hat he was still capable of succeeding to the crown of England, he consented to make up matters, and to address the murderer of his mother by the title of loving and affectionate father.

The reign of James, till his accession to the crown of England by Elizabeth's death in 1603, affords little matter of moment. His scandalous concessions to Elizabeth, and his constant applications to her for money, filled up the measure of Scottish meanness. Ever since the expulsion of Mary, the country had in fact been reduced to the condition of an English province. The sovereign had been tried by the queen of England, and executed for treason; a crime, in the very nature of the thing impossible, had not Scotland been in subjection to England; and to complete all, the contemptible successor of Mary thought himself well off that he was not a traitor too, to his sovereign the queen of England we must suppose, for the case will admit of no other supposition.

During the reign of James, the religious disturbances which began at the reformation, and that violent struggle of the clergy for power which never ceased till the revolution in 1688, went on with great violence. Continual clamours were raised against Popery, at the same time that the very fundamental principles of Popery were held, nay urged in the most insolent manner, as the effects of immediate inspiration. There were the total independence of the clergy on every earthly power, at the same time that all earthly powers were to be subject to them. Their fantastic decrees were supposed to be binding in heaven; and they took care that they should be binding on earth, for whoever had offended so far as to fall under a sentence of excommunication was declared an outlaw.

It is easy to see that this circumstance must have contributed to disturb the public tranquillity in a great degree. But besides this, the weakness of James's government was such, that, under the name of peace, the whole kingdom was involved in the miseries of civil war; the feudal animosities revived, and slaughter and murder prevailed all over the country. James, fitted only for pedantry, disputed, argued, modelled, and remodelled, the constitution to no purpose. The clergy continued their insolence, and the laity their violences upon one another; at the same time that the king, by his unhappiness in the operation of demons and witches, declared a most inhuman and bloody war against the poor old women, many of whom were burnt for the imaginary crime of conversing with the devil.

In autumn 1600 happened a remarkable conspiracy against the liberty, if not the life, of the king. The attainder and execution of the earl of Gowrie for the part he acted in the raid of Ruthven and for subsequent practices of treason have been already mentioned. His son, however, had been restored to his paternal dignity and estates, and had in consequence professed gratitude and attachment to the king. But the Presbyterian clergy continued to express their approbation of the raid of Ruthven, and to declare on every occasion that in their opinion the earl of Gowrie had suffered by an unjust sentence. One of the most eminent and popular of that order of men was preceptor to the younger Gowrie and his brothers, who, from their frequent conversations with him, must have been deeply impressed with the belief that their father was murdered. The passion of revenge took possession of their breasts; and having invited the king from Falkland to the earl of Gowrie's house at Perth, under the pretence of showing him a secret treasure of foreign gold, which he might lawfully appropriate to his own use, an attempt was made to keep him a close prisoner, with threats of putting him to instant death if he should make any attempt to regain his liberty.

The reality of this conspiracy has been questioned by many writers, for no other reason, as it would appear, but because they could not assign a rational motive for Gowrie's engaging in so hazardous an enterprise; and some have even intimated that the conspiracy was entered into by the king against Gowrie in order to get possession of his large estates. It has been shown however by Arnott, in his Criminal Trials, with a force of evidence which leaves no room for doubt, that the conspiracy was the earl's, who seems to have intended that the king should be cut off by the hand of an assassin; and the same acute and discriminating writer has made it appear highly probable, that he entertained hopes, in the then distracted state of the nation not ill founded, of being able to mount the throne of his murdered sovereign (2). From this imminent danger James was rescued by his attendants the duke of Lennox, the earl of Marre,

(2) The family of Ruthven had long been looked upon as the head of that party which was attached to England and the reformation; and the accomplishments of the latter Gowrie qualified him to be the leader of an enterprising faction. The importance he derived from aristocratic influence over his extensive domains, and from the attachment of a powerful party in church and state, was embellished with the lustre of a royal descent. Thus ambition, as well as revenge, might stimulate him to his daring enterprise. Indeed, if his attempt was to be directed against the life of the king, it could no longer be safe for him to remain in the condition of a subject; and the indecent and malicious imputation of bastardy, with which the fanatics reproached king James, might afford a plausible pretext for excluding the royal offspring. The family of Hamilton, next heir to the crown, had long lost its popularity, and the earl of Arran, its head, had lost his judgment; and, though there undoubtedly were several families interposed between Gowrie and the crown in the strict line of succession, none of them probably possessed power and popularity to support their right. But if Gowrie and his brother were really endowed with those personal accomplishments which have been so highly extolled, and which made their countrymen conceive the most languishing hopes of their early virtues; it is absurd to suppose lord Gowrie to have flattered himself, that in a country where the church was in danger, where the trumpet of sedition was sounded by the ministers, who fortified the chief block-house of the Lord's Jerusalem, his piety, popularity, and bravery, should supply the defect in title, and make him be called, while there were nearer heirs to the crown; as has since happened in the same country, on a similar occasion. Scotland. Marr, Sir Thomas Erskine afterwards earl of Kellie, and Sir John Ramsay who was likewise ennobled; and though Gowrie and his brother fell in the struggle, they were attainted by an act of parliament, which decreed their name, memory, and dignity, to be extinguished; their arms to be cancelled; their whole estates to be forfeited and annexed to the crown; the name of Ruthven to be abolished; and their posterity and surviving brethren to be incapable of succeeding to, or of holding, any offices, honours, or possessions.

The most memorable transaction of James's reign, and that most to his honour, is the civilizing of the western islanders. For this purpose, he instituted a company of gentlemen adventurers, to whom he gave large privileges for reforming them. The method he proposed was to transport numbers of them to his low countries in Scotland, and to give their islands, which were very improvable, in fee to his lowland subjects who should choose to reside in the islands. The experiment was to be made upon the Lewes, a long range of the Ebudes; from whence the adventurers expelled Murdoch Macleod, the tyrant of the inhabitants. Macleod, however, kept the sea; and intercepting a ship which carried one of the chief adventurers, he sent him prisoner to Orkney, after putting the crew to the sword. Macleod was soon after betrayed by his own brother, and hanged at St Andrew's. The history of this new undertaking is rather dark; and the settlers themselves seem to have been defective in the arts of civilization. The arrangements, they made were considered by the inhabitants as very oppressive; and one Norman, of the Macleod family, attacked and subdued them so effectually, that they not only consented to yield the property of the islands to him, but engaged to obtain the king's pardon for what he had done.

In 1603 James was called to the throne of England by the death of Elizabeth, and the same year took a final leave of Scotland (a). From this period the history of Scotland, being blended with that of England, is included in the article Britain; to which therefore we refer the reader, and shall proceed to give a general account of the country.

The first and great division of Scotland is into the Highlands and Lowlands. The former engross more than one half of Scotland; extending from Dumbartonshire to the most northern part of the island, a space of 200 miles in length, and in breadth from 50 to 100. This tract, however, includes several extensive districts of low, fruitful ground, inhabited by people who are in all respects different from the mountaineers. Nothing can be more savage and tremendous to the eye of a stranger, than the appearance of the Highlands, composed of blue rocks and dusky mountains heaped upon one another even above the clouds, their interstices rendered impassable by bogs, their sides embrowned with heath, and their summits covered with snow, which lies all the year unthawed, pouring from their jagged sides a thousand torrents and roaring cataracts that fall into gloomy vales or glens below, some of them so narrow, deep, and dismal, as to be altogether impenetrable by the rays of the sun; yet even these mountains are in some places sloped into agreeable green hills fit for pasture, and skirted or interspersed with pleasant straths or valleys capable of cultivation. It may be unnecessary to observe, that the Lowlanders of Scotland speak an ancient dialect of the English language, interlarded with many terms and idioms which they borrowed immediately from France, in a long course of correspondence with that kingdom: they likewise copy their southern neighbours in their houses, equipage, habit, industry, and application to commerce. As to the inhabitants of the mountains, see the article Highlanders. They are, all, however, comprehended under the name of Scots, governed by the same laws, and tried by the same judges; and, whatever may be their dissensions at home, they always, when abroad, acknowledge and assist one another as friends and countrymen. Some authors have divided Scotland into that part which lies to the southward of the Frith, and that which lies to the northward; but the true division is, like that of England, into shires, counties, stewartries or bailiwicks, of which there are above 40 within the kingdom of Scotland.

The face of this country exhibits a very mountainous appearance, especially to the west and northward; but, at the same time, it displays many large and long tracts of plain ground fit for all the purposes of agriculture. It is divided from east to west by a chain of huge mountains, known by the name of Grant's bain or the Grampian hills. There is another chain called the Pentland hills, which run through Lothian, and join the mountains of Tweeddale; a third, called Lammermuir, rising near the eastern coast, runs westward through the Merse; but besides these, there is a vast number of detached hills and mountains, remarkable for their stupendous height and steepness. There is no country in the world better supplied than Scotland, with rivers, lakes, rivulets, and fountains. Over and above the principal rivers of Tweed, Forth, Clyde, Tay, and Spey, there is an infinity of smaller streams that contribute to the beauty, convenience, and advantage of the kingdom. Tweed takes its rise from the borders of Annandale; serves as a boundary between Scotland and England; and, after a long serpentine course, discharges itself into the sea at Berwick. Forth rises in Monteith near Callendar, passes by Stirling, and after a course of 25 leagues, runs into the arm of the sea called the Frith of Forth, which divides the coast of Lothian from Fife. Clyde takes its rise from Errick hill, in the shire of Lanark; traverses the shire of Clydesdale, to which it gives name; washes the city of Glasgow, widens in its passage to the castle of Dumbarton, and forms the frith of Clyde adjoining to the Irish sea. Tay, the largest river in Scotland, derives its source from Loch-Tay in Breadalbane; and, after a south-east course, discharges itself into

(a) In 1589 James was married to Anne princess of Denmark, for whom he made a voyage on purpose to that country. This princess seems to have intermeddled very little with state-affairs, since we find her scarce ever mentioned either by Scots or English historians. In her private conduct she is said to have been unprincipled, vindictive, and unfaithful to her husband. Scotland into the sea below Dundee. Spay, or Spey, issues from a lake of the same name in Badenoch; and, running a north-easterly course, falls into the German ocean, at Speymouth. Some of the fresh-water lakes are beautiful pieces of water, incredibly deep, and surprisingly extended. There are several large forests of fir in Scotland, and a great number of woods; which, however, produce very little timber of any consequence; but the country, in general, is rather bare of trees; and in many places neither tree, shrub, nor any kind of plantation, is to be seen. The case has been otherwise of old; for huge trunks of trees are often dug from under ground in almost every part of the kingdom.

In the north of Scotland, the day at midsummer is lengthened out to 18 hours and 5 minutes; so that the shortest night does not exceed 5 hours and 55 minutes: the night and day, in winter, are in the same proportion. The air of this kingdom is generally moist and temperate, except upon the tops of high mountains covered with eternal snow, where it is cold, keen, and piercing. In other parts it is tempered by warm vapours from the sea, which environ it on three sides, and runs far up into the land by friths, inlets, and indentations. This neighbourhood of the sea, and the frequency of hills and mountains, produce a constant undulation in the air, and many hard gales, that purify the climate, which is for the most part agreeable and healthy. Scotland affords a great variety of soil in different parts of the country, which, being hilly, is in general well adapted to pasturage; not but that the Lowlands are as fertile, and, when properly inclosed and manured, yield as good crops of wheat as any grounds in the island of Great Britain. The water in Scotland is remarkably pure, light, and agreeable to the flonach; but, over and above that which is used for the ordinary purposes of life, here are many medicinal springs of great note.

Scotland abounds with quarries of free-stone easily worked, which enable the people to build elegant houses, both in town and country, at a small expense, especially as they have plenty of lime-stone, and labour very cheap. The east, west, and northern parts of the country produce excellent coal; and where this is wanting, the natives burn turf and peat for fuel. Crystals, variegated pebbles, and precious stones, are found in many parts of Scotland; talc, flint, and sea shells, fuller's earth, potter's clay, and metals in great plenty. The country produces iron and copper ore, a prodigious quantity of lead, mixed with a large proportion of silver; and in some places little bits of solid gold are gathered in brooks immediately after torrents.

The Lowlands of Scotland, as has been observed when duly cultivated, yield rich harvests of wheat; and indeed it must be owned that many parts of this kingdom rival the best spots of England in agriculture; but these improvements have not yet advanced into the western and northern extremities of the island, where we see nothing but scanty harvests of oats, rye, and barley. The Highlands are so defective even in these, that it is necessary to import supplies of oatmeal from Ireland and Liverpool. This scarcity, however, we must not impute to the barrenness of the soil, so much as to the sloth and poverty of the tenants, oppressed by rapacious landlords, who refuse to grant such leases as would encourage the husbandman to improve his farm and make himself better acquainted with the science of agriculture. This is perfectly well understood in the Lothians, where we see substantial inclosures, plantations, meadows for hay and pasture, wide extended fields of wheat, the fruits of skill and industry, and meet with farmers who rent lands to the amount of 400l. or 500l. a-year. Of plants this country produces an immense variety, growing wild, exclusive of those that are raised by the hands of the husbandman and gardener. Their farm-grounds are well stocked with wheat, rye, barley, oats, hemp, and flax; their gardens produce great plenty of kitchen-roots, salads, and greens; among which last we reckon the colewort, known by the name of Scotch kail; their orchards bear a variety of apples, pears, cherries, plums, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and currants; here also apricots, nectarines, peaches, and sometimes grapes, are brought to maturity. In a word, there is nothing, whether shrub, fruit, or flower, that grows in any part of South Britain, which may not, with a little pains, be brought to the same perfection in the middle of Scotland. Among the trees and shrubs which are the national growth of this country, we may reckon the oak, the fir, the birch, the poplar, the alder, willow, elder, hazel, mountain-ash, crab-tree, and juniper; which last abounds to such a degree in some parts of the Highlands, that in the space of a few miles many tens of the berries might be yearly gathered: besides these, we find the hawthorn, the floe, the dog-rose, furze, broom, fern, and whole tracts of land and mountains covered with strong heath. This affords shelter for the myrtillis, the fruit of which, called bilberries, is here found in great abundance, as well as the brambleberry, cranberry, and wild strawberry. The alh, the elm, the fycamore, lime and walnut-tree, are chiefly planted about the houses of gentlemen; but even the inclosures of quickset appear naked for want of such hedge-rows as adorn the country of England. Indeed, great part of this kingdom lies naked and exposed like a common; and other parts have no other inclosure than a paltry wall huddled up of loose stones, which yields a bleak and mean prospect, and serves no other purpose than that of keeping out the cattle. All the sea-coast is covered with alga marina, dulce, and other marine plants.

The Highlands are well stocked with red deer, and the smaller species called the roe-buck, as well as with hares, rabbits, foxes, wild cats, and badgers; and they abound with all sorts of game. The rivers and lakes pour forth a profusion of salmon, trout, jack, and eels; the sea-coast swarms with all the productions of the ocean. The hills and mountains are covered with sheep and black cattle for exportation, as well as domestic use. These are of small size, as are also the horses bred in the Highlands; but the Lowlanders use the large breed, which came originally from England.

New SCOTLAND. See Nova Scotia.