgh testi- 
 fied their disapprobation by remaining within their houses, 
 and allowing the procession to ride from the palace to the tol- 
 booth in sullen state, amid the silence of a very few spectators. 
 At the very instant when the king's commissioner, rising from 
 the throne, had stretched forth the sceptre to ratify the acts, a 
 black thunder cloud burst over the house ; the lightnings shed 
 a momentary gleam through the darkness in which the apart- 
 ment was involved, and three tremendous peals almost instant- 
 ly followed. The thunder was succeeded by a shower of rain, 
 mingled with hail, which swelled the rivulets to brooks, and 
 kept the members confined for upwards of an hour and a halfi 
 
 • Calderwood, p. 776. 
 
372 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and prevented the rising of the parliament from being an- 
 nounced, by the carrying of the honours, or the riding of the 
 estates. This storm some of the more zealous represented as 
 expressive of God's displeasure at the perjury of those vi^ho 
 ratified the articles of Perth. The Prelatic party likened it 
 to the thundering at Mount Sinai, at the promulgation of the 
 law. The common people called it the black Saturday. The 
 same omen accompanied the proclamation of the acts on 
 Monday at the cross of Edinburgh ; but a protestation against 
 all the encroachments made upon the liberty and privileges of 
 the church since the reformation, which was affixed, with the 
 usual solemnities, by doctor Barclay, in name of his brethren, 
 upon the Cross, the kii'k door, and the palace gate, was a 
 portent of less doubtful interpretation, and to which it had 
 been well that the men in power had attended, knowing — as 
 they must have done-^the state of the public mind. 
 
 The bis-hops, who seemed now to think they had obtained 
 every thing when they got an act of parliament in favour of 
 their rites, determined to exert the power conferred on them 
 by the high commission, and enforce uniformity. A violent 
 persecution was immediately commenced. While the articles 
 of Perth remained unratified, their proceedings had been both 
 vexatious and harsh; but now, armed with legal weapons, 
 they suspended and imprisoned, or banished to the most rug- 
 ged and distant parts of the country, the ministers who did 
 not immediately and readily comply. The king, to whom 
 these laws were peculiarly agreeable, wrote to the prelates in 
 high spirits on the occasion. " The greatest matter," said he 
 exultingly, " the puritans had to object against the church 
 government was, that your proceedings were warranted by no 
 law, which now, by this parliament, is cutted short. So that, 
 hereafter, that rebellious, disobedient, and seditious crew, 
 must either obey, or resist God, their natural king, and the 
 law of the country. It resteth, therefore, to you to be en- 
 couraged and comforted by this happy occasion, and to lose 
 no more time in procuring a settled obedience to God, and to 
 us, by the good endeavours of our commissioner, and our 
 other true hearted subjects and servants. The sword is put 
 into your hands, go on, therefore, to use it, and let it rest no 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 373 
 
 longer." " Papistry," he said, " he had given orders to sup- 
 press ; but it was only a disease of the mind, Puritanisme was 
 the more dangerous one of the brain." In conclusion, he 
 urges his not unwilling satellites to go forward in the action 
 with all speed, wishing them stout hearts and happy success.* 
 This letter was followed by one to the council, commanding 
 all the officers of state to conform, under pain of being de- 
 prived of their offices. Any advocate or clerk refusing was to 
 be suspended from the exercise of his office, and no person 
 was to be appointed sheriff of a county, or chosen magistrate 
 of a burgh, who had not given obedience. Necessity, or in- 
 terest, insured compliance with the royal will from the coun- 
 cil, the lawyers, and hangers on about court. The burgesses 
 were more unbending ; they deserted the churches where kneel- 
 ing was practised, and flocked to others where the old form 
 of sitting was still retained ; and it was not till almost all the 
 magistrates of the burghs had been changed, according to the 
 court lists, that the semblance of uniformity could be obtained. 
 The ecclesiastical persecutions were unrelentingly continued, 
 notwithstanding the land was suffering under the severe ca- 
 lamities occasioned by an inclement season. Incessant rains 
 prevented the corn from ripening; the harvest was late, and 
 when even at this day, with our improved mode of agriculture, 
 a late harvest is ruinous in the hill country, we may judge 
 of the misery such an occurrence then would occasion. The 
 late harvest was succeeded by winter floods, which, in many 
 places of the country, swept away the farm houses, with their 
 owners, cattle, and corn. The town of Perth was surrounded 
 with water, by the swelling of the Tay on the one side, the 
 Almond on the other, and for seven days the only communi- 
 cation, even between house and house, was by water ; and on 
 the 4th of October, ten of the arches of a fine bridge, only 
 newly finished, were carried away. The Tweed, too, rose 
 to an uncommon height. A new union bridge was destroyed 
 by the violence of the stream. The king, who liked any thing 
 that had the appearance of joining the two kingdoms more 
 closely together, had sent down a posie to be inscribed on the 
 
 • CaJderwood, p. 785. 
 
374 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 keystone: — Hoc uno ponte duo regna conjwnxi ; Deus diu con- 
 juncta servet. I have joined two kingdoms by the one bridge; 
 may God long preserve them united. Thie magistrates, who 
 wished to do all reverence to his majesty's inscription, delayed 
 putting in the keystone till the king's skole * were drunk at 
 that part of the bridge, and the Lord's day was appointed for 
 the grand fete ; but the speated Tweed came down heavy two 
 days before, and the bridge being insecure, part of its shat- 
 tered pillars only was left to mark where the junction was in- 
 tended. The storms were succeeded by a threatened famine, 
 by which numbers of respectable individuals were reduced to 
 a state of the utmost indigence, and wandering beggars in- 
 creased to an intolerable degree. 
 
 While the king was urging the bishops to rigour, he dis- 
 played his own merciless disposition in the end of this year, 
 in his treatment of two distinguished sufferers, John Welsh, 
 and Robert Bruce. Welsh, after fourteen years' banishment 
 in France, had lost his health, and his native air was recom- 
 mended as the only means left, which gave any chance of 
 recovery.f By great interest, he was permitted to come to^ 
 
 * A drinking bout on receiving a gift, or in honour of any person, or on 
 the completion of any great undertaking. 
 
 -f- Mrs. Welsh, by means of some of her mother's relations at court, ob- 
 tained access to James, and petitioned him to grant this liberty to her hus- 
 band. The following singular conversation took place on that occasion. His 
 majesty asked her who was her father, she replied, " Mr. Knox." " Knox 
 and Welsh," exclaimed he, " the devil never made such a match as that.' 
 " It's right like. Sir," said she, " for we never spiered [asked] his advice." He 
 asked her how many children her father had left, and if they were lads or 
 lasses. She said three, and they were all lasses. " God be thanked !" cried 
 the king, lifting up both his hands, " for an they had been three lads, I had 
 never bruiked, [possessed] my three kingdoms in peace." She again urged 
 her request, that he would give her husband his native air. " Give him his 
 native air ! Give him the devil," replied the king. " Give that to your 
 hungry courtiers," said she, offended at his profaneness. He told her at last, 
 that if she would persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he would 
 allow him to return to Scotland. Mrs. Welsh, lifting up her apron, and 
 holding it towards the king, replied, in the true spirit of her father, " Please 
 your majesty, I'd rather kep his head there." * M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol. 
 ii. p. 274. 
 
 ♦ I would r.Tlier receive !iis head there, T^hen severed from his bo;7y by the executioner. 
 
HISTORY CF SCOTLAND. 375 
 
 London, but no entreaty would induce James to allow him to 
 visit Scotland, unless he complied with what in his conscience 
 he believed to be wrong. He languished a short time, and 
 expired in the English capital. Bruce had been long con- 
 fined to Inverness. He had petitioned repeatedly for leave 
 to come to Edinburgh, to settle some private business of great 
 importance, and when he could not obtain it, he came secret- 
 ly. On being discovered, he was first warded in Edinburgh 
 castle, but afterward, as a favour, was confined to his own 
 house of Kinnaird, for some months, but numbers resorted 
 to his dwelling, when the bishops, who felt that they were 
 despised, chagrined at seeing another honoured, wrote to the 
 king, who immediately sent Mr. Bruce an order to return to 
 Inverness. Considerable intercession was made to obtain 
 leave for him to remain only till the weather should become 
 milder, but this small indulgence could not be given. The 
 refusal was conveyed in a taunt, " We will have no more 
 Popish pilgrimages to Kinnaird :" and the man to whom James 
 acknowledged he owed more than he could ever pay, was, 
 without a crime, sent in his old age, to a distant imprison- 
 ment in a barbarous district. 
 
 James, who averred that he had rejected the alliance of 
 many powerful Popish princes for his daughter, from at- 
 tachment to the Protestant cause, discovered very different 
 sentiments respecting the marriage of his son. Dazzled by 
 the splendour and wealth of the Spanish monarchy, he eagerly 
 courted an alliance, and solicited the hand of one of the royal 
 family, for the heir apparent of the British crown. This 
 match, so hateful to both nations, was retarded by the diffi- 
 culties which arose from the difference of religion between 
 the parties, and the necessity of obtaining a dispensation from 
 tlie pope, before it could be celebrated. During the protract- 
 etl negotiations, James, in order to smooth the way as much 
 as possible, directed, that all the Popish priests and recusants 
 who were imprisoned, should be set at liberty, and the lord 
 keeper, in his letter to the judges, informed them, that it was 
 his majesty's pleasure, that they, upon receipt of his writ, 
 " make no niceness or difficulty in extending his princely fav- 
 our to all such Papists as they should find imprisoned in the 
 
376 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 jails of their circuits, for any recusancie whatsoever, or for 
 having or dispersing Popish books, or hearing Mass, or for 
 any misdemeanour which concerned rehgion only, and no 
 matter of state." The whole Scottish nation were filled with 
 apprehension at this proceeding of the king, and their fore- 
 bodings .were rendered still more distressing, by his having 
 apostatized from some doctrinal points, held by the Reformed 
 churches both of England and Scotland, and embraced the 
 opinions of Arminius, which the synod of Dort had con- 
 demned. 
 
 The doctrines of predestination and free will are irrecon- 
 cilable by any process of human reasoning, yet we know that 
 we are free agents, and dare not deny that God foresaw all 
 the consequences of man's creation, and that he has complete 
 control over them, without denying his attributes of omnisci- 
 ence and omnipresence ; but in pursuing these subjects, we 
 find that they involve an inquiry into the origin of moral evil, 
 and its introduction into the fair creation of God, an object 
 of investigation to which our limited powers are not adequate. 
 '^The Reformers, therefore, in whose creed the depravity of 
 human nature formed an essential article, feeling that they 
 were free agents, even when complying with this original bias, 
 but believino; at the same time, that no one event in their lives 
 happened without the foreknowledge of him who is acquainted 
 with all our thoughts, while yet afar off, or in opposition to 
 his power, without whose permission, a sparrow cannot fall to 
 the ground, preached the doctrines of distinguishing grace, 
 and particular election, but some, by the inaccurate manner 
 in which they enunciated their propositions, taught the doc- 
 trine of reprobation, or the fore-choosing of the majority of 
 mankind to eternal destruction. Arminius, startled at a con- 
 clusion which he thought made God delight in the destruction 
 of his creatures, denied the doctrine of absolute predestination, 
 and maintained, that a stale of reward or punishment was 
 pre-ordained for those whose voluntary conduct merited the 
 one, or deserved the other, but whose actions, although fore- 
 seen and permitted, had not been pre -determined by any ab- 
 solute decree. The guilt of original sin was either palliated 
 OP denied, and the eternal duration of punishment was repre- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 377 
 
 seated as inconsistent with the universal benevolence of the 
 Deity. 
 
 These opinions, considered by both the churches of the two 
 kingdoms as heretical, were imbibed by the king, and as he 
 considered the royal creed the standard of belief for the nation, 
 forgetting that by himself they had once been strenuously op- 
 posed, forbade them now to be preached against; and in a let- 
 ter to the bishops of England, commanded the preachers and 
 lecturers on Sundays and holydays, in the afternoons to teach 
 only the catechism, or take some text out of the creed, the Ten 
 Commandments, or the Lord's Prayer, and to abstain in their 
 sermons, from treating of the deep points of predestination, 
 election, reprobation, the universality, resistibility, or irre- 
 sistibility of grace. It was in vain that the king and the bish- 
 ops mocked the people, by asserting that this mandate was 
 intended to prevent divisions, while its evident tendency was 
 to stir up new and unnecessary dissensions in churches, al- 
 ready too much distracted. The prelates, whose teaching was 
 moulded after the fashion of the court, adopting without hesi- 
 tation the tenets of Arminius, and the ministers, who viewed 
 with suspicion whatever passed through the royal crucible, 
 adhering to their old confession of faith, the new opposition 
 in doctrine between the two parties, became no less irrecon- 
 cilable than the still l^nsettled dispute respecting rites and 
 ceremonies. 
 
 The pretext for releasing the Papists, was like all the 
 subterfuges of James, both futile and false. It was pretend- 
 ed that he was treating with the French king, for peace to 
 the Protestants in France, and with the king of Spain, about 
 withdrawing his troops from the Palatinate, and that his ten- 
 derness for brethren of the same faith abroad, and his desire 
 to procure an alleviation of their sufferings, prevented him 
 from dealing harshly with the Roman Catholics in Britain. 
 But his charity for the Protestants was of that questionable 
 kind, which is so very benevolent to aliens and foreigners, 
 that there remains nothing for home consumption. The non- 
 conforming ministers in Scotland, shared in none of the in- 
 dulgences granted to the Papists ; they continued to be im- 
 prisoned, fined, and in some instances persecuted, to all ap- 
 
 voT,. ni. 3 b 
 
378 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 pearance, merely from a love of persecution. George Johnston, 
 minister of Ancrum, in the seventy-third year of his age, 
 upwards of fifty of which he had spent in the ministry, was 
 summoned before the high commission court at Edinburgh, 
 for not complying with the articles of Perth, and threatened 
 with horning, in case of non-appearance. The excuse he sent 
 in was simple and pathetic. " If my age of seventy-three 
 years, and my infirmities, a swelling in both my legs, a con-^ 
 stant fever after travelling in the open air, with the other mis' 
 eries attendant on old age, which I submit to your lordships' 
 consideration; having, moreover, passed a jubilee of years in 
 the ministr}^, without depravation or suspension, may not hold 
 me excused from coming to Edinburgh, with manifest hazard 
 of my health and life, if these reasons, I say, cannot serve your 
 lordships, I take me to God's mercy, not being sensible of any 
 crime." He was, notwithstanding, deprived, and banished to 
 Annandale. 
 
 Such contradictory proceedings, naturally gave rise to 
 murmurs among the people, which became at length sufficient- 
 ly strong to reach the royal ear. James, in an imperious 
 style, directed the privy council of Scotland, to put upon their 
 trial, any person who had had the presumption to call his 
 conduct in question, and punish them with the utmost severity. 
 But scarcely had they received this injunction, when the news 
 of the prince's journey, [to Spain,] says Spotswood, "made all 
 good men amazed," and silenced for a while, the strong asser- 
 tions which had been so unblushingly repeated, respecting the 
 pious aversion his majesty entertained for any connexion with 
 the Papists. The king himself seems to have been aware of the 
 effect the intelligence would produce in Scotland, for he in- 
 stantly ordered a letter to be despatched by post, endorsed 
 " For life," commanding the chancellor to suppress, with the 
 utmost diligence, every report that might reach Scotland, but 
 the post was detained by some accident on the road, and the 
 news arriving by sea before the instructions came to hand, 
 were spread over the whole country, before any steps could be 
 taken to stop it. 
 
 The return of prince Charles from Spain, and the break- 
 ing up of the matrimonial treaty, gave great joy to the nation. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. Wi9 
 
 But it appeared to give fresh vigour to the proceedings of the 
 prelates, against the refractory lieges who would not yield to 
 them implicit obedience. 
 
 The Edinburgh churches had a practice of perhaps doubt- 
 ful utility. Some days before the communion, the council, 
 session, and citizens met in the church, and the ministers 
 withdrawing, the congregation were asked thrice, if they had 
 any thing to object to their doctrine or conversation. If any 
 objections were made, the accused minister was then called in, 
 and being informed of the charges, was desired to offer what 
 he had to say in vindication, and if nothing was stated, his ex- 
 emplary conduct, and edifying teaching were gratefully ac- 
 knowledged. In the month of March, 1624, at a meeting of 
 this kind, Mr. Forbes, one of the ministers, was accused of say- 
 ing that a coalition might be easily effected with the Papists, on 
 many of the conti'overted points, particularly that of justifica- 
 tion, which some of his hearers affirmed was in opposition to 
 what they had ever been taught; for their former preachers had 
 ever affirmed that there could be no agreement, more than 
 between light and darkness, but when called upon to explain 
 or vindicate his assertions, he said he would not deign to 
 come among them, and retired home in a passion. The 
 citizens then requested the advice of the other ministers how 
 to proceed, but they made common cause with Forbes, and 
 told them they had no power to judge of their doctrine. The 
 Bereans tried Paul's doctrine, cried some one in the meeting, 
 but no answer was returned. Kneeling at the sacrament was 
 then introduced, and the ministers were entreated to restore 
 the old fashion, but they objecting to the regularity of the 
 meeting, it was broken up, and never again was any similar 
 one convened. 
 
 Had the affair rested thus, there might have, perhaps, been 
 little to condemn in the conduct of the ministers, but, de- 
 termined upon vengeance, they incensed the king by their 
 representations, and procured instructions to be sent to the 
 privy council, for a select few of their body to examine and 
 bring to trial six of the principal citizens, for their behav- 
 iour upon that occasion. William Rigg, one of the baillies, 
 was among the number of those summoned. At his appear- 
 
380 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ance, he defended the meeting, as convened according to a 
 laudable custom, which had been observed by the church in 
 Edinburgh ever since the Reformation, which was thought 
 needful, and found profitable, in removing, before they par- 
 took of the holy communion, any misunderstanding which 
 might have arisen among the ministers, or among the people, 
 or between the ministers and the people, for this cause they 
 were publicly invited by the ministers themselves, to resort 
 to the east kirk ; he justified their conduct from the com- 
 mand of the apostle, not to believe every spirit, but to try the 
 spirits whether they be of God ; and contended for its neces- 
 sity, on account of the strange doctrines lately delivered from 
 the pulpit, so unlike what they had been accustomed to hear. 
 The others returned similar answers, and as there was no 
 existing law against an authorized custom, the council would 
 willingly have allowed the citizens to depart without farther 
 trouble, but the archbishop of St, Andrews suggested to the 
 chancellor, some interrogatories respecting their having desir- 
 ed the ministers to restore to them the old mode of admin- 
 istering the sacrament. They all confessed they had ; only 
 Rigg, who really had not said any thing upon the subject at 
 the meeting, confused by the teasing examination, acknow- 
 ledged that it was his sentiment, and he believed he did say so 
 to the minister, but afterward, upon better recollection, he 
 desired to amend his answers, and be allowed to prove that he 
 had not spoken about the communion, but this was refused, 
 and the minutes of the proceedings sent to the king for his in- 
 spection. The king, without delay, ordered the counsellors 
 who had presided at the examination, to deprive William 
 Rigg of his office, fine him in fifty thousand pounds, imprison 
 him in Blackness castle till the fine was paid, and afterward 
 banish him to Caithness. Three of the others were order- 
 ed to be sent to Edinburgh jail, during the royal pleasure, 
 and the remaining two to be confined in Elgin and Aberdeen, 
 The committee of the privy council, averse to this severity, 
 referred it to the judgment of the whole, who mitigated the 
 sentence against Mr. Rigg, and only ordered him to remain 
 at home, till they should hear again from his majesty. His 
 majesty was inexorable, and they were sent into ward; only 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 381 
 
 it would appear that the privy council, who began to be jeal- 
 ous of the usurpations the prelates were making upon their 
 jurisdiction, had evaded levying the fine on Rigg, the greater 
 part of which would have foiuid its way into the pockets of the 
 bishops.* The two, ordered to distant imprisonment, found 
 the council willing to hear their pleas for delay, till the death 
 of the kino; freed them from farther trouble. 
 
 The severities inflicted by the bishops, not only disgust- 
 ed the people with their order, their ceremonies and their 
 communion, but endeared to them the cause for which they 
 were suffering, and their pastors, who they believed, were 
 persecuted for conscience' sake. The ministers who were 
 deprived, refused to submit to the sentence of the high com- 
 mission for silencing them, as they considered the court il- 
 legal, and its proceedings unjust, continued to exercise their 
 calling, and preached in private houses to numerous congre- 
 gations, while the conforming clergy thundered out their 
 anathemas against schism and rebellion, or poured forth the 
 praises of peace and passive obedience, to the men in office, 
 the paupers of the parish, or empty benches. This was not 
 to be borne ; but the proclamation which forbade meeting in 
 private houses, for preaching, exhortation, or such religious 
 exercises, discovered at once the enmity of the prelates, and 
 the extent of the practice. "We have of late known," says 
 his majesty, " to our unspeakable grief, that a number of our 
 subjects, misled by the turbulent persuasions of restless min- 
 isters, either deprived of their functions, or confined for just 
 causes, or affecting hypocritically the glory of purity and zeal 
 above others, have casten off the obedience they owe to our 
 royal authority, and to their pastors, abstained to hear the 
 word preached, or the sacraments ministered in their own 
 parishes ; and in the end, numbers of them have assembled 
 in private houses in Edinburgh and other places, to hear 
 from intruding ministers, preachings, exhortations, prayers, 
 and all sorts of exercises at the very ordinary hours," " when 
 their own pastors were preaching in their parish kirks." Im- 
 mediately after, another was issued, commanding all the in- 
 
 * Calderwood, p. 806-10. Spotswood, p. 545. Hailes' Memorials, vol. i. 
 p. 147-151. 
 
382 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 habitants who were of age, to be present at the celebratioti 
 of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper on Christmas, and to 
 communicate kneeling, threatening the removal of the courts 
 of justice, in case of noncompliance. The king expected by 
 this menace, to produce conformity in the capital, and if 
 Edinburgh once yielded, the rest of the country would follow 
 the example. Such, however, was the spirit of the people, 
 that a majority of the burgesses declared, that rather than 
 comply, they would see the town in ashes ; but while the pre- 
 parations were making for carrying this purpose into effect, 
 the plague broke out, and the principal inhabitants flying 
 from the town, their resolution was not put to the test. The 
 observance was suspended till Easter, but before Easter ar- 
 rived, James was in that land where " the wicked cease from 
 troubling." 
 
 The marquis of Hamilton died early in ihe year 1625. 
 When his death was reported to James he was exceedingly 
 affected ; and feeling, perhaps, some symptoms of decay, he 
 is reported to have said : — " If the branches be thus cut down, 
 the stock cannot continue long." His saying proved prophet- 
 ical. In his later years he had become attached to the pleas- 
 ures of the table, and indulged too freely in potent libations 
 of sweet and spiced wines. He became, in consequence, gross 
 in his habit ; but the disease that carried him off was a tertian 
 ague, which seized him in the month of March. During his 
 illness he was miserably attended by the wretches who had 
 flattered him so profusely while in health ; even medical assist- 
 ance does not appear to have been regularly afforded, and 
 some empirical prescriptions, which in his impatience of con- 
 finement he had caused to be administered to him, operating 
 unfavourably, accelerated his end. His death was attributed 
 to poison, rather, perhaps, because Buckingham was believed 
 capable of any atrocity, than that there were any real grounds 
 for the suspicion.* He expired on the 23d, in the fifty-ninth 
 year of his age, having reigned twenty-two years and some 
 
 * Egelsham, one of the king's physicians, wrote a pamphlet to show that 
 the king was actually poisoned. — Guthrie, vol. ix. p. 137. And Buckingham 
 was afterward questioned in the house of commons, not directly about poi- 
 soning the king, but for applying remedies without the advice of the physicians. 
 
HISTORY OP SCOTLAND. 383 
 
 days over England, and been the ci-owned king of Scotland 
 almost from his cradle. His reign was disturbed by no foreign 
 warfare ; but almost the whole of it, after he assumed the direc- 
 tion, was employed in sowing the seeds of internal commotion. 
 Unfortunately the factions of his native kingdom raised him 
 prematurely to the throne, and his first favourites, v/ho were 
 dissolute and unprincipled, flattered his failings, which it would 
 have required the most rigid discipline to correct. From 
 ihem he most probably derived that complete and unblushing 
 disregard for common truth and common honesty, which 
 characterized almost all his measures whether public or private. 
 It is certain with them he learned the absurd and abominable 
 accomplishments of profane swearing and lascivious conversa- 
 tion, which banished decent manners from his court. His 
 first acts displayed his ingratitude to his best friends, and his 
 fond attachment to a handsome person and polished exterior 
 was more ardent and lasting than was seemly for manhood to 
 show to boys. He was profuse, but not liberal ; crafty, but 
 not wise ; mean, selfish, and vindictive. Though facile in 
 granting pardons tc) traitors who endangered the state, it 
 would be difficult to point out one instance of his having for- 
 given a personal offence ; and though lavish of his honours, it 
 would not be easy to find many virtuous men on whom they 
 were bestowed. He could speak of the advantages of trade, 
 and of the civilizing of his barbarous subjects; but he did 
 nothing for his native country ; and let not the spirit of the 
 English, and their growing prosperity, be imputed as virtues 
 to him, who neither liked the one, or promoted the other. 
 He was intolerant, dissembling, vain, and accessible to the 
 grossest flattery. His learning was pedantic, and his religion, 
 but for the mischief his polemics occasioned, might have been 
 safely pronounced a farce. His manners were coarse ; his 
 familiarity low and undignified.* In his person "he was of 
 
 • Buckingham begins all his letters to his sovereign, " Dear Dad and 
 Gossip," and proceeds in such strains as follow, after apologizing for four 
 unanswered letters : — " For so great a king to descend so low as to his humb- 
 lest slave and servant, to communicate himself in a style of such good fellow- 
 ship, with expressions of more cai'e than servants have of masters, than phy- 
 sicians liave of their patients — which hath largely appeared to me in sickness 
 
384 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 a middling stature, more corpulent through his clothes than 
 in his body, yet fat enough ; his clothes ever being made large 
 and easy, the doublets quilted for stiletto proof; * his breeches 
 in great plaits, and full stuffed. He was naturally of a timor- 
 ous disposition, which was the greatest reason of his quilted 
 doublets. His eyes large, ever rolling after any stranger who 
 came in his presence, insomuch as many for shame have left 
 the room, as being out of countenance. His beard was very 
 thin. His tongue too large for his mouth, which ever made 
 him speak full in the mouth, and made him drink very un- 
 comely, as if eating his drink, which came out into the cup 
 on each side of his mouth. His skin was as soft as taffata 
 sarsnet, which felt so because he never washed his hands, 
 only rubbed his finger ends with the wet end of a napkin 
 slightly. His legs were very weak, having had, as was 
 thought, some foul play in his youth, or rather before he was 
 born ; that he was not able to stand at seven years of age ; 
 that weakness made him ever leaning on other men's shoulders. 
 His walk was ever circular."-|- Few kings have lived less re- 
 spected, or died more generally unlamented. 
 
 Charles I. 
 
 Immediately on the death of his father, Charles despatched 
 a messenger to the privy council in Scotland, intimating to 
 them that all the officers of state and magistrates were to re- 
 tain their situations till his will should be farther known. A 
 general mourning for the late king was at the same time or- 
 dered, and the chapel and palace of Holyroodhouse were 
 hung with black. On the last day of March he was proclaim- 
 ed at the Cross of Edinburgh with the usual solemnities, and 
 next day the chief ministers of the crown set off for London, 
 to assist at the funeral of the late, and offer their congratula-i 
 
 and in health — of more tenderness than fathers have of children, of more 
 friendship than between equals, of more affection than between lovers of the 
 best kind, man and wife, what can I return !" — Hailes' Mem. vol. i. p. 129. 
 
 * He was terrified for the Catholics, who, he used to say, were expert 
 king-killers. It has been remarked, that he favoured them from the same 
 principle that Indians worship the devil. 
 
 f Balfour's MSS. quoted by Guthrie, vol. ix. p. 1 42. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 385 
 
 tions on his accession to the new king. During their absence 
 a number of depredations were committed in the western seas 
 by the restless, piratical Islanders ; but Archibald, lord Lorn, 
 having raised two thousand men to guard the country, while 
 two ships of war, under the baron of Kilsyth, scoured the 
 seas, they appear to have been speedily and effectually sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 The first twelve years after Charles came to the crown, so 
 important in England, were distinguished by few remarkable 
 events in the internal state of Scotland ; but unfortunately 
 these few were not such as to allay the ferment, or sooth the 
 discontents of the late reiffn. The first acts of a vouno; mon- 
 arch generally stamp a character upon his government, which 
 it is apt to retain, and if not absolutely noxious, are always 
 viewed in the most advantageous light ; but Charles was un- 
 happy in having excited the suspicions of the people, before he 
 came to the throne, by his romantic expedition to Spain, and 
 he corroborated them by his marriage v.'ith a princess of 
 France, the lovely and accomplished Heniietta Maria, whose 
 religion was in part the cause of her husband's misfortunes, 
 and those of their postei'ity ; nor was he discreet in at once 
 avowinof the extent to which he carried the obnoxious doctrines 
 of his father, respecting ecclesiastical conformity, and the king's 
 supremacy in the church. In England he was unpopular 
 from the first ; but some indistinct accounts of his piety and 
 moderation had reached Scotland, which induced the dissent- 
 ers from the articles of Perth to imagine that they would find 
 him more propitious than his father, and they deputed Mr. 
 Robert Scott, minister at Glasgow, to present their supplica- 
 tions for redress. The answer was unfavourable ; they found 
 the king resolved to maintain the church government his father 
 had established. Instead of affording relief, Chai'les wrote to 
 the primate to proceed in the good cause in which his father 
 had put him, and take care that all the bishops did the same ; 
 and lest any doubt might remain upon the subject, a procla- 
 mation was published, ordering all persons to be punished 
 according to law who dared to disturb his majesty's govern- 
 ment by circulating false reports, and endeavouring to per- 
 suade the lieges that he intended to make some alterations in 
 
 VOL. III. 3 c 
 
386 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the government of the church, of which he had not the most 
 distant thought. This was followed by a peremptory order to 
 the town council of Edinburgh, to elect only such magistrates 
 as paid obedience to the articles of Perth. 
 
 When Charles avowed the same principles, all the accumu- 
 lated grievances of his predecessor's misgovernment, which 
 in any case would have pressed heavy on him, became identi- 
 fied with his own mistakes, and the stubborn spirit of rising 
 independence, and jealous watchfulness, in the English house 
 of commons, which had disturbed the last years of the father, 
 very soon interrupted the tranquillity of the son. He became 
 involved in disputes with them in the very first session of his 
 first parliament, and their protracted contentions prevented 
 him for a time from urging his affairs in Scotland to an ex- 
 tremity ; but the revocation of unappropriated tithes and ben- 
 efices was one of those impolitic acts which fanned the embers 
 of discontent, and extended the flame beyond the limits to 
 which repugnance to ecclesiastical uniformity alone would? 
 pei'haps, have carried it. 
 
 All transactions which took place in Scotland during a 
 minority were liable to review when the king came of age, 
 and all grants of the crown lands might be legally resumed by 
 the prerogative, even although they had been afterward sanc- 
 tioned by parliament, as the royal domains were entailed upon 
 the crown, and were unalienable by any king without the 
 previous consent of parliament. James, from the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances in which he was placed, was constrained to make 
 a very sparing use of this prerogative ; but he had encouraged 
 the prelates to hope that he would exert it in their favour. 
 The commencement of a new reign was considered as a proper 
 season for carrying the pious design of the deceased monarch 
 into effect ,* and the earl of Nithsdale was sent down to hold a 
 convention of the estates, and procure their consent to the 
 resumption of all the tithes and church property which had 
 reverted to the crown at the reformation, or which had been 
 shared among the leading nobles during the two last reigns. 
 But though the nobles in general had made little resistance to 
 the re-introduction of ceremonies, they were not equally com- 
 plying with regard to the resumption of church property, to 
 
 35 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 387 
 
 which, from the length of time they had possessed it, they 
 considered they had an indisputable right. Every proposal 
 was rejectedj and a combination formed among the nobles to 
 resort to the old Scottish method of opposition, in case the 
 commissioner had pushed the question. Lord Belhaven, then 
 aged and blind, promised to make sure of one, and was, by 
 his own desire, placed next to the earl of Dumfries. With 
 one hand he laid hold on the earl, as if to support himself, in 
 the other he grasped a dirk, ready to plunge into his heart 
 upon the least commotion. Nithsdale, having either heard of 
 their meetings, or overawed by their appearance, and the 
 temper they displayed, did not lay before the convention the 
 most violent part of his instructions, and, without being able 
 to obtain any satisfactory arrangement, returned to court ; but 
 the intended act was published, and the nobles, warned of the 
 insecure tenure by which they held their acquisitions from the 
 church, were thrown into a state of irritation, which prepared 
 them to make one cause with the people in their opposition to 
 the prelates, for whose aggrandizement tliey were called upon 
 to make this sacrifice, and whose ambition already intruded 
 them both into the council and courts of justice. An ecclesi- 
 astical convention followed, which drew up an application to 
 the king for a legal and established provision to the ministers, 
 and they anticipated the accomplishment of their desires in 
 the recovery of the tithes. 
 
 Tithes, unknown in the New Testament, where no de- 
 terminate establishment for the maintenance of the ministry 
 is inculcated, and the support of the pastor depended on the 
 gratuitous offerings of his flock, were early introduced, after 
 primitive simplicity had given place to pontifical splendour. 
 The practice was founded upon the institutions of the Jews, 
 and the funds derived from them constituted a peculiar pro- 
 perty in law, distinct from the lands out of which they were 
 exacted. At the reformation, instead of being restored, as 
 in justice they ought to have been, to the proprietors of the 
 estates, when regular stipends formed, or were proposed to 
 form, the provision for the ministers, they were seized upon 
 by the crown, and bestowed upon the nobles, who levied 
 them with the greatest rigour, and often with circumstantey 
 
388 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of wanton oppression. By the law of Scotland the propri- 
 etors of the soil were prevented from removing the crop 
 from the fields till the tenth part had been carried away by 
 the titular ; * and this was frequently vexatiously delayed till 
 the corn, which might have been safely housed, was dam- 
 aged or destroyed. The lairds, or landholders, who suffered 
 by this oppression, were inclined to coincide in any measure 
 from which they expected relief, and joined the clergy in their 
 applications to the king for the resumption, or more equitable 
 distribution, of the tithes. It is not probable that the land- 
 holders would have found the prelates less rigorous exacters 
 than the nobles, but, when writhing under present oppression, 
 men are often induced to seek a change without very closely 
 examining the consequences. As it was, the coalition of these 
 two parties contributed additional strength to the crown, and 
 a commission was issued for a number of noblemen and gen- 
 tlemen to receive the surrender of impropriated tithes and 
 benefices, with powers to regulate any dubious points connect- 
 ed with this important business. At the same time prosecu- 
 tions were commenced ao;ainst those who refused to accede to 
 the proposals of the king. The nobles, after the result of a 
 iew trials had convinted them that individually they were un- 
 able to contend with the crown, reluctantly submitted to his 
 dictation, and surrendered the tiends at a valuation afnxed by 
 the commission, they to draw the annual rents till they were 
 redeemed by the crown. The landholders, howevez*, also 
 obtained the right of suing for a valuation or modus, and to 
 purchase the tithes of their own estates, unless when they 
 were appropriated to churchmen ; but the right was rendered 
 of little avail by their poverty, and they became dissatisfied 
 by the tantalizing view of a privilege advantageous only in 
 appearance.f 
 
 During the agitation of this delicate subject, it was natural- 
 ly to have been expected, that the bishops would have anx- 
 
 * So the proprietor of the tiends was called, 
 f Large Declaration, pp. 9, 10. Burnet's Hist. vol. i. pp. 23, 24. Me- 
 moirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 30. Laing's Hist. vol. iii. pp. 102-5. 
 Guthrie's Scot. vol. ix. pp. 149, 181. Cooke's Hist, of the Ch. of Scot. vol. 
 ii. p. 385. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 389 
 
 iously avoided stirring any new question, or increasing the 
 general unfriendly feelings of the country, by any unnecessary 
 show of Episcopal superiority ; but Laud, archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, who now governed the church, and disposed of all 
 preferments, had espoused the tenets of Arminius, and the 
 young Scottish clergy, who looked up to him as their patron, 
 adopted his creed, and inculcated doctrines which, by the 
 whole orthodox part of the nation, were deemed noxious, and 
 which the elder bishops considered it imprudent to agitate. 
 Their zeal for doctrinal, was equalled by their ardour for in- 
 troducing ceremonial, innovation, and they found their re- 
 ward in being promoted to the vacant benefices, a majority of 
 which were soon filled by rash, headstrong novices, unac- 
 quainted with the real state of the country, and without the 
 recommendations of either piety or learning. Disdaining to 
 mingle with the poor of their flocks, they aped a close associ- 
 ation with the higher classes ; but even with them, elated by 
 the dignity of their Episcopal office, and by the partiality with 
 ■which they were regarded by their sovereign, they assumed a 
 loftiness of demeanour which filled with indignation men 
 whose hereditary rank had been wont to command a superior 
 degree of respect, and whose claims had been allowed by the 
 first reformers, and their successors, who conscientiously paid 
 to their civil stations that honour which was due. 
 
 In the north of Scotland, the feuds of the chieftains were 
 accompanied with circumstances of atrocious revenge, and in 
 open defiance of all law. One instance will serve to illustrate 
 the state of anarchy in which the extremity of the kingdom 
 w^as involved. An accidental quarrel occurred between the 
 barons of Frendraught and Rothmay — both Gordons — in 
 which unfortunately, Rothmay, an accomplished gentleman, 
 fell, and several of the attendants on each side, were killed 
 or wounded. No legal investigation took place, but the mar- 
 quis of Huntly, and some mutual friends interfering, the 
 widow consented to accept fifty thousand merks, as a com- 
 position for the slaughter, which the chieftain caused to be 
 duly paid. Some time after, Frendraught, in some of his 
 excursions, was accompanied by a Robert Crichton of Cand- 
 lan, and James Lesly, son of Lesly of Pitcaple, when Lesly 
 
390 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 was sliot by Crichton in the arm. This Lesly's father re- 
 sented so highly, that hearing Frendraught was on a visit to 
 the marquis, he came, attended by thirty horse well ai'med, on 
 purpose to wreak his vengeance on him. The marquis pru- 
 dently, in the meanwhile, desired him to retire to his lady's 
 apartment, and himself endeavoured to appease Lesly, but 
 he departed unsatisfied, and the marquis detained Frendraught 
 till next morning, when he sent him home, accompanied by 
 his son, viscount Aboyne, and a guard, iest Lesly might be 
 lying in ambush on the road. In Aboyne's train, was John 
 Gordon, eldest son of the late Gordon of Rothmay. They 
 arrived at Frendraught place in safety, and Aboyne would 
 immediately have returned, but the baron would not hear ot 
 his departure, till he had recompensed his father's hospitality 
 and his convoy, by a feast. At night they had a magnificent 
 supper, and parted for their beds in high spirits. The stran- 
 gers were conducted to an old tower, where the viscount 
 Aboyne, with his valet and page, had the first or ground 
 chamber, immediately over the vault, with which there was 
 a communication by a circular aperture, immediately under 
 Aboyne's bed. The heir of Rothmay, with his body servant, 
 occupied the one immediately above. About midnight, the 
 tower was set on fire, and in an instant, enveloped in flames, 
 and Aboyne, with the baron of Rothmay and other four, 
 perished in the flames, while Frendraught and his lady looked 
 on unconcernedly, from a detached part of the castle, without 
 offering to render the smallest assistance, although with very 
 little exertion, the whole might have been saved from that 
 dreadful fate. Aboyne could have saved himself, but his 
 humanity would not suffer him to escape alone ; he flew to 
 Rothmay's room to awake him, and while in the act, the 
 timber passage fell in, and precluded all retreat by the stair. 
 The two youths then ran both to the window, half naked, 
 crying out in agony. Help ! Help ! for Godsake ! till per- 
 ceiving that they made no impression on their hardhearted 
 host and hostess, they prayed aloud that God would pardon 
 their sins, then clasping themselves in each other's arms, sub- 
 mitted with resignation to their dreadful fate. 
 
 Strong suspicions arising, that the fire had not happened ac- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 391 
 
 cidentally, Huntly prepared to take a terrible revenge for his 
 son's death, when Frendraught seized one Meldrum, a relation 
 of Lesly's — who had been in his service, but quarrelled with 
 him because he could obtain no wages — carried him prisoner 
 to Edinburgh, where he was tried, and executed as an incen- 
 diary, although the crime was not proved against him, and 
 he died declaring his innocence. A young woman, daughter 
 of the laird of Colpnay, and some other persons, were tor- 
 tured, but confessed nothing, and the privy council issued a 
 commission to some of the noblemen and gentlemen of the 
 county, to examine into the circumstances of the case, who, 
 after a minute investigation, reported, that the fire must have 
 been kindled by design, and not accidentally. This report 
 having confirmed all previous suspicions respecting Fren- 
 di-aught, the vassals of Huntly and Rothmay uniting, ravaged 
 his estates, hanged one of his tenants, and carried off and 
 sold publicly, what they could not destroy. Frendraught 
 was forced to flee to Edinburgh, where he laid his complaints 
 before the privy council, who then issued an order for Hunt- 
 ly's appearance, with twelve barons, twelve gentlemen, and 
 twelve ministers, to give evidence respecting the outrages. 
 The marquis excused himself on account of his age, but the 
 council refused to listen to this plea, outlawed him for non- 
 appeai'ance, and imprisoned such of his friends as did appear. 
 He, howevei^, afterward attended when the sentence of out- 
 lawry was reversed, and was obliged to enter into a bond to 
 keep the peace himself, and use his utmost diligence to bring 
 the offenders to justice. Before he left Edinburgh, however, 
 he was accused by captain Adam Gordon, one of the princi- 
 pal offenders, in order to screen himself, as the instigator and 
 promoter of all the disorders. On this charge he was com- 
 mitted, along with two of the principal gentlemen of his 
 name, close prisoners to the castle. His confinement was 
 short, an order soon came from court for his release, but he 
 did not long survive his ill treatment. He died at Dundee, 
 on his journey home, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. 
 He was turbulent in his youth, and prodigal in his expendi- 
 ture, but in his old age he became more sober, and rather 
 penurious in his habits, and for several years, till involved 
 
392 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 with Frendraught, was desirous to enjoy a little tranquillity, 
 as best suited his years. He had repeatedly changed his 
 profession, but died a firm adherent to the Roman Catholic 
 religion. 
 
 While affairs were hastening fast to confusion at home, the 
 enterprising warlike spirit of the natives, was acquiring hon- 
 our to their country abroad, and a number of experienced 
 officers were forming in foreign service, whose practical 
 knowledge was afterward employed in the civil wars of their 
 own country. Lord Reay had levied in the north a regi- 
 ment — Mackay's — for the king of Denmark, which, after 
 three years' service against the emperor, received an honour- 
 able discharge, and enlisted under the banners of Gustavus 
 Adolphus, king of Sweden, who had already a number of 
 Scottish officers in his army. Cx'owds of their countrymen 
 followed, and were formed into a national brigade. Their 
 numbers were computed at not less than ten thousand men, 
 whose valour materially contributed to the splendid success 
 of the Swedish monarch.* Gustavus, when about to invade 
 Germany, f was desirous of obtaining the aid of the British 
 monai'ch, and Charles, who was anxious for the restoration 
 of the Palatinate, engaged to support him with six thousand 
 men, on condition that this object were attempted, but em- 
 barrassed by a negotiation with the emperor, who promised 
 to procure for the elector his patrimony peaceably, he could 
 not honourably assist Gustavus in an open manner. To re- 
 lieve himself from this dilemma, he suffered the marquis of 
 Hamilton, as if animated by a wish to promote the cause of 
 freedom, and a high minded desire for honourable fame, to 
 conclude in his own name, a treaty with Gustavus, for fur- 
 nishing the stipulated number of auxiliaries. When the 
 expedition was about to embark, it was detained by an ac- 
 cusation being brought against the marquis, by lord Ochil- 
 tree, :j: — who inherited his father's hatred against the house of 
 Hamilton. He asserted, that colonel Ramsay, who had been 
 
 * Moni'o's Expedition, f Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 6. 
 X He was son of captain James Stuart, the infamous temporary earl of 
 Arran. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 393 
 
 employed in the negotiations with Gustavus, had told lord 
 Reay, that the levies were intended to be employed not in 
 Germany, but in raising himself to the crown of Scotland. 
 This ridiculous story was carried immediately to the kino-. 
 He mentioned it to Hamilton the first time he appeared at 
 court, who, indignant at the malicious slander, demanded to 
 be put upon trial, but the king, with the strongest expressions 
 of affection, would not allow it, lest it should seem to imply 
 that he thought any vindication necessary. The marquis, 
 however, to clear himself from the imputation, insisted, that 
 Ochiltree should be called upon to substantiate his charge. 
 When questioned, all he could allege, was the hearsay, which 
 Kamsay denied. Having charged the marquis with treason, 
 and having failed to prove it, he was sent down to Scotland, 
 and tried for leasing-making. The conviction involved a 
 capital punishment, but death was commuted into the scarcely 
 less severe sentence of perpetual imprisonment in Blackness 
 castle, where he lay twenty years, till Cromwell relieved him. 
 Reay and Ramsay, who mutually accused each other, were 
 allowed the absurd award of a judicial combat, and had 
 mounted a stage in Toth ill-fields, Westminster, richly dressed, 
 to decide it, when the king forbade the encounter. 
 
 Every obstruction being now removed, on the 16th of July, 
 the expedition set sail from Yarmouth roads, and on the 4th 
 of August, the troops were disembarked on the banks of the 
 Oder. They mustered above six thousand able men, but 
 report swelled their numbers to twenty thousand, a fortunate 
 incident, that decided the wavering politics of the elector of 
 Saxony, who immediately joined the Swedes, encouraged the 
 other Protestant princes, and constrained Tilly, the imperial 
 general, to weaken his army, by re-enforcing his garrisons. 
 These circumstances greatly contributed to the decisive vic- 
 tory the Swedes obtained at Leipsic, nor was the original 
 Scottish brigade without their share in the honours of the 
 field, their regiments having on this occasion first introduced 
 platoon firing, to the terror and astonishment of the Austrians. 
 A few days before this important engagement, which laid the 
 r'hole German empire open to the victor, Gustavus had an 
 mterview with the marquis of Hamilton, at Werben on the 
 
 VOL. irr. 3d 
 
394 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Elbe, where a plan of co-operation was agreed upon, by which 
 the British forces were placed at Custrin, Fr^inkfort, and 
 Lansberg, to secure a retreat in case of a I'everse. 
 
 After the battle of Leipsic, the marquis advanced towards 
 Silesia, and took Guben, a frontier town, by surprise, but 
 while marching upon Glogau, with every prospect of reducing 
 it, he was recalled by Gustavus, to Custrin, where he received 
 orders to reduce Magdeburgh, which had been taken by 
 Tilly some months before, when upwards of thirty-five thou- 
 sand of the inhabitants were massacred. The marquis left 
 with reluctance a plentiful country, to march into a district 
 exhausted by two armies, and wasted with the plague ; here 
 his chagrin was still more increased, when, upon the ad- 
 vance of a force to relieve Magdeburgh, and he desired to 
 engage them, Bannier produced a commission from the king 
 of Sweden, to command all the Dutch and German forces, 
 and not hazard a battle. In compliance, he retreated to 
 Saltsa, where he took up a sti'ong position, and refused to 
 retreat farther. Pappenheim, who commanded the enemy, 
 succeeded in getting into Magdeburgh, but finding it unten- 
 able, he drew off the garrison, with the most valuable effects, 
 in the face of a superior force.* After his departure, Ham- 
 ilton, with the remains of this expedition, took possession of 
 the fortress, but his little army was now reduced by disease, 
 to two regiments, which were incorporated into the duke of 
 Weimar's, and he remained as a volunteer with the Swedish 
 army, waiting the instructions of the king. Charles now solicit- 
 ed the restoration of the elector palatine, but Gustavus, elated 
 with success, began to entertain the idea of forming an inde- 
 pendent kingdom in Germany, and declined giving up his 
 rightful inheritance to the elector, except upon such condi- 
 tions, as would have rendered it a subordinate province, on 
 which the marquis of Hamilton was recalled in disgust, and 
 the treaty with Sweden broken off. The Swedish king soon 
 after fell in the arms of victory, but the veteran Scots re- 
 mained in the service, till recalled by the voice of their 
 country, on the rupture with her king. 
 
 • Burnet's Memoirs, p. 20 
 55 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 395 
 
 Charles, who had now reigned nearly ten years, had often 
 expressed a desire to see the kingdom of his fathers. He 
 had delayed it first at the request of his Scottish counsellors, 
 who, perhaps, recollecting the expense of the former tour^ 
 were afraid of a second royal visitation, and afterward, the 
 perturbed state of England had so completely engaged his 
 attention, that Scotland in some measure enjoyed the advan- 
 tage, which their neighbours appreciated and envied. Pro- 
 cul a niimme^ procul afulmine^ " far from a court, safe from 
 its proclamations." This comparative tranquillity was now 
 to be disturbed. The king had obtained a deceitful calm, by 
 checking the expression, but not removing the cause of pop- 
 ular dissatisfaction in tiie south. In the north, the faithless- 
 ness, treachery, venality, injustice, and tyranny of the court 
 party, had rendered the whole country suspicious and irrita- 
 ble, but they were calm, and the political and ecclesiastical 
 aspirants told the king, that the sullen breathless gloom that 
 portended the hurricane, was the tranquil face of loyal ap- 
 probation. How often are such deceits repeated, and how 
 often believed? On the Itth of May he left his capital. His 
 journey through England was magnificent, his train splendid.* 
 He remained at Berwick four days, and his march to Edin- 
 burgh, was not less pompous than his previous progress. At 
 Seton he was received by the earl of Winton, and at Dalkeith 
 
 * According to Balfour's MSS. quoted by Guthrie, vol. ix. p. 206. it con- 
 sisted of " thirteen noblemen, Mr. vice chamberlain, secretary of state, master 
 of the prince's purse, two bishops, a clerk of the closet, two gentlemen ushers 
 of the prince's chamber, three gentlemen ushers, quarter waiters, six grooms 
 of his bedchamber, two cupbearers, two carvers, two sewers, two esquires of 
 the body, three grooms of the privy chamber, two sergeants at arms, two sewers 
 of the chamber, one master of request, six chaplains, two physicians, two 
 surgeons, one apothecary, one barber, one groom porter, three for his robes, 
 four for the wardrobe, seven pages of the bedchamber, three pages of the 
 presence, sixty-one yeomen of the guard, two cross bows, two grooms of the 
 chamber, nine messengers, six trumpeters, eight cooks, forty-two skewerers, 
 and turn-broaches, seventeen musicians, subdean of his majesty's chapel, four 
 vestrvmen, the knight, harbinger, and master comptroller." His English at- 
 tendants were calculated at above five hundred, a number the Scottish nobles 
 viewed with dismay, but the most ominous visitant was Laud, archbishop of 
 Canterbury, who was to regulate the ceremonial devotions of the Scottish 
 church. 
 
396 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 by the eaii of Morton, who entertained him with a sumptuous 
 splendour, that emulated the banquets of the richest nobles 
 of the sister kingdom. On Saturday the 15th of June, he 
 set out from Dalkeith for Edinburgh, and made his solemn 
 entry by the West Port. The show and pageantry exceeded 
 whatever had been previously displayed in the Scottish cap- 
 ital, and such was the fame of the preparations, that the town 
 was crowded with strangers from the continent, who came to 
 be spectators of the splendid spectacle.* Next day, he heard 
 sermon from the bishop of Dunblane, in the chapel royal, 
 which had been newly fitted up for the visit, with two sets of 
 bells, and a number of other additional ornaments. 
 
 * Previously to his entering the city, a long congratulatory speech was made 
 to him by Drummond of Hawthornden, who seems to have been master of 
 ceremonies on the occasion, and who degraded the dignity of genius, by pros- 
 tituting his talents to the purposes of adulation. The triumph has gone by 
 with the shadowy dream that it decorated, but the stain remains, to deterior- 
 ate from the moral grandeur of one of our sweetest early poets. As the king 
 approached the West Port on the south side^ there was a beautifully painted 
 view of the city of Edinburgh, and on withdrawing a veil, the nymph Edina, 
 attended by lovely maidens, appeared, and presented the keys of the city to 
 his majesty. On entering the gates, he was received by the magistrates, in 
 theu' robes of red velvet, well furred, and the town council in black gowns, 
 faced with velvet. The provost, in name of the good town, made a short 
 speech, and presented his majesty with a bason of pure gold, estimated at five 
 thousand merks, into which was shaken, out of an embroidered purse, a thou- 
 sand golden double angels. Spalding adds, " the king looked gladly upon the 
 speech and gift both, but the marquis of Hamilton, master of his maj. horse, 
 meddled with the gift, as due to him in virtue of his of&ce." At the foot of 
 the Bow, he was met by a guard of honour, consisting of two hundred and 
 sixty young citizens, dressed in white sattin doublets, black velvet breeches, 
 and white silk stockings, bearing gilded partizans, and other arms. At the 
 top was erected a triumphal arch, and here he was addressed by a female, 
 dressed in the ancient garb, and representing the figure of Caledonia. At the 
 west end of the Tolbooth, stood another triumphal arch, with a representation 
 of all the Scottish monarchs, from Fergus to Charles. On the south side of 
 the High Street, near the Cross, a large artificial mount was raised, represent- 
 ing Parnassus, covered with trees, shrubs, and flowers. In the vale between 
 the biforked summit, rose a pyramid, with a glazeral [glistering] fountain on 
 the top, whence issued a stream of pure water, representing Hippocerne. In 
 the cavity of the mount sat two bands of vocal and instrumental music, with 
 an organ to complete the concert ; who, at the king's approach, performed an 
 excellent piece of music, called Caledonia, composed on that occasion in the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 397 
 
 On Tuesday he was inaugurated, but the effect of the au- 
 gust ceremony was destroyed by the foolish introduction of 
 robes and ceremonies, which the people abhorred as imita- 
 tions of Romish superstition. The bishops were arrayed in 
 blue silk embroidered robes that reached to the feet, over 
 which were white rochets, with lawn sleeves, and loops of 
 gold; and the archbishop of Glasgow, who had refused to 
 exhibit himself in the theatrical apparel allotted him, was 
 rudely, and with the most indecent violence, pulled from his 
 seat by orders of Laud. Spotswood, archbishop of St. An- 
 drews, placed the crown on the king's head, and the bishop 
 of Moray, who was made lord almoner, threw handfuls of 
 silver coronation medals among the spectators in the chapel. 
 An object of particulai', and not pleasant remark, was the 
 introduction of an altar, on which were placed two books, 
 " at least something resembling clasped books, called blind 
 books," * with two chandeliers, and two unlighted wax tapers, 
 and an empty silver bason. At the back of the altar, which 
 was covered with tapestry, there was a rich tapestry, on 
 which a crucifix was embroidered, and the officiating bishops, 
 as they passed it, were observed to " bow the knee and beck" 
 [make obeisance] to the symbol of idolatry.f The corona- 
 tion sermon, which was preached by Laud, consisted of a 
 furious declamation in favour of a farther conformity between 
 the churches of Scotland and England in their rites and dis« 
 cipline. 
 
 Parliament met on the day after the coronation,! and to 
 
 most elegant manner, by the best masters. On the northern side sat Apollo, 
 and nine boys clad like nymphs. When the music ceased, Apollo addressed 
 the king, and in the conclusion, gave him a volume of panegyrics, composed 
 by the members of the college upon the occasion. A closing speech was de. 
 livered at the Netherbow Port, after which the king rode down to Holyrood- 
 house. 
 
 This entry, with the present and banquet, cost the town of Edinburgh forty- 
 one thousand, four hundred, and eighty-nine pounds Scottish money. Row's 
 MSS. Maitland's Hist, of Edinburgh. 
 
 * Spalding's Troubles in Scotland, vol. i. p. 25. f lb. 
 
 J " On the 20th of June the haill estates came down to him, who came 
 frae the abbey in order, and was the fii'st day of the riding of the parliament 
 In the first rank rode the commissioners of burfrhs, ilk ane in their own 
 
398 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 render it still more obsequious than ever, a new manoeuvre 
 was practised in electing the. lords of the articles. The 
 chancellor named the prelates, and they chose the nobles, 
 and both concurred in selecting the members from the third 
 estate. In their money vote they granted the largest supply 
 ever given to any Scottish monarch — a land tax, consisting 
 of thirty shillings, amounting to about four hundred thousand 
 pounds Scottish, and the sixteenth penny of all annual rents 
 or interest of money. The rate of interest was also reduced 
 from ten to eight per cent., and the two per cent, deducted 
 from the creditor was given to the crown. This act passed 
 without opposition ; not so the next. Soon after .Tames had 
 ascended the English throne, in 1606, an act was passed de- 
 claratory of the extent of the royal prerogative, and three 
 years after, as a personal favour to that king, but never in- 
 tended as a precedent, another, in which was conceded to 
 him the power of prescribing the robes of judges, and the 
 habits of churchmen. These two acts the lords of the articles 
 embodied in one, together with a general ratification antl 
 
 places, well clad in cloaks, having on their horses black velvet foot mantles ; 
 secondly, the commissioners for barons followed them ; thirdly, the lords of 
 the spirituality [lords of erections] followed them ; fourthly, the bishops, who 
 rode altogether, except the bishop of Aberdeen, who was lying sick at Aber- 
 deen, and the bishop of Murray, who, as Elymosinar, rode beside the bishop 
 of London, somewhat nearer the king ; fifthly, followed the temporal lords ; 
 sixthly, followed the viscounts ; seventhly, the earls followed them ; eighthly, 
 the earl of Buchan carrying the sword, and the earl of Rothes the sceptre ; 
 ninthly, the marquis of Douglas caiTying the crown, having on his right the 
 duke of Lennox, and on his left the marquis of Hamilton ; following them 
 came his majesty, immediately after the marquis of Douglas, riding upon a 
 chesnut coloured horse, having on his head a fair bunch of feathers, with a 
 foot-mantle of purple velvet, as his robe royal was, and none rode without 
 their foot-mantles, and the nobles all in red scarlet furred robes, as their use 
 to ride in parliament is ; but his majesty made choice to ride in king James 
 the fourth's robe-royal, whilk was of purple velvet, i-ichly furred, and laced 
 with gold hanging over the horse tail a great deal, whilk was carried up 
 from the earth by five grooms of honour, ilk ane after ither all the way as be 
 rode to his highness lighting ; he had also on his head a hat, and ane rod in 
 his hand. The heraulds, pursuivants, macers, and trumpeters, followed his 
 majesty in silence. In this order his majesty came up frae the abbey, up the 
 High Street, and at the Netherbow the provost of Edinburgh came and salut-- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 399 
 
 confirmation of all the statutes in favour of the liberty and 
 freedom of the true kirk, of God, and religion, as it was then 
 presently professed. The parliament, who would not have 
 hesitated in confirming the royal prerogative in its utmost 
 extent, startled at the idea of conferring on his majesty the 
 power of regulating the ecclesiastical vestments, dreading, 
 from the specimen they had seen at the coronation, that the 
 embroidered trappings of Rome would soon be introduced. 
 When the act was read, lord Melville, an aged nobleman, 
 exclaimed : — " I have sworn with your father, and the whole 
 kintrdom, to the confession of faith, in which the innovations 
 intended by these articles were abjured." * Charles felt the 
 irresistible force of the appeal, but he had not the virtue to 
 recede ; he paused for a moment and retired, and on his re- 
 turn, to avoid any similar interruption, ordered the members 
 to vote, and not to reason. The earl of Rothes was the lead- 
 er of the opposition ; he proposed, as there were so many 
 who scrupled about the clerical habits, that the two acts 
 
 ed the king, and still attended him while [until] he lighted. The causey was 
 rallied frae the Netherbow to the stinking style with stakes of timber, dung in 
 the end on both sides, yet so that people standing without the samea might 
 see well enough, and that none might hinder the king's passage. There was 
 within the rails a strong guard of trainsmen with pikes, partisans, and musk- 
 ets, and withal the king's own English foot guai'd was still about his person. 
 Now his majesty with the rest lighted at the said stinking style, where the 
 earl of Errol, as constable of Scotland, with all humility received him, and 
 conveyed him through his guard to the outer door of the high tolbooth, and 
 the earl of Marishall as marischall of Scotland, likewise received him, and 
 conveyed him to his tribunal through the guard standing within the door, 
 and set the king down. After his majesty all the rest in order followed ; the 
 mareschall, the prelates, and nobles, ranked after their own degree ; then the 
 earl of Errol sat down in a chair, and he in another, side for side, at a four 
 nooked taffil, set about the foreface of the parliament, and covered with green 
 cloth. The parliament about eleven was fenced ; thereafter the lords of the 
 articles began to be choose." " How soon they were chosen the parliament 
 rose. About two in the afternoon his majesty went to horse, rode to the 
 abbey, having the earl of Errol, as constable of Scotland, on his right hand, 
 and the earl of Mareschall as mareschall thereof, on his left hand, and car- 
 rying a golden rod in his own hand ; and so the haill estates in good order 
 rode to the abbey." — Spalding, vol. i. pp. 23, 24. 
 
 * Laing, vol. iii. p. 111. Row, p. 218. 
 
400 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 should be disjoined ; but the king would hsten to no proposi- 
 tion, and insisted that both or neither should be rejected ; 
 and pulling a list from his pocket, he exclaimed : — " I have 
 your names here, and I shall know to-day who will, and who 
 will not, do me service." This tyrannical declaration was 
 succeeded by an action more criminal and base. The articles 
 were rejected by a majority, fifteen peers, and forty-four com- 
 missioners, voting against them ; and in the minority, it was 
 alleged, there were several noblemen who had voted twice, 
 first as officers of state, and then as peers of parliament. * 
 Sir John Hay of Landes, the clerk register, however, report- 
 ed that it was carried in the affirmative, Rothes immediately 
 rose and contradicted this, asserting, that the negatives were 
 the majority. The king, who held the list in his hand, mark- 
 ed by himself, and who must have been conscious of the state 
 of the vote, was afraid of a scrutiny, which any honest man 
 in his situation would have courted, if the question had car- 
 ried, and not shunned, even although it had been doubtful, 
 intei*posed, and declared that the report of the clerk register 
 must be decisive, unless Rothes chose to appear at the bar of 
 that house, and accuse him of vitiating the parliamentary 
 record, which was a criminal offence, and which, if he failed 
 to prove, he was liable himself to a capital punishment. 
 Rothes declined the perilous office, and the articles were rati- 
 fied by the king, as the deed of parliament. 
 
 The gratulations with which the king had been received 
 at his arrival, were now chaoged into low, deep expressions 
 of disgust ; and the appearance of the public was so much 
 altered, that it attracted his attention, and drew from Leslie, 
 bishop of the Isles, the unintended, well known prediction, 
 that " the behaviour of the Scots was like that of the Jews, 
 who one day saluted the Lord's Anointed with hosannahs, 
 and the next cried out, crucify him." The ministers, who 
 adhered to the Presbyterian form, and who lamented the de- 
 solation of the church, and the total disuse of her high courts, 
 had, previously to the king's coming to Scotland, resolved to 
 present their petitions to parliament, and had drawn up a 
 
 * Crawford, sect. ix. p. 24. 
 
HISTORY <)F SCOTLAND. 401 
 
 paper, entitled, " Grievances and Petitions concerning the 
 disordered state of the Reformed Church within the realm of 
 Scotland." These consisted in a disregard and violation of 
 every agreement which had been entered into between the 
 sovereign and the church, and of every act of parliament 
 which had been made in her favour. Ministers had been 
 admitted to vote absolutely in parliament, although his late 
 majesty in person was present at an assembly which enacted, 
 they should only vote in parliament in consonance with their 
 instructions, and be accountable for their conduct. The 
 resolutions of the general assembly held at Glasgow, 1610, 
 had been vitiated under the name of explanation by the act 
 of parliament, 1612, which removed the bishops' conduct 
 and conversation from the inspection of the general assembly, 
 and gave them the collation of benefices, and the power of 
 disponing of those fallen into their hands, jure devoluto. The 
 holding of general assemblies, which by law ought to have 
 been called at least once a year, had been totally discontinued. 
 Since the reformation, the observation of festival days, pri- 
 vate baptism, private communion. Episcopal confirmation, 
 and kneeling at the sacrament, had been rejected, but were 
 now arbitrarily imposed, although the tenor of the act of the 
 Perth assembly not only contained no injunction to that ef- 
 fect, but professed that none should be pressed with obedience 
 to that act. Oaths were administered to ministers at their 
 admission or ordination, which the church had not warranted, 
 and that notwithstanding there be constitutions of the kirk, 
 and laws of the country, for censuring ministers before the 
 ordinary ecclesiastical judicatories ; yet, contrary to that or- 
 der, ministers are silenced, suspended, and deprived, and 
 that for matters merely ecclesiastical, before other judicatories 
 which are not established by the authority or order of the 
 country and kirk. The method prescribed by proclamation 
 for presenting all such papers was, to address them to the 
 clerk register, whose duty it was to lay them before the king 
 and the estates. Thomas Hogg, who had been lately deposed 
 by the high commission from his ministry at Dysart, was 
 pitched upon to carry the instrument to the clerk register. 
 This officer — Sir John Hay — is characterized, by Sir .Tamest 
 
 VOL. III. 3 E 
 
402 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Balfour, as a sworn enemy to religion, and a slave to the 
 bishops, and his conduct on this occasion agreed with his 
 character. He was mightily offended with the presumption 
 of the ministers, and violently urged Mr. Hogg to withdraw 
 the paper ; and when he would not comply, threatened the 
 notary, who had dared to exercise his office, in putting the 
 grievances into legal shape. Thus rebutted by Sir John, he 
 applied to several of the nobility in Edinburgh, but, to en- 
 sure its being presented, went to Dalkeith, the night before 
 the king entered his ancient capital, and delivered it to his 
 majesty. Charles received it coldly, read it with an unmoved 
 countenance, and took no further notice of it. The earl of 
 Morton, however, came to Mr. Hogg some short time after, 
 and told him he wished the petitioners had chosen some other 
 part than his house for presenting their supplication. Griev- 
 ed and hurt at the manner in which their complaints had 
 been treated, they sedulously waited upon the members of 
 parliament, carried to them all the information they could 
 collect respecting the intended innovations, and they found, 
 in a great number of them, very ready auditors. " For, be- 
 sides that the generality of the nobility," says bishop Guthrie, 
 " were malecontented, there were observed to be avowed 
 owners of their interest ; in Fyfe, the earl of Rothes, and 
 lord Lindsay; in Lothian, the ear] of Lothian, and lord Bal- 
 merino; and in the west, the earls of Cassillis and Eglinton, 
 and Lord Louden." 
 
 After the rising of parliament, the king's conduct began 
 to be discussed, and very general feelings of indignation were 
 excited by the manner in which he had overawed its pro- 
 ceedings. Even the nobles who had voted in the majority 
 felt that their independence was at stake, while those whose 
 opposition the king had publicly marked were apprehensive 
 of the effects of the royal displeasure. The prelates repre- 
 sented them as the authors of sedition in the state, and schism 
 in the church, and they were studiously excluded from any 
 mark of his majesty's favour. They were not honoured with 
 any of the titles he so profusely bestowed * while in Scotland, 
 
 * When the king was in Scotland he clubbed fifty-four knights on various 
 
 .55 I 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 403 
 
 and in his short tour through part of the country, he affront- 
 ed them by his disdainful treatment, in a manner which 
 they were not likely to forget, and which he probably after- 
 ward remembered. He had gone to Linlithgow, Stirling, &c. 
 and was proceeding to visit the abbey of Dunfermline, where 
 he was born, when the earl of Rothes, as sheriff of Fife, and 
 lord Lindsay, as baillie of regality of St. Andrews, collected 
 their friends, and a number of the gentlemen of Fife, to the 
 number of about two thousand horsemen, in their best equi- 
 page, and drew up on the border of the shire, in the way 
 where his majesty was to have passed, in order to have wel- 
 comed him to their county ; but although he had graciously 
 accepted of similar compliments from other counties, he aL 
 lowed these two lords, with their followers, to remain wait- 
 ing for hours, but avoided them by contemptuously taking a 
 by-road. On his return he very narrowly escaped being lost 
 in the Frith of Forth ; a sudden squall overtook the party 
 when about mid passage, upset the boat which carried his 
 plate, and he with difficulty reached a ship of war lying in the 
 roads, that brought him safely to Leith. 
 
 These actions of the king excited hatred ; the following was 
 viewed by Presbyterians with contempt. On the 4th of June, 
 St. John the Baptist's day, he went in great state to the chapel 
 royal, and after making a solemn offering at the altar, a hun- 
 dred persons were presented to him, all of whom he touched 
 for the king's evil, putting about each of their necks a piece 
 of gold, coined for the purpose, hung at a white silk ribbon. 
 At length, after a visit which had satisfied no party but the 
 prelates, the king and the Scots parted, mutually displeased 
 with each other. On the 18th of July he set out for Berwick 
 with his retinue, which he left there, while he posted forward 
 to Greenwich, accompanied only by forty attendants, to visit 
 the queen, who had just been delivered of her second son, the 
 unfortunate James VII. of Scotland. 
 
 The king, after his departure, erected Edinburgh, which 
 had previously formed part of the see of St. Andrews, into a 
 separate bishopric, and nominated Mr. William Forbes, one 
 
 occasions, and to honour his coronation, created one marquis, ten earls^ two 
 viscounts, and eight lords. 
 
404 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of the ministers of Aberdeen, as bishop. He was accordingly 
 elected, py^o forma, by a chapter, and upon the 28th January 
 was solemnly consecrated in the chapel royal, in presence of 
 two archbishops, and five other bishops. St. Giles upon this 
 occasion was restored anew to its cathedral amplitude, the 
 wall which divided the little from the high church being re- 
 moved. He enjoyed his dignity only about two months and 
 a half, and was succeeded by Mr. David Lindsay, bishop of 
 Buchan. 
 
 About the time of Charles leaving Scotland, Abbot, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, died, and Laud, for his zeal, was im- 
 mediately installed primate of England. He had behaved, 
 while in Scotland, with a forward haughtiness, which had 
 given great offence, and his zeal for the introduction of the 
 ceremonies and the doctx'ine of Arminianism, was considered 
 as a strong symptom of his attachment to Popery. Two anec- 
 dotes were currently reported of him, which were supposed 
 to support this unfavourable view of his chai'acter. When he 
 was at Perth with his majesty, the magistrates, as a mark of 
 respect, presented him with the freedom of the bui'gh, and, as 
 was customary, tendered him the oath of adherence to the 
 Protestant religion. " It is my part," said he, " to exact an 
 oath for religion from you, rather than yours to exact any 
 such from me ;" and refused to take it. The other occurred 
 at Dumblane. Visiting the cathedral, which was not in the 
 best state of repair, one of the bystanders observed, that it 
 was more beautiful before the Reformation. " Reformation, 
 fellow ! you should say Deformation," was the bishop's reply. 
 To this zealot was now committed the regulation of all church 
 matters in both kingdoms, and he hastened to carry into exe- 
 cution his most obnoxious plans, with the most impolitic pre- 
 cipitation. Intending that the service of the chapel royal should 
 be the model of all the rest throughout the kingdom, orders 
 were sent down from London for prayers to be said twice a 
 day, with the choir, according to the English liturgy, and the 
 dean was required to look carefully that the communion were 
 administered once a month, and received by the communi- 
 cants kneeling. He was to observe all the holydays, and use 
 the surplice whenever be preached. The lords of privy coun- 
 
HISTOUY OF SCOTLAND. 405 
 
 cil, the lords of session, the advocates, clerks, writers to the 
 signet, and members of the college of justice, were command- 
 ed to communicate, at least once a year, in the chapel royal 
 kneeling ; the dean to report yearly how this mandate was 
 obeyed, and note the dissenters. Yet, according to Row, few 
 of the privy council, or of the college of justice, complied 
 with this order. "What confirmed the suspicions of the people 
 that Popery was lurking under all these innovations was, that 
 while so much zeal was displayed about outward shov/ in wor- 
 ship, the Sabbath was profaned by royal authority, and the 
 highest judicial characters in the land were repremanded be- 
 fore the council, because they had ordered wakes and revels 
 upon Sundays to be suppressed.* 
 
 The minds of the people were kept in a state of continual 
 irritation and feverish excitement, by the constant succession 
 of changes which were promulgated by almost every new 
 arrival from court ; but the affections of the nobility were 
 estranged, and their fears for their own safety excited by the 
 trial of lord Balmerino — an act of political injustice which 
 under the colour of law, struck at the I'oot of all security. 
 The peers, who were in opposition at the meeting of parlia- 
 ment, in order to clear themselves from the imputations which 
 were thrown out against them as enemies to the government, 
 prepared an humble supplication to his majesty, respectfully 
 
 * ComD'aints having been made of the outrages which frequently occurred 
 at ales and revels upon the Lord's day in Somerset, the lord chief justice, 
 and baron Denham, in their circuit, ordered all revels, church ales, clerk 
 ales, and all other public ales, to be suppressed, and that the minister of 
 every parish should publish the notice yearly from the pulpit. Whenever 
 Laud heard of this order, which he conceived an encroachment upon his 
 clerical rights, the archbishop complained to the king, and the chief justice 
 was commanded to attend the privy council, and answer to the complaint. 
 In exculpation, the chief justice said the order was issued at the request of 
 the justices of peace in the county, with the genera! consent of the whole 
 bench, and in conformity with several ancient precedents. He was, notwith- 
 standing, commanded to revoke his order. At next assizes, lord chief justice 
 informed the justices, grand jury, and country, that those good orders made 
 by him and his brother Denham, for suppressing unruly wakes and revels, 
 wherein he thought he had done God, the king, and the country, good ser- 
 vice, were revoked by his majesty's order, and that all persons may use freely 
 their recreations at such meetings. Thefjustices of peace, grieved at the re- 
 
406 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 requesting him to consider, that in deliberations about matters 
 of importance, either in council or parliament, opinions often 
 differ, but that they who have been of a contrary mind to the 
 majority, have never been censured by good and equitable 
 princes.* They acknowledged the prerogative in its most 
 ample form, and after modestly noticing the general fears en- 
 tertained of some important innovation intended in the essen- 
 tial points of religion — especially as diverse papists were ad- 
 mitted into parliament, and upon the articles, who, by the 
 laws of the realm, could be members of no judicatorj' within 
 it — they state that their minds being thus perplexed, they had 
 reason to suspect a snare in the subtle conjunction of the act, 
 1609, respecting apparel, with that made 1606, respecting 
 the royal prerogative, which, by a sophistical artifice, should 
 oblige them either to vote undutifully on the sacred point of 
 prerogative, or against their consciences on the point of church 
 innovations. They then implored the king to reconsider the 
 articles from which they dissented, and the operation of which, 
 they were persuaded, would be pernicious, and, in conclusion, 
 enumerated, in very measured terms, a number of grievances 
 of which they had not complained, and noticed the facility 
 with which they had consented to the supplies as proofs of 
 their loyalty, which they asserted was more disinterested than 
 that of those who, regardless of his honour, had hazarded the 
 
 vocation, drew up a petition to the king, expressing the many raischievoua 
 consequences which attended those meetings, which were condemned by law ; 
 but before they could get it presented, the king's declaration concerning re- 
 creations on the Lord's day after evening prayer was published, announcing 
 the royal pleasui'e, " that after divine service, his good people be not disturbed, 
 letted, or discouraged, from any lawful recreation ; such as dancing, either 
 men or women, leaping, vaulting, or any harmless recreation ; nor from hav- 
 ing of May games, Whitson ales, or Morrice dances, or setting up May poles, 
 and other sports therewith used, so as the same be had in due and convenient 
 time, without impediment or neglect of divine service." One of the curious 
 reasons assigned for authorizing this profanation of the Sabbath is, to promote 
 the conversion of the papists ! who would, if no such innocent amusements 
 were per.mitted) be persuaded by their priests that no honest mirth or recrea- 
 tion is lawful in the religion which the king professeth !! — Rushworth, vol. ii. 
 pp. 193, 194. 
 
 * The supplication is preserved complete in Crawford. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 40T 
 
 enactments to contradiction, or tampered with the members 
 of the estates to procure their votes. This petition, as dutiful 
 and moderate as any that could be presented to a prince, was 
 drawn up by Haig, an advocate, and the scroll, as a necessary 
 precaution, to avoid offence, was carried by lord Rothes to 
 Charles, who, upon perusing it, signified his displeasure, and 
 in returning it, said haughtily to Rothes : — " No more of this, 
 my lord ! I command you." Several lords had concurred in 
 the petition, but, upon this peremptory veto being told them, 
 it was laid aside. 
 
 Balmerino, who, in consequence of his father's misfortunes, 
 had never approached the court, and intermeddled but little 
 with public affairs, was one of the dissenting lords, and a 
 party to the petition, a copy of which he retained. After 
 Charles had returned to England, and the di-scontents of the 
 country were increasing, thinking, if the petition were modified 
 and rendered more agreeable to the king, it might be pro- 
 ductive of some advantage, he communicated the scroll to one 
 Dunmoor, a notary, in confidence, for his advice, and allowed 
 him to carry it home, but under the strictest injunctions, that 
 he should show it to nobody, nor suffer any copy to be taken. 
 Under a promise of great secrecy, however, the notary show- 
 ed it to Hay of Naughton, Balmerino's private enemy, who 
 surreptitiously obtained a copy, and, regardless of his promise, 
 betrayed the secret to the archbishop of St. Andrews. The 
 primate immediately repaired to court, and laid it before the 
 king, as a paper of the most mischievous tendency, which was 
 circulated through Scotland to obtain subscriptions, and urged 
 the necessity of some striking example to intimidate the nobles 
 whose opposition encouraged the refractory spirit of the min- 
 isters. There were laws in Scotland against leasings loosely 
 expressed, and capable of being tyrannically extended, which 
 made it a capital crime to disseminate lies against the king or 
 his government, or reports tending to excite sedition, and 
 alienate the affections of the subjects from the sovereign ; and 
 all who heard these reports and did not reveal them, nor cause 
 the author or propagator to be apprehended, were deemed 
 equally guilty, and liable to the same punishment. By a most 
 unwarrantable stretch nf interpretation, the petition was con- 
 
408 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 sidered as coming within this act, and a commission issued to 
 examine into the oiFence. Balmerino himself was committed 
 prisoner to Edinburgh castle to stand trial ; Haig, the real 
 author, had escaped to Holland. It would have been difficult 
 to find out the crime of showing a respectful and loyal petition 
 to a confidential friend, had we not also been informed that 
 the greater part of Balmerino's estates consisted of grants of 
 church lands, and that the chief instigator of the prosecution 
 Avas the archbishop of St. Andi'ews. The prelates themselves 
 were not certain of the justice of the cause, and could not 
 reckon on a verdict agreeable to their wishes without using 
 influence. The earl of Traquair, lord treasurer, then sup- 
 posed one of the ablest men, and most eloquent speaker in 
 Scotland, was therefore intrusted with the management of the 
 trial, and to procure a jury fitted for the purpose ; and as ju- 
 ries in Scotland were then nominated by the judge, and no 
 peremptory challenges allowed, the power of the crown offi- 
 cers, in cases of sedition or treason, was irresistible. The 
 assessors to the justice-general, who were to decide upon the 
 law, were all inimical to the pannel — Learmont, one of the 
 lords of session ; Spotswood, the president, second son of the 
 archbishop ; and Hay, lord register. Balmerino was indicted 
 for leasing making, and charged as: the author and abettor of 
 a seditious libel, because the copy of the petition, found in his 
 possession, was interlined with his own hand, and he had not 
 discovered the author. He pleaded for himself. The act re- 
 specting discovering an author, he remarked, had never been 
 put in execution, and never could be meant to apply to any 
 thing that was not notoriously seditious ; and that till the 
 court had so decided, he never considered the petition in any 
 other light than as a dutiful representation, intended to excul- 
 pate himself and his friends from charges of disaffection, and 
 to enable the king to form a correct estimate of their conduct. 
 When he first saw it, although he approved of it in general, 
 he objected to some expressions ; besides, he communicated 
 the business to lord Rothes, who informed the king, and up- 
 on hearing cf his majesty's displeasure, all idea of presenting 
 it had been laid aside. The earl of Rothes corroborated this 
 statement ; but, notwithstandin<T, the court decided that it 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 409 
 
 should go to an assize. Of the fifteen jurymen nine were 
 challenged, either as private enemies, or as having prejudged 
 the question; but one only was sustained — the earl of Dum- 
 fries, who had said, if the pannel were as innocent as St. 
 Paul, he would find him guilty, and even he would have been 
 admitted by the judges, liad not the lord advocate objected. 
 This deficiency was supplied, however, by the admission of 
 Traquair, and the jury seemed complete for the purpose of 
 the court ; but one had found admission whose resistance had 
 not been calculated on — Gordon of Buckie, now near the verge 
 of life, who, about half a century before, had assisted in the 
 murder of the earl of Moray, and was chosen on this occa- 
 sion as a sure man. As soon as the jury were enclosed he 
 rose, and, apologizing for his presumption in first addressing 
 them, entreated them to consider well what they did ; it was a 
 matter of blood ; and that would lie heavy on them as long as 
 they lived. He had in his youth been drawn in to shed inno- 
 cent blood, for which he had obtained the king's pardon ; but 
 many a sorrowful hour, both night and day, had it cost him 
 ere he obtained forgiveness from God '; and while he spake, 
 the tears ran down his furrowed cheeks. An appeal so unex- 
 pected was powerful ; but Traquair, their foreman, said, they 
 had not before them any question about the severity of the 
 law, nor about the nature of the paper, which the court had 
 determined to be leasing making; they had only to decide 
 whether the prisoner had discovered the author of the paper 
 or not. The earl of Lauderdale contended that triey were 
 called upon to judge both of the law and the fact; for severe 
 laws never executed, must be held to be annulled ; and though, 
 after the court had judged the paper to be seditious, it avouIcI 
 be capital to conceal the author, yet, before this judgment, it 
 was not so clear that the prisoner was bound to make any 
 discovery. The two parties argued the subject for several 
 hours, and at last divided equally, a verdict of guilty was 
 only obtained by the casting vote of Traquair. Sentence ot 
 death was immediately pronounced upon Balmerino; but the 
 execution was delayed during the pleasure of the king. The 
 interest excited by this trial was inconceivable, and the public 
 rage, when the result was known, threatened to produce a 
 
 VOL. III. '^ f 
 
-5>i() HlSTORi' OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 veiy dangerous explosion. Many meetings were secretly held, 
 and itwas resolved either to force the prison and set him at 
 liberty, or, if that failed, to revenge his death on the judges 
 and jury by v/hom he had been convicted, some undertakino- 
 to put them to death, and others to set fire to their houses. 
 Traquair, when he learned his danger, instantly repaired to 
 court, and represented to the king, that although Balmerino's 
 life had been justly forfeited, his execution, in the present 
 state of Scotland, would not be advisable. After a tedious 
 imprisonment, a pardon was most ungraciously bestowed. 
 
 The consequences of this trial were fatal to the interests of 
 Chai'les in Scotland. It united in one common cause, the 
 nobles and the people; long had the latter groaned under the 
 oppression of perverted justice, and sighed after deliverance, 
 but the complaints of the public are ever unavailing, unless 
 some point of concentration be afforded. This was now sup- 
 plied by government. The nobility discovered that there was 
 no protection for themselves from the resentment of the pre- 
 lates, and the vengeance or caprice of the crown, except by 
 gathering around them, the neglected strength of plebeian 
 power. They saw that patriotism was a crime, and innocence 
 no defence. Whenever they dared to remonstrate against 
 usurpations, however flagrant, either in church or state, 
 whether by opposition in parliament, or petition without it, 
 they were liable to be indicted ; a word uttered by themselves 
 in a moment of irritation, or heard and not repeated, might 
 occasion their ruin. Balmerino's pardon, which had been 
 extorted by the decided expression of public indignation, 
 while it was considered by himself as no favour from his 
 prince, pointed out to his party, the only method of coun- 
 teracting the designs of a despotic monarch, and an ambitious 
 hierarchy. A confederacy among the nobles, had frequent- 
 ly before delivered the kingdom from the dominion of fav- 
 ourites. A general union between nobles and people, had 
 accomplished all the grand ends of the Reformation, and 
 humbled a more powerful, though not a more intolerant or 
 aspiring priesthood, than that with which the country was at 
 present borne down. To some similar association their minds 
 were naturally turned, and an opportunity only was wanted, 
 57 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 411 
 
 to demonstrate the strength and universality of the latent 
 confederacy. But, as if all the existing causes of discontent 
 had not been sufficient to inflame the resentment of men al- 
 ready ripe for revolt, not a public office of any importance 
 fell vacant, or was thought attainable, but it was grasped at 
 by the prelates. On the death of Kinnoul, the chancellor, 
 Spotswood, who was desirous to unite the first office in the 
 state, with the primacy in the church, solicited, and obtained 
 the succession. '^The lord treasurer's office, held by Traquair, 
 was next applied for by Maxwell, bishop of Ross, and nine 
 out of fourteen prelates, were members of the privy council. 
 Still unsatisfied, they proposed that the order of mitred 
 abbots should be revived, and substituted in parliament in 
 place of the lords of erections, whose impropriated livings 
 and tithes should go to their endowment; they obtained a 
 warrant from the king to erect in each diocess, inquisitorial 
 courts, subordinate to the high commission, where equal in- 
 justice and oppression was practised; * and considering their 
 pov/er fixed on too firm a basis to be shaken, and because the 
 nation remained in a state of gloomy tranquillity, and had 
 hitherto submitted with sullen discontent, the younger, and 
 more ambitious prelates, aping the high ecclesiastical pre- 
 tensions of Laud, treated every dissentient of whatever rank, 
 with haughty superciliousness, and the ministers in particular, 
 with an overbearing domination, which they who had been 
 accustomed to Presbyterian parity among the brethren, could 
 
 * The following instances will give some idea of the nature of these courts. 
 Alexander Gordon of Earlston, having made some opposition to the settle- 
 ment of a minister, who was not acceptable to the parish, was summoned by 
 the bishop of Galloway before his diocesan commission, and because he failed 
 to appear, was fined in absence, and banished to Montrose, and although he 
 was intrusted with the charge of lord Kenmuir's estates, and lord Lorn, one 
 of the tutors, on this account requested the sentence of banishment might be 
 remitted, the bishop refused to relax the execution of his sentence. 
 
 The same bishop, in the same oppressive court, deprived Robert Glendin- 
 ning, minister of Kirkcudbright, an old man, seventy-nine years of age, be- 
 cause he would not conform, nor admit an innovator into bis pulpit; aud be- 
 cause the magistrate* of Kirkcudbright would still hear their minister preach, 
 and his own son, one of the baillies, refused to incarcerate his aged father, the 
 bishop ordered him and the rest of the intigislrates. to be 'i)i[)risoned in 
 Wigton. 
 
412 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ill brook. Headstrong and inexperienced, they sought, by 
 their furious zeal in promoting the projects of Laud, to in- 
 gratiate themselves with the archbishop, who acted not only 
 as primate of England, but as high priest of the hierarchy of 
 Scotland, and strongly urged the introduction of the liturgy. 
 The older bishops were better acquainted with the disposi- 
 tions of the people, were less assuming in their manners, and 
 the difficulties they had already encountered in introducing 
 prelacy, had rendered them desirous of resting with the ad- 
 vantages they had gained, and unwilling to risk the danger 
 that might arise, from disturbing the peace of the church by 
 further innovation. * The solicitations of the fiery overcame 
 the objections of the more prudent ecclesiastics, and Traquair, 
 who perceived himself standing but upon ticklish ground, 
 sacrificing his principles, and even his better judgment, to 
 retain his situation, joined the prevailing party, and confirmed 
 both the king and his ghostly adviser in their opinion, that 
 nothing would be more easy than to introduce the service 
 book into Scotland, and that the fears of tumult or disturb- 
 ance were groundless. Preparatory to the liturgy, the book 
 of canons was first issued. It was compiled by the bishops of 
 Ross, Galloway, Dunblane, and Aberdeen, who transmitted 
 it to London, to be revised by Laud and two other English, 
 bishops, after which the king, by his prerogative royal, issued 
 an order under the great seal, enjoining their strict observ- 
 ance upon all the dignitaries and presbyters of the church of 
 Scotland. They v/ere printed at Aberdeen, and circulated 
 by the Scottish bishops in their diocesses, for the information 
 and direction of their clergy. There was an air of distrust, as 
 to their success, thrown over the whole, by the place where 
 the canons were printed — not in the capital — but their mode 
 of imposition was universally disapproved of. 
 
 Ever since the period of the Reformation, no form of church 
 polity had been introduced without the sanction of a general 
 assembly, and James himself, v/hen overturning the power, 
 preserved the form of these courts, but in this case, not even 
 
 * Guthrie's Memoirs, p, 18. Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of llamil- 
 ton, p. 30. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 413 
 
 the shadow of deference was paid to the jurisdiction of that 
 body — the canons were confirmed by the royal supremacy 
 alone. The intent of the canons was equally repugnant to 
 the principles of the Presbyterians, as the manner in which 
 they were promulgated. They affirmed the supremacy of the 
 king in ecclesiastical affairs, to be the same as that exercised 
 by the godly kings of Judah, or the Christian emperors, and 
 to impugn any part of which, was to incur the censure of 
 excommunication, a penalty that involved in its civil conse- 
 quences, confiscation and outlawry. The authority, and the 
 Scriptural propriety of the office of the bishops, was secured 
 from challenge by a similar penalty, which was extended, by 
 a most absurd enactment, to all who should affirm that the 
 worship contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and Ad- 
 ministration of the Sacraments, was repugnant to the Scrip- 
 tures, or superstitious, or corrupt, although they had not any 
 opportunity of examining them previous to publication. With 
 the same attention to propriety, every presbyter was enjoined 
 to adhere to the forms laid down in a book which he had 
 never seen, and under pain of deprivation, was forbidden, on 
 any occasion in public, to pour out the fulness of his heart to 
 God in extemporary prayer. The behaviour to be observed 
 by the congregation at the sacrament, and during divine wor- 
 ship, was minutely described. No private meetings were to 
 be held by the ministers for expounding the Sci'iptures, and 
 no ecclesiastical business was to be discussed, except in bish- 
 ops' courts. 
 
 The whole structure of the Presbyterian church being thus 
 swept away, the furniture, which she had desecrated nearly 
 a century before, were reinstated in all their sacred honours 
 in the renovated cathedrals; the font resumed its position 
 near the door, and the altar in the chancel, or east end of 
 the church, that the worshipper might direct at least his 
 face, if not his thoughts, to Palestine. During divine ser- 
 vice, the holy table was to be covered with a rich carpet, 
 but when the eucharist was dispensed with a white linen 
 cloth. The communicants were to kneel around it, and if 
 any of the consecrated elements should remain, they were 
 to be distributed among the poorer sort who had commiiui- 
 
•irl-i HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 cated, and, to prevent their profanation, be consumed on 
 the spot. To assimilate ordination to a real sacrament, it 
 was ordered that it should be bestowed only at four seasons, 
 the equinoxial and solstitial, in the first weeks of March, 
 June. September, and Decem^ber, and a very near approach 
 was made to auricular confession, in ordering, that no pres- 
 byter should discover any thing told him by a penitent, to 
 any person whatever, excepting the crime was such as, by 
 the law of the land, his life would be endangered if he con- 
 cealed it. The powers granted the bishops were exorbitant, 
 and provision was made for its consolidation, by securing to 
 the clerical order, an indefinite increase of wealth. No per- 
 son was allowed to teach privately, or in public schools, with- 
 out the license of the archbishop of the district, or bishop of 
 the diocess, nor was a book permitted to be printed, till 
 perused and approved by visitors appointed for that purpose, 
 under a penalty left to their discretion. To secure funds, it 
 was enacted, that no presbyter should endanger his property, 
 by being surety for any person in civil bonds, under the pen- 
 alty of suspension, and it was required, that both they and 
 the bishops should, if they died without issue, leave it in 
 whole, or in part to pious uses, or if they had children, that 
 some legacies ought to mark their affection for the church. 
 The apologv' for publishing these canons, was perhaps as im- 
 politic as the publication itself. The design, it was said, 
 was to give a compendium of the regulations which had re- 
 ceived the approbation of the general assembly, but which 
 scattered through a number of volumes, were not always 
 within the reach of the people, or even of the ministers, an 
 assertion so palpably at variance with the fact, and so easily 
 detected, that it was received as an insult, and created new 
 suspicions, while it rivetted the old. 
 
 AVhen the subject of a liturgy was agitated during the king's 
 visit to .Scotland, the adoption of the English prayer book 
 was proposed, to make the conformit}^ between the two nations 
 complete, but as this would have been acknowledging the 
 ecclesiastical superiority of the English archbishop, the Scot- 
 tish prelates, so accommodating in every other point, would 
 not concede this, and the kkijr or Laud consented to their 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. -ii6 
 
 desire of having a national prayer book. The task of com- 
 pcsing it, was committed to the bishops of Dunblane and 
 Ross. But the difference consisted almost entirely in the 
 litJe, in substance it was a transcript from the English, with 
 some variations, additions, and omissions. The quotations 
 from the Apocrj-pha were not so frequent, and instead of the 
 bishops' translation from the Vulgate used in the English, 
 the version now in use was substituted, but in other resj^ects 
 where it differed, it was by approaching nearer to the mass 
 book. It was afterwards sent to London for revisal, and sojne 
 corrections were made by Laud, which brought it still nearer 
 to the Popish ritual. The water which was poured into the 
 font, was to be consecrated, by prayer, and when the sacred 
 element was administered in baptism, the sign of the cross 
 was to be employed in its application. The ring was enjoined 
 in marriage. In the administration of the communion, or as 
 it was styled, the service of the altar, the minister who offici- 
 ated, was to stand at the north side, while the words of the 
 institution were read, but afterward to remove, and stand with 
 his back to tlie cono:reg:3tion. while consecratincr the elements. 
 The form of prayer prescribed to be used on the occasion, 
 '* Hear us merciful Father, and out of thy omnipotent good- 
 ness, grant that thou mayest so bless and sanctify, by thy word 
 and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts, these thy creatures of bread 
 and wine, that they may be to us the body and blood of thy 
 beloved Son,"" seemed to imply a sanction of the doctrine of 
 transubstantiation, while the marginal directions, that " The 
 minister officiating, shall take or lift up the plate in his hands, 
 while these words, * this is my body,' are repeating, and the 
 cup when he pronounces * this is the blood of the New Testa- 
 n;ient," "" were construed as not very indistinct imitations of the 
 elevation of the host. The deacon was to offer a memorial, 
 or prayer of oblation, when presenting the collections of the 
 people to be placed upon the altar, and thanks were afterward 
 to be given for departed saints, a number of whom who had 
 blessed Scotland by their presence, were added to the kal- 
 endar. 
 
 A liturgy so strongly opposed in many material points, to 
 the opinions and predilections of a nation who abl:orred a 
 
416 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 liturgy in any shape, would have required great caution in 
 bringing it forward, but the resolution was adopted of intro- 
 ducing it in the worst possible manner, without any previous 
 preparation, without consulting either presbytery, synod, or 
 general assembly, and in opposition to the advice of the oldest 
 prelates, and the objections of Spotswood, whose general 
 compliance ought to have given weight to this solitary exam- 
 ple of remonstrance, and the representations of the privy 
 council, it was determined to impose it by royal mandate, and 
 Episcopal authority, and both the privy council and Spots- 
 wood were forced to concur. A proclamation was brought 
 from court by the bishop of Ross, in December 1636, an- 
 nouncing the completion of the work, and commanding all 
 faithful subjects, clergy, and others, to receive with reverence, 
 and conform themselves to the public form of service therein 
 contained ; also, ordering all archbishops, bishops, and other 
 presbyters and churchmen, to enforce its observance, and 
 bring the contraveners to condign punishment, who were 
 likewise enjoined to have special care, that every parish, be- 
 twixt and Easter, have two copies of the liturgy. This pro- 
 clamation was published by an act of council, obtained at a 
 meeting composed of the chancellor and eight other bishops, 
 while only two lay members were present, who refused to 
 vote, as they had never seen the book, and although it gave 
 rise to no open tumult, occasioned much private altercation. 
 The two parties became daily more imbittered against each 
 other. The Presbyterians, who had long and anxiously 
 watched the inroads v/hich had been made upon the church, 
 till the subversion of all that they esteemed beautiful in order, 
 and pure in the form of her worship, branded, as idolatrous 
 and superstitious, things, perhaps, innocent in themselves, and 
 were apt to impute motives, and judge of the actions of their 
 adversaries, with an indiscriminate acrimony. The prelatic 
 zealots exasperated their opponents, by pressing upon them 
 an implicit obedience to the new forms of baptism, the com- 
 munion, marriage, bui'ial, prayers, psalms, ordination, and 
 preaching, under the pains of confiscation and outlawry,* 
 
 * Bailiie, vol. i, p. 2 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 417 
 
 while the moderate, who could not go the length of either 
 party, lamented their violence, and prognosticated a schism, 
 but they were few in number, and those among them whose 
 voice might have had any influence, Kinnoul, Marischal, Marr, 
 Errol, and Melville, were unfortunately cut ojff at a critical 
 period, by an epidemic disease. 
 
 When the book itself was obtained, it was criticised with 
 the keenest jealousy, was made the constant theme of dis- 
 course in the pulpit and in private, and a report soon became 
 generally current, that it was a translation of the mass, which 
 the prelates had conspired with Laud to introduce. Repre- 
 sentations, exaggerated as usual in cases of indistinct alarm, 
 were widely spread, and publications suited to rouse and keep 
 alive a spirit of watchfulness, and a preparation for resistance 
 were everywhere diffused. In the meantime, the conduct of 
 government appeared wavering. The day which had been 
 intimated for the commencement of the new mode of worship, 
 was allowed to elapse, either thro-ugh the means of Hope, the 
 king's advocate, who was friendly to the Presbyterians, or 
 the anxiety of the bishop of Edinburgh, who wished to pre- 
 vent the introduction of the liturgy, and did all in his power 
 to obstruct its publication, or by the fears or mismanagement 
 on the part of those to whom it was intrusted. But whatever 
 were the reasons for delay, the time was sedulously improved 
 by the Presbyterians. They impressed upon the public, an 
 idea of the weakness of government being the cause why the 
 king's mandate had been suspended, and they urged on the 
 nobles, the necessity of strenuous and united exertion. Some 
 of their leaders came to Edinburgh as early as April, to con- 
 cert measures, and arrange those plans of procedure, which 
 enabled them to seize and wield with so much ejfficacy, all 
 the power of the state. 
 
 The crisis was hastened by private interest and revenge. 
 Spotswood, anxious to obtain the whole tithes of the abbey 
 of St. Andrews, was preparing to fix the salaries of the 
 clergy in the diocess, and to render them each payable in 
 his respective parish, independent of the general amount of 
 the tithes in the diocess, which had hitherto been available, 
 to make up the deficiences of particular districts, where the 
 
 VOL. 111^ 3 G 
 
418 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 tithes had been rented at a low i'ate, or alienated. By this 
 allocation of stipends, the primate would have greatly aug- 
 mented his own income, and lessened that of those who 
 held the tiends in tack, and of the titular, who had let them. 
 The duke of Lennox, who was deeply interested in this 
 scheme, for he had received money from the tacksmen in 
 advance, perceiving that the credit of his house would be 
 affected by it, applied to Traquair, the treasurer, and he, still 
 irritated at the prelates for their attempt to drive him from 
 office, procured a warrant to suppress the comm'ission of 
 tithes. The chancellor, enraged at his loss, and the failure 
 of his scheme, determined to go to court to represent his 
 v/rongs to the king, and the archbishop of Glasgow, who had 
 experienced a similar disappointment, sympathizing in his 
 chagrin, resolved to accompany him. But, in order to ren- 
 der their visit agreeable to his majesty and Laud, they wished 
 to carry along with them the first intelligence of the intro- 
 duction of the liturgy, and thus they who had hitherto been 
 most averse, became suddenly most anxious to make the at- 
 tempt. An order for its immediate observance, was therefore 
 procured from court, and the bishops and ministers of Edin- 
 burgh, were commanded to intimate on the Sabbath preced- 
 ing, [July 16th,] the king's will, that the Scottish liturgy be 
 read in all the churches next Lord's day. The mandate was 
 published by all the ministers, except Mr. Andrew Ramsay, 
 who steadily refused. 
 
 During the week, the town was kept in a state of constant 
 agitation by discussions and pamphlets, condemning the pro- 
 ceedings of the prelates, to whom the proclamation was im- 
 puted, while they haughtily refused, from an ill placed confi- 
 dence in their own strength, to use any means for soothing 
 the discontent, or silencing the murmurs of the people by 
 explanations or arguments; nor did they make any prepara- 
 tions to prevent a disturbance, or quell it if any should occur, 
 by applying in time for the aid of the civil power. On Sab- 
 bath, the 23d of July 1637, the memorable experiment was 
 made. The bishop of Argyle officiated in the Greyfriars* 
 church in the forenoon, where the service met with no other 
 interruption than groans and lamentations. The dean of 
 
 57 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 419 
 
 Edinburgh was not so fortunate, he performed in St. Giles', 
 the cathedral, where the lord chancellor, lords of the privy 
 council, lords of session, magistrates of the city, and an im- 
 mense crowd, attracted by curiosity, assembled. The congre- 
 gation, however, remained quiet, till he appeared in his sur- 
 plice, and began to read the service, when an old woman, 
 Janet Geddes, moved by a sudden burst of pious indigna- 
 tion, exclaimed, " Villain, dost thou say Mass at my lug !" 
 and made the stool on which she had been sitting, fly at his 
 head. This signal had been no sooner given, than those who 
 sat next her followed the example, and in an instant, the 
 confusion was universal, the service was interrupted, and the 
 women, whose zeal was the most conspicuous on this occa- 
 sion, rushed to the desk in wild and furious disorder. The 
 dean left his surplice and fled, glad to escape in safety out of 
 their hands. Lindsay, bishop of Edinburgh, then ascended 
 the pulpit, and endeavoured in vain to allay the ferment. He 
 entreated the people to reflect upon the sacredness of the 
 place, the duty they owed to God and their king, but his 
 address only inflamed them the more. He was answered by 
 a volley of sticks, stones, and whatever missile came readiest, 
 and had it not been for the timely interference of the magis- 
 trates, the bishop might have fallen a martyr to the new rit- 
 ual. With difficulty the most outrageous of the rioters were 
 excluded, and the doors barred, after which the dean ventur- 
 ed to resume, but the violence of the multitude without, who 
 assaulted the doors, and broke the windows, crying out, " A 
 pope ! A pope ! Antichrist ! Pull him down ! Stone him !" 
 drowned the voice of the reader, and the service terminated 
 in dumb show. It was dangerous for any of the bishops to 
 appear in the streets, especially the metropolitan, who was a 
 particular object of popular hatred. When he left the church, 
 he took refuge in a staircase, whence he had been rudely 
 dragged, but for the interference of the servants of the earl 
 of Wemyss, who rescued him from his perilous situation. The 
 privy council met with the magistrates between sermons, and 
 such precautionary steps were taken, as ensured the peace- 
 able performance of divine service in the afternoon, in tlie 
 several churches. But the tumult had not subsided in tiie 
 
420 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Streets, and an armed guard was, necessary to protect the bish- 
 op, who was conveyed from St. Giles by the earl of Roxburgh 
 in his coach. This tumult, unparalleled since the Reforma- 
 tion,* was the natural consequence of a sudden and unex- 
 pected impulse being given to long suppressed feelings, like a 
 spark communicated to a well prepared train, and was en- 
 tirely confined to the lowest of the people. No citizen of 
 respectability was implicated in it, nor did it appear from the 
 strictest examination of those who were apprehended, that it 
 had been the result of any preconcerted plan. •]- 
 
 Next day, the city continued in a state of commotion, to 
 put down which, the privy council issued a proclamation, 
 prohibiting all tumultuous meetings in Edinburgh, under 
 pain of death, and enjoined the magistrates of the city to 
 use their utmost endeavours to apprehend the rioters of 
 the former day, and some six or seven servant girls were 
 put in prison. The town, in consequence of the disturb- 
 ance, was laid under an Episcopal interdict ; no preachings 
 nor prayers were allowed upon week days, because the min- 
 isters would not comply with the liturgy, and as the form 
 of religious service appeared to these high ecclesiastics, of 
 more consequence than the service itself, all public worship 
 was suspended during the Sabbath. The chancellor, who 
 had proceeded in this affair without consulting the council, 
 immediately sent off by express to court, an exaggerated re- 
 presentation of the disturbance, in which he laid the chief 
 blame of his own precipitancy on their shoulders, especially 
 on the ti'easurer, for his absence from church. The council, 
 who were displeased at his separate despatches, extenuated 
 the affair, represented it as an inconsiderable tumult, and ac- 
 cused the bishops themselves as being, by their rashness, the 
 authors of all the unpleasant circumstances that had occur- 
 red. The magistrates of Edinburgh — all o.f^ whom except the 
 lord provost, were suspected of favouring the popular cause 
 — as they were responsible for the peace of the city, wrote a 
 humble letter to Laud, to deprecate his displeasure, and en- 
 ireat his good offices with the king, expressing their deepest 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 5. f Burnet's Mem. p. 52. Maitland's Hist. p. 71. 
 
 1 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 421 
 
 regret for Llie unhappy disturbance, reminding him of their 
 former loyalty and good behaviour, and promising unreserv- 
 ed obedience in future. 
 
 In the midst of the ferment, the prelates proceeded to other 
 unadvised attempts. They proceeded to enforce the former 
 mandate that every parish should be provided with two copies 
 of the liturgy. The charge was executed by the chancellor, 
 against Alexander Henderson, the minister of Leuchars, 
 James Bruce, minister at King's Barns, and George Hamil- 
 ton, minister at Newburn; and by the archbishop of Glas- 
 gow, against all the presbyters of his diocess. Henderson, 
 who was possessed of very superior talents, accompanied by 
 that firmness, which enables a man to rise in times of public 
 commotion, had originally been attached to the Episcopalians, 
 but was proselyted to the cause of Presbytery, by a sermon 
 of Bruce's, and ever remained steadily attached to his adopt- 
 ed profession, but with a moderation unhappily not then 
 common to either party. When the time allowed in the charge 
 had nearly expired, he presented a supplication to the privy 
 council, in name of himself and brethren, praying for a sus- 
 pension of the charge. Because, the new service was neither 
 warranted by the authority of the general assembly, nor by 
 any act of parliament, while the liberty of the church, and 
 her form and worship, had been settled and secured by several 
 statutes. Because, as an independent church, her own min- 
 isters were the fittest judges of what was necessary to be cor- 
 rected, and in this book, some of the main ceremonies had 
 originated disputation, division, and trouble, from their near 
 approach to those of Rome; besides, the people, who had 
 ever since the Reformation been taught otherwise, would not 
 consent to receive the new service, even although their pas- 
 tors were willing. * 
 
 Petitions of similar import, but entering more into argu- 
 ment and detail, were presented from members of the three 
 presbyteries, Irvine, Glasgow, and Ayr, recommended by let- 
 ters from several of the noblemen, and supported by the per- 
 sonal application of a number of gentlemen, to the individual 
 
 *■ Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 593. 
 
422 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 members of the council. The bishops expected that the 
 supplications would have been rejected, and some exemplary 
 punishment inflicted on these concerned in the late tumults, 
 but were exceedingly disappointed, when the council appear- 
 ed favourable to the petitioners, and declared that the charge 
 required only the purchase, but not the use of the service 
 book. In order to reimburse the king's printer, the books 
 were ordered to be bought, and, to satisfy the suppliants, 
 the order for reading the liturgy was suspended, till new 
 instructions were received from the king. In their repre- 
 sentation to the king, the council informed him of the in- 
 creasing aversion to the litui'gy, which now began to be shown 
 by numbers who had not hitherto exhibited any symptoms of 
 dislike; that it had spread so widely, and the murmuring was 
 so general among all ranks, beyond whatever had been heard 
 in the kingdom, that they durst no longer conceal it ; and 
 conceiving it a matter of such high consequence, the end 
 whereof it was impossible to foresee, they neither durst in- 
 vestigate the causes farther, nor attempt to prescribe any 
 remedy, till his majesty, after being fully informed upon the 
 subject, should be pleased to direct them, and they suggested, 
 that some of the privy council should be called to London, 
 to give this information. 
 
 The vacation of the courts, and the approaching harvest, 
 emptied the metropolis, and for some weeks a calm succeeded. 
 The parties were not, however, idle; the opponents of the lit- 
 urgy, acquiring more boldness from their rapidly accumulat- 
 ing numbers, became active in proportion as the hopes of suc- 
 cess increased. The bishops, roused at length by the note of 
 preparation, which resounded on every side, made some inef- 
 fectual attempts to counteract the exertions of the popular de- 
 claimers. They now began to defend and explain the service 
 book in their discourses; but it was too late; their discourses 
 were interrupted by clamour, and their persons exposed to 
 insult. Mr. William Annan, minister of Ayr, by desire of 
 the archbishop of Glasgow, preached at the opening of the 
 synod. His sermon was a plausible and ingenious apology 
 for the use of forms of prayer and a liturgy. The majority of 
 the synod were displeased and silent^ but at the dismission. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 423 
 
 Mr. Annan was followed by hootings and opprobrious lano-- 
 uage, and the presence of the magistrates scarcely preserved 
 hira from the manual vengeance of a number of women, * who 
 were foremost in the fray. During the day, whenever he ap- 
 pei?red, he was followed by threats ; but at night, about nine 
 o'clock, having ventured out in the dark, to pay a visit to the 
 archbishop, he was again beset by the ladies, now amounting 
 to some hundreds, who attacked him with their fists, switches, 
 and peats, but no stones; tore his coat, ruff, and hat to pieces; 
 and after thrashing him soundly, dispersed. No inquiry was 
 m de into this riot, as several of the heroines were understood 
 to belong to the first families in the town. 
 
 The king, who had had an opportunity presented him of 
 retracing, without dishonour, his arbitrary and ill judged 
 steps, allowed it to pass, and lost it for ever. He returned a 
 severe and reproachful answer to the representations of the 
 council, accused them of cowardice, and blamed their lenity, 
 and the inactivity of themagisti'ates of Edinburgh, as the 
 cause of the whole; disapproved of the intermission of the 
 new service, and ordered it to be immediately resumed; while 
 he rejected their reasonable request to send for some of their 
 number, that he might obtain an accurate account of the state 
 of the country. The city of Edinburgh had, in a former let- 
 ter from his majesty, been ordered to choose Sir John Hay, 
 clerk register, as their provost, with which mandate they had 
 complied. He anew set aside the chartered rights of all the 
 other urghs, and commanded them to choose no persons 
 as their magistrates, except such as would conform to the new 
 service. 
 
 Before the receipt of this injudicious letter, sixty-eight new 
 supplications had been laid before the council, and twenty 
 noblemen, a large proportion of gentry, and eighty commis- 
 sioners from towns and parishes, were waiting its arrival. 
 When the contents of the letter was published, the supplicants 
 were far from being inclined to obey its injunctions. They 
 replied, by embodying their numerous petitions into one joint 
 supplication, praying that they might have liberty to state 
 
 * Baiilie says, about forty of our honestest women, vol. i. p. 3. 
 
 #»■■ 
 
424i HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 their complaints, and assign their reasons before the obnoxi- 
 ous service was finally enforced. This was presented to the 
 council by the earls of Sutherland and Wemyss, in name of 
 the nobility, barons, ministers, and representatives of burghs; 
 and the duke of Lennox, who had brought down the letter, 
 and had been a witness to the extraordinary scene, expressed 
 his astonishment, and assured the petitioners that his majesty 
 must have been misinformed. The general supplication, with 
 a selection of the petitions from those places which had been 
 represented as most favourable to the innovations, were trans- 
 mitted by Lennox, who was requested to explain to his maj- 
 esty the difficulties with which the privy council were surround- 
 ed, to assure him of their zeal in his service, and request pre- 
 cise instructions for their government. 
 
 The magistrates of Edinburgh, influenced by their new 
 provost, were forced to give their reluctant support to the 
 measures of the prelates, and seem at least to promote the in- 
 troduction of the liturgy. By his command, a meeting of the 
 town council was held in the tolbooth, [22d September,] 
 which the people being apprized of, and dreading that they 
 were concerting means for re-introducing the obnoxious ser- 
 vice, assembled in great numbers, and rushing into the cham- 
 ber where the council was assembled, obtained a promise 
 that they would join the suppliants, and that the city would 
 be among the last places troubled with the book. In compli- 
 ance with their promise, a petition was presented to the privy 
 council, by the baillies and council of the city, expressing 
 their willingness, according to their powers, to contribute 
 their best endeavours to prom.ote his majesty's service, and 
 the peace of the city; but stating, that the great resort of no- 
 bility, gentry, and divers ministers, had so alienated the 
 minds of the people from the " said bulk," that they could 
 not promise for the conduct of the citizens in future, and 
 therefore besought the council to urge nothing upon them, 
 more than was practised by the rest of the country, nor make 
 them " anie oprobrie to the rest of the kingdom." Yet such 
 was their terror for Laud, that they deemed it necessary to 
 explain to him the reasons for their conduct, and beg his in- 
 tercession with his majesty, that they might be still kept in 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 425 
 
 his favour. The reasons they assigned were such as should 
 have made the archbishop pause ; but a superstitious zeal for 
 trifles, when it assumes the garb of doing God service, is not 
 only a furious, but an obstinate and unconvincib'e passion. 
 They told him of such an innumerable confluence of people 
 from every corner of the kingdom, both clergy and laity of all 
 degrees, and such a complete alteration in the public mind, 
 that they were unable to stand out alone against the sense of 
 the whole country. The appalling facts made no impression 
 upon his grace, and the king was never known to recede from 
 his purpose, till his concessions had lost all merit. 
 
 The proceedings in Scotland had hitherto been in a great 
 measure insulated, and although originating from similar 
 causes, and in some instances simultaneous, had not been the 
 result of concert or combination. We are now approaching 
 a period when they were to assume a different appearance ; 
 when the popular movements were to be connected with wis- 
 dom and unity of plan, and energy and success of execution. 
 But this was accompanied with a revolution of habits and 
 manners no less remarkable, which gave a stamp to the na- 
 tional character not yet entirely eradicated. The fathers of 
 the reformation were peculiarly anxious for the instruction of 
 youth, and strongly recommended the planting of schools, 
 and the erection of universities of learning; and but for the 
 interruptions their patriotic schemes met with, first from the 
 rapacity of the nobles, who seized upon the funds which should 
 have endowed their seminaries, and next from the unceasing 
 controversy about church government, and their incessant 
 struggles to preserve their liberty, both civil and ecclesiastical, 
 instruction would have been placed within the reach of the 
 lowest individual in the kingdom. As it was, the assiduity of 
 the ministers, when suffered quietly to exercise their functions 
 in their respective parishes, diffused a degree of knowledge 
 upon Scriptural subjects, which gave a general tone to the 
 public mind, and by affording it exercise in abstruse specula- 
 tions, sharpened its faculties where it did not subdue its pas- 
 sions. Men then, as now, were capable of perceiving and 
 debating upon the doctrines of the Scriptures, whose know- 
 ledge had little effect upon their moral conduct. The natural 
 
 VOL. in. 3 H 
 
426 UISTORV OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 consequence was, tliat when, from fashion or political motives, 
 the people assumed an outward garb of sanctity, many must 
 have been hypocrites ; but it is equally plain, many, or a ma- 
 jority, must have been sincere, and all having been taught by 
 the same masters, would naturally speak the same language, 
 however different the regulating principles of the soul, or 
 tenor of the practice. The ministers, who knew this, and 
 who, conscientiously attached to the Presbyterian church 
 government, because they thought it most consonant to the 
 Scriptures, were aware that the most fiery zeal for a form might 
 exist among men who had no regard for religion, but that it 
 would soon wax cold in adversity; they were therefore anxious 
 to fix principles in their minds, to inculcate the necessity of 
 private, personal devotion, and the rigid adherence to indi- 
 vidual rectitude of conduct, as the only unequivocal marks of 
 real attachment to the public cause of their church and coun- 
 try. They were incessant in their labours in private, their 
 exhortations were frequent, and their watchfulness over their 
 flocks unremitting ; and their public ministrations, even when 
 a political subject was the theme of their discourse, were re- 
 markable for pointed appeals to the conscience and to the 
 heart, and warm exhortations to amendment of life. 
 
 When the supplicants were in Edinburgh, after the king's 
 letter had damped their first hopes of relief from the court, 
 some of the leading ministers, Henderson, Dickson, and sev- 
 eral others, in consulting together upon the state of the times, 
 drew up, " Considerations for such as lay to heart the danger 
 of this intruded liturgy," &c. and as they exhibit the mamier 
 in which the ministers dealt with the people, and the means 
 they recommended so effectually to recast the nation in the 
 puritanical mould, they deserve notice. After a confession 
 of the sins of the people and the ministers, they prescribe the 
 remedies — union and love among each other ; " that every 
 person should deal impartially with their own personal faults, 
 and repent and cleave unto our offended Lord Jesus, with 
 purpose of employing him in all things in another sort than 
 we have done; that every man deal with his charge, friendship 
 and acquaintance, to take religion more to heart, and to bring 
 forth fruits of it, and not to be ashamed to profess Christ 
 
 57 
 
HISTORY OK iCOTJ:.ANL>. 427 
 
 Jesus and his holiness, and to bear his reproach ; that the 
 knowledge of Scripture, and the grounds of religion and con- 
 troversies, be better studied, and more mixed with prayer for 
 sound light, and accompajiied with more careful practice of 
 uncontroverted truth ; that every man acquaint himself with 
 secret prayer to God ; masters of families to constantly wor- 
 ship God with their families, and let the reading of the Scrip- 
 tures be joined with morning and evening prayer." The 
 people received with avidity the exhortations of men who they 
 saw exemplifying in their own practice the precepts they incul- 
 cated, and persecution, as it always does in cases of religion, 
 gave a factitious importance to the minute observance of dut- 
 ies, accompanied by danger, or exposed to ridicule or contempt. 
 To prevent their exhortations from being obliterated, frequent 
 fasts were enjoined, congregational or universal, when similar 
 topics were insisted upon. A strict observance of the regula- 
 tions of the church was made a condition of admittance to the 
 communion, and a dread of being debarred from that ordi- 
 nance, operated as a strong and powerful guard on the gen- 
 eral conduct of a people, to whom a refusal would have been 
 the deepest afHiction, and the sorest affront. To all this was 
 added, the mighty eifect produced by the solemn renewal of 
 the covenant, with the contents of which every individual was 
 carefully instructed, and to which attachment was daily incul- 
 cated; and the combined effects of private and public exhorta- 
 tions, enforced, besides, by the piety of some, and the policy 
 of all the nobility, tended to form a nation fitted to endure 
 persecution, rather than relinquish their rights, and finally to 
 secure for their posterity privileges dearly purchased — now too 
 lightly esteemed — but, at the same time, imprinted a gravity 
 and sobriety of manners, which, however compatible with the 
 highest mental and social enjoyment, assorted ill with the 
 frivolous gayety and licentious mirth that flooded the realm 
 when Charles II. was restored, and which, but for the stern 
 bulwarks they opposed to the baneful tide, would have laugh- 
 ed these kingdoms at once out of their morality and their free- 
 dom. 
 
 No answer was expected from court to the supplications 
 before November ; but information being given to the city of 
 
428 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Edinburgh, that it would be I'eturned by the 18th October, 
 the leaders of the supplicants who were in town, afraid that 
 some design was in agitation to divide the capital from the 
 country, despatched expresses everywhere, recommending a 
 full attendance of the suppliants in the city, on the day the 
 privy council was to meet to receive it. As the harvest was 
 now finished, the call was universally attended to, and, besides 
 a large increase of noblemen, there was hardly a shire south 
 of the Grampians that did not furnish numerous deputations 
 of gentlemen, ministers, and burghers, to swell the crowds 
 who were attracted to the capital. In the course of one or 
 two days, the clerk of the council received two hundred dol- 
 lars — no inconsiderable sum in these times — the fees of two 
 hundred supplications, presented from as many parishes. A 
 favourable answer might even at this crisis have restored tran- 
 quillity to Scotland, and secured the bishops from overthrow. 
 The assembled multitudes divided to discuss their complaints 
 —the nobles in one body, the ministers in another, and the 
 commons in a third; but the only question agitated in these 
 meetings was the liturgy. Had it been withdrawn in a frank, 
 conciliatory manner, or any assurance given on which they 
 could rely, the people would have been satisfied; but while 
 the supplicants were employed in putting into shape their ob- 
 jections to the service book, they were interrupted by the in- 
 telligence, that they were all ordered to quit the city within 
 twenty-four hours, and the privy council, and courts of law, 
 to remove to Linlithgow, To these two proclamations was 
 added a third, prohibiting the circulation of a pamphlet, en- 
 titled : — A Dispute against English Popish ceremonies * ob- 
 truded on the Church of Scotland;" ordering all who possess- 
 ed copies to bring them to be publicly burned, and denounc- 
 ing punishment against any who, after the intimation, should 
 have it in their possession. The intention of the first pro- 
 clamation was evidently to disperse and disunite the suppli- 
 cants; it produced a more indissoluble bond of union. When 
 the emotions of astonishment and rage to which it gave rise 
 had subsided, they determined to refuse obedience, or to sep- 
 
 * Written by the celebrated George Gillespie, then minister of Wemyss. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 429 
 
 arate, till they had established a rallying point ; which they 
 accomplished by framing an act of accusation against the 
 bishops, as the authors of the liturgy and canons, and of all 
 the troubles that had arisen, or were likely to arise, from 
 their introduction. In the Book of Common Prayer, they 
 affirmed, the seeds of superstition, idolatry, and false religion, 
 were sown, and false doctrine, contrary to the true religion, 
 established. In the canons they complained that the consti- 
 tution of the church was subverted,, abolished superstition 
 and error revived, and a door opened for whatever further 
 innovations of religion the prelates pleased to make, all which 
 were imposed contrary to order of law, and their acceptance 
 urged by open proclamations, and charges of horning, the 
 supplicants being thereby reduced either to suffer the ruin of 
 their estates if they refused, or fall under the wrath of God, 
 for breach of covenant, if they obeyed these illegal injunctions. 
 Wherefore, being persuaded that these proceedings were con- 
 trary to the pious intentions of their gracious sovereign, and 
 calculated to create dissension between the king and his sub- 
 jects, and between subject and subject, they complained against 
 the prelates, " humbly craving, that this matter majj^ be put 
 to trial, and they taken order with, according to the laws of 
 the realm, and that they be not suffered to sit any more as 
 judges, until this cause be tried, and decided according to 
 justice." The accusation was instantly subscribed by twenty- 
 four noblemen, several hundreds of gentlemen, ministers, and 
 representatives of boroughs, and within a short time by all 
 ranks, and every corporation in the kingdom, except Aber- 
 deen, where the power of Huntly predominated. 
 
 The second proclamation, instead of terrifying, exasperated 
 the citizens of Edinburgh. They assembled tumultuously in 
 great numbers, surrounded the place where the town council 
 was assenjbled, and demanded that the provost and council 
 would appoint commissioners, to join with the rest of the 
 country in their supplication and complaint ; that they would 
 restore their ministers, Rollock and Ramsay, with Hender- 
 son, a reader, who had been suspended from their offices, * 
 
 * On the morning of the Sabbath, on the forenoon of which the litnrsv 
 was introduced in St. Giles's, Henderson read the usual prayers — about eight 
 
430 HISTORY OF SCOTLAxNID. 
 
 and plainly intimated, that unless their demands were com- 
 plied with, the magistrates would not escape with their lives. 
 The magistrates, who possessed no power for resistance, if 
 they had wished it, granted all that was desired, nominated 
 commissioners to concur with the other supplicants, and sub- 
 scribed an act, recalling the suspended ministers. 
 
 Elated with their success, the crowd was dispersing in tri- 
 umph, when their attention was unfortunately attracted by 
 Sedserf, bishop of Galloway, who was currently reported to 
 wear a crucifix of gold beneath his coat. He was immediate- 
 ly saluted with loud execrations, and the women proceeded 
 from abuse to tug and draw the poor bishop, and were about 
 to strip him, to detect, if they could, the concealed image, 
 when some gentlemen interfering, partly by entreaty, and 
 partly by expostulation, effected his rescue, or rather enabled 
 him to extricate himself, and flee for refuge to the privy coun- 
 cil. The mob, when they perceived that during the parley 
 the bishop had escaped, grew more furious, and fairly block- 
 aded the council chamber, demanding with violent menaces, 
 that he and the provost should be delivered up to them. The 
 earls of Traquair and Wigton, as soon as they were informed 
 of the situation of the bishop, hastened with their followers, 
 to attempt to relieve him, but having succeeded in getting 
 into the privy council-room, they found themselves in as 
 perilous a situation as him they came to deliver ; for the fury 
 of the mob increasing with their numbers, threatened to break 
 into the place, and inflict a cruel vengeance. 
 
 In this unpleasant predicament, they made application to 
 the magistrates, but the magistrates, themselves surrounded, 
 could afford them no assistance. Traquair and Wigton, per- 
 ceiving that nothing was to be expected from the magistrates, 
 resolved to venture out, and try whether by authority or per- 
 suasion, they could not prevail on the multitude to disperse ; 
 but finding the multitude quieter in consequence of the con- 
 cessions of the magistrates, they, after consulting with them, 
 
 o'clock — and when he had ended, he, by way of farewell, said to the auditors. 
 Adieu, good people, for I think this is the last time of my reading prayers in 
 this place. This was the offence for which he was turned off. Maitland's 
 Hist, p- 71. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 431 
 
 agreed to return to the privy council, while the baillies should 
 endeavour to pacify the people ; but no sooner had they set 
 out upon their return, than they were assailed with vehement 
 cries of " God defend all those who will defend God's cause," 
 and " God confound the service book, and all maintainers 
 thereof." In vain the two noblemen employed entreaties and 
 promises; the treasurer, who was most disliked, with difficulty, 
 and through the exertions of his friends, but with the loss of 
 his hat, cloak, and white staff, reached the council room, 
 whither he was soon followed by the magistrates, who told 
 the privy council, that though they had done every thing to 
 appease the mob, and secure their lordships, it was not in 
 their power to reduce the people to obedience. In this dan- 
 gerous conjuncture, they determined to send for some of the 
 nobles, who were engaged in preparing their petition against 
 the service book, and request them to try their influence with 
 the people. The lords instantly despatched some of their 
 number, to endeavour to conduct the imprisoned council safe- 
 ly home. At their appearance, they Were received with dis- 
 tinguished marks of respect, nor was there the smallest insult 
 offered to any of the hated individuals, while under their pro- 
 tection. At their entreaty, the populace retired to their homes, 
 and the counsellors returned in safety to Holyroodhouse. 
 
 In this last tumult, the leaders were not as formerly, ob- 
 scure individuals, but the principal citizens and their connex- 
 ions, persons, who in all probability, would have remained 
 quiet, or at least not encouraged such outrageous proceed- 
 ings, had not their passions been inflamed more by the pros- 
 pect of their own personal loss, in the removal of the seat of 
 government, and the courts of justice from the city, than even 
 by their abhorrence of the liturgy, but who seized this as a 
 more popular pretext for wreaking vengeance on those whom 
 they considered as the authors of the mischief, than if they had 
 made the wrongs done the city the watchword of the rioters. 
 The privy council met in the afternoon, and issued a procla- 
 mation, prohibiting all assembling of people in the streets, 
 and all private meetings, tending to faction and tumult; but 
 on the representation of lord Loudon, they allowed the nobles 
 to remain in Edinburgh, four and twenty hours longer, and 
 
432 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 agreed, that all who could show that their private business re- 
 quired a farther dispensation, should receive a similar indul- 
 gence. They refused, however, to receive their complaints, as 
 they were interdicted by the king, from intermeddling with any 
 ecclesiastical affairs. With this answer, the lords declared 
 themselves satisfied. In the evening, a numerous meetinjx of 
 the leaders of the supplicants was held at lord Balmerino's 
 lodgings, where the first regular steps were taken for consol- 
 idating the opposition to the court, and the project of the fa- 
 mous committees, the Tables, was first started. * Lords Bal- 
 merino and Louden made eloquent and impressive speeches, 
 recommending perseverance in pursuing their object — " the 
 banishing of the liturgy," and a resolution was passed, " that 
 they would make the best use that wisdom and diligence 
 could, of every occasion as it presented itself, to get free of 
 the detested books." But the most important resolution was, 
 that they should meet again, in as great numbers as possible, 
 on the 15th November, to wait on the answer to their prior 
 supplications, to present their new ones, and to do farther, 
 as circumstances might require. 
 
 According to proclamation, the privy council and court of 
 session, assembled at Linlithgow, and were constituted in the 
 palace. It was, however, so much out of repair, and the ac- 
 commodations in the town were so miserable, that the writers 
 and advocates could not attend, and the court was adjourned 
 to Stirling. 
 
 The proposed meeting of the 15th had been announced 
 from all the pulpits, and the concourse to Edinburgh was 
 much greater than on the former occasion. It was strength- 
 ened by a new accession of nobles, among whom, the earl 
 of Montrose, who had just returned from his travels, and 
 was esteemed one of the most promising young noblemen in 
 Scotland, shone conspicuous. He was reckoned a great ac- 
 quisition to the party, and his ardour in the cause had been 
 stimulated by the cold and forbidding reception he had ex- 
 perienced at court. The privy council also came to the cap- 
 ital, to watch their motions. Surprised at the great increase 
 
 * Biiillie's Letters, p. 22. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 433 
 
 of the petitioners, the earls of Traquair and Lauderdale, with 
 lord Lorn, wrote to the nobles of the popular party, and en- 
 deavoured to persuade them, that their meeting so often, and 
 in such numbers, was illegal and disorderly. The noblemen, 
 who were prepared to take advantage of every circumstance, 
 replied, that the supplicants had at this time so arranged them- 
 selves into separate companies, and kept so close within doors, 
 that their numbers could occasion little disorder; that the 
 contents of their last petition were so important, that they 
 were anxious his majesty should be acquainted with them, 
 and being of public moment, as all the lieges had an imme- 
 diate concern, both in concurring in the supplications, and in 
 waiting for the answers, their attendance was justifiable by 
 reason, law, equity, and custom ; and, that the late king, 
 whose v/isdom was undisputed, had laid it down as an incon- 
 trovertible axiom, when the religion or king vras in danger, 
 the whole commonwealth should move at once, not as divided 
 members, but as an undivided body. But, at the same time, 
 as the redress of their grievances was not likely to be speedily 
 accomplished, they expressed their v/illingness, in order to 
 avoid giving offence by the greatness of their numbers, to 
 choose a few of the nobles, two gentlemen of each shire, one 
 minister for each presbytery, and one burgess for each burgh, 
 as commissioners for the whole, to prosecute the accusation 
 of the prelates, and await the result of their applications to the 
 king. 
 
 The council, afraid of any new commotion arising from the 
 numbers assembled in the cit}', agreed to the proposal, and 
 unwittingly established a nev/ power within the state, famous 
 in the sequel of this reign, under the name of the Tables, a 
 designation which originated in the division of the commis- 
 sioners into separate bodies or tables. As.it would have been 
 inconvenient for the whole tables to attend constantly, a stand- 
 ing committee of four from each table was appointed to reside 
 in Edinburgh, with instructions to convoke the Avhole upon 
 any extraordinary occurrence. A council, and regular sub- 
 ordination thus established, the promiscuous multitude re- 
 tired peaceably to their homes, to await the orders of their 
 leaders, among whom the earls of Rothes and Montrose, 
 
 VOL. III. ;? I 
 
434 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 and lords Lindsay and Loudon, were the most active, 
 and the most confided in. At length Roxburgh, lord piiv\ 
 seal, who had gone to court after the disturbances in Octo- 
 ber, returned with despatches for the council. Their purport 
 was announced in an ambiguous proclamation. " His maj- 
 esty, in a just resentment of that foul indignity, [the tumult 
 of the 18th October,] had been moved to delay the significa- 
 tion of his gracious intentions, in giving to his subjects such 
 satisfactory answers to their petitions, [presented in Septem- 
 ber,] as in equity might be expected from so just and reli- 
 gious a prince." " Yet his majesty was pleased, out of his 
 goodness to declare, that as he abhorreth all superstitionu- of 
 popery, so he will be most careful, that nothing be done 
 within his dominions, but that which shall tend to the ad- 
 vancement of true religion, as it is at present professed within 
 his most ancient kingdom of Scotland, and that nothing is, 
 or was intended to be done therein, against the laudable laws 
 of his majesty's native kingdom." 
 
 Whenever parties in any negotiation became suspicious of 
 each other, the most explicit declarations are apt to be cav- 
 illed at; but the phrases, "true religion," and, "as presently 
 professed," had been tortured so often into terras to suit the 
 views of the dominant side, that they had now become justly 
 dreaded, as at best equivocal. His majesty, it was said, con- 
 sidered the pomp and ceremonies of the church of England 
 as the true religion, and the prelacy brought into Scotland, 
 in opposition to the will of the people, as that presently pro- 
 fessed, and as to his intending nothing against the laudable 
 laws of his native kingdom, his whole reign in Scotland had 
 been one sei'ies of aggressions against the laws ; but while 
 these were the private opinions of many of the Presbyterians, 
 their leaders, in public, dexterously chose to treat the declar- 
 ation as conveying his majesty's real sentiments, and as ex- 
 pressive of his aversion to the late innovations, the whole 
 blame of which was thus thrown upon the prelates. Besides 
 his public, Roxburgh brought secret instructions, to tamper 
 with the nobles separately, and endeavour to buy over, or to 
 divide them. 
 
 iraquair and the privy seal, having invited a number of 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 435 
 
 the nobles to a conference in Holyroodhouse, they came at- 
 tended by a deputation from the commissioners. The con- 
 descension of the king, and the gracious assurances that he 
 had given in his late proclamations, of his entertaining no 
 designs against religion, were expatiated upon by the treas- 
 urer, who also represented, that as the liturgy was by the 
 same deed virtually suppressed, they ought to rest satisfied ; 
 but the demands of the supplicants were not now limited to 
 the simple recalling of the service book, they began to feel 
 their advantages, and determined to improve them. The 
 Book of Common Prayer, might, to answer a purpose, be 
 withdrawn for a time, they therefore insisted, that it should 
 be as publicly and formally revoked, as it had been imposed. 
 The canons, which were entirely subversive of church discip- 
 line, they would not any longer consent to tolerate, nor would 
 they ever cease to seek relief from that iniquitous court, the 
 high commission, which endangered their liberties, and was 
 introduced not only without, but in opposition to all law. 
 The treasurer observed, that however just their requests 
 might be, or however desirable to have the evils complained 
 of removed, they ought to recollect, that it did not become 
 them to dictate to a king, the time and the manner in which 
 he should grant their petitions. At the same time, he warn- 
 ed them to beware of taking too high ground, least they, by 
 aiming at too much, should spoil all, and by pushing their 
 accusations against the bishops to an unreasonable pitch, 
 should procure their firmer establishment, instead of their 
 fall. To this the commissioners replied, they v.ere certain, 
 that they would long ere now have obtained redress from the 
 king, had he been truly informed of the nature of the books, 
 or the tendency of the other innovations. 
 
 The high oflicers then requested, that to prevent confusion, 
 or any appearance of unlawful combination against authority, 
 each county should petition separately, and at diffeivent times. 
 The supplicants, who saw the drift of this proposal, resolute- 
 ly refused to disunite, and on the first meeting of council, 
 proceeded to Dalkeith in a bod}^, with a joint petition. The 
 council, who were extremely unwilling to receive them, con- 
 trived for several days, to put off their admission, till vveariea 
 
43(3 HISTOUY Ol^ SCOTLAND. 
 
 out with excuses, they beset the council house. Several of 
 their number, attended by a notary, at each door, with pro- 
 testations prepared against the denial of justice, and the re- 
 fusal to receive their petitions ; against the archbishops and 
 bishops being allowed to sit as judges, while they were under 
 accusation; against they themselves, or any who joined them, 
 being liable to any penalties for not observing rites and cer- 
 emonies, or obeying judicatories, which had been introduced 
 in the face of the acts of general assemblies, and the statutes 
 of the kingdom ; and against any disorders or disturbances, 
 which might be occasioned by pressing the innovations, or 
 refusing their supplications, being imputed to them who had 
 hitherto behaved quietly, and only sought reformation in an 
 orderly way. The counsellors, acquainted with the nature of 
 the protest, prevented its presentation, by appointing a day 
 on which they would grant them a hearing, and receive their 
 representations. 
 
 On the 21st December, the deputies appeared before the 
 privy council, now composed only of lay members, the pre- 
 lates having withdrav.'n. Lord London presented the ac- 
 cusation, and in a long and temperate speech, enumerated 
 and enforced the complaints of the supplicants. Li conclu- 
 sion, he declared that they had no desire for the bishops' 
 blood, nor for any revenge upon their persons, they only 
 craved, that the abuses and wrongs done by them, might be 
 truly represented to his majesty, the evils they had occa- 
 sioned remedied, their recurrence prevented, and the power 
 which they had so much abused, properly restrained. After 
 his lordship, some of the other deputies spoke shortly, but 
 warmly, and their speeches were observed to affect some of 
 the counsellors even to tears. When they were ended, the 
 officers of state exhorted the ministers to instruct the people 
 to be loyal to the king, and not to speak unfavourably of his 
 religion, to which Mr. Cunninghame, the minister of Cum- 
 nock, replied, " Chir consciences bear us witness, that we 
 endeavoured to carry ourselves suitably in this respect, nei- 
 ther had we ever a thought to the contrary, but his majesty 
 was wronged, alter the manner that king Ahasuerus was 
 wronged by Human, and we are looking to see the way of the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 437 
 
 Lord's righteousness in his appointed time." The lords of 
 the council assured the deputies before they parted, that they 
 were deeply interested in the cause, but as they were express- 
 ly prohibited by the king from intermeddling more in the 
 controversy, they requested them to wait till they received 
 his majesty's instructions. 
 
 The council, placed in a perplexing dilemma by the threat- 
 ening aspect of affairs in Scotland on the one hand, and the 
 dread of his majesty's displeasure on the other, were desirous 
 that some of their number should repair to court, and lay 
 before the king, a plain exhibition of the real state of the 
 country. Roxburgh and Traquair were both equally willing 
 to undertake the ungracious service. Traquair was preferred 
 by Charles, and summoned to London. Unfortunately, the 
 treasurer was suspected of being inimical to the bishops, and 
 secretly attached to the cause of the supplicants ; his repre- 
 sentations of the strength of the malecontents, and of the 
 distracted state of the country, were, in consequence, suppos- 
 ed to be overcharged, and his recommendation to withdraw 
 the liturgy was disregarded. Spotswood too, the president 
 of the court of session, son of the archbishop, counteracted 
 his endeavours to undeceive the king, but the chancellor him^ 
 self is said to have turned the balance against the supplicants, 
 by an ominous example taken from the domestic history of 
 his grandmother, who, by declaring the murderers of Rizzio 
 traitors, broke asunder the bond of the confederated nobles, 
 and forced them to seek refuge in exile. The king, either 
 persuaded that a similar procedure would in the present in- 
 stance have a similar effect, or, what is more probable, insti- 
 gated by the rash, unyielding bigotry of Laud, transmitted 
 by Traquair a proclamation, under an oath of secrecy, in 
 which he declared, that the bishops were unjustly accused of 
 being the authors of the service book and canons, as whatever 
 was done by them, was by his majesty's authority and orders; 
 that he had diligently examined these books, and after the 
 most careful perusal, had found nothing in them that could 
 be prejudicial to the ancient laws, or the religion received in 
 Scotland, but on the contrary, was persuaded they were very 
 well calculated for promoting solid piety, and preventing the 
 
ioS HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 growth of popery, his abhon-ence of which was sufficiently 
 evidenced by his daily proceedings ; that he condemned all 
 the meetings of his subjects, that had been kept for exhibiting 
 an}' petitions against these innocent books, and the bishops 
 the promoters of them, and all subscriptions by any of the 
 lieges, of whatever rank, for that end, as manifest conspir- 
 acies for distux'bing the public peace ; yet he was ready to 
 forgive what was past, provided such practices were religious- 
 ly abstained from in future, and he forbade all meetings of 
 that kind in time to come, under pain of rebellion. 
 
 Upon Traquair's arrival in Edinburgh, he was waited upon 
 by several of the nobles, to hear what answer the king had 
 returned to their supplications, but all they could learn from 
 him, after numerous evasions, was, that there would be a 
 necessity for avoiding such numerous meetings as had late- 
 ly taken place at Edinburgh, else the council would be o- 
 bliged to prohibit them. Their secret intelligence, however, 
 supplied the deficiency, and before the treasurer could exe- 
 cute his commission, the alarm had been given to the v/hole 
 body of supplicants. A meeting of the privy council was to 
 be held in Stirling, to whom the despatches brought from 
 London were to be produced. The supplicants throughout 
 the whole country were notified of the circumstance, and 
 ordered to attend for tlie preservation of their leaders, and 
 their obedience was stimulated by a report, that it was the 
 intention of the privy council to imprison the earl of Rothes, 
 and the lord Lindsay. 
 
 The officers of state, who were in Edinburgh, perceiving 
 the magnitude of the preparations, attempted to prevent such 
 an assemblage, by sending for part of the committee of the 
 tables, who were in the city, and dissuading them by every 
 argument in their power, from such a resolution. " They re- 
 presented to them, that if they had followed their advice, and 
 petitioned each class and county by themselves, and had they 
 confined their complaints to the removal of the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer and the Canons, there could have been little 
 doubt of success, and having once obtained this, it would 
 have been then an object of consideration, how far they should 
 proceed in asking redress of other grievances, or in accuiiing 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 439 
 
 the bishops, as by asking too much, they put all to hazard, 
 and it was not to be imagined that his majesty would ever 
 consent to put one of his estates under subjection to them." 
 The committee answered, they could not rely upon any un- 
 authorized assurances, till their complaints against these 
 particular grievances had been listened to; for, if their ac- 
 cusations against the bishops; the origin of all their evils, 
 and a root naturally productive of such pernicious fruits, 
 were afterward refused, the people must continue to groan 
 under the worst of their oppressions, and the supplicants 
 to suffer the reproach of their credulit3\ The treasurer see- 
 ing them immoveable in their purpose, asked what course 
 they intended to pursue when they assembled ? They in- 
 genuously told him, they intended to give in a declinature 
 against the bishops, " but that will be refused," said Tra- 
 quair. " Then, upon the council's refusal to do us justice, 
 we will protest for renieid, and have immediate recourse to 
 the king with our supplications." " But I doubt," added the 
 treasurer, " if his majesty will receive your supplications." 
 " We will, however, do our duty," the deputies firmly re- 
 plied, " and commit the event to God, who is wise in counsel, 
 and excellent in working, and sufficiently able to protect his 
 own cause, and our just proceedings." 
 
 Secrecy on either side was now impracticable. Traquair 
 saw that his instructions were known to the supplicants, and 
 they made no attempt at concealing their own intentions. The 
 council was to meet on Tuesday, and a few of the commission- 
 ers were appointed to set out early on Monday for Stirling — 
 the rest to follow — in order to be upon the spot, and act as 
 they saw necessary, but both parties were now on the alert, 
 and not a movement was made by the one, but the other was 
 immediately acquainted with it. Traquair, who had no other 
 expedient to prevent the meeting, than accelerating the pro- 
 clamation which forbade it, set out from Edinburgh along 
 with Roxburgh, on Monday morning, a little after midnight, 
 on purpose to have it published before the supplicants could 
 be collected. They reached Stirling about 8 o'clock in the 
 morning, and after waiting for about two hours in vain for the 
 arrival of a sufficient number of the council, they, anticipating 
 
no HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 their authority, proceeded to the Cross, and issued the pro- 
 clamation. This mancEuvre was of little avail ; the tables, 
 who had discovered the departure of the treasurer and privy 
 seal, despatched lords Hume and Lindsay after them, who 
 outrode them, and as soon as they announced the proclama- 
 tion, the others were ready with a notary to protest, which 
 they did with due solemnity, and after the official intimation 
 was read, affixed their document to the market cross, a bold 
 proceeding, repeated by them at Edinburgh, Linlithgow, and 
 wherever the proclamation was published, and in the public 
 opinion, this form was sufficient to suspend the operation, or 
 legalize resistance to the royal mandate. 
 
 The situation of Charles and Scotland at this period was 
 peculiar. The king had been guilty of the most flagrant acts of 
 tyranny by his conduct in parliament, by the trial of Balmer- 
 ino, by his contempt for the constitution of the country in 
 arbitrarily enforcing the liturgy, without either act of assem- 
 bly or parliament, and by his late proclamation, which thus 
 deprived his subjects of their most undeniable, necessary, but 
 lowest right, that of petitioning, under pain of treason, yet, 
 he had prepared no force to support his despotic measures, 
 he had concerted no plan for subduing disaffiection, and trust- 
 ed solely to the efficacy of his divine right, for extorting from 
 his people all that was dear to them upon earth, their religion 
 and liberty. The nation entertained still a reverence for their 
 sovereign, and were willing to attribute his misgovernmcnt to 
 his advisers ; but his duplicity and evasions, had already cre- 
 ated suspicions of his sincerity, the discontent was general, 
 yet respectful, but it was organized, and the king had provid- 
 ed leaders, whose personal injuries and affronts were not like- 
 ly to render them less attached to the cause of the opposition, 
 these were Balmerino, Loudon, Rothes, and Montrose. 
 
 In the meanwhile the course of justice was suspended; the 
 baser sort began to take advantage of the anarchy, debtors 
 refused to satisfy their creditors, and in the Highlands and 
 the north, depredations and murders were perpetrated openly, 
 and went unpunished. * 
 
 * Bailiie's Letters, vol. i. p. 48. Spalding's History of tlie Troubles in 
 Scotland, vol. i. p. 61. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 441 
 
 The object of government was to disunite the supplicants, 
 theirs to draw closer their bonds of connexion, and the latter, 
 to defeat the intrigues of the officers of state and the prelates, 
 who endeavoured to amuse them with delusive promises, that 
 they would intercede with the king, get the liturgy and 
 canons abolished, and the high commission modelled anew, 
 adopted a judicious and decisive measure — the renewal of 
 the national covenant. The origin of this solemn engage- 
 ment may be traced to the earlier days of the Reformation, 
 and it had frequently been resorted to in times of public 
 danger, or when fears were entertained of the prevalence of 
 Popery. During the administration of Arran, [vide p. 38,] 
 it was sworn by the king and his household, and a con- 
 fession of faith was amiexed, in which the national confession 
 of faith, as established by several acts of parliament, was 
 acknowledged as their only belief; the errors of the church 
 of Rome were minutely enumerated and solemnly renounced. 
 This confession was retained in the present renewal; and in 
 like form were abjured all the tyrannous laws of the Papal 
 antichrist, made upon iudiflPerent things against Christian 
 liberty ; his erroneous and corrupted doctrine respecting 
 original sin, justification, &c. ; his five bastard sacraments, 
 with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrines, added to 
 the ministration of the true sacraments, without the word 
 of God; his blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation, his 
 devilish mass and impious priesthood; his canonization of 
 saints and invocation of angels; his dedication of churches, 
 altars, and days ; his consecrated water and prayers for the 
 dead; his use of the cross and blasphemous litany; his nu- 
 merous orders of priests ; his worldly monarchy and wicked 
 hierarchy, together with his cruel and bloody decrees made 
 at Trent. A great number of statutes were then enumerated, 
 which bore pointedly againsv the late innovations, and were 
 as explicit as any human acts could be in favour of the pres- 
 byterian form of church govermuent, and mode of worship. 
 The enumeration concludes with a fair statement of that kind 
 of loyalty which freemen are proud to acknowledge, and which 
 they are ever the first to defend; a loyalty not attached to the 
 mere name or trappings of kingship, but steadily devoted to a 
 
 VOL. III. 3 k 
 
442 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 constitutional monarch, whose sway is identified with that of 
 the laws, and who acknowledges a reciprocal obligations on 
 his part to be faithful to his trust. 
 
 This celebrated bond of union has been represented as a 
 bond of sedition, and is believed such upon trust, by many 
 who never perused it ; I shall quote the passage :— " Like as 
 all lieges are bound to maintain the king's royal person and 
 authority; the authority of parliaments, without which neither 
 any laws or lawful judicatories can be established ; and the 
 subjects' liberties, who ought only to be governed by the 
 king's laws, the laws of this realm alenarly, [solely] which if 
 innovated or prejudged, such confusion would ensue, as this 
 realm could be no more a free monarchy; because, by the 
 fundamental laws, ancient privileges, offices, and liberties of 
 this kingdom, not only the princely authority hath been these 
 many ages maintained, but also the people's security of their 
 lands, livings, rights, offices, liberties, and dignities, preserv- 
 ed." The whole closes with a declaration, implying that the 
 articles of Perth, liturgy and canons, were virtually renounced 
 in the confession of faith, and an obligation to resist these in- 
 novations, to defend each other, and support the sovereign in 
 the preservation of religion, liberty, and law. It runs thus: — 
 " We noblemen, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and com- 
 mons, under subscribing, considering diverse times before, 
 and especially at this time, the danger of the true, Reformed 
 religion, of the king's honour, and of the public peace of the 
 kingdom, by the manifold innovations and evils generally 
 contained, and particularly mentioned in our late supplica- 
 tions, do hereby pi'ofess, and before God, his angels, and the 
 world, do solemnly declare, that with our whole hearts we 
 agree and resolve, all the days of our lives, constantly to ad- 
 here unto, and defend the true religion, forbearing the prac- 
 tice of all novations already introduced in the matters of the 
 worship of God, or approbation of the corruptions of the 
 public government of the church, or civil places or power of 
 churchmen, till they be tried and allowed in free assemblies, 
 and in parliaments ; to labour by all means lawful to recover 
 the purity and liberty of the gospel, as it was established and 
 professed before the said novations; and because, after due 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 443 
 
 examination, we plainly perceive, and undoubtedly believe, 
 that the innovations and evils have no warrant in the word of 
 God, are contrary to the articles of the foresaid confessions, 
 to the intention and meaning of the blessed reformers of re- 
 ligion in this land, and do sensibly tend to the re- establish- 
 ment of the Popish religion and tyranny, and to the subver- 
 sion and ruin of the true, Reformed religion, and of our lib- 
 erties, laws, and estates ; we also declare that the foresaid 
 confessions are to be interpreted, and ought to be understood 
 of the foresaid novations and evils, no less than if every one 
 of them had been expressed in the foresaid confessions, and 
 that we are obliged to detest and abhor them among other 
 particular heads of Papistry abjured thei'ein ; and therefore, 
 from the knowledge and conscience of our duty to God, our 
 king and country, without any worldly respect or inducement, 
 so far as human infirmity will suffer, wishing a farther meas- 
 ure of the grace of God for this effect, we promise and swear, 
 by the great name of the Lord our God, to continue in the 
 profession and obedience of the foresaid religion ; that we 
 shall defend the same, and resist all those contrary errors and 
 corruptions, according to our vocation, and to the uttermost 
 of that power that God hath put in our hands all the days of 
 our lives; and in like manner, with the same heart we declare 
 before God and men, that we have no intention or desire to 
 attempt any thing that may turn to the dishonour of God, or 
 the diminution of the king's greatness or authority; but, on 
 the contrary, we promise and swear, that we shall, to the ut- 
 termost of our power, with our means and lives, stand to the 
 defence of our dread sovereign, his person and authority, in 
 the defence and preservation of the true religion, liberties, 
 and laws of the kingdom ; as also to the mutual defence and 
 assistance every one of us of another, in the same cause of 
 maintaining the true religion, and his majesty's authority, 
 with our best counsel, our bodies, means, and whole power, 
 against all sorts of persons whatsoever; so that whatsoever 
 shall be done to the least of us, shall be taken as done to us 
 all in general, and to every one of us in particular ; and that 
 we shall neither directly, or indirectly, suffer ourselves to be 
 divided or withdrawn from this blessed and loyal conjunction, 
 
-i44- HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 nor shall cast in any let or impediment that may stay or hin- 
 der any such resolution, as by common consent shall be found 
 to conduce for so good ends ; but on the contrary shall, by all 
 lawful means, labour to further and promove the same ; and if 
 any such dangerous or divisive motion be made to us, by 
 word or writ, we, and every one of us, shall either suppress 
 it, or, if need be, shall incontinent make the same known, 
 that it may be timeously obviated ; neither do we fear the foul 
 aspersions of rebellion, combination, or what else our adver- 
 saries, from their craft and malice, would put on us, seeing 
 what we do is so well warranted, and ariseth from an unfeign- 
 ed desire to maintain the true worship of God, the majesty of 
 our king, and the peace of the kingdom, for the common 
 happiness of ourselves and our posterity." * 
 
 This bond, which was only reverting to the principles re- 
 cognized at the Reformation, and restoring the constitution 
 then established, was represented by its enemies as an illegal 
 compact against the king, as a bond of resistance to his just 
 authority, and a treasonable association against the state. 
 Were subjects only fettered by the ties of moral honesty; 
 were their oaths of allegiance only binding, while kings were 
 to consider their coronation obligations as unmeaning forms ; 
 were all usurpations on the part of power to be patiently en- 
 dured, and every attempt on the part of the people to keep 
 or to regain their rights to be deprecated, then the national 
 covenant was a bond of sedition ; but if, w^hen every avenue 
 to the royal ear is shut against the complaints of a whole 
 people, if the right to petition be denied, and the very act of 
 assembling to petition be treated as high treason, by procla- 
 mation and the instructions of the crown alone, if, in these 
 circumstances, it be the natural duty of a people to pray the 
 
 * The original copy of the covenant, subscribed at Edinburgh, was written 
 on a very large skin of parchment, of the length of four feet, and depth of 
 three feet, eight inches, and is so crowded with names on both sides, that 
 there is not the smallest space left for more; and it appears that when there 
 was but little room left to sign on, the subscriptions were shortened, by only 
 inserting the initial letters of the covenanters' names, which the margin and 
 other parts are so full of, and the subscriptions so very close, that it were a 
 difficult task to number them. — Maitland's Hist, of Edinb. p. 86. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. ^-id 
 
 dismissal of obnoxious ministers, who give such treasonable 
 advice, and when refused a hearing, to reiterate their suppli- 
 cations and to remain together till they command attention, 
 then the principles of that covenant are in consonance with 
 what has ever been recognized as the basis of rational freedom 
 in limited monarchies. On the abstract question there can be 
 neither doubt nor hesitation. When a king wantonly tram- 
 ples upon all his subjects hold sacred, he himself bi'eaks the 
 bond of allegiance, and they have a right, if they have the 
 power, to unite and reclaim what has been tyrannically torn 
 from them. The legality, with regard to form, is all tliat can 
 be urged against the National covenant, and the best lawyers 
 of the day, and even Hope, the king's advocate, pronounced 
 the proceedings of the covenanters legal. They had prece- 
 dents, acts of parliament, and the repeated sanction of roy- 
 alty for such associations ; and their obligations to obey the 
 king, and defend his person, are as explicitly stated as any 
 other obligation in the covenant. It is true this is linked 
 with the preservation of religion, liberty, and law, but what 
 other obedience would any upright prince require? Should 
 they have pledged their support to the monarch in opposition 
 to all these ? 
 
 To this much vilified bond every Scottishman ought to 
 look with as great reverence as Englishmen do to the Magna 
 
 o o o 
 
 Charta. It was what saved the country from absolute des- 
 potism, and to it we may trace back the origin of all the 
 successful efforts made by the inhabitants of Britain in de- 
 fence of their freedom, during the succeeding reigns of the 
 Stuarts. There were, however, some who, though friendly 
 to the purport of the bond, were scrupulous about signing 
 it, as they had been forced to take the oath of conformity 
 prescribed by the prelates; others were not absolutely con- 
 vinced of the unlawfulness of the Perth articles; a few, whom 
 custom had reconciled to the Episcopal form, hesitated about 
 swearing to continue in the doctrine and discipline of the 
 Presbyterian church all the days of their lives, and among 
 the nobility, and those who had studied under Dr. Cameron 
 in Glasgow university, several had imbibed the doctrines of 
 passive obedience ; but as these objections arose chiefly from 
 
446 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 men who were friendly to the main object, explanations and 
 concessions were made, and their scruples silenced by the 
 innovations being left as a matter of forbearance till settled 
 by the first free general assembly, and the authority of the 
 king allowed in the fullest extent he had ever by law enjoyed, 
 beinof declared the true meaning of that section of the oath.* 
 After much discussion among the nobility and principal lead- 
 ers among the ministers, the covenant was universally agreed 
 to. The authors of this memorable deed were Alexander 
 Henderson, the leading man among the ministers, and Arch- 
 ibald Johnston, afterward lord Warriston, an advocate high 
 in their confidence. It was revised by Balmerino, Rothes, 
 and Loudon, submitted to the correction of the principal 
 ministers during its progress, and finally approved of by the 
 tables. 
 
 The supplicants who had repaired in crowds to Edinburgh, 
 to an extraordinary meeting proclaimed by the tables, were 
 prepared by the exhortations of the ministers, and the duty 
 of renewing their national covenant— the breach of which had 
 occasioned such woful confusion — was strenuously inculcated. 
 The people, who had heard of the delight with which their 
 fathers had engaged in this work, and their lamentations for 
 the national defection from so sacred an obligation, listened 
 with pleasure to the proposal of their also entering into a 
 similar engagement. A solemn fast was appointed, and on 
 the 1st of March, 1638, the supplicants assembled in the 
 Grey Friars' church. The covenant was first read in their 
 hearing ; then the earl of Loudon, whose manner was peculi- 
 arly impressive, addressed them, dwelt upon the importance 
 of this bond of union, and exhorted the assembled multitude 
 to zeal and perseverance in the good cause. Henderson, at 
 
 * It is curious to observe the shifts of casuistry, even in good men, when 
 they wish to get over a difficulty. To some who objected that the bond limits 
 the maintenance of the king's authority, to the defence of the true religion, 
 laws, and liberties of the kingdom, it was replied: — " We swear to maintain 
 him in that case, ergo, we are bound to maintain him in no other case." It 
 is an evident non sequitur. Professing to maintain the king's authority in the 
 preservation of religion and laws, does not hinder us to maintain his authority 
 in sundry other cases. — Baillie. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 447 
 
 the close, poured forth an impassioned prayer for a blessing; 
 after which, the nobles stepped forward to the table, sub- 
 scribed, and with uplifted hands, swore to the observance of 
 the important duties required in the bond ; after them, the 
 gentry, ministers, and thousands of eveiy rank, age, and sex, 
 subscribed and swore; the enthusiasm was universal, every 
 face beamed with joy, and the city presented one scene of 
 devout congratulation and rapture. " Behold !" says one of 
 the Presbyterian writers, " the nobility, the barons, the bur- 
 gesses, the ministers, the commons of all sorts in Scotland, 
 all in tears for their breach of covenant, and for their back- 
 sliding and defection from the Lord, and, at the same time, 
 returning with great joy unto their God, by swearing cheer- 
 fully and willingly to be the Lord's. It may well be said of 
 this day: — Great was the day of Jezreel. It was a day 
 wherein the arm of the Lord was revealed ; a day wherein 
 the princes of the people were assembled to swear fealty and 
 allegiance to that great king, whose name is the Lord of 
 Hosts." The prelates were thunderstruck at the explosion, 
 and the archbishop of St. Andrews, who saw at once the de- 
 molition of the fabric he and they had laboured so long and 
 by such unjustifiable methods to build up, exclaimed in de- 
 spair : — " Now all that we have been doing these thirty years 
 past is at once thrown down !" 
 
 Copies were immediately transmitted by the deputies to 
 their several presbyteries, accompanied with a paper entitled: 
 — The lawfulness of the subscription to the Confession of 
 Failb, 1638; and commissioners were sent to the west and 
 north, where the only opposition was expected ; for some of 
 the doctors in Glasgow college taught the courtly principles 
 of non-resistance, and a majority had complied with the in- 
 novations authorized by the articles of Perth. All the pro- 
 fessors in the colleges of Aberdeen were advocates for pre- 
 lacy and passive obedience, besides being under the influence 
 of Huntly; but the presbytery of Glasgow hailed the ap- 
 proach of the covenant, and Aberdeen stood alone " as a 
 dreary spot in a land of light." Everywhere else a zeal, un- 
 felt since the first days of the Reformation, animated the 
 people, and in every parish the covenant was embraced upon 
 
448 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Sabbath, with equal fervour, and the same demonsiratioiis of 
 delight that had resounded in the capital; the excitement 
 spread to the most remote districts, Moray, Inverness, Ross- 
 shire, and Caithness, emulated the southern parts of the 
 kingdom, and in the space of two months, almost all Scotland 
 had submitted, except the courtiers and their retainers, the 
 papists, the prelates, and their dependants. The nation now 
 was divided into two parties — an overwhelming majority of 
 covenanters, and an astonished, disheartened minority of non- 
 covenanters. The former acquired courage by ascertaining 
 the number and unanimity of their adherents, the latter were 
 surprised and terrified at the unexpected discovery of their 
 own weakness. 
 
 Alarmed at the threatening appearances of determined 
 opposition, displayed by the protestations against the royal 
 proclamations, the privy council appointed a full meeting to 
 be held at Stirling, to consider the state of the country, in- 
 vestigate the causes of the impending crisis, and to transmit 
 to court, such information as might guide his majesty's coun- 
 cils, and all the ecclesiastical members in particular, were 
 enjoined to attend. The day was inauspicious ; when thou- 
 sands were flocking to the Grey Friars' church in Edinburgh, 
 to affix their signatures to a bond of unity, the council assem- 
 bled, in the almost deserted town of Stirling, to deliberate, 
 but without any of their clerical coadjutors, except the bishop 
 of Brechin, who left them on the third day, and without any 
 definite project, to meet the exigences of the times. After 
 four days' deliberation, they agreed to send Sir John Hamil- 
 ton of Orbiston, lord justice clerk, to London. Besides some 
 complaints against the chancellor and other bishops, for non- 
 attendance upon the set day, he was instructed to inform his 
 majesty, that it was the unanimous opinion of the members of 
 the council who had assembled, that the causes of the general 
 combustions in the country, were the fears apprehended of 
 innovations in religion, and in the discipline of the kirk, and 
 of their introduction contrary to, and without warrant of the 
 laws of the kingdom ; to represent the expedience of his maj- 
 esty's declaring that he would inquire into the nature and 
 causes of his subjects' grievances, and in the meantime, not 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 449 
 
 press upon them any of these practices of which they com- 
 plained ; to request, that if he approved of their recommend- 
 ation, he would be pleased to call up, or allow the board to 
 send such of the council as were thought fit for advising how 
 it might be carried into execution; but if it were not approv- 
 ed of, that his majesty would not determine upon any other 
 course of procedure, without some of their number being 
 allowed to state before him, the reasons for the opinion they 
 had given, in which case, those who were of opposite senti- 
 ments, should also be called upon to state the grounds of their 
 counsel, and the whole subject be full}' debated in his pre- 
 sence ; and finally, he was to inform his majesty, that having 
 used every means in their power for dispersing the meetings 
 which were regularly held, they find they can do nothing 
 further, till his majesty's pleasure be returned to their hum- 
 ble remonstrance. 
 
 The instructions were signed by the whole lay lords of 
 council, and afterward transmitted to the lords spiritual, who 
 returned them with the signatures of the chancellor, and the 
 bishops of Edinburgh, Dunblane, Galloway, and Brechin. 
 The earls of Traquair and Roxburgh, seconded the instruc- 
 tions of the council in a private letter, addressed to the kitjg, 
 confirming their statements of the universally pertui-bed situ- 
 ation of the kingdom, and their inability to allay the com- 
 motion, but recommending a deceitful, crooked policy. They 
 advised his majesty, as religion was pretended to be the 
 cause of all the combustion, to dissipate the fears of his 
 subjects for the time, with regard to it, by which, they 
 thought, the wiser sort would be satisfied, and add, " So [will] 
 your majesty be enabled, with less pain or trouble, to over- 
 take the insolencies of any who shall be found to have kicked 
 against authority." A letter was also sent by the council to 
 the marquis of Hamilton, entreating him to take into his most 
 serious consideration, the important business with which the 
 justice clerk was intrusted, as the peace of the country was 
 never in so great hazard, and use his interest with the king, 
 to bring these great and fearful ills to a happy event. Lord 
 Lorn, eldest son of the earl of Argyle, and the earls of Tra- 
 quair and Roxburgh, were soon after invited to court by the 
 
 VOL. I [I. 3 L 
 
450 HISTORY OF SCOTJLAND. 
 
 king, to assist in the deliberations respecting Scotland, and 
 they were quickly followed by the lord president, lord register, 
 and the bishops of Ross, Brechin, and Galloway. The nobles 
 concurred in proposing soothing remedies, Lorn spoke freely, 
 and recommended the entire abolition of the hated innova- 
 tions, Traquair was for temporizing; but the bishops of 
 Ross and Brechin urged to strong measures, and are said to 
 have suggested a scheme for raising an army in the north, 
 sufficient to assert the majesty of the crown, and correct the 
 insolence of the covenanters. 
 
 Charles hesitated, and while he did so, rumours reached 
 Scotland, that he intended again to attempt dividing the sup- 
 plicants. To prevent any such attempt, by demonstrating its 
 hopelessness, a paper, containing eight articles for the present 
 peace of the kirk and kingdom of Scotland, signed by the 
 earls of Rothes, Cassillis, and Montrose, was sent to all the 
 Scottish nobility who were in London. In it their original 
 demands were repeated, but the recalling of the service book 
 and the canons, were not now to be considered as a perfect 
 cure for the present evils, nor a safeguard for the future. 
 They demanded to be delivered from the court of high com- 
 mission, as fro.m a yoke and burden which they felt to be far 
 more heavy than they should ever be able to bear. They re- 
 quired that the articles of Perth, which, for twenty years had 
 produced only divisions in the church, troubles in the king- 
 dom, and jealousies between his majesty and his subjects, 
 without any spiritual profit or edification, should not be en- 
 forced. Ministers were not to be allov/ed to sit and vote in 
 parliament, except under the caveats formerly enacted. Un- 
 lawful oaths, which only exclude worthy, conscientious, and 
 qualified persons from the ministry, while they open a door 
 to others, who, for base objects, are willing to subscribe them, 
 were directed to be abolished. Lawful assemblies of the 
 church were required to be revived, and regularly held ; and 
 a free parliament assembled, to redress the grievances, and 
 remove the fears of the nation, by renewing and establishing 
 such laws, as might prevent the recui'rence of the one, or 
 tend to recall the other, which, if granted, the public mind, 
 now so agitated, might be easily pacified. Nor would it be 
 
 57 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 451 
 
 possible, they added, as a concluding argument, to express 
 what gratification compliance would afford, all their tongues 
 and pens would not then be able to represent what would 
 be the joyful acclamations, and hearty wishes of so loyal 
 and loving a people for his majesty's happiness, nor how 
 heartily bent all sorts would be found to bestow their for- 
 tunes and lives on his majesty's service. 
 
 While the bishops were either absent from fear, or at court, 
 several of the presbyteries ventured to exercise their long lost 
 privileges of ordaining ministers, without the presence or 
 consent of the bishops. All of them removed their constant 
 moderators, and the suspended ministers returned to their 
 charges, which the intruders, knowing the aversion of the 
 people, and dreading their vengeance, had left vacant. 
 
 It was not to be expected, during a time when the admin- 
 istration of justice was stopped, the courts shut, the judges 
 and principal officers of state at London, and the whole coun- 
 try in a ferment, that no irregularities should occur, in such a 
 promiscuous multitude as the covenanters ; neither is it to be 
 wondered at that they did. The rabble, in several instances, 
 nualtreated the clergymen who had been forcibly thrust into 
 charges, from which popular ministers had been ejected, or 
 who laboured under any violent suspicion of being favourable 
 to popery. Mr. John Lindsay, the constant moderator of the 
 presbytery of Lanark, was severely handled; Dr. Ogston of 
 CoUington, who used to cause the people answer his examin- 
 ation before the sacrament on their knees, and besides, lay 
 under an imputation of having spoken favourably of the vir- 
 gin Mary, Avas also attacked; and Mr. Hannah, the minister 
 of Torphichen, who had been intruded sorely against the 
 inclination of the parishioners, m place of Mr. Livingston, 
 who was deprived, received seme rude marks of disapproba- 
 tion from the malecontents of his parish. The more judicious 
 of the covenanters lamented, but could not always prevent 
 these outrages; yet, wherever they could, they interfered. 
 The ministers inveighed against them as hurting the cause, 
 and bringing a reproach upon the whole body, and the mag- 
 istrates who were friendly, exerted themselves strenuously to 
 preserve the peace. 
 
45:^ HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Representations of these occurrences were immediately 
 despatched to London, as a counterpart to the complaints of 
 the Presbyterians, and to inflame the mind of his majesty 
 against them. • They produced, however, no present effect, 
 as the king had previously resolved to send a high commis- 
 sioner to Scotland, and intrust him with the delicate task of 
 composing the tumults, without compromising the dignity of 
 the crown. For this purpose the marquis of Hamilton was 
 made choice of, as being unconnected with either party, of 
 extensive influence from his wealth and connexions, concili- 
 atory in his manners, and regarded rather favourably by the 
 covenanters, although his father had carried the articles of 
 Perth through parliament. When he had with difficulty 
 been prevailed upon to accept of the high but invidious ap- 
 pointment, the Scottish bishops, and the archbishop of Can- 
 terbury wei'e called to a cabinet meeting, and introduced to 
 his lordship, as the high commissioner his majesty intended 
 to despatch to Scotland. The marquis desired to know Avhat 
 the bishops expected him to be able to effect. They answer- 
 ed, the peace of the country, and the good of the church. 
 For this, he said, their assistance would be required at their 
 posts, to reclaim such of the ministry as had once conformed. 
 But they replied their influence was gone, and they could 
 not return to Scotland without danger ; they therefore wished 
 to be permitted for the present to remain in London. Laud 
 strongly opposed this, and the marquis having promised to 
 protect them as far as in his power, they were constrained to 
 comply. The king, at the same time, urged upon them, the 
 necessity of residing each on his own diocess, and by their 
 attention, endeavouring to engage the affections of the people, 
 and subdue their aversion to the Episcopalian form of the 
 church, which, however modified to obtain present ti'anquil- 
 lity, he had no intention to relinquish. On the 10th May, the 
 king acquainted the Scottish privy council with his commis- 
 sion to Hamilton, and ordered all the members to assemble 
 at Dalkeith, June 6th, to receive him. The marquis himself 
 wrote to the chief nobility and gentry, to meet him at Had- 
 dington on the day before, and accompany him to the place 
 where he was to enter upon office. 
 
HlSTORkr OF SCOTLAND. 453 
 
 At length the commissioner left London, nearly three 
 months after the covenant had been signed, and the authority 
 of the tables acknowledged throughout the country, yet he 
 carried with him instructions to insist upon the relinquish- 
 ment of this bond, and the disunion of the subscribers, as 
 preliminary to any concessions on the part of the crown. 
 Spotswood had in vain attempted to persuade his majesty not 
 to require the nation's publicly renouncing what they had so 
 lately sworn to observe, but the king was inflexible, he would 
 hear of no compromise, and declared, " that as long as that 
 covenant was not passed from, he had no more power than 
 the duke of Venice." 
 
 Hamilton was met at Berwick by the earl of Roxburgh, 
 who informed him of the agitated state of the country, and 
 the impossibility of quieting it without the most ample con- 
 cessions. Instead of being welcomed at Haddington by a 
 large concourse of the nobility and gentry, he was waited 
 upon by the earl of Lauderdale and lord Lindsay, with an 
 apology. The nature of his commission had transpired, and 
 the leaders — who suspected attempts would be made, either 
 by allurements or terror, to induce part to rest satisfied with 
 the concessions, and dreaded that by being separated, the 
 train of the commissioner, swelled by the accession of their 
 friends, would have an imposing appearance, whilst their own 
 diminished body would give some plausibility to the repre- 
 sentations of their enemies, that they were few in number, 
 and contemptible in rank — after mature deliberation deter- 
 mined, that it would be improper for adherents of the public 
 cause, either to attend upon the commissioner, or such nob- 
 les as had not subscribed the covenant, lest this should serve 
 to confirm the false impressions they might have received, of 
 the liikewarmness, or want of constancy in any of the cove- 
 nanters ; and so implicitly were the injunctions of the tables 
 revered, that not even his own vassals in Clydesdale would 
 venture to infringe them. His grace arrived, disappointed 
 and chagrined, at Dalkeith, but a second deputation, at the 
 head of which was Rothes, beijig sent to congratulate him on 
 his arrival, the plausible excuses, aided by the insinuating 
 manners of the earl, tended greatly to efface the ill humour 
 
454 HiyxoiiY OF Scotland. 
 
 occasioned by ihe apparent neglect. An incident which oc- 
 curred a few days before, and had very nearly raised a tumult, 
 had also some influence in exciting suspicions respecting the 
 mission of the marquis, and determining him at first not to 
 enter the capital. 
 
 Upon a representation made at court, that the noblemen 
 had provided their houses with arms and ammunition, while 
 the king's castles were almost destitute, the treasurer employ- 
 ed a vessel to convey to Leith a quantity of military stores. 
 She had scarcely anchored in the roads, when an alarm was 
 immediately given, and her arrival at the time that the com- 
 missioner was just expected, gave rise to a number of dis- 
 tracting reports. It was the sole subject of conversation in 
 the town, and so apprehensive were the inhabitants of the 
 measures of government, that it was proposed to proceed 
 and seize the vessel. Traquair, however, suspecting some 
 sinister design, ordered the whole to be privately trans- 
 ported to Dalkeith. The tables, when they understood 
 this, summoned the captain of the vessel before them, where 
 he underwent several examinations, and the zeal of the peo- 
 ple was marked by a circumstance which must have effect- 
 ually secured the wavering attachment of many a doubtful 
 character; the captain's answers at first were haughty, but 
 as soon as his contumacy was known, all his bonds were im- 
 mediately presented by his creditors, and paym.ent demanded, 
 on which he subscribed the covenant without delay, and a 
 number of friends then stepped forward, and saved his tot- 
 tering credit. 
 
 Traquair, who v/as accused by report, of a ridiculous plot 
 to blow up the tables when they should assemble a.t Dalkeith, 
 easily exculpnte<l himself from so foolish a charge, but ac- 
 knowledged that he had advised the supplying of Edinburgh 
 castle, only on being warned by some noblemen and gentle- 
 men, that a determination was formed to seize the cargo, 
 if carried thither, he thought it more advisable to send it 
 to Dalkeith, in order to avoid giving occasion for any riot 
 that might widen the breach, or present new obstacles to 
 a reconciliation. The treasurer's explanation was not al- 
 together satisfactory to the violent among the citizens, who 
 
HISTOUY Of .SCOTLAND- 455 
 
 insisietl upon marching instantly to Dalkeith, and seizing the 
 stores. More moderate, but not less decisive measures were- 
 adopted; the castle was blockaded, and guards set upon the 
 gates of the city, by which all supplies were cut off from the 
 fortress, and in this state almost of siege, was the metropolis 
 placed, when the king's high commissioner arrived in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 Scarcely was the privy council less divided than the king- 
 dom ; the majority were in favour of the covenanters, and 
 the illegality of the king's projects and measures was so fla- 
 grant, that his ov/n advocate could not defend them at the 
 council boai'd. Hamilton, who had intermeddled little with 
 Scottish affairs, was involved in the utmost perplexity. He 
 fourxd an opposition, which it v/as impossible to break or 
 bend, and for meeting which his instructions were wholly 
 inadequate. He immediately acquainted the king with the 
 unpromising appearance of the country, and the hopelessness 
 of his mission, informed him that twenty-three thousand 
 men were in arms near the capital, and advised him secretly 
 to advance his military preparations, as he sav/ no prospect 
 of reducing the rebels but by force, or acceding entirely to 
 their demands. In the meanwhile, from the disposition of 
 the people, he found it would be imprudent to follow that 
 part of his instructions, requiring the renunciation cf the 
 covenant. He added, if his majesty meant to follow his first 
 alternative, and enforce obedience, he should instantly de- 
 spatch his fleet with two thousand land soldiers, and send 
 down arms for the northern counties; garrison Berwick with 
 fifteen hundred, and Carlisle with five hundred men, and re- 
 solve himself to follow with an army; but suggested' how far 
 in his wisdom it might not be proper, rather in mercy, to 
 connive at the folly of his poor people, than in justice to 
 punish their madness. 
 
 After the council broke up at Dalkeith, the commissioner 
 received addresses, inviting him to reside in Holyroodhouse; 
 but he declined entering a tov.'n, the gates of which were 
 guarded, and whose castle was beset with armed mfin. This 
 difficulty, however, was surmounted chiefly by means of 
 the lord Lorn, who procured the dismissal of the public 
 
•tdfJ HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 watch, and pei'suaded the covenanters to receive him with 
 every mark of distinction they could have shown to royalty 
 itself. The arrangements for his public entry were upon the 
 nxost extensi\ e scale, calculated to exhibit in imposing array, 
 the strength of the covenanters. An immense number of 
 nobility, gentry, and commoners, from all the different shires, 
 lined the road leading to Leith, upwards of five hundred 
 ministers in their black cloaks, were stationed by themselves 
 on a conspicuous eminence in the links, and the magistrates 
 and inhabitants of Edinburgh waited to receive him at the 
 Watergate. A promiscuous crowd of women, children, and 
 stragglers, increased the show, and the congregated multi- 
 tude was, by a loose calculation, estimated at about sixty 
 thousand, a greater number of people than the nation had 
 seen collected in the city during more than a century. * 
 Wherever he appeared, the commissioner heard on every 
 side, earnest and loud prayers for the preservation of the 
 liberties and religion of the country, which moved him even 
 to tears, and he expressed his earnest vnsh, that king Charles 
 himself had been a witness of the scene. He declined, how- 
 ever, to listen to harangues which the ministers bad prepar- 
 ed to deliver as he passed, and politely apologized to Mr. 
 William Livingston, " the strongest in voice and austerest in 
 countenance of the whole," who had been appointed to pro- 
 nounce the introductory oration, for not stopping in his pro- 
 gress, " the honour of such addresses being," he said, " more 
 adapted to the rank of a prince, than suitable for the station 
 of a subject." 
 
 His grace's courteous manners and winning address gained 
 upon the covenanters, and for some days, there was the 
 greatest show of cordiality between them. At his- request, 
 the multitude were dismissed, and frequent conferences took 
 place between him and the leading commissioners who re- 
 mained. In these he used all his art, by flattering promises, 
 to gain at least some of them over to his purpose, and they 
 endeavoured to draw from him some explicit declaration 
 in favour of their demands ; but neither were successful, 
 
 * Burnet's Memoirs, p. 54. Baillie's Letters, pp. 60, 61. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 457 
 
 The commissioner, in the course of their discussions, ob- 
 served, that all the laws for forty j^ears back, were against 
 the covenanters. The others replied, they were founded 
 upon the ruins of the reforming laws, had been obtained by 
 cunning and violence, in opposition to the wishes of the na- 
 tion, were destructive to religion, subversive of liberty, and 
 the chief causes of their complaints. Hcj at another time, 
 offered in the king's name, to refrain from pressing the can- 
 ons and liturgy, unless in a legal manner, and remove what- 
 ever was objectionable in the high commission court, b}'^ the 
 assistance of his council, but required the surrender of the 
 covenant as a preliminary. This proposition was listened to 
 with disdain, and the universal declaration was, that they 
 would as soon renounce their baptism as the covenant. 
 
 The deputies, perceiving that the powers of Hamilton were 
 exceedingly limited, presented as their ultiirMtum, a suppli- 
 cation for" a free general assembly, and for a parliament, to 
 ratify their enactments, and as a stimulus to the commissioner, 
 circulated privately a paper, intended as a demi-official state- 
 ment of their demands, and containing pretty intelligible 
 hints of their determination in case of a refusal. Their griev- 
 ances were declared co-extensive with the kingdom, so must 
 their remedy be, and this a fcee general assembly and parlia- 
 ment were only able to effect and secure, and at the close, 
 two portentous queries were started, " If delay were used, it 
 was desired, that advice might be sought concerning the 
 power of calling a general assembly, how they should in the 
 meantime behave with respect to controverted points, and 
 that some lawful course might be thought upon, how justice 
 might have free course, and frauds be prevented ? And if 
 violence were used for enforcing obedience, that a committee 
 should ' be chosen to consider what was fit and lawful to be 
 done, for the defence of their religion, laws, and liberties ?" 
 They were probably induced to adopt this resolute mode oi 
 pi'oceeding, and to follow it up by steps equally firm, in con- 
 sequence of some of the commissioners appearing inclined to 
 admit an alteration m the covenant. The marquis, whose 
 object now was to gain time, promised an answer in a few 
 days, and to sooth the applicants in the interval, attended the 
 
 VOL. 11 L 3 m 
 
^'iS IIISlOllV OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 sermons, and held pvivfie interviews with Mr. Alexander 
 Henderson, but when the set time arrived, they found that 
 he was restricted by the king's declaration, which he propos- 
 ed to proclaim; this they considered as a mockery, and plain- 
 ly told him, if he persisted in publishing that proclamation, 
 they would meet it by a protest, assigning as their reasons, 
 their determination to preserve their riijht of being heard, 
 which if they did not exercise, they would appear to condemn 
 all former protestations, and weaken the adherence of num- 
 bers to their cause, besides allowing to proclamations, the 
 force of laws, by accepting as a royal favour, remedies which 
 could only be legally granted by act of parliament. A pro- 
 testation too, was a dutiful forewarning of the king and his 
 commissioner of their desires, and the lawful remedies re- 
 quired; of the benefits of granting, and the hurtful conse- 
 quences which might arise from refusing them; a vindication 
 of their conduct to foreign nations ; a legal introduction to 
 lawful defence, and a necessary preface to any future decla- 
 ration which necessity might wring from them. Above all, 
 it was a public way of thanking his majesty for his public 
 favour in the concessions he had made, and as they declined 
 the authority of the council till the bishops were removed, 
 and were not satisfied with the declaration of the commis- 
 sioner, it was necessary to preserve their recourse and im- 
 mediate address to his majesty himself, by new supplications 
 and remonstrances. These reasons had no weight with Ham- 
 ilton; he told them he was resolved to see his royal mastei 
 obeyed, that he would attend himself, and support the heralds 
 in the discharge of their duty, and whoever dared to protest, 
 he would denounce them rebels. 
 
 The covenanters, thus apprized, were on the alert, and 
 when, in two days after, they perceived preparations making 
 at the Cross for publishing the declaration, they caused a scaf- 
 fold to be erected for the protestors, and in an inconceivably 
 short space, a numerous guard of gentlemen, and of the chief 
 burgesses, collected to secure them against any sudden attack. 
 The determined front of the assemblage informed the commis- 
 sioner, that it would be his most prudent plan to delay the 
 promulgation of the royal edict. He therefore ordered the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 459 
 
 heralds to retire, abandoned the design for the present, and 
 once more resorted to conciliatory overtures. He intimated 
 that their request for a free parliament and assembly should 
 be granted, only he required to be satisfied that the clause in 
 the covenant for mutual defence did not authorize resistance 
 to his lawful authority. The objection vv'as by some deemed 
 vexatious, and intended merely to create delay and discussion; 
 but in order to avoid even a shadow of misrepresentation, they 
 agreed to an explanation, full, clear, and impressive. " They 
 declared before God and men, that they were heai'tily grieved 
 and sorry that any good man, and, most of all, their sover- 
 eign, should entertain such misconceptions respecting their 
 proceedings; that they were so far from the thought of with- 
 drawing themselves from their dutiful subjection and obedience 
 to his majesty's government, that they had no intention or 
 desire to attempt any thing that might tend to the dishonour 
 of God, or to the diminution of the king's greatness and au- 
 thority; but, on the contrary, they acknowledge their quiet- 
 ness, stability, and happiness, depended upon the safety of 
 the king's majesty, as upon God's vicegerent, set over them 
 for maintenance of religion and administration of justice; that 
 they had solemnly engaged not only tlieir mutual concurrence 
 and assistance for the cause of religion, but also to the utmost 
 of their power, with their means and lives, to stand to the 
 defence of their dread sovereign, his person and authority, as 
 well as the preservation and defence of true religion, laws, 
 and liberties of the kingdom; and they did most humbly be- 
 seech his grace to esteem their confession of faith and covenant 
 to have been intended, and to be the largest testimony they 
 could give of their fidelity to God, and loyalty to their king; 
 and that hinderance being removed, they do again supplicate 
 for a free assembly and parliament to redress all their griev- 
 ances, settle the peace of the church and kingdom, and pro- 
 cure that cheerful obedience which ought to be rendered to 
 his majesty, carrying with it the offer of their fortunes, and 
 best endeavours for his majesty's honour and happiness, and 
 a real testimony of their thankfulness." 
 
 Such an explanation, it might have been expected, should 
 have proved entirely satisfactory, and it would so, had the 
 
460 HISTORV OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 objection been sincere; but the commissioner alleged his ap- 
 prehensions, that it would not fully content the king, as his 
 powers did not enable him to gratify them. He therefore 
 proposed to proceed to court, to communicate personally to 
 his majesty the information he had collected in Scotland, and 
 obtain fuller instructions, and more ample powers; to which 
 the deputies assented, and it was mutually stipulated that no 
 alteration should take place till his return. 
 
 Matters thus settled, the covenanters, relying upon the im- 
 mediate departure of the marquis, separated and returned 
 home; but he did not intend to leave the country without 
 first publishing the king's declaration. On Saturdaj^, June 
 30th, 1638, he v/ent to the Cross, and a number who still 
 lingered about town, assembled at the first rumour of a pro- 
 clamation, and came prepared to protest. This he had ex- 
 pected, and, to their agreeable disappointment, they found 
 that it was to announce the return of the courts of justice to 
 Edinburgh. Next day he set out apparently upon his journey, 
 and proceeded the length of Tranent, where lie heard sermon- 
 whence, returning unexpectedly'^, he caused the proclamation 
 be published at the Cross of Edinburgh, expecting, by his 
 previous manoeuvre, to have lulled suspicion, and prevented 
 interruption. He was met, however, by a protest from the 
 vigilant tables, and unless the nobles, whose absence he liad 
 reckoned on, had interfered, a serious riot might have ensued 
 in consequence of the indiscreet zeal of some of the prelates 
 who, from an obscure, adjoining window, upbraided the read- 
 ers of the protest as rebels. 
 
 From the moment Hamilton entered Scotland, he seems to 
 have been aware of the combustible materials by which he 
 was surrounded, and does not appear to have concealed the 
 extent of the danger from the king; but the childish obstinacy 
 of Charles, and the false ideas he entertained of honour, pre- 
 vented him from yielding to the reasonable desires of his 
 subjects, and led him to embrace a line of conduct, at once 
 mean, false, and deceitful. It is perfectly evident that what- 
 ever concessions he authorized his commissioner to make, 
 from the first he never intended to observe them; and this is 
 not the suspicions of his enemies, his own letters bear testi- 
 
HISTORY OF yCOTLAND. 461 
 
 mony to his insincerity. In his first despatch to HaniiUon 
 he speaks plainly : — " Though I answered not yours of" the 
 4th, yet I assure you I have not been idle, so that I hope by 
 the next week I shall send you some good assurance of the 
 advancing of our preparations. This I say not to make you 
 precipitate any thing — for 1 like of all you have hitherto 
 done, and even of that which I find you mind to do — but to 
 show you that I mean to stick to my grounds, and that I ex- 
 pect not any thing can reduce that people to their obedience 
 but only force." " As for the dividing of my declaration, I 
 find it most fit — in that way you have resolved it — to which I 
 shall add, that I am content to forbear the latter part ^there- 
 of, until you hear my fleet hath set sail for Scotland. In the 
 meantime, your care must be how to dissolve the multitude, 
 and, if it be possible, obtain possession of my castles of Edin- 
 burgh and Stirling, which I do not expect. And to this end 
 I give you leave to flatter them with what hopes you please, 
 so that you engage not me against my grounds — and in par- 
 ticular, that you consent neither to the calling of parliament 
 nor general assembly, until the covenant be disavowed and 
 given up — your chief end being now to win time, that they 
 raay not commit public follies, until I be ready to suppress 
 them, and since it is, as you well observe, my own people 
 which by this means will be for a time ruined, so that the 
 loss must be inevitably mine ; and this if I could eschew— 
 wei'e it not with a greater — were well ; but when I consider, 
 not only now my crown, but my reputation for ever lies at 
 stake, I must rather suffer the first, that time will help, than 
 this last, which is irreparable. This I have written to no 
 other end than to show you, I will rather die than yield to 
 these impertinent and damnable demands, as you rightly call 
 them ; for it is all one as to yield to be no king in a very short 
 time." In a postscript he adds : — " As affairs are now, I do 
 not expect that you should declare the adherents to the 
 covenant, traitors, until you have heard from me, that my 
 fleet hath set sail for Scotland. In a word, gain time by all 
 the honest m.eans you can, without forsaking your grounds." 
 When the multitudes began to disperse, and the commis- 
 sioner had some hope of an amicable adjustment, he wrote 
 
4G2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Charles to suspend his warlike preparations. The answer, 
 •Tune ISth, is insidious, and demonstrates how unsafe it would 
 have been to have placed the smallest reliance on any agree- 
 ment with the king, without some open, legal guard, against 
 his duplicity and revenge. * "I shall," says he, " take your 
 advice in staying the pubjic preparations for force ; but, in a 
 silent way — by your leave — I will not leave to prepare, that 
 I may be ready upon the least advertisement. Now I hope 
 there may be a possibility of securing my castles, but I con- 
 fess it must be done closely and cunningly." Then follows a 
 direction for the marquis to obtain — he does not say by what 
 means — an opinion from the lawyers that the covenant was 
 illegal, which would have laid the subscribers at his feet, and 
 the use he would have made of his power may be fairly in- 
 ferred from his treatment of Balmerino. " One of the chief 
 things you are to labour now is, to get a considerable number 
 of sessioners and advocates to give their opinion, that the 
 covenant is at least against law, if not treasonable." The fav- 
 ourable appearances, however, growing less encouraging, 
 Hamilton, who Strictly adhered to the will of his master, re- 
 quested a warrant from Charles to bring back the court of 
 session to the capital, because several of the covenanters be- 
 ing involved in their circumstances, he hoped, by means of 
 the suits that would be raised against them, to drive away 
 some of the most troublesome; but chiefly the settling of the 
 court again in Edinburgh, looked like a resolution of going 
 on with a treaty, of which it was fit they should be persuaded, 
 till the king were in a good posture for reducing them. 
 
 Toward the close of the month, Hamilton, who saw no 
 hope of prevailing with the college of justice, judges, or law- 
 yers, to pronounce the covenant either seditious or treason- 
 able ; that almost all the privy council favoured it, and that 
 the nation were nearly unanimous, represented to his majestj, 
 that if he would admit of the explanation given by the cove- 
 nanters, every thing might be settled without more trouble, 
 either to the king or country ; but otherwise, it must terminate 
 in blood. He desired his majesty to consider well before he 
 
 * Burnet's Memoirs, p. 57. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 463 
 
 adopted the alternative, and if he unhappily chose war, to see 
 that his preparations were complete before he hazarded a 
 rupture, lest, if the others had the start, all his faithful ser- 
 vants in Scotland would be ruined ere he could come to their 
 rescue ; reminded him of the discontents in England, and the 
 strong probability that the disaffected there would join the 
 Scots, whose resolution he understood it was, on the first 
 signal, to march into that country, and make it the seat of 
 war. Chai'les' reply marks the value he set upon the peace 
 of the country, or the blood of his subjects, when placed in 
 opposition to the gratification of his despotic temper. *' My 
 train of artillery, consisting of forty piece of ordnance, with 
 the apurtenances, all Drakes — half and more of which are to 
 be drawn with one or two horses a piece — is in good forward- 
 ness, and I hope will be ready within six weeks ; for I am 
 sure there wants neither money nor materials to do it with. 
 I have taken as good order as I can for the present for secur- 
 ing of Carlisle and Berwick ; but of this you shall have more 
 certainty by my next. I have sent for arms to Holland, for 
 fourteen thousand foot, and two thousand horse; for my ships 
 they are ready, and I have given order to send three for the 
 coast of Ireland immediately, under pretence to defend our 
 fishermen. Last of all, which is, indeed, most of all, I have 
 consulted with the treasurer and chancellor of the exchequer 
 for money for this year's expedition, which I estimate at two 
 hundred thousand pounds Sterling, which they doubt not but 
 to furnish me. More I have done, but these are the chief 
 heads." After asking Hamilton's advice about the number of 
 men necessary to be sent with the fleet to the Forth, about 
 seizing and fortifying Leith, and rendering the guns in the 
 castle unserviceable, he adds : — " Thus you may see that I 
 intend not to yield to the demands of these traitors, the cove- 
 nanters." 
 
 The marquis, still averse to involving Scotland in a civil 
 war at this period, had again pressed upon Charles the great 
 hazards he apprehended from a breach, and his doubts with 
 regard to the hearty aid of the English, repeated the requests 
 of the supplicants, and gave at length their explanation re- 
 specting the clause for mutual defence. To which he receivt d 
 
4G4 Hi,STORY or Scotland. 
 
 for reply: — " 'here be two things in yonr letter that require 
 answer, viz. trie answer to their petition, and concerning the 
 explanation of their damnable covenant; for the first, telling 
 you that I have not changed my mind in this particular, is 
 answer sufficient;" "for the other, I will only say, that so 
 lonsf as this covenant is in force, whether it be with or without 
 explanation, I have no more power in Scotland than as a 
 duke of Venice, which I will rather die than suffer; yet I 
 commend the giving ear to the explanation, or any thing else 
 to win time." " Lastly, my resolution is to come myself in 
 person, accompanied like myself, sea forces, nor Ireland shall 
 not be forgotten." On receiving this last despatch, the com- 
 missioner resolved to proceed instantly to London, to com- 
 municate more freely with the king on the state of affairs than 
 he could do by letter ; to ascertain in what state of forward- 
 ness the king's prepai'ations were ; and especially to devise a 
 plan for protracting the negotiations, or counterworking the 
 covenanters with their own instruments, by projecting a i\oyal 
 covenant. 
 
 When he arrived at court, he hastened to acquaint the king 
 with the strength and fury of the covenanters, of the unsteadi- 
 ness of a majority in the privy council, and of the deceit prac- 
 tised upon his majesty, by representing his military prepara- 
 tions in England as in a state of great forwardness. Liflu- 
 enced by these considerations, the king, with the advice of 
 Laud, after several days' deliberation, I'esolved to adopt the 
 suggestion of Hamilton respecting a king's covenant, to en- 
 large the commissioner's instructions, and to temporize till his 
 force was ready to act. He had liberty to summon a general 
 assembly, if he found no other course could quiet the business 
 at that time ; but, if possible, to delay it till the 1st of Novem- 
 ber, or later if he could. He was to endeavour to procure 
 for the bishops, seats in the assembly, and that one might b-e 
 chosen as moderator. If this could not be obtained, he was 
 to protest in their favour, as also against their abolition ; but 
 he was to acknowledge their accountability to the general as- 
 sembly, and if any particular charges were urged against the 
 bishop of St. Andrews, or any of the others, he was to acqui- 
 esce in their being brought to trial. He was to agree to recall 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 4G.'> 
 
 the liturgy, canons, and high commission, and suspend the 
 articles of Perth; but the concluding article of the instructions 
 throws an air of insincerity over the whole. " Notwithstand- 
 ing all these instructions, you are by no means to permit a 
 present rupture to happen, but to yield any thing, though 
 unreasonable, rather than now to break." And some injudi- 
 cious letters, which were sent to the north, gave just grounds 
 to the covenanters to hesitate before they trusted to any par- 
 tial concessions. 
 
 During the absence of the commissioners, the tables sent a 
 new deputation to Aberdeen, consisting of the earls of Mon- 
 trose, Kinghorn, and lord Couper, with three eminent minis- 
 ters, Alexander Henderson, David Dickson, and Andrew 
 Cant, to make another effort to bring over that city to join 
 the public cause. They wei'e courteously received by the 
 magistrates, but they could not induce them to subscribe the 
 covenant, and the ministers refused to suffer them to occupy 
 their pulpits. A controversial war took place, and several 
 pamphlets were published on both sides, in which the Aber- 
 donian doctors claimed the victory, and the southern mission- 
 aries could produce but few converts to evidence their superi- 
 ority of argument. The marquis of Huntly reported the tri- 
 umph of the northern Episcopalians to the king, who imme- 
 diately, and at the unlucky moment when he was apparently 
 authorizing the abolition of the rites and ceremonies against 
 which the covenanters had united, wrote a letter to the pro- 
 vost and baillies, and another to the doctors, thanking them 
 for their conduct, and promising them his favour and protec- 
 tion in future. The marquis of Hamilton also sent them a 
 letter of similar import, and remitted one hundred pounds 
 Sterling, to enable them to defray their expenses of printing. 
 
 The commissioner, at his return, was waited upon by dep- 
 uties from the tables, to learn the event of his expedition ; to 
 whom, after he had consulted with the council, he announced 
 eleven preliminary demands, necessary to be settled before he 
 could call a general assembly. A negotiation ensued, when 
 he reduced his conditions to two: — That no layman should have 
 voice in choosing the ministers from the presbyteries to the 
 general assembly, nor any but the ministry of the same pres-. 
 
 VOL. III. 3 N ' ,. ■ 
 
466 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 bytery; and that the assembly should not determine upon any 
 thing established by act of parliament, otherwise than by re- 
 monstrance, or petition to parliament. With these, as ren- 
 dering nugatory every purpose for which a free assembly was 
 asked, they refused to comply; and tired of delays, which 
 they knew were only intended to weary them out, they avow- 
 ed their determination to indict a free assembly, and publish- 
 ed their reasons. 
 
 On the divine right of Presbyterian church government, 
 and the consequent high ground which is assumed for holding 
 general assemblies, there have always been doubts. The acts 
 of parliament are more incontrovertible, and the legality of 
 assemblies meeting themselves, without any warrant from the 
 king, appears to be pretty plainly implied in the act of James 
 VI. 1592, which was a restriction on their former acknow- 
 ledged freedom of meeting; * but a most formidable objection 
 arose from the principles of the covenanters themselves. It 
 was allowed, when a Christian church lived under an un- 
 christian magistrate, heathen or Popish, assemblies of the 
 church might be kept, as was done by the church of Scotland 
 for many years, without the consent of the magistrate ; but 
 when the church lives under a Christian ruler, so that the 
 church and commonwealth make but one corporation, the as- 
 semblies of the church must depend upon the indiction of the 
 prince or magistrate, who is the head of the republic, and 
 principal member of the church. The tables got rid of this by 
 a very summai-y process ; they allowed the right of calling 
 general assemblies to reside in a Christian prince ; but if he 
 
 * And declaris th-at it sail be lauchfuU to the kirk and ministers, everie zeir 
 at the least, and oftner, p/^o re nata, as occasion and necessitie sail require, 
 to hald and keepe generall assemblies : Providing that the king's majestie, or 
 his commissioners, with them to be appoynted be his hienesse, be present at 
 ilk generall assemblie, before the dissolving thereof, nominat and appoynt 
 time and place, quhen and quhair, the next generall assemblie sail be halden ; 
 and in case neither his majestie nor his said commissioners beis present for 
 the time, in that town quhair the said generall assemblie beis halden, then, 
 and in that case, it sail be leisum to the said generall assemblie be themselves, 
 to nommate and appoynt time and place quhair the nixt generall assemblie o\ 
 the kirk sail be keiped and halden, as they have been in use to do thir times 
 by'i)ast. — Act, James VI. 1592. 
 59 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 467 
 
 omitted to do his duty, it devolved on the office bearers of 
 the church ; and as to his forbidding assemblies, if neces- 
 sary, for promoting the union of the body of Christ, or re- 
 moving heresies, the pastors of the church, when the indic- 
 tion of the prince cannot be obtained, are bound, as they wih 
 answer to Christ, to provide that the ecclesiastical republic 
 receive no detriment, and to esteem the safety of the churcli 
 the supreme law. 
 
 Seeing the resolution of the tables to indict an assembly 
 was immoveable, the commissioner again had recourse to de- 
 lay, and requested that it might be put off till he revisited the 
 court, in order to solicit his majesty's concurrence. Tlie 
 ministers, gentry, and burgesses, were for proceeding forth- 
 with; but were induced, by the intervention of the lords Lorn 
 and Rothes, to acquiesce in the delay till the 20th September, 
 on condition that the marquis should endeavour to obtain from 
 the king an assembly, free, both as to the members of which 
 it should consist, and the subjects of which it should take 
 cognizance ; a warrant^ to meet speedily, and in such place as 
 should be most generally convenient; and a promise, that 
 their free communication with England should not be inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 The marquis, having satisfied them with regard to these 
 articles, took his departure. He stopped a night on the road 
 to consult with the earls of Traquair, Roxburgh, and South- 
 esk, who, coinciding with him, drew up and subscribed a 
 memorial to be presented to his majesty, recommending the 
 absolute and unreserved recall of the service book ; book of 
 canons; the abolition of the high commission till established 
 by law; the suspension of the articles of Perth; the iliimited 
 power of the bishops, in admitting and deposing ministers, 
 to be remitted to the consideration of the assembly; and re- 
 iterating the advice of Hamilton respecting a confession of 
 faith. 
 
 It was now become necessary that the most ample conces- 
 sions should be m.ade, or immediate force employed. Charles, 
 after a considerable struggle, resolved upon the former, and 
 agreed to grant all the original demands of the tables ; that 
 the two obnoxious books should be uucondiuonally recalled ; 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 the high commission abolished; the articles of Perth suspend- 
 ed; and an assembly and parliament appointed, in which the 
 prelates might be legally prosecuted, and their lawless, illim- 
 ited power restrained. 
 
 Unfortunately Charles never knew how to yield in tims, or 
 with a good grace. These concessions which, granted frankly 
 at first, would not only have satisfied his subjects, but would 
 have been received with gratitude, as marks of peculiar fav- 
 our, were now received with coldness and distrust; and if it 
 was true, as Guthrie asserts, * that copies of all Charles' pri- 
 vate papers were sent by his body servants to the covenanters, 
 it is not difficult to account for their inveterate and incurable 
 mistrust of all his propositions. Along Avith the instructions 
 given to the marquis to yield the contested points, were 
 others directing him to prevent their beneficial effects, by 
 sowing discord among the party. " You must," says he, 
 " by all means possible you can think of, be infusing into the 
 ministers what a wrong it must be unto them, and what an 
 oppression upon the freedom of their judgments, if there 
 must be such a number of laicks to overbear them, both in 
 their elections for the general assembly and afterward ; like- 
 wise, you must infuse into the lay lords and gentlemen, with 
 art and industry, how manifestly they will suffer, if they let 
 the presbyters get head upon them." f 
 
 The Presbyterians were convinced by experience, that 
 there was no holding parley with Episcopacy; they had stud- 
 ied the progressive growth of the Prelatical usurpations; they 
 had seen by what insidious methods, and under what false 
 pretences it had undermined their polity, when the law was 
 expressly on their side; and now, when a fair opportunity 
 offered for getting rid of the pestiferous root of so much mis- 
 chief, they were anxious to seize it, as they never could be- 
 lieve themselves safe, or their church secure, while a fibre 
 was allowed to remain. They now aimed at the restoration 
 of the church of Scotland to its pristine glory and Presbyter- 
 ian purity, and no proposals short of this would be listened 
 to. 
 
 * Guthrie's tflat, vol, ix. p, 257, f Burnet's Memoirs, &c. p. 74. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 409 
 
 Hamilton found the covenanters in this disposition at his 
 return ; but he found also that his proposal for excluding 
 laymen from voting in presbyteries, for the commissioners to 
 the general assembly, had produced the desired effect, and 
 that some dissension had arisen between the ministers and 
 the lords of the covenant on that subject. This he artfully 
 cherished, and, in hopes of bringing matters to a crisis, re- 
 eolved upon immediately summoning the assembly. For 
 some days after his arrival he kept himself secluded arrang- 
 ing his plans, and when the deputies of the covenanters re- 
 quested to be informed of the king's pleasure, he assured 
 them the king had granted all that they desired; but the 
 particulars he referred till after he should have communicated 
 with the council. At the council he intimated the design to 
 renew the covenant which had been signed by king James, 
 substituting the original bond for that annexed by the cove- 
 nanters. This the council, after a long debate, agreed to 
 subscribe, with an explanation. In the original oath, the 
 subscribers bound themselves to maintain " religion as then 
 professed." This, by the chicane so prevalent in all Charles' 
 negotiations, conveyed a double meaning. The covenanters 
 in their bond, to prevent misconstruction, had defined the 
 expression as signifying, in strict conformity with the nega- 
 tive confession of faith, a religion stript of all names, titles, 
 rites, and ceremonie-s, that bore the smallest resemblance to 
 Rome, and as it existed before the late innovations. Charles 
 tacitly understood by the term the Episcopal, and those of 
 that persuasion likewise understood it in the same sense. 
 The privy council, and the Presbyterians, took it according 
 to the original meaning, exclusive of prelacy. 
 
 The covenanters were too well informed of the secret re- 
 servations of the court, to give credit to their integrity in this 
 solemn deed, and they descried in the transaction, a snare 
 too inartificially laid to entrap them. Aware, howevei', of 
 the effects it might produce among the people, who, without 
 considering its obvious intention, might have been inclined 
 to adhere to the royal covenant, in which there was so little 
 apparent dissimilarity to their own, Rothes, accompanied 
 by several of the covenanthig lords, waited upon the commis- 
 
470 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 sioner at an early hour, and requested him to postpone issu- 
 ing the king's proclamation for a day, when they would be 
 prepared to exhibit valid reasons why the old confession of 
 faith should not now be revived. Hamilton, who suspected 
 that they intended to intrigue with the members of the privj 
 council, would hear of no delay; and that same day, ordered 
 a proclamation to be published, announcing the king's cove- 
 nant for subscription, and indicting an assembly to be held 
 at Glasgow. This city was preferred, because the family in- 
 fluence of the commissioner was great in the west, in prefer- 
 ence to Aberdeen, suggested by the archbishop of St. An- 
 drews, where the covenanters were weakest, and in which 
 quarter the most pliant instruments of the crown had been 
 wont to be found. 
 
 The proclamation was met by a protest, signed by the earl 
 of Montrose, and other deputies from the tables ; because 
 the recall of the service book and canons, was not so absolute 
 as to preclude the fears of their being again introduced, for 
 although the acts establishing their observance were rescinded, 
 the proclamations, in which they were highly approved, and 
 in which his majesty declares his purpose to bring them in, 
 in a legal way, were not revoked, a circumstance, which how- 
 ever it might be overlooked by such as took only a partial 
 view of the subject, and neither considered what they were 
 doing, nor with whom they were dealing, could not escape the 
 notice of those who carefully compared the steps that had 
 been taken, and had watched the whole progress of innova- 
 tion ; because the archbishops and bishops were summoned 
 to parliament, without any reference to the ecclesiastical 
 courts, which was contrary to the caveats, and to the assem- 
 bly in right of office, which was in opposition to their declin- 
 ature ; because all his majesty's subjects were commanded, 
 for maintenance of the religion already established, to sub- 
 scribe and renew the Confession of Faith, subscribed before 
 in the year 1580, for although lately they would have been 
 glad that they, as well as the rest of his majesty's subjects, 
 had been commanded by authority, to swear and subscribe the 
 general Confession of Faith, yet now, after so particular a 
 specification as they had signed— but which they had been so 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 471 
 
 frequently urged to rescind or alter — they could not return to 
 the general, and by a new subscription, obliterate the remem- 
 brance of their late Covenant and Confession, which was sworn 
 to by them, to be an everlasting covenant, never to be forgot- 
 ten; nor would they think themselves guiltless of mocking 
 God, and taking his name in vain, if, while the tears which 
 began to flow at the solemnizing of the covenant were not yet 
 dry, nor the joyful noise which then sounded had not yet 
 ceased, they should enter upon a new obligation, neither did 
 they think solemn covenants ought to be multiplied, or oaths 
 played w.ith as children play with their toys ; because, hav- 
 ing sworn that they would neither directly, nor indirectly, 
 suffer themselves to be divided and withdrawn from their late 
 loyal conjunction, they could not consent to a subscription 
 and oath, which, both in the intention of the uz-gers, and in its 
 nature, was calculated to destroy their unanimity ; because 
 the subscribing of another, would be acknowledging that they 
 were rash and unadvised in their last bond, and wished only 
 a fair pretext for recanting, and the intention of authority was, 
 that the oath might consist with the corruptions they had 
 abjured, a meaning which, if they signed without explanation, 
 they would confirm and establish the opinion of those who 
 subscribed the old, but refused the new obligation, as sub- 
 stantially different; and because the general bond, adapted to 
 the time when it was subscribed, omits an obligation so ne- 
 cessary for adapting it to the present — reformation of life — 
 that the subscribers should, answerably to their pi'ofession, be 
 examples to others of all godliness, soberness, and of every 
 duty to God and man. 
 
 The proclamation and king's covenant was spread with the 
 utmost diligence in every corner of the land, and would, it is 
 probable, have produced a complete schism among the cov- 
 enanters, but for the precautionary measures taken by their 
 leaders. Deputies were despatched by the tables, to affix 
 their protestation, and assign their reasons, wherever the mes- 
 sengers of the commissioner might make their appearance, 
 and they succeeded in securing the attachment of the people, 
 nnd preventing divisive courses, except in Aberdeen, and 
 partially in Glasgovv^. At Aberdeen, when the king's coven- 
 
473 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ant was proclaimed at the Cross, the master of Forbes, and 
 lord Frazer caused the protest to be read; but the covenant 
 was, through the influence of Huntly, subscribed by a great 
 number, yet not without several restrictions by the Doctors, 
 who declared, that they did not by subscribing, abjure or 
 condemn Episcopal government, as it was in the days, and 
 after the days of the Apostles, for many hundred years in the 
 church, and as now, agreeably to their model, restored in the 
 church of Scotland; nor did they condemn the articles of 
 Perth, nor consider adhering to the discipline of the reformed 
 church of Scotland, as implying any immutability of that 
 Presbyterial government which was in 15(Sl, and these expli- 
 cations were accepted by the marquis of Hamilton, a fact 
 which justifies the assertion of the protest, that the general 
 bond was understood to be consistent with the innovations, 
 and intended to create division, and so convinced was Huntly 
 of this, that he kept the matter secret, took their subscriptions 
 on a separate bond, which he transmitted to his grace, and 
 Burnet assigns as the reaso"n, lest an humour of annexing ex- 
 plications might have run through others from their example, 
 which might not only have retarded the business, but occa- 
 sioned new grounds to the covenanters to quarrel. In Glas- 
 gow, several of the ministers accompanied the non-covenanters 
 to the Cross, expressed their joy at the proclamation, and not 
 only obtained a number of signatures, but v/rote a letter of 
 thanks to the commissioner, which they transmitted to his 
 grace at Hamilton, by the principal of the university. 
 
 Soon after, the marquis honoured the city with a visit, ac- 
 companied by Dr. Balcanquhal, his chief adviser, ajid en- 
 deavoured to prevail on the magistrates to subscribe, but they 
 requested time to consider. After ten days, the justice-gen- 
 eral found them yet irresolute, and their scruples increasing , 
 and when the assembly met, they were still unresolved. The 
 proposition of the court formerly noticed, " That the com- 
 missioners to the assembly should be elected by the minis- 
 ters alone," having created considerable dissension, as the 
 original constitution of that court, from its long disuse, was 
 now almost forgotten, except by some of the oldest, as sus- 
 picion was raised among the clerical members of presbyteries, 
 
HISTORY UF SCOTLAND. 47B 
 
 that the gentry wished to lord it over them, and usurp a place 
 to which they had no right — the laity too, evidently distrusted 
 a number of the ministers who had been trained up under the 
 Episcopal form, and were not so thoroughly attached to the 
 principles, or instructed in the tenets of Presbytery as the 
 times required, and would be requisite in an assembly, where 
 every inch of ground would be disputed — a treatise was 
 therefore drawn up, in which the office of elders, as establish- 
 ed by the polity of the church and the law of the land, was 
 shown to be essential to the existence of Presbytery, and the 
 ruling elder a constituent part of a general assembly. This 
 was circulated among the presbyteries, together with instruc- 
 tions respecting the forms to be observed in choosing com- 
 missioners to the assembly, and the qualifications requisite for 
 those who might be chosen. By the constitution of the church, 
 an elder from each parish was to attend the presbytery, and 
 thus, when the candidates who were put in nomination were 
 withdrawn, a majority of the laity remained. The policy of 
 adhering strictly to these rules was evident in the elections 
 which followed ; the most zealous of the ministers were re- 
 turned as commissioners, and the leading covenanters, as rul- 
 ing elders. 
 
 When the marquis returned to the capital, previously to his 
 going to open the assembly, where he expected to have found 
 some of the bishops, with whom to consult respecting the 
 method he was to pursue, to his great disappointment, none of 
 them had arrived from England, and they who had remained 
 in Scotland, advised him strongly to prorogue the meeting. 
 Knowing that the covenanters would hold the diet whether 
 he attended or not, he resolved to keep it, and wrote to his 
 majesty, informing him of all the untoward circumstances of 
 his situation, yet that, notwithstanding, he had resolved to keep 
 the appointed time, and first propose his gracious offers, next 
 examine the nullities of the elections, then offer a declinature 
 from the bishops, and ere these topics were discussed, he had 
 no doubt the members, by their conduct, would give sufficient 
 reason for dissolving the meeting. The king approved of the 
 resolution of the commissioner in keeping the day, but added, 
 if you can break them by proving nullities, nothing better. 
 
 VOL, in. 3 o 
 
474 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 He had before this told })im, that he expected no good from 
 the assembly, though he trusted he might hinder much of the 
 ill, first, by putting divisions among them concerning the 
 legality of their elections, and then, by protestations against 
 their tumultuous proceedings. In the meanwhile, Hamilton 
 had not been idle in his attempts to procure at least an os- 
 tensible opposition to the introduction of lay elders, and by 
 some presbyteries they were admitted with reluctance, par- 
 ticularly in Glasgow, who required a special visitation from 
 lord Loudon and three of the leading ministers, before their 
 doubts cbuld be resolved. He, besides, invited the Aberdeen 
 doctors to be present at the assembly, to assist with their 
 arguments, but they, perceiving the total inutility of any 
 efforts of theirs to stem the torrent, declined the journey 
 south, alleging the state of the roads, and the season of the 
 year as their excuse. 
 
 Amidst the mutual preparations for the approaching trial 
 of strength, the accusation of the bishops, an object of no 
 minor importance, was revolved by both parties as what 
 would bring them into immediate contact. The leadino- cov- 
 enanters had protested against their taking their seats in court, 
 until cleared by a legal trial, and were ready to bring forward 
 their charges, but they possessed no legal power to cite them 
 to appear before the assembly, nor was there, in the then dis- 
 organized state of the church, any regular ecclesiastical mode 
 of procedure, to which they could resort for accomplishing 
 their purpose. The earl of Rothes, therefore, and some oth- 
 ers, petitioned the commissioner for a warrant to command 
 their appearance. With this he refused to comply, as there 
 was no precedent, and he alleged he did enough, if he did not 
 place any obstructions in the way of their being brought to a 
 fair trial, but the fact was, the bishops' declinature had been 
 already revised by his majesty, and was intended to be used 
 not only as an obstruction to their trial, but as a pretext for 
 the dissolution of the assembly altogether.* The crimes and 
 vices of which the bishops stood accused, were open and fla- 
 grant, but while they threw an opprobrium upon the whole 
 
 * Burnet's Memoirs, p. 91. 
 59 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 profession, they were such as were capable of being easily 
 proved, if true, and if, upon investigation they had turned 
 out groundless, or very palpably exaggerated, the infamy 
 would have recoiled with overwhelming force upon the heads 
 of their accusers. Men seldom suffer unjustly from specific 
 charges undisguisedly brought against them; if guiltless, they 
 have the means afforded them of fronting the calumny, and 
 rebutting it. In such cases, it is always suspicious to decline 
 a trial, it is when general, undefined allegations are asserted, 
 and in a manner that admits of no opportunity of bringing 
 them to the test, that unguarded, and ccmpai'atively innocent 
 individuals, are ruined by their more cool, and more correct, 
 but frequently more criminal traducers. 
 
 Whether legal, or rigidly proper, the refusal of the com- 
 missioner to cite the bishops was impolitic, and attended with 
 more unfortunate consequences than a compliance would pro- 
 bably have been. A complaint, in form of a libel, was drawn 
 up against all the body, in which the offences of the order, 
 and their personal vices were accumulated. They were 
 charged in a collective capacity, with transgressing the caveats 
 by which former assemblies had limited them ; of tyranny 
 and oppression, behaving rather like loi'ds of God's heritage, 
 than as pastors of his flock; individually, with publicly teach- 
 ing, or privately defending the doctrines of Rome and of 
 Arminius, at least with conniving at their dissemination, and 
 promoting their abettors; with simony, bribery, drunkenness, 
 adultery, gaming, dishonesty, common swearing, and sabbath- 
 breaking. The complainers were the principal nobility, gen- 
 try, ministers, and burgesses, not commissioners to the gen- 
 eral assembly, who sent a copy of the libel in their own name, 
 and in the name of all the other covenanters, also not mem- 
 bers, to each of the presbyteries, within whose bounds the 
 bishops resided at the time, or where their cathedral seats 
 were, and appended to it the particular accusations against 
 the respective offenders, witii a petition to take cognizance of 
 the complaint, and censure them agreeably to the nature of 
 the offence, or make reference of the affair to the assembly. 
 According to concert, all the presbyteries referred the com- 
 plaint, and ordered it and the reference to be publicly read 
 
476 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 from every pulpit within their jurisdiction, together with a 
 citation to the bishops, to appear and answer to the parti- 
 cular allegations. 
 
 Every measure having been thus taken by the covenanters, 
 to secure the return of their friends, and exclude their op- 
 ponents, the tables issued a requisition, that all the noblemen 
 who had signed the covenant, should meet at Glasgow, on the 
 Saturday preceding the opening of the assembly, and that all 
 the elders chosen as commissioners, should bring with them 
 four assessors, to consult in private, or assist with their ad- 
 vice in the public deliberations. Hamilton, whose situation 
 was far from enviable, being almost totally deserted by the 
 other hio-h officers of state, when the court of session sat 
 down in Edinburgh, November 1st, endeavoured to prevail 
 upon the lords to sign the king's covenant, but after a debate 
 of three houi's, he only succeeded with nine, two absented 
 themselves, and four absolutely refused. His efforts to pro- 
 cure co-operation from the privy council, were not much 
 more propitious. Before proceeding for Glasgow, he call- 
 ed them together, and informed them it was his majesty's 
 pleasure, that Episcopacy might be limited, but not abolish- 
 ed, urging them to pass an act, declaring their approbation 
 of the royal message. With this they were unwilling to 
 comply, and when he required the king's advocate, Sir 
 Thomas Hope, to prepare for defending Episcopacy, as a- 
 greeable to the law of Scotland, he replied he could not in 
 his conscience do so, for he considered it both contrary to 
 the word of God, and to the constitution of the church, and 
 the law of the land. 
 
 On his arrival in Glasgow, the commissioner found that 
 city overflowing with the commission of the assembly, asses- 
 sors, and immense crowds attracted from all the quarters of 
 the kingdom. He came attended by the lords of the privy 
 council, and a numerous train whom he brought from Ham- 
 ilton, and was met by the greater part of the nobility and 
 chief men among the covenanters. Mutual civilities were 
 interchanged with much seeming cordiality, he protesting 
 that nothing dissonant to scripture, equity and law would be 
 asked, and thev assuring him that nothing reasonable would 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 477 
 
 be denied. The first day passed in matters of form, * but on 
 the next, Hamilton, who had received private instructions 
 from the bishop of Ross, as to the manner of conducting him- 
 self, so as best to render the meetinjr of the assembly abor- 
 tive, objected to a moderator being chosen, until the commis- 
 sions of the members were examined, for if any voted, whose 
 commissions were afterward found null, considerable confu- 
 sion might ensue; custom and necessity were urged in reply. 
 His grace then protested, that this decision should not im- 
 port his approbation of the commission of any of the voters, to 
 M'hich he might afterward produce objections; and he also 
 protested, that the nomination of a moderator should not be 
 prejudicial to the rights of the lords of the clergy, in any 
 office, dignity, or privilege, which the law or custom had 
 
 * On the 21st of November, the assembly convened in the High Church, 
 which day, and for two weeks thereafter, the multitudes assembled were so 
 exceeding great, that the members could not get access without the assistance 
 of the magistrates and town guard, of the nobles and gentry, and sometimes at 
 first, the lord commissioner in person, was pleased to make way for the mem- 
 bers, but they were well accommodated after they got in. The lord commis- 
 sioner sat in a chair of state, and at his feet before and on each side, the lords 
 of the privy council. Traquair, treasurer, Roxburgh, privy-seal, [Lorn now] 
 Argyle, Marr, Moray, Angus, Lauderdale, Wigton. Glencairn, Perth, Tuli- 
 bardin, Galloway, Haddington, Kinghorn, Southesk, Linlithgow, Dalziel, 
 Dumfries, Queensbcrry, Belhaven, Almont, Sir John Hay, clerk-register, SJr 
 James Carmichael, treasurer-depute. Sir William Elphingston, justice-general, 
 Sir James Hamilton, justice-clerk. Sir Lewis Stewart of Blackball, and several 
 others. The covenanting lords and barons sat at a long table in the floor, 
 with their assessors, which consisted of almost the whole barons of note 
 through Scotland, and in general, from all the fifty-three presbyteries, there 
 were three commissioners — except from a very few — who sat all commodious- 
 ly in seats rising up by degrees round the long table. A little table was set 
 in the midst for the moderator and clerk. At the end was a high room, pre- 
 pared chiefly for the young nobility, lords Montgomery, Fleeming, Boyd, 
 Evskine, Linton, Crichton, Levingstone, Rosse, Maitland, Drummond, Drura- 
 lanrick, Keir, and Elcho, but the same was crowded with great numbers of 
 other gentlemen, and the vaults above were filled with ladies and gentlemen. 
 Mr. Bell of Glasgow, as the oldest minister, was appointed to preach, a wise 
 choice, which prevented any inflammatory harangue from younger men of fiery 
 zeal, and stoutei lungs. His sermon was lost to the greater part of the audi- 
 tory, not above a six-th part of whom could hear him distinctly. Baillie, vol, 
 i. p. 96, 97. 
 
478 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 given them. He then presented the declinature of the bish- 
 ops, which he desired to be read, but the assembly, in a 
 tumultuous manner, and after a stormy discussion, refused to 
 hear it, till they were constituted, when they would be ready 
 to receive and answer any paper it might please his grace to 
 present. A protest was taken against this refusal, as unjust, 
 which was followed by a counter one, and the day was wasted 
 by a multiplicity of protestations, " with which," says Baillie, 
 " all were wearied, except the clerk pro tempore^ who, with 
 every one received a piece of gold." In the end, Henderson 
 was chosen moderator, and Johnston of Warriston, appointed 
 the clerk. During the rest of the week, they proceeded to 
 examine the commission of the members, and their decisions 
 in any disputed cases, evinced clearly the temper and con- 
 struction of the assembly. The covenanters' were uniformly 
 sustained. But it desei'ves to be remarked, that no objections 
 were ever started against their moral characters; they chiefly 
 rested upon points of form, which, when parties run high, are 
 in common, pretty easily got over to attain an end. 
 
 At length the declinature of the bishops was read; they re- 
 fused to acknowledge the assembly as a competent tribunal; — 
 from the choice of the commissioners having been chiefly di- 
 rected by a majority of laics ; from the presence of lay elders 
 a4 their meeting ; and from the absurdity of requiring aixh- 
 bishops and bishops, who are superior to other pastors, con- 
 trary to all reason and practice of the Christian church, to 
 submit to be judged by a mixed meeting of presbyters and 
 laics, convening without lawful authority of the church, and 
 of which the pidmate was not allowed to be moderator. In a 
 long but conclusive reply, the practice of admitting lay elders 
 to vote in the choice of commissioners, and to have a voice in 
 the decisions of the assembly, was shown to have existed from 
 the time of the reformation; * to have been exercised and ap- 
 
 * The early original registers of the church had been long a missing. It 
 was known they had been mutilated, and it was suspected they had been de- 
 stroyed. At the meeting of this assembly, to the great joy of the whole, 
 these important documents, which formed useful and authoritative guides in 
 their future proceedings, were discovered to be safe, and not materially de- 
 teriorated. Mr. Archibald Johnston, their new clerk, produced, at their 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 'i'tV 
 
 proved, even in those very meetings by which Episcopacy was 
 introduced, and under Episcopacy itself. But the assembly 
 founded their proceedings not on the acts of councils ; they 
 rested on the example of the apostles, in whose times there 
 were meetings of churchmen and laymen, and on the estab- 
 lished order of their own reformed church, where no superior 
 lords, archbishops, or bishops were known ; and in which, by 
 the second book of discipline it is ordained, that in all assem- 
 blies a moderator shall be chosen by common consent of the 
 whole brethren convened, nor was any constant moderator 
 ever mentioned before the usurpations of the prelates. Much 
 prolix reasoning upon both sides ensued, till, worn out with 
 the disputations, the moderator interposed, by stating the 
 question: — Whether or not this assembly found themselves 
 competent judges of the bishops, notwithstanding their de- 
 clinature ? 
 
 When he was about to put the vote, the commissioner 
 arose, and addressed them to the following effect: — " I should 
 have perhaps continued a little longer with you, if you had 
 
 third sederunt, five books, which, with the two he had received from Mr. 
 Sandilands, their fonner clerk, were, he said, sufficient to make up a perfect 
 register of the church from the reformation. He informed the assembly, that 
 the first two contained the acts of the assembly from the reformation to the 
 year 1572, and were signed by Mr. John Gray, their clerk; the third con- 
 tained the acts of assembly from that to the year 1579, except that a few 
 leaves, from the 22d to the 27th, which contained archbishop Adamson's 
 process, were torn out; the fourth contained the acts of assembly from the 
 year 1586, to the year 1589, and were written and signed on the margin by 
 Mr. James Ritchie, and Mr. Thomas Nicolson, clerks successive; and the 
 fifth and greatest vol. contained the acts of assembly from the year 1560, to 
 the year 1590, and was margined by the hand writ of the assembly clerks; 
 and farther he informed the assembly, that he received the first from Alex- 
 ander Blair, writer, who was first servant [secretary or clerk] to Mr. Robert 
 Winram, depute clerk to the modification of stipends, and succeeded him in 
 that office, under Mr. Thomas Nicolson, clerk to the assembly; the fifth he 
 had only a loan of from a minister. When the moderator proposed to au- 
 thenticate these registers, Mr. John Row told them he had in his hand a copy 
 of the book of polity, subscribed by Mr. James Ritcliie, which would prove 
 his hand writing ; and Mr. Johnston added, he had the original book of pol- 
 ity written on Lombard paper, which would confirm it. — Journal of the 
 Assemb. MSS. Stevenson, vol. ii. p. '194. 
 
480 HISTORY OF SCOIXANU. 
 
 not fallen upon a point which doth enforce my deserting you. 
 You are now about to settle the lawfulness of this judicatory 
 and the competency of it against the bishops whom you have 
 cited thither, neither of which I can allow, if 1 shall discharge 
 either my duty toward God, or loyalty toward my gracious 
 master. This is a day to me both of gladness and grief; 
 gladness in having fulfilled his majesty's promise, in calling 
 together this assembly, and in having seen it meet, and that 
 I shall now, in his majesty's name, make good to you all his 
 most gracious offers in his royal proclamation; — of grief, in 
 that you, who have called so much for a free assembly, and 
 having one, most free in his majesty's intentions, granted you, 
 have so mangled and marred the matter, that there is not 
 the least shadow of freedom to be discerned in this your meet- 
 ing; but his majesty's sincere intentions being to perform, in 
 a lawful assembly, all he hath promised in his gracious pro- 
 clamation, if you find out a way how these things may pass, 
 and be performed even in this assembly, such as it is, and yet 
 his majesty not made to approve any way the illegalities and 
 nullities of it, I am, by his majesty's command, ready to do 
 it, and content to advise with you how it may be done." 
 
 After this, he ordered the king's concessions, as they had 
 been formerly proclaimed, to be read, and having taken in- 
 struments, that by producing and signing them, he had made 
 his majesty's intentions known, but that in so delivering and 
 acknowledging them, the lawfulness of the assembly was not 
 acknowledged. 
 
 When the clerk had done reading, the commissioner re- 
 sumed : — He regretted that he could not go on with them, 
 while ruling elders were permitted to sit, and ministers 
 chosen by laymen were commissioners ; — uttered a sharp in- 
 vective against the manner in which the bishops had been 
 cited, and proposed in conclusion:^ — " If you will dissolve 
 yourselves, and amend all your errors in a new election, 
 I will, with all convenient speed, address myself to his maj- 
 esty, and use the utmost of my intercession with his sacred 
 majesty, for the indiction of a new assembly, before the meet- 
 ing whereof, all these things now challenged may be amended. 
 If you shall refuse this offer, his majesty will then declare to 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 481 
 
 the whole M'orld that you are disturbers of the peace of this 
 church and state, both by introducing of lay elders against 
 the laws and practices of this church and kingdom, and by 
 going about to abolish Episcopal government, which, at this 
 present, stands established by both these said laws." 
 
 The moderator professed, on the part of the assembly, the 
 sincerest loyalty to the king. It v/as the way in which they 
 bad walked in time past, had been the glory of the reformed 
 churches, and they accounted it their glory, in a special man- 
 ner, to give unto kings and magistrates what belongs to their 
 places. The assembly havmg been indicted by his majesty, 
 and consisting of such members regularly authorized, as by 
 the acts and practices in former times, had a right to repre- 
 sent the church, they considered themselves a free assembly; 
 and he trusted that whatsoever business might be brought 
 before it, would be so managed as to evince that all things 
 were conducted according to the law of God and reason, and 
 they hoped that when his majesty had the truth told him, he 
 would rather approve than be displeased with their proceed- 
 ings. He then asked if he should again put the question: — 
 Whether they were competent to judge the bishops ? But the 
 commissioner urged that this might be deferred. " Nay, with 
 your grace's permission, that cannot be," said the moderator; 
 " for it is requisite that it be put immediately after the declin- 
 ature." Then, said the commissioner, it is requisite I should 
 be gone. The moderator, lord Loudon, and the earl of 
 Rothes, entreated him to stay, and, acknowledging that he 
 had done them a great favour in procuring the assembly, beg- 
 ged that he would not desert it now that it was constituted, or 
 by protestation attempt to fetter their deliberations. Hamil- 
 ton, affected to tears, appealed to God that he had laboured 
 as a good Christian, a loyal subject, and kind countryman, 
 for the good of the Scottish church, and that there was noth- 
 ing within the bounds of his commission th-at he would not do, 
 but lamented his inability to bring matters to such an agree- 
 able conclusion as he wished. Some further reasoning en- 
 sued, which he stopped, by requesting the moderator to close 
 the meeting by prayer; but this being refused, he renewed 
 his protestations, in the name of his majesty, of himself, and 
 
 VOL. III. 3 p 
 
482 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of the lords of the clergy, that no act there should imply the 
 royal consent, be binding upon any of the subjects, or preju- 
 dicial to any of their interests. He dissolved the assembly in 
 the king's name, and forbade their further proceedings. 
 
 Rothes, who had come prepared, presented a protest, which 
 was read while the commissioner and council were in the act 
 of withdrawing; Arygle only remained behind to hear the 
 reasonings. From the assembly the marquis proceeded to 
 hold a council, in which he expressed his vexation at the un- 
 easiness and sorrow which this breach would occasion to the 
 king, and how anxious he was to have prevented it; but their 
 rebellious conduct had extorted what was done. He therefore 
 exhorted them to remain steadfast, and discharge their duty to 
 their king, assuring them they should eventually be no losers; 
 yet, notwithstanding, he durst not produce the proclamation 
 for dissolving the assembly, so little could he depend upon 
 those from whom he naturally ought to have looked for 
 support. In the evening, however, he ascertained their in- 
 clinations, and next morning obtained several of their sig- 
 natures ; after vvhich, he ordered it to be published with 
 the accustomed formalities, discharging all pretended com- 
 missioners,* and other members of the said assembly, from 
 all farther meeting and convening, treating and concluding 
 any thing belonging to the said assembly, under the pain of 
 treason. This also was met by a protest, declaring that: — If 
 the commissioner's grace should depart, and leave the church 
 and kingdom in its present disorder, notwithstanding his dis- 
 solution, it was both lawful and necessary for the assembly, 
 indicted by his majesty, to sit still and continue their meeting 
 till they had tried", judged, and censured all the bygone evils 
 and their authors, and provided a solid course for continuing 
 God's truth in the land with purity and liberty, according to 
 his word, their oath, the confession of faith, and lawful con- 
 stitutions of the church; and farther, that they, by the grace 
 
 * The earl of Rothes, in the assembly, had made use of the term, " pre- 
 tended" bishops. In the proclamation, the commissioner applies the same 
 epithet to the commissioners of the assembly. The spirit of irritation, vvhich 
 subsisted on both sides, is perhaps marked, in these little apparently trifl- 
 ing matters, more distinctly than in {jreater occasions. 
 .50 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 483 
 
 of God, would sit still and continue, till after the final settling 
 and conclusion of all matters, the assembly were dissolved by 
 common consent of all the members thereof. And this 
 resolution they justified by the original constitution of the 
 Scottish church, which they asserted his majesty had revived 
 and recognised, by subscribing the confession of faith made 
 in the years 1580-90 ; and also by early precedent, when the 
 assemblies had exercised a similar right. " The king's .maj- 
 esty, his commissioner, and privy council," said they, '■' have 
 urged numbers in this kingdom to subscribe the confession 
 of faith made in the years 1580-90, and so to return to the 
 doctrine and discipline of the church as it was then professed ; 
 but it is clear, by the doctrine and discipline of this church, 
 contained in the book of policy, then registrated in the books 
 of assembly, and subscribed by the presbyteries of this church, 
 that it was most unlawful in itself, and prejudicial to those 
 privileges which Christ in his word hath left to his church to 
 dissolve or break up the assembly of this church, or to stop 
 their proceedings, in making acts for the welfare of the 
 church, or execution of discipline against offenders, and so 
 to make it appear that religion and church government should 
 depend absolutely upon the pleasure of the prince." " The 
 assemblies of this church," it was farther contended, " had 
 enjoyed the freedom of uninterrupted sitting, notwithstanding 
 any countermand, as was evident by their records, particu- 
 larly by the register of the general assembly holden 1582, 
 which being charged with letters of horning, by the king's 
 majesty's commissioner and council, to stay their process 
 against Mr. Robert Montgomery, pretended bishop of Glas- 
 gow, or otherwise to dissolve and rise, did, notwithstanding, 
 show their liberty and freedom, by continuing to sit still, and 
 going on in that process to the end thereof; and thereafter, 
 by letter to his majesty, did show clearly how far his majesty 
 had, upon misinformation, prejudged the prerogative of Jesus 
 Christ, and the liberties of this church, and did enact and 
 ordain that none should procure any such warrant or charge, 
 under the pain of excommunication. And now," it was add- 
 ed, " to dissolve, after sO many supplications and complaints, 
 after so many reiterated promises, such long attendance and 
 
HISTORY OF SCOILAND. 
 
 expectation, and so many references of processes from pres- 
 byteries, when the assembly had been publicly indicted, 
 formally constituted, and had sat seven days, were to offend 
 God, contemn the subjects' petitions, deceive the hopes which 
 liad been raised of a redress of the calamities of the church 
 and kingdom, multiply the combustions of the church, make 
 every man hereafter despair of ever seeing religion establish- 
 ed, innovations removed, the subjects' complaints respected, 
 or the offenders punished with consent of authority, and thus, 
 by casting the church loose and desolate, abandon all to ruin. 
 Placed in a very trying situation, the marquis of Hamil- 
 ton's conduct v>^as exposed, as all unsuccessful statesmen's in 
 troublous times is, to blame, both from those he attempted 
 to support, and they whom he opposed. The Scottish Epis- 
 copalians accused him of holding intelligence with the oppo- 
 site party, and of encouraging them in their opposition. * 
 This charge vias evidently groundless. Perhaps it would not 
 be equally easy to acquit him of having been a party with the 
 king, in attempting to deceive the covenanters. Moderate 
 men, who were not then acquainted with his secret instruc- 
 tions, blamed his precipitancy in urging the bishops' declin- 
 ature, and forcing the assembly to proceed at so early a per- 
 iod to consider the question respecting their powers to sit in 
 judgment upon them, which, they thought, he ought to have 
 
 * Guthi-ie has, besides, a charge against Hamilton, that, at his first inter- 
 view with the covenanters, he behaved distantly and harshly j but when they 
 returned to him on the morrow, they found him more plausible in treating 
 with them, even before the privy council ; and having conveyed them through 
 the public room, he drew them into a private gallerj', where he expressed 
 himself as follows : — " My lords and gentlemen, I spoke to you before those 
 lords of council, as the king's commissioner, now, there being none present 
 but yourselves, I speak to you as a kindly Scottishman. If you go on with 
 courage and resolution, you will carry what you please; but if you faint, and 
 give ground in the least, yc/u are undone. A word is enough to wise men." 
 The whole of Hamilton's proceedings, whatever opinion may be formed of 
 them in other respects, evince unshaken loyalty to his master; and if he ei-r- 
 ed in any thing, it was in being too devoted to his will. This alone would 
 render the accuracy of the bishop's anecdote doubtful; but when we see him 
 afterward vigorously opposing men, in whose hands his life must have been 
 placed, if the story had been true, it renders it more than doubtful. — Guth- 
 rie's Mem. p. 4 8, B:;illie's Letters, vol. I p. 116, 
 
' 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 485 
 
 delayed as long as possible, and could have done with little 
 difficulty, if he had only at first allowed them to examine 
 freely the books of con^mon prayer, the canons, and the doc- 
 trinal points of Arminianism, where, although all were agreed, 
 yet protracted discussion might have been encouraged, and 
 their final condemnation would have soothed the minds of 
 the most violent ministers, prevented that exasperation against 
 the prelates which their declinature produced; and if it had 
 not averted, might at least have softened the fall of ^the hier- 
 archy. 
 
 As nothing could prevail upon Hamilton to remain in the 
 assembly, the moderator, with admirable dexterity, turned 
 liis conduct, in leaving them, into a strong motive for their 
 continiung to go forward, and not desert the cause of their 
 master. " Seeing," said he, as the marquis left the room, 
 " we perceived his grace, my lord commissioner, to be zeal- 
 ous of his royal master's commands, have we not good reason 
 to be zealous toward our Lord, and to maintain the privilep-es 
 of his kingdom ? You all know that the v/ork in hand hath 
 had many difiiculties, and yet hitherto the Lord hath helped 
 and borne us through them all ; therefore it becometh not us 
 to be discouraged at our being deprived of human authority: 
 but rather that ought to be a powerful motive to us to double 
 our courage in ansAvering the end for which we are convened." 
 When he had spoken, lord Loudon, and a number of the 
 members encouraged each other, by mutual exhortations, to 
 remain firm. Their purpose was fixed, by what appeared to 
 them as an evidence of the divine favour, and what certainly 
 operated in securing the countenance of man. At a moment 
 v.hen they were afraid lest several would have turned back, 
 and when the defection of any one leading member m^ight 
 have been ruinous, numbers were induced to declare them- 
 selves, and join openly with them. 
 
 At a momentous crisis, soraetimics a little incident has a 
 wonderful effect, and one such on this occasion produced the, 
 most lively sensations of joy. Lord Erskine, son of the earl 
 of Marr, a young nobleman of great promise, deeply affected 
 Vv-ith the addresses he had heard, came into the midst of the 
 assembly, and with tears besought that he might be aujniUtd 
 
486 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 to subscribe the covenant, lamenting that he had so long 
 omitted this sacred duty, and his example was followed by 
 several others. But what confirmed, if it did not originate, 
 their resolution not to disperse, was the approbation of a 
 considerable part of the privy council, and the open accession 
 of the earl of Argyle, the most powerful nobleman in the 
 west, who was imagined at the time to stand high in the 
 king's confidence, * and whose presence, after the commis- 
 sioner had left them, some affected to consider as an oblique 
 hint, that the meeting had the secret approval, although not 
 the public sanction of government — a presumption which sat- 
 isfied the loyal scruples of a few, half hesitating brethren. 
 
 The departure of the commissioner, was followed by a 
 free and unrestrained examination of all the evils of which 
 they complained, and of all their causes. The six assemblies, 
 since the accession of James to the English crown, which 
 were considered the sources of the whole dissensions in the 
 church and state, were declared null and void, upon rea- 
 sons which even Hume is constrained to allow were " pretty 
 reasonable." f From the assembly held at Linlithgow, 1606, 
 eiffht of the most able ministers of the church, had been 
 forcibly detained. The acts were sent down framed from 
 court, and one, ordaining bishops to be constant modera- 
 tors of general assemblies, which never was voted, was in- 
 serted among them. In that held at Glasgow, 1608, nobles 
 and barons were sent thither to vote by the simple mandate 
 of the king, besides four or five members from several pres- 
 byteries, and thirteen bishops who had no commission. A- 
 gainst the assembly of 1616, at Aberdeen, notorious bribery 
 was urged, and a shameful substitution by the primate, of 
 sixteen of his own creatures, in the room of sixteen lawfully 
 chosen commissioners. For the meeting at St. Andrews, 
 no one contended, its illegality stood undisputed. But the 
 objections brought against that of Perth, 1618, were the most 
 numerous, as it had been the most noxious. Its indiction was 
 pronounced informal. The archbishop of St. Andrews as- 
 sumed the chair as moderator without election. Members 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 119. f History of England, vol. vi. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 4S7 
 
 regularly chosen, but suspected of being opposed to court 
 raeasures, were struck out, to make room for others who were 
 expected to be more pliable, and the manner of putting the 
 vote, in which an improper use was made of the king's name, 
 to influence the members, was of itself oppressive, and suffi- 
 cient to annul their proceedings. 
 
 The moderator, in pronouncing the decree of the assembly 
 against the six corrupt convocations, expressed his hope that 
 they would now only remain as so many beacons, that the 
 church might not again strike on such rocks. As a natural con- 
 sequence of these assemblies being declared illegal, and their 
 proceedings annulled, all the oaths of conformity imposed by 
 the bishops became also illegal, and the ministers from whom 
 they had been exacted at their admission, were released from 
 their obligation. Presbyteries, and other church judicatures, 
 who had been unjustly and violently obstructed by the bish- 
 ops, were restored to their original rights. The articles of 
 Perth, and whatever these assemblies had enacted, were re- 
 scinded, as contrary to the original Confession of Faith, by 
 which they were held to have been abjured ; but as this con- 
 fession had been taken in three different senses, they ordered 
 it to be subscribed anew, with an explanatory clause, in which 
 the abjuration was expressly affirmed, and the meaning in 
 which the covenanters understood it, unambiguously expres- 
 sed. The liturgy and canons were condemned, as imposed 
 without warrant from the church; the forms of ordination 
 and consecration, as introduced and practised without war- 
 rant either of civil or ecclesiastical authority ; and the high 
 court of commission, as having neither act of assembly nor of 
 parliament in its favour, and regulated by no law, human or 
 divine. 
 
 Episcopacy thus abolished, and the crooked, oppressive, 
 false, and disingenuous policy of two reigns entii'ely subvert- 
 ed, the pillars of the divine hierarchy Vv^ere tried and disposed 
 of. Two archbishops, and six bishops were excommunicated, 
 four were deposed, * and two, upon making humble submis- 
 
 * The bishop of Argyle had his sentence mitigated by an opportune witti- 
 cism. When it came to the voting, Mr. Alexander Carse, who was first called 
 on, answered, " It is said of one of the Roman consuls, that he v-'as so vigil- 
 
48S HISTORY Oi SCOTLAND. 
 
 sion, were only suspended from their ecclesiastical functions, 
 Tiie charges v/hich the assembly sustained, were Arminian 
 doctrines, superstitious, and oapal innovations, illegal impos- 
 ition of oaths, tyranny and oppression, in suspending and de- 
 posing, for no cause but adherence to the principles of the 
 Scottish church, some of her worthiest members. The im- 
 putations against their private conduct, were an utter disre- 
 gard of decency, and a relaxation of morals, which had been 
 sufficient in less scrupidous times, to have authorized their 
 being removed from stations of such high responsibility, as 
 that of teachers of religion. While gloomy, morose, unsocial 
 fanaticism is urged and reiterated against the covenanters, 
 and even alleged as an excuse for the excesses of their op- 
 ponents, it is unfair to conceal the flagrant improprieties of 
 the Episcopalian clergy, which had no inconsiderable effect 
 in rendering the others more scrupulous and precise in the 
 indulgence of even innocent amusements ; the irregularities 
 of the former, produced, perhaps, by a terror of being esteem- 
 ed puritans, naturally created a necessity for the latter avoid- 
 ing even the appearance of deviating from the most rigid line 
 of propriety. 
 
 To prevent the recurrence of that most deadly of all the 
 Episcopalian sins — and v/hich is not only inconsistent with, 
 but diametrically opposite to both the spirit and the letter of 
 a Christian pastor's commission — civil power in churchmen, 
 an act was passed against ministers holding any seats in par- 
 liament, exercising the office of justice of peace, lords of ses- 
 sion, or judges in the exchequer. But, as by this deed, min- 
 isters were excluded from the estates, the elders who were 
 members, were solicited to exert themselves to obtain a rati- 
 fication in parliament, of the acts of this assembly. Before 
 closing the assembly, they asserted their right to meet by 
 appointing their next session to be at Edinburgh, on the third 
 Wednesday of July, 1639, but at the same time, reserving 
 the right of the king, by ordaining, that if it should please 
 
 ant, that he slept none all his time, for he entered on his office in the morn- 
 ing, and was put from it ere night. So it was with this prelate, for he was 
 not well warmed in his cathedral chair, till both chair and cushion were taken 
 from him, therefore, depose him only." 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 4S'J 
 
 his majesty to indict a general assembly, all presbyteries, 
 universities, and burghs, should send their commissioners to 
 keep the time and place he should appoint, and it appears 
 evident, notwithstanding all that had occurred, that the king 
 might have retained unimpaired, his civil power and pi'ero- 
 gative, according to the constitution of the state, could he 
 only have been content not to have forced upon their con- 
 sciences, a form of church government, and a ritual abhorrent 
 to the nation, had he complied with what it is never justifia- 
 ble, and seldom safe for a king to refuse, the universal prayer 
 of a people, goaded to the verge of resistance by an imperious 
 party, who claimed the exclusive praise of loyalty, and abused 
 their sole access to the royal ear ; for the Presbyterians were 
 far from wishing to come to a rupture, and in their supplica- 
 tion which they presented to him, soliciting his sanction to 
 their acts, they entreat his compliance in language the reverse 
 of disaffection, and which their stubborn, inflexible opposi- 
 tion ought to have freed from the charge of sycophancy, or 
 insincerity. " We humbly beg," say they, " and certainly 
 expect, that from the bright beams of your majesty's coun- 
 tenance, shining on this your majesty's own kingdom and 
 people, all our storms shall be changed into a comfortable 
 calm, and sweet sunshine, and that your majesty's ratification 
 in the ensuing parliament, shall settle us in such a firmness 
 and stability in our religion, as shall add a further lustre 
 unto your majesty's glorious diadem, and make us a blessed 
 people under your majesty's long and prosperous reign^ which 
 we beseech Him who hath directed us in our affairs, and by 
 whom kings reign, to grant unto your majesty, to the admir- 
 ation of all the v/orld, the astonishment of your enemies, and 
 comfort of the godly." But Charles preferred the hollow 
 flattery, and the idle state of a few worthless prelates, to the 
 esteem, affection, and gratitude of such men, and rather than 
 give up a liturgy, at best of very equivocal utility, and a 
 hierarchy burdensome to the state, and hateful to the people, 
 he was willing to involve his kingdom in all the horrors of 
 civil war, and stake his life and his crown upon the issue. 
 
 The work of reformation thus thoroughly and unexjjected- 
 ly completed, the assembly, after having sat twenty-six days, 
 
i<90 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 rose triumphantly. " We have now cast down," said Hen- 
 derson, " the walls of Jericho, let him that rebuildeth them, 
 beware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite." To the heroic 
 patriotism of this assembly, Scotland owes much. The wis- 
 dom of their measures, was not less conspicuous than their 
 courage and their zeal. The leaders were always prepared 
 for every event, and the decided step they took in disi-egard- 
 ing the commissioner's orders to dissolve, was not less neces- 
 sary for their own individual safety, than it has been ultimate- 
 ly advantageous to their country. Had they dissolved with- 
 out razing the foundations of prelacy, it would not have been 
 long ere the fabric had been rebuilt, with greater caution 
 perhaps, but with more durability, and those seeds of liberty 
 which they watered, and which braved the storms of half a 
 century, ere they ripened into fruit, had probably never blos- 
 somed. Had Charles succeeded in effecting his purpose in 
 Scotland, in ruling there by his prerogative, England, tlivid- 
 ed as it was, would have been forced to bend under the yoke 
 of despotism, and Britain might have had yet to struggle for 
 rational freedom. The power of this assembly to annul what 
 liad received the sanction of parliament, has been questiuned. 
 A case of such imperious urgency would have justified them, 
 had they even done this. When all is at hazard, when for- 
 tune, liberty, and life are in peril, it is no time to search for 
 precedents. Self-preservation tells a man, to provide first 
 against danger, and afterward, he may search for precedents, 
 or ask for bills of indemnity ; but the assembly did not do 
 this, they annulled what they had a right to annul, the irre- 
 gular and illegal proceedings of their own assemblies, and if, 
 when they were found to be nullities, the acts of parliament, 
 which proceeded upon the supposition of their being regular 
 and according to law, fell to the ground, the blame must 
 attach to those who built upon the sand, not to those who 
 exhibited the frailty of the foundation. 
 
 After he left the assembly, the marquis set out for Hamil- 
 ton, whence, after depositing some of the bishops in a place of" 
 safety, he proceeded to Edinburgh, and reiterated his pro- 
 clamation, dissolving the assembly, which was attended with 
 the usual accompaniment of a formal protest. Vexed at the 
 
 59 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 491 
 
 lailure of his attempts, and worn out with mental anxiety and 
 bodily fatigue, the marquis was detained in Scotland for 
 some time by indisposition; but about the close of December 
 he set out for London, to exculpate himself to the king, to 
 learn the real state of the armament, and concert a plan of 
 operations for a contest, which appeared now inevitable. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Book V. 
 
 Xhe year 1639 is remarkable, in the history of Scotland, for 
 the commencement of hostilities between the kinfy and his 
 subjects. Charles, who had long looked forward to this issue 
 of his disputes, had his preparations in a formidable state of 
 forwardness ; his artillery was ready in June preceding, arms 
 to a considerable extent were commissioned from the conti- 
 nent, his fleet was equipped, and he had two hundred thou- 
 sand pounds in his exchequer. In the month of January 
 Hamilton arrived at Whitehall, and learned the intentions of 
 his majesty. He proposed to lead in person an army of 
 thirty thousand horse and foot, which was to assemble at 
 York, where all the nobility, with their attendants, were sum- 
 moned, under the pretence of repelling invasion. Berwick 
 and Carlisle were to be garrisoned ; the west coast invaded 
 from Ireland, by the earl of Antrim, who was to land in Ar- 
 gyleshire ; and the navy, with a land army of five thousand 
 men, was to co-operate with Huntly in the north ; first secure 
 that quarter, and then march south, while Charles advanced 
 by the east coast. 
 
 The king's armament had neither been so secretly, nor 
 could it so speedily be executed, as not to communicate alarm 
 to the Scots, whc'Se leaders were too determined, and too 
 acute, to allow themselves to be either dismayed at its mag- 
 nitude, or taken unawares at its approach. It is impossible 
 to say exactly at what time they first began to entertain the 
 ideas of resistance, because the steps by which they were led 
 on, till they made their ultimate appeal to arms, arose so 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 493 
 
 gradually out of the circumstances in which they were placed, 
 that had it not been for their uncommon sagacity, and their 
 accurate intelligence, the king must inevitably have got the 
 start. They soon, however, received effectual pecuniary aid 
 fi'om an unexpected quarter, which enabled them to purchase 
 arms and ammunition. France and Holland had combined 
 against Spain, with the intention of seizing and dividing the 
 Low Countries, and were anxious to secure the neutrality of 
 England, whose maritime power they dreaded ; and Richlieii 
 sent D'Estrades to propose any terms to obtain this, and 
 even promised the assistance of French troops to aid him in 
 reducing his rebellious subjects : but Charles rejected the 
 proposals with disdain, and told the ambassador who made 
 them, that he had a squadron ready, and, if necessary, would 
 cross the sea with fifteen thousand men to prevent the con- 
 quest; — thanked the French minister for his offer, but said, 
 he had no need of any foreign assistance to reduce his sub- 
 jects, his own authority, and the laws of England, were suf- 
 ficient to compel them to do their duty. 
 
 Richlieu's pride was irritated, and, in revenge, he de- 
 termined to avail himself of the troubles in Scotland, for jriv- 
 ing employment to Charles. In a letter to D'Estrades he 
 tells him, " before the end of twelve months, the king and 
 queen of England shall repent having refused the proposal 
 which you made them from his majesty, and, if God blesses 
 our undertaking, his majesty will have no great reason to 
 regret that England has rejected his offers." A hundred 
 thousand crowns were in consequence furnished by the car- 
 dinal, who employed his almoner. Chambers, to reside as a 
 secret emissary in Scotland; these were employed on the 
 continent in the purchase of military stores, which were clan- 
 destinely imported by the Scottish merchants. 
 
 Alexander Leslie, who had gi'eatly distinguished himself 
 in Gustavus' service, was invited by his chief, the earl of 
 Rothes, to return to his native land, and assist in its defence; 
 and by his influence the most experienced officers, who had 
 been trained under the same great leader, were recalled to 
 instruct their countrymen in the use of arms. There was, 
 however, one main obstacle to be overcome ; the nation had, 
 
1.94 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 during a long pei'iod, been unaccustomed to warfare, and 
 now, when it appeared in the form of a contest with their 
 king, a number were ready to cloak their want of military 
 ardour under the plea of the duty they owed to their sover- 
 eiffn, and not a few of those who had conformed were im- 
 pressed with the notions of passive obedience, which the pre- 
 lates so constantly rung in their ears; they conceived it might 
 be just and necessary to resist the monarch, so long as this 
 could be done in the assembly or the estates, but were not 
 equally persuaded of the propriety of doing so in the field; 
 but when the king's proclamation appeared, denouncing them 
 as traitors ready to invade England, no man could longer 
 remain neuter, and it became necessary their minds should 
 be resolved. 
 
 A manifesto was ordered by the tables, to be drawn up 
 and circulated, entitled, A State of the Question, and. Rea- 
 sons for Defensive War. In it they say the question is not 
 about obeying his majesty; this they never denied. They 
 cheerfully acknowledge their duty to honour, obey, and fear 
 the king; but they cannot see their obligation to obey evil, 
 and wicked superiors, in an evil thing; for if God command 
 one thing, and kings another, they consider it their duty to 
 obey God rather than man. Nor is the question about in- 
 vasion; this, they add, our consciences abhor, and our ac- 
 tions deny. It is simply about our own defence and safety, 
 and here there is a wide difference between a kinff residing 
 in the kingdom, attentive to the statements of both parties, 
 and correctly informed about the subject of dispute — and 
 a king residing in a different country, listening only to one 
 party, and misinformed by our adversaries. Another 
 weighty difference is, between private persons, or a few 
 subordinate magistrates taking arms for resistance, and a 
 whole nation standing to their own defence, between a peo- 
 ple rising against law and reason, that they may throw off 
 the bonds of obedience, and a people holding fast tlieir alle- 
 giance to their sovereign, and supplicating for religion and 
 justice. The question then resolves itself into this: — In such 
 a case is defensive war lawful? or ought the people to defend 
 themselves against extreme violence and oppression, bringing'' 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 495 
 
 Utter ruin and desolation on the kirk and kingdom, upon 
 themselves and their posterity? Thcat they ought, they de- 
 duced from a variety of reasons; — from the very absurdity of 
 absolute sovereignty, and unlimited authority residing in 
 princes ; from the end of magistracy instituted for the good 
 of the people, and their defence; the body of the magistrate 
 is mortal, but the people, as a society, is immortal, and 
 therefore it were a direct overturning of all the foundations 
 of policy and government, to prefer subjection to the prince, 
 to the preservation of the commonwealth, or to expose the 
 public, wherein every man's person, family, and private estate 
 are contained, to be a prey to the fury of the prince, rather 
 than by all our power to defend and preserve the common- 
 wealth ; from the law of nature, as mariners and passengers 
 may save themselves, by resisting him who, sitting at the 
 helm, would drive the vessel against a rock, or by hindering 
 the prince him.self, not only by supplication of mouth, but 
 by strength of hand, to govern the ship to their certain ship- 
 wreck ; from examples in scripture ; from the mutual contract 
 between king and people, acknowledged in the coronation 
 ceremony; from acts of parliament, ratifying the authority of 
 the three estates ; from their own civil and ecclesiastical his- 
 tory ; and from the covenant lately sworn and subscribed, 
 binding us to defend the king's majesty's person in defence of 
 the true religion, and to defend the true religion against all 
 persons whatsoever. 
 
 Nor were the pulpits silent; the necessity of self-defence 
 was insisted on, the dangers that threatened religion and the 
 commonwealth, were strongly pointed out, and the sin of 
 standing back in the day of trouble, was threatened v/ith the 
 curse pronounced against those who came not to the help of 
 the Lord against the mighty. Their arguments and exhorta- 
 tions were not ineffectual; a spirit of enthusiastic zeal for the 
 cause was universally excited, and every where men pressed to 
 enlist under the banner of the covenant. But while endeav- 
 ouring to rouse the martial spirit of their countrymen, they 
 used every means to assure the English nation of their ardent 
 desire for peace, and their avc! sion to the smallest acts of 
 hostility against them. In vain did the king interdict the 
 
496 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 publication of Scottish declarations, they were spread exten- 
 sively through the country, and a fellow feeling was excited 
 in the breasts of the Puritans, for men whose principles and 
 wrongs were so similar to their own. With their open avow- 
 al, of their intention to defend themselves against invasion, 
 the tables adopted the most vigorous and wise measures for 
 carrying their intention into effect; they not only attempt- 
 ed to secure the friendship of the people of England, by ex- 
 plaining to them their motives, but wisely rejected all foreign 
 assistance, as that which might have given them umbrage, 
 although they had heard that the king had entered into treaty 
 for some Spanish veterans from the Netherlands, of whose aid 
 he was only deprived by accidental circumstances. A su- 
 prertfe committee was appointed to reside at Edinburgh, with 
 full executive powers, and subordinate ones in every shire, 
 for consulting on its proper defence, and providing arms. 
 The commanders, who had served abroad, were distributed 
 throughout the counties, to instruct the officers, and exercise 
 the men, and every fourth man was ordered to be levied. 
 All expert smiths were put in requisition, for the fabrication 
 of musquets, carabines, pole-axes, Lochaber-axes, and hal- 
 berts, and magazines and beacons were established in each 
 shire.* A permanent body of two thousand foot were placed 
 
 * The following were the instructions for alarming the countr}' in case of 
 danger. " That no shire might want advertisement, it was thouglit fit that 
 beacons should be set up in all eminent places of the country, that so any 
 danger that appeared at sea, might be made known by the beacons running 
 along the country ; which beacons were a long and strong tree, set up with a 
 long iron pole across the head of it, carrying on it an iron grate for holding a 
 fire, and an iron brander fixed on a stalk in the middle of it, for holding a 
 tar barrel, and the manner of advertisement was this: — The first fire was 
 upon the ground, beside the beacon, on the sight whereof, all were to provide 
 themselves to stand to their arms, and set out watches to advertise others. 
 The next advertisement was by two fires, the one on the ground, and the 
 other on the large grate, on the sight whereof, all were to come out, first to 
 the rendezvous of their company, and then of their regiment, and if the dan- 
 ger was imminent, to the two former signs were added, that of the burning tar 
 barrel, and lest, through rain or mist, or the people being at rest, these bea- 
 cons should prove abortive of the end designed, the next adjacent gentlemen 
 were to warn all betwixt that and the next beacon, going out one way and 
 coming in another, Inst. No. 6. 
 
HISTOE"? OF SCOTLAND. 4<97 
 
 under Moni'o, as a seminary for training the rest of the coun- 
 try, and to be always ready, either to repress any sudden in- 
 cursion on the borders, or overawe any appearance of insub- 
 ordination among themselves, and for their pay, the nobles 
 borrowed from Mr. William Dick of Priestfield, afterward 
 provost of Edinburgh, 200,000 merks, and gave their joint 
 bond for that sum, till money could otherwise be raised. 
 Argyle undertook to maintain nine hundred men, for the 
 protection of the West coast from the Macdonalds of the 
 Isles, and the arrival of Antrim, their chief, from Ireland. 
 
 The king's forces, on the appointed day, assembled at York, 
 amounting to three thousand horse, and twenty thousand foot, 
 the command of which was intrusted to the earl of Arundel, 
 a nobleman of great family, but of no military experience. 
 The earl of Essex, who had seen considerable service, and 
 was extremely popular among the soldiery, was appointed 
 lieutenant general. The earl of Holland, said to be a favour- 
 ite of the queen, was general of the horse. In addition to the 
 funds in the exchequer, the clergy were called upon by Laud, 
 to contribute, and the Papists, by the influence of the queen, 
 came liberally forward to support his majesty in the Episco- 
 pal crusade. The Scots, though unwilling to commence any 
 warlike operations, yet, aware of the danger of leaving ene- 
 mies behind them, determined to secure their rear, before 
 they advanced to meet the invader. Huntly had begun to 
 arm in the north, the earls of Airly and Southesk in Angus, 
 and Douglas in the south; they therefore planned the surprise 
 of all the strong places not held by their friends. Edinburgh 
 castle had only a feeble garrison, and was ill supplied, but 
 when Leslie appeared before it, the captain refused to surren- 
 der, on which, after a short parley, a petard was brought to 
 the outer gate, which was immediately blown open. Axes 
 and hammers demolished the inner, and in less than half an 
 hour, the covenanters, had possession without the loss of a 
 man. 
 
 On the same day, Dunbarton was taken by stratagem. It 
 
 was well garrisoned and supplied, and the governor was 
 
 staunch to the opposite party, but being invited, or entering 
 
 without suspicion, the church of Dunbavton on a fi'st, acrom- 
 
 voT,. in, 3 R 
 
496 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 panied by the greater part of the soldiers, the provost of the 
 town, and Campbell of Ardincaple, took the whole prisoners, 
 and the few who remained on the rock, at the first summons 
 surrendered. * Traquair's residence at Dalkeith, was taken 
 possession of by Monro and 500 men, who found there the 
 arms and ammunition intended for Edinburgh castle, a consid- 
 erable quantity of provisions, and the regalia, which, in spite 
 of his denunciations of treason, they carried off in triumph, 
 and lodged in the fortress of the metropolis. The castles of 
 Tantallon and Douglas, belonging to the marquis, who was a 
 papist, were also both seized upon, and Carlaverock, protected 
 by the vicinity of Carlisle, and well m.anned and provided, was 
 the only strength of which they did not obtain possession. 
 
 In the north, where Huntly had collected a considerable 
 force, appearances were more threatening. Against him, there- 
 fore, Montrose and Leslie were despatched. They appointed 
 Turreff, a village in Aberdeenshire, north-west of Aberdeen, 
 as the place of rendezvous for all the adherents of the coven- 
 ant in that quarter, and soon found themselves at the head of 
 a considerable body of men. Huntly, who was informed of 
 the intended meeting, raised about two thousand five hundred 
 horse, and advanced to disperse them, but they were too well 
 posted to be attacked, and Montrose, who could not act with- 
 out Leslie, who happened at the time to be absent, they gazed 
 at each other, and v/ithout exchanging either courtesy or 
 blows, Huntly retired, and next day Montrose returned south. 
 The formidable array of Huntly at Turreff, demanded that 
 he should either be rendered incapable of mischief, or at- 
 tached as a friend, and the tables ordered their generals in- 
 stantly to re-assemble their army ; but Huntly had augment- 
 ed his forces, and taken possession of Aberdeen, which he 
 slenderly fortified with the assistance of the inhabitants, who 
 were almost all non-covenanters. His orders were, however, 
 to act entirely upon the defensive, until he should receive re- 
 enforcements from England, and for this purpose, he endeav- 
 oured to protract the time till their arrival, and pi'oposed to 
 Montrose, that he should remain on the south of the Gram- 
 
 * Baiilie, vol. i. i>. 159. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 499 
 
 plans, till it was ascertained whether tliere was any likelihood 
 of a treaty being concluded between the king and the coven- 
 anters, he pledging himself to remain quiet within the bounds 
 of his own lieutenancy. Montrose answered, he was ordered 
 by the general assembly to visit the college of Aberdeen, 
 which he intended to do, but in no hostile manner. 
 
 On the advance of Montrose, Huntly, who could not cope 
 with him, and who alleged that he was restrained by his orders 
 from fighting, retired homeward, and the doctors, and several 
 other high Episcopalians, fled to Berwick. After visiting the 
 college, in which only one professor was left, and demolishing 
 the fortifications, he proceeded to Inverury, where he pitched 
 bis camp, a,nd whence he sent to Huntly, requesting an inter- 
 view. To this Huntly agreed, and the way in which it took 
 place, is highly descriptive of the savage and suspicious man- 
 ners of the age and country. " The place of interview be- 
 tween Huntly and Montrose, was mutually agreed to be 
 Louiss, a country village, some five miles north of the coven- 
 anters' camp, and nine miles south of Strathbogie. There 
 were twelve gentlemen appointed to be on each side, armed 
 only with walking swords. Both parties kept the appoint- 
 ment, but before the parley, there was a gentleman deputed 
 from either side, to search the counter party for hidden arms. 
 Huntly afterward proceeded to the covenanters' camp, when 
 a pacification for the north was agreed upon, Montrose to 
 march south, and the marquis, agreeing not to disturb any of 
 the covenanters within his bounds, at the same time signing a 
 paper, in substance similar to the covenant, but yet so equi- 
 vocally written, that the historian of the House of Gordon, 
 very furiously accuses bishop Guthrie of falsehood, for assert- 
 ing that it has the smallest resemblance. In the paper Huntly 
 subscribed,* he obliged himself to maintain the king's au- 
 thority, together with the liberty and religion of the kingdom, 
 which, as he would interpret it to mean Episcopacy, liis own 
 persuasion, and they Presbytery as what they intended, it is 
 evident the partisans of each might with equal justice accuse 
 the other of being mistaken ; certain it is, however, that nei- 
 
 * Straloch MS. History of Gordon, 
 
600 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ther were satisfied, although both separated, apparently con- 
 sidering every thing as terminated. 
 
 Montrose returned to Aberdeen with the army, * and em- 
 ploying that species of argument, unfortunately too familiar 
 to all ruling parties, he imposed the covenant upon the town, 
 and the magistrates' subscription was accepted as an equiva- 
 lent for a contribution, which perhaps, it might have been 
 much more difficult to procure. While performing this pi- 
 ous service, Montrose invited Huntly to another conference, 
 and Huntly, on receiving a safe conduct, sealed by the gen- 
 eral, appeared at headquarters, where, after some preliminary 
 conversation, the marquis was addressed, " My lord, seeing 
 we are all now friends, will ye go south with us ?" He replied, 
 he was neither inclined nor prepared at the time, for such an 
 excursion. " Your lordship," said the gallant Montrose, 
 
 * Spalding gives a curious and particular account of this army, at their 
 entry into Aberdeen. " They were estimate to be about 9000 men, horse 
 and foot with their carriages; they had two cartons, or quarter cannons, fol- 
 lowing them, with twelve piece of other ordnance ; they might easily come to 
 Aberdeen that night, having daylight enough, biit they would not come, but 
 stentet their pavilions on the hill, and rested there all night. Upon the mor- 
 row, being Saturday 30th March, they came in order of battle, well armed, 
 both on horse and foot, each horseman having at least five shot, with a cara- 
 bine in his hand, two pistols, by his sides, and other two by his saddle ; the 
 pikemen in their ranks, with pike and sword ; the musketeers in their ranks, 
 with musket, staff, bandalier, sword, powder, ball, and match. Each company, 
 both of horse and foot, had their captains, lieutenants, ensigns, Serjeants, and 
 other officers and commanders, all for the most part in buff coats ; and in 
 goodly order. They had five colours or ensigns, whereof the earl of Montrose 
 had one, having the motto, " for religion, the covenant, and the country," 
 the earl of Marischal had one, the earl of Kinghorn had one, and the town 
 of Dundee had two. They had trumpeters to ilk company of horsemen, and 
 drummers to ilk company of footmen ; they had their meat, drink, and pro- 
 visions carried with them. The marquis family, when they were dwelling in 
 the town, had ribbons of a red, flesh colour, which they wore in their bats, 
 and called it the royal ribband. Mostly all in this army had blue ribbands, 
 called the covenanter's ribband. They entered Aberdeen about ten hours, 
 and marched to the Links directly, where muster being made, all men were 
 by sound of trumpet, in general Montrose' name, commanded to go to break- 
 fast, cither in the Links or in the town. The general himself, nobles, captains, 
 commanders for the most part and soldiers, sat down in the Links, and of 
 iheif own provision, with a servit on their knee, took breakfast. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 501 
 
 " would do well to go with us." The marquis perceiving his 
 aim, quickly answered, " My lord, I came here to this town, 
 upon assurance that I should come and go at my pleasure, 
 without molestation, but I saw by the manner in which my 
 lodging was guarded, that I was not left at liberty, and now, 
 contrary to expectation, ye would take me, and whether I 
 would or not, carry me to Edinburgh ; this, in my opinion, 
 seems neither fair nor honourable, however, my lord, give me 
 my bond whilk I gave you at Inverury, and you shall have an 
 answer." On which the bond was delivered up, then he said, 
 '"' I will go with you," and he and his eldest son, lord Gor- 
 don, were carried prisoners to Edinburgh, where they remain- 
 ed confined- in the castle till the treaty. Wishart, in his ro- 
 mantic history of Montrose, is at a loss to account for Huntly's 
 antipathy to his hero, even after he had changed his party, 
 except upon a principle of envy ; the foregoing narrative will 
 easily unravel the mystery, and shows that Huntly, without 
 being envious, might justly be suspicious, both of the honour 
 and promises of a man, whose own seal bore witness against 
 him. 
 
 Leith was an object of too great national importance to be 
 overlooked, and its fortification was undertaken with an en- 
 thusiasm equal to its importance. The ruins of the old works 
 yet remained, but Sir Alexander Hamilton, who acted as en- 
 gineer, abandoned the French lines, and traced out new, and 
 more modern ones, according to the then improved state of 
 the art. The first baskets of earth were carried by the noble- 
 men, the chiefs of the covenanters, and all ranks emulated 
 and encouraged each other in forwarding the labour; nor did 
 ladies of distinction disdain to excite by their example, the 
 more sturdy exertions of the men, in the transport of materi- 
 als. Night and day there was no intermission, and the port 
 speedily put in a respectable state of defence, secured the 
 capital from assault by sea. The towns along the coast of 
 Fife, were also hastily surrounded by batteries, on which 
 ship-cannon were mounted, and Inchkeith and Inchcolm alone 
 were neglected, and allowed to remain as points of rest for an 
 enemy entering the Forth. 
 
 Hamilton, to whom the command of the fleet, much against 
 
502 KISTOIiy OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 his inclination, was committed, received orders from the king 
 while he lay at Yarmouth roads, desiring him to sail directly 
 for the Frith of Forth, and endeavour to create some " awful 
 diversion," * but the troops he had on board were so misera- 
 bly trained, that out of about five thousand, scarcely two 
 hundred could fire a musket. As soon as he appeared, the 
 beacons were in a blaze, and in a short time, twenty thousand 
 defenders guarded the shores of the Forth. Leith being in- 
 accessible, he cast anchor in the roads, after sending a fruit- 
 less summons to the provost of Edinburgh, requiring the sur- 
 render of the castle, and of the port. His men, besides the 
 sea sickness, were afflicted with the smallpox, and he was forced 
 to land them on the barren islands, which the covenant- 
 ers had neglected to occupy. He next sent an order to the 
 town council, to publish a proclamation from the king, pro- 
 fessing great affection for religion, and promising to defend 
 it ; and to allow the covenanters all the benefit of his majesty's 
 and his commissioners' promises and offers, also, proffering a 
 gracious pardon to them, if they gave up his castles and forts, 
 laid down their arms and acknowledged his authority M'ithiu 
 eight days, but declaring all such traitors, as should not with- 
 in that space, comply with the terms and submit, and that 
 their estates should be given to their superiors or vassals con- 
 tinuing loyal, or contributing to suppress them. This order 
 the council declined to obey, and requested he would excuse 
 their refusal, as the estates Avere expected to meet in a few 
 days, in obedience to the royal mandate, when the paper 
 should be laid before them. With this he deemed it prudent 
 to comply, and wrote in the meantime to his majesty, inform- 
 ing him of the strength of the covenanters, and advising him 
 to treat. 
 
 When the members of the estates arrived in Edinbuj-gh, 
 they were met by a royal order, proroguing the parliament, 
 which they submissively obeyed, after having appointed gen- 
 eral Lesly commander-in-chief, with unlimited powei's, ac- 
 countable only for his conduct afterward to the ecclesiastical 
 and civil courts,f and likewise nominated lord Balmerino, 
 
 * Burnet's Mcai. p. 12]. f Baillic, vol. i. p. 166. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 503 
 
 governor of Edinburgli castle. A number of the noblemen 
 and gentlemen, however, who had assembled, approved of the 
 refusal of the magistrates to publish the proclamation, and 
 assigned their reasons in a letter to the marquis : — Because, 
 although it was an edict printed in a foreign country, and not 
 warranted by act and authority of the council, lawfully con- 
 vened within the kingdom, it yet denounced the penalty of high 
 treason against all such as would not accept the offers it con- 
 tained, " And your grace knows well," they add, " that by the 
 laws of this kingdom, treason and forfeiture of the lands, life, 
 ami estate of the meanest subject within the same, cannot be 
 declared, but either in parliament, or in a supreme justice 
 court, after citation and lawful probation, how much less of 
 the whole peers and body of the kingdom, without either 
 court, proof, or trial." They conclude, by requesting that 
 he would procure for them a free parliament, as the best 
 remedy for settling all their affairs, but in the interim, desire, 
 that he would point out some way in which their representa- 
 tions might reach the royal ear, as they were confident they 
 could prove that they were loyal and upright subjects, and 
 make it evident to his majesty and to the world, that their 
 enemies are traitors to church and state. 
 
 A negotiation was in consequence entered into, and pro- 
 tracted by Charles' desire, till he should hear of the advance 
 of the royal army to the borders. The inactivity of Ham- 
 ilton was ascribed, as he himself suspected it would be, to 
 a treasonable correspondence with the enemy, but settmg 
 aside the express orders of Charles, it is unnecessary to 
 look fartlier than to the force that he commanded for his 
 excuse, and for his absolute inability to do any thing de- 
 cisive. In the north there was no deficiency of untrained 
 men, and in the Frith, had all his soldiers been picked, they 
 were too few to have made any very serious impression, but 
 more honourable motives have been assigned for his aversion 
 to precipitate measures, his filial piety, and his affection for 
 his country. His mother, who was a zealous covenanter, had 
 raised some troops, whom she headed herself, and it was said, 
 had expressed the heroic resolution of putting her son to 
 death with her own hands, if he dared to land as an enemy ii:; 
 
501 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 his native country. His representations to Charles prevented 
 the noble lady's resolution, if she indeed formed it, from being 
 put to the test, he received orders to send two of his three 
 regiments to Holy Island, and not long after, was summoned 
 to headquarters himself. During his stay, he committed no 
 ravages upon his countrymen, although he discharged his 
 duty to his king, by interrupting the trade of Leith, and seiz- 
 ing and sending to the royal army, every munition of war, upon 
 \Thich he could lay his hands. What he could he did for 
 Aboyne, he gave him officers, but to men accustomed only to 
 obey their chieftains, and these chieftains unfit themselves to 
 command, and unwilling to delegate their authority, the best 
 officers could be of little service. A brief view of the com- 
 paratively unimportant affairs in the north at this period, will 
 evince the impracticability of any thing having been effected, 
 except a powerful, well disciplined force could have been sent 
 lo co-operate in that quarter. 
 
 The Gordons, dissatisfied with the imprisonment of their 
 chief, were restless and anxious to rise, but wanted a leader, 
 as lord Aboyne was in England, and the boys who were at 
 home were too young for service. On hearing, however, that 
 the covenanters' committee was to assemble at TurrefF, they 
 agreed that Sir John Gordon of Haddo, and Sir George Ogilvy 
 of Banff, should have the joint command, and that under them, 
 they would attempt to disperse the meeting. They advanced 
 about 900 strong, with two fieldpieces, and coming unexpect- 
 edly upon the village, their adversaries, who had first notice 
 of their approach from the sound of their trumpets, ran, but 
 without any order, to arms. A few muskets, and a shot or two, 
 from the artillery, were sufficient to disperse the crowd, who 
 fled in the utmost confusion, but with no great loss. This ac- 
 tion, known as the Trot of TurrefF, inspired their hopes, and 
 encouraged a body of the Highlanders to join them, and march- 
 ing to Aberdeen, they took possession of the town, where they 
 lived at free quarters upon the proselytes of the covenant. 
 While here enjoying themselves, they were desired by Gordon 
 of Straloch to return home, as having no commission from the 
 king, it would be difficult to vindicate their conduct. W^ith 
 this advice they were preparing to comply, when they learned 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. dOli 
 
 ibat the covenanters of the north, under the earl of Seaforth, 
 lord Lovat, the Dunbars, the Inneses of Moray, and the Grants 
 of Strathspey, were in arms against them, and that Montrose 
 was also preparing to attack. Environed by enemies, they 
 determined to crush their northern opponents, before the 
 more formidable southern foe could advance. With nearly a 
 thousand foot, and three hundred horse, they crossed the 
 Spey, and about siuirise, encamped on an eminence nearly 
 two miles from Elgin, where the enemy lay, amounting to 
 between two and three thousand horse and foot. A parley 
 ensued, in which it was agreed, that the one should not pass 
 south beyond the river, and the other returned home. The 
 Gordons immediately marched quietly back. 
 
 Meanwhile Montrose once more entered Aberdeen, with 
 an army of nearly four thousand horse and foot, and levied 
 from the citizens ten thousand merks, besides spoiling their 
 houses, devoux'ing or destroying their corn, and robbing the 
 fishermen of their salmon. In the country round, the meal 
 girnals were broken up, not a fowl left, and, " because the 
 lasses, in derision of the covenant, had knit blue ribbands 
 about their messen's craigs," not a single house dog was suf- 
 fered to live.* In vain did the Aberdonians remind the gen- 
 eral that they had taken the covenant. He had, unfortunate- 
 ly for their sincerity, intercepted some of their letters on his 
 march, in which they assured his majesty of their devotion to 
 his service. 
 
 The earl's stay was but short; he marched to attack the 
 strengths of the Gordons. The first he summoned was the 
 castle of Gight ; but Sir George, with lieutenant colonel 
 Johnstone, determined to defend it to the utmost ; and Mon- 
 trose, after battering it for two days, raised the siege in a 
 hurry, on hearing that Aboyne had arrived v/ith re-enforce- 
 ments in Aberdeen roads. 
 
 Aboyne, who had received a commission of lieutenancy 
 from the king, in a short time assembled an army of three 
 thousand foot, and five hundred horse, with wiiom he easily 
 retook Aberdeen ; after which, he proposed to attack the earl 
 
 * Spalding, vol i. p. 160. 
 VOL. Hi. 3 s ■ '- 
 
506 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Marischall, and then marching to Angus, join the earl of 
 Airly, and, as they had no money, to support themselves 
 in free quarters on the covenanters' lands. With this resolu- 
 tion they marched from Aberdeen along the coast, ordering 
 their vessels, with cannon and ammunition, to attend their 
 progress ; but a westerly wind having blown the vessels off 
 the shore, a possibility of which they had no conception. Gun, 
 an experienced officer sent to direct their movements, was 
 immediately suspected of treachery, because he had advised 
 transporting the heavy artillery by sea. All confidence in 
 their leader was now at an end, and every petty chief conceiv- 
 ed himself at liberty, if not to direct, at least to criticise the 
 operations of the army. In the neighbourhood of Stonehaven 
 the covenanters were advantageously posted on a hill south 
 of the village, and one Johnston proposed, that part of the 
 army should attack its front, while another, making a circuit 
 we-sterly, should throw themselves in their rear, and prevent 
 their retreat to Dunnotter, To this Gun objected, and his 
 treachery was considered as demonstrated; but the High- 
 landers, who never had faced cannon, when the general, after 
 much entreaty, allowed a skirmishing party to push forward, 
 justified the caution he had shown in avoiding an engagement; 
 at the first round they fled, and sought refuge in a moss, 
 nor could all Aboyne's efforts recal them to the field. In a 
 state nearly of mutiny, the army returned toward Aberdeen, 
 and after an ineffectual stand at the bridge of Dee, they dis- 
 persed. The unhappy city, alternately the prey of the par- 
 ties, again in Montrose's power, was fined sixty thousand 
 merks Sterling ; but was saved from threatened destruction, 
 by the annunciation that very night, of a treaty being signed 
 with the king, and that all hostilities were at an end. * 
 
 From York the royal army advanced with all the pomp 
 and circumstance of war, not as to uncertain combat, but as 
 to a bloodless triumph ; for it never once was imagined by 
 the king, or hinted by his flatterers, that the Scottish rebels 
 would dare to face him in the field ; but as he proceeded, the 
 
 * Spalding, tol. i. p. 176. History of the House of Gordon, vol. i. p. 282, 
 S12. Burnet's Memoirs, p. 112, 140. Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 66, 57. 
 59 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 507 
 
 unwelcome truth broke in upon him, and what he was still 
 more unwilling to believe, he found that the English were 
 far from being hearty in the cause. Oaths and tests are al- 
 ways very uncertain securities for loyalty ; they in general 
 are more offensive to the truly honest subject, than efficacious 
 in retaining the doubtful; yet, in cases of dubity, and par- 
 ticularly where governments are conscious of having merited 
 distrust, they are multiplied with as much anxiety, and im- 
 posed with as much rigour, as if experience had never yet 
 discovered that their impolicy and weakness are in exact pro- 
 portion to their strictness and number. The king's coun- 
 cil, previously to the army's approaching Scotland, recom- 
 mended a protestation of loyalty to be made by both the 
 English and Scottish nobles who were with the forces. Lords 
 Say and Brook, in his majesty's presence, refused. If he 
 suspected their loyalty, they said, he might proceed against 
 them as he thought fit ; but it was against the law to im- 
 pose oaths or protestations upon them, when they were not 
 enjoined by law, and in that respect, that they might not 
 betray the common liberty, they would not submit to it ; and 
 he, fearing the infection of their example, ordered the two 
 lords to return home ; * the rest took the oath. 
 
 Successive messages of the capture of his castles, and the 
 increasing strength of the covenanters, reached Charles on 
 his march, and he learnt to form a pretty accurate estimate 
 of the difficulties he would probably have to encounter ere 
 the royal pavilion was pitched at Birks. f Influenced by 
 this intelligence, a milder proclamation was issued, in which 
 the charges of treason and rebellion were omitted, represent- 
 ing that the king's armament was only intended to secure 
 peace, and promising, upon a demonstration of obedience in 
 civil matters, that his majesty was ready to grant their just 
 supplications, but commanding them not to approach within 
 ten miles of the royal camp. The main army of the Scottish 
 had also arrived on the borders ; Leslie was at Dunglas, and 
 
 * ClarendoHj vol. i. p. 118. 
 
 f A plain on the south side of the Tweed, about tlirce miles distant from 
 Berwick. 
 
508 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Munro at Kelso; yet, still desirous of peace, and trusting 
 that this was a break in the sky, they immediately obeyed 
 the order, as a token of their loyalty, and a proof of their 
 repeated declarations being honest, that their preparations 
 were entirely defensive. 
 
 This svibmission was immediately construed into timidity, 
 and Charles, elated at the symptoms of terror, as he suppos- 
 ed, was, in an evil hour, persuaded to issue another procla- 
 mation, as if on purpose to dissipate any favourable impres- 
 sions that his former might have made, and to convince his 
 already suspicious subjects, that nothing but necessity would 
 ever make him sincere in his concessions. He required them 
 to submit within ten days, or, in case of disobedience, de- 
 clared them rebels ; set a price on the heads of their leaders ; 
 and offered their rents to the vassals and tenants who should 
 desert them, or to their feudal superiors, who continued loyal. 
 This proclamation was published at Dunse by the earl of 
 Holland, who entered the town at the head of two thousand 
 horse, without seeing an enemy, and was received by the few 
 v/ho remained in it with loud acclamations. On his return a 
 council of war was held, information having been received, 
 that a party of fifteen hundred Scots were at Kelso, and 
 thither it was resolved to send the general of horse to publish 
 the proclamation also. Next day, June 3d, he proceeded 
 with two thousand horse, and two thousand foot, to carry his 
 instructions into effect, and the day proving extremely sul- 
 try, the horse advanced, leaving the foot nearly three miles 
 in rear. When within sight of the enemy, he commanded 
 them to withdraw, to which they replied by sending him back 
 a similar charge ; and on exhibiting their force, although ex- 
 ceedingly inferior in cavalry, the English, panic struck, com- 
 menced a disorderly retreat, which, without a blow, was soon 
 converted into an ignominious flight. * 
 
 The Scots conceiving, by these proceedings on the part of 
 the king, that they were released from any obligation to re- 
 main inactive, and their general dreading lest any of their 
 scattered parties might be surprised, advanced himself from 
 
 * Rushv.orth, vol. iii. p. 956. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 509 
 
 Dunglas, and concentrated liis forces on Dunse-law, in sight 
 of the English, a strong position, which commanded the two 
 high roads to the caoital.* 
 
 On the same day the king had a grand review of liis 
 whole army, who, in high order and holyday garb, made a 
 gallant show on the parade, but scarcely were they dismissed, 
 when an alarm was given that the Scots were approaching, 
 and the whole camp was instantly thrown into the vitmost 
 confusion and dismay. Some of the principal officers ran to 
 the king's tent with the intelligence, and such was their con- 
 sternation, that they actually pointed out the movement to 
 his majesty; but the king taking his prospective glass, v.'alk- 
 ed out coolly to the river side, where he plainly discerned the 
 Scottish army encamped on the face of the hill, and turning 
 to his generals, asked contemptuously, " Have not I good 
 intelligence, that the rebels can march with their army, and 
 encamp within sight of mine, and I never hear it till their 
 appearance gives the alarm ?" This army, which the king- 
 estimated at sixteen thousand, was rapidly augmented to 
 twenty-four; for, on the first notice of the English incursions 
 at Dunse and Kelso, the general committee sent expresses 
 through the length and breadth of the land, representing the 
 fruitless efforts they had made for peace, announcing the 
 entrance of the enemy into the Merse, and exhorting all who 
 loved their country, their consciences, liberty, or life, to 
 hasten to headquarters. The whole country rose at the call, 
 and every disposable man south of the Tay, prepared, if 
 necessary, to swell the ranks of the covenanted band. "' It 
 would have done your heart good," said an eye-witness, with 
 a degree of national exultation at the animating spectacle, 
 " to have cast your eyes athort our brave and rich hills, as 
 oft I did, with gi'eat contentment and joy ; our hill was gar- 
 nished on the top, toward the south and east, with our mount- 
 ed cannon, M^ell near to the number of forty, great and small. 
 Our regiment lay on the sides; the crownersf lay in canvass 
 lodges, high and wide; their captains about them in lessev 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 1 75. 
 f Military commanJci'f of counties, somewhat equivalent to color.cl, 
 
510 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 ones; the soldiers about all in huts of timber, covered with 
 divot or straw ; they were all lusty and full of courage, the 
 most of them stout young ploughmen, great chearfulness in 
 the face of all." At each captain's tent door, was displayed 
 a colour with the Scottish arms, and an inscription in golden 
 letters, " For Christ's Crown and Covenant." Morninsr and 
 evening the soldiers were summoned to sermon by the drums, 
 and at dawn and sunset, the tents resounded with psalms, 
 prayers, and reading the Scriptures. The scene was like a 
 beatific vision to the ministers who accompanied the army, 
 " for myself," says Baillie, " I never found my mind in better 
 temper than it was all that time since I came from home; for 
 I was as a man who had taken my leave from the world, and 
 was resolved to die in that service without return." Nor 
 were the grosser comforts of the soldiers unattended to. At 
 first, from the inexpertness of their commissaries, their pro- 
 visions were not regularly brought in, but when they were a 
 little accustomed to it, the men were better fed than at home, 
 their regular pay was sixpence a day, a groat purchased a 
 leg of lamb, and the meanest among them had wheaten bread 
 regularly served out. The general kept open table daily at 
 Dunse castle, for the nobility and strangers, besides a long 
 side-table for gentlemen waiters, and as there had been an 
 extraordinary crop the preceding year, and all the people 
 were forward to offer supplies, the camp abounded in every 
 necessary of life. What formerly used to be the bane of 
 Scottish armies — the emulation of their nobles, was repressed 
 by the eminent wisdom of Leslie, their commander, who, 
 though diminutive, old, and distorted, received an implicit 
 submission their forefathers had seldom paid to their kings ; 
 and the men, daily exercised in the use of arms, acquired a 
 confidence in themselves, which the few days' training of hasty 
 levies can seldom impart, while the exhortations of their 
 ministers, and the uniform success which had hitherto attend- 
 ed them, were calculated to strengthen their faith in the di- 
 vine favour, and in the goodness of their cause. Every night 
 the general in person, accompanied by his lieutenant, rode 
 round the camp, and saw the guards set, nor did he omit any 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 5H 
 
 of the duties, which inspire soldiers with confidence in their 
 leader. 
 
 Although the Scois were amply provided for a short cam- 
 paign, their resources were not sufficient for protracted oper- 
 ations, * and now when their army was so formidable in num- 
 ber, discipline, and spirit, to have remained inactive, would 
 have been as imprudent as it was impossible. Unacquainted 
 with the real causes of Charles' forbearance, they imagined 
 his delay in attacking them, was to allow the present enthus- 
 iasm to subside, the fire-edge of the troops to be blunted, 
 their resources to be exhausted, while their trade by sea was 
 shut up, and all foreign supplies cut off, and then, by one 
 simultaneous attack from the Irish on the west, the Gordons 
 on the north, and himself in front, to accomplish their de- 
 struction, or force them to unconditional submission. They, 
 therefore discovered, and that not obscurely, their intentions 
 of approaching the English, who immediately began to in- 
 trench themselves, and with ths utmost trepidation, threw up 
 some advanced works on the north side of the Tweed. 
 
 The Scots had never intermitted their pacific overtures till 
 the late proclamation had apparently rendered all further at- 
 tempts upon honourable terms unnecessary. Charles, who 
 was now reduced to the necessity of treating, but was too 
 proud to make any direct advances, communicated obliquely, 
 through one of his pages, a hint that a humble supplication 
 for peace would not now be unattended to.f Waving all 
 punctilio, the covenanters immediately embraced the oppor- 
 tunity, and studious of consulting the king's honour, as \vell 
 
 * The circumscribed nature of their means may be gathered from the fol- 
 lowing statement. " We would have feared no inlack for little money for 
 some months to come. Merse and Teviotdale are the best mixed, and most 
 plentiful shires, both for grass and corn, for flesh and bread, in all our land. 
 We were much obliged to the town of Edinburgh for money. Mr. Harry 
 Pollock, by his sernions, moved them to shake out their purses. The garners 
 of the non-covenanters gave us plenty of wheat ; for we thought it but rea- 
 sonable, since they sided with those who put our lives and cur lands for ever 
 to sale, for the defence of [i. e. because we defended] our church and country, 
 to employ for that cause, wherein their interest was as great as ours, if they 
 would ]>e Scotsmen, a part of their rent for one year." Baillie, vol. i. p. 17". 
 t Baillie, vol. i. p. 1 78. 
 
512 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 as of humouring- his show of dignity, despatched the earl ot 
 Dunfermline, a young nobleman, not personally obnoxious as 
 a leader, with the following humble petition : — " That where- 
 as the former means used by us, have not yet been effectual 
 for receiving your majesty's favour, and the peace of this 
 your native kingdom, we fall down again at your majesty's 
 feet, most humbly supplicating, that your majesty would be 
 graciously pleased to appoint some few of the many worthy 
 men of your majesty's kingdom of England, who are well 
 affected to the true religion, and our common peace, to hear 
 by some of us, of the same affection, our humble desires, and 
 <:o make known unto us your majesty's gracious pleasure ; 
 that as by the providence of God, we are here joined in one 
 island under one king, so by your majesty's great wisdom 
 and tender care, all mistakings may be speedily removed, 
 and the two kingdoms may be kept in peace and happiness 
 under your majesty's long and happy reign ; for the which 
 we shall never cease to pray, as becometh your majesty's most 
 faithful subjects."* 
 
 The king, still attached to frivolous points of honour, hav- 
 inix trained so far as to make them first commence a neffotia- 
 tion, before proceeding, insisted that the proclamation which 
 had not been suffered to be read at Edinburgh, should now 
 be published, and sent Sir Edmund Verney back, with the 
 earl of Dunfermline, to see this done in the Scottish camp. 
 The Scottish nobles, on the requisition being made to them, 
 to read the king's proclamation at the head of the troops, 
 declined compliance, for the same substantial reasons which 
 they had adduced to the duke of Hamilton, for not allowing 
 it to be published at the Cross of Edinburgh, but in order to 
 comply with the letter of the order, it was read with much 
 reverence at the general's table, and commented on, so that 
 with the same kind of equivoque which had unfortunately 
 got possession of all their intercourse, the one side could say 
 they had considered the proclamation, the other, that it had 
 been read in the camp. 
 
 Charles was satisfied, and commissioners were mutually 
 
 * Riishworth, vol. iii. p. y5a. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 513 
 
 appointed to negotiate, but before the Scottish deputies were 
 suffered to enter the English camp, their constituents re- 
 quired a safeconduct under the king's own hand. * The 
 Scottish deputies were Rothes, Dunfermline, Loudon, Sir 
 William Douglas, A. Henderson, and Johnston. Those ap- 
 pointed on the king's part, were the general, the earls of Es- 
 sex, Holland, Salisbury, and Berkshire, and Mr. Secretary 
 Cook, to whom the king added Sir Harry Vane. The commis- 
 sioners were, however, scarcely met in lord Arundel's tent, 
 when the king came unexpectedly, and sat down among them, 
 telling the Scottish deputies, " That he was informed they had 
 complained that they could not be heard, and therefore, he 
 was now come himself to hear what they would say." The 
 earl of Rothes replied, it was their humble desire to be secur- 
 ed in their religion and liberties. But when Loudon began to 
 explain and vindicate their proceedings, the king, interrupt- 
 ing him, told him he would not admit of any of their excuses 
 for what was past, but if they came to sue for grace, they 
 should set down their desires particularly, in writing, which, 
 after consulting together apart, they did. They humbly pray- 
 ed, that the acts of the general assembly passed in Glasgow, 
 should be ratified in the parliament to be held at Edinburgh, 
 July 23d ; that all ecclesiastical matters should be determined 
 by assemblies of the kirk, and all civil by parliament, which 
 should be held at least once in two or three years ; that his 
 majesty's ships and land forces be recalled; that all persons, 
 ships, and goods arrested, be restored; the kingdom be 
 made safe from invasion ; and that all excommunicate per 
 sons, incendiaries, and informers against the realm, who, 
 out of malice, have caused these commotions for their ovv^n 
 private ends, may be returned to suffer their deserved cen- 
 sure and punishment." The king then desired them to assign 
 
 * Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 929. Balfovir's MS. Baillie, however, says, mucli 
 debate was mere about a safeconduct for the return of ours, [deputies,] yet 
 the stoutness of our men, the trust we put in the king's simple word, the 
 hope we nad, by the lads on the hill, to have fetched them in haste, or as good 
 for them, made us leave off that question. But the safeconduct which was 
 granted, was under the form of a new nomination of commissioners, and Bail- 
 lie might be misled by this subterfuge. 
 VOL. III. -St 
 
514 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 their reasons for their requests, on which lord Loudon on his 
 knees said, that they only asked to enjoy their religion and 
 liberties, according to the ecclesiastical and civil laws of 
 the kingdom. These demands were too reasonable to be re- 
 fused, and after two days' deliberation, he returned an answer, 
 equally oracular with any of his other communications: — 
 " That if their desires were only the enjoying of their religion 
 and liberties, according to the ecclesiastical and civil laws of 
 his majesty's kingdom of Scotland, his majesty doth not only 
 agree to the same, but shall always protect them to the ut- 
 most of his power, and if they shall not insist upon any thing 
 but that which is so warranted, his majesty will most willing- 
 ly, and readily condescend thereunto ; so that in the mean- 
 time, they pay unto him that civil and temporal obedience, 
 which can be justly required and expected of loyal subjects." 
 When they had received this answer, their deputies ex- 
 hibited to his majesty, a paper containing the reasons and 
 grounds of their desires, which he promised to take into his 
 consideration. The principal purport of these was a vindica- 
 tion of the GlasgOM' assembly, similar to the reasons for hold- 
 ing that assembly, [vide p. 457.] When they returned for 
 their answer on the Monday, they found his majesty, through 
 the influence of the bishops of Ross and Aberdeen, who had 
 been with him on the Sabbath, relapsed into all his high no- 
 tions of ecclesiastical supremacy. He demanded whether he 
 had not the sole indiction of assemblies ? whether he had not 
 a negative voice? and whether an assembly could sit, after he 
 had commanded it to rise? These questions, which the Scot- 
 tish commissioners very naturally thought had already re- 
 ceived practical answers, they treated now as only agitated to 
 drive time, till, either re-enforcements should arrive to the 
 king, or they were starved out; they therefore resolved to 
 bring the discussions at once to issue, by advancing within 
 cannon range of the royal camp ; but intelligence of their in- 
 tention having reached the king, on their next meeting, the 
 questions were dropped, and a royal declaration was emitted, 
 in which, although the late assembly at Glasgow was not 
 acknowledged, yet, whatever was promised by the commis- 
 
 J9 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 515 
 
 sioner, was to be strictly performed, * and besides, all eccle- 
 siastical matters were referred to the decision of another, to 
 be indicted at Edinburgh, on the 6th day of August, and all 
 civil affairs, to a parliament, to be summoned on the 20th, 
 to ratify its acts. Upon this declaration, accompanied by 
 verbal explanations, a treaty was concluded. The forces on 
 both sides to be withdrawn and disbanded ; the Scottish army 
 within forty-eight hours; the castles and forts, with their 
 ammunition, to be delivered up to the king, and the fleet to 
 depart with the first fair wind after; all fortifications to desist; 
 all forfeitures to be restored ; and all meetings or convocations 
 of the lieges, except such as are authorized by act of parlia- 
 ment to be discontinued. These articles were signed on the 
 18th June, and on the same day proclaimed, with the king's 
 declaration, in the English and Scottish camps, f In the lat- 
 ter they were accompanied by an information, in which, to 
 prevent mistakes, the expression, " pretended assembly," in 
 the declaration, was explained, as not intending that any per- 
 sons, by their acceptance of the declaration, should be thought 
 to disapprove or depart from the same, nor in any sort or 
 degree, disclaim the said assembly. :}; 
 
 While the treaty was in progress, all the discussions were 
 regularly submitted to the consideration of the tables, or their 
 representatives in the Scottish camp, and the ti'eaty, before 
 being concluded, underwent several modifications, only it was 
 allowed to be published as above — except in Scotland, where 
 the information accompanied it— for the sake of the king's 
 honour among foreign nations, but the verbal explanations 
 were taken down by the commissioners at the time, and com- 
 municated to the people, to reconcile them to what might 
 have otherwise appeared as a dereliction of principle, and a 
 
 * The commissioner had promised to annul the service book ; and that 
 all and every one of the present bishops and their successors, may be answer- 
 able, and censured accordingly from time to time, according to their demerits, 
 by the general assembly. 
 
 ■f On which occasion, an Englishman remarked jocularly, that the bishops 
 were discharged in Scotland, neither by the canon law, nor the civil law, but 
 by Duns law. 
 
 % Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 9 44. Burnet's Mem. pp. 140-1. Baillie, vol. i. 
 p. 182. 
 
516 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 surrender of the advantages of which they were already in 
 possession. The Glasgow assembly, they were not called 
 upon to disobey, and prelacy was referred to the decision ot 
 the next free meeting, where its fate could not be considered 
 doubtful. * These concessions were afterward disavowed on 
 the part of the king, and burned, as false, but as they are so 
 completely in consonance with the spirit of the treaty, and 
 were acted upon from the first by the Scots ; and as it is 
 acknowledged by Clarendon, that the most material parts 
 passed in discourse, and that although every body disavowed 
 the contents, nobody would take upon him to publish a copy 
 owned to be true, it is impossible to consider the Scottish 
 statement as otherwise than correct ; nor is it wjthin the range 
 of credibility, that Henderson, the moderator of the Glasgow 
 assembly, or Johnston, the clerk, would have put their hands 
 to a paper without explanation, disowning that meethig, and 
 themselves incur the curse of Hiel the Bethelite, which the 
 moderator had deprecated at the close of the assembly. But 
 the peace was hastily concluded, and a number of the Scots 
 
 * The verbal explanations, as published by the Scots. They objected, that 
 the preface and conclusion of his majesty's declaration was harsh, importing 
 as if they struck at monarchy, and his majesty's royal authority — The king 
 ansv/ered, that he had no such opinion of them, but required that the paper 
 should not be altered, for the sake of his honour among other nations; and 
 urged, that they would not stand with their king upon words, if so be the? 
 obtained. 
 
 They objected, that the declaration, containing an impeachment of the 
 assembly at Glasgow, as pretended, their accepting of the declaration, as a sat- 
 isfaction of their desires might be construed as a departing from the decrees of 
 that assembly — The king answered, that as he did not acknowledge that as- 
 sembly, farther than that it had registrated his declaration, so he would not 
 desire his subjects of Scotland to pass from the said assembly, or the decrees 
 thereof. 
 
 They objected, that his majesty's not allowing of the assembly for the rea- 
 sons contained in his several proclamations, is a declaration of his judgment 
 against ruling ciders, as prejudging the constitution of a free assembly — The 
 king answered, though hisi judgment be against lay elders, yet seeing that clause 
 is constructed as a prelimitation of the freedom of the assembly, he is willing 
 that it be delete. 
 
 His majesty's commissioner, having in the last assembly, contended against 
 ruling elders having a voice in assembly, and for his majesty's assessors having 
 voice tlierein, anJ that his majesty or his commissioner had a negative over 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 517 
 
 who possessed influence in the camp, and were respected by 
 all parties for their moderation, were yet to be convinced of 
 the little reliance to be placed " on the word of a king."* 
 They rested satisfied with the meaning their countrymen affix- 
 ed to the ambiguous passages in an agreement, in " which," 
 a noble historian says, " nobody meant what others under- 
 stood he did," and were unwilling too rigidly to examine what 
 they wished to believe. 
 
 There were, besides, other reasons, which made any imper- 
 fection in the treaty be overlooked. The English, notwith- 
 standing their secret assurances of friendship, showed no dis- 
 position to join cause with the covenanters, and had their 
 army been defeated, a sense of national pride might have 
 urged them to arms, to wipe away the disgrace.-]- There was 
 no intelligence from the north, and some of the Merse nobles 
 were beginning to get tired of so great an assemblage in their 
 neighbourhood, while others of the west, who were daily 
 hearing of the depredations committed by the Irish on their 
 coasts, were anxious to get home. Their camp accordingly 
 
 the assemblj', they wanted to be resolved what was understood by the words, 
 " free Assembly." His majesty, after requiring that the differences mentioned 
 might be remitted to himself, being informed that this was against the consti- 
 tution of the kirk of Scotland, agreed that the words, free assembly, in his 
 maiesty's declaration, did import freedom of judging in all questions arising 
 there, concerning constitution, members, and matters. 
 
 The declaration, bearing that no other oath be exacted from entrants, than 
 what is contained in the act of Parliament; as also, that the clause bearing, 
 that pretended bishops, d'c. shall be censurable by the general assembly, seem 
 to import the continuance of Episcopacy, which we cannot acknowledge, &c. — 
 The king answered, that being willing to leave these things to the determina- 
 tion of the assembly and parliament respective, he is pleased to delete both 
 these clauses. 
 
 It was with all humility urged, that if his majesty would comply with that 
 chief desire of his subjects, the quitting with, and giving up Episcopacy, his 
 majesty might depend on as cordial subjection as ever prince received — His 
 majesty answered, that having appointed a free genera! assembly, which might 
 judge of all ecclesiastical matters, and a parliament, wherein the constitutions 
 of assembly should be ratified, he would not prelimit nor forestall his voice. 
 
 There were other two objections, the one respecting the forts, &c. to which 
 the king made no reply ; the other with regard to forfeiture and restitution, 
 which he referred to parliament. Stevenson's Hist. vol. ii. pp. 744, 745. 
 
 * diaries' favourite mode of asseveration. f Baillie, pp. 182, 185. 
 
518 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 was broken up, their army disbanded, and the forts and cas- 
 tles delivered to officers appointed by the king. 
 
 Treaties cannot remove distrust, and where this exists, so 
 soon as the immediate necessities which have suspended its 
 operation cease, it often returns with double force, and if the 
 terms have not been substantially advantageous, they are read^ 
 ily quarrelled with, and easily broken. The one which had 
 been signed, settled nothing agreeably to the wishes of either 
 of the parties, and both, when they began to consider the 
 articles, were dissatisfied, on reflecting that so much expense 
 had been incurred, and so much preparation wasted for no 
 purpose, except that of allowing themselves to be duped by 
 one another. The covenanters imagined themselves over- 
 reached, in the surrender of the castle of Edinburgh, and 
 fortifications of Leith, with all their stores unconditionally, 
 especially, when they saw the fortress taken possession of by 
 general Ruthven, now lord Ettrick. They regretted, that their 
 army should have been disbanded, before they had received 
 complete security against the possibility of royal vengeance. 
 Charles was chagrined, at having been forced at the head of 
 his army, to grant so much to his rebellious subjects in arms, 
 and ere the ink was dry which had signed the treaty, their 
 mutual jealousies became apparent. The riotous disposition 
 manifested in the capital, * an accusation that the tables still 
 kept up their meetings, with a number of other petty com- 
 plaints, that marked the irritation of the royal mind, were 
 seized upon as excuses for the king's not presiding in the gen- 
 eral assembly, as he had promised.f Hamilton, when applied 
 to, to fill the situation of commissioner, declined the disagree- 
 able honour, and at his request, Traquair was appointed. 
 Fourteen of the leading covenanters were also sent for, to 
 
 * Lord Aboyne, and general Ruthven, were accused of insulting and quar- 
 relling with the covenanters in the streets; the covenanters were charged with 
 maltreating those of the opposite party, and the magistrates of standing aloof, 
 during the squabble. In one disturbance, Traquair was assaulted, his coach 
 very nearly overturned, and the white staff his servant carried before him, 
 broken. When he complained to the town council, another white stick, value 
 sixpence, was sent him, " so high rated they," as Burnet laments, " the af- 
 front put on the king, in the person of my lord treasurer." 
 f Burnet's Mem. p. 144. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 5119 
 
 attend his majesty at Berwick, to try what effect the smiles of" 
 royalty would produce upon them. Six attended, but of these, 
 only one — Montrose — was won. The king, who wished the 
 whole experimented upon, sent off an express for the rest, but 
 unfavourable rumours reaching Edinburgh, that this was a 
 trap laid to ensnare the chief men of influence, and send them 
 to London, the populace detained them by force. * Lindsay 
 and Loudon returned to offer an apology, but the king would 
 hear none, and his purpose or his fears being confirmed by 
 the flattering remonstrances of his courtiers, who dissuaded 
 him from trusting his sacred person among the mutinous 
 Scots, f he departed for England in the most melancholy 
 mood, brooding over his disappointed hopes, his tarnished 
 fame, and the means of getting rid of a treaty he was unwil- 
 ling to fulfil. 
 
 One only chance remained for preserving the peace of the 
 kingdom, and that was in the king's honestly performing 
 what he had, through his own precipitation, been forced to 
 promise. A few years would have restored to him the confi- 
 dence of his subjects, dissolved the association, and reduced 
 to its ordinary and peaceful level, the power of the nobles. 
 The ministers, by the usual and regular routine of govern- 
 ment, deprived of any pretext for interfering in civil affairs, 
 would have devoted their attention to the religious instruction 
 of their flocks, and exerted their influence on the side of the 
 power to which they owed their protection. To this his most 
 sincere friends advised him, but with this his wounded pride 
 would not allow him to comply. His instructions to the new 
 commissioner, were conceived in such a manner as he imagin- 
 ed would relieve his conscience from the guilt of falsehood, 
 v/hile he was practising with his subjects, a system of perfidi- 
 ous deceit. He — Traquair — v/as to allow the abolition of 
 Episcopacy, not as unlawful, but only in satisfaction of the 
 people, for settling the present disorders and similar reasons 
 of state, and on no account, to suffer the appearance of any 
 warrant from the bishops. He was to consent to the coven- 
 
 * Stevenson, Hist. vol. iii. p. 764. Clarendon, vol. i. p. I2S. 
 f Strafford's Letter. Rush. vol. iii. p. 948. 
 
520 HISTORY OF SCO! LAND. 
 
 ant being subscribed, as originally, in 1580, " Provided it be 
 so conceived, that our subjects do not thereby be required to 
 abjure Episcopacy as a part of popery, or against God's law; 
 but if they require it to be abjured, as contrary to the consti- 
 tution of the church of Scotland, he was to give way to it 
 rather than tO make a breach, and the proceedings of the 
 Glasgow assembly were to be ratified, not as deeds of that 
 illegal meeting, all mention of which was to be avoided, but 
 as acts of this; and after all assembly business was ended, 
 immediately before prayers, he was commanded, in the fairest 
 way possible, to protest, that in respect of his majesty's res- 
 olution of not coming in person, and his instructions being 
 hastily written, many things may have occurred upon which 
 he had not his majesty's pleasure, therefore, in case any thing 
 had escaped him, or been condescended upon prejudicial to 
 his majesty's service, his majesty may be heard for redress 
 thereof, in his own time and place." 
 
 By this form, Charles retained to himself the power of disa- 
 vowing the conduct of his commissioner, and disannulling any 
 or every act of the assembly whenever he chose, or found it 
 expedient. His irreconcilable enmity to the covenanters, 
 was expressed in these instructions, by directions to stop the 
 signatures of all acts in their favour, in as far as it could be 
 done without interrupting altogether the common course of 
 justice, and while he was enjoined to hear complaints against 
 the rest of the subjects, none were to be listened to, if against 
 such as had suffered for refusing the covenant, particularly 
 Sir John Hay, and Sir Robert Spotswood. 
 
 But besides the protest, the king had another, and what 
 seemed an insurmountable objection to the legality of any 
 acts abolishing Episcopacy. Traquair suggested, that they 
 could not be ratified in a parliament from which the prelates, 
 who constituted one of the estates, were excluded, and the 
 king was thus persuaded to allow them to pass, in the belief 
 that they were intrinsically null and void. His intention 
 merely to temporize till the necessities of the time were past, 
 and to revoke all the concessions which he considered as ex- 
 torted from him, was unequivocally expressed in a letter to 
 the archbishop of St. Andrews, who, after he resigned the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 521 
 
 office of chancellor, had resided in Newcastle. The bishops 
 had written to Laud, requesting the king to prorogue the as- 
 sembly and parliament. In reply, his majesty informed the 
 primate, this could not be done without great prejudice both 
 to himself and his service, but that he had given his commis- 
 sioner special instructions to watch over the interest of their 
 lordships, and of the inferior clergy, who had suffered for 
 their duty to God, and their obedience to his commands, and 
 assuring them, that it should be still one of his chiefest studies, 
 how to rectify and establish the government of that church 
 aright, and to repair their losses. He recommended, how- 
 ever, as the best mode for them, to give in, by way of protes- 
 tation or remo-nstrance, their exceptions against the assembly 
 and parliament, to the commissioner, privately as he entered 
 the church, to be by him presented to the king, which he 
 promised to take so into consideration, as becometh a prince 
 sensible of his own interest and honour, joined with the equity 
 of their desires, and added, " you may rest secure, that though 
 perhaps we may give way for the present, to that which will 
 be prejudicial both to the church and our own government, 
 yet we shall not leave thinking in time how to remedy both." 
 In the meanwhile, till their estate could be restored, the rents 
 of the bishoprics which were declared vacant, or had reverted 
 to the crown, were to be drawn by the crown officers, and 
 appropriated to their support. 
 
 The duplicity which these transactions exhibit, and which 
 can neither be defended nor denied, was unfortunately flat- 
 tered by the person the king chose as his commissioner. 
 Traquair, ever since the surrender of Dalkeith, had been 
 under a cloud — for although pardoned, he had never been 
 trusted — and in order to regain the good graces of his master, 
 was forced to administer to his humour, and in no way could 
 he do this so effectually, as by appearing to be the dupe of 
 his political casuistry. He carried the king's letter, which he 
 had suggested, to Newcastle, and received himself the bish- 
 ops' declinature, * on his road to Scotland, to hold those very 
 assemblies, whose proceedings it was intended to annul. Tra- 
 
 * Burnet's Mem. p. !55. 
 VOL. ill. 3 u 
 
522 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 quair held the assembly on the appointed day, at the opening 
 of which, Henderson the moderator of the last, preached, 
 and towards the close of his sermon, addressed the members, 
 exhorting them to temper their zeal with moderation and 
 prurience, reminding them of the advantages which had been 
 attempted to be taken of their unguarded warmth, and of the 
 obligation thereby imposed upon them, to show to the world, 
 that Presbytery, the government they contended for in the 
 church, could very well consist with monarchy in the state. 
 The assembly proceeded in accordance with this advice, and 
 dreading no deceit on the part of the king, although steady 
 in their determination not to recede from their principles, 
 they showed every disposition to yield in matters of form to 
 his prejudices or caprice. Every reference to the preceding 
 assembly was avoided, and the objects the Presbyterians 
 wished to obtain the royal sanction for, were enumerated in 
 an act of the present, entitled. An Act, containing the Causes 
 and Remedy of the bygone evils of the Church. The causes : — 
 ** First, the pressing upon this church, a Service Book, or book 
 of common prayer, by the prelates, without direction or war- 
 rant from the church, containing, beside the popish frame, 
 divers popish errors and ceremonies, with a Book of Canons, 
 establishing a tyrannical power over the kirk in the person 
 of bishops ; a Book of Consecration and Ordination, ap- 
 pointing offices in the house of God, not warranted by the 
 word of God, and repugnant to the discipline and acts of the 
 kirk; and the high commission. Second, the articles of 
 Perth. Third, the change of the government of the kirk, 
 from the assemblies of the kirk, to the persons of some kirk- 
 men, usurping priority and power over their Brethren. Fourth, 
 civil places and power of kirkmen. Fifth, keeping and author- 
 izing corrupt assemblies. Sixth, the want of lawful and free 
 assemblies, rightly constituted of pastors, doctors, and elders, 
 yearly or oftener, pro re "^ata, according to the liberty of the 
 kirk. The remedies :—=That the Service Book, Book of Can- 
 ons and Ordination, and the high commission, be still rejected; 
 that the articles of Perth be no more practised; that Epis- 
 copal government, and the civil places and power of kirkmen, 
 
 be holden still as unlav/fnl in this kirk ; that the pretended 
 <J1 
 
HISTOllY OF SCOTLAND. 523 
 
 assemblies, 1605, to 1618, be hereafter held as null, and of 
 none effect; and that for the preservation of religion, and 
 preventing all such evils in time coming, general assemblies 
 rightly constituted, as the proper and competent judges of all 
 matters ecclesiastical, be hereafter kept yearly and oftener^ 
 pro re nata as occasion and necessity shall require, the neces- 
 sity of these occasional assemblies being first shown to his 
 majesty by humble supplication ; as also, that kirk sessions, 
 presbyteries, and synodal assemblies, be constituted and ob- 
 served, according to the order of this church." The commis- 
 sioner, to this act subjoined a declaration, that it should not 
 infer any censures on practices out of the kingdom, thus "wslv- 
 ing, or rather reserving the question respecting the unlawful- 
 ness of Episcopacy, but the assembly, to prevent its re-intro- 
 duction in Scotland, ordained, that no innovation which 
 might disturb the peace of the church, and make division, 
 should be proposed, till the motion were first communicated 
 to the several synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions, that 
 the matter might be approved by all at home, and commis- 
 sioners might come prepared unanimously to give out a solid 
 determination in the general assembly. 
 
 Having settled these fundamental points, in the manner 
 which it was supposed would be least offensive to the king, 
 the assembly shovv'ed a disposition to gratify him, by dealing 
 gently with those ministers who had only been guilty of com- 
 pliances with the orders of the court, and all who did not 
 stand accused of immoral conduct, and were found to be 
 capable, were re-admitted to their functions in the church. 
 There now only remained a wanting the royal sanction to the 
 covenant, and the concurrence of his grace was obtained 
 more readily than they expected ; the chief difficulty was, how 
 to render this palatable to Charles, who had so repeatedly 
 and strongly expressed his antipathy to that " damnable in- 
 strument." To soften the matter as much as possible, a sup- 
 plication, couched in the most loyal and affectionate language, 
 was presented to the privy council, in which th'e long tried 
 fealty of their ancestors, to a succession of one hundred and 
 seven kings, his majesty's royal predecessors, was appealed to 
 as a pledge, that they would not dishonour their descent, by 
 
521 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 rebelling in thought against the last of so illustrious a line 
 On the contrary, they acknowledged their quietness, stability 
 and happiness, to depend upon the safety of the king's per 
 son, and the maintenance of his royal authority as God's 
 vicegerent, set over them for the support of religion, and min- 
 istration of justice, and solemnly concluded, by declaring: — 
 '■' We have sworn, and do swear, not only our mutual concur- 
 rence and assistance for the cause of religion, and to the utter- 
 most of our power, with our means and lives, to stand to the 
 defence of our dread sovereign, his person and authority, in 
 preservation and defence of the true religion, liberties, and 
 laws of the kirk and kingdom, but also in every cause which 
 may concern his majesty's honour, shall, according to the 
 laws of this kingdom, and the duties of good subjects, concur 
 with our friends and followers, in quiet manner or in arms, 
 as we shall be required by his majesty, his council, or any 
 having his authority ; and therefore, being most desirous to 
 clear ourselves of all imputation of this kind, and following 
 the laudable example of our predecessors, 1589, do most 
 humbly supplicate your grace, and the lords of his majesty's 
 most honourable privy council, to enjoin, by act of councU, 
 that the Confession of Faith and Covenant, which, as a testi- 
 mony of our fidelity to God, and loyalty to our king, we have 
 subscribed, be subscribed by all his majesty's subjects, of 
 what rank and quality soever." 
 
 The privy council acceded to the prayer of the petition, 
 and the commissioner announced in open assembly, the gra- 
 tifying intelligence, that their supplication was granted, and 
 an act in consequence passed, so that nothing was wanting 
 now, but the resolution of the assembly. As an individual, 
 he cordially agreed with the deed as it stood; as his majesty's 
 commissioner, he affixed a clause, declaratory of its being 
 understood by him, as one in substance with that which was 
 subscribed by his majesty's father, of blessed memory, 1580, 
 81-90, and often since renevv^ed. The assembly's vigilance 
 was not, however, thus to be lulled ; every reservation was 
 viewed with a jealous eye. They, therefore, ordered an explan- 
 ation to be prefixed to the signatures in the following terms, 
 *' The article of this covenant, which v>'as, at the first subscrip- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 526 
 
 lion, referred to the determination of the general assembly, 
 being determined, and thereby the five articles of Perth, the 
 govei'nment of the kirk by bishops, the civil places and power 
 of kirkmen, upon the reasons and grounds contained in the 
 acts of the general assembly, declared to be unlawful within 
 this kirk, we subscribe according to the determination fore- 
 said." Thus was the covenant again renewed in two different 
 senses, yet, upon receiving assurance that their conclusions 
 vrould be ratified in parliament, the meeting dissolved with 
 great apparent cordiality, and mutual satisfaction, and the 
 public demonstrations of national joy on the occasion, were 
 ardent and universal.* 
 
 Charles did not participate in the general satisfaction the 
 conduct of his commissioner had diffused, and although Tra- 
 quair had, with great dexterity, managed a very delicate 
 business, and brought it to a termination, whence a concilia- 
 tory system might with much loveliness and grace have com- 
 menced. Instead of receiving the thanks of his sovereign, he 
 received a pettish lettet, filled with captious distinctions, re- 
 fusing to ratify the acts to which the earl had consented. 
 Episcopacy had been declared by the act of assembly, to be 
 " unlawful in this church," a position the king denied that 
 he had ever allowed. He had consented to its being abolish- 
 ed, as " contrary to the constitutions of the church of Scot- 
 land," but as to the word unlawful, it would not be found in 
 all his instructions ; his representative was therefore com- 
 manded not only not to ratify the act in these tei'ms in par- 
 liament, but to declare that the king consented to its ratifica- 
 tion with his explanation, merel}'- for the sake of the peace of 
 the land, though otherwise in his own judgment, he neither 
 held it convenient nor fitting. Had the word unlawful been 
 used in an unrestricted sense, there might have been some 
 plausibility in the king's objection, that suffering such a sen- 
 tence to pass in Scotland, was by inference condemning the 
 function in England also, but used as it was, to signify mere- 
 ly that Episcopacy was unlawful in the church of Scotland, 
 
 * Stevenson's Hist. vol. iii. pp. 769 — SOS. Rushworth, vol. iiL pp. 949 — .964. 
 Burnet's Mem. pp. 1.55, 157. Acts of Assembly. 
 
526 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 because contrary to the law of that church, was an affirma- 
 tion which did not necessarily imply any opinion respecting 
 its legality any where else. But the real objection which the 
 king had to the term was, he thought it would authorize the 
 rescinding the acts of parliament made in favour of Episco- 
 pacy, acts which his father had with so much expense of 
 time and industry established, " which," he says, " may here- 
 after be of so great use to us," and as he was evidently 
 anxious to hasten a rupture, he did not wish to pronounce 
 unlawful, what by that rupture he hoped to restore; for al- 
 though he might alter or improve the constitution of the 
 Scottish church, by re-establishing Episcopacy, he could not, 
 even with all his equivocations, reintroduce it, if he once 
 stigmatized it as unlawful, and therefore, he adds, if on this 
 point a rupture happen, we cannot help it, the fault is on 
 their own part, which one day they may smart for. 
 
 In the act of signing the treaty, the king was meditating its 
 rupture, and now he was eager that his commissioner should 
 find in the proceedings of the Scots, a justification of his own 
 premeditated perfidy. " If you find that what we have com- 
 manded you to do, is likely to cause a rupture, their imper- 
 tinent motives give you a fair occasion to make it appear to 
 the world, that we have condescended to all matters which 
 can be pretended to concern conscience and religion, and 
 that now they aim at nothing but the overthrow of royal 
 authority, and therefore, we hope and expect, that if a rup- 
 ture happen, you will make this appear to be the cause there- 
 of, and not religion, which you know not only to be true, but 
 must see it will be of great advantage to us, and therefore 
 must be seriously intended by you." 
 
 Parliament was opened with great pomp, the earls of Ar- 
 gyle, Crawford, and Sutherland carrying the regalia, on the 
 day succeeding the close of the assembly. One of the estates 
 being absent, it was necessary to supply the deficiency, and 
 anticipate any objection of nullity, on this score, that might be 
 made to their proceedings. In order to support the appear- 
 ance of a spiritual estate, it was proposed by the court, that 
 lay abbots should be appointed, but as even the name was 
 objectionable to the majority, the representatives of the lesser 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. o27 
 
 barons were substituted. In choosing the lords of the arti- 
 cles, respecting which Charles appeared so anxious, the par- 
 liament, being freed by the abolition of Prelacy from the 
 obtrusion of the bishops, proposed to revert to the original 
 method of naming that committee; but as this might have 
 occasioned a debate, they allowed for the present, the com- 
 missioner to appoint the eight nobles, whom of late the bish- 
 ops were wont to name, with the understanding that this 
 should form no precedent for the future, but that the mem- 
 bers should be freely and separately chosen by their respec- 
 tive estates; and that their powers should extend only to such 
 articles as were referred to their consideration, and which, if 
 not again reported, might be resumed in parliament by the 
 original proposer. Freedom of debate was also secured; and, 
 to prevent the power of the crown being unnaturally exerted 
 by the introduction of strangers, unconnected with the coun- 
 try, as peers of parliament, it was enacted, that no patent of 
 honour be granted to any strangers, but such as have a com- 
 petency of land rent in Scotland • and it was provided, that 
 a parliament should be held at least once in three years. 
 They demanded that the abuses of the mint should be reme- 
 died, and the coinage be subject to the superintendence of 
 parliament; that no foreigner should be intrusted with the 
 command of any of the natural fortresses, nor any person 
 appointed without the approbation of the estates. 
 
 The acts of the general assembly were preparing for rati- 
 fication; another important act, abolishing hereditary juris- 
 dictions, was also in progress, and a iiumber of necessary 
 measures for reforming the abuses of the preceding forty years; 
 but, while these were framing, the commissioner, who well 
 knew how disagreeable they would be to the king, continued 
 the parliament by several prorogations, till he should receive 
 farther instructions, and parliament, afraid, from the surmises 
 that had reached them, that their proceedings would not be 
 confirmed by his majesty, in the interim, with lord Traquair's 
 consent, despatched the earls of Dunfermline and Loudon to 
 London, to endeavour satisfying his royal scruples, and im- 
 plore his permission to proceed and determine the business 
 before them; but, ere the peers reached the capital, they were 
 
528 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 met by a messenger, discharging them from approaching within 
 a mile of the court, and peremptory orders were sent to Scot- 
 land, to prorogue the parliament to June next year. Tra- 
 quair, ashamed of the employment, did not proceed to dissolve 
 the parliament in form, he transmitted the king's letter, con- 
 taining the injunction, by the lord privy seal, to where the 
 lords of the articles were sitting, desiring one of the clerks of 
 parliament to read it. Gibson, younger of Durie, who was 
 applied to, refused, but in obedience to the commands of the 
 estates, he read a remonstrance against it : — As a new and 
 unusual mode of prorogation, without precedent, contrary to 
 his majesty's honour, engaged for ratifying the acts of the 
 church, contrary to the laws, liberties, and perpetual practice 
 of the kingdom, by which all continuations of parliament, 
 once called, convened, and begun to sit, have ever been made 
 with express consent of the estates; contrary to the public 
 peace, both of the church and kingdom, which, by reason of 
 the present condition thereof, and the great confusion like to 
 ensue from procrastination, cannot endure so long delay, but 
 to the advantage of malicious adversaries, who, for their own 
 ends, are incessantly seeking all occasions, by creating dissen- 
 sions between the king and his subjects, to bring both the coun- 
 try and the crown to utter ruin and desolation. 
 
 As these facts were so evident, the covenanters assumed, that 
 whenever they were properly represented to his majesty, he 
 would drive from his presence, his unprincipled advisers, and 
 do them justice. With a great show of moderation they then 
 declared, that although by the examples of their ancestors in 
 cases of similar necessity, by his majesty's indiction, and by the 
 articles of pacification, they might lawfully continue to sit, yet, 
 from the obloquy that attends all their proceedings, and the 
 misrepresentations to which they were liable, to avoid the least 
 shadow of disobedience or disrespect to his majesty's com- 
 mands, and out of the most reverend regard to render not 
 only all real demonstrations of civil obedience, but to avoid 
 whatever might give him the least discontent, they would only 
 remonstrate and dissolve, leaving a committee from each es- 
 tate, to await, in Edinburgh, the answer to their remonstrance, 
 and concluded with a solemn adjuration. " If it shall happen 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 529 
 
 — which God forbid — that after we have made our remon- 
 strances, and to the uttermost of our power and duty used all 
 lawful means for his majesty's information, that our malicious 
 enemies, who arc not considerable, shall, by their suggestions 
 and lies, prevail against the informations and general declara- 
 tions of a whole kingdom, we take God and men to witness, 
 that we are free of the outrages and insolencies that may be 
 committed in the meantime, and that it shall be to us no im- 
 putation, that we are constrained to take such courses as may 
 best secure the kirk and kingdom from the extremity of con- 
 fusion and misery." 
 
 Immediately upon the dissolution of parliament, a request 
 was sent by the committee to his majesty, that he would allow 
 some of their number to wait upon him, and personally state 
 their grievances and their desires. To this reasonable request 
 he acceded, but before they could take any advantage of the 
 concession, Traquair arrived in London. The commissioner 
 was at first coldly received, on account of his conduct in the 
 assembly, particularly in subscribing the covenant ; but his 
 apology was accepted. He vindicated his procedure from the 
 necessity of the case, which did not admit of his hesitating 
 about half measures, for they would have prematurely preci- 
 pitated a quarrel, fi'om which, as it must still have had the 
 semblance of religion for its foundation, no advantage could 
 have arisen. But he ingratiated himself into the royal favour, 
 by representing the proceedings of the estates in the most odi- 
 ous point of view, as encroachments upon the prerogative, and 
 destructive of regal authority, and by adducing a great many 
 arguments, to fortify the king in his determination to reduce 
 his Scottish subjects by force. In these he was seconded by 
 the bigotry of Laud, and the violence of Wentworth, and 
 their united efforts overpowered the voice of Hamilton and 
 Morton, the two other but more moderate members of the 
 Junto who managed Scottish affairs, and decided the question 
 for the renewal of hostilities, before the arrival of the parlia- 
 mentary deputies. 
 
 The earl of Dunfermline and lord Loudon were appointed 
 a second time, together with Sir William Douglas of Cavers^ 
 and Robert Barclay, the provost of Irvine, to proceed to 
 
 VOL. III. 3 X 
 
630 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 court, and although their cause was prejudged, it was deemed 
 expedient to admit them to an audience before the council. 
 Loudon, in a long speech, pronounced the vindication of the 
 estates. In the preceding assembly, Episcopacy was, with the 
 concuri'ence of his majesty's commissioner, removed out of 
 the church of Scotland, and all civil places and power of 
 churchmen, declared to be unlawful in that kingdom, whence 
 it necessarily followed, that bishops who usurped to be the 
 chui'ch, and did, in the name of the church, represent the 
 third estate, being taken away, there must be an act of the 
 constitution of parliament without them, and an act for re- 
 pealing the former laws, whereby the church was declared the 
 third estate. Nor do these acts wrong the church, or state, 
 or the royal authority ; not the church, because she hath re- 
 nounced and condemned the civil power and worldly pomp 
 conferred upon her in time of Popery, esteeming it not a 
 privilege, but a detriment, incompatible with her spiritual 
 nature, and as being repugnant to her doctrine and discip- 
 line ; nor the state, because the whole congregations of the 
 kingdom, represented by their commissioners from presby- 
 teries in the general assembly, have given their consent to 
 the deeds of the church ; neither the king, " for we cannot 
 believe," continued the earl, " that your majesty — who, we 
 hear, doth acknowledge princes to be like shining stars, 
 which have their splendour for the benefit of the world, and 
 who esteems the prosperity and welfare of your people, your 
 greatest enjoyment, and the possession of their hearts, your 
 greatest security — will think the granting of that, which, 
 upon so good reason, is so earnestly desired both by church 
 and state, to be any diminution of your majesty's royal prero- 
 gative and privilege of your crown, which is not mutable with 
 the change of any of the estates, but is that power which 
 did justly belong to the king, before any bishops were in 
 Scotland, which did belong to him in time of popery, when 
 bishops who had their dependance on the pope were allowed, 
 and which did likewise pertain to the king in the time of the 
 reformation, when Episcopacy was abjured, and removed out 
 of Scotland. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting, the king asked, what power they 
 Gl 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 531 
 
 had to give him satisfaction, for their instructions appeared 
 to be rather for justifying than satisfying, and though some 
 of their desires were against the law, they had no power to 
 yield to any point. They answered, the parliament had 
 given them power to make it clear, that their desires and 
 proceedings were agreeable to the fundamental laws and cus- 
 toms of the kingdom, to reason, and to the act of pacifica- 
 tion, by which the king was obliged to ratify them, and this 
 they were ready to do. Here archbishop Laud, who sat on 
 the king's right hand, smiling contemptuously a-t the commis- 
 sioners, begged his majesty to inquire how their assertions, 
 that their desires and proceedings were agreeable to the laws 
 and customs of Scotland, which must mean the present stat- 
 utes, could consist with their desires, that the present stand- 
 ing laws should be repealed ? Adding, he did not believe the 
 king was obliged to repeal them, or ratify the acts of the as- 
 sembly. The commissioners replied, that their desires might 
 be agreeable to fundamental laws, and yet they might, with- 
 out any inconsistence, crave that particular acts, I'epugnant 
 to the conclusions of the assembly, might be repealed ; for as 
 the parliament may make laws for the good of the church 
 and state, so they may repeal such as are in opposition to 
 the welfare of either; and they undertook to show that the 
 king was obliged to ratify their conclusions. On which, the 
 primate superciliously observed, he was not so grossly igno- 
 rant, as not to know that parliament had power, as well to 
 repeal laws as to make them ; but what he wished to be in- 
 formed of was, how could their desires be agreeable to the 
 laws, when they crave standing laws to be repealed, by rea- 
 son of the conclusions of the assembly, ex conseqiienti? For 
 if the convocation in England should take upon them to annul 
 and repeal acts of parliament, what confusion would there 
 be? To this the commissioners answered: — " That acts of 
 parliament, which depend upon acts of assembly, must neces- 
 sarily fall and be repealed, when an assembly had annulled 
 those acts of the assembly, whereof those acts of parliament 
 were ratificatory, but that the English convocation, consist- 
 ing only of prelates, and some of the clergy, was far different 
 from their general assembly, where the king or his commis- 
 
532 UKSTOllY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 sioner sits, and where the whole congregations and parishes 
 of the kingdom are represented by their commissioners from 
 presbyteries ; so that what is done by them, is done by the 
 whole church and kingdom, and therefore ought to be allow- 
 ed in parliament." " The convocation in England," said the 
 archbishop angrily, " is as eminent a judicature as yours, 
 and ought not to be so slighted ; adding, that he and the 
 clergy were members of parliament, but no reformed church 
 had lay elders as they had in their assemblies, and he would 
 lose his life before they had them. " The commissioners told 
 him, they had not meddled with his convocation, nor would 
 if he had not brought it in himself; they denied that laics 
 w^ere members of their assembly, for the office of elders is 
 ecclesiastic, and as orthodox and agreeable to Scripture as 
 any order they had in their convocation ; but w^hat they 
 craved was, that acts of parliament should repeal acts of par- 
 liament which had now no force.* In several subsequent 
 appearances, the commissioners explained or defended the 
 various articles which had been proposed to be enacted at the 
 meeting of the estates, at the same time remarking, that as 
 they were only propositions prepared for parliament, some 
 might have been withdrawn, and what was objectionable in 
 the others, could have been altered, amended, or modified, 
 before they were passed. 
 
 Unacquainted as the English in general were with the 
 constitution of a Scottish parliament, they might not, per- 
 iiaps, have perceived that all the outrages against his author- 
 ity, of which Charles complained, were merely, first draughts 
 of bills, which had not received even the consideration of the 
 estates; but the explanations which the commissioners gave, 
 so completely exposed the fudlity of their being considered 
 as grounds of war, that the king, who was anxious to interest 
 the English nation in the quarrel, eagerly seized upon a let- 
 ter of some of the Scottish nobles to the French king — 
 produced by Traquair — as an evidence of the treason of the 
 covenanters, and a proof of their intentions to introduce the 
 
 * Riishwortb, vol. iii. pp. 995--7. Proteediiigs of the Scots Commissioners, 
 King's Declaration. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 533 
 
 ancient enemy again into the island. The letter was of the 
 following- purport; — " Sire, your majesty being the refuge 
 and sanctuary of afflicted princes and states, we have found 
 it necessary to send this gentleman, Mr. Colvil,* to repre- 
 sent unto your majesty, the candour and ingenuity, as well 
 of our actions and proceedings as of our intentions, which we 
 desire to be engraved and written to the whole world, with a 
 beam of the sun, as well as to your majesty. We therefore 
 most humbly beseech you, Sire, to give faith and credit to 
 him, and to all that he shall say on our part, touching us 
 and our affairs, being much assured, Sire, of an assistance 
 equal to your wonted clemency heretofore, and so often 
 showed to this nation, which will not yield the g-lory to any 
 other whatsoever, to be eternally. Sire, your majesty's most 
 tiumble, most obedient, and most affectionate servants," sub- 
 scribed, Rothes, Marr, Montgomery, Montrose, Loudon, 
 Leslie, and Forrester, and addressed — au Hoi- — the style ap- 
 propriate from subjects to their natural sovereign. This 
 letter was without a date, and was directed by a different 
 hand, not by any of the parties implicated in the transaction. 
 Owing to an inaccuracy in the language,! after the paper 
 was signed, it was thrown aside, and by some accident fell 
 into the hands of Sir Donald Goram, by Vv-iiom it was given 
 to the earl of Traquair. 
 
 This discovery, which revealed the connexion of the Scots 
 with France, was construed as a transference of their alle- 
 giance from their natural prince. Loudon, when examined 
 before the privy council, honestly acknowledged the hand- 
 writing and subscription as his, but said it was written when 
 his majesty was marching in hostile array against his native 
 land ; that in these circumstances, anxious to procure some 
 mediator to mitigate his wrath, they could think of no one so 
 fit for that office as the French king, the nearest relative by 
 aflinity his majesty had among the princes of Europe; but - 
 that the idea was suggested too late, when the English army 
 was already on the borders, and therefore the letter was 
 
 * Brother to Sir Robert Colvil of Cleish. 
 f The word raiv, a cray-fisb, having been used instead of rai/on, a sunbeam. 
 
Bsi 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 never either addressed or forwarded; besides, he urged that 
 even if there had been any criminality, that he was compre- 
 hended in the act of oblivion, and, at all events, his crime 
 was only cognizable by his peers, and in the country where 
 it was alleged to have been committed. The commissioners 
 were notwithstanding, sent to the tower, and Loudon, it is 
 affirmed, very narrowly escaped a summary execution. The 
 king, about thi'ee o'clock in the afternoon, sent to Balfour, 
 lieutenant of the tower, a warrant for beheading the earl be- 
 fore nine o'clock next morning, which the lieutenant intimat- 
 ed to his lordship that evening, by whom the awful annuncia- 
 tion was received with astonishing composure, and he prepared 
 to submit with resignation to his fate. But Balfour, not alto- 
 gether clear about the responsibility of putting a nobleman to 
 death without a trial, carried the warrant to the marquis of 
 Hamilton, who with some difficulty obtained access to the 
 king at midnight, and began to expostulate, when his majesty 
 interrupted him, exclaiming violently: — " by God it shall be 
 executed." Hamilton, however, represented the dismal con- 
 sequences which were likely to ensue from the violation of 
 the safeconduct he had granted, and of all legal forms, so 
 strongly, affirming, that if he proceeded, Scotland would be 
 lost for ever, nor would his own person be safe from the 
 outrages of the populace, that the king sullenly called for the 
 warrant, and tore it in pieces, with evident marks of reluc- 
 tance and chagrin.* 
 
 In the midst of these distractions died archbishop Spots- 
 wood, primate of Scotland, the prime mover of all the com- 
 motions. He took alarm at the serious opposition which he 
 sav/ made to the introduction of the liturgy, and early fled to 
 
 * Oldmixon, Hist. p. 140. Burnet's Memoirs, p. 161. Laing, vol. iii. p. 
 196. thinks that the fact appears to be more conformable to the precipitate 
 councils, than to the general character of Charles, who was arbitrary indeed, 
 but was certainly averse to the execution of a sanguinary measure. I am at 
 a loss to perceive any marks of aversion in Charles to sanguinary measures 5 
 he showed no great reluctance to arm his subjects against each other, for the 
 purpose of enforcing his arbitrary mandates about trifles ; yet there have been 
 men who, while they gloried in wholesale massacre, would have shrunk, per- 
 haps, from an individual murder. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 335 
 
 England, to escape the mischief he had raised. Although 
 educated in the principles of the first reformers, his ambition 
 made him the ready and active tool in establishing a hierarchy. 
 He was supple, craftj^, and intriguing, and his eminent abili- 
 ties enabled him to reach the highest dignities in church and 
 state; but he exercised his power without moderation, and to 
 his violence and severity it may in some measure be ascribed, 
 that he lived to see the one overturned, and the other shaken 
 to the foundation. His proceedings in the court of high com- 
 mission paved the way for the confusion that followed. His 
 private life was open to the attacks of his enemies, and inde- 
 fensible by his friends ; for in avoiding the appearance of 
 puritanism, he indulged in practices both immoral and pro- 
 fane. As a historian, he is entitled to high praise ; leaning, 
 as was natural, to the side he espoused, he is yet moderate, 
 and although sometimes overcharged in the colouring, the 
 material parts of his narrative remain unimpeached. His 
 style is plain and perspicuous, undebased by the false orna 
 ment, or foolish quibbling, in which some of his cotempor- 
 aries delight; and it has been remarked, as his peculiar feli- 
 city, that his erudition was neither infected with the pedantry, 
 nor confined to the polemical disputes of the age. 
 
 Not many months after, the earl of Stirling, pi-incipal sec- 
 retary of state, died also. His poetical genius and scholarship 
 first recommended him to James, and he succeeded to an 
 equal share of favour with the son. He was the only Scottish- 
 man who had a foreign title, having been created viscount 
 Canada, with liberty to dub an hundred knights, from each of 
 whom he received a considerable sum of money. He obtain- 
 ed a grant of Nova Scotia from James, which he transferred 
 to the French king for an ample consideration ; and a license 
 to coin copper, which he employed to debase the currency, 
 till the abuse swelled the list of national grievances. He was 
 succeeded as treasurer by lord William Hamilton, brother to 
 the marquis of Hamilton, then in his tvv'^enty-fourth year, 
 dignified with the title of earl of Lanark, a title, the patent of 
 which, it was alleged, was formerly witheld, on account of the 
 covenanting zeal of the dowager marchioness. 
 
 Pending the negotiations between the king and the Scots, 
 
636 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 an incident took place which deserves to be noticed, on ac« 
 count of the effects which it produced on the affairs of the 
 island, although at first sight it may appear rather unconnect- 
 ed with the passing events. Scarce two months after the king 
 returned from Berwick, a large Spanish armament appeared 
 upon the English coast, consisting of about seventy sail of 
 ships. They were descried first by a small fleet of Hollanders 
 beyond the Land's End, who, being too weak to risk an en- 
 gagement, hovered in their rear, till they arrived in the nar- 
 row sea, when obtaining the weather gage, they kept up a 
 brisk fire, not only to annoy the enemy, but to give notice to 
 the Dutch admiral, Van Tromp, then blockading Dunkirk. 
 Attracted by the noise of the firing, he broke up, and joined 
 his countrymen with eight stout vessels, which now increased 
 the Dutch squadron to twenty-five sail. Undismayed at the 
 superiority of number, he resolutely attacked the Spaniards, 
 and after a hard day's fighting, took three galleons, sunk one, 
 and shattered a number, insomuch that the Spanish admiral 
 sought refuge in the Downs. Here they remained nearly a 
 month, the Dutch receiving re-enforcements daily, till at last 
 Tromp, impatient of waiting, attacked the enemy, although 
 within the English waters^ with great fury, and sending in 
 some fireships among them, the whole dispersed, each shift- 
 ing for himself; twenty, under the vice-admiral, ran on shore; 
 five were sunk, among which was a flag-ship; about thirty 
 put to sea, under cover of a thick mist, but the day clearing 
 up, they were again attacked by the indefatigable Dutch, 
 and of the whole, about ten ships only, along with the ad- 
 miral, Don Antonio D'Oquendo, reached a friendly port. 
 
 Rashly again at issue with his Scottish subjects, the very 
 first steps of the king should have opened his eyes to the diffi- 
 culties and dangers which lay before him. He had already 
 had proof of their zeal and unanimity, and the dissatisfaction 
 in England was such, that for eleven years he had not dared 
 to assemble his parliament. The complaints of the Scots 
 were similar to those of the English, and he was well aware 
 that the wide diffusion of their supplications, and the personal 
 communication which took place v/hile the armies lay within 
 sight of each other, had strengthened the sympathies of the 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 537 
 
 two nations for their mutual sufferings ; and that the modera- 
 tion which the covenanters always displayed, as well as the 
 loyalty they uniformly professed, had created an interest in 
 their favour, which their uniform, exemplary conduct, on 
 every occasion tended to increase. In such circumstances a 
 war was not likely to be popular in England, whence alone 
 he could draw the means for carrying it on, and his treasury 
 was exhausted by his last worse than fruitless campaign. To 
 replenish it, he had recourse to his former illegal exactions, 
 and as the invasion of his waters by the Dutch seemed to re- 
 quire that the honour and integrity of his naval dominion 
 should be preserved, it afforded a pretext for imposing anew 
 that hated course of raising supplies, by levying ship money; 
 the lord high admiral was ordered to equip twenty vessels, 
 and the tax, with arrears, was rigorously exacted. 
 
 Charles with great difficulty found means to raise an army, 
 but all his resources he perceived would be inadequate to 
 support it long. An English parliament therefore was resolv- 
 ed upon, and summoned to assemble under circumstances the 
 most unfavourable, when his necessities were so urgent, and 
 the irritations and disgusts of the puritans, who formed the 
 most able, as well as the most numerous class of the commun- 
 ity, so fresh and so strong. But he anticipated powerful ef- 
 fects from the demands of the Scottish estates, which his 
 council had persuaded him were too enormous to be consider- 
 ed in any other light than as violent attacks upon his unequiv- 
 ocal rights of sovereignty, and the abstracted letter of the 
 nobles, which, besides being in his opinion palpably treason- 
 able, he affirmed was equivalent to a declaration of war against 
 England, by inviting their ancient enemy into their country, 
 whilst they displayed their malignity toward that nation, by 
 stigmatizing them as strangers, unworthy to enjoy any digni- 
 ties or privileges in Scotland, or being intrusted with the 
 command of any fortified place in their country. 
 
 Unwilling, however, to trust that assembly with a long ses- 
 sion, he delayed the day of opening till the urgency and pres- 
 sure of the times should become so imperious and unequivocal, 
 as to cut off all opportunity for protracted discussion, respect- 
 ing the propriety of granting supplies. When they met, 
 
 VOL, III. 3 Y 
 
538 HISTORY OF SCOTLANl>. 
 
 therefore he represented the season of the year, the state of 
 his armament, as reasons why they should proceed, in the first 
 instance, to grant him such supplies as would enable him to 
 meet the cui'rent expenses, assuring them upon the word of 
 a king, that he would soon afford them another opportunity 
 for inquiring into, and remedying the abuses of the state. 
 
 The house of commons did not participate so violently, as 
 his majesty had expected, in his exasperated feelings. They 
 proceeded to examine their own wrongs, which, as they felt 
 more acutely, they were more anxious speedily to get rid of, 
 than of the more distant, and somewhat doubtful wrongs of 
 their sovereign. As they persisted in stating their griev- 
 ances, the king impatient of their delay, and irritated at 
 their non-compliance with his request, hastily dissolved them 
 in a fit of passion, before they had sat much longer than a 
 month. The ill humour which this abrupt termination en- 
 gendered, was still farther promoted, by the harsh and un- 
 constitutional acts which immediately followed. Henry Bel- 
 lasis, Esq. member for the county of York, and Sir John 
 Hotham, were summoned before the council, and refusing to 
 give an account of their conduct in parliament, were commit- 
 ted to the Fleet. John, afterward lord Crew, who had been 
 chairman of the committee on religious affairs, because he 
 would not deliver up the petitions and complaints which had 
 been presented, was imprisoned in the Tower; and the cab- 
 inets of the earl of Warwick and lord Brooks, were broken 
 open, and even their pockets searched, upon suspicion of 
 having held some secret correspondence with the Scots. 
 
 A parliament, which the nation revered, being dissolved, 
 the convocation which they hated, was, notwithstanding, al- 
 lowed to sit and frame canons, an unusual circumstance dur- 
 ing a recess of the legislature. Among their enactments, 
 what afforded a fertile topic for ridicule, was an oath, which, 
 in their anxiety to guard against Scottish contagion, they pre- 
 scribed to be taken by all clergymen and graduates of the uni- 
 versities ; they made them promise never to give their consent 
 to alter the government of this church by archbishops, bish- 
 ops, deans, and archdeans, &c. and swearing to an et ccetera, 
 was thought rather a strange method of binding a man to a 
 61 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 539 
 
 particular class of orders in a church. But whatever might 
 be their faults in the eyes of the people, they possessed re- 
 deeming qualities in the eyes of the king, they flattered his 
 prejudices, and ministered to his necessities, by a seasonable 
 benevolence from the spiritualities, amounting to about twenty 
 thousand pounds sterling annually, for six years. The other 
 expedients to which the king resorted in this exigency, were 
 ordering the counties to advance coat, and conduct money for 
 their respective troops;* buying all the East India peppers 
 on credit, and reselling them at a low rate for ready money; 
 an extorted bonus of forty thousand pounds, from merchants 
 who had bullion in the Tower, in order to save the whole 
 from seizure ; a forced contribution from the city of London, 
 under pain of forfeiting their privileges ; a voluntary loan to 
 a considerable extent, was besides obtained from the nobles, 
 and Strafford had procured five subsidies from the Irish par- 
 liament, amounting to about two hundred and fifty thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 At length, by dishonourable shifts, and strenuous exertions, 
 his majesty saw equipped for the Episcopal campaign, f nine- 
 teen thousand foot, and two thousand horse. None of the 
 former commanders were employed, but instead, the earl of 
 Northumberland was appointed general, Strafford, who was 
 called over from Ireland on purpose, lieutenant-general, and 
 lord Conway, general of the horse. Scotland exhibited a very 
 different appearance ; in opposition to the tardy, unwilling, 
 impressed soldiery of Charles, all was animation, unanimity, 
 and zeal. The wealthy readily contributed their money, plate, 
 or credit, the women brought their ornaments to the public 
 treasury, and provided cloth for the soldiers' tents, and the 
 voluntary collections at the church doors, were increased to 
 a considerable amount, by the small, but accumulated offer- 
 ings of the lower and middling ranks, who emulated their 
 superiors in the cordiality with which they gave, if not in the 
 
 * These troops were pressed out of the militia of each county. 
 f One private country gentleman, little known, observed, that the supply 
 was to be employed in the supporting Bellum Episcopale, which he thougiit 
 the bishops were fittest to do themselves. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 136. 
 
54U HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 value of their gifts. The tables had not, even in signing the 
 treaty, confided in the sincerity of the king, and when the 
 army was disbanded, they retained the experienced officers 
 among them, upon the honourable pretext, that they could 
 not in justice, allow countrymen to go unrewarded, who had 
 resigned their rank and honour abroad, to serve their native 
 land in the hour of danger. The soldiers, they knew, on the 
 first call would return to their ranks, and the merchants never 
 intermitted the importation of arms and ammunition. The 
 leaders had narrowly watched the proceedings of Charles, 
 from his refusal to attend the meeting of the assembly and 
 estates, till he called together his English parliament, and 
 marked every progressive act of hostility, but they waited 
 with patience till their own should re-assemble, after the pro- 
 rogation had expired. 
 
 On the 2d of June they met accordingly, but Traquair, 
 who was afraid to revisit Scotland as commissioner, omitted 
 to forward a warrant to those who were appointed to act in 
 his place. When a commission to prorogue was read, lords 
 Elphingston and Napier refused to officiate without the com- 
 missioner's authority, and the other two, the lord justice clerk 
 and king's advocate, unable to proceed without them, could 
 only protest, a useless ceremony, as this was merely an ad- 
 journed meeting of a pai'liament, convoked by the king's au- 
 thority. They then, without farther delay, chose lord Burleigh 
 president, and resumed their business. The articles formerly 
 prepared, were now adopted ; the constitution of parliament 
 was settled, and declared to consist only of nobles, barons, 
 and burgesses, and all former acts in favour of bishops and 
 other ecclesiastics, were rescinded; the lords of the articles 
 were reduced to their original destination, a committee, 
 which subsequent parliaments might, or might not choose as 
 they saw fit, and when chosen, should be freely elected out of 
 their respective estates ; the acts of the general assembly were 
 ratified, and the temporal and spiritual powers of the hierar- 
 chy abolished ; no proxies were admitted, nor could any per- 
 son be created a peer of parliament, unless possessed of ten 
 thousand merks of yearly rent within the kingdom; grievances, 
 instead of being given in as formerly to the clerk register. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 541 
 
 were to be openly presented to the house ; the privy council 
 was rendered subordinate, and accountable to parliament, and 
 the meeting of parliament once in three years was secured, 
 the time and place to be appointed by his majesty, or his com- 
 missioner, in conjunction with the estates, before the closing 
 of every parliament; arbitrary proclamations were declared 
 illegal. After these acts, establishing the constitution, liberty, 
 and powers of the parliament, a committee was chosen, to man- 
 age all affairs concerning the army, raising money, and pre- 
 serving the public peace, one half to attend the general in the 
 camp, and the other to remain at Edinburgh. To them was 
 intrusted the whole executive power, till next meeting of the 
 est'::tes in convention or in parliament. To defray the expen- 
 ses of the war, a tenth of the rents, and a twentieth of interest 
 were imposed, and to meet the immediate demand, the com- 
 mittee were empowered to borrow upon their own security. 
 To supply the want of the royal assent, the whole lieges were 
 ordained to subscribe a bond, promising to obey, maintain, 
 and defend the acts and constitutions of that session ; they 
 then prorogued, by their own authority, till the 19th of No- 
 vember, and ordered all their acts to be printed. After par- 
 liament rose, the committee transmitted a copy of their acts 
 to lord Lanark, secretary, to present to his majesty, with a 
 declaration prefixed, justifying their proceedings, and a loyal 
 petition annexed, praying his majesty's approval. 
 
 War having already commenced, all trade was interrupted 
 by the English cruisers; and the garrison of Edinburgh cas- 
 tle, which had been victualled and re-enforced during the 
 hollow truce, commenced firing upon the town, and commit- 
 ted several acts of wanton depredation upon the citizens. The 
 king issued his manifesto, and refused looking at the repre- 
 sentations of the last Scottish parliament, which he pronounc- 
 ed treasonable ; the Irish parliament declared the Scots re- 
 bels, and authorized every attempt to reduce them by force to 
 obedience. At last the general committee issued their orders 
 for embodying every fourth man capable of bearing arms, 
 and their army to assemble. Sir Alexander Leslie was again 
 appointed commander-in-chief, lord Almond, brother to the 
 
543 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 earl of Linlithgow, lieutenant-general, W. Baillie, major-gen- 
 eral, colonel A. Hamilton, general of artillery, colonel John 
 Leslie, quartermaster general, and A. Gibson, younger of 
 Durie, commissary general. The nobles in general, had the 
 rank of colonel, but as their knowledge of the art of war was 
 limited to the commotions which had taken place in their own 
 country, they were assisted by the advice of veterans, who 
 had been bred in camps, and who were appointed as lieuten- 
 ant colonels. Argyle was ordered to protect the west coast, 
 and reduce the disaffected clans in the north. He according- 
 ly, committing Cantyre and the Islands to the charge of their 
 inhabitants, traversed, with a force of about five thousand 
 men, attended by a small train of artillery, the districts of 
 Badenoch, Atholl, and Marr, levied the taxation imposed by 
 the estates, and enforced subjection. The earl of Atholl 
 having made a show of resistance at the ford of Lion, he sent 
 him prisoner to Stirling; and his factor, Sir Thomas Stewart, 
 younger of Grantully, together with twelve of the leading 
 men in the county, he ordered to ward in Edinburgh, till 
 they found security for their good behaviour, and exacted ten 
 thousand pounds Scots for the support of his army. Thence 
 he marched into Angus, where he lived at free quarters, and 
 demolished the house of Airlj^, which lord Ogilvy had been 
 obliged to abandon. After having secured the peace of that 
 district, he returned home to Argyleshire, in time to relieve 
 the western soldiers, who were required to join the main 
 army. 
 
 Episcopalians speak with indignation of the ravages com- 
 mitted during this incursion, but Balfour represents the army 
 as under the strictest discipline, and instances the execution 
 of four soldiers for committing robbery. Monro, who was 
 sent to the north, was less scrupulous. Accustomed to pil- 
 lage in the German wars, he suppressed the king's adherents 
 with unjustifiable severity. His first act, for which it is al- 
 leged he had neither the authority of church nor state,* but 
 for which he certainly had the example of Montrose, was 
 
 * Stevenson, vol. iii. p. 880. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 543 
 
 imposing the covenant on all he suspected of disaffection.* 
 For disobedience to this injunction, he sent twenty-six of the 
 wealthiest burgesses of Aberdeen prisoners to Edinburgh, 
 where they were detained a considerable time, and only re- 
 lieved by paying pretty heavy fines. He besieged and took 
 Drum, situate near the river Dee, the seat of Sir Alexander 
 Irvine, a gentleman of great estate and ancient family, and a 
 firm anti-covenanter, who had garrisoned the place, but was 
 absent when it was attacked, and his lady, terrified by the 
 cannon, and hopeless of relief, surrendered. Here forty sol- 
 diers were quartered, with directions to remain till all the 
 provisions of the castle were consumed, and then to subsist 
 upon the produce of the estate. 
 
 Returning to Aberdeen, he augmented his army with some 
 townsmen, and plundering the country as he went, marched 
 against Strathbogie, where he encamped, cutting down the 
 shrubbery and plantations, to make huts for his soldiers. 
 Earl Marischal, who was with Monro, sent to his relation 
 the marchioness, who remained at th". Bog, [now castle Gor- 
 don,] during the absence of her lord, and required the keys, 
 which were immediately sent. The soldiers, on obtaining 
 possession of the store rooms, began to bake and brew, 
 and, supplying themselves from the stock of the tenantry, 
 with beef, mutton, or poultry, rioted with all the wanton 
 waste of unlicensed mercenaries in a conquered country. 
 Encouraged by the example of the troops, a Highland robber 
 ravaged Moray, and drove off a great number of horse, nolt, 
 kine, and sheep, to the fields of Auchindown, whei'e he was 
 
 * It is worthy of remark, that the covenant was first imposed at the point 
 of the sword by Montrose, before it was legally enacted by parliament; now 
 it forsned part of the law of the land, and from the period when it became so, 
 it became obnoxious to the most powerful objections which the covenanters 
 themselves so strenuously urged against the impositions of Charles, and to which 
 all religious tests are liable, when forced upon the consciences of men by any 
 other than rational conviction. While it was a voluntary bond of association, 
 for the defence of religion and liberty it was laudable ; from the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of the country, requiring assent to it from men in public situa- 
 tions, might perhaps be necessary ; but to enforce it by pains and penalties, 
 on those whose sentiments were different, was as verily persecution, as com- 
 manding the observance of a liturgy. 
 
54.4 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 pasturing them quietly as his own property, when Monro 
 came upon them, and drove above two thousand five hundred 
 head of cattle to Strathbogie, where they were sold back to 
 the owners, at the rate of a merk the sheep, and a dollar the 
 nolt. 
 
 Leaving the main body at Strathbogie, the general, with 
 three hundred men, and some fieldpieces, set out for Spynie, 
 the residence of Guthrie, bishop of Moray, who, without re- 
 sistance, oifered him the keys, and invited him and his fol- 
 lowers into the castle. In return, Monro, seized only the 
 ammunition and military stores, and having left a small 
 guard of twenty- four men, came back to the marquis of 
 Huntly's grounds. His soldiers, who had been allowed to 
 revel in the spoils of the country, dissatisfied at the small 
 share they had received of the monies levied, exhibited a 
 mutinous disposition, but Monro, whose military discipline 
 partook of the German school,* quickly suppressed it, by a 
 summary execution of the principal ringleaders. Ashe had 
 now rendered the district " moneyless, horseless, and arm- 
 less," he returned the keys of Strathbogie to the marchioness 
 of Huntly, set fire to his camp, and marched to Banff, the 
 magnificent seat of Sir George Ogilvy, which he destroyed, 
 together with his garden, then the finest in Scotland, enclosed 
 with excellent stone walls, and well stocked with fruit trees, 
 all of which he cut down, nor did he leave a hedge standing. 
 Sir George was then with the king, who, when the disaster 
 was related, remarked, " as for the house it mattered not 
 much, money could build it up again in a short time ; but it 
 was cruel to destroy his garden, which years could not repair." 
 By these severe measures, he dissipated all the projected 
 risings in the north, broke the power of the royalists, and 
 preserved peace for the time, but he left behind him deep 
 dissatisfaction, and rendered the district he had wasted, irre- 
 concilable to the covenant, although a number had subscribed 
 it, to avoid being plundered. 
 
 Agreeably to their appointment, the assembly met at Aber- 
 
 * One of his modes of punishment was by the trein mare, a narrow wooden 
 plank, which the soldier was forced to ride with weights affixed to liis feet. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 545 
 
 (leen, notwithstanding the confusion and din of arms, and is 
 remarkable for the first introduction of discussion upon an 
 embryo sect, which was afterward to make such a prominent 
 figure on the canvass, during the troublous times that follow- 
 ed. While the Perth articles, and other innovations were rio;- 
 idly urged, a number of pious persons, particularly in Edin- 
 burgh, who could not consistently attend the places of worship 
 where these were enforced, were accustomed to meet toffether 
 'for prayer, reading the Scriptures, and religious conference, 
 and sometimes during church hours ; but in the north of Ire- 
 land, that practice had been much more universal, for the Pres- 
 byterians there having been deprived of their ministers, who 
 were driven away by the bishops, they found these social meet- 
 ings a mean of preserving a lively sense of religion among 
 them. A practice so similar to that of the Independents, natu- 
 rally led to the adoption of congenial principles, and a number 
 of the Scoto-Ii'ish, looking forward to a refuge in America, 
 were partial to the form of discipline which prevailed among 
 the churches of New England. But when sects at first break 
 off from a national church, it is not uncommon for a consid- 
 erable degree of enthusiasm, and a bitter party spirit, to mix 
 along with their endeavours after a purer communion, from a 
 number of half informed proselytes of unsettled principles, 
 or unruly passions, who, perhaps leaving an establishment 
 from motives of personal irritation, of conceit, or disappoint- 
 ed vanity, think the farther they recede from the church they 
 leave, the nearer they approach to perfection. Some such 
 mingled with these good men, and by their extravagancies, 
 refusing to worship with the congregation, meeting during 
 the night, censuring others as less holy than themselves, and 
 delighting in useless and impertinent disputations, created a 
 feeling of unkindliness towards the whole body, which was 
 afterward heightened by other causes, continued long in Scot- 
 land after the original offences Vv-ere done away, and is not 
 yet entirely extinguished. 
 
 "When the persecution in Ireland forced numbers to flee, 
 some who had not the means of crossing the Atlantic, came 
 to Scotland, where they were kindly received, and on account 
 of their remarkable piety, their peculiarities were in general 
 
 VOL. 11 T. 3 z 
 
,546 HISTORY OF Scotland. 
 
 charitably overlooked. But the laird of Leckie, who had suf- 
 fered much from the bishops, and was esteemed an intelligent 
 and a good man, having settled at Stirling, his exemplary 
 devotion attracted around him numbers, chiefly of the lov»'er 
 orders, whom he encouraged to associate for religious exer- 
 cises ; several of them who were unable to read, attended on 
 his family worship, it was alleged to the neglect of their own, 
 and some, who, as was conjectured, came as spies, cai'ried 
 expressions which he had used in prayer, to the minister, 
 and represented them as reflections cast upon him. The 
 minister, Mr. Henry Guthrie, * immediately brought him be- 
 fore the presbytery, where he and they who attended at his 
 meetings, were condemned as encroaching on the office of the 
 ministry, and the magistrates expelled them from the town ! f 
 Not satisfied, however, with the punishment of Leckie and 
 his fellow worshippers, he wished to root out the heretics, 
 and collecting every report he could hear to their disadvant- 
 age, he endeavoured to get social meetings for Christian ex- 
 ercise prohibited by the assembly, 1639; but Mr. Samuel 
 Rutherford, and Mr. David Dickson, afraid lest the charac- 
 ters of the innocent, and religion itself should suffer, through 
 the imprudence of a few, prevented the matter from being 
 brought before that meeting. Yet Guthrie still kept alive 
 the flame, which the more temperate of his brethren wishing 
 to extinguish, a conference was held in Edinburgh, between 
 the leaders on both sides of the question, Mr. Alexander 
 Henderson, and Eleazer Borthwick, who were against, and 
 Mr. David Dickson, and Mr. Robert Blair, who favoured 
 the practice of private meetings, the result of which was 
 drawing up a few caveats to prevent abuses. In these, the 
 people were admonished to guard against doing any thing 
 in their meetings, prejudicial to the public worship of the 
 congregation; that the number assembled be few, and unseas- 
 
 * It cannot be too strongly inculcated, that zealots always hurt the cause 
 they espouse, and ought ever to be suspected; this fiery presbyterian we shall 
 meet with after the restoration, as bishop of Dunkeld. His Memoirs, or rather 
 apology, were published after his death, but by an editor of somewhat sus- 
 picious fulelily. 
 
 f Stevenson's Ch. Hist. vol. ill. p. 831. 
 61 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 547 
 
 enable hours avoided, such as the time of public worship, of 
 family exercise, or the night season; that the use of this 
 mean, interfere not with their secular employments, or rela- 
 tive duties ; that the meetings be only occasional, and that 
 they be not the cause of dividing between the members and 
 the rest of the congregation, in estimation nor affection, and 
 if they have any doubts respecting the established order, that 
 they present them, with their reasons, to the ministry and 
 assemblies of the church : that the exercise be prayer and 
 conference, and the proper distinction be observed between 
 what belongs to private Christians, and what belongs to the 
 function of the ministers ; and finally, that all things be done 
 with prudence, humility, and charity, that the church may 
 be built up in one body, and not divided or destroyed. 
 
 The caveats were in general considered throughout the 
 country, as the only and most satisfactory manner of treating 
 the meetings, but Guthrie insisted upon stronger measures, 
 and having gained over a number of the north country min- 
 isters, the business was brought before the present assembly. 
 After a riotous debate, in which the opposers of the meet- 
 ings, endeavoured by clamour to carry a condemnatory sen- 
 tence, and the others — Mr. Samuel Kutherford in particular 
 — * contended, that the practice was Scriptural, and v/hat 
 the Scriptures warranted, no assembly had any right to dis- 
 allow, an act passed, prohibiting any person, except a min- 
 ister, or expectant approved by the presbytery, from explain- 
 ing the Scriptures in public, or admitting to family worship, 
 more than the members of the family. Several of the more 
 pious rr.embers of the assembly were highly displeased with 
 this regulation, but submitted to their noisy brethren for the 
 sake of peace, and not to expose the church to obloquy in 
 
 * Mr. Rutherford all the while was dumb, only in the midst of this jang- 
 lint;, he cast in a syllogism, and required them all to answer it, " What Scrip- 
 ture does warrant, an assembly may not discharge ; but privy meetings for 
 exercises of religion, Scripture warrants, James v. 16. Confess your faults one 
 to another, and pray one for another. Malachi iii. 16. Then they that feared 
 the Lord, spoke often one to another ; thir things cannot be done in public 
 meetings, ergo, &c." A number haunsht at the argument, but came not near 
 tlic matter, let be to answer formally, and lord Seaforth would not have Mr. 
 Sanuiel trouLlci us with any of his logic syllogisms. Buiilie, vol. i, v. 200. 
 
54B HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 a place where there were so many who were waiting for their 
 halting. This decision it would be difficult altogether to 
 justify, it may perhaps be palliated by the consideration, that 
 a number of the members of assembly were influenced by a 
 dread of appearing to encourage improper practices in sec- 
 taries, the evil effects of which sotne of the most learned ot 
 their body had witnessed on the Continent. 
 
 In times of violent public agitation, it is impossible always 
 to repress the rabble, so that no extravagancies will occur, 
 although often the most violent, are those that arise from the 
 enemies of the cause they pretend to espouse. Aberdeen, 
 from the indecision and versatility of her politics, appears 
 to have been especially exposed to visitations of this kind, 
 and was alternately plundered and harassed by covenanters, 
 and non-covenanters. While this assembly was sitting, some 
 of the former vented their pious indignation against the rem- 
 nants of idolatry;* but we shall afterward find the latter 
 strewing the streets with the carcases of the slain. 
 
 During the early period of the Scottish preparations, the 
 confinement of the earl of Loudon, prevented all direct inter- 
 course with the king ; the Scots alleging, that they durst not 
 venture to send any commissioners, as the public faith had 
 been so openly violated in his case. His majesty at last, con- 
 
 * The earl of Seaforth, master of Forbes, with the principal of the college, 
 the doctor civilian, with a number of barons and gentlemen, held a meeting 
 in king's college, to settle some internal regulations, and it is pitifully record- 
 ed, that they " riding up the gate to St. Michael's kirk, ordained our blessed 
 Lord Jesus Christ, his arms to be cut out of the forefront of the pulpit there- 
 of, and to take down the portraiture of the blessed Virgin Mary, and our 
 Saviour in her arms, that had stood since the up-putting thereof, in curious 
 work, under the ceiling, at the west end of the pend, whereon the great stee- 
 ple stands, unmoved till now ; and gave order to colonel master of Forbes, to 
 see this done, whilk with all diligence he obeyed; and besides, where there 
 were any crucifixes set in glass windows, those he caused pull out in honest 
 men's houses; he caused a mason strike out Christ's arms in hewn work, on 
 each end of bishop Gavin Dunbar's tomb, and sicklike chizel out the name of 
 Jesus, drawn cyper ways, out of the timber wall on the foreside of Machar's 
 isle, anent the consistory door ; the crucifix of the old town cross was thrown 
 down, the crucifix on the New Town closed up, being loath to break the 
 stone. The crucifix ci the west end of St. Nicholas' church in New Aber- 
 deen thrown down, whilk v/as never touched before," Spalding, vol. i. p. 246. 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 549 
 
 vinced of the impolicy of detaining hiin, on tlie suggestion of 
 the marquis of Hamilton, entered into a treaty with the cap- 
 tive lord, expecting to purchase his gratitude and services by 
 setting him free from an unjust imprisonment. He was ac- 
 cordingly enlarged, and allowed to return to his native coun- 
 try, carrying with him an answer to the letter which the Scot- 
 tish nobles had sent to the earl of Lanark, when they trans- 
 mitted him the acts of parliament, refusing the royal assent to 
 the acts ; hinting, however, that the refusal was not absolute, 
 but that when they should take such a humble and dutiful 
 way as should witness that they were not less careful and ten- 
 der of his majesty's royal power, than they were desirous oi 
 his approbation, then it would be time to expect such a gra- 
 cious and just answer, as would testify his fatherly compassion 
 for his native kingdom, and his pious and princely care for 
 performing whatever was necessary for establishing their re- 
 ligion and laws. 
 
 When Loudon arrived, affairs had proceeded too far to 
 admit of any settlement, short of an unreserved compliance 
 on the part of the king with the demands of his subjects, or 
 an irresistible power to crush their gathering strength. He 
 was not willing to yield to the first, and therefore determined 
 to try the last alternative; but it was toward the close of the 
 summer ere active operations on either side could commence, 
 and the first movements on the part of the English gave 
 warning for the Scots to assemble. Orders were instantly 
 despatched from the general committee at Edinburgh to all 
 the sub-committees in the counties, to hasten the march of 
 their different quotas to the general rendezvous, with pro- 
 visions for from thirty to forty days. Early in August they 
 arrived at Dunse, where they were reviewed by the general, 
 and their numbers amounted to twenty-three thousand foot, 
 three thousand horse, and a train of heavy artillery, besides 
 some light cannon formed of tin, and leather corded round, 
 capable of sustaining twelve successive discharges, a species 
 of gun which had been used by Gustavus, and which the 
 Scottish general had borrowed from that service.* 
 
 * Guthrie ridicules the idea of leathern guns, Hist. vol. ix. p. 509. but 
 Burnet says distinctly they had an invention of guns of white iron, tinned and 
 
«550 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 For nearly three weeks, the army lay upon the borders, im- 
 proving themselves in discipline, and preparing for the field 
 by devotional exercises, in which they were assisted and di- 
 rected by the most eminent of the ministers, who attended the 
 camp in the capacity of chaplains, and were not less useful in 
 enforcing subordination, and exciting courage by their ex- 
 hortations, than their officers in teaching the military art by 
 their instructions. 
 
 The advance of the royal troops under Conway toward New- 
 castle, was the signal for the Scottish force to break up, and 
 anticipate their attack by marching into England. This move- 
 ment, which appears to have been unexpected by Charles, 
 who possibly supposed that his opponents would wait, as they 
 did last campaign, till they were invaded, although in itself so 
 evidently advantageous and necessary, is, however, said to 
 have been occasioned by a letter from lord Saville, to which 
 v\'as appended the names of several other noblemen — Bed- 
 ford, Essex, Broke, Warwick, Say, Seal, and Mandeville, 
 encouraging them to enter England without delay. This let- 
 ter, which afterward turned out to be a forgery, was rendered 
 highly probable, by the previous connexion which the Scot- 
 tish commissioners had had with these noblemen, and with 
 Hampden, Pym, and the rest of the leading patriots while in 
 London, who encouraged them to proceed in their opposition 
 to the court, hoping that, from their exertions, advantage 
 would arise to the cause of liberty in England ,• and as a far- 
 ther corroboration, Saville wrote to lord Loudon, assuring 
 him that the entrance of the Scots into England would em- 
 bolden their friends, who were ready cordially to unite with 
 them in a remonstrance, which should comprehend the griev- 
 ances of both nations, and looked to their army as the chief 
 means for eftecting their desires, promising them, as they 
 advanced, supplies of money, re-enforcements of men, and 
 plenty of provisions. 
 
 As a still farther stimulus, the following letter v/as sent to 
 headquarters. " Such is our affection to your cause, and 
 
 corJed, so that they could serve for two or three discharges ; were h'ght, and 
 were carried on horseback. — Hist. vol. i. p. 36. Carte informs us, that such 
 were used in Germany, in the History of Gustavus. — Laing, vol. iii. p. 194. 
 
IT I.STORY OF SCOTLAND. 651 
 
 cave of your affair, that nothing hath been omitted which 
 might conduce to the furtherance of your design, nor the 
 discharge of our own promises; but your often failing in 
 point of entrance, after solemn engagements by word and 
 write, hath deadened the hearts of all your friends, disabled 
 the most active to do you any further service, and disappoint- 
 ed yourselves of near ten thousand pounds, which was pro- 
 vided and kept for you till you had twice failed, and that 
 there was little or no hope of your coming. The Lord hath 
 given you favour in the eyes of the people so, as I knovv not 
 whether there are more incensed against our own soldiers, or 
 desirous of yours. If you really intend to come, strike while 
 the iron is hot; if you be uncertain what to resolve, let us 
 know, that we may secure our lives, though we hazard our 
 estates by retiring. Here is no body of an army to interrupt 
 you, no ordinance to dismay you, no money to pay our own ; 
 the city hath once more refused to lend, the trained bands to 
 be pressed, the country storms at the billeting of soldiers, 
 quarrels arise every day about it. If you have a good cause, 
 why do you stand still? If a bad, why have you come so far? 
 Either die or do, so you shall be sons of valour. P. S. If 
 there be any thing of consequence, you shall have speedy in- 
 telligence of it." 
 
 From whatever source these invitations proceeded, they 
 arrived very opportunely to enforce the only linse of conduct 
 the Scots could pursue. Their provisions and pay were 
 every day wasting, and by marching into another country, 
 they would bring affairs to a crisis, or procure subsistence 
 for their forces, if obliged to maintain them long together. 
 The committee in the camp, therefore called a general coun- 
 cil of officers, to consider the propriety of carrying the war 
 into England, when it was unanimously determined on, and 
 a deputation sent to Edinburgh to communicate their resolu- 
 tion to the committee there, with which they cordially coin- 
 ciding, two preparatory papers were printed and dispersed, 
 one entitled, " Six Considerations, Manifesting the Lawful- 
 ness of their Expedition into England ;" the other, " The 
 Intentions of the Army of the Kingdom of Scotland, Declared 
 to their Brethren of England." 
 
552 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 The considerations were, first, that paramount plea, neces- 
 sity; either they must seek peace in England, or maintain 
 armies on the borders to defend their country from invasion, 
 which they cannot support; be deprived of their trade, whicli 
 they cannot want, and be without the administration of just- 
 ice, which would occasion a confusion not to be endured. 
 Second, this expedition is in part defensive, for the aggres- 
 sion was first begun on the part of his majesty, who refused 
 to ratify the articles of pacification agreed on with their com- 
 missioners, and in his council declared war without hearing 
 their deputies, convened the English and Irish parliaments 
 to grant subsidies for carrying it on, ordered their ships and 
 goods to be seized and confiscated, and authori-zed the inhab- 
 itants of Edinburgh to be killed by the garrison of the castle. 
 The conduct of the Protestants in France, in similar circum- 
 stances, was justified by those who would now wish to be con- 
 sidered the greatest royalists in England ; and if it be lawful 
 for a private man, when his house is shut up, and the supply 
 for himself and family prevented, to forcibly break the ille-gal 
 enthralment, it is equally so for a nation when blockaded to 
 seek the like relief; but as a conclusive proof that their ob- 
 ject was only defence, the}' affirmed their willingness to lay 
 aown their arms as soon as a secure peace could be obtained, 
 by which their libei'ty would be preserved. Third, that they 
 had endeavoured by supplications to avoid extremities, but 
 v/ere constrained to take arms by their enemies, who wished 
 to make their resistance to oppression a national quarrel, 
 which, however, they hope will prove a firmer bond of uhion 
 between the nations in the work of reformation. Fourth, it is 
 lawful, because it is not against the nation, but the Canterbur- 
 ian faction, misleaders of the king, and common enemies of 
 both kingdoms. Fifth, the end for which they come ; not to 
 do any disloyal act against his majesty, or enrich themselves, 
 but to suppress and punish in a legal way, the disturbers of 
 the church and state. And sixth, the blessed effects which 
 will follow their success ; Scotland reformed as at the begin- 
 ning; the reformation of England, so long prayed for, brought 
 to pass ; Papists, prelates, and all other members of the an- 
 tichristian hierarchy dismissed ; the names of sectaries and 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 553 
 
 separatists no more mentioned ; and the Lord one, and his 
 name one, through the whole island. In this paper were 
 first openly expressed by the Presbyterians a wish to extend 
 their own form of church government to the sister kingdom, 
 and that exclusive claim to pre-eminence and civil protection, 
 which afterward became the source of so much misfortune 
 and misery. 
 
 The " Intentions," which may be considered as the Scot- 
 tish manifesto, is an able and an elegant production, drawn 
 up with much art to conciliate the English nation, and though 
 it breathes the same spirit, does not so avowedly profess the 
 principle of conformity as the Instructions. In it they dis- 
 claim all intention to enrich themselves at the expense of 
 their dear brethren, and appeal to their past conduct and 
 known modei'ation as pledges of the sincerity of their present 
 professions ; for though their ships and goods were seized by 
 the king's ships, they had made no retaliation upon the pro- 
 perty of the English. They gratefully acknowledge the hesi- 
 tation of their parliament to grant supplies, while that of 
 Ireland had been so obsequious, and the affection of the city 
 of London, and attest before God their desire to repay such 
 kindness, by avoiding, unless compelled to it by Papists or 
 prelates, every act of violence or bloodshed, but warn them, 
 that the forcible suppression of their complaints would be a 
 precedent for putting down their own. Before they ever 
 ventured to supplicate, they had suffered many years, nor was 
 it till they were forbidden to insist, under pain of treason, that 
 they renewed their national oath and covenant; and when his 
 majesty was moved by wicked counsel to march toward them 
 with an army, rather than seem disobedient to their king, or 
 distrustful to their brethren in England, they disbanded their 
 forces, delivered up their strong holds, and, notwithstanding 
 their former lawful assembly, were content that their proceed- 
 ings should be reconsidered by a new assembly and the par- 
 liament. When these proceedings were determined by an as 
 sembly, in presence of the royal commissioner, and parliamen 
 met to ratify them, it was illegally prorogued, their represen- 
 tations were not heard, and instead of a gracious answer, their 
 commissioners were latterly restrained, one noblemen impris- 
 
 VOL. III. 4 A 
 
554 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 oned, and war commenced. The authors of these disastrous 
 counsels, they declared to be the archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and the lord lieutenant of Ireland, whose punishment they re- 
 quired, but in no other manner than what their own parliament 
 should determine. The question then, they add, is not, wheth- 
 er they shall defend themselves at home, or invade their dear- 
 est brethren? but whether they shall keep themselves at home, 
 till their throats be cut, and their religion, laws, and country 
 destroyed, or seek their safety, peace, and liberty in England^ 
 They must not have men think, that to come into England, 
 is to come against England. Had the wrongs done them 
 been done by the state, then there had been just cause for a 
 national quarrel ; but the kingdom, convened in parliament, 
 refused to contribute any supply against them, and have 
 shown that they are oppressed with grievances like themselves 
 which the king hath declared he will redress out of parlia- 
 ment, whereas national grievances require the hand of parlia- 
 ment to cure ; but to prevent this interfering, they were dis- 
 solved. They then entreat and exhort all who love their re . 
 ligion and liberty to join against the common enemy, whose 
 design was, if they could stir up their dearest brethren and 
 neighbouring nation to war, first to quiet Scotland by some 
 ill secured peace, till England were subdued by the army os- 
 tensibly raised against them, and then to rivet the yoke of 
 despotism upon both ; but they obtest the purity of their in- 
 tentions : that they will not take from their dear brethren, 
 without price, or security if their money fail, from a thread 
 even to a shoe latchet; they shall demand nothing of his maj- 
 esty but the safety of their religion and liberty, and their 
 abode in England shall be no longer than till these are secur- 
 ed by their parliament, their just grievances redressed, and 
 sufficient assurance given for the trial and punishment of the 
 authors of their evils. * 
 
 The faithlessness and insincerity of the king, so flagrant in 
 all his transactions with the covenanters, thus at last drove them 
 to appeal for justice and security to the English parliament. 
 In reviewing their progress from their first humble supplica- 
 
 * Rushworth, vol. Hi. p. 1223. lb. Appendix, p. 285. 
 . 61 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 553 
 
 tion to this decided manifesto, the tardy concessions of Charles 
 are prominent among the causes which produced so portent- 
 ous a result ; instead of coming in time to allay the ferment, 
 they came always precisely at the moment when they were 
 useless, except to stimulate to fresh demands, and accompan- 
 ied with reservations which called for additional securities. 
 
 Anxious to make good their professions, the Scots, whose 
 funds began to be exhausted, despatched two of the most 
 popular noblemen, accompanied by Henderson and Johnston, 
 to Edinburgh, to use their influence with the citizens in pro- 
 curincT an advance ; and as it would have created discontent 
 among the English, if the Scottish army, on their entering 
 the country, had cut down the trees and shrubs for huts, they 
 were to try and procure, likewise, as much cloth as would 
 serve for tents during their encampments. They arrived late 
 upon Saturday night, but so effectual were the exhortations 
 of the ministers next day, that on Monday the women pro- 
 duced webs of coarse linen, almost sufficient for the whole 
 army, and the monied men, with equal promptitude, advanced 
 the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds Scots, 
 with a promise of remitting as much immediately, which they 
 rigidly performed. 
 
 Every preparation being now completed, the Scottish army 
 broke up from Dunse, and on the 20th of August crossed the 
 Tweed at Coldstream, Montrose on foot, at the head of his 
 regiment, leading the way. The college of justice troop, 
 consisting of one hundred and sixty gentlemen, under Sir 
 Thomas Hope, rode on the right wing, and broke the stream. 
 They entered England in three divisions, lord Almond com- 
 manding the van, major-general Baillie the centre, and Leslie 
 bringing up the rear. On the 22d they encamped near Wool- 
 er, and during the night were attacked by the garrison of 
 Berwick, who made a sally, and surprised a detachment, from 
 which they took three fieldpieces ; but the alarm being given, 
 the guns were quickly retaken, and the assailants driven back, 
 with the loss of several prisoners. On the 26th they encamp- 
 ed at Frewick* on Newcastle-muir ; thence the committee 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 204. Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 1 223, calls the name of this 
 place Creicli; he says the message was sent from Newbuni. 
 
556 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 despatched, by a drummer, two communications to the mayor 
 of Newcastle, and to Sir Jacob Ashley, commander of the 
 troops, enclosing their manifestoes, deprecating all hostilities, 
 and requesting that no obstruction might be offered to their 
 passage through that town, their sole intention in taking arms 
 being to defend themselves against any who should prevent 
 their access to his majesty, before whom they meant to lay 
 their grievances. Their letters were returned by Sir Jacob 
 unopened, and the drummer desired to inform them, that no 
 sealed papers would in future be received. Next day the 
 army marched to Newburn, about five miles above Newcastle, 
 and took post on an eminence behind that village, and in the 
 neighbourhood, kindling large fires, during the night, in and 
 round their camp, to a considerable extent, which conveyed 
 to their enemies an impression of a much more formidable 
 force than they really possessed. 
 
 On the same day that the Scots entered England, Charles 
 left London for York, to join an army almost in a state of 
 mutiny. Some of the soldiers had risen upon their officers, 
 and one lieutenant, who was a suspected Papist, had been 
 murdered; others had broken into a church, torn up the al- 
 tar, and burned the rails before the minister's door, and the 
 officers had not sufficient power to try them by martial law, 
 even for such notorious breaches of military discipline. At 
 York the gentlemen of the county were waiting his arrival 
 with a petition, praying to be relieved from the billeting ot 
 soldiers, and for an advance of fourteen days' pay to their 
 levies, without which they did not think they would be able 
 to raise, or forward them to the army. 
 
 Embarrassed by these untoward circumstances, the king's 
 perplexities were increased by despatches from lord Conway, 
 who, with a detachment consisting of about four or five thou- 
 sand foot, and between two and three thousand horse, had 
 advanced to observe the motions of the Scots, and guard the 
 passage of the Tyne, informing him of the approach of the 
 Scots, and desiring instructions how to dispose of his force. 
 His majesty immediately summoned the gentry then at York 
 to wait upon him, and informed them by the earl of Strafford, 
 that it was now no time for disputation about pay; the country 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 557 
 
 was invaded, and all classes were bound by their allegiance to 
 attend their sovereign, at their own proper charges and cost.* 
 
 As soon as the meeting separated, an express was sent off 
 to Conway, with orders to engage the Scots. The messen- 
 ger reached him at Stella, about half a mile distant from the 
 army, where he was holding a council of war with his general 
 officers, to whom he had scarcely submitted the despatches, 
 when another arrived in haste to inform him, that the army 
 was already engaged with the Scots. The English were in- 
 trenched on the south bank of the Tyne, where they had 
 constructed two four-gun batteries, one at each of the fords, 
 and placed in them five hundred picked musketeers ; the rest 
 of their forces were stationed in a meadow, at the foot of a 
 rising ground, nearly a mile in rear. The Scots had planted 
 some heavy cannon on a hill opposite the enemy, in the town, 
 and on the steeple of Newburn church ; their musketeers 
 were in the church, houses, lanes, and hedges, in and about 
 the village. 
 
 Both continued thus arranged during the morning of the 
 28th, and watered their horses on their I'espective sides of 
 the river, without molesting each other, when an unexpected 
 incident brought on an engagement. A Scottish officer, 
 about mid-day, while in the act of watering his horse, being 
 observed to fix his eye steadily on the opposite intrench- 
 ments, was shot by an English centinel. The Scottish mus- 
 queteers, who perceived him fall, immediately commenced 
 firing, and were seconded by the artillery, whose fire seemed 
 the effect of magic, as the houses and trees had screened 
 them from the view of their opponents. A breach was soon 
 effected in the English works, and the troops abandoned 
 them in disorder. On their confusion being seen from the 
 Scottish side, the general's guard, consisting of the college 
 
 * Strafford's manner was imperious and harsh, and contributed not a little 
 to alienate the aifections of the nobles from his master. In his address to the 
 gentlemen upon this occasion, after telling them that it was little less than . 
 high treason to hesitate about the service, he politely added : — " I say it again 
 we are bound unto it by the common law of England, by the law of nature, 
 and by the law of reason ; and you are no better than beasts if you refuse." — 
 Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 1235. 
 
55S HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 of justice troop, headed by Sir Tiiomas Hope, were ordered 
 to cross at low water, and take possession of the batteries, 
 which they easily effected, making prisoners of all that re- 
 mained in the trenches. They were followed by colonel 
 Leslie, with some additional troops, who joined in the pur- 
 suit of those that had fled. These, ralljdng in a narrow pass, 
 were charged by Sir Thomas Hope, supported by Leslie, 
 and driven back ; but being joined by twelve troops of heavy 
 English cavalry, they again formed, and the Scots, who had 
 advanced too far, were forced to retreat, under protection of 
 their own cannon. The English, not aware of a new battery 
 which the Scottish general had erected, continued to press 
 forward, when it opened upon them, threw them into disor- 
 der, and forced them to retire upon the main body. The 
 Scots, who had remained on the north bank of the river, 
 impatient to engage, were now led on by lords Loudon, 
 Lindsay, Queensberry and Montgomery, but ere their van 
 had reached the spot, the day was decided. The Enghsh 
 foot sought refuse in a wood, and the horse, in covering their 
 retreat, were attacked by a fresh body of Scots, defeated with 
 some loss, and their commanders taken prisoners, while the 
 scattered privates escaped under cover of night, to carry dis- 
 may and confusion to the main body. The loss was inconsid- 
 erable, but the rout was complete, and the Scots had to boast 
 of a standard, and three officers of rank, as the trophies of 
 the day.* So panic struck were the English, that their cav- 
 alry retired hastily to Durham, the foot to Newcastle, and 
 early next morning, the whole were in full retreat into York- 
 shire. 
 
 On the same day on which the victory at Newburn fords 
 was gained, the castle of Dunbarton capitulated, a grievous 
 scurvy having broken out among the soldiers ; otherwise the 
 rock was impregnable, being in a complete state of defence, 
 well provisioned, and full}' garrisoned. 
 
 * Clarendon saj's, the English loss was " not a dozen," Hist. vol. i. p. 155. 
 Rushworth estimates them at more than sixty killed, vol. iii. p. 1238. White- 
 lock states them at five hundred killed and prisoners, p. 54. The letter of 
 the Scottish committee of war mentions no number. No account rates the 
 Scottish loss exactlv, but it v.;<5 triflinfr. 
 
HISTORY or SCOTLAND. 559 
 
 To complete the fortunate events oF the 28th, an attempt, 
 made by the troops from Berwick, to surprise the Scottish 
 depot at Dunse, was defeated by the earl of Haddington, 
 who retook some cannon they were carrying off; but the ex- 
 ultation occasioned by these events was in some measure 
 damped, by the explosion of a powder magazine at Dunglas, 
 which buried in the ruins of the castle the earl of Hadding- 
 ton, two of his brothers, a son of the earl of Marr's, a num- 
 ber of gentlemen, and upwards of eighty of inferior rank. 
 
 Shortly after, the ever varying chances of war, compensat- 
 ed in some measure for this disaster, by the surrender of 
 Edinburgh castle, which it tended to hasten. At the meet- 
 ing of parliament in July, the captain cannonaded the town, 
 and killed several of the inhabitants. When required by the 
 estates to desist or surrender, he refused to give up his charge 
 to any order but the king's, and continued hostilities. The 
 place was then besieged in form, and batteries erected on the 
 Castle-hill, in Grey Friars' church-yard, and at the West 
 kirk ; but their cannon wei'e light, and made little impression. 
 Toward the end of July a mine was sprung, of which the 
 garrison being apprized, * the besiegers were repulsed in the 
 assault, and the breach was speedily repaired. Having ex- 
 hausted their means of offence, the covenanters turned the 
 siege into a blockade, and were patiently waiting the effects 
 of famine, when the castle of Dunglas was blown up. The 
 country catching the alarm at the catastrophe, all the beacons 
 on the line were kindled ; and the garrison, who were in 
 hourly expectation of the English fleet, perceiving the signals 
 lighted, never doubted but this was to announce their arrival 
 on the coast. In the excess of their joy, they consumed al- 
 most the whole of their remaining provisions in a feast on the 
 occasion, which being unable to replace, when they came to 
 learn the real state of the affair, they proposed to capitulate, 
 and their brave defence was rewarded by honourable condi- 
 tions, f 
 
 * An arrow, with a letter wrapped round it, is said to have conveyed the 
 intelligence to Ruthven, the governor. — Gordon's Hist. vol. i. p. 330, 
 f Baillie, vol. i. p. 206-8 Balfour's Ann. Guthrie's Mem. p. 86. 
 
560 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Notwithstanding their victory, the Scots were in a very 
 critical situation, their provisions were exhausted, and the 
 country people fled as they approached, carrying with them 
 whatever they possessed the means of transporting. Had 
 Newcastle shut its gates, they were without the means of re- 
 ducing it, and must have dispersed in quest of subsistence, or 
 returned from a useless, irritating inroad, to disband at home 
 the ability of their general, and the terror their victory caus- 
 ed in the English army, saved them from any disagreeable 
 retrograde motion. The night after the battle was - spent 
 by the invading army under arms, nor did they venture to 
 move forward, as they understood eleven thousand men were 
 quartered in Newcastle, and the rest of the royal army at no 
 great distance, but next day, on learning that they had eva- 
 cuated the town. Sir Archibald Douglas of Cavers, with a 
 trumpeter, and attended only by two gentlemen as witnesses, 
 was sent to the mayor, to assure him of the friendly disposi- 
 tion of the Scots, and persuade the citizens to continue their 
 usual occupations without dread, as the army would not enter 
 the town, but encamp on the heights, and the general would 
 set a guard to prevent any stragglers from doing mischief. 
 
 Next day, the commander-in-chief, attended by the com- 
 mittee, and a number of officers, escorted by his lifeguard, 
 entered the place. They were cordially received by the 
 mayor and aldermen, who welcomed them with a magnificent 
 banquet, after which they went to church, where Mr. A. 
 Henderson preached a thanksgiving sermon. In the town 
 they found five thousand stand of arms, and plenty of cheese, 
 biscuit, and other provisions, abandoned by the English in 
 their hurry. The colliers, who were reckoned about ten 
 thousand, terrified by a report industriously spread, that the 
 Scots would give no quarter, had all absconded, and upwards 
 of a hundred vessels who were entering the river the day 
 after the engagement, on hearing of the victory, went away 
 empty. * This afforded the covenanters an opportunity of 
 displaying their moderation, and procuring a great accession 
 of friends; they invited the workmen to return fearlessly, for 
 
 * Riishworth, vol. iii. f>. 12.39. 
 
 # 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 561 
 
 their wishes were to help, and not to hurt, tney sent two 
 noblemen to inform the masters of vessels who were prepar- 
 ing to depart, that they might remain with safety, and com- 
 plete their cargoes, and they despatched a letter to the mayor 
 and aldermen, of London, filled with protestations of friend- 
 ship and affection, announcing their occupation of Newcastle, 
 as a measure necessary for their own security, but which 
 would occasion no inconvenience to the capital, as the trade 
 in the essential article of coals, would suffer no interruption 
 from them, but would be rather protected, as a testimony of 
 respect to a city, of whose regard for the peace of the two 
 kingdoms, they were fully persuaded, and to whom they were 
 desirous to show every mark of kindness in their power. 
 
 The facility with which they had obtained Newcastle, em- 
 boldened the Scots to attetnpt Durham, which also, without 
 resistance opened its gates. The bishop and leading clergy 
 having fled into Yorkshire, the earl of Dunfermline was ap- 
 pointed governor, and stationed in it with a brigade. Tyne- 
 mouth and Shields were likewise taken possession of, in which 
 latter place, some vessels with stores for the king's army, fell 
 into the hands of the Scots. The earl of Strafford was at 
 Darlington, on his road to join the army, when the news of 
 the defeat reached him, which he had scarcely heard, when 
 he was astonished with intelligence of the evacuation of New- 
 castle by the king's troops without a blow. Uncertain of 
 the extent of the disaster, he sent a messenger to the army, 
 with instructions to the officers to collect their scattered 
 forces, and retreat upon York, at the same time issuing a 
 proclamation, requiring the inhabitants of the county pala- 
 tine, to bring all such butter, cheese, bread, and milk, as they 
 could possibly furnish, to Darlington ; to take away, or break 
 all the upper millstones ; and to remove all cattle, and what- 
 ever might be of use to the enemy, to places of safety. The 
 king, who had advanced as far as Northallerton, in hopes of 
 being present with the army before any engagement, was 
 there met by the disastrous tidings, anu hastened back to 
 York, to ruminate upon this most inauspicious commence- 
 ment of the campaign, and lament over misfortunes which 
 might have been foreseen and prevented, but against which 
 
 VOL. in. 4 b 
 
562 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 lie had provided no resource, and for which there appeared 
 no remedy. , 
 
 Established in comfortable quarters, the Scots were not 
 anxious to press forward, they dreaded raising the national 
 spirit of the English, by appearing to exult in their success, 
 and although they must have felt gratified at the fortunate 
 issue of the first encounter, they used the language of lamen- 
 tation rather than of triumph. Preserving the same respect- 
 ful attitude to the king, they again addressed a supplication 
 for peace, but required the guarantee of the English parlia- 
 ment for its stability. They had been constrained to enter 
 England, they said, where they had lived upon their own 
 means and provisions, without harming any individual in their 
 persons or goods, till pressed by strength of arms, they were 
 obliged to remove the forces, who, contrary to their inclin- 
 ations, and against their own conscience, opposed their 
 peaceable passage of the Tyne, and they submissively en- 
 treated his majesty, that he would at last take into his serious 
 consideration, their pressing grievances, provide for repairing 
 their wrongs and losses, and with the advice of a parliament 
 in England, settle a firm and durable peace, so that his throne 
 might be established in the midst of them. * 
 
 The Scottish supplication, was the forerunner of petitions 
 from the nobles, from the city of London, from the county of 
 York, and from several other counties, representing their own 
 grievances, and praying, that a parliament might be assembled 
 to redress them, and a treaty concluded with the Scots. The 
 high royalists had done every thing in their power, to prevent 
 the voice of the people from reaching the throne. The privy 
 council, when they heard that the city of London intended to 
 petition, wrote the lord mayor and aldermen, warning them 
 against giving countenance to such an unwarrantable proceed- 
 ing, and the lords Wharton and Howard, who had presented 
 some of the petitions to his majesty at York, were thrown into 
 iail, and a council of war held upon their conduct, by which, 
 on the motion of the earl of Strafford, they were condemned 
 to be shot at the bead of the army as movers of sedition, and 
 
 * Rushwortli, vol. iii. p. 1255. 
 61 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 563 
 
 the sentence would have been carried into effect, but for the 
 marquis of Hamilton, who, when the council rose, asked 
 Strafford if he was sure of the army, and he on inquiry, find- 
 ing a strong disposition to revolt prevalent, deemed it prudent 
 not to proceed.* 
 
 Charles himself would never believe in the universal pre- 
 valence of discontent, nor in the weakness of his power, when 
 opposed to the torrent of public opinion. His courtiers re- 
 pi'esented the complaints of the people as unfounded, and the 
 petitions as improperly obtained, and flattered his notions of 
 the irresistible influence, as well as divine right of the crown; 
 lie in consequence, pursued rash, uncomplying measures; 
 hated all that oflPered prudent and moderate counsels; thought 
 they proceeded from a meanness of spirit, or a desire in those 
 who offered them, to advance their own interest by sacrificing 
 his authority, or from republican principles ; f and even when 
 he found it necessary to follow such advice, he hated those 
 who gave it; but above all, the free representations of the 
 house of commons were peculiarly disagreeable, and he looked 
 forward with an abhorrent reluctance to their meeting. To 
 avoid convoking this obnoxious assembly, he had recourse 
 to an old, and almost obsolete expedient; he summoned a 
 council of nobles to meet at York ; and to stop the progress of 
 the Scots, he ordered Lanark to return a conciliatory mes- 
 sage, informing them of his having done so, and requiring 
 them to state their demands specifically, as their supplication 
 was too general, which he would submit to the consideration 
 of the peers, and with their advice, return such an answer as 
 might be consistent with his honour, and the welfare of his 
 dominions. 
 
 In reply, the Scottish chiefs repeated what they had pub- 
 lished in their declaration; that his majesty would be gra- 
 ciously pleased to ratify the acts of the last parliament; that 
 the castle of Edinburgh, and other fortresses in Scotland, 
 should be occupied, as they were originally intended, only for 
 the security and defence of the country; that Scottishmen in 
 England and Ireland, siiould not be molested for having sub- 
 
 * Riirnci's Hist. vol. i. p. 37. f Jbid. vol. i. p. 38. 
 
564 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 scribed the covenant^ nor forced to take oaths in opposition 
 to that engagement, and the laws of their own land ; that the 
 common incendiaries, the authors of these combustions, should 
 be brought to punishment; the ships and goods sequestrated, 
 restored; the expense and loss occasioned by the war, repair- 
 ed, and that, with the advice and concurrence of the English 
 parliament, the declarations denouncing them as traitors, be 
 recalled, the frontier garrisons dismissed, all impediments to 
 a free trade removed, and peace established on a basis not 
 liable to yearly interruption by force, or at the pleasure of 
 their adversaries. 
 
 Neither of the parties were averse to negotiate. The king's 
 army, inferior in numbers, and heartless in the cause, were 
 willing to attribute their defeat to disaffection, rather than want 
 of courage, and ready to confirm their vindication by a mu- 
 tiny. Strafford alone advised the king to stake his chance 
 upon a desperate throw, to appeal to the instinctive love of 
 country, and the natural indignation which Englishmen must 
 have felt at the invasion of their territory, and the exaction of 
 contributions, and to their feelings of honour, to wipe away 
 the disgrace their arms had suffered ; but the representations 
 of the marquis of Hamilton, and the certainty almost of a 
 number of English noblemen being well affected to the Scots, 
 inclined the king to the milder, although, as the event proved, 
 not the safer plan of treating. 
 
 Nor were the Scots free from difficulty and embarrassment; 
 they were still without any co-operation from their friends in 
 England, their provisions ran low, their cash was nearly 
 expended, and their credit considerably under par. In these 
 circumstances, they had been constrained for self-preservation, 
 to depart in some degree, from the conduct they observed on 
 their first entry into England, and levy their subsistence in 
 the counties they occupied. The estates of the Canterburian 
 faction, who, as the authors of the war, were objects of fair 
 plunder, being unable to furnish supplies, Newcastle was re- 
 quired to contribute two hundred pounds, the county of 
 Northumberland three hundred, and the bishopric of Dur- 
 ham three hundred and fifty a day, for the current expenses, 
 and the manner in which these impositions were exacted, was 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 565 
 
 beginning to exasperate the minds of the inhabitants against 
 their friendly invaders.* The soldiers, unaccustomed to re- 
 main so long in camp, began to be afflicted with distempers 
 arising from cold and exposure, or tired with the protracted 
 campaign, to desert in considerable numbers, and return 
 home. Some of the officers showed symptoms of discontent, 
 and their union was only prevented from being broken, by 
 the accidental discovery of a secret correspondence carried on 
 with the king, by Monti'ose. 
 
 This ambitious and unprincipled nobleman, who had been 
 driven into the arms of the covenanters, by the neglect of his 
 sovereign, was regained by his condescending affability at 
 Berwick. His conduct had been viewed with suspicion for 
 some time before, but during the expedition, he had behaved 
 with great apparent zeal, and as he had ever advocated the 
 most extreme measures in parliament, so he seemed ready to 
 support them in the field ; he was the first covenanter who set 
 hostile foot in England, yet he had engaged in a bond with 
 several other noblemen, to support the despotic pretensions of 
 the king, and was holding private communication with him.f 
 An act had passed the committee of war, that no person should 
 send any letter to court, except it had been seen and approv- 
 ed of, by at least three of their number. Montrose, in con- 
 sequence, read to the committee, several letters, which he 
 proposed sending to some of his friends there, but in sealing 
 them up, he enclosed, within one to Sir Richard Graham, an- 
 
 * Some of the gentlemen who were unable to furnish their quotas of the 
 assessment, had their cattle seized, those who were employed to collect the 
 money, exacted double, of which they kept the one half, and through ignor- 
 ance or misinformation, heavy sums were taken from friends, instead of ene- 
 mies. Numbers of the lower English, disguising themselves with blue bon- 
 nets, as Scots, robbed and plundered indiscriminately, and servan-ts of the 
 clergy, left to take charge of their houses in their absence, carried off the 
 property intrusted to their care, and laid the blame upon the enemy. The 
 mayor and aldermen of Newcastle, having pled their inability to raise two 
 hundred pounds daily, had a guard placed on their Town house, till they sat- 
 isfied the commissioners. All this while securities were proficred for the 
 monies which were levied under the name of loans. Baillie, vol. i. p. 219- 
 20. Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 124-78. 
 
 f Burnet's Memoirs, p. 179. Baillie, vol. i. p. 210. 
 
566 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Other, which had not been seen, addressed to the king. When 
 the letters were delivered, Sir Richard, opening his carelessly, 
 the enclosure fell out. The Scottish envoy. Sir James 
 Mercer, who was standing near, politely stooping down, 
 lifted it, and observed the direction. On his return to 
 the camp, he informed the general, who proposed in the 
 committee, of which Montrose was at the time president, 
 to send for the gentleman who had carried their letters to 
 court, and examine him, with regard to what letters he had 
 delivered. When called, he related to the committee what 
 he had told the general. Seeing he was discovered, Mont- 
 rose endeavoured to defend his conduct, by alleging that 
 others did the same ; but he was reminded, that the guilt of 
 others did not excuse him; that the}"^, if discovered, would 
 be equally liable to censure, and was commanded to confine 
 himself to his chamber. His first resolution was to try how 
 many of his friends would support him, an advice from the 
 general, however, recommending him to remain quiet, unless 
 he wished to be tried capitally by a council of war, induced 
 him to produce a copy of the letter he said he had written to 
 his majesty, and crave pardon, on which the affair was hushed 
 up, and passed over for the time, the powerful connexions, 
 and high reputation of the earl, rendering it then impolitic 
 to pursue it further. 
 
 Amid their mutual professions for peace, both were anxious 
 to be prepared for an opposite result. Charles ordered all 
 the train bands north of the Trent to be called out, and to 
 hold themselves in readiness to march at twenty-four hours 
 notice. The counties were required to furnish provisions, 
 arms, and ammunition were provided, and all the garri- 
 sons strengthened, and put in a state of defence. Leslie 
 wrote to the committee at Edinburgh, for recruits, to supply 
 the deficiencies of war, and a re-enforcement of at least five 
 thousand men, a request with which the internal quiet of the 
 country enabled them to comply. Four thousand foot who 
 had been employed in the north, under lords Marischall, 
 Uome, and Lindsay, and major general Monro, were de- 
 spatched to join their brethren in England. Soon after, the 
 earl of Argyle followpfl accompanied by a number of gentle- 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 567 
 
 men and vassais belongmg to the clan, and the earl of Eglin- 
 ton, who had been employed in watching the west coast, now 
 that the danger there was over, were also commanded to keep 
 themselves ready foi marching on the first call. 
 
 On the 24-111 of September, the great council of the peers 
 assembled at York, in the dean's house, near the Minster. At 
 nine o'clock in the forenoon, the king arrived, and being seat- 
 ed in state, informed them of the reasons which had induced 
 him to call them together, in conformity with the practice of 
 his predecessors in times of imminent danger. An army of 
 rebels were now, he told them, lodged within the kingdom, 
 and he wished their advice and assistance, to chastise their in- 
 solence, and protect his faithful subjects. Sensible, from the 
 petition he had received since he called this meeting, that a 
 number, if not a majority of the peers participated in the pop- 
 ular feelings, and that however averse, he would be obliged 
 to comply, he naturally concluded that their first proposal 
 would be to call a parliament, and he anticipated this by in- 
 forming them, that he had already given orders to issue writs 
 for its assembling on the 3d of November. He then desired 
 their advice, as to what answer he should return to the peti- 
 tion of the rebels, and how he should treat with them ; next, 
 how his army was to be supported, till the supplies could be 
 obtained in parliament, as it was impossible to disband it 
 while the Scots remained in the country. To meet the first 
 exigence, it was resolved to appoint sixteen of the most influ- 
 ential and popular noblemen, assisted by the earls of Traquair, 
 Morton, and Lanark, Mr. Secretary Vane, Sir Lewis Stewart, 
 and Sir John Burrough, persons acquainted with the laws of 
 Scotland, and with the previous transactions, to treat with 
 commissioners from the Scots. The last required rather 
 longer deliberation ; Strafford represented, that the royal 
 army, amounting to twenty thousand foot, and between two 
 and three thousand horse, with three regiments of loyaJ 
 Scots, were in arrears for a fortnight's subsistence; that two 
 hundred thousand pounds would be requisite to support them 
 for three months, and, the king's treasury being completely 
 drained, proposed borrowing the money from the city of 
 London. To this motion the council consented, all the peers 
 
568 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 present agreeing to become security for the repayment of the 
 loan. York was at first mentioned as the place of meeting for 
 the commissioners, but the Scots, who were highly incensed 
 against the earl of Strafford, for his procuring them to be de- 
 clared traitors and rebels, declined intrusting themselves in 
 the midst of an army of which he had the command. North- 
 allerton was next pi'oposed, and rejected ; at last, Rippon, a 
 town about fifteen miles from York was fixed upon, where 
 the commissioners of both nations arrived on the first of Oc- 
 tober. 
 
 After exchanging commissions, the English were for nnme- 
 diately proceeding to negotiate, but the Scots, previously to 
 entering upon any discussion, insisted upon Ti^aquair being 
 removed as one of the incendiaries, who, by his misrepre- 
 sentations to the king and his council, had incensed them 
 against his own countrymen, nor would they consent to the 
 other assistants acting with the commissioners, as they were 
 not named in his majesty's commission. The English noble- 
 men represented their ignorance of the Scottish constitution, 
 and the necessity of persons who were acquainted with it being 
 present. The Scots, however, still insisted, and the matter 
 was referred to the king, who agreed that the assistants should 
 not take any public share in the business, but only be advised 
 with privately, which was, he said, the purpose for which they 
 had been originally nominated. While waiting for his ma- 
 jesty's answer, the English commissioners, in their private 
 interviews, reproached the Scots for their scrupulous caution, 
 and they retorted, by accusing their tardy motions, and their 
 failure in fulfilling the promises on which they had depended. 
 The noblemen, astonished at the charge, denied its justice, 
 when lord Saville's letter was produced, and the forgery 
 detected ; yet, so well had it been executed, that when the 
 nobles whose names were attached to it, saw the fictitious sig- 
 natures, they confessed they were so like their handwriting, 
 that but for the consciousness of never having seen such a 
 paper, they durst scarcely have afiirmed that they were not 
 their own subscriptions. This explanation removed the dis- 
 tance and coldness which had subsisted between the parties, 
 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 569 
 
 wlio, from this time appear to have had a secret understanding 
 with each other, * and to have acted in concert. 
 
 Upon resuming the conference, a cessation of arms was 
 proposed, to which the Scots professed their readiness to ac- 
 cede, but as the districts in which they were stationed had 
 been impoverished, and his majesty had forbid their advanc- 
 ing, neither could they return home with safety, without a 
 treaty were concluded on a firm basis, provision for the daily 
 subsistence of their ariny became a necessary preliminary, as 
 without some security for this, a truce would be to them more 
 ruinous than a war. The English commissioners allowed the 
 justice of the claim, and desired the others to specify the a- 
 mount. The Scots demanded forty thousand pounds a month, 
 which was immediately forwarded to the king and council of 
 peers. The council was divided in opinion; lord Herbert 
 strenuously advised the king to fortify York, which would 
 obstruct the progress of the Scots from advancing. Princes, 
 he observed, had sometimes bought a peace from their sub- 
 jects, but to pay at such a rate, merely for treating, which 
 might, or might not be productive of any beneficial result, 
 was a thing never before heard of; to purchase liberty to treat 
 from rebels, by supporting their army with the money which 
 should pay his own, would be disgraceful; if they were sin- 
 cere, let his majesty's commissioners propose, that the armies 
 on both sides be disbanded, all things else remaining as they 
 were till a treaty was concluded, but let the money be kept to 
 pay the king's troops, or to raise re-enforcements, if neces- 
 sary, t By the others, the sum only was objected to, and 
 eight hundred pounds per diem, to be paid weekly, was pro- 
 posed, and accepted, what provisions or necessaries were 
 wanted for the army, were, at the same time, allowed to be 
 imported from Scotland, duty free, and proper persons nom- 
 inated on each side, to regulate the price of what was pro- 
 cured in the occupied counties. The Scots agreed to be con- 
 tent with this maintenance, and neither molest papists, pre- 
 lates, nor their adherents. 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. i. p. 152, Burnet, vol- i. |). 55. 
 
 f Rushvvorth, pp. 1294, 1.310. 
 
 4 C 
 
^70 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Under this arrangement the commissioners proceeded, but 
 nearly the whole month of October was consumed in discuss- 
 ing preliminaries, and when the day appointed for the meet- 
 ing of the English parliament drew near, nothing was con- 
 cluded. The English nobles, who hated Strafford and Laud 
 scarcely less than the Scots did, and who observed the ad- 
 vantages the latter had reaped from the distresses of the kino-, 
 hoped to obtain the removal of these ministers, and redress 
 of their country's grievances, by increasing, rather than di- 
 minishing his difficulties; for in their intercourse with the 
 Scots, they had imbibed all their distrust of the king's ever 
 doing any thing voluntarily to sooth the feelings, or alleviate 
 the sufferings of his subjects; they were not therefore anxious 
 for the removal of the army, their desire to get rid of the 
 despotism of their government, overcoming the disgrace of 
 allowing a foreign force to pollute their soil. They requested 
 the king to allow the treaty to be transferred from Rippon to 
 London ; the Scots to remain in England till it were conclud- 
 ed. The king hesitated ; untaught by the example of the 
 more wary committee, who would not treat in York, whei'e 
 only a few of their enemies could have influence, he at last 
 yielded, to continue the discussion in a place filled with male- 
 contents, and where the opposite party had numerous, power- 
 ful, and zealous friends. 
 
 Had the king, instead of granting this request, declared 
 his determination to assemble no parliament till the country 
 was evacuated, andvpromised, after the retreat of the Scots 
 to their own homes, that he would then summon one, and 
 refer the treaty to their consideration, he would in all likeli- 
 hood have eitlver forced the invaders to withdraw of their 
 own accord, or distracted their measui'es, and raised such a 
 powerful reaction among the inhabitants of the northern 
 counties, as would even yet have enabled him to negotiate 
 with his subjects upon equal terms • but by consenting to the 
 removal of the treaty, and the continuan.ce of the Scots in 
 arms, he gave up every advantage he possessed, and deliver- 
 ed himself hand-bound into the power of parliament. 
 
 The Scots, in agreeing to the transfer-, relaxed nothing in 
 
 their demands ; but to prevent mistake on the most material 
 fii 
 
HISTOKV OF SCO'lLAND. i}7 I 
 
 point — the means of keeping their army together till they had 
 obtained their desires — they procured, from the English com- 
 missioners, the ratification of a truce, upon as favourable terms 
 as they could have dictated, after the most decisive engage- 
 ment. It was signed the 26th of October, from which time 
 all acts of hostility by sea and land were to cease ; during the 
 treaty, both parties to retain what they then possessed; all 
 estates situate in Northumberland and the bishopric, to be 
 liable, without exception, for the payment of the Scottish 
 subsistence-money, although their owners reside in his maj- 
 esty's forts beyond the Tees ; none of the king's forces, upon 
 either side of the river, to obstruct the contribution, or to 
 take any provision, except what the inhabitants bring volun- 
 tarily to them ; and any restraint of corn, cattle, or forage, 
 made by the Scots for their better maintenance, to be con- 
 sidered no breach. The eight hundr&d pounds a day to be 
 only raised out of the counties of Northumberland, the bish- 
 opric, town of Newcastle, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. 
 The non-payment to be no breach, but in case of failure, the 
 Scots shall have power to raise the sum, with allowance for 
 the charges of driving, to be set by the commissioners of the 
 forage. No recruits to be brought into either army, and no 
 new fortifications erected while the cessation continues. Thus 
 ended a rash, ill planned, ill conducted campaign, entered 
 into by the king, without the means of supporting one army, 
 and finished by a treaty obliging him to support two. 
 
 The Scots were highly delighted v/ith the negotiation, being- 
 transferred to London, not only relying upon the good offices 
 of the ablest men in parliament, with whom they were in 
 friendly alliance, but looking forward, with joyful anticipa- 
 tion, to the triumph of presbytery, the establishment of which 
 in England they now considered themselves as especially 
 called upon, by the leadings of God's providence, to attempt. 
 They therefore appointed three of their most eminent divines, 
 besides Henderson, to accompany their commissioners as 
 chaplains, and to combat the prevailing errors of the times. 
 Mr. Robert Baillie was destined to assail the doctrines of 
 Arminius, Mr. George Gillespie to attack the rites and cere- 
 monies of the hierarchy, and Mr. Robert Blair to wrestle 
 
572 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 with the Independents. The ministers, who had already dis-l 
 tinguished themselves in these various controversies, cheerfullyl 
 accepted the tasks allotted them, and, along with the commis- 
 sioners, set out for London, to reach the capital in time to be | 
 present at the meeting of parliament. * 
 
 * The ministers were highly gratified with their journey, but they seern to 
 have grudged the expense; they rode upon little nags, each attended by liis 
 servant. " We were by the way great expenses," says Mr. Baillie in a letter 
 to his wife; " their inns are all like palaces; no marvel, they extortion tlieir 
 guests ; for three meals, coarse enough, we would pay, together with our 
 horses, sixteen or seventeen pounds Sterling — some three dishes of crevishcs, 
 [cray-fish,] like little partans, forty-two shillings Sterling." — Baillie, vol. i. p. 
 216. Rushworth, p. 1306. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 160. Straffurd'b Letters. 
 
 KND OF VOLLMi: THIRD. 
 
 KKt't-L, ni.ACKrK, & <:o. 
 Printers, Glasgow. 
 
#■■ <* 
 
 # 
 
vm 
 
 
 f 
 
 i