the modern name of that part of the Extent and island of Britain, which lies to the north of the Solway frith and the river Tweed. It is bounded on the north by that part of the Atlantic called the Northern ocean; on the east by the German ocean or North sea; on the west by the Atlantic ocean, and partly by the Irish sea; and on the south by England, the boundary on this side being formed by the river Tweed, the Cheviot hills, and an ideal line drawn south-west down to the Solway frith. Excluding the islands, the continental part of Scotland extends from the Mull of Galloway in the 55th to Cape Wrath in the 58° degree of north latitude, and from 1° 35' to 6° 25' west from the meridian of Greenwich, counting from Buchan Ness on the east to Ardnamurchan on the west. If we include the islands of Shetland and the Hebrides, we shall find this part of the British empire extending northward to 63°, and westward to the Isle of St Kilda to 8° 18' west longitude. The continental part of Scotland is generally estimated at 260 miles in length, and about 160 at its greatest breadth, and its superficial contents have been computed at 27,793 square miles.

Scotland has been divided into Highlands and Low-Divisions; but the boundaries of these are arbitrary and undetermined. A more natural division appears to be that into northern, middle, and southern parts. The northern part is bounded to the south by a range of lakes, extending from the Murray frith to the island of Mull, in a south-west direction, and comprehends the counties of Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, and Inverness. The southern division extends northward to the friths of Forth and Clyde, and the canal by which they are united, and comprehends the counties of Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Haddington, Berwick, Renfrew, Ayr, Wigton, Lanark, Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh, Dumfries, and Kirkcudbright. In the midland division are included the counties of Argyll, Bute, Nairn, Moray, Banff, Aberdeen, Mearns, Angus or Forfar, Perth, Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan, Stirling, and Dumbarton.

In the following table we have brought together some of the most important circumstances respecting the topography and statistics of these counties, viz. the county town, their extent in square acres, their population, according to the latest accounts, and the number of militia which each county is obliged to raise, according to last militia act. | Counties | County Towns | Square Acres | Population | Militia | |------------------|--------------|--------------|------------|---------| | Orkney and Shetland | Kirkwall | | | | | Caithness | Wick | 492,800 E. | 46,824 | 121 | | Sutherland | Dornoch | 2,148,000 E. | 23,117 | 100 | | Ross | Dingwall | 561,200 E. | 53,525 | 270 | | Cromarty | Cromarty | 61,440 E. | 3,952 | 16 | | Inverness | Inverness | 2,944,000 E. | 74,292 | 384 | | Argyll | Inverary | 2,432,000 E. | 75,700 | 364 | | Bute | Rothfay | 238,080 E. | 11,791 | 61 | | Nairn | Nairn | 153,600 E. | 8,257 | 43 | | Murray | Elgin | 537,000 E. | 26,705 | 138 | | Banff | Banff | 649,000 E. | 35,807 | 179 | | Aberdeen | Aberdeen | 718,816 E. | 123,071 | 640 | | Mearns | Bervie | 243,444 E. | 26,349 | 136 | | Angus | Forfar | 593,920 E. | 99,127 | 511 | | Perth | Perth | 4,068,040 E. | 120,366 | 653 | | Fife | Cupar | 322,560 E. | 93,743 | 484 | | Kinross | Kinross | 43,920 E. | 6,725 | 35 | | Clackmannan | Culross | 25,000 E. | 10,858 | 56 | | Stirling | Stirling | 450,560 E. | 50,825 | 163 | | Dumbarton | Dumbarton | 159,356 E. | 20,710 | 107 | | Linlithgow | Linlithgow | 57,008 S. | 17,844 | 94 | | Edinburgh | Edinburgh | 230,400 E. | 122,954 | 645 | | Haddington | Haddington | 224,000 E. | 29,986 | 154 | | Berwick | Dunfermline | 326,400 E. | 39,206 | 155 | | Renfrew | Renfrew | 322,560 E. | 78,056 | 404 | | Ayr | Ayr | 1,152,000 E. | 84,306 | 436 | | Wigton | Wigton | 238,721 S. | 22,918 | 119 | | Lanark | Lanark | 556,800 E. | 147,796 | 751 | | Peebles | Peebles | 153,600 E. | 8,717 | 45 | | Selkirk | Selkirk | 128,000 E. | 5,070 | 25 | | Roxburgh | Jedburgh | 472,320 E. | 33,712 | 178 | | Dumfries | Dumfries | 1,088,000 E. | 54,597 | 284 | | Kirkcudbright | Kirkcudbright| 440,081 S. | 29,211 | 151 |

For a topographical account of the several counties, the reader is referred to their names in the order of the alphabet.

Scotland is in general extremely mountainous, especially on the northern and western sides, whence these parts have been denominated the Highlands. Even the eastern and southern parts of the country have very little of that uniform flatness which distinguishes some parts of England, but are agreeably diversified with hill and dale. Numerous rivers intersect the country; and several romantic lakes are found at the foot of the most remarkable mountains. There is in general little wood, except in the northern parts, where there are still immense forests. Nothing can appear more wild and savage to the eye of a stranger than the Highlands of Scotland. Here the whole country seems composed of blue rocks and dusky mountains heaped upon each other, with their sides embrowned with heath, and their summits covered with snow, which lies unthawed for the greater part of the year, or pours down their jagged sides in a thousand torrents and roaring cataracts, falling into gloomy vales or glens, some of which are so deep and narrow, 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 interspersed with pleasant straths or valleys capable of cultivation; and there are several extensive districts of low fertile ground, though in other parts the interstices of the mountains are rendered nearly impassable by bogs and marshes. The entrance into the Highlands from the south-east near Dunkeld, is peculiarly impressive, there being here a considerable tract of plain, extending to what may be called the gates of the mountains.

Note.—The writers on Scottish topography have noted the extent of the several counties, sometimes in English, and sometimes in Scotch acres. We have therefore affixed to the numbers expressing the acres of each county, E or S, according as they are English or Scotch. The reader may reduce them to either standard by recollecting that the Scotch acre exceeds the English nearly in the proportion of five to four. The soil of Scotland, which, considering the little variety of the country, is extremely various, will be best understood by examining that of the several counties, as described under their respective heads. In some parts, as the castle of Gowrie in Perthshire, and most of the counties of Haddington and Berwick, the soil varies in fertility with the richest parts of England, or even Ireland, while in the more mountainous tracts of Ross-shire, Sutherland, and Argyle, the country is very little adapted to tillage, and is therefore almost wholly devoted to pasturing large flocks of sheep and herds of black cattle.

The principal mountains of Scotland are those of the Grampians, extending from Loch Lomond to Stonehaven, and forming the southern boundary of the Highlands; the Leadhills, partly in Dumfries-shire and partly in Lanarkshire; the Cheviot hills, forming the principal part of the southern boundary, and the Ochil hills, north of the river Forth. The highest individual mountains are those of Ben Nevis, Cairngorm, Ben Lawers, Ben More, Ben Lomond, Schiehallion, Mount Battock, and Cruachan. The situation and direction of the mountainous chains, and the minerals which they contain, have been described under Geology, No. 149.

The most remarkable inlets of the sea on the Scottish coasts are, the friths of Forth, Tay, Solway, Murray, Cromarty, Dornoch, and Clyde, and the bays of Wigton and Glenluce. Many of what are called lochs, are properly large gulfs or inlets of the sea, especially Loch Fine, Loch Shin, Loch Broom, and Loch Linne.

The chief rivers of Scotland are the Forth, that divides Stirling and Fife from the Lothians; the Tay, dividing Perthshire and Angus-shire from Fife-shire; the Tweed, forming the boundary between Scotland and England to the east; the Clyde, passing through great part of Lanarkshire, and separating this county from those of Renfrew and Dumbarton; the Dee and the Don, passing through Aberdeen-shire; the Spey, separating the counties of Banff and Murray; the Nith, passing through Dumfries-shire, and the Eden in the county of Fife. See each under their respective names.

The lakes or lochs of Scotland, are chiefly those of Lomond in Dumbartonshire, Awe, in Argyllshire, Tay, Katrine, and Erne, in Perthshire; Loch Nevis in Inverness-shire; and the classical lake of Leven in Kinross-shire. See Leven, Lomond, Tay, &c.

We have said that Scotland is in general bare of wood, though there are numerous traces of its having formerly abounded in forests. The most remarkable of these was Ettrick forest in the county of Selkirk; the forest of Mar in the west of Aberdeen-shire, where still remains a considerable tract of woodland, called Abernethy forest; the forest of Sledadale to the north of Dun-Robin in the county of Sutherland; those of Dirrymore and Dirrymena, to the north and south of Loch Shin, and the forest of Athol in the county of Perth.

The climate of Scotland is, if possible, still more inconstant than that of England, and though in general extremely healthy to the robust mountaineer, it is by no means genial to the valetudinarian. The eastern coast is exposed to the keenest of the east wind during the greater part of the year, while the western shores, from their vicinity to the Atlantic, are deluged with almost perpetual rain. The winter in this country is remarkable, rather for the abundance of snow which falls at that season, than for the intensity of frost; while in summer the heat of the sun is reflected with great violence in the narrow vales between the mountains, so as sometimes to occasion the appearance of glittering particles that seem to swim before the eye. The bareness of wood adds to the effects of sudden alternations of the weather, though it contributes to diminish the natural humidity of the air. The spring is in general very late and inclement, so as not unfrequently to destroy the fairest prospects of the farmer and the gardener. The harvests are also late, and we have seen corn either uncut, or standing in theaves on the field, in the latter end of November.

The zoology of Scotland, as distinguished from that of England, offers little remarkable to the eye of the naturalist. In the northern counties, and in Galloway to the south, there is a breed of small horses, like the Welsh ponies, called flaxies, which are extremely hardy, but obstinate and skittish. The cattle in Galloway are often without horns; a circumstance which is said to add to the quantity and quality of the milk which they produce. One of the chief primitive breeds of cattle in this country are the kylies, so called from the province of Kyle. These are of a middle size, and have short tharp horns pointing upwards. The Scotch sheep are smaller and shorter than those of England, but their flesh is much more delicate; and the fleeces of the Shetland sheep are remarkable for the fineness of their wool. Goats are not nearly so common in the Highlands of Scotland as in most other mountainous tracts, and swine are very little cultivated, pork not being a favourite food among the inhabitants of North Britain. There seems to be no breed of dogs peculiar to this country; but the colies or shepherds dogs are remarkable for their sagacity, and are often entrusted with the guardianship of flocks and herds during their master's absence. There are scarcely any wild quadrupeds peculiar to Scotland. The wolf, indeed, continued here to a much later period than in England, and the wild cat is occasionally observed. Small herds of roes also are still found in some of the northern districts, and seals and porpoises frequent the sea coasts.

Of the native birds the black cock and the grouse are the most remarkable. Eagles are often seen on the rocky cliffs, and elegant falcons in the remaining forts. The shores and islands present numerous sea fowl, and the isle of Bals is proverbially the haunt of the solan goose. The golden-crowned wren is sometimes seen in the most northern parts of the country, but the nightingale has never yet appeared north of the Tweed.

The shores of Scotland are abundantly supplied with fish, especially herrings, haddock, turbot, and lobsters; and the mouths of the great rivers, especially the Tweed and the Tay, furnish an inexhaustible supply of the finest salmon. Oysters are plentiful, but they are not so delicate as those on the coast of Essex. Mackerel, whitings, and smelts, are uncommon, and sprats are scarcely known. The lakes and streams abound in trout, perch, and other fresh-water fish. The whale sometimes appears on the northern coast, and the basking shark on the western inlets.

The vegetable productions of Scotland considered in Vegetables, general, general, differ little from those of England; and those of the whole island may be seen by referring to the article Botany, where each British species is marked with an asterisk. We may remark, that the warm moist regions of Cornwall, Devonshire, and Dorset; the range of chalk hills that forms the greater part of the banks of the Thames; the dry sandy tracts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge; and the fens of Lincolnshire, contain many plants that are either unknown, or very rarely met with in North Britain: while on the other hand, the snowy summits of the Grampians, the extensive forests of Badenoch and Braemar, and the bleak unsheltered rocks of the Hebudes, possess many hardy vegetables not to be found in the southern parts of the island. South Britain contains a greater number of species peculiar to itself; but those that are similarly circumstanced in this northern division, are of more frequent occurrence. To the English botanist, Scotland will have more the air of a foreign country than England to a Scottish botanist. The researches of the former will be continually solicited, and repaid amid the grand romantic scenery of the Highlands, by the appearance of plants either altogether new to him, or which he has been accustomed to consider as the rare reward of minute investigation. In traversing the natural forests of birch and pine, though his attention will be first attracted by the trees themselves in every stage of growth, from the limber sapling to the bare and weather-beaten trunks that have endured the storms of 500 or 600 winters; the new forms of the humbler vegetables will soon divide his attention, and will each attract a share of his regard. It would be an uninteresting task both to us and our readers, to enumerate the plants more peculiar to Scotland. These may be found in Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, and many of them in Mr Pinkerton's Geography.

eans remarkable for abundance of fruit. Gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, do indeed ripen nearly as well as in England; and apples, pears, and some species of wall-fruit, as Orleans plums and apricots, are not uncommon; but peaches, nectarines, and grapes, are scarcely seen in the open air; and in the belt gardens we have not observed the walnut, the mulberry, or the fig. Even the currants, which are very abundant, scarcely ever attain that degree of ripeness which can fit them for use as a dessert, but are employed almost entirely for jellies and wines. The chief fruit districts are those on the banks of the Clyde.

Few countries possess a greater store of subterraneous riches than Scotland; most of the metals, and some of the most valuable minerals, being very common. Even gold itself has been found in the Leadhills, in the lands of Elvan, a rivulet which joins the Clyde, and in the Ochill hills; and a considerable quantity of silver is annually obtained from the lead mines of Leadhills and Wanlockhead. Copper is rare; but has been met with near Alva in the Ochills; at Colvend in Galloway, and some other places. The most remarkable lead mines are those of Leadhills and Wanlockhead, Strontian and Islay; but traces of this metal have been found in other parts. Iron is a most abundant mineral production, but that called the Carron ore is best known. Cobalt is found at Alva; calamine (an impure oxide of zinc) at Wanlockhead; plumbago or graphite in Ayrshire; and antimony in Dumfries-shire.

Among the other minerals, coal is to be regarded as the most abundant and most valuable. We have already remarked, under Geology, that one of the two chief beds of coal found in this island, is that which runs from the valley traversed by the Tay and the Forth, westward to the coast of Ayrshire. The Lothians and Fife-shire particularly abound with coal; and it is not less abundant in the vicinity of Glasgow, and in several places of the counties of Ayr and Renfrew.

Scotland may be called the quarry of Britain, as hence is derived most of the stone that is carried to the south for building and paving. Abundance of freestone and limestone is found in most parts of the country; and the beauty and durability of the houses in the New Town of Edinburgh bear ample testimony to the value of the quarries in that neighbourhood. Beautiful granite is found in Ben Nevis, and fine statuary marble in Ayrshire, and in Blairgowrie in Perthshire. A black marble freckled with white occurs at Fort William; jasper is found in various parts; fuller's earth occurs near Campbeltown, and considerable quantities of talc in the mountains of Findhorn. The beautiful quartz of Cairngorm is well known, and numerous pebbles of agates and onyxes are frequently collected on the eastern coast.

The mineral waters of Scotland are numerous; but the principal are those of Moffat, Peterhead, St Bernard's well near Edinburgh, and Pitcaithly. At Moffat are two springs, one a sulphurous, and the other from Hartfell a chalybeate water. The water at St Bernard's well is strongly impregnated with sulphur.

Many singular natural curiosities are to be found in Scotland. Among these the beautiful falls of the Clyde, the insulated rock of the Bays; the scenery about Loch Lomond, and the isles Staffa, Eigg, and Canna, are chiefly deserving of notice. In the isle of Arran is an immense vaulted cavern, hollowed in the solid rock; and near Colvend in Dumfries-shire, and on the eastern coast of Fife, are several remarkable caves. Nods head presents a singular quarry of slate, marked with metallic figures; and at Glamma in the heights of Glenelgabraig, is a cascade, which, viewed amidst the constant darkness of hills and woods, is truly sublime.

In the parish of Gaurie in Banffshire are three remarkable natural curiosities; a perpendicular rock of very great extent full of shells, which are polished by myriads of birds; a cave, or rather den, called Hell's mouth or chimney, 50 feet deep, 60 long, and 40 broad, having a subterraneous passage to the sea, about 240 feet long, through which the waves are driven with great violence in stormy weather, so as to occasion smoke to rise from the den; and another subterraneous passage through a peninsula from sea to sea, nearly 450 feet long, and so narrow that a man can with difficulty creep through it. At one end of this passage is a cave about 20 feet high, 30 broad, and 150 long, supported by immense columns of rock.

There are three principal groups of Scottish islands; those of Shetland and Orkney, to the north of the Pentland frith, and that of the Hebudes, Hebrides, or Western Isles, in the western Atlantic. An ample account of these will be found under the articles Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland; and under the names of the principal individual islands. The isles of of Bute and Arran, which are distinct from the Hebrides, have also been described under their respective names.

The name Scotland, as applied to North Britain, is comparatively of recent date. By the later Roman writers, Scotia was applied to Ireland, as the country which had been colonized by the Scotti, and the names of Hiberni and Scoti are, after the 4th century of the Christian era, indiscriminately applied to the inhabitants of Ireland. When North Britain first became known to the Romans under Agricola, it was by them denominated Caledonia, from its abounding in forests, and the natives were called Caledonii. These names continued in use till the expiration of the Roman power in Britain, when this part of the island was generally known by the name of Provincia Pictorum, and the inhabitants were divided into Picti-Caledonii, and Picti. It is not till the 11th century that we find Scotia or Scotland appropriated to North Britain.

With respect to the origin of this name there is much dispute, but it is generally agreed that the term Scots was applied to the inhabitants of North Britain by their neighbours, by way of reproach.

Few points have been disputed with more keenness and more asperity than the original population of Scotland. The Irish and the Scotch have strenuously contested the claim of their country to be the stock from which the other was colonized. There seems no doubt that both Britain and Ireland were originally peopled by the Celtic tribes, who had long before occupied the west of Europe, and advanced from the shores of Gaul, probably across the straits of Dover, to take possession of the southern part of Britain. Thence it appears they extended themselves northwards, till they had peopled the whole island, when, from a spirit of enterprise, or to find more room and better pasture for their herds, they crossed the channel to the west of Britain, and planted a colony in Ireland. This seems to be their most natural route, and numerous authorities have been lately adduced to prove, not only that the whole of Britain and Ireland were peopled by Celtic tribes, but that the colonization of Ireland was subsequent to that of Scotland. "This region (North Britain) during the first century," says Mr Chalmers "is a small but genuine mirror of Gaul during the same age. North Britain was inhabited by one-and-twenty clans of Gaelic people, whose polity, like that of their Gaelic progenitors, did not admit of very strong ties of political union. They professed the same religious tenets as the Gauls, and performed the same sacred rites; their stone monuments were the same, as we know from remains. Their principles of action, their modes of life, their usages of burial, were equally Gaelic; and above all, their expressive language, which still exists for the examination of those who delight in such lore, was the purest Celtic."

The names and position of the 21 tribes which occupied North Britain in the first century, have been minutely investigated by Mr Chalmers, and we shall here briefly state the result of his investigations. The first tribe which he mentions is that of the Ottadinii, who possessed the country which stretches from the river Tyne northward along the coast of the German sea and the frith of Forth. On the west of these lay the Gadeni, occupying the western part of Northumberland, Scotland, that small portion of Cumberland which lies to the north of the river Irthing; the west of Roxburghshire, the whole of Selkirk and Tweeddale, part of Mid Lothian, and nearly the whole of West Lothian, or Linlithgow. To the south-west of the Gadeni lay the Selgovae, inhabiting Annandale, Nithsdale, and Eskdale in Dumfriesshire; the eastern part of Galloway as far as the river Dee, which formed their western boundary; while to the south they extended to the Solway frith. The Novantae inhabited the western and middle parts of Galloway, from the Dee on the east to the Irish sea on the west. The Damnonii occupied the whole extent of country from the ridge of hills lying between Galloway and Ayrshire on the south, to the river Earn on the north, comprehending all Strathclyde, the counties of Ayr, Renfrew, and Stirling, with a small part of Dumbarton and Perth. The Horeftii inhabited the country lying between the Forth and Tay, including the shires of Fife, Clackmannan, and Kinross, with the eastern part of Strathern, and the country lying westward of the Tay, as far as the river Brand. The Venricones possessed the country between the Tay and the Carron, comprehending a great part of Perthshire, the whole of Angus, and part of Kincardineshire. The Taizalii inhabited the northern part of the Mearns, and the whole of Aberdeen-shire, to the Doveryan; a district which included the promontory of Kinnaird's-head, to which the Romans gave the name of Taizalorum promontorium. The Vacangii occupied the country on the south side of the Murray frith, from the Doveryan on the east, to the Nefs on the west; an extent comprehending the shires of Banff, Elgin, Nairn, the east part of Inverness, with Braemar in Aberdeen-shire. The Albani, afterwards called Damnonii Albani, inhabited the interior districts, between the lower ridge of the Grampians on the south, and the chain of mountains forming the southern limit of Inverness-shire on the north, including Braidalban, Athol, a small part of Lochaber, with Appin and Glenorchy in Upper Lorn. The Attacotti inhabited the whole country from Loch Fine on the west, to the eastward of the river Leven and Loch Lomond, comprehending the whole of Cowal in Argyleshire, and the greater part of Dumbartonshire. The proper Caledonii possessed the whole of the interior country, from the ridge of mountains which separates Inverness from Perth on the south, to the range of hills that forms the forest of Balnagavan on the north, comprehending all the middle parts of Inverness and of Rothes. The Cantii inhabited the east of Rotheshire from the estuary of Varvar on the south, to the frith of Dornoch on the north, having the frith of Cromarty in the centre, and a ridge of hills on the west. The south-eastern coast of Sutherland was inhabited by the Logii, whose country extended from the frith of Dornoch on the south-west to the river Ila on the east. The Carnabii inhabited the south of Caithness from the Ila river; the small tribe of the Catenni inhabited the north-west corner of Caithness, and the Mertai occupied the interior of Sutherland. The Carnonaces inhabited the north and west coast of Sutherland, while the Creones occupied the west coast of Ross-shire, the Cerones the western coast of Inverness, and the Epidii the south-west of Argyleshire, from Loch Linnhe to the frith of Clyde. All these Celtic tribes, in their laws, religion, manners, and customs, appear to have resembled the Britons of the South. Their life was equally simple, their manners were equally savage, and their religion, like that of the South Britons, was certainly Druidical. See ENGLAND, No. 4, and the article DRUIDS. The fact of Druids having existed in North Britain, so strenuously denied by some writers, is, in the opinion of Mr Chalmers, completely ascertained by numerous remains of places of Druidical worship. These he has been at much pains to investigate, and has described several remarkable circles of stones and rocking stones, resembling in almost every particular those in South Britain, which are on all hands allowed to be Druidical. Some remarkable remains of this kind occur in the parish of Kirkmichael in Perthshire, where there is an immense rocking stone standing on a flat-topped eminence in the vicinity of a large body of Druidical remains. Opposite to the manse of Dron, in the same county, there is another large rocking stone, ten feet long and seven broad; and in the parish of Abernethy, near Balvaird, there is a third which attracted the notice of Buchanan.

In the stewartry of Kircudbright is a stone of a similar description, called Logan stone, which from its size appears to be eight or ten tons in weight, and is so nicely balanced on two or three protuberances, that the pressure of the finger produces a rocking motion from the one side to the other.

It has been remarked by Dr Robertson, that the history of Scotland may properly be divided into four periods. The first reaches from the origin of the monarchy to the reign of Kenneth II.; the second, from Kenneth's conquest of the Picts to the death of Alexander III.; the third extends to the death of James V.; the last, from thence to the accession of James VI. to the crown of England. In the opinion of the same historian, the first period, extending from the earliest accounts to the year 843 of the Christian era, is the region of pure fable and conjecture, and ought to be totally neglected, or abandoned to the industry and credulity of antiquaries; that in the second period from 843 to 1286, truth begins to dawn with a light feeble at first, but gradually increasing, and that the events which then happened may be slightly touched, but merit no particular or laborious enquiry; that in the third period, from 1286 to 1542, the history of Scotland, chiefly by means of records preserved in England, becomes more authentic, as not only events are related, but their causes and effects are explained; and here every Scotchman should begin, not only to read, but to study the history of his country.

It must be allowed that most of the transactions recorded by Buchanan and Boece, as having taken place in Scotland before the Christian era, are either purely fabulous, or are substantiated by no authentic documents; and we cannot but contemplate with the smile of incredulity, the long and minute list of Scottish monarchs from Fergus I. to Fergus II., so pompously displayed by these historians. That the names of 39 princes should be handed down with correctness by uncertain traditions, for a period of 690 years; that the duration of their reigns and the date of their accession should be so exactly ascertained, is surely a circumstance of the highest improbability; and we are compelled to believe that the earlier writers of Scottish history, like the Chinese annalists, have described the transactions of the same monarch under different names, or under the same names with the designation of I., II., III., &c. This is rendered the more probable by considering that both Fergus I. and Fergus II. are said to have been of Irish extraction, and to have come over from Ireland to assist the inhabitants of North Britain against their more powerful neighbours. Under the persuasion that nothing authentic can be recorded in the Scottish history before the arrival of the Romans in Britain, we shall commence the historical part of this article from the period when Agricola first penetrated north of the Tweed.

It is to the luminous pages of Tacitus that we must look for the first rational and authentic documents of Scottish history.

The invasion of Agricola happened during the dominion of a chief, called by the Roman historians Galgacus, of Scotland. Agricola having completed the conquest of the southern part, and in a great measure civilized the inhabitants, formed a similar plan with regard to Scotland. It is probable, that at this time the Caledonians had become formidable by the accession of numbers from the south; for though the Romans had civilized the greatest part, it cannot be doubted that many of those savage warriors, disdaining the pleasures of a peaceable life, would retire to the northward, where the martial disposition of the Caledonians would better suit their inclination. The utmost efforts of valour, however, were not proof against the discipline of the Roman troops, and the experience of their commander. In the third year Agricola had penetrated as far as the river Tau, (probably the Solway Frith, and not the Tay); but the particulars of his progress are not recorded. The following year he built a line of forts between the friths of Forth and Clyde, to exclude the Caledonians from the southern parts of the island; and the year after, he subdued those parts which lay to the south and west of his forts, namely, the districts of Galloway, Cantyre, and Argyle.

Agricola then pursued the same prudent measures by which he had already secured the possession of such a large tract of country, that is, advancing but slowly, and building forts as he advanced, in order to keep the people in obedience. The Caledonians, though commanded by their king Galgacus, who is said to have been well acquainted with the manner of fighting and discipline of the Romans, were yet obliged to retreat; but at last, finding that the enemy made such progress as endangered the subjugation of the whole country, he resolved to cut off their communication with the southern parts, and likewise to prevent all possibility of a retreat by sea. Agricola, though solicited by some of his officers, refused to retreat; but divided his troops into three bodies, having a communication with each other. Upon this, Galgacus resolved to attack the weakest of the three, which consisted only of the ninth legion, and lay at that time, as is said, at a place called Lochore, about two miles from Loch-Leven in Fife. The attack was made in the night; and as the Romans were both unprepared and inferior in number, the Caledonians penetrated into the heart of their camp, and were making a great slaughter, when Agricola detached some light-armed troops to their assistance; by whom the Caledonians in their turn were routed, and forced to fly to the marshes and inaccessible places, where the enemy could not follow them.

This engagement has been magnified by the Roman historians into a victory, though it can scarcely be admitted mitted as such from the testimonies of other historians. The Romans, however, certainly advanced very considerably, and the Caledonians as constantly retreated, till they came to the foot of the Grampian mountains, where the latter resolved to make their last stand. In the eighth year of the war, Agricola advanced to the foot of the mountains, where he found the enemy ready to receive him. Tacitus has given us a speech of Galgacus, undoubtedly fabricated for him, in which he sets forth the aspiring disposition of the Romans, and encourages his countrymen to defend themselves vigorously, as knowing that every thing valuable was at stake. A desperate engagement accordingly ensued. In the beginning, the Britons had the advantage, by the dexterous management of their bucklers; but Agricola having ordered three Tungrian and two Batavian cohorts, armed with short swords, and embossed bucklers terminating in a point, to attack the Caledonians, who were armed with long swords, the latter soon found these weapons useless in a close encounter; and as their bucklers covered only a small part of their bodies, they were easily cut in pieces by their adversaries. The most forward of their cavalry and charioteers fell back upon their infantry, and disordered the centre; but, the Britons endeavouring to out-flank their enemies, the Roman general opposed them with his horse; and the Caledonians were at last routed with great slaughter, and forced to fly into the woods, whither the Romans pursued with so little caution, that numbers of them were cut off. Agricola, however, having ordered his troops to proceed more regularly, prevented the Caledonians, from attacking and cutting off his men in separate parties, as they had expected; so that this victory proved the greatest stroke to the Caledonians that they had hitherto received. This battle is supposed by some to have been fought in Strathern, half a mile south from the kirk of Comrie; but others imagine the place to have been near Fortingal-Camp, a place somewhat farther on the other side of the Tay.

Great as this victory was, it seems not to have been productive of any solid or lasting advantage to the Romans; since we find that Agricola, instead of putting an end to the war by the immediate conquest of all Caledonia, retreated into the country of the Horestii. Here he received hostages from part of the Caledonians; and ordered part of his fleet to sail round Britain, that they might discover whether it was an island or a continent. The Romans had no sooner left that part of the country, than the Caledonians demolished all the forts they had raised; and Agricola being soon after recalled by Domitian, the further progress of the Roman arms was stopped; Galgacus proving superior to any of the successors of that general.

From the time of Agricola to that of Adrian, we know little of the affairs of Scotland, excepting that during this interval the Caledonians must have entirely driven the Romans out of their country, and reconquered all that tract which lay between Agricola's chain of forts and Carlisle on the west, and Newcastle or Tynemouth-Bar on the east; which Adrian, on visiting Britain, thought proper to fix as the northern boundary of the Roman dominions. Here he built a wall of turf between the mouth of the Tine and the Solway frith, with a view to shut out the barbarians; which, however, did not answer the purpose, nor indeed could it be thought to do so, as it was only built of turf, and guarded by not more than 18,000 men, who could not be supposed a sufficient force to defend such an extent of fortification.

In the reign of Antoninus Pius, the praetor Lollius Urbicus drove the Caledonians far to the northward, and repaired the chain of forts built by Agricola, which lay between the Carron on the frith of Forth and Dunglass on the Clyde. These were joined together by turf walls, and formed a much better defence than the wall of Adrian. After the death of Antoninus, however, Commodus having recalled Calpurnius Agricola, an able commander, who had kept the Caledonians in awe, a more dangerous war broke out than had ever been experienced by the Romans in that quarter. The Caledonians having passed the wall, put all the Romans they could meet with to the sword; but they were soon repulsed by Ulpius Marcellus, a general of consummate abilities, whom Commodus sent into the island.—In a short time the tyrant also recalled this able commander. After his departure, the Roman discipline in Britain suffered a total relaxation; the soldiery grew mutinous, and great disorders ensued; but they were happily removed by the arrival of Clodius Albinus, a person of great skill and experience in military affairs. His presence for some time restrained the Caledonians within proper bounds; but a civil war breaking out between him and Severus, Albinus crossed over to the continent with the greatest part of the Roman forces in Britain; and meeting his antagonist at Lyons, a dreadful battle ensued, in which Albinus was utterly defeated, and his army cut in pieces. See Rome, No. 375.

The absence of the Roman forces gave encouragement to the Caledonians to renew their depredations, which they did with such success, that the emperor became apprehensive of losing the whole island; on which he determined to go in person and quell these troublesome enemies. The army collected by him on this occasion was far more numerous than any the Romans had ever sent into Britain; and being commanded by such an able general as Severus, it may easily be supposed that the Caledonians must have been reduced to great difficulties. The particulars of this important expedition are very imperfectly related; but we are assured that Severus lost a vast number of men, it is said not fewer than 50,000, in his march through Scotland. Notwithstanding this, however, he is said to have penetrated to the most northern extremity of the island, and obliged the enemy to yield up their arms. On his return, he built a much stronger fortification to secure the frontiers against the enemy than had ever been done before, and which in some places coincided with Adrian's wall, but extended farther at each end. But in the mean time the Caledonians, provoked by the brutality of the emperor's son Caracalla, whom he had left regent in his absence, again took up arms; on which Severus himself took the field, with a design, as appears, to extirpate the whole nation; for he gave orders to his soldiers "not to spare even the child in the mother's belly." The event of the furious order is unknown; but in all probability the death of the emperor, which happened soon after, put a stop to the execution of this revenge; and it is certain that his son Caracalla, who succeeded Severus, ratified the peace with the Caledonians.

After the treaty of Caracalla in 211, perpetual hostilities lities occurred between the Romans and Caledonians, assisted by the Picts. The inroads of these northern tribes were repelled by the Roman legions under Constantius, and after his death in 366, they appear to have remained quiet till 343, when a fresh inroad of the Picts is said to have been repelled by Constantius. In the year 365, the Scotch are first mentioned by Roman writers. They were, as we have said, an Irish people of Caledonian extraction, and at this time invaded Scotland, and joined with the Picts against the Romans and their tributaries. In 364 they made a very formidable attack on the Roman provincials, and in 367 had advanced as far as Augusta, or London, where they were met by Theodosius, and were compelled to retire. From this time to 446, when the Romans finally quitted the British island, nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Scotland.

Of the Picts, who now begin to make a figure in Scottish history, we have given an account under the article Picts, and shall here remark only that the name Picti does not properly belong to a new or distinct tribe of the inhabitants of North Britain, but was applied about this time to a part of the Caledonians, who inhabited a considerable tract of country north of the firths of Forth and Clyde; and that the dominion of their kings, of whom a long list is given by Mr Chalmers, extended from the year 451 to 842, when it finally terminated.

In the middle of the second century, one of those turbulent tribes which long involved Ireland in contest and diffusion, possessed themselves of the north-east corner of Ireland, under the conduct of Cairbre-Riada; and from the name of their leader gave to this district the denomination of Dal-Riada, or the portion of Riada. The fifth century had scarcely commenced, when the progress of population and the spirit of enterprise induced a number of the inhabitants of Dal-Riada to emigrate to the opposite coast of North Britain, led by three chiefs Loarn, Fergus, and Angus, the three sons of Erc, the descendant of Cairbre-Riada, who then ruled over the Dalriadan tribe. They landed in the country of the Epidii, in the south-west of Argyleshire, about the year 503. These colonies, who to the time of Bede, were denominated Dalriadini, brought with them their language, religion, manners and customs, which differed in some respects from those of the Celtic tribes which had long occupied the north of Britain.

In the records of time there scarcely occurs a period of history so perplexed and confused as that afforded by the annals of the Scot-Irish tribes, from their settlement in 503 to their ultimate ascendancy in 843. The want of contemporary writings left an ample field for the conflicts of national emulation. Ignorance and ingenuity, sophistry and system, contributed by various efforts to darken what was already sufficiently obscure. There remain, however, in the fifteenth volumes, various documents of subsequent compilation, which throw considerable light on the obscure transactions of the Scot-Irish tribes, and enable us to unravel the entangled genealogies of their kings. These consist chiefly of the Irish annals of Tigernoch and of Ulster, with the useful observations on them of O'Flaherty and O'Connor; of several brief chronicles and historical documents first brought to light by Innes; and of a Gaelic poem, containing a genealogical account of the Scot-Irish kings. From these documents Mr Chalmers has constructed an elaborate genealogical and chronological table of those kings, from Fergus to Kenneth Macalpin, from which we shall extract the two most important columns, shewing the date of accession, and the duration of the reigns of the several monarchs.

| Accel. | Reigns | |-------|--------| | 1. Fergus the son of Erc, | 593 3 | | 2. Domangart the son of Fergus, | 596 5 | | 3. Comgal, son of Domangart, | 511 24 | | 4. Gauran, son of Domangart, | 535 22 | | 5. Conal, son of Comgal, | 557 14 | | 6. Aidan, son of Gauran, | 571 34 | | 7. Eocha-bui, the son of Aidan, | 605 16 | | 8. Kenneth-ear, son of Eocha-bui, | 621 1/4 | | 9. Ferchar, son of Eogan, first of Loarn's race, | 621 16 | | 10. Donal-breac, son of Eocha-bui, | 637 5 | | 11. Conal II., grandson of Conal I., | 642 10 | | 12. Dungal reigned some years with Conal, | | | 13. Donal-Duin, son of Conal, | 652 13 | | 14. Maolduin, son of Conal, | 665 16 | | 15. Ferchar Fada, grandson of Ferchar I., | 681 21 | | 16. Eocha-Rineval, son of Domangart, | 702 3 | | 17. Ainbhecalach, son of Ferchar-Fada, | 705 1 | | 18. Selvach, son of Ferchar-Fada, reigned over Loarn from 706 to 729, | | | 19. Duncha-beg over Kintire till 720, | 706 27 | | 20. Eocha III., son of Eocha-rineval over Kintyre and Argail from 720 to 729, and over Loarn from 729 to 733, | | | 21. Muredach, son of Ainbhecalach, | 733 3 | | 22. Eogan, son of Muredach, | 736 3 | | 23. Aodh-Tim, son of Eocha III., | 739 30 | | 24. Fergus, son of Aodh-Tim, | 769 3 | | 25. Selvach II., son of Logan, | 772 24 | | 26. Eocha-Anneune IV., son of Aodh-Tim, | 796 30 | | 27. Dungal, son of Selvach II., | 826 7 | | 28. Alpin, son of Eocha-Anneune IV., | 833 3 | | 29. Keneth, son of Alpin, | 836 7 |

We shall not attempt to follow Mr Chalmers through the detail of events which he has narrated as taking place during the reigns of the Scot-Irish kings. Whatever light he may have thrown on this obscure part of Scottish history, it must still remain uninteresting, except to the antiquary, and the minute historian. It is of more importance to the general reader, to be informed of the manners and customs, the policy and the laws of the tribes that occupied the chief part of North Britain at the accession of Kenneth II. from whose reign, as we have already remarked, the Scottish history begins to dawn.

We have said that the Dalriadanian colonists brought laws and with them from Ireland, and established in their new settlements, their peculiar laws and customs. According to these laws, the succession both of the kings and chieftains... Scotland, tains was so regulated, that the person in the family who seemed best qualified, from abilities or experience, to exercise the chief authority, whether a son or a brother, was fixed on by the tribe for the succession to the vacant throne or chieftainship. Much of the dignity of the monarch was supported by the voluntary contributions of his vassal princes and chiefs, paid in cattle, clothes, and utensils; and the monarch was compelled to purchase the service and assistance of these chiefs by similar presents; in consideration of which they entertained the sovereign in his journeys, and served him in his wars during a limited period. A similar policy appears to have pervaded all ranks among the Sco-Irish people, from the king to the prince, and from the prince to the chieftain. The monarch governed his district as the monarch governed his kingdom; and the chieftains ruled their territories and their fortified villages, on the same principles of mutual dependence, of the higher on the lower, and of the subordinate on the superior ranks. Such brittle ties were easily broken; and during these rude times, when the voice of law was but faintly heard, the performance of those reciprocal duties could be enforced only by the dread of assassination, and the breach of them punished only by the sword.

The Sco-Irish women, of whatever rank, seem not to have been entitled to the slightest possession of land, under the Breton law. To them were assigned a certain number of their father's cattle as their marriage portion. The herds of the Sco-Irish were so frequently within their contemplation, and during a rude state of society supplied so many comforts to their possessors, that the native terms which signify possession, or a field, also convey the idea of a herd or drove. Yet such is the copiousness of the Irish language, that it has a great variety of terms which convey the notion of a law; but we may infer from these law-terms, with their several modifications, that the people of whom we are speaking had little of positive statute, or written law; their whole body of jurisprudence consisting almost entirely of traditional customs, and local usages. According to Cox, it was no written law, but only the will of the brehon or lord. And it is observable that these brehons held their offices by descent and inheritance, and of course were not qualified for the posts to which he succeeded. The brehon or judge, when he administered justice, used to sit on a turf or heap of stones, or on the top of a hillock, without covering, and without clerks, or any of the usual formalities of a court of judicature. Some remains of this state of laws and manners may be traced in some parts of Scotland to the present period. Every baron had his mote-hill, whence he distributed justice to his vassals, either in person, or by his baron-bailie. Under the brehon system all crimes were commutative; theft, rape, and even murder, were punished by a fine.

It was an ancient custom of the tribes, that every head of every sept, and the chief of every clan, should be answerable for each of their sept or kindred, when charged with any crime; and it is remarkable that both in Ireland and Scotland this ancient custom was adopted into the statute book. The protection of bees was a great head of the brehon law. The Sco-Irish territories were fully peopled by this industrious race, and their honey supplied abundance of mead, the favourite beverage of the ancient Britons. In vain do the Irish antiquaries give us splendid pictures of the learning, opulence, and refinement, of the ancient Irish; the laws of every people are the truest histories of their domestic affairs. While we see that the wealth of these tribes consisted of their bees and their cattle, we may certainly infer, that they had only advanced from the first to the second stage of society, from hunters to feeders of flocks. In this unrefined state the Sco-Irish long continued, as is evident from their rent-rolls.

It is apparent that more of wretchedness than of comfort prevailed among the Dalriadan districts in every rank of society. Their best houses were built of wattles; and buildings of lime and stone were late works of more intelligent times. The clothing even of the monks was the skins of beasts, though there is no doubt that they obtained from abroad, by means of traffic, both woollen and linen stuffs. Venison and fish, the flesh of seals, and milk, constituted the food of the people; but the monks of Iona, who lived by their labour, and perhaps the chiefs, had some provision of corn. The most unbounded hospitality was enjoined by law, as well as by manners, as a capital virtue. Manufactures and trades exercised as a profession were unknown. Every family had its own carpenter, weaver, and shoemaker, however unskilful and inadequate to the uses of civilization these homely workmen might appear.

The Sco-Irish tribes were not destitute of shipping, which consisted partly of canoes, and partly of a more skilfully constructed kind of vessels called currachs. These were formed by covering a keel of wood and a frame of wicker-work, with skins of cattle and of deer, and by experience these rude boats were improved into roomy vessels, that served either for transports or for war.

Of the various customs of the Sco-Irish, that of fosterage has been regarded as a subject for particular speculation. By this singular custom, children were mutually given from different families to be nursed by strangers. The lower orders considered this trust as an honour, rather than a service, for which an adequate reward was either given or accepted. The attachment of those who were thus educated is said to have been indissoluble; for, according to Camden, there is no love in the world comparable to that of foster-brethren in Ireland. From this practice arose a connection of family, and a union of tribes, which often prompted and sometimes prevented evil feuds.

The Dalriadan tribe which colonized the south-west of Scotland, in the beginning of the sixth century, professed the Christian religion, which had been introduced into Ireland in the middle of the preceding century. They did not, however, introduce into Scotland a new religion, for there is reason to believe that the benign influence of Christianity had been felt in those parts of North Britain which were inaccessible to the Roman power so early as the beginning of the third century; and the Romanized Britons of Valencia, called by Bede the southern Piets, had been converted from the superstitions of Druidism at the commencement of the fifth century. This reformation is attributed to St Ninian, a native of the country of the Novantes, born of noble parentage, about the year 360. (See Ninia.) St Ninian died on the 16th September 432; on which day a festival in honour of his name was celebrated in Britain for many ages. About the middle of the fifth century, century, appeared Kentigern, a Christian bishop, who fixed his residence at Alcluyd, in the kingdom of Cumbria. He contributed much towards improving the state of religion in North Britain, where he continued his instructions with little interruption till the year 601. Cotemporary with Kentigern was the celebrated Columba, who converted the northern Picts, and has always been held in the highest veneration as one of the principal saints in the North British calendar. He established the seat of his ecclesiastical academy in the small island of Hy, or Iona, which had been conferred on him either by Connal, king of the Scot-Irith, or Bridei, the Pictish sovereign. Here he settled with his 12 disciples, and laboured for two years with their own hands in erecting huts, and building a church. In the course of a few years Columba had converted Bridei, king of the Picts, and most of his subjects, and had established monasteries in several parts of the Caledonian territories. (See Columba).

Before entering on the reign of Kenneth, it may be proper to take a short view of that of his father and predecessor, Alpin, as in his reign commenced those bloody conflicts between the Scots and Picts which finally terminated in the subjugation or expulsion of the latter.

At the accession of Alpin, the dominion of the Scots comprehended the Western islands, together with the districts of Argyle, Knapdale, Kylo, Kintyre, Lochaber, and a part of Breadalbane; while the Picts possessed all the rest of Scotland, and part of Northumberland; so that the Picts seem to have been by much the more powerful people of the two. The Scots, however, appear to have been superior in military skill; for Alpin, the successor of Dongal, having engaged the Pictish army near Forfar, after an obstinate engagement defeated them, and killed their king, though not without the loss of a great number of his own men. The Picts chose Brudus, the son of their former king, to succeed him; but soon after deposed and put him to death, on account of his stupidity and indolence. His brother Kenneth shared the same fate on account of his cowardice; till at last another Brudus, a brave and spirited prince, ascended the throne. Having raised a powerful army, he began with offering terms of peace to the Scots; which, however, Alpin rejected, and insisted on a total surrender of his crown. Brudus on this endeavoured to procure the affluence of Edwin king of Northumberland. Edwin accepted the money offered by Brudus; but pretending to be engaged in other wars, refused the affluence which he at first promised. Brudus, not dismayed by this disappointment, marched resolutely against his enemies; and the two armies came to an engagement near Dundee. The superior skill of the Scots in military affairs was about to have decided the victory in their favour, when Brudus thought of the following stratagem to preserve his army from destruction. He called all the attendants, and even the women who attended his army, to assemble and show themselves at a distance as a powerful reinforcement coming to the Picts. This struck the Scots with such a panic, that all the efforts of Alpin could not recover them, and they were defeated with great slaughter. Alpin himself was taken prisoner, and soon after beheaded by order of the conqueror. This execution happened at a place now called Pit-alpy, but in former times Ras-alpin, which in the Gaelic language signifies the death of Alpin. His head was afterwards stuck upon a pole, and exposed on a wall.

Alpin was succeeded by his son Kenneth II. who, being a brave and enterprising prince, resolved to take Kenneth II., a most severe revenge for his father's death. The Scots, however, were so dispirited by their late defeat, that they were exceedingly averse to any renewal of the war; while, on the other hand, the Picts were so much elated, that they made a law by which it became death for any man to propose peace with the Scots, whom they resolved to exterminate; and some of the nobility were expelled the council on account of their opposition to this law. The consequence of this was, that civil dissensions took place among them, and a bloody battle was fought between the opposite parties, before the Scots had thought of making any farther resistance.

By these dissensions Brudus, who had in vain endeavoured to appease them, was so much affected, that he died of grief, and was succeeded by his brother Druken.—The new prince also failed in his endeavours to accommodate the civil differences; so that the Scots, by gaining reprieve, at last began to recover from their conflagration; and some of them having ventured into the Pictish territories, carried off Alpin's head from the capital of their dominions, supposed to have been Abernethy. In the mean time, Kenneth found means to gain over the nobility to his side by the following stratagem; which, however ridiculous, is not incredible, if we consider the barbarism and superstition of that age. Having invited them to an entertainment, the king introduced into the hall where they slept a person of Kenneth, clothed in a robe made of the skins of fishes, which renewed made such a luminous appearance in the dark, that he the war, was mistaken for an angel or some supernatural messenger. To add to the terror of those who saw him, he denounced, through a speaking trumpet, the most terrible judgments, if war was not immediately declared against the Picts, the murderers of the late king. In consequence of this celestial admonition, war was immediately renewed with great vigour. The Picts were not deficient in their preparations, and had now procured some assistance from England. The first battle was fought near Stirling; where the Picts, being deserted by their English auxiliaries, were utterly defeated. Druken escaped by the swiftness of his horse, and a few days after made application to Kenneth for a cessation of hostilities; but as the Scottish monarch demanded a surrender of all the Pictish dominions, the treaty was instantly broken off. Kenneth pursued his good fortune, and conquered the counties of Mearns, Angus, and Fife; but as he marched against Stirling, he received intelligence that these counties had again revolted, and cut off all the garrisons which he had left, and that Druken was at the head of a considerable army in these parts. On this Kenneth hastened to oppose him, and a negotiation again took place. The result was equally unfavourable with the rest. Kenneth insisted on an absolute surrender of the counties of Fife, Mearns, and Angus; and as this was refused, both parties prepared for a decisive battle. The engagement was very bloody and desperate, the Picts fighting like men in despair. Druken renewed the battle seven times; but at last was entirely... tirely defeated and killed, and the counties in dispute became the immediate property of the conqueror.

Kenneth did not fail to improve his victory, by reducing the rest of the Pictish territories; in which he is said to have behaved with the greatest cruelty, and even to have totally exterminated the inhabitants. The capital, called Caimon, (supposed to have been Abernethy), held out four months; but was at last taken by surprise, and every living creature destroyed. This was followed by the reduction of the Maiden Castle, now that of Edinburgh; which was abandoned by the garrison, who fled to Northumberland.

After the reduction of these important places, the rest of the country made no great resistance, and Kenneth became master of all the kingdom of Scotland in the present extent of the word; so that he is justly to be esteemed the true founder of the Scottish monarchy. Besides this war with the Picts, Kenneth is said to have been successful against the Saxons, though of these wars we have very little account. Having reigned 16 years in peace after his subjugation of the Picts, and composed a code of laws for the good of his people, Kenneth died of a fistula, at Fort Teviot, near Daplin in Perthshire. Before his time the seat of the Scots government had been in Argyleshire; but he removed it to Scone, by transferring thither the famous black stone, supposed to be the palladium of Scotland, and which was afterwards carried off by Edward I. of England, and lodged in Westminster abbey.

Kenneth was succeeded by his brother Donald, who is represented as a man of the worst character; so that the remaining Picts who had fled out of Scotland were encouraged to apply to the Saxons for assistance, promising to make Scotland tributary to the Saxon power after it should be conquered. This proposal was accepted; and the confederates invaded Scotland with a powerful army, and took the town of Berwick; however, they were soon after defeated by Donald, who took their ships and provisions. This capture proved their ruin; for some of the ships being laden with wine, the Scots indulged themselves too much with that liquor, that they became incapable of defending themselves; in consequence of which the confederates, rallying their troops, attacked them in that state of intoxication. The Scots were defeated with excessive slaughter. Twenty thousand of the common soldiers lay dead on the spot; the king and his principal nobility were taken prisoners, and all the country from the Tweed to the Forth became the property of the conquerors. Still, however, the confederates found themselves unable to pursue their victory farther; and a peace was concluded, on condition that the Saxons should become masters of all the conquered country. Thus the Forth and Clyde became the southern boundaries of the Scottish dominions. It was agreed that the Forth should from that time forward be called the Scots sea; and it was made capital for any Scotsman to set his foot on English ground. They were to erect no forts near the English confines; to pay an annual tribute of a thousand pounds, and to give up 60 of the sons of their chief nobility as hostages. A mint was erected by the Saxon prince named Obrecht, at Stirling; and a cross raised on the bridge at that place, with the following inscription, implying that this place was the boundary between Scotland and England:

Auglos à Scotic separatis crux illa remotis: Arma hic plant Bruti, plant Scotti sub hac cruci tute.

After the conclusion of this treaty, so humiliating to the Scots, the Picts, finding that their interest had been entirely neglected, fled to Norway, while those who remained in England were massacred. Donald shared the common fate of unfortunate princes, being dethroned and shut up in prison, where he at last put an end to his own life in the year 858.—In justice to this unhappy monarch, however, it must be observed, that the character of Donald, and indeed the whole account of these transactions, rests on the credit of a single author, namely Bocce; and that other writers represent Donald as a hero, and successful in his wars; but the obscurity in which the whole of this period of Scottish history is involved, renders it impossible to determine anything satisfactory concerning these matters.

Donald was succeeded by his nephew Constantine, Reign of the son of Kenneth Mac Alpin, in whose reign Scotland was first invaded by the Danes, who proved such formidable enemies to the English. This invasion is said to have been occasioned by some exiled Picts who fled to Denmark, where they prevailed upon the king of that country to send his two brothers, Hungar and Hubba, to recover the Pictish dominions from Constantine. These princes landed on the coast of Fife, defeated by where they committed the most horrid barbarities, not the Danes, sparing even the ecclesiastics who had taken refuge in the isle of May at the mouth of the Forth. Constantine defeated one of the Danish armies commanded by Hubba, near the water of Leven; but was himself defeated and taken prisoner by Hungar, who caused him to be beheaded at a place since called the Devil's Cave, in the year 874.

This unfortunate action cost the Scots 10,000 men; but the Danes seem not to have purchased their victory very easily, as they were obliged immediately afterwards to abandon their conquest, and retire to their own country. However, the many Danish monuments that are still to be seen in Fife, leave no room to doubt that many bloody scenes have been acted here between the Scots and Danes besides that above mentioned.

Constantine was succeeded by his brother Eth, surnamed the Swift-footed, from his agility. Concerning him we find nothing memorable; indeed the accounts are so confused and contradictory, that it is impossible to form any decisive opinion concerning the transactions of this reign. All agree, however, that it was but short; and that he was succeeded by Gregory the son of Dongal, contemporary with Alfred of England, and that both princes deservedly acquired the name of Great.

The Danes at their departure had left the Picts in possession of Fife. Against them Gregory immediately marched, and quickly drove them into the north of Great England, where their confederates were already masters of Northumberland and York. In their way thither they threw a garrison into the town of Berwick; but this was presently reduced by Gregory, who put to the sword all the Danes, but spared the lives of the Picts. From Berwick, Gregory pursued the Danes into Northumberland, where he defeated them; and passed the winter in Berwick. He then marched against the Cumbrians, who being mostly Picts were in alliance with the Danes. He easily overcame them, and obli- ged them to yield up all the lands they had formerly possessed belonging to the Scots, at the same time that he agreed to protect them from the power of the Danes. In a short time, however, Constantine the king of the Cumbrians violated the convention he had made, and invaded Annandale; but was defeated and killed by Gregory near Lochmaben. After this victory Gregory entirely reduced the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, which, it is said, were ceded to him by Alfred the Great; and indeed the situation of Alfred's affairs at this time renders such a cession by no means improbable.

We next find Gregory engaged in a war with the Irish, to support Donach, an Irish prince, against two rebellious noblemen. The Irish were the first aggressors, and invaded Galloway; but being repulsed with great loss, Gregory went over to Ireland in person, where the two chieftains, who had been enemies to each other before, now joined their forces in order to oppose the common enemy. The first engagement proved fatal to one of their chiefs named Brian, who was killed with a great number of his followers. After this victory Gregory reduced Dundalk and Drogheda. On his way to Dublin he was opposed by a chieftain named Cormell, who shared the fate of his confederate, being also killed, and his army entirely defeated. Gregory then became guardian to the young prince whom he came to assist, appointed a regency, and obliged them to swear that they would never admit into the country either a Dane or an Englishman without his consent. Having then placed garrisons in the strongest fortresses, he returned to Scotland, where he built the city of Aberdeen; and died in the year 892, at his castle of Dundore in the Garioch.

Donald III. Gregory was succeeded by Donald III., the son of Constantine, who imitated the virtues of his predecessor. The Scots historians unanimously agree that Northumberland was at that time in the hands of their countrymen; while the English as unanimously affirm that it was subject to the Danes, who paid homage to Alfred. Be this as it will, however, Donald continued to live on good terms with the English monarch, and sent him a body of forces, who proved of considerable advantage to him in his wars with the Danes. The reign of Donald was but short; for having marched against some robbers (probably Danes) who had invaded and ravaged the counties of Murray and Ross, he died at Forres soon after, having defeated and subdued them in the year 903. He was succeeded by Constantine III., the son of Eth the Swift-footed, concerning whom the most remarkable particular which we find related is his entering into an alliance with the Danes against the English. The occasion of this confederacy is said to have been, that the English monarch, Edward the Elder, finding the Scots in possession of the northern counties of England, made such extravagant demands on Constantine as obliged him to form an alliance with the Danes in order to preserve his dominions in security. However, the league subsisted only for two years, after which the Danes found it more for their advantage to resume their ancient friendship with the English.

As soon as Constantine had concluded the treaty with the Danes, he appointed the presumptive heir to the Scottish crown, Malcolm, or, according to some, Eugene the son of the late king Donald, prince of the southern counties, on condition of his defending them against the attacks of the English. The young prince had soon an opportunity of exerting his valour; but not behaving with the requisite caution, he had the misfortune to be defeated, with the loss of almost all his army, he himself being carried wounded out of the field; and in consequence of this disaster, Constantine was obliged to do homage to Edward for the possessions he had to the southward of the Scots boundary.

In the beginning of the reign of Athelstan the son of Edward the Elder, the northern Danes were encouraged by some conspiracies formed against that monarch to throw off the yoke: and their success was such, that Athelstan thought proper to enter into a treaty with Sithric the Danish chief, and to give him his daughter in marriage. Sithric, however, did not long survive his nuptials; and his son Guthred endeavouring to throw off the English yoke, was defeated, and obliged to fly into Scotland. This produced a series of hostilities between the Scots and English; which in the year 938 brought on a general engagement. At this time the Scots, Irish, Cumbrians, and Danes, were confederated against the English. The Scots were commanded by their king Constantine, the Irish by Anlaf, the brother of Guthred the Danish prince, the Cumbrians by their own sovereign, and the Danes by Froda. The generals of Athelstan were Edmund his brother, and Turketil his favourite. The English attacked the entrenchments of the confederates, where the chief resistance which they encountered was from the Scots. Constantine was in the utmost danger of being killed or taken prisoner, but was rescued by the bravery of his soldiers: however, after a most obstinate engagement, the confederates were defeated with such slaughter, that the slain are said to have been innumerable. The consequence of this victory was, that the Scots were deprived of all their possessions to the southward of the Forth; and Constantine, quite dispirited with his misfortune, resigned the crown to Malcolm, and retired to the monastery of the Culdees at St Andrews, where he died five years after, in 943.

The distresses which the English sustained in their subsequent wars with the Danes gave the Scots an opportunity of retrieving their affairs; and in the year 944, we find Malcolm, the successor of Constantine, invested with the sovereignty of Northumberland, on condition of his holding it as fief of the crown of England, and assisting in defence of the northern border. Soon after the conclusion of this treaty Malcolm died, and was succeeded by his son Indulfus. In his reign the New invasions of the Danes became extremely formidable by their invasions, which they now renewed with greater fury than ever, being exasperated by the friendship subsisting between the Scots and English monarchs. Their first descent was upon East Lothian, where they were soon expelled, but crested over to Fife. Here they were a second time defeated, and driven out; and so well had Indulfus taken care to guard the coasts, that they could not find an opportunity of landing; till having seemed to steer towards their own country, the Scots were thrown off their guard, and the Danes on a sudden made good their landing at Cullen, in Banffshire. Here Indulfus soon came up with them, attacked their camp, and drove them towards their ships, but was killed in an ambuscade. Scotland, into which he fell during the pursuit. He was succeeded by Duffus, to whom historians give an excellent character; but, after a reign of five years, he was murdered, in the year 965. He was succeeded by Culen the son of Indulfus, who had been nominated prince of Cumberland in his father's lifetime, as heir-apparent to the throne. He is represented as a very degenerate prince; and is said to have given himself up to the grossest sensuality. The people in the mean time were fleeced, in order to support the extravagance and luxury of their prince. In consequence of this, an assembly of the states was convened at Scone for the resettling of the government; but on his way thither Culen was assassinated, near the village of Methven, by Rochar, thane or sheriff of Fife, whose daughter the king had debauched.

The provocations which Culen had given to his nobility seem to have rendered them totally untractable and licentious; and gave occasion to a remarkable revolution in the reign of Kenneth III. who succeeded Culen. This prince, being a man of great resolution, began with relieving the common people from the oppressions of the nobility, which were now intolerable; and this plan he pursued with so much success, that, having nothing to fear from the great barons, he ordered them to appear before him at Lanark; but the greatest part, conscious of their demerits, did not attend. The king so well dissembled his displeasure, that those who came were quite charmed with his affability, and the noble entertainment he gave them; in consequence of which, when an assembly was called next year, the guilty were encouraged to appear as well as the innocent. No sooner had this assembly met, however, than the place of meeting was beset with armed men. The king then informed them that none had anything to apprehend excepting such as had been notorious offenders; and these he ordered to be immediately taken into custody, telling them, that their submitting to public justice must be the price of their liberty. They were obliged to accept the king's offer, and the criminals were accordingly punished according to their deserts.

About this time Edgar, king of England, finding himself pressed by the Danes, found means to unite the king of Scotland and the prince of Cumberland with himself in a treaty against the Danes; which gave occasion to a report that Kenneth had become tributary to the king of England. This, however, is utterly denied by all the Scots historians; who affirm that Kenneth cultivated a good correspondence with Edgar, as well because he expected assistance in defending his coasts, as because he intended entirely to alter the mode of succession to the throne. About this time the Danes made a dreadful invasion. The original intention seems to have been to land on some part of the English coasts; but finding these too well guarded, they landed at Montrose in Scotland, committing everywhere the most dreadful ravages. Kenneth was then at Stirling, and quite unprepared; however, having collected a handful of troops, he cut off many of the enemy as they were straggling up and down, but could not prevent them from besieging Perth. Nevertheless, as the king's army constantly increased, he resolved to give the enemy battle. The scene of this action was at Luncarty, near Perth. The king is said to have offered ten pounds in silver, or the value of it in land, for the head of every Scotian Dane which should be brought him; and an immunity from all taxes to the soldiers who served in his army, provided they should be victorious: but, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of the Scots, their enemies fought Danes to desperation, that Kenneth's army must have been totally defeated, had not the fugitives been stopped by a yeoman and his two sons of the name of Hay, who, if they were coming up to the battle, armed with such rustic family of weapons as their condition in life afforded, Buchanan Errol and Boece inform us, that these countrymen were ploughing in a field hard by the scene of action, and perceiving that their countrymen fled, they looted their oxen, and made use of the yokes as weapons, with which they first obliged their countryman to stand, and then annoyed their enemies. The fight was now renewed with such fury on the part of the Scots, that the Danes were utterly defeated; and, after the battle, the king rewarded Hay with the barony of Errol in the Carse of Gowrie, ennobled his family, and gave them an armorial bearing alluding to the rustic weapons with which they had achieved this glorious exploit.

In the year 994, Kenneth was murdered at the instigation of a lady named Fenella, whose son he had murdered, caused to be put to death. The murder was perpetrated in Fenella's castle, where she had persuaded the king to pay her a visit. His attendants waited long near the place; but being at length tired out, they broke open the doors, and found their king murdered; on which they laid the castle in ashes; but Fenella escaped by a postern. The throne was then seized by an usurper named Constantine; who, being killed in battle after a reign of a year and a half, was succeeded by Grime, the grandson of King Duffus; and he again was defeated and killed by Malcolm the son of Kenneth, the lawful heir of the Scottish throne. After this victory, however, Malcolm did not immediately assume the sovereignty; but asked the crown from the nobles in consequence of a law passed in the reign of Kenneth, by which the succession to the throne of Scotland became hereditary. This they immediately granted, and Malcolm was accordingly crowned king. He joined himself in strict alliance with the king of England; and proved so successful against the Danes in England, that Sweyn their king resolved to direct his whole force against him by an invasion of Scotland. His first attempt, however, proved unsuccessful; all his soldiers being cut in pieces, except some few who escaped to their ships, while the loss of the Scots amounted to no more than 30 men. But in the mean time, Duncan, prince of Cumberland, having neglected to pay his homage to the king of England, the latter invaded that country in conjunction with the Danes. Malcolm took the field against them, and defeated both; but while he was thus employed in the south, a new army of Danes landed in the north at the mouth of the river Spey. Malcolm advanced against them with an army much inferior in number; and his men neglecting everything but the blind impulses of fury, were almost all cut to pieces; Malcolm himself being desperately wounded.

By this victory the Danes were so much elated, that they sent for their wives and children, intending to settle in this country. The castle of Nairn, at that time thought almost impregnable, fell into their hands; and the towns of Elgin and Forres were abandoned both by their garrisons and inhabitants. The Scots were everywhere treated as a conquered people, and employed in the most servile offices by the haughty conquerors; who, to render the castle of Nairn, as they thought, absolutely impregnable, cut through the small isthmus which joined it to the land. All this time, however, Malcolm was raising forces in the southern counties; and having at last got an army together, he came up with the Danes at Murtloch, near Balveny, which appears at this day to have been a strong Danish fortification. Here he attacked the enemy; but having the misfortune to lose three of his general officers, he was again obliged to retreat. However, the Danish general happening to be killed in the pursuit, the Scots were encouraged to renew the fight with such vigour, that they at last obtained a complete victory; but suffered so much, that they were unable to derive from it all the advantages which might otherwise have accrued.

On the news of this ill success, Sweyn ordered two fleets, one from England, and another from Norway, to make a descent upon Scotland, under the command of Camus, one of his most renowned generals. The Danes attempted to land at the mouth of the Forth; but finding every place there well fortified, they were obliged to move farther northward, and effected their purpose at Redhead in the county of Angus. The castle of Brechin was first besieged; but meeting with a stout resistance there, they laid the town and church in ashes. From thence they advanced to the village of Panbride, and encamped at a place called Kurboddo. Malcolm in the mean time was at hand with his army, and encamped at a place called Barr, in the neighbourhood of which both parties prepared to decide the fate of Scotland; for as Moray and the northern provinces were already in the possession of the Danes, it was evident that a victory at this time must put them in possession of the whole. The engagement was desperate, and so bloody, that the rivulet which proceeds from Loch Tay is said to have had its water dyed with the blood of the slain; but at last the Danes gave way and fled. There was at that time in the army of Malcolm, a young man of the name of Keith. He pursued Camus; and having overtaken him, engaged and killed him; but another Scots officer coming up at the same time, disputed with Keith the glory of the action. While the dispute lasted, Malcolm came up; who suffered them to decide it by single combat. In this second combat Keith proved also victorious, and killed his antagonist. The dying person confessed the justice of Keith's claim; and Malcolm dipping his finger in his blood marked the shield of Keith with three strokes, pronouncing the words *Veritas vincit*, "Truth overcomes," which has ever since been the armorial bearing and motto of the family of Keith (B).

Sweyn, not yet discouraged, sent his son Canute, afterwards king of England, and one of the greatest war-invaders of that age, into Scotland, with an army more powerful than any that had yet appeared. Canute landed in Buchan; and, as the Scots were much weakened by such a long continued war, Malcolm thought proper to act on the defensive. But the Scots, who now thought themselves invincible, demanded to be led on to a general engagement. Malcolm complied with their desire, and a battle ensued; in which though neither party had much reason to boast of victory, the Danes were so much reduced, that they willingly concluded a peace on the following terms, viz. That the Peace conditions should immediately depart from Scotland; that, as long as Malcolm and Sweyn lived, neither of them should wage war with the other, or help each other's enemies; and that the field in which the battle was fought should be set apart and consecrated for the burial of the dead. These stipulations were punctually fulfilled by Malcolm, who built in the neighbourhood a chapel dedicated to Olaus, the tutelar saint of these northern nations.

After performing all these glorious exploits, and becoming the second legislator in the Scottish nation, Malcolm is said to have stained the latter part of his reign with avarice and oppression; in consequence of which he was murdered at the age of 80 years, after he had reigned above 30. This assassination was perpetrated while Malcolm was on his way to Glamis. His own domestics are said to have been privy to the murder, and to have fled along with the conspirators; but in passing the lake of Forfar on the ice, it gave way with them, and they were all drowned. This account is confirmed by the sculptures upon some stones erected near the spot; one of which is still called Malcolm's grave-stone; and all of them exhibit some rude representations of the murder and the fate of the assassins.

Malcolm was succeeded, in the year 1034, by his grandson Duncan I., but he is said to have had another grandson, the famous Macbeth; though some are of opinion that Macbeth was not the grandson of Malcolm, but of Penella who murdered Kenneth III. The first years of Duncan's reign were passed in tranquillity, but domestic broils soon took place on the following occasion. We are told by some historians that Banquo, a nobleman of great eminence, acted then in the capacity of steward to Duncan, by collecting his rents; but being very rigid in the execution of his office, he was way-laid, robbed, and almost murdered. Of this outrage Banquo complained as soon as he recovered of his wounds and could appear at court. The robbers were summoned

(B) Mr Gordon, in his *Itinerarium Septentrionale*, observes, that in all probability the Scots gained two victories over the Danes on the present occasion; one near the place called Karboddo, already mentioned; and the other at Aberlemno, four miles from Brechin. At both places there are monuments with rude sculptures, erected most probably in memory of a victory. That at Karboddo is called Camus's cross; near which, somewhat more than a century ago, a large sepulchre, supposed to be that of Camus, was discovered. It consisted of four great stones; and had in it a huge skeleton, supposed to be that of the Danish prince. The fatal stroke seemed to have been given him on the back part of the head; a considerable portion of the skull being cut away, probably by the stroke of the sword. Scotland summoned to surrender themselves to justice; but instead of obeying, they killed the messenger. Macbeth represented this in such strong terms, that he was sent with an army to reduce the insurgents, who had already destroyed many of the king's friends. This commission he performed with such success, that the rebel chief put an end to his own life; after which Macbeth sent his head to the king, and then proceeded with the utmost severity against the insurgents.

This insurrection was scarcely quelled, when the Danes landed again in Fife; and Duncan put himself at the head of an army, having the thanes Macbeth and Banquo serving under him. The Danes were commanded by Sweyn king of Norway, and eldest son of Canute. He proceeded with all the barbarity natural to his nation, putting to death men, women, and children, who fell in his way. A battle was fought between the two nations near Culross, in which the Scots were defeated; but the Danes purchased their victory so dearly, that they could not improve it; and Duncan retreated to Perth, while Macbeth was sent to raise more forces. In the mean time Sweyn laid siege to Perth, which was defended by Duncan and Banquo. The Danes were so much distressed for want of provisions, that they at last consented to treat for peace, provided the pressing necessities of the army were relieved. The Scots historians inform us, that this treaty was set on foot in order to amuse Sweyn, and gain time for the stratagem which Duncan was preparing. This was no other than a barbarous contrivance of infusing intoxicating herbs into the liquors that were sent along with the other provisions to the Danish camp. These soporifics had the intended effect; and while the Danes were under their influence, Macbeth and Banquo broke into their camp, where they put all to the sword, and it was with difficulty that some of Sweyn's attendants carried him on board; and we are told that his was the only ship of all the fleet that returned to Norway. It was not long, however, before a fresh body of Danes landed at Kinghorn in the county of Fife; but they were entirely defeated by Macbeth and Banquo. Such of the Danes as escaped fled to their ships; but before they departed they obtained leave to bury their dead in Inchcolm, a small island lying in the Forth, where one of their monuments is still to be seen.

Thus ended the formidable invasion of the Danes; after which Duncan applied himself to the administration of justice, and to reform the manners of his subjects.

While he was thus exerting himself for the good of his subjects, his general, Macbeth, who had been so much distinguished in the Danish wars, was plotting the assassination of the king, and the usurpation of the throne. To these purposes, it appears, Macbeth was instigated by his wife, the lady Gruoch, daughter of Kenneth IV., who, as we have seen, was slain by Malcolm II., the grandfather of Duncan. This lady had been married to Gilcomgain, the maormor of Murray, and after his death had espoused Macbeth, the maormor of Rofs. This account of Lady Macbeth shews that it was a spirit of revenge for the murder of her grandfather, which prompted her to instigate her husband to the assassination of Duncan. This assassination took place in 1039, not near Inverness, as related by Shakespeare and the historians whom he has copied, but at Bathgowanan, near Elgin, within the territory of Gruoch. Duncan left two infant sons, Malcolm and Donald, of whom the former, on the death of his father, fled to Cumberland, and the latter found an asylum in the Western Islands. Macbeth having thus gratified his wife's revenge, and his own ambition, took possession of the vacant throne.

During the greater part of the reign of the usurper, Reign of Malcolm, the true heir to the crown of Scotland, kept Macbeth within his principality of Cumberland, without any An. 1039. thoughts of ascending his father's throne. Macbeth for some time governed with moderation, but at last became a tyrant.

Among the numerous fables with which the story of Macbeth has been decked, must be ranked the murder of Banquo, and the escape of his son Fleance, the supposed primogenitor of the house of Stewart. History knows nothing of Banquo the thane of Lochaber, nor of Fleance his son. None of the ancient chronicles nor Irish annals, nor even Fordoun, recognize the names of Banquo and Fleance, though the latter be made by genealogists the root and father of many kings. Nor is a thane of Lochaber known in Scottish history, because the Scottish kings had never any demesnes within that impervious district.

Macduff, the thane of Fife, was the most powerful Caledonian person in Scotland; for which reason, Macbeth determined to destroy him. On this Macduff fled to France; p. 412; and Macbeth cruelly put to death his wife, and children who were yet infants, and sequestrated his estate. Macduff vowed revenge, and encouraged Malcolm to attempt to dethrone the tyrant. Macbeth opposed them with his whole force; but being defeated in a pitched battle, he took refuge in the most inaccessible places of the Highlands, where he defended himself for two years; but in the mean time Malcolm was acknowledged king of Scotland, and crowned at Scone.

The war between Macbeth and the new king continued for two years after the coronation of the latter; but at last he was killed in a fall by Macduff, at Lumphanan, on the 5th of Decr. 1056. However the public tranquillity did not end with his life, His followers elected one of his kinsmen named Lulach, surnamed the Idiot, to succeed him; but he not being able to withstand Malcolm, withdrew to the north, where being pursued, he was killed at Effey in Strathbogie, after a reign of four months.

Malcolm being now established on the throne, bestowed upon Macduff for his great services; and III. conferred upon his family four extraordinary privileges: 1. That they should place the king in his chair of state, the Scottish throne. 2. That they should lead the van of all the royal armies. 3. That they should have a regality within themselves: and, 4. That if any of Macduff's family should happen to kill a nobleman unexpectedly, he should pay 24 marks of silver, and, if a plebeian, 12. The king's next care was to reinstate in their fathers' possessions all the children who had been dispossessed by the late tyrant; which he did in a convention of his nobles held at Forfar. In the time of William the Conqueror, we find Malcolm engaged in a dangerous war with England, the occasion of which was as follows. On the death of Edward the Confessor, Harold seized the throne of England, to the prejudice of Edgar Atheling the true heir to the crown. However, he created him earl of Oxford, and treated him with great respect; but on the defeat and death of Harold, William discovered some jealousy of Edgar. Soon after, William having occasion to pay a visit to his dominions in Normandy, he appointed Edgar Atheling to attend him, along with some other noblemen whom he suspected to be in his interest; but on his return to England, he found the people too much disaffected to his government, that he proceeded with great severity, which obliged great numbers of his subjects to take refuge in Cumberland and the southern parts of Malcolm's dominions. Edgar had two sisters, Margaret and Christina: these, with his two chief friends, Gofpatrik and Martefwin, soon made him sensible how precarious his life was under such a jealous tyrant, and persuaded him to make preparations for flying into Hungary or some foreign country. Edgar accordingly set sail with his mother Agatha, his two sisters, and a great train of Anglo-Saxon noblemen; but by fires of weather was forced into the frith of Forth, where the illustrious exiles landed at the place since called the Queen's Ferry. Malcolm no sooner heard of their landing than he paid them a visit in person; and at this visit he fell in love with the Princess Margaret. In consequence of this, the chief of Edgar's party repaired to the court of Scotland. William soon made a formal demand of Edgar; and, on Malcolm's refusal, declared war against him.

William was the most formidable enemy whom the Scots had ever encountered, as having not only the whole force of England, but of Normandy, at his command. However, as he had tyrannized most unmercifully over his English subjects, they were much more inclined to assist his enemies than their own prince; and he even found himself obliged to give up the county of Northumberland to Gofpatrik, who had followed Edgar, upon condition of his making war on the Scots. This nobleman accordingly invaded Cumberland; in return for which Malcolm ravaged Northumberland in a dreadful manner, carrying off an immense booty, and inviting at the same time the Irish and Danes to join him.

By this time William had taken from Gofpatrik the earldom of Northumberland, and given it to Robert Cummin one of his Norman barons; but the Northumbrians having joined Gofpatrik, and received the Danes as their countrymen, murdered Cummin and all his followers at Durham, where they had been guilty of great cruelties. After this they laid siege to the forts built by William in Yorkshire; but not being able to reduce them, the English, Scots, and Danes, united their forces, took the city of York, and put to the sword three thousand Normans who were there in garrison; and this success was followed by many incursions and ravages, in which the Danes and Northumbrians acquired great booty. It soon appeared, however, that these allies had the interest of Edgar no more at heart than the Irish; and that all the dependence of this forlorn prince was upon Malcolm, and the few Englishmen who had followed his fortune: for the booty was no sooner obtained, than the Danes retired to their ships, and the Northumbrians to their habitations, as if they had been in perfect safety. But in the mean time William, having raised a considerable army, advanced northwards. He first inflicted a severe revenge upon the Northumbrians; then he reduced the city of York, and put to death all the inhabitants; and perceiving that danger was still threatened by the Danes, he bribed them with a sum of money to depart to their own country.

Malcolm was now left alone to encounter this formidable adversary; and, finding himself unable to oppose so great a force, withdrew to his own dominions, where he remained for some time on the defensive, but not without making great preparations for once more invading England. His second invasion took place in the year 1071, while William was employed in quelling an insurrection in Wales. He is said at this time to have behaved with the greatest cruelty. He invaded England by Cumberland; ravaged Teesdale; and at a place called Hundredsfield, he massacred some English noblemen, with all their followers. Thence he marched to Cleveland in the north riding of Yorkshire; which he also ravaged with the utmost cruelty, sending back the booty with part of his army to Scotland; after which he pillaged the bishopric of Durham, where he is said not to have spared the most sacred edifices, but to have burnt them to the ground. In the meantime Gofpatrik, to whom William had again ceded Northumberland, attempted to make a diversion in his favour, by invading Cumberland; but being utterly defeated by Malcolm, he was obliged to shut himself up in Bamborough castle; while Malcolm returned in triumph with his army to Scotland, where he married the princess Margaret.

The next year William, having greatly augmented his army, invaded Scotland in his turn. The particulars of the war are unknown; but it certainly ended in much to the disadvantage of the Scots, as Malcolm agreed to pay him homage. The English historians contend that this homage was for the whole of his dominions; but the Scots with more reason affirm, that it was only for those he possessed in England. On the conclusion of the peace, a cross was erected at Stanmore in Richmondshire, with the arms of both kings, to serve as a boundary between the possessions of William and the feudal dominions of Malcolm. Part of this monument, called Re-cross, or rather Roy-cross, or The cross of the king, was entire in the days of Camden.

This peace between Malcolm Canmore and William produced the greatest alteration in the manners of the Scots. What contributed chiefly to this was the excellent disposition of Queen Margaret; who was, for that age, a pattern of piety and politeness; and next Reforma- to this was the number of foreigners who had settled foot on in Scotland; among whom were some Frenchmen, who laid the foundation of that friendship with the Scots queens of which lasted for ages. Malcolm himself, also, though Scotland, by his ravages in England he seems naturally to have been a barbarian, was far from being adverse to a reformation, and even set the example himself. During her husband's absence in England Queen Margaret had chosen for her confessor one Turgot, whom she also made her assistant in her intended reformation. She began with new-modelling her own court; into which she introduced the offices, furniture, and manner of living, common among the more polite nations of Europe. She dismissed from her service all those who were noted for immorality and impiety; and charged Turgot, on pain pain of her displeasure, to give his real sentiments on the state of the kingdom, after the best inquiry he could make. By him she was informed, that faction reigned among the nobles, rapine among the commons, and incontinence among all degrees of men. Above all, he complained that the kingdom was destitute of a learned clergy, capable of reforming the people by their example and doctrine. All this the queen represented to her husband, and prevailed upon him to set about the work of reformation immediately. In this, however, he met with considerable opposition. The Scots, accustomed to oppress their inferiors, thought all restrictions of their power so many steps towards their slavery. The introduction of foreign offices and titles confirmed them in this opinion; and such a dangerous insurrection happened in Moray and some of the northern counties, that Malcolm was obliged to march against the rebels in person. He found them, indeed, very formidable; but they were so much intimidated by his resolution, that they intreated the clergy who were among them to intercede with the king in their favour. Malcolm received their submission, but refused to grant an unconditional pardon. He gave all the common people indeed leave to return to their habitations, but obliged the higher ranks to surrender themselves to his pleasure. Many of the most guilty were put to death, or condemned to perpetual imprisonment; while others had their estates confiscated. This severity checked the rebellious spirit of the Scots, and Malcolm returned to his plans of reformation. Still, however, he found himself opposed, even in those abuses which were most obvious and glaring. He durst not entirely abolish that infamous practice of the landlord claiming the first night with his tenant's bride; though, by the queen's influence, the privilege was changed into the payment of a piece of money by the bridegroom, and was afterwards known by the name of merchetia mulierum, or "the woman's mark." In those days the Scots had not the practice of saying grace after meals, till it was introduced by Margaret, who gave a glass of wine, or other liquor, to those who remained at the royal table and heard the thanksgiving; which expedient gave rise to the term of the grace-drink. Besides this, the terms of the duration of Lent and Easter were fixed; the king and queen bestowed large alms on the poor, and the latter walked the feet of five of their number; many churches, monasteries, &c., were erected, and the clerical revenues augmented. Notwithstanding these reformations, however, some historians have complained, that, along with the manners of the English and French, their luxuries were also introduced. Till this reign the Scots had been remarkable for their sobriety and the simplicity of their diet; which was now converted into excess and riot, and sometimes ended fatally by quarrels and bloodshed. We are told, at the same time, that even in those days, the nobility ate only two meals a-day, and were served with no more than two dishes at each meal.

In the year 1079, Malcolm again invaded England; but upon what provocation, or with what success, is not well known. But in 1088, after the death of the Conqueror, he again espoused the cause of Edgar Atheling, who had been reduced to implore his assistance a second time, when William Rufus ascended the throne of England. At the time of Edgar's arrival, Malcolm was at the head of a brave and well disciplined army, with which he penetrated a great way into the country of the enemy; and, as is said, returned to Scotland with an immense booty. William resolved to revenge the injury, and prepared great armaments both by sea and land for the invasion of Scotland. His success, however, was not answerable to the greatness of his preparations. His fleet was dashed to pieces by storms, and almost all on board of it perished. Malcolm had also laid waste the country through which his antagonist was to pass, so effectually that William lost a great part of his troops by fatigue and famine; and when he arrived in Scotland, found himself in a situation very little able to resist Malcolm, who was advancing against him with a powerful army. In this distress, Rufus had recourse to Robert de Mowbray earl of Northumberland, who diffused him from hazarding a battle, but advised him to open a negociation by means of Edgar and the other English noblemen who resided with Malcolm. Edgar undertook the negociation, on condition of his being restored to his estates in England; but met with more difficulty than he imagined. Malcolm had never yet recognized the right of William Rufus to the throne of England, and therefore refused to treat with him as a sovereign prince; but offered to enter into a negociation with his brother Robert. The two princes accordingly met; and Malcolm, having shown Robert the disposition of his army, offered to cut off his brother William, and to pay to him the homage he had been accustomed to pay to the Conqueror for his English dominions. But Robert generously answered, that he had resigned to Rufus his right of primogeniture in England; and that he had even become one of William's subjects, thereby accepting of an English estate. An interview with William then followed; in which it was agreed that the king of England should restore to Malcolm all his southern possessions, for which he should pay the same homage he had been accustomed to do to the Conqueror; that he should restore to Malcolm disputed manors, and give him likewise 12 merks of gold yearly, besides restoring Edgar to all his English estates.

This treaty was concluded in Lothian, according to the English historians; but at Leeds in Yorkshire, according to the Scots. However, the English monarch looked upon the terms to be so very dishonourable, that he resolved not to fulfil them. Soon after his departure, Edgar and Robert began to press him to fulfil his engagements; but receiving only evasive answers, they passed over into Normandy. After their departure, William applied himself to the fortification of his northern boundaries, especially Carlisle, which had been destroyed by the Danes 200 years before.—As this place lay within the feudal dominions of Malcolm, he complained of William's proceeding, as a breach of the late treaty; and soon after repaired to the English court at Gloucester, that he might have a personal interview with the king of England, and obtain redress. On his arrival, William refused him admittance to his presence, recommending without paying him homage. Malcolm offered this in the same manner as had been done by his predecessors, that is, on the confines of the two kingdoms; but this being rejected by William, Malcolm returned to Scotland, and prepared again for war.

The first of Malcolm's military operations now proved fatal to him; but the circumstances of his death are variously variously related. It is generally believed that while prosecuting the siege of Alnwick in Northumberland, he was surprised by Earl Mowbray, by whom it was defended, and slain, together with his eldest son Edward, on the 19th November, 1293. Queen Margaret, who was at that time lying ill in the castle of Edinburgh, died four days after her husband.

After the death of Malcolm Canmore, the throne was usurped by his brother Donald Bane; who, notwithstanding the great virtues and glorious achievements of the late king, had been at the head of a strong party during the whole of his brother's reign. The usurper, giving way to the barbarous prejudices of himself and his countrymen, expelled from the kingdom all the foreigners whom Malcolm had introduced, and obliged them to take refuge in England. Edgar himself had long resided at the English court, where he was in high reputation; and, by his interest there, found means to rescue his nephew, young Edgar, the king of Scotland's eldest surviving son, out of the hands of the usurper Donald Bane. The favour which he showed him, however, produced an accusation against himself, as if he designed to adopt young Edgar as his son, and set him up as a pretender to the English throne. This accusation was preferred by an Englishman whose name was Orgar; but, as no legal proofs of the guilt could be obtained, the custom of the times rendered a single combat between the parties unavoidable. Orgar was one of the strongest and most active men in the kingdom; but the age and infirmities of Edgar allowed him to be defended by another. For a long time none could be found who would enter the lists with this champion; but at last one Godwin of Winchester, whose family had been under obligations to Edgar or his ancestors, offered to defend his cause. Orgar was overcome and killed; and, when dying, confessed the falsehood of his accusation. The conqueror obtained all the lands of his adversary, and William lived ever afterwards on terms of the strictest friendship with Edgar.

This combat, trifling as it may seem to us, produced very considerable effects. The party of Edgar and his brother's (who had likewise taken refuge at the English court) revived in Scotland, to such a degree, that Donald was obliged to call in the Danes and Norwegians to his assistance. In order to engage them more effectually to his interest, the usurper yielded up to them the Orkney and Shetland islands; but when his new allies came to his assistance, they behaved in such a manner as to become more intolerable to the Scots than ever the English had been. The discontent was greatly increased when it was found that William designed to place on the throne of Scotland a natural son of the late Malcolm, named Duncan, who had served in the English armies with great reputation. Donald attempted to maintain himself on the throne by the assistance of his Norwegian allies; but, being abandoned by the Scots, he was obliged to fly to the Isles, in order to raise more forces; and in the mean time Duncan was crowned at Scone with the usual solemnity.

The Scots were now greatly distressed by two usurpers who contended for the kingdom, each of them supported by a foreign army. One of them, however, was soon dispatched. Malpedir, thane of Mearns, surprised Duncan in the castle of Montcith, and killed him; after which he replaced Donald on the throne. The affection of the Scots, however, was by this time entirely alienated from Donald, and a manifest intention of calling in young Edgar was shown. To prevent this, Donald offered the young prince all that part of Scotland which lay to the southward of the Forth; but the terms were rejected, and the messengers who brought them were put to death as traitors. The king of England also, dreading the neighbourhood of the Norwegians, interposed in young Edgar's favour, and gave Atheling the command of an army in order to restore his nephew. Donald prepared to oppose his enemies with all the forces he could raise; but was defeated by the Scots and obliged to fly; his enemies pursued him so closely, that he was soon taken; and being brought before Edgar, he ordered his eyes to be put out, condemning him at the same time to perpetual banishment, in which he died some time after.

With Donald Bane may be said to have terminated the line of Scot-Irish kings, which had filled the throne of Scotland from the invasion of Fergus in 565, to the year 1297, the date of Donald Bane's defeat, comprehending a period of 732 years. Edgar the new monarch was of Saxon descent, and as in his person a new dynasty commenced, it may be proper to take a brief survey of the state of Scotland on his accession, or at the close of the eleventh century.

We have seen that from the time of Kenneth II., the State of Picts were either expelled from Scotland, or had been gradually incorporated with the Scot-Irish tribes. At the close of the period of which we are now treating, Scotland was subdivided into 13 districts, viz. those of Lothian, Galloway, Strathclyde, Fife, Strathearn, Athol, Angus, Moray or Moray, the extensive district between the Dee and the Spey, comprehending Aberdeen and Banff, and the districts of Murray, Argyle, Ross, and Sutherland. Most of these districts possessed within themselves, an independent authority, exercised by the thane. The clans of the distinct districts possessed rights which the regal power could scarcely control: they were governed by their own customs, and the king could neither appoint nor displace their chieftains. The notion of a body politic having an acknowledged authority to make laws, which every individual and every district were bound to obey, was scarcely known. The kings and the maormors were so independent of each other in their respective stations, that the power of the superior over his vassal was but little felt, though it was acknowledged, and was often resisted, because it could not easily be enforced. The same law which directed the succession of the kings, operated equally, and with similar effects, in the succession of every chieftain. The custom called tanistry, already explained in No. 32, was the common law of North Britain throughout the Scot-Irish period. The Brehons continued to be judges throughout every district of Scotland, and were regulated in their judicial proceedings, by the common customs of the country, and the usual manners of the times.

One of the most singular customs introduced by the Manners-Scot-Irish colonists, and which prevailed for many succeeding ages, was the use of flag-horns, or war-cries. Each clan had its appropriate flag-horn. Thus, that of the Mackenzies was Tullochard, or the high hill; that of the Grants, Craig-clachie, rock of alarm. Often they Scotland. they were simply the name of the clan, as A Home, A Home, for the family of Hume; A Douglas, A Douglas, for that of Douglas. At this time the nobility used no armorial bearings, which we are assured were not adopted before the reign of William the Lion, on whose escutcheon the lion rampant first appeared as a national badge. Neither seals nor coins appear to have been in use, but all commerce consisted in barter.

Edgar was son of Malcolm Canmore by Margaret, an Angle-Saxon princess, and was still very young when he ascended the Scottish throne. The education which he had received from his mother, the experience which he had acquired under the English government in Northumberland, the establishment of his authority over North Britain by the power of that government, all induced him to imitate the English rather than the Scottish customs, during his feeble administration.

He had scarcely ascended the throne of his father when Magnus, the enterprising king of Norway, appeared in the surrounding seas, in order to compel the submission of his subjects in the Orkneys and Hebrides, and to plunder or overpower the inhabitants of the neighbouring shores of England, of Man, and of Ireland. Had Magnus attempted a descent on the coast of Scotland, he would probably have met with little opposition from Edgar, in whom the appearance of the Norwegian prince appears to have excited considerable apprehension. From this, however, he was relieved by the death of Magnus, in 1103. Three years before had died William Rufus, whom Edgar considered as a benefactor; and in the same year, his sister Matilda had been married to Henry I. Thus, both from prudence and policy, Edgar avoided all disputes with England, and either his interest or his weakness prevented him from interfering with the then embroiled state of the European continent. He paid considerable attention to the internal regulation of his kingdom, especially in ecclesiastical matters. He conferred on the monks of St Cuthbert at Durham, many churches and lands near Berwick; and he bestowed the church of Portmoak in Kinross, on the Culdees, and that of Gellold on the monks of Dunfermline. It does not appear, however, that in this religious age he founded any remarkable religious house. He died at Dun Edin without issue, on the 8th of January 1126, having reigned nine years. He has been characterized as an amiable man, who formed himself in the model of Edward the Confessor, of England. From the silence of history we may infer that his reign was barren of events; and from the feebleness of his character, we may conclude that his authority was scarcely recognized within the largest portion of his kingdom.

Edgar was succeeded by his brother Alexander I., nicknamed the Fierce from the pettiness of his temper. On his accession to the throne, however, the Scots were so ignorant of his true character, on account of his appearance of piety and devotion, that the northern parts of the kingdom were soon filled with ravages and bloodshed, by reason of the wars of the chieftains with each other. Alexander immediately raised an army, and marching into Moray and Ross-shire, attacked the insurgents separately; and having subdued them all, he put great numbers of them to death. He then prepared to reduce the exorbitant power of the nobles, and to deliver the people from the oppression under which they groaned. A remarkable instance of this appeared on his return from the expedition just now mentioned. In passing through the Mearns, he met with a widow, who complained that her husband and son had been put to death by the young earl their superior. Alexander immediately alighted from his horse, and swore that he would not remount him till he had inquired into the justice of the complaint; and, finding it to be true, the offender was hanged on the spot. These vigorous proceedings prevented all attempts at open rebellion; but produced many conspiracies among the profligate part of his private subjects, who had been accustomed to live under a more remiss government. The most remarkable narrowly of these took place while the king was engaged in collecting the cattle of Baledgar, so called in memory of his affluence, brother Edgar, who had laid the foundation stone. It was situated in the Carle of Gowrie, which, we are told, had formerly belonged to Donald Bane, but afterwards came to the crown, either by donation or forfeiture. The conspirators bribed one of the king's chamberlains to introduce them at night into the royal bed-chamber; but Alexander, alarmed at the noise, drew his sword, and killed six of them; after which, by the help of a knight named Alexander Carron, he escaped the danger, by flying into Fife. The conspirators chiefly resided in the Mearns, to which Alexander once more repaired at the head of an army; but the rebels retreated northwards, and crossed the Spey. The king pursued them across that river, defeated them, and brought to justice all that fell into his hands. In this battle, Carron distinguished himself so eminently, that he obtained the name of Skrimgeour or Skrimgeour; which indeed is no other than the English word skirmisher or fighter.

The next remarkable transaction of Alexander's reign, as recorded by the English historians, was his journey into England, where he paid a visit to Henry I., whom he found engaged in a war with the Welsh. Alexander, in virtue of the fealty which he had sworn for his English possessions, readily agreed to lead an army into Wales. There he defeated one of the chieftains, and reduced him to great straits; but could not prevent him from escaping to Griffith prince of North Wales, with whom he was closely allied. Henry also marched against the enemy, but with much worse success than Alexander. Alexander died in 1124, after a reign of seventeen years; and was buried at Dunfermline.

This prince, dying a bachelor, was succeeded by his Wars of younger brother David I.; who interfered in the affairs King David of England, and took part with the empress Maud in the civil war which she carried on with Stephen. In An. 1124, David met his antagonist at Durham; but as neither party chose to hazard an engagement, a negociation took place, and a treaty was concluded. This, however, was observed but for a short time; for, in the following year, David again invaded England, on some frivolous pretence. He defeated Stephen at Roxburgh; and forced him to retreat precipitately, after losing one half of his army. Next year he renewed his invasion; and, though he himself was a man of great mildness and humanity, he suffered his troops to commit such outrages, as firmly united the English in opposition to him. His grand-nephew William cut in pieces the vanguard of the English army at Clitheroe; after which he ravaged the country with such cruelty, that the inhabitants became exasperated beyond measure against him. New associations associations were entered into against the Scots; and the English army receiving great reinforcements from the southwards, advanced to Northballerton, where the famous standard was produced. The body of this standard was a kind of box which moved upon wheels, from which arose the mast of a ship surmounted by a silver cross, and round it were hung the banners of St Peter, St John de Beverley, and St Wilfred. Standards of this kind were common at that time on the continent of Europe; and so great confidence had the English in this standard, that they now thought themselves invincible. They had, however, a much more solid ground of confidence, as being much better armed than their antagonists. The armies met at a place called Culloden Moor. The first line of the Scots army was composed of the inhabitants of Galloway, Carrick, Kyle, Cunningham, and Renfrew. The second line consisted of the Lothian men, by which we are to understand the king's subjects in England as well as the south of Scotland, together with the English and Normans of Maud's party. The third line was formed of the clans under their different chieftains; but who were subject to no regular command, and were always impatient to return to their own country when they had acquired any booty. The English soldiers having ranged themselves round their standard, dismounted from their horses, in order to avoid the long lances which the first line of the Scots army carried. Their front-line was intermixed with archers; and a body of cavalry, ready for pursuit, hovered at some distance. The Scots, besides their lances, made use of targets; but, when the English closed with them, they were soon disordered and driven back upon the centre, where David commanded in person. His son made a gallant resistance, but was at last forced to yield; the last line seems never to have been engaged. David, seeing the victory decided against him, ordered some of his men to leave themselves by throwing away their badges, which it seems Maud's party had worn, and mingling with the English; after which he himself, with his scattered forces, retreated towards Carlisle. The English historians say, that in this battle the Scots were totally defeated, with the loss of 10,000 men; but this seems not to be the case, as the English did not pursue, and the Scots were in a condition for carrying on the war next year. However, there were now no great exploits performed on either side; and a peace was concluded, by which Henry prince of Scotland was put in possession of Huntingdon and Northumberland, and took an oath of fealty to Stephen. David continued faithful to his niece the empress as long as he lived; and died at Carlisle in the year 1153, after a glorious reign of rather more than 29 years.

David was succeeded by his grandson Malcolm IV., surnamed the Maiden, on account of his continence. He appears to have been a weak and superstitious prince, and died of a depression of spirits in the year 1165. He was succeeded by his brother William I., who immediately entered into a war with Henry II. of England, on account of the earldom of Northumberland, which had been given up by Malcolm; but Henry, finding his affairs in a very embarrassed situation, contented to yield up this county, on William's paying him homage, rather than continue the miseries of war. In 1172, he attempted to avail himself of the unnatural wars which Henry's sons carried on against their father, and invaded England. He divided his army into three columns: the first of which laid siege to Carlisle; the second the king in person led into Northumberland; and the king's brother, David, advanced with the third into Leicestershire. William reduced the castles of Burgh, Appleby, Warkworth, and Garby; and then joined that division of his army which was besieging Carlisle. The place was already reduced to such straits, that the governor had agreed to surrender it by a certain day, provided it was not relieved before that time: on which the king, leaving some troops to continue the siege, invested a castle with some of the forces he had under his command, at the same time sending a strong reinforcement to his brother David; by which means he himself was left with a very small army, when he received intelligence that a strong body of English under Robert de Stuteville and his son were advancing to surprise him.—William, sensible of his inability to resist them, retired to Alnwick, to which he instantly laid siege; but in the mean time acted in such a careless and unthinking manner, that his enemies actually effected their designs. Having dressed a party of their soldiers in Scots habits, they took the king himself prisoner, and carried him, with his feet tied under the belly of a horse, to Richmond Castle. He was then conveyed in chains before Henry to Northampton, and ordered to be transported to the castle of Falaise in Normandy, where he was shut up with other state prisoners. Soon after this an accommodation took place between Henry and his sons, and the prisoners on both sides were set at liberty, William only excepted, who bore his confinement with great impatience. Of this Henry took the advantage to make him pay homage for the whole kingdom of Scotland, and acknowledge that he held it only as a fief of the crown of England; and, as a security, he was obliged to deliver into the hands of Henry all the principal forts in Scotland, viz. the castles of Roxburgh, Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling; William at the same time agreeing to pay the English garrisons which were put into these castles. David, the king's brother, with 20 barons, who were present at the signing of this shameful convention, were put into the hands of Henry as hostages for William's good faith; after which the king was let at liberty, and returned to Scotland.

The affairs of Scotland were now in the greatest confusion. The people of Galloway, at the head of whom were two chiefs called Othred and Gilbert, had taken the opportunity of asserting their independency on the crown of Scotland; and, having expelled all the Scots officers out of the country, they demolished all the forts which William had erected in their country, and put to death all the foreigners. But in the mean time a quarrel ensuing between the two chiefs, Othred was murdered by Gilbert, who immediately applied to Henry for protection.

Henry, in order to give all possible sanction to the convention betwixt him and William, summoned him to meet him and his son at York. William obeyed the summons, and along with him appeared all the great nobility and landholders; who confirmed the convention of Falaise, swore fealty to Henry, and put themselves and their country under his protection. In the mean time, Gilbert, who was at the head of the rebels in Galloway, had offered to place himself and his people under Scotland, under the protection of the king of England, and to pay to Henry 2000 merks of silver yearly, with 500 cows and as many hogs, by way of tribute: Henry, however, that he might oblige his new feudatory William, refused to have any concern in the affair. On this, William ordered his general Gilchrist to march against him; which he did with such success, that Gilbert was entirely defeated, and Galloway again reduced under the dominion of Scotland. Very soon after this victory, Gilchrist fell under the king's displeasure on the following occasion. He had married Matilda, sister to William; and on suspicion, or proof, of her incontinence, put her to death at a village called Mayner, near Dundee. The king being highly displeased at such a gross affront to himself, summoned Gilchrist to take his trial for the murder: but as the general did not choose to make his appearance, his estates were confiscated, his castles demolished, and he himself sent into exile. He took refuge in England; but as it had been agreed in the convention between William and Henry that the one should not harbour the traitorous subjects of the other, Gilchrist was forced to return to Scotland with his two sons. There they were exposed to all the miseries of indigence, and the perpetual fear of being discovered, so that they were obliged to flit from place to place. William, on his return from an expedition against an usurper whom he had defeated, happened to observe three strangers, who, though disguised like rustics, appeared by their noble mien to be above the vulgar rank. William, who first discovered them, was confirmed in this apprehension, by seeing them strike out of the high road, and endeavour to avoid notice. He ordered them to be seized and brought before him. The oldest, who was Gilchrist himself, fell upon his knees before him, and gave such a detail of his misfortunes as drew tears from the eyes of all present; and the king restored him to his former honours and estates.

From the family of this Gilchrist that of the Ogilvies is said to be descended.

The Scots continued to be in subjection to the English till the accession of Richard I. This monarch being a man of romantic valour, zealously undertook an expedition into the Holy Land against the Turks, in conformity with the superstition of the times. That he might secure the quiet of his dominions in his absence, he determined to make the king of Scotland his friend; and for this purpose, he thought nothing could be more acceptable than releasing him and his subjects from that homage subjection which even the English themselves considered as forced and unjust. However, he determined not to lose this opportunity of supplying himself with a sum of money, which could not but be absolutely necessary in such an expensive and dangerous undertaking. He therefore made William pay him 10,000 merks for this release; after which he entered into a convention still extant; in which he acknowledges, that "all the conventions and acts of submission from William to the crown of England had been extorted from him by unprecedented writings and duree." This transaction happened in the year 1189.

The generosity of Richard met with a grateful return from William; for when Richard was imprisoned by the emperor of Germany in his return from the Holy Land, the king of Scotland sent an army to assist the regency against his rebellious brother John, who had wickedly usurped the throne of England. For this Richard acknowledged his obligation in the highest degree; but William afterwards made this an excuse for such high demands as could not be complied with. Nevertheless, the two monarchs continued in friendship as long as Richard lived. Some differences happened with King John about the possession of Northumberland and other northern counties; but these were all finally adjusted to the mutual satisfaction of both parties; and William continued a faithful ally of the English monarch till his death, which happened in the year 1214, after a reign of 49 years.

William was succeeded by his son Alexander II, a youth of 16. He renewed his claim to Northumberland and the other northern counties of England; but An. 1214, John, supposing that he had now thoroughly subdued the English, not only refused to consider the demands of Alexander, but made preparations for invading Scotland. John had given all the country between Scotland and the river Tees to Hugh de Baliol and another nobleman, upon condition of their defending it against the Scots. Alexander invaded Northumberland, which he John, king easily reduced, while John invaded Scotland. Alexander retired to Melrose, in order to defend his own country; upon which John burnt the towns of Wark, Alnwick, and Morpeth, and took the strong castles of Roxburgh and Berwick. He next plundered the abbey of Coldingham, reduced Dunbar and Haddington, ravaging the country as he passed along. His next operation was directed against Edinburgh; but being opposed by Alexander at the head of an army, he precipitately retreated. Alexander did not fail to pursue; and John, to cover his retreat, burnt the towns of Berwick and Coldingham. In this retreat the king of England himself set his own example of barbarity, by setting fire every morning to the house in which he had lodged the preceding night. In short, such desolation did John spread all around him, that Alexander found it impossible to continue his pursuit; for which reason he marched westward, and invaded England by the way of Carlisle. This place he took and fortified; after which he marched south as far as Richmond, receiving homage from all the great barons as he passed. At Richmond he was again stopped by John's ravages, and obliged to return through Westmoreland to his own dominions.

When the English barons found it necessary to put themselves under the protection of Louis, son to the king of France, this prince, among other acts of sovereignty, summoned Alexander to do him homage; but the latter being then engaged in the siege of Carlisle, which had fallen into the hands of King John, he could not immediately attend. In a short time Alexander found himself obliged to abandon his enterprise; after which he laid siege to Barnard castle; but being baffled here also, marched southwards through the whole kingdom of England, and met Louis at London or Dover, where the prince confirmed to him the rights to Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. He continued a faithful ally to Louis and the barons in their wars with John; and, in 1216, brought a fresh army to their assistance, when their affairs were almost desperate.

As long as Louis continued in England, Alexander proved faithful to his interest; but, in 1217, he was on such Scotland, such good terms with Henry as to demand his eldest sister, the princess Joan, in marriage. His request was granted, and in 1221 he espoused that princess. As long as the queen of Scotland lived, a perfect harmony subsisted between the Scots and English; but in 1239 Queen Joan died without children; and Alexander soon after married Mary, the daughter of Edelrand de Couey, a young and beautiful French lady, by whom, in 1241, he had a son named Alexander. From this time a coolness took place between the two courts, and many differences arose; but no hostilities commenced on either side during the lifetime of Alexander, who died in 1249 in the 35th year of his reign.

Immediately on the death of his father, Alexander III. took possession of the throne. He is the first of the Scots kings of whose coronation we have any particular account. We are told, that the ceremony was performed by the bishop of St Andrew's, who girded the king with a military belt, probably as an emblem of his temporal jurisdiction. He then explained in Latin, and afterwards in Gaelic, the laws and oaths relating to the king; who received them all with great appearance of joy, as he also did the benediction and ceremony of coronation from the same prelate. After the ceremony was performed, a Highlander, probably one of those who went under the denomination of Sannachies, repeated on his knees before the throne, in his own language, the genealogy of Alexander and his ancestors, up to the first king of Scotland.

In 1250, the king, though no more than ten years of age, was married to the daughter of Henry, who now thought it a proper opportunity to oblige him to do homage for the whole kingdom of Scotland. But Alexander, notwithstanding his youth, replied with great firmness and modesty, that his business in England was matrimony; that he had come thither under Henry's protection and invitation; and that he was not prepared to answer such a difficult question.

Henry seems to have been encouraged to this attempt by the distracted state of the Scots affairs at that time; for, during the minority of the king, the nobility threw all into confusion by their mutual dissensions. The family of Cummins were now become exceedingly powerful; and Alexander II. is blamed by Buchanan for allowing them to obtain such an exorbitant degree of power, by which they were enabled almost to shake the foundation of government. Notwithstanding the king's refusal to submit to the homage required of him, they imagined that Henry's influence was now too great; and fearing bad consequences to themselves, they withdrew from York, leaving Henry in full possession of his son-in-law's person. Henry, however, to show that he deserved all the confidence which could be reposed in him, publicly declared, that he dropped all claim of superiority over the crown of Scotland, and that he would ever afterwards act as the father and guardian of his son-in-law; confirming his assurances by a charter. Yet when Alexander returned to Scotland, he found there had been a strong party made against his English connections. They now exclaimed, that Scotland was no better than a province of England; and having gained almost all the nobility over to their side, they kept the king and queen as two state-prisoners in the castle of Edinburgh. Henry had secret intelligence of these proceedings; and his queen privately sent a physician whom she could trust, to inquire into her daughter's situation. Having found means of being admitted into the young queen's presence, she gave him a most lamentable account of her situation. She said, that the place of their confinement was very unwholesome, in consequence of which their health was in imminent danger; and that they had no concern in the affairs of government. Historians do not inform us by what means they were reduced to this dismal situation; only in general, that the Cummins usurped the whole power of the state. Henry scarcely knew how to act. If he proceeded at once to violent measures, he was afraid of the lives of his daughter and son-in-law; and, on the other hand, by a more cautious conduct, he left them exposed to the wicked attempts of those who kept them in thraldom, some of whom, he well knew, had designs on the crown itself.

By advice of the Scots royalists, among whom were the earls of Dunbar, Fife, Strathern, Carrick, and Robert Bruce, Henry assembled his military tenants at York, where he himself advanced to Newcastle, where he published a manifesto, declaring all designs against the peace or independence of Scotland; declaring, that the forces which had been collected at York were designed to maintain both; and that all he intended was to have an interview with the king and queen upon the borders. From Newcastle he proceeded to Wark, where he privately dispatched the earl of Gloucester, with his favourite John Mansel, and a train of trusty followers, to gain admission into the castle of Edinburgh, then held by John Baliol and Robert de Roos, noblemen of great influence both in England and Scotland. The earl and Mansel gained admittance into the castle in disguise, on pretence of their being tenants to Baliol and Roos; and their followers obtained access on the same account, without any suspicion, till they were sufficiently numerous to have mastered the garrison, had they met with any resistance. The queen immediately informed them of the thraldom and tyranny in which she had been kept. The English, being masters of the castle, ordered a bed to be prepared that very night for the king and queen; and Henry, hearing of the success of his party, sent a safe conduct for the royal pair to meet him at Alnwick. Robert de Roos was summoned by Henry to answer for his conduct; but throwing himself on the king's mercy, he was punished only by the sequestration of his estate, as was John Baliol by a heavy fine, which the king of England reserved entirely for his own use.

Alexander and his queen were attended to Alnwick by the heads of their party; and when they arrived, it was agreed that Henry should act as his son-in-law's guardian; in consequence of which, several regulations were made in order to suppress the exorbitant power of the Cummins. That ambitious family, however, were all this time privately strengthening their party in Scotland, though they appeared satisfied with the arrangements which had been made. This rendered Alexander secure; so that, being off his guard, he was surprised when asleep in the castle of Kinross by the earl of Menteith, who carried him to Stirling. The Cummins were joined in this treason by Sir Hugh de Abernethy, Sir David Lochore, and Sir Hugh de Barclay; and, in the mean time, the whole nation was thrown into the utmost confusion. The great seal was forcibly taken from Robert Stuterville, substitute to the chancellor the bishop. Scotland, bishop of Dunkeld; the estates of the royalists were plundered; and even the churches were not spared. The king at last was delivered by the death of the earl of Menteith.

Alexander being thus restored to the exercise of regal authority, acted with great wisdom and moderation. He pardoned the Cummins and their adherents, upon their submitting to his authority; after which, he applied himself to the regulation of his other affairs: but a storm was now ready to break upon him from another quarter. We have already seen, that the usurper Donald Bane, brother to Malcom Canmore, had engaged to deliver up the isles of Orkney and Shetland to the king of Norway, for afflicting him in making good his pretensions to the crown of Scotland. Haco, the king of Norway at this time, alleged, that these engagements extended to the delivering up the isles of Bute, Arran, and others in the firth of Clyde, as belonging to the Ebudæ or Western isles; and as Alexander did not think proper to comply with these demands, the Norwegian monarch appeared with a fleet of 160 sail, having on board 20,000 troops, who landed and took the castle of Ayr. Alexander immediately dispatched ambassadors to enter into a treaty with Haco; but the latter, flushed with success, would listen to no terms. He made himself master of the isles of Bute and Arran; after which he passed over to Cunningham. Alexander prepared to oppose him, divided his army into three bodies. The first was commanded by Alexander high steward of Scotland (the great-grandfather of Robert II.), and consisted of the Argyle, Athol, Lenox, and Galloway men. The second was composed of the inhabitants of Lothian, Fife, Merse, Berwick, and Stirling, under the command of Patrick earl of Dunbar. The king himself led the centre, which consisted of the inhabitants of Perthshire, Angus, Mearns, and the northern counties.—Haco, who was an excellent general, disposed his men in order of battle, and the engagement began at Largs in Ayrshire. Both parties fought with great resolution; but at last the Norwegians were defeated with dreadful slaughter, not fewer than 16,000 of them being killed on the spot. The remainder escaped to their ships; which were so completely wrecked the day after, that Haco could scarcely find a vessel to carry him with a few friends to Orkney, where he soon after died of grief.

In consequence of this victory, the king of the island of Man submitted to Alexander; and his example was followed by several other princes of the islands belonging to the Norwegians. Haco's son, a wife and learned prince, soon after arrived in Scotland with fresh reinforcements, and proposed a treaty: but Alexander, instead of listened to an accommodation, sent the earls of Buchan and Murray, with Allen the chamberlain, and a considerable body of men, to the Western islands, where they put to the sword some of the inhabitants, and hanged their chiefs for having encouraged the Norwegian invasion. In the mean time, Magnus returned to Norway; where a treaty was at last concluded between him and Alexander. By this Magnus renounced all right to the contested islands; Alexander at the same time consenting to pay him 1000 merks of silver in two years, and 100 yearly ever after, as an equivalent for these islands. To cement the friendship more firmly, a marriage was concluded between Margaret the daughter of Alexander, and Eric the son and heir of Magnus, who was also a child; and, some years after, when the parties were of proper age, the marriage was consummated.

In 1264, Alexander sent a considerable body of Scottish forces under the command of John Cummin, John Baliol, and Robert Bruce, to assist the king of England against his rebellious barons. These leaders were taken prisoners in the battle of Lewis, where Henry was defeated, but regained their liberty in the following year at the decisive battle of Evesham, by which the English civil war was successfully terminated on the part of Henry by the young Prince Edward.

From this time to the accession of Edward I. of England, we find nothing remarkable in the history of Scotland. That prince, however, proved a more cruel enemy to this country than it had ever experienced. Alexander was present at the coronation of Edward, who was then newly arrived from the Holy Land, where he had been on a crusade. Soon after this Alexander paid him homage for his English estates; particularly for the lands and lordship of Penrith and others, which Henry had given him along with his daughter. He proved an excellent ally to Edward in his wars against the French; and the latter passed a charter, by which he acknowledged that the services of the king of Scotland in those wars were not in consequence of his holding lands in England, but as an ally to his crown. Even at this time, however, Edward had formed a design on the liberties of that kingdom; for in the charter just mentioned, he inserted a salvo, acknowledging the superiority, by which he reserved his right to the homage of Edward I. of the kingdom of Scotland, when it should be claimed against him by his heirs. The bishop of Norwich suggested this salvo; and this was the reason why Alexander would not perform the homage in person, but left it to be performed by Robert Bruce earl of Carrick; Alexander standing by, and expressly declaring, that it was only paid for the lands he held in England.—No acts of hostility, however, took place during the lifetime of Alexander, who was killed on the 16th of March 1285, in the 45th year of his age, by his horse rushing down the black rock near Kinghorn as he was riding.

Both before and after the death of Alexander, the great subjects of Scotland seemed to have been sensible of Edward's ambitious designs. On the marriage of Margaret with Eric prince of Norway, the states of Scotland passed an act obliging themselves to receive her and her heirs as queen and sovereigns of Scotland. Edward at that time was in no condition to oppose this measure, in which the Scots were unanimous; and therefore contented himself with forming factions among the leading men of the country. Under pretence of refusing the crosis, he renewed his intrigues at the court of Rome, and demanded leave from the pope to collect the tenths in Scotland; but his holiness replied, that he could make no such grant without the consent of the government of Scotland. On the death of Margaret queen of Norway, her daughter, in consequence of the act above mentioned, was recognized by the states as queen of Scotland. As she was then but two years old, they came to a resolution of excluding from all share in the government, not only Edward I., but their queen's father; and they accordingly established a regency among Scotland among their own number, consisting of the six following noblemen; viz. Robert Wishart bishop of Glasgow, Sir James Cummin of Badenoch, senior, James lord high steward of Scotland, who were to have the superintendency of all that part of Scotland which lay to the south of the Forth; William Fraser bishop of St Andrews, Duncan MacDuff earl of Fife, and Alexander Cummin earl of Buchan, who were to have the direction of all affairs to the north of the same river.—With these arrangements Eric was exceedingly displeased, considering himself as the only rightful guardian of his own child. He therefore cultivated a good understanding with Edward, from whom he had received considerable pecuniary favours; and perceiving that the states of Scotland were unanimous in excluding all foreigners from the management of their affairs, he embraced the views of the king of England, and named commissioners to treat with those of Edward upon the Scots affairs. These negotiations terminated in a treaty of marriage between the queen of Scotland and Edward prince of Wales, young as they both were. This alarmed the states of Scotland, who resolved not to suffer their queen to be disposed of without their consent. It was therefore agreed by the commissioners on both sides, to acquaint them with the result of their conferences, and to demand that a deputation should be sent to London for settling the regency of Scotland, or, in other words, for putting the sovereign power into the hands of the two kings. As the two parties, however, were within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, being first cousins, a dispensation was applied for to Pope Boniface, who granted it on condition that the peers of Scotland consented to the match.

Though the Scots nobility were very inimical to this match, they could not refuse their consent to it when professed by the father and grand-uncle of their young queen. They therefore appointed the bishops of St Andrew's and Glasgow, with Robert Bruce lord of Annandale, and John Cummin, to attend as their deputies, but with a charge to preserve all the liberties and honours of the realm of Scotland; to which Edward agreed. These deputies met at Salisbury with those of England and Norway; and it was at last agreed, 1. That the young queen should be sent from Norway (free of all marriage-engagements) into England or Scotland. 2. That if the queen came to England, she should be at liberty to repair to Scotland as soon as the distractions of that kingdom should be settled; that she should, on her arrival in her own dominions, be free of all matrimonial contracts; but that the Scots should engage not to dispose of her in marriage without her father or Edward's consent. 3. The Scots deputies promised to give such security as the Norwegian commissioners might require, that the tranquillity of the nation should be settled before her arrival. 4. That the commissioners of Scotland and Norway, joined with commissioners from England, should remove such regents and officers of state in Scotland, as might be suspected of disaffection, and place others in their stead. If the Scots and Norwegian commissioners should disagree on that or any other head relating to the government of Scotland, the decision was to be left to the arbitration of English commissioners.

The party of Edward was now so strong in Scotland, that no opposition was made to the late agreement, in a parliament held at Brechin to deliberate upon the settlement of the kingdom. It is uncertain whether he communicated in form to the Scottish parliament the pope's dispensation for the marriage; but most probably he did not; as, in a letter written to him by the states of Scotland, they mention this as a matter they heard by report. On the whole, however, they highly approved of the marriage, upon certain conditions to which Edward was previously to agree; but the latter, without waiting to perform any conditions, immediately sent for the young queen from Norway. This exceedingly displeased Eric, who was by no means inclined to put his daughter into the hands of a prince whose sincerity he suspected, and therefore delayed the departure of the young queen till he should hear farther from Scotland. Edward, alarmed at this, had again recourse to negotiation; and ten articles were at last drawn up, in which the Scots took all imaginable precautions for the safety and independence of their country. These articles were ratified by Edward on the 28th of August 1289; yet, An. 1289, even after the marriage was fully settled, he lost no time in procuring as strong a party as possible. At the head of these were the archbishop of St Andrew's, and John Baliol. That prelate, while he was in England, was highly caressed by Edward, from whom he had great expectations of preferment; and Baliol, having great estates in England, considered Edward as his sovereign. The Bishop, on his return to Scotland, acted as a spy for Edward, and carried on with him a secret correspondence, informing him of all public transactions. It appears from this correspondence, that the Scots were far from being unanimous as to the marriage. Bruce earl of Annandale suspected, for some reason or other, that the young queen was dead; and, soon after Michaelmas 1290, assembled a body of forces, and was joined by the earls of Mar and Athol. Intelligence of these commotions was carried to Edward by Baliol; and the archbishop of St Andrew's advised Edward, if the report of the queen's death should prove true, to march a body of troops towards Scotland, in order to secure such a successor as he might think proper.

Edward, in the mean time, consented to allow ambassadors to be sent from Scotland to bring over the young queen, previous to which, he appointed the bishop of Durham to be lieutenant in Scotland for the queen and her future husband; and all the officers there, both civil and military, obliged themselves to surrender their employments and fortresses to the king and queen (that is, to Edward) immediately on their arrival in Scotland. But while the most magnificent preparations were making for the reception of the queen, intelligence of her death was received; but it is not certainly known whether this event happened before the arrival of the queen, ambassadors in Norway, or after her departure from that country, probably the latter.

The Scots were thrown into the utmost consternation by the news of the queen's death; while, on the other hand, Edward was as well prepared as if he had known what was to happen. The state of Scotland at this time, indeed, was to the last degree deplorable. The act of succession, established by the late king, had no further operation, being determined by the death of tors for the queen; and since the crown was hereditary, there crown was no precedent by which it could be fettered. The Scots, in general, however, turned their eyes on the posterity of David earl of Huntingdon, brother to Scotland. the two kings Malcolm the Maiden and his successor William, both of whom died without lawful issue. The earl had three daughters. Margaret, the eldest, was married to Allan lord of Galloway; the only issue of which marriage was Derverguill wife to John Baliol, who had a son of the same name, a competitor for the crown. The second daughter, Isabella, was married to Robert Bruce; and their son Robert was likewise a candidate. The third daughter, Ada, had been married to Henry Hastings, an English nobleman, and predecessor to the present earl of Huntingdon. John Hastings, the son of this marriage, was a third competitor; but as his claim was confessedly the worst of the three, he put in only for a third of the kingdom, on the principle that his mother was joint-heir with her two sisters (c). Several other claimants now started up. Florence earl of Holland pretended to the crown of Scotland in right of his great grandmother Ada, the eldest lawful sister of William, formerly king; as did Robert de Pynkeny, in the right of his great-grandmother Margery, second sister of the same King William. Patrick Gallightly was the son of Henry Gallightly, a bastard of William; William de Ross was descended of Isabel; Patrick earl of March, of Ida or Ada; and William de Veschi, of Margery; all three natural daughters of King William. Roger de Mandeville, descended from Aufric, another natural daughter of William, also put in his claim; but the right of Nicolas de Soulis, if bastardy could give a right, was better than those of the former. His grandmother Margery, the wife of Allan le Huisser, was a natural daughter of Alexander II. and consequently sister to Alexander III. John Cummin lord of Badenoch derived his claim from a more remote source, viz. Donald Bane, who usurped the crown about 200 years before this time; but he was willing to resign his pretensions in favour of John Baliol. The last, indeed, had the best right; and, had the succession been regulated as it is in all hereditary kingdoms at this day, he would undoubtedly have succeeded. Bruce and Hastings, however, pleaded that they were preferable, not only to John Baliol the grandchild of Margaret, but also to Derverguill her daughter and his mother, for the following reason. Derverguill and they were equally related to their grandfather Earl David: She was indeed the daughter of his eldest daughter; but she was a woman, they were men; and, said they, the male in the same degree ought to succeed to sovereignties, in their own nature inapartible, preferable to the female.

Notwithstanding this number of candidates, however, it was soon perceived, that the claims of all might be cut off excepting those of two, viz. Baliol and Bruce, of whom the former had the preference with respect to hereditary right, and the latter as to popularity. Baliol had strongly attached himself to Edward's party; and this being by far the most powerful in Scotland, gave him a decided superiority over Bruce. The event was, that Edward was appointed to decide between the two competitors. It soon appeared, however, that Edward had no intention of adjudging the crown to any person but himself; for, in an assembly held at Norham on the 10th of May 1291, Brabazon the chief justice of England informed the members, "That his master was come thither in consideration of the state of the realm of Scotland, which was then without a king, to meet them, as direct sovereign of that kingdom, to do justice Edward de to the claimants of his crown, and to establish a solid tranquillity among his people; that it was not his intention to retard justice, nor to usurp the right of any one, Scotland, or to infringe the liberties of the kingdom of Scotland, but to render to every one his due. And to the end this might be done with the more ease, he required the assent of the estates ex abundante, and that they should own him as direct sovereign of the kingdom; offering, on that condition, to make use of their counsels to do what justice demanded." The deputies were astonished at this declaration, and replied, that they were by no means prepared to decide on Edward's claim of superiority; but that Edward ought previously to judge the cause between the two competitors, and require homage from him whom he should choose to be king. Edward treated this excuse as trifling, and gave them till next day to consider of his demand. Accordingly, on that day, the assembly was held in Norham church, where the deputies from Scotland insisted upon giving no answer.

(c) The pedigree of the three principal competitors will be fully understood from the following scheme.

``` David I. King of Scots. | Henry Prince of Scotland. | David Earl of Huntingdon, second son. | 3. Ada = Henry de Hastings. 2. Isabella = Robert Bruce. 1. Margaret = Allan of Galloway. | Henry de Hastings. ROBERT BRUCE, competitor. | JOHN DE HASTINGS, competitor. | John Baliol = Derverguill. | JOHN BALIOL, competitor. ``` Scotland. Edward's demands, which could be decided only by the whole community; representing, at the same time, that numbers of the noblemen and prelates were absent, and that they must have time to know their sense of the affair. In consequence of this, Edward gave them a delay of three weeks; which interval he employed in multiplying claimants to the crown of Scotland, and in flattering all with hopes, if they would acknowledge his superiority. But when the assembly met, according to appointment, on the 2d of June following, they found the place of meeting surrounded by a numerous army of English. Edward had employed the bishop of Durham to draw up the historical evidence of his right to the crown of Scotland; which has since been published. In this paper mention is made of the fealty and homage performed by the kings of Scotland to the Anglo-Saxon kings of England; but no sufficient evidence is brought of any such homage being actually performed. As to the homage paid by the kings of Scotland from the time of William the Conqueror to that of the dispute between Bruce and Baliol, the Scots never denied it; but they contended, and indeed with justice, that it was paid for the lands which they held from the crown of England; and they alleged, that it was as far removed from any relation to a fealty or homage performed for the crown of Scotland, as the homage paid by the English monarchs to the crown of France was removed from all relation to the crown of England. With regard to the homage paid by William king of Scotland to Henry II. of England, it was not denied that he performed it for the whole kingdom of Scotland; but they pleaded, that it was void of itself, because it was extorted when William was a prisoner to Henry; and they produced Richard I.'s charters, which pronounced it to have been compellive and iniquitous.

But, however urgent these reasons of the Scots might be, Edward was by no means disposed to examine into their merits. Instead of this, he collected the several pretenders to the crown; and having found them all ready to comply with his measures, he drew up the following charter of recognition to be signed by them all.

"To all who shall hear this present letter.

"We Florence earl of Holland, Robert de Bruce lord of Annandale, John Baliol lord of Galloway, John Hastings lord of Abergavenny, John Cummin lord of Badenoch, Patrick de Dunbar, earl of March, John Veschi for his father Nicholas Soulis, and William de Roos, greeting in the Lord:

"Whereas we intend to pursue our right to the kingdom of Scotland; and to declare, challenge, and aver the same before him that hath most power, jurisdiction, and reason to try it; and the noble prince Edward, by the grace of God king of England, &c., having informed us, by good and sufficient reasons, that to him belongs the sovereign dignity of the same: We therefore promise, that we will hold firm and stable his act; and that he shall enjoy the realm to whom it shall be adjudged before him. In witness whereof, we have set our seals to this writing, made and granted at Norham, the Tuesday after the Ascension, in the year of Grace 1291."

Edward then declared, by the mouth of his chancellor, that although, in the dispute which had arisen between the several claimants, touching the succession to the kingdom of Scotland, he acted in quality of sovereign, in order to render justice to whomsoever it was due; yet he did not thereby mean to exclude himself from the hereditary right which in his own person he might have to that crown, and which right he intended to assert and improve when he should think proper: and the king himself repeated this protestation in French. The candidates were then severally called upon by the English chancellor, to declare whether they were willing to acknowledge Edward's claim of superiority over the crown of Scotland, and to submit to his award in disposing of the same; which being answered in the affirmative, they were then admitted to prove their rights. But this was mere matter of form; for all the force of England was then assembled on the borders in order to support the claims of Edward, and nothing now remained but to furnish him with a sufficient pretext for making use of it. He observed, that the Scots were not so unanimous as they ought to be in recognizing his superiority, and that the submission, which had been signed by the candidates, was not sufficient to carry it into execution. For this reason he demanded that all the forts in Scotland should be put into his possession, that he might resign them to the successful candidate.

Though nothing could be more shameful than a tame compliance with this last demand, the regency of Scotland without hesitation yielded also to it; for which they gave the following reasons. "That whereas they which is (the states of Scotland), had, with one assent, already agreed to grant that King Edward, as superior lord of Scotland, should give sentence as to their several rights and titles to the crown of Scotland, &c., but as the said king of England cannot put his judgment in full execution to answer effectually without the possession or seisin of the said country and its castles; we will, grant, and assent, that he, as sovereign lord thereof, to perform the things aforesaid, shall have seisin of all the lands and castles in Scotland, until right be done to the demandants, and to the guardians and community of the kingdom of Scotland, to restore both it and its castles, with all the royalties, dignities, franchises, customs, rights, laws, usages, and possessions, with their appurtenances, in the same state and condition in which they were when he received them; saving to the king of England the homage of him that shall be king; so as they may be restored within two months after the day on which the rights shall be determined and affirmed; and that the profits of the nation which shall be received in the meantime shall be kept in the hands of the chamberlain of Scotland that now is, and one to be joined with him by the king of England; so that the charge of the government, castles, and officers of the realm, may be deducted. In witness whereof, &c."

For these reasons, as it is said, the regency put into the hands of Edward all the forts in the country. Gilbert de Umfreville alone, who had the command of the castles of Dundee and Forfar, refused to deliver them up, until he should be indemnified by the states, and by Edward himself, from all penalties of treason of which he might afterwards be in danger.

But though Edward had thus obtained possession of the whole power of the nation, he did not think proper to determine every thing by his own authority. Instead of of this, he appointed commissioners, and promised to grant letters-patent declaring that sentence should be passed in Scotland. It had been all along foreseen that the great dispute would be between Bruce and Baliol; and though the plea of Cummin was judged frivolous, yet he was a man of too much influence to be neglected, and he agreed tacitly to resign it in favour of Baliol. Edward accordingly made him the compliment of joining him with Baliol in nominating 40 commissioners. Bruce was to name 40 more; and the names of the 80 were to be given in to Edward in three days; after which the king was to add to them 24 of his own choosing. The place and time of meeting were left at their own option. They unanimously pitched upon Berwick for the place of meeting; but as they could not agree about the time, Edward appointed the second of August following. Soon after this, the regents resigned their commissions to Edward; but he returned them, with powers to act in his name; and he nominated the bishop of Caithness to be chancellor of Scotland; joining in the commission with him Walter de Hemondesham an Englishman, and one of his own secretaries. Still, however, he met with great difficulties. Many of his own great men, particularly the earl of Gloucester, were by no means fond of increasing the power of the English monarchy by the acquisition of Scotland; and therefore threw such obstacles in his way, that he was again obliged to have recourse to negotiation and intrigue, and at last to delay the meeting until the second of June in 1292: but during this interval, that he might the better reconcile the Scots to the loss of their liberty, he proposed an union of the two kingdoms; and for this he issued a writ by virtue of his superiority.

The commissioners having met on the second of June 1292, ambassadors for Norway presented themselves in the assembly, demanding that their master should be admitted into the number of the claimants, as father and next heir to the late queen. This demand too was admitted by Edward, after the ambassadors had acknowledged his superiority over Scotland; after which he proposed that the claims of Bruce and Baliol should be previously examined, but without prejudice to those of the other competitors. This being agreed to, he ordered the commissioners to examine by what laws they ought to proceed in forming their report. The discussion of this question was attended with such difficulty, and the opinions on it were so various, that Edward once more adjourned the assembly to the 12th of October following; at which time he required the members to give their opinions on the two following points: 1. By what laws and customs they ought to proceed to judgment; and, supposing there could be no law or precedent found in the two kingdoms, in what manner? 2. Whether the kingdom of Scotland ought to be taken in the same view as all other fiefs, and to be awarded in the same manner as earldoms and baronies? The commissioners replied, that Edward ought to give justice conformable to the usage of the two kingdoms: but that if no certain laws or precedents could be found, he might by the advice of his great men, enact a new law. In answer to the second question, they said, that the succession to the kingdom might be awarded in the same manner as that to other estates and great baronies. Upon this, Edward ordered Bruce and Baliol to be called before him; and both of them urged their respective pleas, and answers, to the following purpose.

Bruce pleaded, 1. That Alexander II. despairing of heirs of his own body, had declared that he held him to be the true heir, and offered to prove by the testimony of persons still alive, that he declared this with the advice and in the presence of the good men of his kingdom. Alexander III. also had declared to those with whom he was intimate, that, failing issue of his own body, Bruce was his right heir. The people of Scotland also had taken an oath for maintaining the succession of the nearest in blood to Alexander III. who ought of right to inherit, failing Margaret the Maiden of Norway and her issue.—Baliol answered, that nothing could be concluded from the acknowledgment of Alexander II. for that he left heirs of his body; but made no answer to what was said of the sentiments of Alexander III. and of the oath made by the Scottish nation to maintain the succession of the next of blood.

2. Bruce pleaded, that the right of reigning ought to be decided according to the natural law, by which kings reign; and not according to any law or usage in force between subject and subject: That by the law of nature, the nearest collateral in blood has a right to the crown; but that the constitutions which prevail among vassals, bind not the lord, much less the foreigner: That although in private inheritances, which are divisible, the eldest female heir has a certain prerogative, it is not so in a kingdom that is indivisible; there the nearest heir of blood is preferable whenever the succession opens.—To this Baliol replied, that the claimants were in the court of their lord paramount; and that he ought to give judgment in this case, as in the case of any other tenements, depending on his crown, that is, by the common law and usage of his kingdom, and no other. That by the laws and usages of England, the eldest female heir is preferred in the succession to all inheritances, indivisible as well as divisible.

3. It was urged by Bruce, that the manner of succession to the kingdom of Scotland in former times, was in favour of his claim; for that the brother, as being nearest in degree, was wont to be preferred to the son of the deceased king. Thus, when Kenneth Macalpin died, his brother Donald was preferred to his son Constantine, and this was confirmed by several other authentic instances in the history of Scotland.—Baliol answered, that if the brother was preferred to the son of the king, the example militated against Bruce; for that the son, not the brother, was the nearest in degree. He admitted, that after the death of Malcolm III. his brother usurped the throne; but he contended, that the son of Malcolm complained to his liege lord the king of England, who dispossessed the usurper, and placed the son of Malcolm on the throne; that after the death of that son the brother of Malcolm III. again usurped the throne; but the king of England again dispossessed him, and raised Edgar, the second son of Malcolm, to the sovereignty.

4. Bruce pleaded, that there are examples in other countries, particularly in Spain and Savoy, where the son of the second daughter excluded the grandson of the eldest daughter. Baliol answered, that examples from foreign countries are of no importance; for that according Scotland, according to the laws of England and Scotland, where kings reign by succession in the direct line, and earls and barons succeed in like manner, the issue of the younger sister, although nearer in degree, excludes not the issue of the eldest sister, although more remote; but the succession continues in the direct line.

5. Bruce pleaded, that a female ought not to reign, as being incapable of governing: That at the death of Alexander III., the mother of Baliol was alive; and as she could not reign, the kingdom devolved upon him, as being the nearest male heir of the blood royal. But to this Baliol replied, that Bruce's argument was inconsistent with his claim: for that if a female ought not to reign, Isabella the mother of Bruce ought not, nor must Bruce himself claim through her. Besides, Bruce himself had sworn fealty to a female, the maiden of Norway.

The arguments being thus stated on both sides, Edward demanded an answer from the council as to the merits of the competitors. He also put the following question to them: By the laws and usages of both kingdoms, does the issue of the eldest sister, though more remote in one degree, exclude the issue of the second sister, though nearer in one degree? or ought the nearer in one degree, issuing from the second sister, to exclude the more remote in one degree issuing from the eldest sister? To this it was answered unanimously, That by the laws and usages of both kingdoms, in every heritable succession, the more remote in one degree lineally descended from the eldest sister, was preferable to the nearer in degree issuing from the second sister. In consequence of this, Bruce was excluded from the succession; on which he entered a claim for one third of the kingdom: but being baffled in this also, the kingdom of Scotland being determined an indivisible fee, Edward ordered John Baliol to have seisin of Scotland; with this caveat, however, "That this judgment should not impair his claim to the property of Scotland."

After so many disgraceful and humiliating concessions on the part of the Scots, John Baliol was crowned king at Scone on the 30th November 1292; and finished the ceremony by doing homage to the king of England. All his submissions, however, could not satisfy Edward, as long as the least shadow of independence remained to Scotland. A citizen of Berwick appealed from a sentence of the Scots judges appointed by Edward, in order to carry his cause into England. But this was opposed by Baliol, who pleaded a promise made by the English monarch, that he should "observe the laws and usages of Scotland, and not withdraw any causes from Scotland into his English courts." Edward replied, that it belonged to him to hear the complaints made against his own ministers; and concluded with asserting his right, not only to try Scots causes in England, but to summon the king of Scotland, if necessary, to appear before him in person. Baliol had not spirit to resist; and therefore signed a most disgraceful instrument, by which he declared, that all the obligations which Edward had come under were already fulfilled, and therefore that he discharged them all.

Edward now thought proper to give Baliol some marks of his favour, the most remarkable of which was giving him seisin of the Isle of Man; but it soon appeared that he intended to exercise his rights of superiority in the most provoking manner. The first instance was in the case of Malcolm earl of Fife. This nobleman had two sons, Colban his heir, and another who is constantly mentioned in history by the family-name of Macduff.—It is said, that Malcolm put Macduff in possession of the lands of Reres and Crey. Malcolm died in 1266; Colban his son, in 1270; Duncan the son of Colban, in 1288. To this last earl, his son Duncan, an infant, succeeded. During the nonage of this Duncan, grand-nephew of Macduff, William archbishop of St Andrew's, guardian of the earldom, dispossessed Macduff. He complained to Edward; who having ordered his cause to be tried, restored him again to possession. Matters were in this state when Baliol held his first parliament at Scone, 10th February 1293. There Macduff was cited to answer for having taken possession of the lands of Reres and Crey, which were in possession of the king since the death of the last earl of Fife. As his defences did not satisfy the court, he was condemned to imprisonment; but an action was referred to him against Duncan, when he should come of age, and against his heirs. In all this defence, it is surprising that Macduff should have omitted his strongest argument, viz. that the regents, by Edward's authority, had put him in possession, and that Baliol had ratified all things under Edward's authority. However, as soon as he was set at liberty, he petitioned Baliol for a rehearing; but this being refused, he appealed to Edward, who ordered Baliol to appear before him in person on the 25th of March 1293; but as Baliol did not obey this order, he summoned him again to appear on the 14th of October. In the mean time the English parliament drew up certain standing orders in his case of appeal from the king of Scots; all of which were harsh and captious. One of these regulations provided, "that no excuse of absence should be received either from the appellant, or the king of Scotland respondent; but that the parties might have counsel if they required it."

Though Baliol had not the courage to withstand the second summons of Edward, he behaved with considerable resolution at the trial. The cause of Macduff being brought on, Edward asked Baliol what he had to offer in his own defence; to which he replied, "I am King of Scotland. To the complaint of Macduff, or to ought else respecting my kingdom, I dare not make answer without the advice of my people."—Edward affected surprise at this refusal, after the submissions which Baliol had already made him; but the latter steadily replied, "In matters respecting my kingdom, I neither dare nor can answer in this place, without the advice of my people." Edward then desired him to ask a farther adjournment, that he might advise with the nation. But Baliol, perceiving that his doing so would imply an acquiescence in Edward's right of requiring his personal attendance on the English courts, replied, "That he would neither ask a longer day, nor consent to an adjournment."—It was then resolved by the parliament of England, that the king of Scotland had offence, offered no defence; that he had made evasive and disrespectful answers; and that he was guilty of manifest contempt of the court, and of open disobedience. To recompense Macduff for his imprisonment, he was ordered damages from the king of Scots, to be taxed by the Scotland, the court; and it was also determined that Edward should inquire, according to the usages of the country, whether Macduff recovered the tenements in question by the judgment of the king's court, and whether he was dispossessed by the king of Scots. It was also resolved, that the three principal castles of Scotland, with the towns in which they were situated, and the royal jurisdiction over them, should be taken into the custody of the king, and there remain until the king of Scots should make satisfaction for his contempt and disobedience. But, before this judgment was publicly intimated, Baliol addressed Edward in the following words: "My lord, I am your liege-man for the kingdom of Scotland; that, whereof you have lately treated, respects my people no less than myself: I therefore pray you to delay it until I have consulted my people, lest I be surprised through want of advice. They who are now with me, neither will nor dare advise me in absence of the rest of my kingdom. After I have advised with them, I will in your first parliament after Easter report the result, and do to you what I ought."

In consequence of this address, Edward, with consent of Macduff, stopped all proceedings till the day after the feast of Trinity 1294. But before this term Edward was obliged to suspend all proceedings against the Scots, in consequence of a war which broke out with France. In a parliament held this year by Edward, the king of Scotland appeared, and consented to surrender the whole revenues of his English estates for three years to assist Edward against his enemy. He was also requested and ordered by Edward to extend an embargo laid upon the English vessels all over Scotland; and this embargo to endure until the king of England's further pleasure should be known. He also requested Baliol to send some troops for an expedition into Gascony, and required the presence and aid of several of the Scottish barons for the same purpose. The Scots, however, eluded the commands of Edward, by pretending that they could not bring any considerable force into the field; and, unable to bear his tyranny any longer, they negotiated in alliance with Philip king of France. Having assembled a parliament at Scone, they prevailed upon Baliol to dismiss all the Englishmen whom he maintained at his court. They then appointed a committee of twelve, four bishops, four earls, and four barons, by whose advice every thing was to be regulated; and, if we may credit the English historians, they watched the conduct of Baliol himself, and detained him in a kind of honourable captivity. They could not, however, prevent him from delivering up the castles of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Jedburgh, to the bishop of Carlisle; in whose custody they were to remain during the war between England and France, as a pledge of his allegiance. Notwithstanding this, Baliol concluded the alliance with Philip; by which it was stipulated, that the latter should give in marriage the eldest daughter of the count of Anjou to Baliol's son; and it was also provided, that Baliol should not marry again without the consent of Philip. The king of Scotland engaged to assist Philip in his wars at his own expense, and with his whole power, especially if Edward invaded France; and Philip on his part engaged to assist Scotland, in case of an English invasion, either by making a diversion, or by sending succours to the Scotch.

Elated with the hopes of assistance from France, the Scots invaded Cumberland with a mighty army, and Scotland laid siege to Carlisle. The men abandoned the place; but the women mounted the walls, and drove the assailants from the attack. Another incursion into Northumberland proved almost as disgraceful. Their whole England exploits consisted in burning a nunnery at Lumley, and without a monastery at Corebridge, though dedicated to their patron St Andrew; but having attempted to storm the castle of Harbottle, they were repulsed with loss. In the mean time Edward, with an army equal in number to that of the Scots, but much superior in respect of discipline, invaded the eastern coast of Scotland. Berwick had either not been delivered according to promise, or had been refused by the Scots, and was now defended by a numerous garrison. Edward assaulted it by sea and land. The ships which began the attack taken, and were all either burnt or disabled; but Edward having landed on his army in person, took the place by storm, and cruelly butchered the inhabitants, to the number of Edward, 8000, without distinction of sex or age. In this town there was a building called the Red-hall, possessed by certain Flemings, by the tenure of defending it at all times against the king of England. Thirty of these maintained their ground for a whole day against the English army; but at night the building being set on fire, all of them perished in the flames. The same day the castle capitulated; the garrison, consisting of 2000 men, marched out with all the honours of war, after having sworn never to bear arms against England.

In the mean time, Baliol, by the advice of his parliament, solemnly and openly renounced his allegiance to Edward, sending him the following declaration:

"To the magnificent prince, Edward, by the grace of God, king of England; John, by the same grace, king of Scotland.

"Whereas you, and others of your kingdom, you not being ignorant, or having cause of ignorance, by your violent power, have notoriously and frequently done grievous and intolerable injuries, contempts, grievances, and strange damages against us, the liberties of our kingdom, and against God and justice; citing us, at your pleasure, upon every slight suggestion, out of our kingdom; unduly vexing us; seizing our castles, lands, and possessions, in your kingdom; unjustly, and for no fault of ours, taking the goods of our subjects; as well by sea as land, and carrying them into your kingdom; killing our merchants, and others of our kingdom; carrying away our subjects and imprisoning them: For the reformation of which things, we sent our messengers to you, which remain not only unredeemed, but there is every day an addition of worse things to them; for now you are come with a great army upon the borders, for the disinheritance us, and the inhabitants of our kingdom; and, proceeding, have inhumanly committed slaughter, burnings, and violent invasions, as well by sea as land: We not being able to sustain the said injuries, grievances, and damages any longer, nor to remain in your fealty or homage, extorted by your violent oppression, restore them to you, for ourself, and all the inhabitants of our kingdom, as well for the lands we hold of you in your kingdom, as for your pretended government over us."

Edward was presented with this renunciation by the hands of the intrepid Henry abbot of Aberbrothock; and as it was favourable to his political views, he received ceived it rather with contempt than anger. "The foolish traitor," said he to the abbot, "since he will not come to us, we will go to him." The abbot had been persuaded by his enemies, of whom he had many in Scotland, to present this letter, in hopes that Edward would have put him to death; but he had address enough to escape without receiving any other answer.

Though this scheme of renunciation had been concerted some time before, the declaration was not sent to Edward till after the taking of Berwick. The fate of Scotland, after it, however, was soon decided. The earl of March had sided with Edward, but the councils betrayed his castle of Dunbar into the hands of the Scots. Edward sent a chosen body of troops to recover the place. The whole force of Scotland opposed them on the heights above Dunbar; but leaving their advantageous post, and pouring down on their enemies in confusion, they were dispersed and defeated.

The castle of Dunbar surrendered at discretion; that of Roxburgh followed the same example; the castle of Edinburgh surrendered after a short siege; and Stirling was abandoned. The Scots, in the mean time, were guilty of the greatest extravagances. During the short interval between the loss of Berwick and the defeat at Dunbar, an order was made for expelling all the English ecclesiastics who held benefices in England; all the partizans of England, and all neutrals, were declared traitors, and their estates confiscated. But the great success of Edward soon put an end to these impotent acts of fury. Baliol was obliged to implore the mercy of the conqueror. Divested of his royal ornaments, and bearing a white rod in his hand, he performed a most humiliating penance; confessing that by evil and false counsel, and through his own simplicity, he had grievously offended his liege lord. He recapitulated his various transgressions, in concluding an alliance with France while at enmity with England; in contracting his son with the niece of the French king; in renouncing his fealty; in attacking the English territories, and in resisting Edward. He acknowledged the justice of the English invasion and conquest; and therefore he, of his own free consent, resigned Scotland, its people, and their homage, to his liege-lord Edward, 2d July, 1296.

The king of England pursued his conquest, the barons everywhere crowding in to swear fealty to him, and renounce their allegiance to France. His journey ended at Elgin, from whence he returned southward; and, as an evidence of his having made an absolute conquest of Scotland, he carried off from Scone the wooden chair in which the kings were usually crowned. This chair had for its bottom the fatal stone regarded as the national palladium (D). Some of the charters belonging to the abbey were carried off, and the seals torn from others.

On the 28th of August 1296, Edward held a parliament at Berwick, where he received the fealty of the clergy and laity of Scotland. It is said, that while the English monarch was employed in the conquest of Scotland, he had promised the sovereignty to Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale, in order to secure his fidelity; but being put in mind of his promise, he answered, "Have I no other business but to conquer kingdoms for you?" Bruce silently retired, and passed his days in obscurity. Among those who professed their allegiance at this parliament was Robert Bruce the younger, earl of Carrick. After this, Edward took the most effectual methods of securing his new conquest. He ordered the estates of the clergy to be restored; and having received the fealty of the widows of many of the Scottish barons, he put them in possession of their jointure-lands, and even made a decent provision for the wives of many of his prisoners. Yet, though in everything he behaved with great moderation towards the Scots, he committed the government of certain districts, and of the chief castles in the south of Scotland, to his English subjects, of whose fidelity and vigilance he thought himself assured. In order to conciliate the affections of the clergy, he granted to the Scottish bishops, for ever, the privilege of bequeathing their effects by will, in the same manner as that privilege was enjoyed by the archbishops and bishops of England. In honour of the "glorious confessor St Cuthbert," he gave to the monks of Durham an annual pension of 40 pounds, payable out of the revenues of Scotland, by the tenure of maintaining, before the shrine of the saint, two wax-tapers of 20 pounds weight each, and of distributing twice a-year one penny each to 3000 indigent persons.

(D) "This stone is thus described by W. Hemingford, tom. i. p. 37. "Apud monasterium de Scone positus erat lapis pergrandis in ecclesia Dei, juxta magnum altare, concavus quidem ad modum rotundae cathedrae confectus, in quo futuri reges loco quasi coronationis ponentur ex more. Rege itaque novo in lapide positio, missarum solemnia incepta peraguntur, et praeterquam in elevazione sacri domini corporis, semper lapidatus, manifit." And again, tom. i. p. 100. "In redeundo per Scone, praecipit tolli et Londonis cariari, lapidem illum, in quo ut supra dictum est, reges Scotorum solcabant ponendi coronationis faue, et hoc in signum regni conquerti et refugati." Wallingham mentions the use to which Edward put this stone: "Ad Westmonasterium transtulit illum, jubens indifferi celebrantium cathedram facerdotum." This account of the fatal stone is here transcribed, that it may be compared with the appearance of the stone that now bears its name at Westminster.

Fordun has preserved the ancient rhymes concerning it; lib. xi. c. 25.

"Hic rex sic totam Scotiam fecit fibi netam, Qui sine mensura tulit inde jocalia plura, Et pariter lapidem, Scotorum quem fore fedem Regum decrevit fatum; quod sic inolevit, Ni fallat fatum, Scotti quoquunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem." Scotland. At last, having settled every thing, as he thought, in tranquillity, he departed for England, with all the triumph of a conqueror.

The tranquillity established by Edward was, however, of short duration. The government of Scotland at that time required many qualities which Edward's vicegerents did not possess. Warenne, earl of Surrey, who had been appointed governor, took up his abode in England, on pretence of recovering his health. Crefingham, the treasurer, was a voluptuous, proud, and selfish ecclesiastic; while Ormby the justiciary was hated for his severity. Under these officers the administration of Edward became more and more feeble; bands of robbers infested the highways, and the English government was universally despised. At this critical moment arose Sir William Wallace, the hero so much celebrated in Scottish fables, by which indeed his real exploits are so much obscured, that it is difficult to give an authentic relation of them. The most probable account is, that he was the younger son of a gentleman (Wallace of Ellerlie) in Renfrewshire (E). Having been outlawed for some offence, he associated with a few companions, of fortunes equally desperate with his own. Wallace himself was endowed with great strength and courage, and an active and ambitious spirit; and by his affability, eloquence, and wisdom, he maintained an authority over the rude and undisciplined multitudes who flocked to his standard. In May 1297, he began to infest the English quarters; and being successful in his predatory incursions, his party became more numerous, and he was joined by Sir William Douglas. With their united forces, these two allies attempted to surprise Ormby the justiciary, while he held his courts at Scone; but he saved himself by a precipitate flight. After this the Scots roved over the whole country, assaulted castles, and massacred the English. Their party was joined by many persons of rank; among whom were Robert Wishart bishop of Glasgow, the steward of Scotland (E), and his brother Alexander de Lindsay, Sir Richard Lundin, and Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell. Young Bruce would have been a vast accession to the party; for he possessed all Carrick and Annandale, so that his territories reached from the frith of Clyde to Solway. But the wardens of the western marches of England suspected his fidelity, and summoned him to Carlisle. He obeyed, and made oath on the consecrated host, and on the sword of Becket, to be faithful and vigilant in the cause of Edward; and to prove his sincerity, he invaded with fire and sword the estate of Sir William Douglas, and carried off his wife and children. However, he instantly repented of what he had done: "I trust (said he), that the pope will absolve me from an extorted oath;" on which he abandoned Edward, and joined the Scottish army.

All this time Edward was in France, not in the least suspecting an insurrection among people whom he imagined he had thoroughly subdued. As soon as he received the intelligence, he ordered the earl of Surrey to suppress the rebels; but he declining the command of the army himself on account of his health, resigned it to his nephew, Lord Henry Percy. A great army, some say no fewer than 40,000 men, was now assembled, with which Percy marched against the Scots. He found them encamped at Irvine, with a lake in their front, and their flanks secured by intrenchments, so that they could not be attacked without the utmost danger. The Scots, however, ruined everything by their defences. Wallace was envied on account of his accomplishments, which had raised his reputation above the other officers, whose birth and circumstances were higher than his. His companions accordingly became jealous, and began to suggest, that an opposition to the English could only be productive of farther national destruction. Sir Richard Lundin, an officer of great rank, formed

(E) The descent of Sir William Wallace has scarcely been carried with accuracy beyond his father, Wallace of Ellerlie. It has been supposed that the family of Wallace or Walleyes, came originally from Wales; but according to Mr Chalmers, they were an Anglo-Norman family, originally denominated Walente, of whom Richard Walente, who appears as a witness to the charters of Walter, the son of Alan, the first of the Stewarts, acquired lands in Kyle, in Ayrshire, where he settled. This Richard was succeeded by his son Richard, who was contemporary with Alan, the son of Walter the Stewart. Another branch of the family of Walente settled in Renfrewshire, under the kindly influence of the Stewarts; and of this branch Henry Walente, probably a younger son of the first Richard, held some lands in Renfrewshire under Walter the Stewart in the early part of the 13th century. From this Henry was descended Malcolm Waleys of Ellerlie, the father of Sir William Wallace, the champion of Scottish independence.

We find that the family of Wallace was patronized by that of Stewart, which now began to make a distinguished figure in Scottish history. The genealogy of this illustrious house has been much disputed, and is involved in great obscurity. Mr Chalmers seems to have thrown considerable light on the origin of the Stewarts, and has traced them farther back than the generality of historians. According to this writer, Walter the son of Alan, who is generally considered as the first of the Stewarts, came from Shropshire in England, and his father Alan was the son of Flaald, and the younger brother of William, son of Alan, the progenitor of the famous house of Fitz-Alan, earls of Arundel. Alan the son of Flaald married the daughter of Warine, the famous sheriff of Shropshire, soon after the Norman conquest, in which both these families bore a part in the suite of William; and of this marriage was born William, the undoubted heir both of Alan and of Warine. Now, Richard Fitz-Alan, earl of Arundel, who in 1335 claimed the post of steward of Scotland by hereditary right, and held this title and claim to Edward III, for 1000 merks, had not, according to Mr Chalmers, any right to the stewardship of Scotland; but Walter, the younger brother of William, the son of Alan, the progenitor of Richard Fitz-Alan the claimant, was the first purchaser of this hereditary office. Robert the Stewart, who was born of Margery, the daughter of Robert Bruce in 1316, and became king of Scots in 1370, was then in possession of the hereditary office of Stewart by lineal descent. formed a party against Wallace, and went over to Edward with all his followers. Other leaders entered into a negociation with the English. Bruce, the steward and his brother Alexander de Lindeyay, and Sir William Douglas, acknowledged their offences, and made submissions to Edward for themselves and their adherents.

This scandalous treaty seems to have been negociated by the bishop of Glasgow, and their recantation is recorded in the following words.—"Be it known to all men: Whereas we, with the commons of our country, did rise in arms against our lord Edward, and against his peace, in his territories of Scotland and Galloway, did burn, slay, and commit divers robberies; we therefore, in our own name, and in the name of all our adherents, agree to make every reparation and atonement that shall be required by our sovereign lord; reserving always what is contained in a writing which we have procured from Sir Henry Percy and Sir Robert Clifford, commanders of the English forces; at Irvine, 9th July 1297." To this instrument was subjoined, "Ecrit a Sire Willaume; the meaning of which Lord Hailes supposes to be, that the barons had notified to Sir William Wallace their having made terms of accommodation for themselves and their party.

Edward accepted the submission of the Scottish barons who had been in arms, and granted liberty to those whom he had made prisoners in the course of the former year, on condition that they should serve him in his wars against France. The inconstancy of Bruce, however, was so great, that acknowledgements of submission or oaths of fealty were not thought sufficiently binding on him; for which reason the bishop of Glasgow, the steward, and Alexander de Lindeyay, became fugitives for his loyalty and good behaviour, until he should deliver his daughter Margery as an hostage.

Wallace alone refused to be concerned in these shameful submissions; and, with a few resolute followers, resolved to submit to every calamity rather than give up the liberty of his country. The barons had undertaken to procure his submission as well as their own; but finding that to be impossible, the bishop of Glasgow and Sir William Douglas voluntarily surrendered themselves prisoners to the English. Edward, however, ascribed this voluntary surrender, not to any honourable motive, but to treachery. He asserted, that Willart repaired to the castle of Roxburgh under pretence of yielding himself up, but with the concealed purpose of forming a conspiracy in order to betray that castle to the Scots; and in proof of this, Edward appealed to intercepted letters of Willart. On the other hand, Wallace, attributing the bishop's conduct to traitorous pusillanimity, plundered his house, and carried off his family captives.

Immediately after the defection of the barons at Irvine, Wallace with his band of determined followers attacked the rear of the English army, and plundered their baggage; but was obliged to retire, with the loss of 1000 men. He then found himself deserted by almost all the men of eminence and property. His army, however, increased considerably by the accession of numbers of inferior rank, and he again began to act on the offensive. While he employed himself in besieging the castle of Dundee, he was informed that the English army approached Stirling. Wallace, having charged the citizens of Dundee, under pain of death, to continue the blockade of the castle, hastened with all his troops to guard the important passage of the Forth; and encamped behind a rising ground in the neighbourhood of the abbey of Cambuskenneth. Brian Fitz-Alan had been appointed governor of Scotland by Edward; but Warenne, who waited the arrival of his successor, remained with the army. Imagining that Wallace might be induced by fair means to lay down his arms, he dispatched two friars to the Scottish camp, with terms of capitulation. "Return," said Wallace, "and tell your matters, that we came not here to treat but to assert our right, and to set Scotland free. Let them advance, they will find us prepared." The English, provoked at this answer, demanded impatiently to be led on to battle. Sir Richard Lundin remonstrated against the absurdity of making a numerous army pass near by a long narrow bridge in presence of the enemy. He told them, that the Scots would attack them before they could form on the plain to the north of the bridge, and thus certainly defeat them: at the same time he offered to show them a ford, which having crossed with 300 horse, and a chosen detachment of infantry, he proposed to come round upon the rear of the enemy, and by this diversion facilitate the operations of the main body. This proposal being rejected, the English army began to pass over; which was no sooner perceived by Wallace, than he rushed down upon them, and broke them in a moment. Cressingham the treasurer was killed, and many thousands were slain on the field, or drowned in their flight. The loss of the Scots would have been inconsiderable, had it not been for that of Sir Andrew Moray, the intimate friend and companion of Wallace, who was mortally wounded in the engagement.

The victory at Stirling was followed by the surrender of Dundee castle, and other places of strength in Scotland; at the same time the Scots took possession of Berwick, which the English had evacuated. But as a famine now took place in Scotland from bad seasons and the miseries of war, Wallace marched with his whole army into England, that he might in some measure relieve the necessities of his countrymen by plundering the enemy. This expedition lasted three weeks, during which time the whole tract of country from Cockermouth and Carlisle to the gates of Newcastle was laid waste with all the fury of revenge and rapacity; though Wallace endeavoured, as far as possible, to repress the licentiousness of his soldiers.

In 1298, Wallace assumed the title of "Governor of Scotland, in name of King John, and by consent of the Scottish nation;" but in what manner this office was obtained, is now in a great measure unknown. In a parliament which he convoked at Perth, he was confirmed in his authority; and under this title he conferred the constabulary of Dundee on Alexander named Strangour and his heirs. This grant is said to have been made with the consent and approbation of the Scottish nobility, 29th March 1298. From this period, however, we may date the very great jealousy which took place between Wallace and the nobles who pre- Wallace tended to be of his party. His elevation wounded their pride; his great services reproached their inactivity in the public cause; and thus the counsels of Scotland were perplexed with distrust and envy, when almost its very existence depended on unanimity. In June 1298, Edward, who had all this time been in Flanders, returned to England and summoned the Scottish barons, under pain of rebellion, to attend him in parliament; and, on their disobeying his summons, he advanced with his army towards Scotland. His main force, commanded by himself, assembled at Berwick; but a body of troops, under the earl of Pembroke, having landed in the north of Fife, were defeated with great loss by Wallace, on the 12th of June. The same month Edward invaded Scotland by the way of the eastern borders. No place resisted him except the castle of Dirleton. After a resolute defence, it surrendered to Anthony Beck, bishop of Durham.

Meanwhile the Scots were assembling all their strength in the interior of the country. Few barons of eminence repaired to the national standard. They whose names are recorded, were John Comyn of Badenoch, the younger; Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, brother to The Steward; Sir John Graham of Abercorn; and Macduff, the grand-uncle of the young earl of Fife.—Robert Bruce again acceded to the Scottish party; and with his followers guarded the important castle of Ayr, which kept the communication open with Galloway, Argyleshire, and the isles.

The aim of Edward was to penetrate into the west, and there to terminate the war. He appointed a fleet, with provisions, to proceed to the frith of Clyde, and await his arrival in those parts. This precaution was absolutely necessary for the subsistence of his numerous army in a country impoverished and waste.

Waiting for accounts of the arrival of his fleet, he established his head-quarters at Templestowe, between Edinburgh and Linlithgow.

A dangerous insurrection arose in his camp. He had bestowed a donation of wine among his soldiers; they became intoxicated; a national quarrel ensued.—In this tumult the Welsh flew 18 English ecclesiastics. The English horsemen rode in among the Welsh, and revenged this outrage with great slaughter. The Welsh in disgust separated themselves from the army. It was reported to Edward, that they had mutinied, and gone over to the Scots: "I care not," said Edward, dissembling the danger; "let my enemies go and join my enemies; I trust that in one day I shall chastise them all."

Edward was now placed in most critical circumstances. As the fleet with provisions had been detained by contrary winds, he could not venture to advance, neither could he subsist any longer in his present quarters. To retreat would have fulfilled the glory of his arms, and exposed him to the obloquy and murmurs of a discontented people. Yet he submitted to this hard necessity. Abandoning every prospect of ambition and revenge, he commanded his army to return to the eastern borders. At that moment intelligence arrived that the Scots had advanced to Falkirk.

Edward instantly marched against them. His army lay that night in the fields. While Edward slept on the ground, his war-horse struck him and broke two of his ribs. The alarm arose, that the king was wounded. They who knew not the cause, repeated the cry, "The king is wounded; there is treason in the camp; the enemy is upon us." Edward mounted on horseback, and by his presence dispelled the panic. With a fortitude of spirit superior to pain, he led on his troops. At Falkirk break of day, the Scottish army was deserted, forming 22nd July on a stony field at the side of a small eminence in the neighbourhood of Falkirk.

Wallace ranged his infantry in four bodies of a circular form. The archers, commanded by Sir John Stewart, were placed in the intervals. The horse, amounting to no more than a thousand, were at some distance in the rear. On the front of the Scots lay a morass. Having drawn up his troops in this order, Wallace pleasantly said, "Now I have brought you to the ring, dance according to your skill."

Edward placed his chief confidence in the numerous and formidable body of horsemen whom he had selected for the Scottish expedition. These he ranged in three lines. The first was led by Bigot Earl Marshal, and the earls of Hereford and Lincoln; the second by the bishop of Durham, having under him Sir Ralph Baffet of Drayton; the third, intended for a reserve, was led by the king himself. No mention is made of the disposition of the infantry: it is probable that they were drawn up behind, to support the cavalry, and to annoy the Scots with their arrows and other missile weapons.

Bigot, at the head of the first line, rushed on to the charge. He was checked by the morass, which in his impetuosity he had overlooked. This obliged him to incline to the solid ground on his left, towards the right flank of the Scottish army. The bishop of Durham, who led the second line, inclined to the right, turned the morass, and advanced towards the left flank of the Scottish army. He proposed to halt till the reserve should advance. "To masts, bishop," cried Baffet, and instantly charged. The shock of the English cavalry on each side was violent, and gallantly withstood by the Scottish infantry; but the Scottish cavalry, dismayed at the number and force of the English men-at-arms, immediately quitted the field. Stewart, while giving orders to his archers, was thrown from his horse and slain. His archers crowded round his body and perished with him. Often did the English strive to force the Scottish circle. "They could not penetrate into that wood of spears," as one of their historians speaks. By repeated charges, the outermost ranks were brought to the ground. The English infantry incessantly galled the Scots with showers of stones and arrows. Macduff and Sir John Graham fell. At length the Scots were broken by the numbers and weight of the English cavalry, and the rout became universal.

The number of the Scots slain in this battle must have been very great. As is commonly the case, it is exaggerated by the historians of the victors, and reduced too low by the historians of the vanquished.

On the side of the English the loss was inconsiderable. The only persons of note who fell were Brian le Jay, master of the English Templars, and the prior of Torphichen in Scotland, a knight of another order of religious soldiery (f).

(f) "This account of the action at Falkirk, extracted from Lord Hailes's Annals, is drawn, his Lordship informs us, from the testimony of the English historians. They have done justice (he observes) to the courage and steadfastness..." The Scots in their retreat burnt the town and castle of Stirling. Edward repaired the castle, and made it a place of arms. He then marched to the west. At his approach, Bruce burnt the castle of Ayr, and retired. Edward would have pursued him into Carrick; but the want of provisions stopped his further progress. He turned into Annandale, took Bruce's castle of Lochmaben, and then departed out of Scotland by the western borders.

Here may be remarked the fatal precipitancy of the Scots. If they had studied to protract the campaign, instead of hazarding a general action at Falkirk, they would have foiled the whole power of Edward, and reduced him to the necessity of an inglorious retreat.

In 1299 Edward thought proper to release John Baliol the unfortunate king of Scotland, whom he had kept close prisoner ever since the year 1296. Before this time Baliol had used the most disgraceful methods to recover his liberty. He had solemnly declared, that "he would never have any intercourse with the Scots; that he had found them a false and treacherous people; and that he had reason to suspect them of an intention to poison him." Notwithstanding all his protestations, Edward still detained him in captivity; but at last released him at the mediation of the pope, though after a singular form: He ordered the governor of Dover to convey him to the French coast, and there to deliver him to the papal nuncio, "with full power to the pope to dispose of Baliol and his English estate." In consequence of this he was conveyed to Whitfield, delivered to the nuncio in presence of a notary and witnesses, and a receipt taken for his person. Notwithstanding this abject state, however, the Scots continued to own him for their king, and to assert their national independence. Though the misfortune at Falkirk had deprived them of a very considerable extent of territory, they were still in possession of the whole country beyond the Forth, as well as the county of Galloway. By general consent William Lamberton bishop of St Andrew's, Robert Bruce earl of Carrick, and John Cummin the younger, were chosen guardians of Scotland in name of Baliol. Wallace at this time was reduced to the condition of a private man; nor had he any longer the command of the Scots armies, nor any share in their councils.—The new guardians undertook to reduce the castle of Stirling, and Edward prepared to defend it. The Scots posted themselves at the Torwood, and chose their ground judiciously, so that Edward could scarcely have raised the siege without dislodging them; which, finding impossible, he returned home in disgust. Next year he invaded Scotland on the west side, wasted Annandale, and reduced Galloway; but the Scots being now taught by experience to avoid a general action, chose their posts with such skill, that Edward could not penetrate farther; and the same year a truce was concluded with the Scots, to continue till Whitsunday 1301.

This year appeared a new competitor for the crown of Scotland. Boniface VIII. in a bull directed to Edward, averred, that Scotland belonged anciently, and did still belong, to the holy see; and supported his extravagant claim by some strange authorities; such as, that Scotland had been miraculously converted by the relics of St Andrew: after which he proceeded to show the futility of Edward's pretensions, and that Scotland never had any feudal dependence on England. He required Edward to set at liberty all the Scottish ecclesiastics, particularly Wihart bishop of Glasgow, and to remove his officers from the patrimony of the church: "But (added he) should you have any pretensions to the whole, or any part of Scotland, send your proctors to me within six months; I will hear and determine according to justice; I take the cause under my own peculiar cognizance."

This interposition of the pope had probably been procured by Scottish emissaries at the court of Rome; but, however ridiculous his pretensions might be, they afforded matter of very serious consideration to Edward, and his parliament made separate answers to the pope. The answer of the parliament was to the following purpose: "All England knows, that ever since the first establishment of this kingdom, our kings have been liege-lords of Scotland. At no time has the kingdom of Scotland belonged to the church. In temporalities, the kings of England are not amenable to the see of Rome. We have with one voice resolved, that, as to temporalities, the king of England is independent of Rome; that he shall not suffer his independence to be questioned; and therefore that he shall not send commissioners to Rome. Such is, and such, we trust in God, ever will be, our opinion. We do not, we cannot, we must not, permit our king to follow measures subversive of that government which we have sworn to maintain, and which we will maintain."

The king entered into a more full refutation of the pope's arguments; and having, as he thought, answered them sufficiently, he marched again into Scotland; but, by the mediation of France, another truce was concluded, to last till St Andrew's day 1302.

After the expiration of the truce, Edward sent an army into Scotland, under the command of John de Segrave. This general divided his troops into three bodies; but, keeping them so far distant that they could not support each other, they were all engaged and defeated in one day by the Scots, near Rollin (see Rosslyn). This, however, was the last successful exploit of the Scots at this period. The pope deserted them; and the king of France concluded a peace with England, in which all mention of the Scots was industriously avoided; so that they were left alone to bear the whole weight of Edward's resentment, who now invaded their country in person with a mighty army. He met with no resistance in his progress, except from the castle of Brechin, which was commanded by Thomas Maule, a brave and experienced officer. He held out for 20 days against the whole power of the English army; but at last, he was mortally wounded, and the place capitulated. Thence he proceeded northward, according to some historians, as far as Caithness. He then returned towards

steadiness of their enemies; while our historians represented their own countrymen as occupied in frivolous unmeaning contests, and, from treachery or resentment, abandoning the public cause in the day of trial." Scotland, towards the south, and wintered in Dunfermline. In that place there was an abbey of the Benedictine order; a building so spacious, that, according to an English historian, three sovereign princes with all their retinue might have been lodged conveniently within its precincts. Here the Scottish nobles sometimes held their assemblies. The English soldiers utterly demolished this magnificent fabric.

The only forts that remained in the possession of the Scots was the castle of Stirling, where Sir William Oliphant commanded. To protect this single place of refuge, Cummin assembled all his forces. He posted his army on the south bank of the river, in the neighbourhood of Stirling, there to make the last stand for the national liberty. The Scots fondly imagined, that Edward would attempt to force the passage, as the impetuous Cressingham had attempted in circumstances not dissimilar. But the prudence of Edward frustrated their expectation. Having discovered a ford at some distance, he crossed the river at the head of his whole cavalry. The Scots gave way, and soon dispersed.

All resources but their own courage had long failed them; that last resource failed them now, and they hastened to conciliate the favour of the conqueror. Previous to this, Bruce had surrendered himself to John de St John, the English warden. Cummin and his followers now submitted to Edward. They stipulated for their lives, liberties, and estates; reserving always to Edward the power of inflicting pecuniary mulcts on them as he should see fit.

From the general conditions of this capitulation, the following persons were excepted: Wishart bishop of Glasgow, the Steward, Sir John Soulis, David de Graham, Alexander de Lindefay, Simon Frazer, Thomas Bois, and Wallace. With respect to them, it was provided, that the bishop of Glasgow, the Steward, and Soulis, should remain in exile for two years, and should not pass to the north of Trent; that Graham and Lindefay should be banished from Scotland for five months; that Frazer and Bois should be banished for three years from all the dominions of Edward, and should not be permitted, during that space, to repair to the territories of France. "As for William Wallace, it is agreed that he shall render himself up at the will and mercy of our sovereign lord the king, if it shall seem good to him." These were all the conditions that the Scottish nation stipulated for the man who had vanquished the English at Stirling, who had expelled them from Scotland, and who had once set his country free!

Amid this wreck of the national liberties, Wallace scorned submission. He lived a free man; a free man he resolved to die. Frazer, who had too often complied with the times, now caught the same heroic sentiments. But their endeavours to rouse their countrymen were in vain. The spirit of resistance was past. Wallace perceived that there remained no more hope; and sought out a place of concealment, where, eluding the vengeance of Edward, he might silently lament over his fallen country.

Edward assembled at St Andrew's what is called a parliament. Wallace, Frazer, and the garrison of Stirling, were summoned to appear: They appeared not, and sentence of outlawry was pronounced against them.

Edward now prepared to besiege the castle of Stirling; and, foreseeing that the reduction of this place would be attended with considerable difficulty, he stripped the abbey of St Andrew's of the lead which covered it, in order to employ the metal in bullets for his battering machines. Oliphant was solemnly summoned to surrender; but in vain. Edward drew out all his artillery, and battered the walls with stones of 200 pounds weight. The besieged, however, defended themselves with obstinacy, and killed a great number of the English: but at last they were obliged to surrender; and Edward, looking upon the conquest of Scotland as now complete, set out for York, and from thence to Lincoln.

Though Edward had thus met with all the success he could desire in his expeditions against the Scots, he could not but perceive that his dominion over them must be very precarious, as long as he held them in the subjection of a conquered people. He resolved therefore once more to renew his attempts for an union between the two kingdoms. He began with taking into favour the bishop of Glasgow, Robert Bruce, and John Mowbray, who, next to Bruce and the Cummins, was amongst the greatest of the Scottish nobility. To them he recommended the settling the affairs of their country, but in such a manner as to leave it in his power to effect the proposed union with England. This scheme, however, was by no means agreeable to Bruce; who had now no other competitor for the crown but Cummin, who was in a great measure incapable of opposing his designs: nor indeed could it ever be made agreeable to the bulk of the nation; and therefore came to nothing. Scotland, however, was subdued. Its inhabitants had renounced every idea of asserting their liberty, and only strove to make their court to the conqueror. Wallace alone remained an exception. Wallace, who had received into favour those who had re-betrayed, repeatedly proved traitors, showed a mean revenge against and executed the only man who discovered a steady and honourable spirit, and whose friendship seemed worth the courting. Ralph de Haliburton, a prisoner, offered his affiance for discovering Wallace; and for this purpose he was granted a temporary liberty: but what he did in this very dishonourable employment is unknown. Certain it is that Wallace was discovered, and betrayed into the hands of the English, by Sir John Menteith, the sheriff of Dunbarton. This celebrated and heroic patriot was arraigned at Westminster as a traitor to Edward, and as having burnt villages, stormed castles, and slaughtered many subjects of England. Wallace denied his having been a traitor, and indeed with truth; for he had always been the avowed enemy of Edward, and had not at any time owned allegiance to him. But whatever his defences might have been, they were of no avail with a judge who had resolved on his destruction. Wallace was condemned to die a traitor's death, and the sentence was executed with the utmost rigour! In his last moments he asserted that independency which a degenerate nation had renounced. His head was placed on a pinnacle at London, and his mangled limbs were distributed over the kingdom.

After the death of Wallace, Edward thought of nothing but settling the affairs of Scotland as a conquered country; but he took care to preserve the ancient forms as far as was consistent with the dependent state of the Scots nation. It has been said, indeed, that Edward abrogated all all the Scottish laws and customs, and endeavoured to substitute the English in their stead; but this is denied by others. Lord Hailes gives us at length the record with respect to these laws, in the following words.

"And, with respect to the laws and usages of the government of Scotland, it is ordained, that the custom of the Scots and the Brets shall for the future be prohibited, and be no longer practised. It is also ordained, that the king's lieutenant shall forthwith assemble the good people of Scotland; and that, at such assembly, shall be read over the statutes made by David king of Scots, and also the additions and amendments which have been made by other kings; and that the lieutenant, with the affluence which he then shall have, as well of Englishmen as of Scots, shall amend such of these statutes and usages as are plainly against the laws of God and reason, as they best may in so short a space, and in so far as they can without consulting the king; and as to matters which they cannot undertake to correct of themselves, that they be put in writing, and laid before the king by the lieutenant, and any number of commissioners, with parliamentary powers, whom the Scots shall think fit to choose. That they shall meet with commissioners appointed by the king, and finally determine as to the premises."

This is the record by which it is generally supposed that the law of Scotland was abrogated. But Lord Hailes is of opinion, that the usage of the Scots and Brets here mentioned was something different from the common law of the land. "We know (says he), from our statute-book, that the people of Galloway had certain usages peculiar to themselves; Stat. Alex. II. c. 2. One was, that causes were tried among them without juries [Quon. Attic. c. 72, 73, placed in some ancient MSS. among LL. David I. c. 15], and this may probably have been the usage which Edward abolished. The people of Galloway were sometimes distinguished by the name of Scots: thus the wild Scots of Galloway is an expression to be found in ancient instruments, and is proverbial even in our own days. The usage of the Brets, I take to be what relates to the judge called brithibh, or brelon; in Ireland, brehan; and consequently, that the thing here abolished was the commutation of punishments by exacting a pecuniary mulct."

An indemnity was now granted to the Scots on certain conditions. Various fines were imposed, from one to five years rent of the estates of the delinquents. One year's rent was to be paid by the clergy, excluding the bishop of Glasgow; two by those who were more early in their submissions than Cummin; three by Cummin and his associates, and five by the bishop of Glasgow; four years rent was to be paid by William de Baliol and John Wifhart; and five by Ingelram de Umfraville, because they had stood out longer. Three years rent was also paid by the vassals of Baliol, Wifhart, and Umfraville. These fines were to be paid in moieties. The person taxed was to pay half his income annually; and thus Umfraville, taxed in five years rent, was allowed ten years to discharge the fine. This was an express reservation to Edward of all the royal demesnes which Baliol might have alienated. There was also an exception for those who were already in custody, and those who had not yet submitted.

Thus, after a long and obstinate contest, was Scotland wholly reduced under the dominion of Edward.

Within four months was overthrown that system, which the incessant labour of fifteen years had established by craft, dissimulation, and violence, with a waste of treasure, and the effusion of much blood. The causes of this event are related as follows. Derverygill of Galloway had a son, John Baliol, and a daughter named Margery. John Cummin was the son of Margery, and setting Baliol aside, was heir to the pretensions of Derverygill. He had for many years maintained the contest against Edward; but at last laid down his arms, and swore fealty to the conqueror; and as Baliol had repeatedly renounced all pretensions to the crown of Scotland, Cummin might now be considered as the rightful heir. His rival in power and pretensions was Bruce earl of Carrick. This young nobleman's grandfather, the competitor, had patiently acquiesced in the award of Edward. His father, yielding to the times, had served under the English banners. But young Bruce had more ambition, and a more restless spirit. In his earlier years he acted on no regular plan. By turns the partisan of Edward and the vicegerent of Baliol, he seems to have forgotten or stifled his pretensions to the crown. But his character developed itself by degrees, and in maturer age became firm and consistent. According to the traditionary report, Bruce made the following proposal to Cummin: "Support my title to the crown, and I will give you my estate; or give me your estate, and I will support yours." The conditions were properly drawn out and signed by both parties; but Cummin, either through fear or treachery, revealed the whole to Edward. On this the king showed Bruce the letters of his accuser, and severely questioned him; but the latter found means to pacify him by mild and judicious answers. Notwithstanding this, however, Edward's ward still suspected him, though he dissembled his sentiments, until he should get the brothers of Bruce into his power, and then destroy all the family at once. The king having drunk freely one evening, informed some of his lords that he had resolved to put Bruce to death next day. The earl of Gloucester, hearing this resolution, sent a messenger to Bruce, with twelve pence and a pair of spurs, as if he intended to restore what he had borrowed. Bruce understood the meaning of his message, and prepared for flight. The ground was covered with snow, which would have discovered his flight; but, it is said, that Bruce ordered his farrier to invert the shoes of his horses, and immediately set out for Scotland in company with his secretary and groom. In his way he observed a foot-passenger whose behaviour seemed to be culpable, and whom he soon discovered to be the bearer of letters from Cummin to the English monarch, urging the death or immediate imprisonment of Bruce. The latter, filled with resentment, immediately beheaded the messenger, and set forward to his castle of Lochmaben, where he arrived the seventh day after his departure from London. Soon after this he repaired to Dumfries, where Cummin happened at that time to reside. Bruce requested an interview with him in the convent of the Minorites, where he reproached him with his treachery. Cummin gave him the lie, and Bruce instantly stabbed him; after which he hastened out of the convent, and called "To horse." His attendants, Linelay and Kirkpatrick, perceiving him pale, and in extreme agitation, inquired how it was with John Cummin? "Ill (replied Bruce); I doubt I have slain Cummin." min." "You doubt!" cried Kirkpatrick; on saying which, he rushed into the place where Cummin lay, and instantly dispatched him. Sir Robert Cummin, a relation, attempted to defend his kinsman, and shared his fate. Bruce had now gone so far, that it was in vain to think of retracting; and therefore set himself in decided opposition to Edward. The justiciaries were then holding their court at Dumfries; and hearing what had happened, imagined their own lives to be in danger, and barricaded the doors. Bruce ordered the house to be set on fire; on which they surrendered; and Bruce granted them leave to depart out of Scotland without molestation.

The above account of this catastrophe is taken from the Scots historians; those of England differ in many particulars. Lord Hailes supposes both to be wrong, and that the true circumstances of the quarrel are unknown. "My opinion (says he) is, that Bruce, when he met Cummin at Dumfries, had no intention of embroiling his hands in his blood, nor any immediate purpose of asserting his right to the crown of Scotland; that the slaughter of Cummin was occasioned by a hasty quarrel between two proud-spirited rivals; and that Bruce, from necessity and despair, did then assert his pretensions to the crown."

The death of Cummin affected the Scots variously, according to their different views and interests. The relations of the deceased viewed it as a cruel assassination, and joined with Edward in schemes of revenge. Some who wished well to the peace of their country, thought that it was better to submit quietly to the government of the English, than to attempt a revolution, which could not be effected without much danger and bloodshed; but, on the other hand, the friends of Bruce now saw the necessity of proceeding to the coronation of the new king without loss of time. The ceremony was therefore performed at Scone on the 25th of March 1306, in presence of two earls, the bishops of St Andrew's and Glasgow, the abbot of Scone, John de Athol, and John de Monteith. It had been customary, since the days of Macbeth, for one of the family of Fife to put the crown on the king's head; and Bruce found the proposition of the Scots in favour of this circumstance so strong, that he was obliged to seek for an expedient to satisfy them. Macduff the earl of Fife was at that time in England, where he had married a near relation of Edward. His sister was wife to the earl of Buchan, one of the heads of the family of Comyn, and consequently the determined enemy of Robert. By an uncommon effort of female patriotism, she postponed all private quarrels to the good of her country, and in her husband's absence repaired, with all his warlike accoutrements, to Bruce, to whom she delivered them up, and placed the crown upon his head. This crown is said to have been made by one Conyers an Englishman, who narrowly escaped being punished for it by Edward.

The king of England received intelligence of all these proceedings with astonishment; and without delay lent a body of troops under the command of Aymer de Valence earl of Pembroke, to suppress the rebellion. Bruce omitted nothing for his defence. He had always been considered by his countrymen as a promising accomplished young nobleman, but firmly attached to Edward's person and government; for which reason he had not been trusted by those independent patriots who joined Wallace. But their confidence was now gained by his rendering himself so obnoxious to Edward, that no possibility of a reconciliation was left; and he soon saw himself at the head of a small army. With these, who were constituted of raw and unexperienced soldiers, Bruce formed a camp at Methven near Perth, which last was the headquarters of the enemy; but knowing the disadvantage under which he laboured from the inexperience of his men, he resolved to act on the defensive. The English general at last sent Bruce a challenge to fight him, which was accepted; but the day before the battle was to have been fought by agreement, the Scots were attacked by surprise, and totally defeated. Bruce behaved with the greatest valour, and had three horses killed under him. Being known by the slaughter which he made, John Mowbray, a man of great courage and resolution, rushed on him, and catching hold of his horse's bridle, cried out, "I have hold of the new-made king!" but he was delivered by Christopher Seaton.

This disaster almost gave the finishing stroke to the affairs of Bruce. He now found himself deserted by a great part of his army. The English had taken prisoners great numbers of women whose husbands followed Bruce; and all those were now ordered, on pain of death, to accompany their husbands. Thus was Bruce burdened with a number of useless mouths, and found it hard to subsist. The consequence was, that most of his men departed with their families, so that in a few days his army dwindled down to 500. With these he retreated to Aberdeen, where he was met by his brother Sir Neil, his wife, and a number of other ladies, all of whom offered to follow his fortune through every difficulty. But, however heroic this behaviour might be, it put Bruce to some inconvenience, as he could scarcely procure subsistence; and therefore he persuaded the ladies to retire to his castle of Kildrummy, under the protection of Sir Neil Bruce and the earl of Athol. In the mean time the desertion among Bruce's troops continued, so that now he had with him no more than 200 men; and as winter was approaching, he resolved to go into Argyleshire, where Sir Neil Campbell's estate lay, who had gone before to prepare for his reception. In his way thither he encountered incredible difficulties; and some of his followers being cut off at a place called Dalry, the rest were so disheartened, that they all forsook him, excepting Sir Gilbert Hay, Sir James Douglas, and a few domestics. Bruce, however, kept up the spirits of his little party by recounting to them the adventures of princes and patriots in circumstances similar to his own. Having crossed Lochlomond in a small crazy boat, he was discovered by his trusty friend the earl of Lenox, who had been proscribed in England, and now lived in retirement on his own estate. The meeting between these friends was very affecting, and drew tears from the eyes of all present. Lenox, who had heard nothing of Bruce's misfortunes, furnished him and his half-famished attendants with plenty of provisions; but being soon made sensible that it was impossible for them to live in a place where they were well known, and surrounded by enemies, Bruce resolved to seek out some more safe habitation. For this purpose Sir Neil Campbell had already provided shipping; but our adventurers had scarcely set sail, when they were pursued by a large large squadron of the enemy's fleet. The bark which carried the earl of Lenox escaped with the utmost difficulty to Cantire, where Bruce was already landed; and, at their meeting, both agreed that they should never afterwards be separated while they remained alive.

In the mean time Edward having compromised some differences with his English subjects, resumed his old project of entirely subduing Scotland, and his intention now appears to have been to divide the lands of such as he suspected of disaffection among his English followers. He ordered a proclamation to be made, that all who had any title to the honour of knighthood, either by heritage or estate, should repair to Westminster to receive all military ornaments, from his royal wardrobe. As the prince of Wales came under this denomination, he was the first who underwent the ceremony; which gave him a right to confer the like honour on the sons of above 300 of the chief nobility and gentry of England. The prince then repaired, at the head of his gallant train, to Edward; who received them, surrounded by his nobility, in the most solemn manner. The king then made a speech on the treachery of the Scots, whose entire destruction he denounced. He declared his resolution of once more heading his army in person; and he desired, in case of his death, that his body might be carried to Scotland, and not buried till signal vengeance was taken on the perfidious nation. Having then ordered all present to join him within fifteen days, with their attendants and military equipages, he prepared for his journey into Scotland. He entered the country soon after Bruce's defeat at Methven. The army was divided into two bodies; one commanded by the king himself, the other by the prince of Wales, and, under him, by the earls of Lancaster and Hereford, with orders to proceed northwards, and penetrate into the countries where the interest of Bruce was strongest. As he passed along, Edward caused all that fell into his hands, whom he suspected of favouring Bruce's party, to be immediately executed. The bishop of Glasgow was the only exception to this barbarity; he was taken, but had his life spared on account of his function.

In the mean time, as the prince of Wales continued his march northwards, Bruce's queen began to be alarmed for her own safety. She was advised to take sanctuary at the shrine of St Duthac in Rossshire; but there she was made prisoner by William earl of Ross, who was of the English party. By Edward's order she was sent to London; her daughter, who was taken at the same time being shut up in a religious house. The directions for the entertainment of the queen are still preserved*. She was to be conveyed to the manor of Brutewick; to have a waiting-woman and a maid-servant, advanced in life, sedate, and of good conversation; a butler, two men-servants, and a foot-boy for her chamber, sober, not riotous, to make her bed; three greyhounds when she inclines to hunt; venison, fish, and the fairest house in the manor. In 1328, she was removed to another prison; in 1329, she was removed to Windsor castle, 20 shillings per week being allowed for her maintenance. In 1341, she was committed to Rochester castle, and was not let at liberty till the close of that year.

The only fortress which Bruce possessed in Scotland was the castle of Kildrummy; and it was soon besieged by the earls of Lancaster and Hereford. One Osburn treacherously burned the magazine; by which means the garrison, destitute of provisions, was obliged to surrender at discretion. The common soldiers were hanged; Sir Neil Bruce and the earl of Athol were sent prisoners to Edward, who caused them to be hanged on a gallows 50 feet high, and then beheaded and burnt. The counts of Buchan, who had crowned King Robert was taken prisoner; as was Lady Mary Bruce, the king's sister.

About this time also many more of Bruce's party were put to death; among whom were Thomas and Robert Alexander Bruce, two of the king's brothers, and John Wallace, brother to the celebrated Sir William. Bruce himself, in the mean time, was in such a desperate situation, that it was thought he never could give more disturbance; and it was even reported that he was dead. All his misfortunes, however, could not intimidate him, nor prevent his meditating a most severe revenge upon the destroyers of his family. He first removed to the castle of Dumbarton, where he was hospitably received and entertained by Angus lord of Kintyre; but, suspecting that he was not safe there, he failed in three days to Raichrin, a small island on the Irish coast, where he secured himself effectually from the pursuit of his enemies. It was during his stay in this island, that the report of his death was generally propagated. Notwithstanding this, his party increased considerably; and, even when he landed on this island he was attended by 300 men. Having lived for some time in this retreat, being apprehensive that the report of his death might be generally credited among his friends in Scotland, it was resolved to attempt the surprise of a fort held by the English under Sir John Hastings, on the isle of Arran. This was performed with success by his two friends Douglas and Sir Robert Boyd, for on the who put the greatest part of the garrison to the sword, life of Arran; but not knowing where his people resided, is said to have found them out by blowing a horn. He then sent a trusty servant, one Cuthbert, into his own country of Carrick; with orders, if he found it well affected to his cause, to light a fire on a certain point near his castle of Tunberry, whence it might be discerned in Arran. Bruce and his party perceived the signal, as they thought, and immediately put to sea. Their voyage was short; and as Bruce had now 400 men along with him, he resolved immediately to act on the offensive. His first exploit was to surprize his own castle of Tunberry, which had been given, along with Bruce's estate, castle of Lord Henry Percy. Him he drove out, along with the Tunberry English garrison; but, in the mean time, he met with his servant Cuthbert, who gave him unpleasing intelligence. This man had met with very little encouragement on his landing in Scotland; in consequence of which he had not lighted the fire agreed upon as a signal of his success, that which Bruce had observed having been kindled by accident. He also told him, that the English were in full possession of the country, and advised his master to be on his guard. Soon after this the king was joined by a lady of fortune, who brought along with her 40 warriors. By her he was first particularly informed of the miserable fate of his family and relations; which, instead of disheartening, animated him the more with a desire of revenge. He did not immedi- ately attempt anything himself, but allowed Douglas to attempt the recovery of his estate of Duglasdale, as Bruce himself had recovered his in Carrick. In this expedition Douglas was joined by one Thomas Dickson, a man of considerable fortune, who gave him intelligence concerning the state of the country. By his advice he kept himself private till Palm Sunday; when he and his followers with covered armour repaired to St Bride's church, where the English were performing divine service. The latter were surprised, but made a brave defence; though, being overpowered by numbers, they were at last obliged to yield. Douglas, without farther resistance, took possession of his own cattle, which he found well furnished with arms, provisions, and money. He destroyed all that he could not carry with him, and also the castle itself, where he knew that he must have been besieged if he had kept it.

In 1307, the earl of Pembroke advanced into the west of Scotland to encounter Bruce. The latter did not decline the combat; and Pembroke was defeated. Three days after this, Bruce defeated with great slaughter another English general named Ralph de Montthermer, and obliged him to fly to the castle of Ayr. The king laid siege to the castle for some time, but retired at the approach of succours from England. This year the English performed nothing, except burning the monastery at Paisley. Edward, however, resolved still to execute his utmost vengeance on the Scots, though he had long been retarded in his operations by a tedious and dangerous indisposition. But now, supposing that his malady was decreased so far that he could safely proceed on his march, he offered up the horse-litter, in which he had hitherto been carried, in the cathedral church of Carlisle; and, mounting on horseback, proceeded on the way towards Solway. He was so weak, however, that he could advance no farther than six miles in four days; after which he expired in sight of that country, which he had so often devoted to destruction. With his dying breath he gave orders that his body should accompany his army into Scotland, and remain unburied until the country was totally subdued; but his son, disregarding this order, caused it to be deposited in Westminster abbey.

The death of such an inveterate enemy to the Scottish name, could not fail of raising the spirits of Bruce and his party; and the inactive and timid behaviour of his son Edward II., contributed not a little to give them fresh courage. After having granted the guardianship of Scotland to his favourite Piers de Gavetton earl of Pembroke, whom his father had lately banished, he advanced to Cumnock, on the frontiers of Ayrshire, and then retreated into England; conferring the office of guardian of Scotland upon John de Bretagne earl of Richmond, a fortnight after he had bestowed it on Gavetton. He was no sooner gone than Bruce invaded Galloway. The inhabitants refusing to follow his standard, he laid waste the country; but was defeated, and obliged to retire northwards by the guardian. In the north he overran the country without opposition; and soon began to move southwards again in order to repair his late disgrace. He was encountered by Cummin earl of Buchan with an undisciplined body of English, whom he entirely defeated and dispersed. But about this time he was seized with a grievous distemper, which weakened him so much, that no hopes were left of his recovery. In this enfeebled situation, he was attacked by the earl of Buchan and John Mowbray an English commander, who had assembled a body of troops in order to efface their late dishonour. The armies met the English at Inverury in Aberdeenshire. Bruce was too weak in his turn, to support himself, and therefore was held upon horseback by two attendants; but he had the pleasure of seeing his enemies totally defeated, and pursued with great slaughter for many miles; and it is reported, that the An. 1308 agitation of his spirits on that day proved the means of curing him of his disease. This battle was fought on the 22nd of May 1308.

The king of Scotland now took revenge on his enemies, after the manner of that barbarous age, by laying waste the country of Buchan with fire and sword. His successes had so raised his character, that many of the Scots who had hitherto adhered to the English cause, now came over to that of Robert. Edward, the king's brother, invaded Galloway, and defeated the inhabitants of that country. John de St John, an English com-mander, with 1500 horsemen, attempted to surprise Edward him; but Edward Bruce having received timely information of his designs, ordered the infantry to entrench themselves strongly, while he himself, with not more than 50 horsemen, well armed, under cover of a thick mist, attacked his enemies, and put them to flight. After this he reduced all the fortresses in the country, and totally expelled the English. About this time also, Douglas, while roving about the hilly parts of Tweedale, surprised and made prisoners Thomas Randolph the king's nephew, and Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, who had hitherto continued inimical to the interests of Robert. Randolph was conducted to the king, but talked to him in a haughty strain: on which his uncle sent him into close confinement.

The next exploit of Robert was against the lord of Lorn, a division of Argyleshire. It was this nobleman of Lorn who had reduced the king to such straits after his defeat at Methven; and Bruce now resolved to take ample re-venge. Having entered the country, the king arrived at a narrow pass, where the troops of Lorn lay in ambush. This pass had a high mountain on the one side, and a precipice washed by the sea on the other; but Robert having ordered Douglas to make a circuit, and gain the summit of the mountain with part of the army, he entered himself with the rest. He was immediately attacked; but Douglas with his men rushed down the hill, and decided the victory in favour of the king; who soon after took the castle of Dunstaffnage, the chief residence of this nobleman.

While Robert and his associates were thus gaining the admiration of their countrymen by the exploits which they daily performed, the English were so unsettled and fluctuating in their counsels, that their party knew not how to act. Edward still imagined that there was a possibility of reconciling the Scots to his government; and for this purpose he employed William de Lambyrton, archbishop of St Andrew's, who after having been taken prisoner, and carried from one place of confinement to another, had at last made such submissions, as procured first his liberty, and then the confidence of Edward. This ecclesiastic having taken a most solemn oath of fidelity to Edward, now resolved to ingratiate himself, by publishing against Robert and his adherents a sentence of excommunication, which had been resolved on long before. This, however, produced no effect; and the event was, that in 1309, through the mediation of the king of France, Edward consented to a truce with the Scots. This pacific disposition, however, lasted not long. The truce was scarcely concluded, when Edward charged the Scots with violating it, and summoned his barons to meet him in arms at Newcastle: yet, probably being doubtful of the event of the war, he empowered Robert de Umfraville and three others, to conclude a new truce; declaring, however, that he did this at the request of Philip king of France, as his dear-elf father and friend, but who was not to be considered as the ally of Scotland.

The new negotiations were soon interrupted. They were again renewed; and in the beginning of the year 1310 the truce was concluded, but entirely disregarded by the Scots. The progress of Bruce now became very alarming to the English. The town of Perth, a place of that time of great importance, was threatened; and to relieve it, Edward ordered a fleet to sail up the river Tay: he also commanded the earl of Ulster to assemble a body of troops at Dublin, and thence to invade Scotland; his own barons were ordered to meet him in arms at Berwick. About the end of September, he entered Scotland; passed from Roxburgh, through the forest of Selkirk, to Biggar; thence he penetrated into Renfrew; and turning back by the way of Linlithgow, he retreated to Berwick, where he continued inactive for eight months.

During this invasion, Robert had carefully avoided a battle with the English; well knowing, that an invasion undertaken in autumn would ruin the heavy-armed cavalry, on which the English placed their chief dependence. His cause was also favoured by a scarcity which prevailed at this time in Scotland; for as magazines and other resources of modern war were then unknown, the English army were greatly retarded in their operations, and found it impossible to subsist in the country.

The spirit of enterprise had now communicated itself to all ranks of people in Scotland. In 1311, the castle of Linlithgow was surprised by a poor peasant, named William Binnock. The English garrison were secure, and kept but a flight guard; of which Binnock being informed, concealed eight resolute men in a load of hay, which he had been employed to drive into the castle. With these, as soon as the gate was opened, he fell upon the feeble guard, and became master of the place; which was dismantled by Robert, as well as all the other castles taken in the course of the war.

Edward now resolved to invade Scotland again; and for this purpose ordered his army to assemble at Roxburgh. But Robert, not contented with defending his own country, resolved in his turn to invade England. He accordingly entered that country, and cruelly ravaged the bishopric of Durham. He returned loaded with spoil, and laid siege to Perth. After remaining five weeks before that place, he raised the siege, but returned in a few days; and having provided scaling ladders, approached the works with a chosen body of infantry. In a dark night he made the attack; and having waded through the ditch, though the water flooded his throat, he was the second man who reached the top of the walls. The town was then soon taken; after which it was plundered and burnt, and the fortifications levelled with the ground. This happened on the 8th January 1312.

Edward was now become adverse to the war, and renewed his negotiations for a truce; but they still ended in nothing. Robert again invaded England; burnt great part of the city of Durham; and even threatened to besiege Berwick, where the king of England had fixed his residence. He next reduced the castles of Butel, Dumfries, and Dalfwinton, with many other fortresses. The castle of Roxburgh, a place of the utmost importance, next fell into his hands. The walls were scaled while the garrison was reveling on the eve of Lent. They retreated into the inner tower; but their governor, a Frenchman, having received a mortal wound, they capitulated.

Randolph, the king's nephew, was now received into favour, and began to distinguish himself in the cause of his country. He blockaded the castle of Edinburgh so closely, that all communication with the neighbouring country was cut off. The place was commanded by Leland, a knight of Galloway; but the garrison suspected his fidelity, confined him in a dungeon and chose another commander in his stead. One William Frank presented himself to Randolph, and informed him how the walls might be scaled. Randolph himself, with 30 men, undertook to scale the castle walls at midnight. Frank was their guide, and first ascended the walls; but before the whole party could reach the summit, an alarm was given, the garrison ran to arms, and a desperate combat ensued. The English fought valiantly till their commander was killed; after which they threw down their arms. Leland, the former governor, was released from his confinement, and entered into the Scottish service.

In 1313, King Robert found the number of his friends increasing with his successes. He was now joined by the earl of Athol, who had lately obtained a grant of lands from Edward. This year, through the mediation of France, the conferences for a truce were renewed. These, however, did not retard the military operations of the Scots. Cumberland was invaded and laid waste; the miserable inhabitants besought Edward's protection; who commended their fidelity, and desired them to defend themselves. In the mean time, Robert, leaving Cumberland, passed over into the isle of Man, which he totally reduced. Edward found great difficulties in raising the supplies necessary for carrying on the war; but at last overcame all these, and, in the beginning of the year 1314, was prepared to invade Scotland with a mighty army. In March he ordered his ships to be assembled for the invasion; invited to his assistance Eth O'Connor, chief of the Irish of Connaught, and 26 other Irish chiefs; summoned them and his subjects in Ireland to attend his standard, and gave the command of these auxiliaries to the earl of Ulster. His barons were summoned to meet him at Berwick on the 11th of June; and 22,000 foot soldiers, from the different counties of England and Wales, were by proclamation required to assemble at Wark.

In the mean time, the successes of the Scots continued. Edward Bruce had reduced the castles of Rutherglen and Dundee, and laid siege to the castle of Stirling. The governor of the place agreed to surrender, if he should not be relieved before the 24th of the governor June 1314; and to this Edward agreed, without consulting him. Scotland, sullying his brother. The king was highly displeased with this rash treaty, which interrupted his own operations, allowed the English time to assemble their utmost force, and at last obliged him either to raise the siege or to place all on the event of a single battle. However, he resolved to abide by the agreement, and to meet the English by the appointed day. Having appointed a general rendezvous of his forces between Falkirk and Stirling, he found their number to amount to rather more than 30,000, besides upwards of 15,000 of an undisciplined rabble that followed the camp. He determined to await the English in a field which had the brook or burn of Bannock on the right, and Stirling on the left. His chief dread was the strength and number of the English cavalry, and these he took every method to oppose. The banks of the brook were steep in many places, and the ground between it and Stirling was partly covered with wood. The king commanded many pits, of about a foot in breadth and two or three feet deep, to be dug in all places where cavalry could have access. From the description given of them by the historians of those times, there seem to have been many rows of them, with narrow intervals. They were carefully covered with brushwood and sod, so that they might easily be overlooked by a rash and impetuous enemy. It is said by some authors, that he also made use of caltrops, to annoy the horses in the most effectual manner.

On the 23rd of June, the Scots received intelligence of the approach of Edward, and prepared to decide the fate of their country. The front of their army extended from the brook called Bannockburn to the neighbourhood of St Ninians, nearly upon the line of the present turnpike road from Stirling to Kilsyth; and the stone in which the king is said to have fixed his standard is still to be seen. Robert commanded all his soldiers to fight on foot. He gave the command of the centre to Douglas, and Walter the young steward of Scotland; his brother Edward had the command of the right wing, and Randolph that of the left; the king himself taking charge of the reserve, which consisted of the men of Argyle, Carrick, and the islanders. In a valley to the rear, said to be the westward of a rising ground now called Giller-hill, he placed the baggage, and all the useless attendants on his army.

Randolph was commanded to be vigilant in preventing the English from throwing succours into the castle of Stirling; but 800 horsemen commanded by Sir Robert Clifford, made a circuit by the low grounds to the east, and approached the castle. The king, perceiving their motions, chid Randolph for his inadvertency, on which the latter hastened to encounter that body. As he advanced, the English wheeled to attack him. Randolph drew up his men in a circular form, holding out their spears on every side. At the first onset Sir William Dayncourt, an English commander of distinguished valour, was killed; but Randolph, who had only a small party with him, was surrounded on all sides, and in the utmost danger. Douglas perceived his danger, and requested the king to let him go to his assistance. Robert at first refused, but afterwards consented with reluctance. Douglas set out without delay; but as he approached he saw the English falling into disorder; upon which he called to his men to stop, and not diminish the glory of Randolph and his men by sharing their victory.

Robert was in the front of the line when the vanguard of the English appeared. He was meanly drest, with a crown above his helmet, and a battle-axe in his hand. Henry de Bohun, an English knight, armed cap-a-pie, rode forward to encounter him. Robert did not decline the combat, and struck his antagonist violently with his battle-axe, that he is said to have cleft him down to the chin; after which the English vanguard retreated in confusion. The Scottish generals are said to have blamed their king for his rashness in thus encountering Bohun; and he himself, conscious of the justice of their charge, replied only, "I have broken my good battle-axe."

On Monday the 24th of June, the whole English army moved on to the attack. The van, consisting of archers and lancers, was commanded by Gilbert de Clare earl of Gloucester, nephew to the English king, and Humphry de Bohun constable of England; but the ground was so narrow, that the rest of the army had not sufficient room to extend itself; so that it appeared to the Scots as consisting of one great compact body. The main body was brought up by Edward in person, attended by Aymer de Valence earl of Pembroke, and Sir Giles d'Argentine, two experienced commanders. Maurice abbot of Inchaffray, placing himself on an eminence, celebrated many feats in the sight of the Scottish army. He then passed along the front, barefooted, with a crucifix in his hands, and in few words exhorted the Scots to fight for their rights and liberty. The Scots fell down on their knees; which being perceived by Edward, he cried out, "They yield! See, they implore mercy." "They do," answered Umfraville, one of his commanders, "they do implore mercy, but not from us. On that field they will be victorious or die."

As both parties were violently exasperated against each other, the engagement began with great fury. The king of Scotland, perceiving that his troops were grievously annoyed by the English archers, ordered Sir Robert Keith the marischal, with a few armed horsemen, to make a circuit and attack the archers in flank. This was instantly accomplished; and as the weapons of the archers were useless in a close encounter, they could make very little resistance, while their flight spread disorder through the whole army.

Robert now advanced with the reserve; the whole English army was in the utmost confusion; for the defeat of the archers had decided the victory in favour of the Scots. The young and gallant earl of Gloucester attempted to rally the fugitives, but was thrown from his horse, and cut in pieces, which increased the general confusion. At this critical moment, the numerous attendants on the Scottish camp, prompted by curiosity or the desire of plunder, issued from their retirement. The English mistook them for a body of fresh troops coming to the assistance of their enemies, and fled with precipitation on all sides. Many sought refuge among the rocks in the neighbourhood of Stirling castle, and many were drowned in the rivers. Pembroke and Sir Giles d'Argentine had never quitted Edward during the action; but now, seeing the battle irretrievably lost, Pembroke constrained the king to quit the field. D'Ar genitie gentle refused to fly. He was a man of great valour, and had a high reputation in Scotland. According to the common opinion, the three most eminent worthies in that age were the emperor Henry of Luxemburg, Robert Bruce, and Giles d'Argentine. He is said to have thrice encountered two Saracen warriors in Palestine, and to have killed them both. His valour now availed him but little; for rushing into the midst of the Scots army, he was instantly cut in pieces. Douglas, with 60 horsemen, pursued Edward closely. At the Torwood he met Sir Lawrence Abernethy, who was hastening to the English rendezvous with twenty horsemen. The latter soon abandoned the cause of the vanquished, and joined Douglas in the pursuit of Edward, who fled to Linlithgow. He had scarcely arrived there, when he was alarmed by the approach of the Scots, and again obliged to fly. Douglas and Abernethy followed him with the greatest affluence; but, notwithstanding their utmost efforts, Edward got safe to Dunbar, where he was received by the earl of March, who protected him till he could be conveyed by sea to England.

Such was the decisive battle of Bannockburn, the greatest defeat which the English ever sustained from the Scots. On the side of the latter no persons of note were slain, excepting Sir William Vipont, and Sir Walter Roos the favourite of Edward Bruce; and so grievously was Edward afflicted by the death of this man, that he exclaimed, "O that this day's work were undone, for Roos had not died!" On the English side were slain 27 barons and bannerets, and 22 taken prisoners; of knights there were killed 42, and 60 taken prisoners; of esquires there fell 700; but the number of the common men who were killed or taken was never ascertained. The Welsh who had served in the English army were scattered over the country, and cruelly butchered by the Scottish peasants. The English, who had taken refuge among the rocks in the neighbourhood of Stirling, surrendered at discretion: the castle was surrendered, and the privy seal of England fell into the hands of the king of Scots. The spoils of the English camp were immense, and enriched the conquerors, along with the ransom of many noble prisoners who fell into their hands. Robert showed much generosity in his treatment of the prisoners who fell to his share. He set liberty Ralph de Montferrand, and Sir Marmaduke Tewerge, two officers of high rank, without ransom; and by humane and generous offices alleviated the misfortune of the rest. The dead bodies of the earl of Gloucester and the lord Clifford were sent to England, that they might be interred with the usual solemnity. There was one Bafton, a Carmelite friar and poet, whom Edward is said to have brought with him in his train to be spectator of his achievements, and to record his triumphs. Bafton was made prisoner, and obliged to celebrate the victory of Robert over the English. This he did in wretched Latin rhymes; which, however, procured his liberty. After the battle of Bannockburn, the earl of Hereford retreated to the castle of Bothwell, where he was besieged by Edward Bruce, and soon obliged to surrender. He was exchanged for the wife, sister, and daughter of the king, the young earl of Mar, and the bishop of Glasgow.

The terror of the English after the defeat of Bannockburn is almost incredible. Edward Bruce and Douglas entered England on the eastern side, ravaged Northumberland, and laid the bishopric of Durham under contribution. Thence they proceeded to Richmond, laid Appleby and some other towns in ashes, and returned home loaded with plunder. Edward summoned the Scots to a parliament at York, in order to concert means for the public security; and appointed the earl of Pembroke, formerly the guardian of Scotland, to be guardian of the country between the Trent and the Tweed. Robert, however, sent ambassadors to treat for a peace; but the Scots were too much elated with their good fortune to make concessions, and the English were not yet sufficiently humbled to yield to all their demands. The ravages of war were again renewed: the Scots continued their incursions into England, and levied contributions in different places.

In 1315, the English affairs seemed a little to revive. The Scots, indeed, plundered Durham and Hartlepool; but they were repulsed from Carlisle, and failed in an attempt on Berwick. The Irish of Ulster, oppressed by the English government, implored the assistance of Robert, and offered to acknowledge his brother Edward as their sovereign; who accordingly landed at Carrickfergus on the 25th of May 1315, with 6000 men. This was an enterprise evidently beyond the power of Scotland to accomplish, and this could not but be perceived by Robert. There were, however, motives which induced him to consent. The offer of a crown, though even visionary, inflamed the ambition of Edward Bruce, whose impetuous valour disregarded difficulties, however great. It might have been deemed ungenerous, and perhaps would not have been politic or safe, to have rejected the proposals of the Irish for the advancement of his brother, to whom the king owed more than he could repay. Besides, the invasion of Ireland seemed a proper expedient for dividing the English forces. The event proved unfortunate. Edward, after performing and suffering more than could almost have been expected from human nature, was at last defeated and killed by the English, as is related under the article IRELAND, No. 42.

The king himself had gone over into Ireland, in order to assist his brother in attempting the subjection of that country; and during his absence the English had made several attempts to disturb the tranquillity of Scotland. The earl of Arundel invaded the forest of Jedburgh with a numerous army; but being drawn into an ambush by Douglas, he was defeated with great loss. Edmund de Cailaud, a knight of Galloway and governor of Berwick, invaded and waited Teviotdale; but while he was returning home loaded with spoil, he was attacked, defeated, and killed by Douglas. By sea the English invaded Scotland, and anchored off Inverkeithing in the firth of Forth, where they soon after landed. Five hundred men, under the command of the earl of Fife and the sheriff of that county, attempted to oppose their landing, but were intimidated by the number of their enemies. William Sinclair bishop of Dunkeld happened to meet the fugitives; and having by his reproaches obliged them to rally, he led them again to the charge, and drove the English to their ships with considerable loss. For this exploit Robert conferred the title of the king's bishop on Sinclair; and he was long remembered by his countrymen on this account.

In 1317, after King Robert had returned from his Irish expedition, a bull was issued by the pope, (John XXII.) commanding a two years truce between England and Scotland, under pain of excommunication. Two cardinals were dispatched into Britain to make known his commands; and they were privately empowered to inflict the highest spiritual censures on Robert Bruce, or whomsoever else they thought proper. About the beginning of September 1317, two messengers were sent to Robert by the cardinals. The king gave them a gracious reception; and after consulting with his barons, returned for answer, that he very much desired a good and lasting peace, either by the mediation of the cardinals, or by any other means. He allowed the open letters from the pope, which recommended peace, to be read in his presence, and listened to them with due respect. But he would not receive the sealed letters addressed to Robert Bruce governor of Scotland, alleging, that there might be many of his barons whose names were Robert Bruce, and that these barons might probably have some share in the government. Unless, therefore, the letters were addressed to him as king of Scotland, he could not receive them without advice of his parliament, which he promised immediately to assemble on the occasion. The messengers attempted to apologize for the omission of the title of King. "The holy church was not wont," they said, "during the dependence of a controversy, to write or say anything which might be interpreted as prejudicial to the claims of either of the contending parties." "Since then," answered the king, "my spiritual father and my holy mother would not prejudice the cause of my adversary by bestowing on me the appellation of king during the dependence of the controversy, they ought not to have prejudiced my case by withdrawing that appellation from me. I am in possession of the kingdom of Scotland; all my people call me king; and foreign princes address me under that title; but it seems that my parents are partial to their English son. Had you presumed to present letters with such an address to any other sovereign prince, you might perhaps have been answered in a harsher style; but I reverence you as the messengers of the holy see."

The messengers, quite abashed with this reply, changed the discourse, and requested the king that he would consent to a temporary cessation of hostilities; but to this he declared, that he never would consent, while the English daily invaded and plundered his people. His counsellors, however, informed the messengers, that if the letters had been addressed to the king of Scots, the negotiations would instantly have been opened. This disrespectful omission they imputed to the intrigues of the English at the court of Rome, hinting at the same time that they had received this intelligence from Avignon.

When the messengers had informed the cardinals of these proceedings, the latter determined to proclaim the papal truce in Scotland; in which hazardous office they employed Adam Newton, guardian of the monastery of Minorites at Berwick, who was charged with letters to the clergy of Scotland, particularly to the bishop of St Andrew's. The monk found the king encamped with his army in a wood near Old Cambus, making preparations for assaulting Berwick. Personal access was denied to the king; but the monk, in obedience to his masters, proclaimed the truce by the authority of the pope. The king sent him for answer, that he would listen to no bulls, till he was treated as king of Scotland, and had made himself master of Berwick.

The poor monk, terrified at this answer, requested either a safe conduct to Berwick, or permission to pass into Scotland, and deliver his letters to the Scottish clergy. Both were refused; and he was commanded to leave the country without loss of time. He set out for Berwick; but in his way thither was attacked by robbers, or some who pretended to be so. By them he was stripped and robbed of all his parchments, together with his letters and instructions; the robbers also, it is said, tore the pope's bull, without any regard to its sanctity.

In 1318, King Robert proceeded in his enterprise against Berwick, but resolved to employ artifice as well as force in the reduction of it. A citizen of Berwick, by name Spalding, having been ill used by the governor, Scott, meditated revenge; and wrote a letter to a Scottish lord, whose relation he had married, offering on a certain night to betray the post where he kept guard. The nobleman communicated this important intelligence to the king. "You did well," said Robert, "in making me your confidant; for if you had told this either to Randolph or Douglas, you would have offended the one whom you did not trust; Both of them, however, shall aid you in the execution of the enterprise." The king then commanded him to repair to a certain place with a body of troops; to which place he also gave separate orders to Douglas and Randolph to repair at the same hour, each with a body of troops under his command. The forces, thus cautiously assembled, marched to Berwick, and, assisted by Spalding, scaled the walls, making themselves masters of the town in a few hours. The garrison of the castle, perceiving that the number of Scots were but small, made a desperate fall with the men who had fled into the castle from the town; but, after an obstinate conflict, they were defeated and driven back, chiefly by the extraordinary valour of a young knight named Sir William Keith of Galloway.—This happened on the 28th of March 1318.

King Robert no sooner heard of the success of his forces against the town, than he hastened to lay siege to the castle of Berwick. This was soon obliged to capitulate; after which the Scots entered Northumberland, and took the castles of Wark, Harbottle, and Mitford. In May, they again invaded England, and penetrated into Yorkshire. In their progress they burnt the towns of Northallerton, Boroughbridge, Scarborough, and Skipton in Craven, forcing the inhabitants of Rippon to redeem themselves by paying 1000 merks: after which they returned to Scotland with much booty; and, as an English historian expresses it, "driving their prisoners before them like flocks of sheep."

This year the interposition of the pope was obtained against Robert, with a view to intimidate the Scottish nation; and the two cardinals residing in England were commanded to excommunicate Robert Bruce and his adherents, on account of his treatment of the messengers of the holy see, and his assault of Berwick, after a truce had been proclaimed by the papal authority.—This sentence was accordingly put in execution, though Robert had certainly been excommunicated once, if not oftener before. Messengers were sent from Scotland to Rome, in order to procure a reversal of the sentence; but Edward dispatched the bishop of Hereford, and Hugh d'Espencer... d'Espencer the Elder, to counteract this negociation, informing his holiness at the same time of certain intercepted letters which had been written from Avignon to Scotland; upon which the pope ordered all the Scots residing at Avignon, and all of that place who had corresponded with Scotland, to be taken into custody.

The most remarkable transaction of this year, however, was the defeat and death of Edward Bruce in Ireland; of which an account is given under the article IRELAND, No. 42. His body was quartered, and distributed for a public spectacle over Ireland; and his head was presented to Edward by John Lord Bermingham the commander of the English army; in return for which service, he was rewarded with the title of earl of Louth.

In the mean time Edward, who had summoned a parliament to meet at Lincoln, was obliged to prorogue it on account of the Scottish invasion, and to assemble an army at York for the defence of his country. At Michaelmas it was determined, in a parliament held at London, that every city and town in England should furnish a certain proportion of men completely armed. Thus a considerable body of troops was soon raised; but, when they assembled at York, their party animosities and mutual distrust rose to such a height, that it was found necessary to send them back to their habitations.

In 1319, Edward, having succeeded so well in his negotiations with the court of Rome, resolved to make similar attempts with other powers to the prejudice of the Scottish nation. Accordingly he requested the count of Flanders to prohibit the Scots from entering his country; but to this request he received the following remarkable reply: "Flanders is the common country of all men; I cannot prohibit any merchants from trafficking thither, for such prohibition would prove the ruin of my people." Finding himself baffled in this attempt, the English monarch once more determined to have recourse to war; and with this view commanded his army to assemble at Newcastle upon Tyne, on the 24th of July 1319: but before he proceeded, he requested the prayers of the clergy for the success of his expedition; and, to render their prayers the more effectual, he at the same time demanded from them a great sum of money by way of loan.

Every thing being now in readiness, the English army approached Berwick, which was commanded by Eng. Walter the steward of Scotland. This nobleman had long apprehended an attack from the English, and had taken every means of defence in his power. The enemy, however, confiding in their numbers, made a general assault; but were repulsed on the 7th of September, after a long and obstinate contest. Their next attempt was on the side towards the river. At that time the walls of Berwick were of an inconsiderable height; and it was proposed to bring a vessel close to them, from whence the troops might enter by a draw-bridge let down from the mast. But the Scots annoyed the assailants so much, that they could not bring this vessel within the proper distance; and at the ebb of the tide it grounded, and was burnt by the besieged.—The English had then recourse to a newly invented engine which they called a sow, but for what reason is unknown. In many particulars it resembled the teftudo arietaria of the ancients. It appears to have been a large fabric composed of timber, and well roofed, having stages within it, and in height surpassing the wall of the town. It was moved upon wheels, and served for the double purpose of conducting the miners to the foot of the wall, and armed men to the storm. This machine was counteracted by one constructed by John Crab, a Flemish engineer in the Scots service. This was a kind of moveable crane, whereby great stones might be raised on high, and then let fall upon the enemy. The English made a general assault on the quarter towards the sea, as well as on the land side; so that the garrison, exhausted by continual fatigue, could scarce maintain their posts. The great engine moved on to the walls; and, though stones were incessantly discharged against it from the crane, their effect was so small, that all hope of preserving Berwick was lost. At length a huge stone struck it with such force, that the beams gave way, and the Scots pouring down combustibles upon it, it was reduced to ashes. The English, however, still continued the attack. The steward, with a reserve of 100 men, went from post to post, relieving those who were wounded or unfit for combat. One folder of the reserve only remained with him when an alarm was given that the English had burnt a barrier at the port called St Mary's, possessed themselves of the drawbridge, and fired the gate. The steward hastened thither, called down the guard from the rampart, ordered the gate to be set open, and rushed out upon the enemy. A desperate combat ensued, and continued till the close of the day, when the English commanders withdrew their troops.

Notwithstanding this brave defence, it was evident who in that the town could not hold out long without a speedy vade Eng. relief; and Robert could not, with any probability of success, attack the fortified camp of the English. He therefore determined to make a powerful diversion in England, in order to oblige Edward to abandon the undertaking. By order of the king, 15,000 men entered England by the western marches. They had concerted a plan for carrying off the queen of England from her residence near York; but being disappointed in this attempt, they laid waste York-shire. The archbishop of York hastily collected a numerous body of commons and ecclesiastics, with whom he encountered the Scots at Mitton, near Boroughbridge, in the north riding of York-shire. The English were routed; 3000 The English were left dead on the field, and great part of those who had defeated perished in the river Swale. In this action 3000, and the ecclesiastics lost their lives. The news of this succuss, siege of Berwick raised, inroad alarmed the besiegers of Berwick. The barons whose estates lay to the southward remote from the Scottish depredations were eager for continuing the siege. But they were opposed by those of the north; who were no less eager to abandon the enterprise, and return to the defence of their own country. With them the earl of Lancaster concurred in opinion; and understanding that his favourite manor of Pontefract was exposed to the ravages of the Scots, departed with all his adherents. Edward on this, drew off the remainder of his army, and attempted to intercept Randolph and Douglas; but they eluded him, and returned in safety to Scotland.

The unsuccessful event of this last attempt induced Edward seriously to think of peace; and accordingly a truce between the two nations was concluded on the which interval of tranquillity the Scots made use of in addressing a manifesto to the pope in justification of their cause. This was drawn up in a spirited manner, and made a very considerable alteration in the councils of Rome. The pope, foreseeing that Robert would not be terrified into submissions, ordered Edward to make peace with him in the best manner he could. A negociation was accordingly set on foot, which soon terminated ineffectually; the truce was not renewed, and in 1322 a mutual invasion took place. The Scots penetrated into Lancashire by the western marches; and, after plundering the country, returned home with an extraordinary booty; while Edward made great preparations for an expedition into Scotland, which took place in August the same year.

In this, however, he was not attended with success. Robert had caused all the cattle to be driven off, and all the effects of any value to be removed from Lothian and the Mercie; fixing his camp at Culross, on the north side of the frith of Forth. His orders for removing the cattle were so punctually obeyed, that according to common tradition, the only prey which fell into the hands of the English was a lame bull at Tranent in East Lothian. Edward, however, still proceeded, and penetrated as far as Edinburgh, but without any hopes of subduing the kingdom. His provisions being consumed, many of his soldiers perished for want; and he was obliged at last to retire without having seen an enemy.

On their return, his soldiers burnt the abbeys of Holyrood, Melrose, Dryburgh, &c., killed many of the monks, and committed many sacrileges: but when they returned to their own country, and began again to enjoy a plentiful living, they indulged themselves in such excesses as were productive of mortal diseases; insomuch that, according to an English historian, almost one half of the great army which Edward had brought from England with him were destroyed either by hunger or gluttony.

No sooner were the English retired than they were pursued by the Scots, who laid siege to the castle of Norham. Edward lay at the abbey of Bland in Yorkshire, with a body of troops advantageously posted in the neighbourhood. The Scots, invited, as is said, by some traitors about the king's person, attempted to surprise him; and it was with the utmost difficulty that he made his escape to York, abandoning all his baggage and treasure to the enemy. The English camp was supposed to be accessible only by a narrow pass, but Douglas undertook to force it, and Randolph presented himself as a volunteer in this dangerous service under his friend Douglas. The Highlanders and men of the Isles climbed the precipice on which the English camp stood, and the enemy were driven out with great loss. The Scots pursued them to the very gates of York, wasted the country without control, and returned home unmolested.

Edward, disheartened by repeated losses, agreed to a cessation of arms "with the men of Scotland who were engaged in war with him." But the king of Scotland would not consent to it in that form; however, he gave his consent, on the proper form being employed, to which Edward now made no objection. This treaty was concluded on the 30th of March 1323, and was to endure until the 12th of June 1336. It was agreed, that, during the continuance of it, no new fortresses should be erected in Cumberland, to the north of the Scotland, Tyne, or in the counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, or Dumfries; and by a very singular article it was provided, that "Bruce and the people of Scotland might procure absolution from the pope; but in case there was no peace concluded before the expiration of the truce, that the sentence of excommunication should revive."

The treaty was ratified by Robert, under the style of the king of Scotland, 7th June 1323.

The next care of Robert was to reconcile himself to the church, and to obtain from the pope the title of king, which had been so long denied him; and this, though not without great difficulty, was at last obtained. This year a son was born to the king of Scotland at Dunfermline, and named David. The court-poets of birth of the time foretold, that this infant would one day rival David his father's fame, and prove victorious over the English. But scarcely had this future hero come into the world, when a rival began to make his appearance. Baliol John Baliol, the unfortunate king of Scotland, had long been dead; but left a son named Edward, heir of his countenance to the crown. The young prince had reigned England, hid on his paternal estate in Normandy, neglected and forgotten; but in 1324 he was called to the court of England, for the purpose, undoubtedly, of setting him up as a rival to young David Bruce, in case his father, now broken with fatigues, should die in a short time.

The negotiations for peace, however, still went on; but the commissioners appointed for this purpose made little progress, by reason of demands for feudal sovereignty still made by the English. The reconciliation with the church was also broken off, by reason of the Scots keeping possession of Berwick. This had been taken during the papal truce; and Robert thought proper still to lie under the sentence of excommunication rather than to part with such an important fortress.

In the beginning of the year 1327, Edward II. was deposed, and succeeded by his son Edward III. then in his 15th year. He renewed the negotiations for peace, and ratified the truce which his father had made; but hearing that the Scots had resolved to invade England if a peace was not immediately concluded, he summoned his barons to meet him in arms at Newcastle, and fortified York.—We are not certainly informed of the reasons which induced the Scots at this time to disregard the truce; however, it is certain, that on the Douglas 15th of June 1327, Douglas and Randolph invaded and ravaged England by the western marches, with an army of 10,000 horsemen. Against them Edward III. led an army, consisting, at the lowest calculation, of 30,000 men, who assembled at Durham on the 13th of July. The Scots proceeded with the utmost cruelty, burning and destroying everything as they went along; and on the 18th of the same month, the English discovered them by the smoke and flames which marked their progress. They marched forward in order of battle towards the quarter where the smoke was perceived; but, meeting with no enemy for two days, they concluded that the Scots had retired. Disencumbering themselves then of their heavy baggage, they resolved by a forced march to reach the river Tyne, and, by posting themselves on the north bank of that river, to intercept the Scots on their return. On the 25th of July, the cavalry having left the infantry behind, crossed the the river at Haidon: but before the rest of the army could come up, the river was so swollen by sudden rains, that it could no longer be forded; and thus the troops remained divided for several days, without any accommodation for quarters, and in the greatest want of provisions and forage. The soldiers now began to murmur; and it was resolved again to proceed southwards. The king proclaimed a reward of lands, to the value of 100l. yearly for life, to the person who should first discover the enemy "on dry ground, where they might be attacked;" and many knights and esquires swam across the river on this strange errand. The army continued its march for three days without any news of the Scots; but on the fourth day, certain accounts of them were brought by an esquire, Thomas Rokeby; who reported, that "the Scots had made him prisoner; but that their leaders, understanding his business, had set him at liberty;" saying, that they had remained for eight days on the same ground, as ignorant of the motions of the English as the English were of theirs, and that they were delirious and ready to combat." With this man for their guide, the English soon came in view of the Scots. They were advantageously posted on a rising ground, having the river Were in front, and their flanks secured by rocks and precipices. The English dismounted and advanced, hoping to allure the Scots from their strong post; but in vain. Edward then sent a herald to Randolph and Douglas, with a message in the style of chivalry: "Either," says he, "suffer me to pass the river, and leave me room for ranging my forces; or do you pass the river, and I will leave you room to range yours; and thus shall we fight on equal terms." To this the Scottish commanders answered, "We will do neither. On our road hither we have burnt and spoiled the country; and here we are fixed while to us it seems good; and if the king of England is offended, let him come over and chastise us."

The armies continued in sight of each other for two days; after which the English, understanding that their enemies were distressed for provisions, resolved to maintain a close blockade, and to reduce them by famine. Next day, however, they were surprised to find that the Scots had secretly decamped, and taken post two miles up the river in ground still stronger, and of more difficult access, amidst a great wood. The English encamped opposite to them near Stanhope park. At midnight Douglas undertook a most desperate enterprise, resembling those of the ancient heroes. With 200 horsemen he approached the English camp, and entered it under the guise of a chief commander calling the rounds. Having thus eluded the sentinels, he passed on to the royal quarters, overthrew everything that opposed him, and furiously assaulted the king's tent. The domestics of Edward desperately defended their master; and his chaplain, with many others of his household, were slain. The king himself, however, escaped; and Douglas, disappointed of his prey, rushed through the enemy, and effected a retreat with inconsiderable loss.—The following day, the English learned from a prisoner, that orders had been issued in the Scottish camp for all men to hold themselves in readiness that evening to follow the banner of Douglas: on which, apprehending an attack in the night, they prepared for battle, lighting great fires, and keeping a strict watch; but in the morning, they were informed by two trumpeters whom they had taken prisoners, that the Scots had decamped before midnight, and were returning to their own country. This report could scarcely be credited, and the army remained for some hours in order of battle; but at length some scouts having crossed the river, returned and returned with certain intelligence that the Scottish camp was totally deserted: which when the young king of England was certainly informed of, he is said to have burst into tears. Every preparation had been made by him for opposing an enemy, and auxiliaries had even been procured at a most enormous expense from Hainault. These auxiliaries consisted of heavy-armed cavalry; and they were now so much worn out, that they could scarcely move. Their horses were all dead, or had become unserviceable, in a campaign of three weeks; so that they were obliged to procure horses to convey themselves to the south of England. Edward having rested at Durham for some days, marched to York, where he disbanded his army. Barbour, a Scottish historian, relates, that there was a morass in the rear of the Scottish camp, which he calls the two-mile morass; that the Scots made a way over it with brushwood, removing it as they went along, that the English might not pursue them by the same way. The English historians are filled with descriptions of the strange appearance of the deserted camp of the Scots. They found there a number of skins stretched between stakes, which served for kettles to boil their meat; and for bread, each soldier carried along with him a bag of oatmeal, of which he made cakes, toasting them upon thin iron plates, which are supposed to have been part of their armour.

On the return of Douglas and Randolph, the king led his army against the eastern borders, and besieged the castle of Norham. But in 1328, Edward, wearied out with continual losses and disappointments, consented to a perpetual peace between the two kingdoms on the following conditions. 1. The throne of Scotland shall be restored to the Scots. 2. The king of England engages to employ his good offices at the papal court for obtaining a revocation of all spiritual processes depending before the holy see against the king of Scots, or against his kingdom or subjects. 3. For these causes, and in order to make reparation for the ravages committed in England by the Scots, the king of Scots shall pay 30,000 merks to the king of England. 4. Restitution shall be made of the possessions belonging to ecclesiastics in either kingdom, whereof they may have been deprived during the war. 5. But there shall not be any restitution made of inheritances which have fallen into the hands of the king of England or of the king of Scots, by reason of the war between the two nations, or through the forfeiture of former possessors. 6. Johanna, sister of the king of England, shall be given in marriage to David, the son and heir to the king of Scots. 7. The king of Scots shall provide the princess Johanna in a jointure of 200l. yearly, secured on lands and rents, according to a reasonable estimation. 8. If either of the parties shall fail in performing these conditions, he shall pay 2000 pounds of silver to the papal treasury. The marriage of the infant prince was celebrated on the 12th of July 1328.

On the 7th of June 1329 died Robert Bruce, unquestionably the greatest of all the Scottish monarchs. His death seems to have been occasioned by the excellent health of the king. Scotland, five fatigues of military service; and his disease, called by the historians of those times a leprosy, was probably an inveterate scurvy, occasioned by his way of living. He died at the age of 55. He was married to Isabella, daughter of Donald the tenth earl of Marr; by whom he had a daughter named Margery, married to Walter the steward of Scotland; whose husband died in 1326. The second wife of Robert was Elizabeth, the daughter of Aymer de Burgh earl of Ulster. By her he had a son, David II.; a daughter named Margaret, married to William earl of Sutherland; another, named Matilda, married to an esquire named Thomas Haec; and Elizabeth, married to Sir Walter Oliphant of Galk. He had also a natural son named Robert.

That King Robert I. was a man of unquestionable virtue and humanity, as well as unequalled in the knowledge of the military art, must be evident from many particulars already related. The only questionable part of his character is his severe punishment of a conspiracy formed against him in the year 1320; a relation of which, to avoid interrupting our detail of more important matters, we have deferred till now.—The chief of the conspirators were William de Soulis, whose ancestor had been a candidate for the crown of Scotland; the countess of Strathern, and some other persons of high rank. The countess discovered the plot; after which Soulis confessed the whole, and was punished with perpetual imprisonment; as well as the countess, notwithstanding her having made the discovery. Gilbert de Malverbe and John de Logie, both knights, and Richard Brown an esquire, were put to death as traitors: but the person most lamented was Sir David de Brechin, for his bravery styled the flower of chivalry. He was nephew to the king, and served with great reputation against the Saracens. To him the conspirators, after having exacted an oath of secrecy, revealed their designs. He condemned their undertaking, and refused to share in it; but did not discover it, on account of the oath he had taken. Yet for this concealment he was tried as a traitor, condemned and executed, without regard to his personal merit or his relationship to the king. The conspirators were tried before the parliament at Scone in 1320; and this session, in which so much blood was shed, was long remembered by the people under the name of the black parliament. Whether there was any thing real in this conspiracy, or whether the king only made use of this pretence to rid himself of such as were obnoxious to him, cannot now be known with certainty.

The reign of Robert Bruce is distinguished by great efforts, and occasioned considerable changes both in property and in power, though it is treated by historians rather as a period of romantic adventures, than as an age of uncommon revolutions. However few and unimportant were his first supporters when he set out for Scone, he was crowned with the applause of an indignant people. His successes, when he began to try his skill and valour against such gallant soldiers as the English, were not equal either to his views or his expectations. It was the battle of Bannockburn that decided the fate of Bruce, and secured the independence of Scotland. After many conflicts of various success, the English government was induced to acknowledge the regal title of Bruce and the independence of the Scottish nation.

The revolution that took place when the Saxon race of kings ascended the throne of Scotland, was scarcely greater than the changes which happened under the great reformer of the Scottish monarchy. Some of the most eminent families in North Britain fell before the fortune of Bruce, and forfeited their all to his offended laws. Many subordinate barons, who owed fealty to those unfortunate families, rose on their ruined estates, and thus ceased to be vassals to superior lords. Some of the greatest offices, which had been hereditary in those eminent houses, passed, with large possessions, into new families, and raised them to unwonted greatness. It is not perhaps too much to say, when we reflect, that one half of the forfeited lands of Scotland were conferred on new proprietors, who gave a different cast to the population of a mixed people. It was the fault of Bruce, that he sometimes sacrificed his policy to his gratitude; but, much as the gratitude or munificence of that great prince bestowed on those who had fought by his side in many a conflict, he attempted not to deprive those who were innoxious to law of their possessions. Yet we have been told, that, in order to check the growing power of his nobles, he summoned them to show by what right they held their lands, and, that in reply to this inquiry, they drew their swords, and exclaimed, "By these we acquired our lands, and with these we will defend them." This brilliant passage, which has made such a figure in the fabulous history of those times, and has been brought forward by the rhetoricians of the present day as a beautiful instance of the effect of passion in inverting the usual order of words, appears to have little foundation in historic truth. We have no example of any man in Scotland claiming lands by right of conquest; and, during the reigns of Bruce and his son David, there was no other right to lands, except ancient possession, or the grant of the king.*

As the accession of Robert Bruce forms a new and brilliant era in the history of Scotland, it may be proper, before we proceed in our narration, to take a general view of the state of manners in North Britain during the interval that elapsed from the 11th to the 14th century. In this inquiry, we must carefully distinguish between the Gaelic and English inhabitants of Scotland. The former were the most numerous during the whole of this period. The government was administered by Scot-Saxon kings, on Anglo-Norman principles; with the assistance of Anglo-Saxon barons. To these sources must be traced the maxims of the governors and the customs of the governed. Chivalry, with its notions and pursuits, was no sooner introduced into England by the Normans, than it was adopted by the Scot-Saxon inhabitants of North Britain. Before the reign of Malcolm IV. it had become a sort of maxim, that a prince could scarcely be considered as a king before he had received the honour of knighthood; and before the accession of Alexander III., this maxim was so fully established, that it was deemed unfit, or perhaps unlawful, to crown their sovereign, before he had been knighted. The barons, in this respect, followed the example of their sovereigns, by seeking knighthood, at the peril of life, through many a bloody field. Thus chivalry, which had been unknown in Celtic Scotland, was fully established before the time of Robert Bruce; and armorial bearings were universally worn by the nobility. Before the conclusion of this period, the Scottish bishops... Scotland. shops quartered the arms of their families, with the badges of their fees; but the establishment of heralds, with a lord-lyon at their head, is of a much more modern date.

The mode of living, the virtues, the vices, of the ordinary classes of people, both in South and North Britain, were nearly the same, as they were of the same extraction. The manners of the nobles were warlike, and their diversions were analogous to their manners. Of these, tournaments were the most splendid; hunting and hawking, the most frequent amusements. The kings were the great hunters, in imitation of the Norman sovereigns of England; and they had in every county a vast forest, with a castle for the enjoyment of their favourite sport. Attached to every forest there was a forester, whose duty it was to take care of the game. The bishops and barons had also their foresters, with similar powers. The king had his falconer; an office which, like that of steward and some others, gave a surname to one of the principal families of Scotland.

Of the domestic pastimes of those rustic ages, there are but few notices. When David led his army to the battle of the Standard (see No. 92.), his varied people were amused by jestures, dances, and buffoons. The amusements of the same classes of people, in the two kingdoms, were pretty much the same during those congenial ages. As the English kings had their minstrels, so the Scottish kings had their harpers and their trumpeters.

The education of such a people was similar to their manners. As early as the reign of David I., public schools seem to have existed in the principal towns of North Britain. The monks, who were ambitious of engrossing the education of the youth, obtained grants of the principal seminaries; and the children of the most honourable parents were educated in the monasteries. The abbots had sufficient liberality to encourage the studies of the monks, in order to qualify them for becoming the instructors of youth.

It may be easily supposed, that the speech of the inhabitants derived a tinge from that of their masters, who were not always natives of North Britain. At the beginning of the present period, the universal language of Scotland, if we except the district of Lothian, was Gaelic; but, towards the end of this period, the language was considerably changed, especially in the southern districts, where it was much the same as that spoken in South Britain in the 11th and 12th centuries.

The manners which were most remarkable, and attended with the most lasting effects, were produced by that religious zeal which prevailed among all ranks of men, from the highest to the lowest. All were active to endow or to enrich a monastery, according to their circumstances; and many persons of rank were studious to be received into the fraternity of some ecclesiastical community. It was thought an object of great consequence to be buried in the consecrated ground of some religious house; and, to obtain this end, many lands and other property were bestowed upon the monks. Every monastery had its roll of benefactors, and many a heart beat with desire to be added to the sacred list. Feasts were made, and masses said, for the souls of those persons who had made the largest donations to the monks; and particular monks were sometimes maintained to pray for the soul of the giver. The same energetic principle, which induced the people of that religious age to build chapels and erect churches, prompted them to found magnificent cathedrals, and to delight in the parade of splendid worship. The age was warlike as well as religious. The dignified clergy did not scruple to put on armour with their cinctures. The bishops and abbots, as well as the barons, had their esquires and armour-bearers, whom they rewarded with lands.

In the wars of these times, defensive armour was not commonly worn by the Scottish soldiers. The people retained the weapons of their ancestors, and their only defence was a buckler or target of leather. Their chief offensive weapons were, a spear of enormous length, and swords of unskilful workmanship. Their men-at-arms, or cavalry, were accoutred like the same class of soldiers in England, as they were the descendants of Englishmen.

After the death of Robert, the administration was assumed by Randolph, in consequence of an act passed in appointed 1318, by which he was appointed regent in case of the king's death. In his new character he behaved himself in a most exemplary manner; and by impartially discharging the duties of his station, and rigidly administering justice, he secured the public tranquillity in the most perfect manner. A severe exercise of justice was now rendered indispensable. During a long course of war, the common people had been accustomed to plunder and bloodshed; and having now no English enemies to employ them, they robbed and murdered one another. The methods by which Randolph repressed these crimes were much the same with those which have been adopted in latter times; for he made the counties liable for the several robberies committed within their bounds. He even ordered the farmers and labourers not to house the tools employed by them in agriculture during the night-time, that the sheriff's officers might be the more vigilant in securing them. He gave orders for severely punishing all vagabonds, and obliged them to work for their livelihood; making proclamation, that no man should be admitted into a town or borough who could not earn his bread by his labour. These regulations were attended with the most salutary effects. A fellow who had secreted his own plough-irons, pretending that they were stolen, being detected by the sheriff's officers, was instantly hanged. A certain man having killed a priest, went to Rome, and obtained absolution from the pope; after which he boldly returned to Scotland. Randolph ordered him to be tried, and, on his conviction, to be executed: "Because," said he, "although the pope may grant absolution from the spiritual consequences of sin, he cannot screen offenders from civil punishment."

King Robert, just before his death, had desired that Douglas his heart might be deposited in our Saviour's sepulchre set out for at Jerusalem; and on this errand the great commander Douglas was employed, who set sail in June 1330 with a numerous and splendid retinue. He anchored off Slaysberg's heart, in Flanders, the great emporium of the Low Countries, An. 1330, where he expected to find companions in his pilgrimage; but learning that Alphonso XI., the young king of Leon and Castile, was engaged in a war with Osmyn the Moor, he could not resist the temptation of fighting against the enemies of Christianity. He met with an honourable reception at the court of Spain, and readily obtained Scotland obtained leave to enter into what was thought the common cause of Christianity. The Spaniards first came in fight of the enemy near Theba, a castle on the frontiers of Andalusia, towards the kingdom of Granada. The Moors were defeated; but Douglas giving way to his impetuous valour, pursued the enemy too eagerly, and throwing among them the casket which contained the heart of his sovereign, cried out, "Now palls thou onward as thou wert wont; Douglas will follow thee or die." The fugitives rallied and surrounded Douglas; who, with a few of his followers, was killed in attempting to rescue Sir Walter St Clair of Rossin. His body was brought back to Scotland, and interred in the church of Douglas. His countrymen perpetuated his memory by bestowing upon him the epithet of the good Sir James Douglas. He was one of the greatest commanders of the age; and is said to have been engaged in 70 battles, 57 of which he gained, and was defeated in 13.—Of him it is reported, that meeting with an officer at the court of Alphonso, who had his face quite disfigured with scars, the latter said to him, "It astonishes me, that you, who are said to have seen so much service, should have no marks of wounds on your face." "Thank heaven," answered Douglas, "I had always an arm to protect my face."

In 1331, Edward Baliol began to renew his pretensions to the crown of Scotland, about the same time that David II. and his consort Johanna were crowned at Scone; which ceremony was performed on the 24th of November. Some historians relate, that he was excited to this attempt by one Twynham Lowrison, a person who had been excommunicated for refusing to do penance for adultery, and afterwards was obliged to fly on account of his having way-laid the official, beaten him, and extorted a sum of money from him. But however this be, it is certain, that in this year differences began to arise with England, on the following account. It had been provided by an article of the treaty of Northampton, that "Thomas Lord Wake of Ledel, Henry de Beaumont, called earl of Buchan, and Henry de Percy, should be restored to their estates, of which the king of Scots, by reason of the war between the two nations, had taken possession." This article had been executed with respect to Percy, but not to the other two; and though Edward had repeatedly complained of this neglect, he could not obtain any satisfaction (c).

The disinherited barons now resolved to invade Scotland, though their force consisted of no more than 3000 infantry, and 400 men at arms. Edward would not permit them to enter Scotland by the usual way, as he himself did not yet choose openly to take part in their quarrel. For this reason they were obliged to take shipping, and landed at a place called Ravenstare, Ravenpur, or Ravenburgh, at the mouth of the Humber. Randolph, having intelligence of the English preparations, had marched an army to the frontiers of East Lothian; but, being afterwards informed of the naval armament, he marched northwards; but died at Musselburgh, six miles east of Edinburgh, on the 20th of July 1332. With him died the glory of Scotland. The Randolph earl of Marr, a man whose only merit consisted in his being related to the royal family, was chosen to succeed him in the regency.—Edward, in the meantime, fell on a most curious expedient to show the justice of his cause. In March 1332, he had published a prohibition for any person to infringe the treaty of Northampton. The disinherited lords had been suffered to embark, expressly for the purpose of invading Scotland, after this prohibition was published. After they were gone, Henry de Percy was empowered to punish those who should presume to array themselves in contempt of his prohibition; and because he understood that the Scots were arming in order to repel those invaders whom Edward had indirectly sent against them, he empowered Henry de Percy to arm against them.

(g) As this is an important period of history, we shall here transcribe the opinion of Lord Hailcs concerning the causes of this strange delay of executing an article seemingly of little importance where a nation was concerned. "By the treaty of Northampton (says he), all the claims of the English barons to inheritances in Scotland were disregarded, excepting those of Henry de Percy, Thomas Lord Wake of Ledel, and Henry de Beaumont. Percy procured satisfaction: but the others did not.

"Henry de Beaumont, in the reign of Edward II., had associated himself with the nobility against the D'Espeniers, and on that account had suffered imprisonment and exile. He aided Queen Isabella in the invasion which proved the cause of the deposition, captivity, and death of her husband. Although under the administration of Mortimer, he had obtained a share in the partition of the spoils of the D'Espeniers, he persisted in opposing the measures of the new favourite; and although his own interests were secured by the treaty of Northampton, he boldly exclaimed against the injustice done to the other barons by that treaty. He joined the princes of the blood-royal in their attempt to rescue the young king from the hands of Isabella and her minion, and placed him in their own; and, on the failure of that ill-advised conspiracy, he again took refuge in foreign parts. It appears that Lord Wake, having followed the political opinions of Henry de Beaumont, was involved in like calamities and disgrace. While the queen-dowager and Mortimer retained their influence, the claims of those two barons were altogether overlooked: But within 48 hours after the execution of Mortimer, a peremptory demand was made by Edward III., to have their inheritance restored.

"The demand was unexpected and alarming. Made at the very moment of the fall of Isabella and Mortimer, and in behalf of men who had loudly protested against the treaty of Northampton, it indicated a total and perilous change in the system of the English.

"Randolph, of late years, had beheld extraordinary vicissitudes in England. The D'Espeniers alternately persecuted and triumphant, and at length abased in the dust: The fugitive Mortimer elevated to supreme authority, victorious over the princes of the blood-royal, and then dragged to a gibbet. Hence it was natural for Randolph to wish, and even to look, for some new revolution, which might prove more favourable to the Scottish interests. Meanwhile, On the 31st of July, Edward Baliol and his associates landed in the neighbourhood of Kinghorn, on the Forth; routed the earl of Fife, who opposed them; and marched next day to Dunfermline. Having then ordered his fleet to wait for him at the mouth of the Tay, he proceeded northwards, and encamped on the Miller's acre at Forteviot, with the river Earn in front.

Nothing, however, could be more dangerous than his present situation, and his destruction seemed to be inevitable. The earl of Marr was encamped with a numerous army on the opposite bank of the river Earn, in the neighbourhood of Duplin; and another, nearly as numerous, had advanced from the south, through the Lothians and Stirlingshire, and fixed its quarters at Auchterarder, eight miles to the west of Forteviot. Historians differ as to the number of the two armies. Fordun says, that the regent had with him 30,000 men, and the earl of March as many; and that Baliol had between 500 and 600 men at arms; that is, horsemen completely armed. Hemingford reckons each of the Scots armies at 40,000, and Baliol's at 500 armed men. Knyghton says, that Baliol, when he landed in Fife, had 300 armed men, and 3000 more of different sorts; but that he had in all only 2500 men in his camp at Earn. In this desperate situation, the English general formed a design of attacking the Scots in their camp. They were directed to a ford by Andrew Murray of Tullibardine. The Scots kept no watch, but abandoned themselves to intemperance and riotous mirth; while their enemies, led by Alexander Moulbray, crossed the river at midnight. They ascended a rising ground, came unperceived on the right flank of the Scottish army, and made a dreadful slaughter. At the first attack, young Randolph hastened with 300 men at arms to oppose the enemy; and being seconded by Murdoch earl of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, and Robert Bruce natural son to the late king, he gave a check to the English, and maintained the combat on equal terms. But now the regent himself, along with the whole multitude, rushed forward to battle without the least order; so that while the hindmost pressed on, the foremost were thrown down, trodden upon, and suffocated. The slaughter lasted many hours, and the remains of this vast army were utterly dispersed. Many men of eminence were killed; among whom were Donald earl of Marr, author of the whole catastrophe; Thomas earl of Moray, Murdoch earl of Menteith, Robert earl of Carrick, Alexander Fraser, and Robert Bruce. The slaughter of the infantry and of the men at arms was very great; the most probable accounts make it 2000 men at arms, and upwards of 13,000 common soldiers. The loss of the English was inconsiderable.

The day after this victory, Baliol took possession of Perth; and, apprehending an attack from the earl of March, caused the ditch to be cleared, and the town to be fortified with palliades. The first information which the earl received of this dreadful defeat was from a common soldier, who fled from the place mortally wounded. When this poor wretch came up, he had time to do no more than to show his wounds; after which he fell down, and expired. On his arrival at the field of battle, he found a dreadful confirmation of the intelligence given by the soldier; but instead of taking his measures with any prudence, he and his men hurried on to Perth, actuated only by a blind impulse to revenge. At first they designed to assault the place; but their hearts failing them, they next determined to reduce it by famine. This, however, could not be done unless the Scots were masters at sea. John Crab, the Flemish engineer (who had distinguished himself by destroying the famous engine called the sow at the siege of Berwick), had continued for many years to annoy the English on the eastern coasts. After the blockade of Perth was formed, he came with ten vessels to the mouth of the Tay, where the English fleet was, and took the ship belonging to Henry de Beaumont; but soon after all his ten vessels were burnt by the English in a general engagement. After this the blockade of Perth was raised, the earl of March disbanded his army, and Edward Baliol was crowned king of Scotland at Scone, on the 24th of September 1332.

The new monarch was no sooner put in possession of the kingdom, than he left Perth in the hands of the earl of Fife, while he himself repaired to the southern parts of the kingdom. But the party of King David was far from being extinguished. Baliol was scarcely gone, when the town of Perth was surprized, and its fortifications

Meanwhile, with great reason and good policy, he delayed the restitution of the inheritances claimed under the treaty of Northampton, in behalf of the avowed opposers of that treaty.

Besides, it was necessary for Randolph to be assured that the English, while they urged the performance of one article of that treaty, did, on their part, sincerely purpose to perform its more important articles, by continuing to acknowledge the succession in the house of Bruce, and the independency of the Scottish nation.

Of this, however, there was much reason to doubt. For the English king had taken Baliol under his protection, and had granted him a passport to come into England, with permission to reside there during a whole year, (10th October 1330). These things had no friendly or pacific appearance.

Be this as it will, the event too fatally justified the apprehensions of Randolph; for, while Edward III. was demanding restitution of the estates referred by the treaty of Northampton, his subjects were arming in violation of that treaty.

It is remarkable, that, on the 24th March 1331-2, Edward appears to have known of the hostile association of the disinherit ed barons. His words are, 'Quia ex relatu accepimus plurimorum, quod diversi homines de regno nostrum, et ali (meaning Baliol and his attendants), pacem inter nos, et Robertum de Brus, super Regem Scotorum, imitam et confirmatam infringere machinantur, diversas congregationes hominum ad arma indies faciunt, et per marchias regni nostrri, dilatam terram Scotiae, ad eam modo guerrum impugnandum, ingredi intendunt;' Fædera, tom. iv. p. 511. And yet, on the 22d April following, he demanded restitution of the inheritance of Lord Wake, one of the barons in arms; Fædera, tom. iv. p. 518. Scotland. fortifications razed, by James Fraser, Simon Fraser, and Robert Keith. The earl of Fife was made prisoner, with his family and vassals. Andrew Murray of Tullibardine, who had directed the English to a ford on the river Earn, was put to death as a traitor. Such of the Scots as still adhered to the interest of their infant prince, chose Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell regent. He was a brave and active man, but had not as yet sufficient force to attempt anything considerable.

In the mean time, Baliol behaved in a most scandalous manner. At Roxburgh, he made a solemn surrender of the liberties of Scotland; acknowledged Edward for his liege-lord; and, as if this had not been sufficient, he became bound to put him in possession of the town, cattle, and territory of Berwick, and of other lands on the marches, extending in all to the yearly value of £2000. "On account," as the instrument bears, "of the great honour and emoluments which we have procured through the sufferance of our lord the king, and by the powerful and acceptable aid which we have received from his good subjects." He also proffered to marry the princess Johanna, whom he considered as only betrothed to David Bruce, and to add £500. to her jointure; and this under the penalty of £10,000. to be appropriated as a portion to the young lady, or otherwise disposed of for her behoof. He further engaged to provide for the maintenance of David Bruce as the king of England should advise; and, lastly, he became bound to serve Edward in all his wars, excepting in England, Wales, and Ireland, for the space of a year together, with 200 men at arms, and all at his own charges; and he bound his successors to perform the like service with 100 men at arms. But afterwards Edward having engaged to maintain him on the throne of Scotland, Baliol bound himself to serve him in all his wars whatever.

Though the greatest part of the nation submitted to this shameful treaty, it roused the indignation of those who wished well to the liberties of their country. John, the second son of Randolph, now earl of Moray by the death of his brother; Archibald, the youngest brother of the renowned Douglas; together with Simon Fraser, assembled a body of horsemen at Moffat in Annandale; and, suddenly traversing the country, assaulted Baliol unexpectedly at Annan. His brother Henry made a gallant resistance for some time; but was at last overpowered by numbers, and killed, together with several other persons of distinction. Baliol himself escaped almost naked, with scarcely a single attendant, and fled to England. After his departure, the Scots began to make depredations on the English frontiers. Edward issued a proclamation, in which he solemnly averred, that the Scots, by their hostile depredations, had violated the peace of Northampton. Baliol, in the mean time, being joined by some English barons, returned to Scotland; took and burnt a castle where Robert de Colville commanded; and, establishing his quarters in the neighbourhood of Roxburgh, began to make preparations for besieging Berwick. Just after his arrival, Archibald Douglas, with 3000 men, invaded England by the western marches, plundered the country, and carried off much booty; in revenge for which, Sir Anthony de Lucy made an inroad into Scotland, defeated and took prisoner Sir William Douglas, celebrated in history by the appellation of the knight of Liddelldale, whom Edward caused to be put in irons. About the same time, Sir Andrew Murray the regent attacked Baliol, with a view to discomfit him before the reinforcements which he expected out of England could arrive. A sharp conflict ensued at Roxburgh, in which the regent, attempting to rescue a fellow-soldier, was taken prisoner; and thus Scotland was at once taken and deprived of its two ablest commanders.

Archibald Douglas was now declared regent; and Edward prepared to invade Scotland, in order to take vengeance on its inhabitants, as he said, for the wrongs they had done, and to seek such redress as might seem good to himself. He ordered possession to be taken of the isle of Man in his own name; and soon after made it over to Sir William de Montague, who had some claim of inheritance in it. The chief design of Edward in this expedition, however, was to obtain possession of the town of Berwick, which had been already ceded to him by Baliol. This appeared to the Scots Berwick place of no less importance than it did to Edward; and therefore they took all the precautions in their power to prevent the loss of it. The earl of March was appointed to command the castle, and Sir William Keith the town. The Scots made an obstinate defence; yet it was evident that they must soon have yielded if they had not been relieved. At length the regent, with a numerous army, appeared in the neighbourhood. He endeavoured to convey succours into the town, or to provoke the enemy to quit the advantage of the ground, and engage in battle. But all his efforts were in vain; the English obstructed every passage, and stood on the defensive.

The regent then entered Northumberland, wasted the Scottish country, and even assaulted Bamborough-castle, where invades Philippa the young queen of England had her residence. Northumberland fondly imagined that Edward III. would have abandoned the siege of Berwick, after the example of his father, in circumstances not dissimilar. Edward, however, persevered in his enterprise.

During a general assault, the town was set on fire, and in a great measure consumed. The inhabitants having experienced the evils of a siege, and dreading the greater evils of a storm, implored the earl of March and Sir William Keith to seek terms of capitulation. A truce was obtained; and it was agreed, that the town and castle should be delivered up on terms fair and honourable, unless succours arrived before the hour of vespers on the 19th July.

By the treaty, Sir William Keith was permitted to have an interview with the regent. He found him with his army in Northumberland; urged the necessity of his return; and showed him, that Berwick, if not instantly relieved, was lost for ever. Persuaded by his engagements, the regent resolved to combat the Englishment, and either to save Berwick or lose the kingdom.

On the afternoon of the 19th of July, the regent prepared for battle. He divided his army into four bodies. The first was led by John earl of Moray, the son of Randolph; but as he was young and inexperienced in war, James and Simon Fraser, soldiers of approved reputation, were joined with him in the command. The second body was led by the steward of Scotland, a youth of 16, under the inspection of his uncle Sir James Stewart of Royston. The third body was led by the regent himself, having with him the earl of Carrick and other barons of eminence. The fourth body, or reserve, appears to have been led by Hugh earl of Rois.

The numbers of the Scottish army on that day are variously reported by historians. The continuator of Hemingford, an author of that age, and Knyghton, who lived in the succeeding age, ascertain their numbers with more precision than is generally required in historical facts.

The continuator of Hemingford minutely records the numbers and arrangement of the Scottish army. He says, that, besides earls and other lords or great barons, there were 55 knights, 1100 men at arms, and 3,150 of the commons lightly armed, amounting in all to 14,655.

With him Knyghton appears to concur, when his narrative is cleared from the errors of ignorant or careless transcribers.

It is probable, however, that the servants who tended the horses of persons of distinction and of the men at arms, and the useless followers of the camp, were more numerous than the actual combatants.

The English were advantageously posted on a rising ground at Halidon, with a marshy hollow in their front. Of their particular disposition we are not informed, farther than that Baliol had the command of one of the wings.

It had been provided by the treaty of capitulation, "That Berwick should be considered as relieved, in case 200 men at arms forced their passage into the town." This the Scottish men at arms attempted; but Edward, aware of their purpose, opposed them in person, and repulsed them with great slaughter. The Scottish army rushed on to a general attack; but they had to descend into the marshy hollow before mounting the eminences of Halidon. After having struggled with the difficulties of the ground, and after having been incessantly galled by the English archers, they reached the enemy. Although fatigued and disordered in their ranks, they fought as it became men who had conquered under the banners of Robert Bruce. The English, with equal valour, had great advantages of situation, and were better disciplined than their antagonists. The earl of Rois led the reserve to attack in flank that wing where Baliol commanded; but he was repulsed and slain. There fell with him Kenneth earl of Sutherland, and Murdoch earl of Menteith.

In other parts of the field, the events were equally disastrous. The regent received a mortal wound, and the Scots everywhere gave way. In the field, and during a pursuit for many miles, the number of slain and prisoners was so great, that few of the Scottish army escaped.

Besides the earls of Rois, Sutherland, and Menteith, there were among the slain Malcolm earl of Lennox, an aged baron; he had been one of the foremost to repair to the standard of Robert Bruce, and his last exertions were for his country: Alexander Bruce earl of Carrick, who atoned for his short defection from the family of his benefactor; John Campbell earl of Athol, nephew of the late king; James Fraser, and Simon Fraser; John de Graham, and Alexander de Lindefay, Alan Stewart, and many other persons of eminent rank.

The Steward had two uncles, John and James. John was killed, and James mortally wounded and made prisoner.

The regent, mortally wounded, and abandoned on the field of battle, lived only to see his army discomfited and himself a prisoner.

This victory was obtained with very inconsiderable loss. It is related by the English historians, that on the side of their countrymen, there were killed one knight, one esquire, and twelve foot soldiers. Nor will this appear incredible, when we remember, that the English ranks remained unbroken, and that their archers, at a secure distance, incessantly annoyed the Scottish infantry.

According to capitulation the town and castle of Berwick surrendered, and the English king took 12 hostages, and almost all Scotland, for securing the fidelity of the citizens.

Thus was the whole of Scotland reduced under the subjection of Baliol, excepting a few fortresses; so that it became necessary to provide for the safety of the young king and queen. Accordingly, they were conveyed to France, where they were honourably entertained. Meanwhile, Baliol employed himself in making new concessions to his liege-lord Edward; and in 1334 the work of submission was completed by a solemn instrument drawn up by Baliol, in which he surrendered great part of the Scottish dominions, to be forever annexed to the crown of England. In this instrument Baliol said, that "he had formerly become bound millions of marks to make a grant to Edward of lands on the marches, to the amount of two thousand-pound lands; that the Scottish parliament had ratified his obligation; and that he had accordingly surrendered Berwick and its territory; and now, for completely discharging his obligation, he made an absolute surrender to the English crown of the forests of Jedburgh, Selkirk, and Ettrick; of the counties of Roxburgh, Peebles, and Dumfries; together with the county of Edinburgh, and the constabularies of Linlithgow and Haddington." This extraordinary surrender was made with so much precipitation, that Baliol forgot to except his own private estate out of it. This, however, was generously restored to him by Edward; who proclaimed, that, "having already received satisfaction in full, he had too much reverence for God, justice, and good faith to man, to allow the cession to be prejudicial to the private rights of the king of Scots." At the same time, Baliol presented himself before his liege-lord; did homage, and swore fealty, "for the whole kingdom of Scotland and the illes adjacent."

A quarrel now arose among the disinherited lords, A quarrel to whom this revolution had been owing, which produced the worst consequences to the interest of Baliol. The brother of Alexander de Moubray died, leaving daughters; but no issue-male. Moubray having claimed a preference to the daughters of his brother, Baliol countenanced his suit, and, as it appears, put him in possession of the inheritance. Henry de Beaumont earl of Buchan, and David de Strathbogie or Haflings, earl of Athol, espoused the cause of the heirs-general; but perceiving that their solicitations were not heard, they left the court in disgust, and retired to their castles about the end of August 1334. Baliol soon perceived his error in offending these two powerful lords; and in order to regain their favour, dismissed Moubray, and Scotland, and conferred on David de Strathbolgie the whole estates of the young Steward of Scotland. Thus he alienated the affections of Moubrey, and added to the power of the earl of Athol, who was by far too powerful before.

About this time Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell, having regained his freedom, began to assemble the friends of liberty, and was immediately joined by Moubrey. In a moment everything was in confusion. Geoffrey de Moubrey, governor of Roxburgh, revolted; Henry de Beaumont was besieged in his castle of Dundarg by Murray and Moubrey, and forced to surrender, but obtained liberty to depart into England. Richard Talbot, endeavouring to pass into England with a body of troops, was defeated and taken prisoner by Sir William Keith of Galston. The Steward of Scotland, who had lain concealed in the isle of Bute ever since the battle of Halidon, now passed over to the castle of Danbarton, which was one of the few forts remaining to King David. With the assistance of Douglas Campbell of Lochow, he made himself master of the castle of Dunoon in Cowal. His tenants of the isle of Bute attacked and slew Alan de Lile the governor, and presented his head to their master. John the son of Gilbert, governor of the castle of Bute, was made prisoner in the action. He ordered the garrison to surrender, and attached himself to the Scottish interest. Encouraged by these successes, the Steward entered his ancient inheritance of Renfrew, and compelled the inhabitants to acknowledge the sovereignty of David. Godfrey de Roos, the governor of Ayrshire, submitted to the Steward. The earl of Moray returned from France, whither he had fled after the battle of Halidon, and was acknowledged regent along with the Steward. The earl, having raised a body of troops, marched against the earl of Athol, compelled him to retire into Lochaber, and at last to surrender; after which he embraced the party of the conquerors. Baliol was now obliged to retire again into England, in order to solicit assistance from Edward; and this was readily granted. Edward himself took the field at a very unfavourable season for military enterprises. His army was divided into two parts. With the one Edward waited Lothian, while Baliol did the like in Annandale with the other; and in the mean time, Patrick earl of March, notwithstanding the unfavourable posture of affairs, renounced the allegiance he had sworn to England. His motive for this was, that though the kings of England had maintained him in an indiency dangerous to Scotland, he was assured that they would never permit him to become formidable in a country which they themselves possessed.

The year 1335 is remarkable for the siege of Lochleven castle by the English, under John de Strivelin. This fort is built on a small island, and very difficult of access. The English commander erected a fort in the cemetery of Kinrosh; and at the lower end of the lake, from whence runs the stream called the Water of Leven, he raised a strong and lofty bulwark, by means of which he hoped to lay the island under water, and oblige the garrison to surrender. But four of the Scots soldiers, having found means to approach the bulwark undetected, pierced it so dexterously, that the waters, rushing out with a prodigious force, overpowered part of the English camp; and the garrison, falling out under the confusion occasioned by this unexpected inundation, stormed and plundered the fort at Kinrosh. At this time the English commander, with many of his soldiers, happened to be absent at Dunfermline, celebrating the festival of St Margaret. On his return, he swore that he would never desist till he had taken the place, and put the garrison to the sword; but his utmost efforts were at last baffled, and he was obliged, notwithstanding his oath, to desist.

In the mean time, the regents assembled a parliament at Dalry, near Cupar in Fife; but no plan of defence could be fixed on, by reason of the animosities and factions which prevailed among the barons. Through the mediation of the French, some terms of peace were proposed; but being rejected by the English, Edward again invaded Scotland, cruelly ravaging the country with one army, while Baliol and the earl of Warrene did the same with another. Soon after the invasion, Count Guy, Count Guy of Namur landed at Berwick with a considerable number of men at arms in the service of the English. He defeated advanced to the neighbourhood of Edinburgh; but was taken defeated and taken prisoner by the earls of March and prisoner Moray, and Sir Alexander Ramsay. In this engagement, one Richard Shaw, a Scottish esquire, was singled out by a combatant in the army of Count Guy, and both pierced each other with their spears; the stranger being stripped, was discovered to be a woman. The earl of Moray treated Guy with the greatest respect, not only allowing him and the remainder of his troops to depart from Scotland without molestation, but even taken attending him to the borders, accompanied by William Porter, Douglas and his brother James. On his return, William de Preslen, warden of the castle and forest of Jedburgh, attacked and defeated his party; James Douglas himself was killed, the earl himself taken prisoner, and carried treaty concluded into England.

Thus was the Scottish nation once more reduced to land, the brink of ruin. Alexander de Moubrey, Geoffrey de Moubrey, and some others, pretending powers from "the earl of Athol and Robert the Steward of Scotland," concluded a treaty with Edward at Perth; the substance of which was, that all the Scots should receive pardon, and have their fees, lands and offices restored, excepting those who by common assent in parliament should be excluded. The liberties of the church and the ancient laws and usages of Scotland were to remain in full force. All offices were to be filled with Scotsmen, excepting that the king should appoint whom he pleased within his regalities.

The earl of Athol now began to persecute with the utmost fury those who wished well to the cause of Scotland. With 3000 men he besieged the castle of Kilfeart and dromorey, which had hitherto been the great refuge of killed, King David's party. Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell resolved at all events to attempt the rescue of his wife and family, who were shut up in his castle. With 1100 men he surprised Athol in the forest of Kilkiblin. The earl's men, feigned with a panic, fled and dispersed themselves; on which their commander, refusing to accept of quarter, was killed. Sir Andrew Murray then assembled a parliament at Dunfermline, where he was immediately appointed regent.

In 1336 the king of England perceiving that the again Scots were taken under the patronage of France, resolved to invade their country, and crush them at once. before they could have any assistance from their new allies. In this expedition he penetrated as far as Inverness; but the Scots, commanded by Sir Andrew Murray, avoided coming to a general action; so that Edward could not effect anything of consequence. The inhabitants of Aberdeen attacked one Thomas Rotheme, who had landed at Dunnottar. They were defeated; but Rotheme fell in the action. Edward chastised the vanquished severely for their temerity, and laid the town in ashes. He then began to repair the castles whose fortifications had been demolished by King Robert. He put in a state of defence the castles of Dunnottar, Kinclevein, Lawriefton, Stirling, Bothwell, Edinburgh, and Roxburgh; greatly augmented the fortifications of Perth, and left a considerable body of troops in the place. The Scots began to reduce these castles as soon as Edward was departed; and in 1337, under Sir Andrew Murray, invaded Cumberland. No great exploits, however, were now performed on either side. Edward being employed in preparations for invading France, had little leisure to attend to the affairs of Scotland; and the Scots, divided among themselves, and destitute of those leaders under whom they had acquired so much glory, could not now annoy their enemies as formerly. The most remarkable transaction was the siege of the castle of Dunbar, belonging to the earl of March. The English commander was the earl of Salisbury. The earl of March was absent; but his wife, the daughter of Randolph, from her complexion commonly called Black Agnes, undertook to defend it in her husband's absence. The English again employed that huge machine called a sowa, formerly mentioned in our account of the siege of Berwick: it met with the same fate now as at that time; an huge stone, let fall upon it from the top of the walls, crushed it to pieces. The English, baffled in every attack, turned the siege into a blockade; but Sir Alexander Ramsay having found means to enter it with 40 resolute men, the garrison made a sally, and cut in pieces the advanced guard of the enemy. The English, disheartened by so many misfortunes, abandoned the enterprise.

In 1338, Sir Andrew Murray the regent died, and was succeeded in his office by Robert the Steward of Scotland. In 1339 he reduced the town of Perth and the castle of Stirling; and gained over to the Scottish interest William Bullock, governor of the castle of Coupar; after which, having expelled the enemy from every post to the northward of the Forth, he employed himself in settling the affairs of the nation as well as he could.

In 1341, the castle of Edinburgh was surprised by a device of Sir William Bullock. According to his appointment, one Walter Currie of Dundee privately received into his ship the knight of Liddesdale, with William Frazer, Joachim of Kinbuck, and 200 resolute men. Currie cast anchor in Leith road, pretending to be an English shipmaster, who had a cargo of wine and provisions, with which he proposed to furnish the commander of the castle. His barrels and hampers were brought to the castle-gate, and suddenly thrown down in such a manner as to obstruct the shutting of it. Currie and his men then flew the sentinels: and the knight of Liddesdale, with a party who lurked in the neighbourhood, rushed in, overpowered the garrison, and made themselves masters of the place.—On the 4th of March this year, the king and queen arrived from France, and landed at Inverbervie in Kincardineshire.

In 1342, Sir Alexander Ramsay took the strong forts of Roxburgh; for which important service the king bestowed on him the charge of sheriff of Teviotdale, at that time held by William Douglas knight of Lidderdale. The king's liberality proved fatal to Ramsay: Miserable for that time Douglas became his implacable and end of Sir inveterate enemy; and having, after a pretended reconciliation, unexpectedly surprized him with three of his friends, he put them instantly to death, carrying off Sir William Bullock himself to his castle of the Hermitage, where lock. He caused him to be starved to death in a most barbarous manner. The unhappy man was confined in a room, over which was a heap of wheat; a few grains of which were let fall every day through a hole, not as many as would support life, but as would protract it for a time, and make him longer sensible of the agonies of hunger: and in this miserable situation he survived 17 days. About the same time Sir William Bullock was put to death by Douglas in a similar manner; nor was King David at that time in a capacity to punish such atrocious cruelties committed by so powerful a subject.

In the mean time, David having raised a powerful army, prepared to take a severe revenge of the English, vades England, from whom he had suffered so much. Edward was at that time in France, but commanded Bailiol to raise all with the militia beyond the Trent; which order, however, produced but little effect; so much was this mean-cruelty spirited prince despised by the English. David invaded Northumberland without opposition, and ravaged the country; but was obliged to raise the siege of Newcastle, which was commanded by Sir John Nevil, an excellent officer. David, exasperated at this repulse, entered the bishopric of Durham, which he ravaged in the most cruel manner. However, on the approach of Edward with a powerful army, the Scots thought proper to retire; and a two years truce was agreed on.

This pacification was but short-lived. In 1345 the Scots again prepared to invade England, while Edward took all necessary measures for opposing them; however, this year the Scots were successful, ravaging Westmoreland, and burning several towns. The year ended with a new truce between the two nations; and hostilities were not renewed till 1346, when David entered England with an army of 50,000 men. His first exploit was the taking of the forts of Liddel, and massacring all whom he found in it. The commander, Montross Sir Walter Selby, capitulated with a Scots knight for cruelty of his life; but the bargain being disapproved of by David, he ordered two of Selby's sons to be strangled in his presence, and then the father's head to be cut off. From thence the Scots marched to Lancroft, which they plundered; then passing into Northumberland, they pillaged the priory of Hexham, but spared the town, that it might serve as a magazine. Three other towns, Corbridge, Durham, and Darlington, were spared for the same reason. In his march to Durham, it is said that he would have made the county a desert, had not some of the monks paid him a contribution of a thousand pounds to spare their estates; however, according to Knyghton, every Englishman who fell into David's hands was put to death, unless he could redeem his life by paying threepence.

To put a stop to the cruelties of this barbarous inva- Scotland, der, the queen of England, in her husband's absence, assembled a powerful army, which was divided into four bodies; the first commanded by Lord Henry Percy; the second by the archbishop of York; the third by the bishop of Lincoln, the lord Mowbray, and Sir Thomas Rokeby; and the fourth and principal division was headed by Edward Baliol.—The king of Scotland headed a chosen battalion, composed of the flower of his nobility, and the auxiliaries with which he had been supplied by France. The high steward of Scotland headed the second line; and the third was commanded by the earls of Moray and Douglas. While the English were approaching, Lord Douglas and Sir David Graham skirmished with them, but were defeated with the loss of 500 of their men; which foreshadowed an omen of the disaster that was about to ensue. The general engagement began between the archers on both sides; but the English being much superior in the use of the bow, the steward of Scotland advanced to the relief of his countrymen. The English archers, unable to bear his attack, fell back upon Lord Henry Percy's division, which was thus put in confusion, and would have been totally defeated, had not Baliol advanced to their relief with a body of 4000 horse. The steward was then obliged to retire; by which means the flank of that division commanded by David, and which was then engaged with another line of the English, was left exposed to an attack. Baliol perceived the advantage; and, without pursuing the steward, attacked the king's division, which was speedily cut in pieces or dispersed. David was left with about 80 noblemen and gentlemen, but still maintained the fight with obstinacy; nor would he yield even when wounded in the head with an arrow, expecting every moment to be relieved by the steward and that line of his army which was still entire under the lords Moray and Douglas. At last finding himself totally overpowered, he attempted to retreat, but was overtaken by a party under one John Copeland. This captain, endeavouring to seize the king, had two of his teeth struck out by a blow of his gauntlet; but at last, finding it in vain to resist, the king was obliged to give up his sword and surrender himself a prisoner.—After he was taken, Baliol attacked and totally routed that division of the Scottish army which had hitherto remained under the lords Moray and Douglas. In this battle the Scots lost a great number of their nobility, and 15,000 common soldiers. Many persons of the first distinction were also taken with the king; and had it not been that the escape of the Scots was favoured by the avarice of the English soldiers, who neglected the pursuit in order to plunder, scarcely a single folder would have returned.

King David, after this unfortunate battle, was carried to the castle of Ramborough, where he was kept with so much privacy, that for some time it was not known where he was, or that he had been taken prisoner. As soon as the truth was known, the queen of England demanded the royal prisoner from Copeland; but the latter positively refused to part with him even to the queen, unless she could produce an order to that purpose under Edward's hand and seal. This resolute behaviour was resented by the queen, and a complaint made to the king; in consequence of which Copeland was summoned to appear before Edward, after having resigned David to the custody of Lord Nevil. The English monarch, at that time in France, approved of all that he had done, rewarded him with 500l. a-year, and sent him back to England with the honour of knighthood. David was then escorted by Copeland, attended, it is said, by 20,000 men, from the castle of Ogle in Northumberland, till the lord Nevil, by indenture, delivered him into the hands of Sir Thomas Rokeby sheriff of Yorkshire. In the same pompous manner he was conducted all the way to London, which he entered on a black courier. He was received in the capital with the greatest solemnity by the lord mayor and other magistrates, the city-companies under arms lining all the streets through which he passed, the houses loaded with spectators, who expressed a generous concern for his captivity. Being arrived at the Tower, he was delivered, by indenture likewise, to the custody of the constable, the lord John Darcy, on the 2d of January 1347.

Baliol now, encouraged by the misfortune of his rival, made an effort once more to establish himself on the throne of Scotland; and before the end of the year other attempts were made to reduce the castles of Hermitage and Roxburgh, the crown forest of Ettrick, the Merle, with the districts of Annandale, Teviotdale, and Tweeddale. The Scots continued faithful to the cause of their king, notwithstanding his misfortunes, and chose the Steward for the guardian of the kingdom. He behaved with a prudence equal to the high station which he filled: but the progress of Baliol was so rapid, that it is scarcely probable he could have maintained his ground, had not Edward again consented to a truce; which, however, seems to have been ill observed on the part of the Scots. In fact, though both Scots and English historians are silent as to particulars, we find, that about the end of the year 1348, all Scotland was recovered out of the hands of the English; excepting Berwick, Roxburgh, Hermitage, and Laurie, which was part of Baliol's hereditary estate, recovered and defended by him with an army. The Scots historians inform us, that the English, in revenge for the damages done to their country by the breach of the peace, proclaimed a tournament and other military exercises at Berwick, to which they invited the Scots; but in their way thither the latter fell into an ambuscade, and were all cut in pieces.

The years 1349 and 1350 were remarkable only for a dreadful plague which invaded Scotland, after having infested and ravaged the continent of Europe. According to Forwood, one-third of the people of Scotland perished at this time. The patient's flesh swelled exceedingly, and he died in two days' illness; but the mortality affected chiefly the middling and lower ranks of people. The same dreadful calamity continued throughout the years 1351 and 1352; occasioning a cessation of arms not only in Scotland, but throughout all Europe.

All this time King David remained a prisoner in England; for though several treaties had been proposed, they had hitherto come to nothing, because the English monarch insisted upon being indemnified for the ravages which the Scots had committed in his territories. At Terns it was agreed, that the king of Scotland should be paid for immediately set at liberty, on paying 90,000 merks for his ransom, by equal proportions, within the space of nine years: That 10,000 merks, being the first proportion, should be paid at the feast of Candlemas next to come, the second at Candlemas 1357, and so on till complete plete payment should be made of the whole: That, during the said space of nine years, there should be a truce between the two kingdoms: That 20 Scots gentlemen, of the best families in the kingdom, should remain in England as hostages and sureties for the said sum; and that, if any part thereof was not paid at the precise time appointed, then David should remain a prisoner in England till it was paid; or, if he was detained by any just cause, that the lord high steward, the lord Douglas, John of the Isles, and others of the highest rank, should come and supply his place.

These terms were rejected by the Scots nobility; and, in 1355, war was recommenced with England, at the instigation of France, who sent 40,000 crowns to Scotland as a supply for defraying the expenses.

With this sum the guardian, having raised an army, once more took the field; but not before the English that destroyed the Lothians and Dugdale. A battle was fought on Nibbit-moor: in which the English being drawn into an ambuscade, were totally defeated. The next attempt of the Scots was against the town of Berwick, which they designed to surprise by an escalade. They met, however, with such a vigorous resistance, that many persons of distinction were killed. The attack proved successful; but the acquisition was of no great importance, as the castle still held out. Edward, in the mean time, hearing of the loss of the town, hurried back from France to London. Here he staid but three days, and marched northward to raise the siege. He reached Durham on the 23rd of December 1355, where he appointed all his military tenants to meet him on the 1st of January 1356. On the 14th of the same month he arrived before Berwick, which was instantly retaken; but the Scots were allowed to depart for their own country. The reduction of this place produced an extraordinary effect: for Baliol now perceiving that Edward meant not to establish him on the throne of Scotland, but to retain in his own possession as many places of that country as he could, came at last to the resolution of giving up to the king of England the whole of Scotland. This indeed was no more than a form, because at that time he was not possessed of the kingdom. However, the ceremony was performed at Roxburgh; and Baliol presented his crown and some earls and dukes by way of investiture. Baliol in return was to have a revenue of 2000 pounds a-year; and as Edward was at the head of an excellent army, he had little doubt of being able to force the Scots to submit.

The affairs of Scotland were now in a very critical situation; and it was necessary to gain time. For this reason Edward was amused with a negociation; and to this he the more willingly listened, as he was at that time waiting for his fleet, from which he had great expectations. A little time, however, discovered the deceit. The Scots plainly told Edward, that they would die rather than submit to his demands; and he, in return, threatened a most dreadful revenge. His fleet in the mean time arrived in the frith of Forth; the mariners destroyed and pillaged all that was within their reach, without sparing even the sacred edifices, carrying off the statues of the blest virgin, loading the monks with chains, and committing every thing in those days called impiety and sacrilege. Edward had by this time marched as far as Haddington, but was obliged to receive provisions all the way from his fleet; for the Scots had desolated the country through which he passed. During his march his army was harassed, and his foragers cut off, so that he was reduced to distress; and at last his fleet being totally destroyed by a storm, he was obliged to return to England without accomplishing any thing.

In the mean time the prince of Wales, who had been left by his father to carry on the war in France, defeated and took prisoner John king of France at the battle of Poictiers. In this battle were 3000 Scots, who had gone over as auxiliaries to the French monarch, and who suffered extremely. However, the success of Edward, instead of rendering him haughty, seemed to have a contrary effect; and, by the mediation of Pope Innocent a truce for two years was concluded with France, in which the Scots were comprehended. During this interval, the ransom of the king of Scots was David obtained at 100,000 marks to be paid in ten years; for his liberty, which 20 hostages were to be given as formerly. In consequence of this treaty, David at last obtained his liberty in 1358; and Edward laid aside all hopes of ever subduing Scotland. As for Baliol, he was now sunk in oblivion; and it is not known what became of him, or when he died.

David, though now restored to liberty, found himself greatly embarrassed by the payment of such a large sum as had been stipulated for his ransom; the kingdom of Scotland being then in a most miserable and exhausted situation. After sending his queen, and going into England himself, he could obtain no greater favour than a respite of a few months for the payment of the second moiety; so that he was at last constrained to ask assistance from France. This could scarcely be expected in the distressed situation of that kingdom; however, it was at last agreed, that 50,000 marks should be paid to Scotland, in case the Scots would consent to renew the war the following year. Neither party, however, kept their word; and David, being still greatly distressed about the remainder of his ransom, at last entered into a very extraordinary negociation with Edward, by which he confessed that the king of England should be his successor to the throne of Scotland. But this negociation was defeated through the invincible hatred which the Scots bore to an English governor. David, then, being entirely unable to discharge the remainder of his ransom, was obliged to enter into a new treaty; a new treaty by which the kingdom of Scotland became indebted to Edward the sum of 100,000 pounds sterling, to be paid by equal proportions within the space of 25 years, during which there should be a truce between the two nations.

From this time we meet with little more of any moment in the reign of King David. After the death of his queen Johanna, the sister of Edward, he married a Scots woman, of mean birth, named Margaret Logic; but by neither of his wives had he any children. Queen Margaret he divorced, on what pretence is not known; but the left the kingdom, and complained personally to the pope, who treated her as David's lawful wife, and enjoined her husband to receive her as such under the He dies, most severe penalties. What effect these threats had on and is the king is not known; but it is certain that Margaret never returned to Scotland; and, on the 22nd of February 1371, David himself died, leaving the kingdom to Robert Stewart. Scotland. to his nephew Robert Stewart, the first of that family who sat on the throne of Scotland (H).

Some authors tell us, that at the accession of Robert II., his title was disputed by William earl of Douglas. If any such claim was preferred, an assembly of the states set it aside, and it was resolved that Robert should be crowned at Scone; and to take away for the future all disputes concerning the succession, a particular act was framed, by which the kingdom was secured to Robert and his heirs.

The new king being thus established on the throne, endeavoured to renew the war with the English, in order to recover from them the town of Berwick, and some other places on the borders. In this, however, he failed; and as 56,000 pounds of David’s ransom still remained unpaid, Robert bound himself to discharge it at the rate of 4000 merks every midsummer. He then proposed an alliance with France; but the terms demanded by that kingdom being, that Scotland should be obliged to make war with England whenever France should require it, Robert could not by any means be induced to consent to such a reciprocation, which would have obliged him to break through the most solemn treaties, whenever the king of France should think proper to break with England. A new treaty, therefore, was entered into, by which it was provided, that neither Scotland nor France should be obliged to make war with England; and by another clause, that the dispensation or authority even of the pope himself should never free the kings or kingdoms of France and Scotland from the obligations they lay under to assist one another, as often as required, in opposition to the kingdom of England. In case of a competition for the crown of Scotland, the king of France and his heirs were to take care that no English influence was used; but that the matter being by the greatest and best part of the nation decided conformably to the laws and establishments of Scotland, he should with all his power defend and assist the person so established. Lastly, it was agreed that no Frenchman should ever henceforth serve for wages, or otherwise, against Scotland, nor any Scot-man against France.

This last article occasioned a recall of all the Scots from the English armies, which Edward looked upon to be a prelude to an invasion. He accordingly issued writs for assembling all the militia in the north of England. At this time there subsisted between the neighbouring people of both nations an invincible hatred, which extended not only through the lower ranks, but had pervaded the higher classes also. The inhabitants of the borders, indeed, paid very little regard to the orders of their respective sovereigns; so that daily hostilities were committed by them upon each other when there was peace between the sovereigns. The inhabitants of these countries had established with one another certain conventions, which have since been collected, and go by the name of the Border laws. The families of Douglas and Percy, whose estates lay contiguous to one another, were at perpetual variance. It had been common for the borderers of both kingdoms, during a truce, to frequent each other’s fairs; and a servant of the earl of March had been killed in a fray at that of Roxburgh, Scotland, which was still in the hands of the English. Justice for this murder was demanded from Lord Percy; but he slighted the complaint. On this the earl of March, with his brother the earl of Moray, assembling their followers, entered the next fair that was held in Roxburgh, plundered and burnt the town, and killed all the English who fell into their hands. The English borderers were ordered to lay waste the lands of the earl of March; but, in their way thither, destroyed the estate of Sir John Gordon, a man of great property in the south of Scotland. Sir John in his turn invaded England, from whence he drove off a large booty in cattle, and a number of prisoners. In his retreat he was attacked by a body of fresh troops under Sir John Lilburn, at a place called Carham. An obstinate encounter followed. The Scots were five times repulsed; but at last they renewed the charge with such fury, that they made Lilburn, his brother, and several other persons of distinction, prisoners, together with all their surviving soldiers. On this Lord Percy with 7000 men encamped at Duns, in the south of Scotland; but was obliged to retire, probably for want of subsistence for his army. In the mean time, Musgrave, the governor of Berwick, who had been ordered to join Percy with a detachment from the garrison, was on his march intercepted, defeated, and taken prisoner by Sir John Gordon; after which the border war became general on both sides. The issue of these disturbances is but little known; however, in 1377, we find them raging with more violence than ever. The fair of Roxburgh was once more the scene of action, and the town was again burnt by the Scots. Lord Percy, who was now earl of Northumberland, resolved to take signal vengeance. He ravaged the Scots borders, particularly the earl of March’s estate, for three days, at the head of 10,000 men. Some time after this, the Berwick Scots insurgents became powerful enough to surprise and retake Berwick; which, however, was quickly retaken by the English, who soon after invaded Scotland. In this expedition, however, they succeeded so ill, that Percy thought proper to desist from his expedition. The Scots in the mean time began hostilities by sea, under one Mercer, an experienced sailor; but he had the misfortune to be taken prisoner by the English, with all his fleet. In 1379, England was afflicted with a dreadful plague, of which the Scots took advantage to invade the country. The English historians tell us that they behaved with the utmost barbarity, killing and plundering the defenceless inhabitants without mercy.

This predatory war continued, generally to the disadvantage of the English, till the beginning of November 1382, when a truce was concluded, to continue for a year; which, however, related only to the borders. This truce, like the others, was but very indifferently observed; so that, in 1383, new negotiations were set on foot; but, in 1384, the war was renewed with greater fury than ever. In the spring, the earls of March and Douglas took the castle of Lochmaben, and intercepted a rich convoy which the English were sending to Roxburgh; burnt to the ground the castle of Wark, and...

(H) For an account of the origin of the Stewart family, see note (E), p. 610. and committed such devastations in the north of England, that several gentlemen offered to resign their estates to King Richard, because they were not able to defend them against the Scots. The duke of Lancaster entered Scotland at the head of an army; but the inhabitants had removed every thing valuable, so that he marched on to Edinburgh without accomplishing anything of consequence. On his return, he was harassed by flying parties of Scots, who destroyed a considerable number of his men. This year also the French sent a body of auxiliaries into Scotland. The earls of Northumberland and Nottingham entered Scotland with an army of 10,000 horse and 6000 archers; but retired, after having committed some devastations in the southern counties. The Scots revenged themselves by laying waste all the northern part of England to the gates of Newcastle. Berwick was taken by the Scots, and soon after surrendered for the sum of 2000 marks. A truce was then, as usual, concluded; but in the mean time King Robert was meditating a most severe blow against the English.

The duke of Burgundy having come to the possession of the estate of his father-in-law the earl of Flanders, claimed the sovereignty of the town of Ghent; but they refused to submit to him, and in this refusal were protected by King Richard II. of England. On this the duke of Burgundy proposed to the French court to invade England in concert with the Scots.—This being agreed to, a fleet was fitted out at Sluys; on board of which John de Vienne, the French admiral, embarked, carrying along with him 50,000 pounds in gold, which the duke of Burgundy advanced in order to be distributed in Scotland, where the admiral arrived safe with a considerable reinforcement, together with supplies of all kinds of military stores. Two thousand auxiliaries, of whom 500 were men-at-arms, arrived with this fleet; and 400 suits of complete armour were brought along with them, in order to be distributed among the bravest of the Scots.

The Scots were for a short time elated with the great attention which had been paid them by the French king; but, in the mean time, the Flemings having revolted, the French abandoned the Scots to sustain the whole weight of the English resentment, that they themselves might employ their arms in Flanders. King Richard took the field with a more numerous army than had ever been mustered in England before. Hostilities were begun by the Scots, who, according to custom, invaded the northern parts of England, and carried off a considerable booty: however, in their retreat, they were in the utmost danger of being cut off by the duke of Lancaster, who had been sent with an army to intercept them. The English army proceeded northwards; but could accomplish nothing, on account of the country being defoliated, till they came to Edinburgh, which they laid in ashes. Being, however, incessantly harassed by parties of the enemy, they were obliged to retreat.

Nothing remarkable happened till the year 1388, when, after a short truce, the war was renewed with fresh fury. Northumberland and Westmoreland were ravaged by the earls of Fife and Douglas, and Lord Nithsdale defeated a body of 3000 English; after which he formed the plan of invading Ireland, the inhabitants of which had of late been very active against the Scots. In 1388, Douglas obtained permission to raise a body of forces for this invasion; and having landed in safety, defeated the Irish, plundered the town of Carlingford, and loaded 15 ships with the booty. From thence the Scots sailed to the isle of Man, which in like manner was plundered and laid waste; after which they returned with their booty to Loch Ryan in Scotland.

Encouraged by this success, Robert determined to proceed on a more enlarged plan. Having assembled a parliament at Aberdeen, a double invasion of England was resolved upon. Two armies were raised; the one consisting of 25,000 men, commanded by the earls of An. 1388. Menteith and Fife, Douglas lord of Galloway, and Alexander Lindsay; the other army, consisting of the like number, was commanded by the earls of Douglas, March, Crawford, Moray, the lord high constable of Scotland, and other persons of distinction. The former entered Cumberland, and the latter Northumberland, both which countries they laid waste, and both armies were to meet within ten miles of Newcastle. The English were thrown into the greatest consternation. Newcastle was defended by the earl of Northumberland, whose age and infirmities rendered him incapable of taking the field; but his place was abundantly supplied by his two sons Henry and Ralph, the former of whom is known in English history by the name of Hotspur. The town was garrisoned by the flower of the English nobility and gentry, as well as the inhabitants of the adjacent countries, who had fled thither for refuge. Douglas selected 2000 foot and 300 horsemen out of the two armies, and encamped on the north side of the town, with a view, according to the Scots historians, of storming it next day. In the mean time, he was challenged by Hotspur to fight him hand to hand, with batons and ground spears, in sight of both armies. Douglas accepted the challenge, and Percy was unhorsed in the first encounter, and obliged to take refuge within the portcullis or gate of the town; from whence Douglas brought off his antagonist's lance, with a pennon affixed to it, and swore in his hearing that he would carry it into Scotland. Next day Douglas attempted to storm the town; but, being repulsed in the attack, he decamped in the night. Percy, breathing furious revenge, pursued and overtook the Scots at Otterburn. His arrival was quite unexpected, so that the principal commanders of the Scottish army were sitting down to supper unarmed. The soldiers, however, were instantly prepared for battle; but in the hurry necessarily attending Otterburn, a surprize of this kind, Douglas forgot to put on his cuirass. Both leaders encouraged their men by the most animating speeches; and both parties waited for the rise of the moon, which happened that night to be unusually bright. The battle being joined on the moon's first appearance, the Scots began to give ground; but, being rallied by Douglas, who fought with a battle-axe, the English, though greatly superior in number, were totally routed. Twelve hundred were killed on the spot; and 100 persons of distinction, among whom were the two Percies, were made prisoners by Keith mac Earl, chief of Scotland. On the side of the Scots the greatest loss was that of the brave Earl Douglas, who was killed in consequence of going to battle without his armour, as above related. It was this single combat... Scotland, hat between Douglas and Percy, and the subsequent battle, which gave rise to the celebrated ballad of Chevy Chase.

In the mean time the bishop of Durham was marching toward Newcastle with an army of 10,000 men; but was informed by the runaways of Percy's defeat, which happened on the 21st of July 1388. In a council of war it was resolved to pursue the Scots, whom they hoped easily to vanquish, as being wearied with the battle of the preceding day, and laden with plunder. The earl of Moray, who commanded in chief, having called a consultation of his officers, resolved to venture a battle. The prisoners were almost as numerous as the whole Scots army; however, the generals required no more of them than their words of honour that they should continue inactive during the battle, and remain prisoners still. This condition being complied with, the Scots drew out their army for battle.—Their rear was secured by marshes, and their flanks by large trees which they had felled. In short, their appearance was so formidable, that the English, dreading to encounter a resolute enemy so strongly secured, retired to Newcastle, leaving the Scots at liberty to continue their march to their own country.

Robert being now oppressed with age, so that he could no longer endure the fatigues of government, the administration of affairs devolved on his second son the earl of Fife; for his eldest son was by nature indolent, and besides lame by an unlucky blow he had received from a horse. Early in the spring of 1389, he invaded England with success: but the same year a truce was concluded, to last from the 19th of June 1389 to the 16th of August 1392; in which the allies of both crowns were included. This truce was violently opposed by the nobility, who suspected their king of being too much under French influence. Upon this the court of France thought proper to send over ambassadors to persuade the nobility to comply; informing them, that in case of refusal, they could expect no assistance either of men or money from the continent. With difficulty they prevailed, and peace between England and Scotland was once more restored. Scarcely, however, was this truce finished, when the peace of the nation was most scandalously violated by Robert's fourth son Alexander, the earl of Buchan, commonly called the wolf of Badenoch, from his savage disposition. This prince having a quarrel with the bishop of Murray, burnt the fine cathedral of Elgin, which has been called by historians the lanthorn and ornament of the north of Scotland. The king for this crime caused his son to be imprisoned; and a civil war would have been the consequence, had it not been for the veneration which the Scots retained for their old king. However, they did not long enjoy their beloved monarch; for he died on the 19th of April 1390, in the 75th year of his age, and the 19th of his reign.

On the death of Robert II., the crown devolved upon his eldest son John; but the name being thought unlucky in Scotland, he changed it for that of Robert, though he was still called by the commonalty Robert John Fernzier. He had been married to Annabella the daughter of Sir John Drummond, ancestor to the noble family of Perth; and was crowned along with his consort at Scone, on the 13th of August 1390. He confirmed the truce which had been entered into with England, and renewed the league with France; but Scotland the beginning of his reign was disturbed by the wars of the petty chieftains with each other. Duncan Stewart, son to Alexander earl of Buchan, who had died in prison of the earl for burning the cathedral of Elgin, assembling his followers under pretence of revenging his father's death, laid waste the county of Angus. Walter Ogilvy, the sheriff of Angus, attempting to repel the invaders, was killed, with his brother and 60 of their followers. The king then gave a commission to the earl of Crawford to suppress them; which he soon did, and most of them were either killed or executed. The followers of the earl of Buchan were composed of the wildest Highlanders, distinguished by the title of Catterenes, which an account of theirs to that of banditti. That such a race of people the existence of is certain from the records of Scotland; but it is not easy to determine how they obtained their subsistence, being void of the knowledge of agriculture and of every civil art. There is some reason to believe that many of them came from the Western isles; and that they or their ancestors had emigrated from the eastern parts of Ireland. The lands which they inhabited were never cultivated till towards the middle of the 17th century; and, according to the most authentic accounts, they lived entirely upon animal food.

The earl of Crawford's success against the followers of Buchan encouraged Robert to intrust him with a commission for subduing other insurgents by whom the peace of the country was disturbed. The most remarkable of these were the Clan Chattan and Clan Kay. As between the both these tribes were numerous and brave, Crawford champions was not without apprehensions that they might unite the clan against him as a common enemy, and defeat him if he and clan attempted to suppress them by force. He proposed, therefore, that the two rival clans should each choose 30 men, to determine their differences by the sword, without being allowed the use of any other weapon. The king and his nobility were to be spectators of the combat; the conquered clan were to be pardoned for all their former offences, and the conquerors honoured with the royal favour. This proposal was readily accepted by both parties, and the north inch of Perth was to be the scene of action. But, upon muttering the combatants, it was found that one of them, belonging to the clan Chattan, had absented himself. It was proposed to balance this difference by withdrawing one of the combatants from the clan Kay; but not one of them could be prevailed on to resign his place. At last one Henry Wynd, a fiddler, though no way connected with either party, offered to supply the place of him that was absent, on condition of his receiving a French crown of gold (about 7s. 6d. of our money); which was immediately paid him. The combat then began with incredible fury; but at last, through the superior valour and skill of Henry Wynd, victory declared in favour of the clan Chattan. Only ten of the conquerors, besides Wynd, were left alive; and all of them desperately wounded. Of the clan Kay only one remained; and he having received no hurt escaped by swimming across the Tay.

While these internal broils were going on, the truce which had lately been concluded with England was so ill observed, that it became necessary to enter into fresh negotiations. These, like others which had taken place before, had very little effect. The borderers on both sides... fides had been so accustomed to ravage and plunder, that they could not live in quiet. King Robert also was thought to be too much attached to the king of England. He had introduced the new title of duke, which he bestowed first on the prince royal, whom he created duke of Rothesay; but making an offer of that honour to one of the heads of the Douglas family, it was rejected with disdain. That powerful family had never lost sight of an ancient claim they had upon the castle of Roxburgh, which was still in the possession of the English; and this year the son of the earl of Douglas, Sir William Stewart, and others, broke down the bridge of Roxburgh, plundered the town, and destroyed the forage and corn there and in the neighbouring country. The English applied for satisfaction; but obtained none, as the confusion which involved the kingdom by the deposition of Richard II. and the accession of Henry IV. prevented them from having recourse to arms, the only argument to which the Scots patriots in those days would listen.

No sooner was the catastrophe of Richard known in Scotland than they resolved to avail themselves of it; and invading the north parts of England, demolished the castle of Wark, and laid the neighbouring country under contribution. The situation of Henry's affairs did not admit of his resisting this insult. He contented himself with nominating the earl of Westmoreland, to treat with the Scots about a truce or peace; or, if that could not be obtained, to make a mutual agreement, that the towns of Dumfries in Scotland, and Penrith in England, should be free from hostilities during the war. To this proposal the Scots paid no regard; and being encouraged by the court of France, who resented the deposition of Richard, they renewed their ravages in England. In 1402, the king of England called a parliament, in order to consult on the most proper means of repelling the Scottish invasions; and in this he was greatly assisted by the divisions of the Scots among themselves. The duke of Rothesay, the heir apparent of the crown, was now grown up to man's estate, and it was thought proper to provide a suitable comfort for him. The king is said to have scandalously put up his son's marriage at auction, and offered him to the lady whose father could give him the highest price. The earl of March, was the highest bidder; and advanced a considerable sum in ready money, on condition that his daughter should become the royal bride.—This forced match was opposed by Douglas, who proposed his own daughter the lady Margery. So degenerate was the court of Scotland at this time, that neither the king nor the duke of Rothesay opposed this proposal of a new match, because it was to be purchased with a fresh sum; and they even refused to indemnify the earl of March for the money he had already advanced.

As the duke of Albany sided with Douglas, a council of the nobility was privately assembled, which annulled the contract of the lady Elizabeth Dunbar, the earl of March's daughter, in favour of the lady Margery, daughter to the earl of Douglas; but without taking any measures for repaying the money to the earl of March. The continuator of Fordun informs us, that the earl of Douglas paid a larger sum for his daughter's fortune than that which had been advanced by the earl of March, and that the earl of Douglas's daughter was married to the duke of Rothesay; that before the marriage was celebrated, March demanded Scotland, that the money he had advanced should be reimbursed; but receiving an unsatisfactory answer, he declared, that as the king had not fulfilled his bargain, he would bring unexpected calamities upon the country. Accordingly he fled into England, leaving his castle of Dunbar to the custody of his nephew Robert Maitland, who soon after put it into the hands of the earl of Douglas, called in history Archibald the Grim, from the ferocity of his visage.

As soon as Robert heard of the revolt of the earl of March, he sent ambassadors demanding back his subject; but the request was disregarded. On the other hand, the earl of March demanded repossession of the castle of Dunbar, pleading, that he had committed no act of treason, but had come to England under a safe conduct from King Henry, on purpose to negotiate his private affairs; but this request was disregarded; on which he sent for all his family and followers to England, where they joined him in great numbers. This produced a war between the two kingdoms. The earl of March, with Henry Percy, invaded Scotland, penetrating as far as Haddington, and carrying off great numbers of the inhabitants into captivity. Thence they went to Peebles, and then to Linton, ravaging the country as they passed along. They next besieged the castle of Hales, and took several of the neighbouring forts; but Archibald the Grim, or rather his son, having raised an army against them, they were struck with terror, and fled to Berwick, to the gates of which they were pursued by the Scots. At this time the Scottish admiral, Sir Robert Logan, was at sea with a squadron; but miscarried in an attempt he made on some English ships of war that protected their fleet while fishing on the coast of Scotland. After this the English plundered the Orkney islands; which, though belonging to the crown of Norway, were at that time governed, or rather farmed, by Sinclair the Scots earl of Orkney and Caithness.

All this time the earl of March continued under the protection of the king of England. He had received repeated invitations to return to his allegiance; but all of them being rejected, he was proclaimed a traitor; and the Scottish governor made a formal demand of him from King Henry. With this the latter not only refused to comply, but renewed his league with the lord of the isles. He pretended also, that at this time he had intercepted some letters from the Scottish regency, which called him "a traitor in the highest degree;" and he alleged this as a reason why he protected not only the earl of March, but the lord of the isles.

On the 25th of July 1402, the earl of March renounced his homage, fealty, and service, to the king of Scotland, and transferred them to Henry by a formal indenture. For this the earl was rewarded with a pension of 500 marks sterling, and the manor of Clipstone in Sherwood forest. Henry now began to revive the claim of homage from the kings of Scotland, and even projects the mediate the conquest of the kingdom. He had in conquest deed many reasons to hope for success; the principal of which were, the weakness of the Scottish government, the divided state of the royal family, and the dissensions among the chief nobility. For this purpose he made great Scotland.

great preparations both by sea and land; but before he set out on his journey, he received a letter from the duke of Rothesay, full of reproaches on account of the presumptuous letters which Henry had addressed to Robert and his nobility. The letter was addressed by the duke to his adversary of England, as the Scots had not yet recognized the title of Henry to the crown of England. Towards the end of it the duke, according to the custom of the times, desired Henry, in order to avoid the effusion of Christian blood, to fight him in person with two, three, or a hundred noblemen on a side. But this challenge produced no other answer from Henry, than that "he was surprised that the duke of Rothesay should consider noble blood as not being Christian, since he desired the effusion of the one, and not of the other." Henry arrived at Leith on the very day on which he had appointed the Scottish nobility to meet him and pay their homage, and conclude a peace between the two crowns. In all probability, he expected to have been joined by great numbers of the discontented Scots; and he flattered the English with a promise of raising the power and glory of their country to a higher pitch than it had ever yet known. Under this pretext, he seized on the sum of £50,000 pounds in ready money, besides as much in plate and jewels, which had been left by Richard in the royal treasury. He raised also vast contributions on the clergy and nobility, and on the principal towns and cities. At last, finding that neither his vast preparations, nor the interest of the earl of March, had brought any of the Scots to his standard, he laid siege to Edinburgh castle, which was defended by the duke of Rothesay, and, as some say, by the earl of Douglas. The duke of Albany, brother to King Robert, was then in the field with an army, and sent a letter to King Henry, promising, that if he would remain where he was for six days, he would give him battle, and force him to raise the siege, or lose his life. When this was written, the duke was at Calder muir; and Henry was so much pleased with the letter, that he presented the herald who delivered it with his upper garment, and a chain of gold; promising, on his royal word, that he would remain where he was until the appointed day. On this occasion, however, the duke forfeited his honour; for he suffered six days to elapse without making any attempt on the English army.

Henry, in the mean time, pushed on the siege of Edinburgh castle; but met with such a vigorous resistance from the duke of Rothesay, that the hopes of reducing it were but small. At the same time he was informed that the Welsh were on the point of rebellion under the famous chieftain Owen Glendower. He knew also that many of the English were highly dissatisfied with his title to the crown; and that he owed his peaceable possession of it to the moderation of Mortimer, also called the earl of March, who was the real heir to the unfortunate Richard, but a nobleman of no ambition. For these reasons he concluded it best to raise the siege of Edinburgh castle, and return to England. He then agreed to a truce for six weeks, but which was afterwards prolonged, probably for a year, by the commissioners of the two crowns, who met at Kelso.

In 1401, Scotland suffered a great loss by the death of Walter Trail, the archbishop of St Andrew's, a most exemplary patriot, and a person of great influence. Archibald Douglas the Grim had died some time before, and his loss was now severely felt; for the king himself, naturally feeble, and now quite disabled by age and infirmities, was sequestered from the world in such a manner, that we know not even the place of his residence during the last invasion of Scotland by the English. This year also Queen Anabella died, so that none remained who were able to heal those divisions which prevailed among the royal family. Robert duke of Albany, a man of great ambition, was an enemy to the duke of Rothesay, the heir-apparent to the crown; and endeavoured, for obvious reasons, to impress his father with a bad opinion of him. This prince, however, appears to have been chargeable with no misdemeanor of any consequence, except his having debauched, under promise of marriage, the daughter of William Lindsay of Ross. But this is not supported by any credible evidence; and, though it had been true, could never have justified the horrid treatment he met with, and which we are now to relate.

One Ramorgny, a man of the vilest principles, but an attendant on the duke of Rothesay, had won his confidence; and, perceiving how much he resented the duke of Rothesay's conduct of his uncle the duke of Albany, had the villainy to suggest to the prince the dispatching him by assassination. The prince rejected this infamous proposal with such horror and displeasure, that the villain being afraid he would disclose it to the duke of Albany, informed the latter, under the seal of the most inviolable secrecy, that the prince intended to murder him; on which the duke, and William Lindsay of Ross his associate in the treason, resolved on the prince's death. By practising on the deposing king, Lindsay and Ramorgny obtained a writ directed to the duke of Albany, empowering him to arrest his son, and to keep him under restraint, in order for his amendment. The same traitors had previously possessed the prince with an apprehension that his life was in danger, and had persuaded him to seize the castle of St Andrew's, and keep possession of it during the vacancy of that see. Robert had nominated one of his bastard brethren, who was then deacon of St Andrew's, to that bishopric; but being a person no way fitted for such a dignity, he declined the honour, and the chapter refused to elect any other during his lifetime; so that the prince had a prospect of possessing the castle for some time. He was riding thither with a small attendance, when he was arrested between the towns of Nidi and Stratium (according to the continuator of Fordun), and hurried to the very castle of which he was preparing to take possession.

The duke of Albany, and the earl of Douglas, who was likewise the prince's enemy, were then at Culross, waiting the event of their detestable conspiracy; of which they were no sooner informed, than they ordered a strong body of ruffians to carry the royal captive from the castle of St Andrew's; which they did, after clothing him in a rufflet cloak, mounting him on a very sorry horse, and committing him to the custody of two execrable wretches, John Selkirk and John Wright, who were ordered by the duke of Albany to starve him to death. According to Buchanan, his fate was for some time prolonged by the compassion of one of his keeper's starved daughters, who thrust thin oaten cakes through the death-chinks. chinks of his prison-walls, and by a woman who, being a wet nurse, found means to convey part of her milk to him through a small tube. Both these charitable females were detected, and put to death; the young lady's inhuman father being himself the prosecutor. The prince himself died a few days after, on Easter-eve, his hunger having impelled him to devour part of his own flesh.

In the mean time, Robert, being yet ignorant of the murder of his son, had renewed, or rather consented to renew, hostilities with England. On the expiration of the truce, Henry had sent a commission to the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, to offer the Scots any terms they could reasonably desire; but every offer of this kind being rejected, there was a necessity for renewing hostilities. The earl of March had received another pension from Henry, on condition of his keeping on foot a certain number of light troops to act against the Scots. This had been done; and so effectually did these now annoy their enemies, that the earl of Douglas was obliged to take the field against them. By dividing his men into small parties, he repulsed the depredations of these invaders; and Thomas Haliburton, the commander of one of the Scottish parties, made incursions into England as far as Bamborough, from whence he returned with a considerable booty. This encouraged another chieftain, Patrick Hepburn, to make a similar attempt: but being elated with his success, he remained too long in the enemy's country; so that the earl of March had time to send a detachment to intercept him on his return. This produced a desperate encounter, in which Hepburn was killed; the flower of the youth of Lothian, who had attended in this expedition, were cut off, and scarcely a single Scotman remained unwounded.

On the news of this disaster, the earl of Douglas applied to the duke of Albany for assistance. He was immediately furnished with a considerable army, according to some, consisting of 10,000; according to others of 13,000; and according to the English historians, of 20,000 men. Murdock, the son of the duke, attended the earl on this expedition, as did also the earls of Moray, Angus, Orkney, and many others of the chief nobility, with 80 knights. The Scots on this occasion conducted themselves with the same imprudence as before. Having penetrated too far into the country, they were intercepted by the English on their return, and obliged to engage at a place called Homeldon, under great disadvantages. The consequence was, that they were utterly defeated, and almost the whole army either killed or taken.

Henry Hotspur, to whom chiefly this victory was owing, resolving to pursue the advantage he had gained, entered the southern parts of the kingdom, and laid siege to a castle called Cocklawes, on the borders of Teviotdale. The castle was for some time bravely defended; but at last the governor entered into a treaty, by which he agreed to deliver up the castle, in case it was not relieved by the king or governor in six weeks; during which time no additional fortifications were to be made. But while the English were retiring, one of Percy's soldiers pretended that the Scots had broken the capitulation, by introducing a mattock into the place. The governor, hearing of this charge, offered to fight any Englishman who should engage to make it good.

Vol. XVIII. Part II. claims of both were so intricate, that the examination fell to the ground, but at the same time the truce was prolonged.

In the end of the year 1409, or the beginning of 1410, the war was renewed with England, and Henry prepared to strike a fatal blow which he had long meditated against Scotland. He had, as we have seen, entered into a league with the lord of the Isles, where a considerable revolution then happened. Walter Leffey had succeeded to the estate and honours of the earl of Ross, in right of his wife, who was the heir. By that marriage, he had a son named Alexander, who succeeded him; and a daughter, Margaret, who was married to the lord of the Isles. This Alexander had married one of the regent's daughters; and dying young, he left behind him an only daughter, Euphane, who was deformed, and became a nun at North Berwick. Her grandfather, the regent, procured from her a resignation of the earldom of Ross, to which she was undoubtedly heir, in favour of John earl of Buchan, but in prejudice of Donald lord of the isles, who was the son of Margaret, sister to the earl Alexander, and consequently the nearest heir to the estate after the nun. Donald applied for redress; but his suit being rejected, he, with his brother John, fled into England, where he was most graciously received by King Henry. According to the instructions given him by the English monarch, Donald returned to his own dominions in the isles, where he raised an army, and passing over into Ross-shire, violently seized on the estate in dispute. In a short time he found himself at the head of 10,000 Highlanders; with whom he marched into the province of Moray, and from thence to Strathbogie and Garioch, which he laid under contribution. Advancing towards Aberdeen, with a view to pay his troops with the plunder of that city, which was then a place of considerable trade, he was met by the earl of Marr, whom the regent had employed to command against him, at a village called Harlaw, in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen. A fierce engagement ensued, in which great numbers were killed on both sides, and the victory remained uncertain: but Donald, finding himself in the midst of an enemy's country, where he could raise no recruits, began to retreat next day; and the flattered state of the royal army preventing him from being pursued, he escaped to his own dominions, where in a short time he submitted, and swore allegiance to the crown of Scotland.

In the mean time, Henry continued the war with Scotland, and refused to renew the truce, though frequently solicited by the Scots. He had now, however, suffered a great loss by the defection of the earl of March, who had gone over to the Scots, though the historians have not informed us of his quarrel with the English monarch. On his return to Scotland, he had been fully reconciled to the Douglas family, and now strove to distinguish himself in the cause of his country. This, with the countenance shown the Scots by the court of France, a bull published by the pope in their favour, and the vigorous behaviour of the regent himself, contributed to reduce Henry to reason; and we hear of no more hostilities between the two nations till after the death of the English monarch, which happened in the year 1413.

In 1415, the truce being either broken or expired, the Scots made great preparations for besieging Berwick. The undertaking, however, came to nothing; all that was done during the campaign being the burning of Penrith by the Scots, and of Dumfries by the English. Next year a truce was agreed on, and a treaty entered into for the ransom of King James; which was so far advanced, that the English king agreed to his visiting Scotland, provided he engaged to forfeit 100,000 pounds sterling, in case of his failure to return by a certain day. For reasons now unknown, this treaty was broken off, and vast preparations were made for a new invasion of Scotland; which, however, was executed with so little success, that it became known among the common people of Scotland by the name of the futile raid, or the foolish expedition.

In 1420, died Robert duke of Albany, regent of Scotland, at the age of 80; and such was the veneration which the Scots had for his memory, that his post of regent was conferred upon his eldest son Murdoch, though a person no way qualified for that station.—The war with England was now discontinued; but in France Henry met with the greatest opposition from the Scots auxiliaries, inasmuch, that at last he proclaimed all the Scots in the service of the dauphin to be rebels against their lawful sovereign, and threatened to treat them as such wherever he found them. It was not long before he had an opportunity of putting to the Scots this menace in execution; for the town and castle of Melun being obliged through famine to capitulate, one of the articles of capitulation was, that all the English and Scots in the place should be resigned to the absolute disposal of the king of England; and, in consequence of his resolution above mentioned, caused twenty Scots soldiers who were found in the place to be hanged as traitors. In 1421, Henry returned to England, and with him James the Scots king. On his arrival there, he was informed that the Scots, under the earl of Douglas, had made an irruption into England, where they had burned Newark, but had been forced to return to their own country by a pestilence, though a new invasion was daily expected. Instead of repelling this insult, Henry invited the earl of Douglas to a conference at York; in which the latter agreed to serve him during life, by sea and land, abroad or at home, against all living, except his own liege-lord the king of Scotland, with 200 foot, and as many horse, at his own charges; the king of England, in the mean time, allowing an annual revenue of 200l. for paying his expense in going to the army by sea or land.

At the same time, a new negociation was set on foot for the ransom of King James; but he did not obtain his liberty till the year 1424. Henry V. was then dead; and none of his generals being able to supply his place, the English power in France began to decline. They then became sensible how necessary it was to be at peace with Scotland, in order to detach such a formidable ally of James from the French interest. James was now highly caressed, and at his own liberty, within certain bounds. The English even consulted him about the manner of conducting the treaty for his ransom; and one Dougal Drummond, a priest, was sent with a safe conduct for the bishop of Glasgow chancellor of Scotland, Dunbar earl of March, John Montgomery of Ardrossan, Sir Patrick Dunbar of Bele, Sir Robert Lawder of Edington, rington, Sir William Borthwic of Borthwic, and Sir John Forrester of Corforphin, to have an interview, at Pomfret, with their master the captive king of Scotland, and there to treat respecting their common interests. Most of these noblemen and gentlemen had before been nominated to treat with the English about their king's return; and Dougal Drummond seems to have been a domestic favourite with James. Hitherto the Scottish king had been allowed an annual revenue of £200; but while he was making ready for his journey, his equipages and attendants were increased to those befitting a sovereign; and he received a present from the English treasury of £100, for his private expenses. That he might appear with a grandeur every way suitable to his dignity, at every stage were provided relays of horses, and all manner of fish, flesh, and fowl, with cooks and other servants for furnishing out the most sumptuous royal entertainment. In this meeting at Pomfret, James acted as a kind of a mediator between the English and his own subjects, to whom he fully laid himself open; but, in the mean time, the English regency issued a commission for settling the terms upon which James was to be restored, if he and his commissioners should lay a proper foundation for such a treaty. The English commissioners were, the bishops of Durham and Worcester, the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, the lords Nevil, Cornwall, and Chaworth, with master John Wodeham, and Robert Waterton. The instructions they received form one of the most curious passages of this history; and we shall here give them, as they are necessary for confirming all we have said concerning the dispositions of the two courts at this juncture.

First, To make a faint opposition to any private conference between the king of Scotland and the Scotch commissioners.

Secondly, To demand that, before the said king shall have his full liberty, the kingdom of Scotland should pay to the English government at least thirty-six thousand pounds as an equivalent, at two thousand pounds a-year, for the entertainment of King James, who was maintained by the court of England, and not to abate any thing of that sum; but if possible to get forty thousand pounds.

Thirdly, That if the Scots should agree to the payment of the said sum, the English commissioners should take sufficient security and hostages for the payment of the same; and that if they should not (as there was great reason for believing they would) be so far mollified, by such easy terms, as to offer to enter upon a negotiation for a final and perpetual peace between the two people, that then the English should propose the same in the most handsome manner they could. Further, that if such difficulties should arise as might make it impracticable immediately to conclude such perpetual peace, that the English ambassadors should, under pretence of paving a way for the same, propose a long truce.

Fourthly, That if the English commissioners should succeed in bringing the Scots to agree to the said truce, they should further urge, that they should not send to Charles of France, or to any of the enemies of England, any succours by sea or land. Further, that the said English commissioners should employ their utmost endeavours to procure the recall of the troops already furnished by the Scots to France. The English are commanded to insist very strenuously upon this point, but with discretion.

Fifthly, If the Scots should, as a further bond of amity between the two nations, propose a marriage between their king and some noblewoman of England, the English commissioners are to make answer, "That the king of Scots is well acquainted with many noblewomen, and even those of the blood-royal, in England; and that if the king of the Scots shall please to open his mind more freely on that head, the English commissioners shall be very ready to enter upon conferences thereupon." But (continues the record) in case the Scotch commissioners should make no mention of any such alliance by marriage, it will not appear decent for the English to mention the same, because the women of England, at least the noblewomen, are not used to offer themselves in marriage to men.

Sixthly, If there should be any mention made concerning reparation of damages, that the commissioners should then proceed upon the same as they should think most proper; and that they should have power to offer safe-conduct to as many of the Scots as should be demanded, for to repair to the court of England. Those instructions are dated at Westminster, July 6th 1423.

Nothing definitive was concluded at this treaty, but that another meeting should be held at York instead of Pomfret. This meeting accordingly took place. The English commissioners were, Thomas bishop of Durham, chancellor of England, Philip bishop of Winchester, Henry Percy earl of Northumberland, and Mr John Wodeham. Those for Scotland were, William bishop of Glasgow, George earl of March, James Douglas of Balveny, his brother Patrick abbot of Cambuskenneth, John abbot of Balmerino, Sir Patrick Dunbar of Bele, Sir Robert Lauder of Edlington, George Borthwic archdeacon of Glasgow, and Patrick Houston canon of Glasgow. On the 10th of September, after their meeting, they came to the following agreement:

First, That the king of Scotland and his heirs, as an equivalent for his entertainment while in England, should pay to the king of England and his heirs, at London, in the church of St Paul, by equal proportions, the sum of £40,000 sterling.

Secondly, That the first payment, amounting to the sum of ten thousand merks, should be made six months after the king of Scotland's entering his own kingdom; that the like sum should be paid the next year, and so on during the space of six years, when the whole sum would be cleared; unless, after payment of forty thousand merks, the last payment of ten thousand should be remitted, at the intreaty of the most illustrious prince Thomas duke of Exeter.

Thirdly, That the king of Scotland, before entering his own kingdom, should give sufficient hostages for performance on his part. But, in regard that the Scots plenipotentiaries had no instructions concerning hostages, it was agreed,

Fourthly, That the king of Scotland should be at Bramshott, or Durham, by the first of March next, where he should be attended by the nobles of his blood, and other subjects, in order to fix the number and quality of the hostages.

Fifthly, That, to cement and perpetuate the amity of the two kingdoms, the governor of Scotland should Scotland, send ambassadors to London, with power to conclude a contract of marriage between the king of Scotland and some lady of the first quality in England.

It is probable that James had already fixed his choice upon the lady Joan, daughter to the late earl of Somerset, who was son to John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, by his second marriage; but he made his people the compliment, not only of consulting their opinion, but of concluding the match. The commissioners, after their agreement at York, proceeded towards London; and Thomas Somerville of Carnwath, with Walter Ogilvy, were added to their number. Being arrived at that capital, they ratified the former articles, and undertook for their king, that he should deliver his hostages to the king of England's officers, in the city of Durham, before the last day of the ensuing month of March; that he should also deliver to the said officers four obligatory letters, for the whole sum of 40,000l. from the four burghs of Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen; that he should give his obligatory letter to the same purpose, before removing from Durham, and should renew the same four days after his arrival in his own kingdom; that the hostages might be changed from time to time for others of the same fortune and quality; that if any of them should die in England, others should be sent thither in their room; and that while they continued to stay in England, they should live at their own charges.

The marriage of James with the lady Joan Beaumont was celebrated in the beginning of February 1424. The young king of England presented him with a suit of cloth of gold for the ceremony; and the next day he received a legal discharge of 10,000 pounds, to be deducted from the 40,000 at which his ransom was fixed, and which sum was given as the marriage-portion of the lady. The ceremony being performed, the king and queen set out for Durham, where the hostages were waiting; and arrived at his own dominions, along with the earl of Northumberland and the chief of the northern nobility, who attended him with great pomp. On the 26th of April the same year, he was crowned at Scone; after which ceremony, he followed the example practised by other sovereigns at that time, of knighting several noblemen and gentlemen.

During the dependence of the treaty for James's release, the Scots had emigrated to France, in such numbers, that no fewer than 15,000 of them now appeared in arms under the duke of Touraine; but as the history of the war in that country has already been given under the article FRANCE, we shall take no farther notice of it, but return to the affairs of Scotland.

On his return James found himself in a disagreeable situation. The great maxim of the duke of Albany, when regent, had been to maintain himself in power by exempting the lower class of people from taxes of every kind. This plan had been continued by his son Murdoch; but as the latter was destitute of his father's abilities, the people abused their happiness, and Scotland became such a scene of rapine, that no commoner could say he had a property in his own estate. The Stewart family, on their accession to the crown of Scotland, possessed a very considerable patrimonial estate, independent of the standing revenues of the crown, which consisted chiefly of customs, wards, and reliefs. The revenues of the paternal estate belonging to James, had they been regularly transmitted to him, would have more than maintained him in a splendour equal to his dignity, while he was in England; nor would he in that case have had any occasion for an allowance from the king of England. But as the duke of Albany never intended that his nephew should return, he parcelled out among his favourites the estates of the Stewart family, in such a manner that James on his return found all his patrimonial revenues gone, and many of them in the hands of his best friends; so that he had nothing to depend on for the support of himself and his court but the crown-revenues above mentioned, and even some of these had been mortgaged during the late regency. This circumstance, of itself sufficiently disagreeable, was attended with two others, which tended to make it more so. The one was, that the hostages which had been left for the king's ransom in England, being all persons of the first rank, were attended by their wives, families, children, and equipages, which rivalled those of the same rank in England, and drew a great deal of ready money out of the nation. The other circumstances arose from the charge of the Scots army in France; where Charles, who had never been in a condition to support it, was now reduced to the utmost necessity: while the revenues of James himself were both scanty and precarious. To remedy these inconveniences, therefore, the king obtained from his parliament an act obliging the sheriffs of the respective counties to inquire what lands and estates had belonged to his ancestors David II., Robert II., and Robert III.; and James formed a resolution of refusing these lands wherever they could be discovered, without regard to persons or circumstances. On this occasion many of the most illustrious personages in the kingdom were arrested: the duke of Albany, his several two sons, and the earl of Lennox the duke's father-in-the-nobility law, were put to death, though their crimes are not executed specified by historians.

James now proceeded with great spirit to reform the abuses which had pervaded every department of the state, protected and encouraged learning and learned men, and even kept a diary in which he wrote down the names of all the learned men whom he thought deserving of his encouragement. James himself wrote some poetry; and in music, was such an excellent composer, that he is with good reason looked upon as the father of Scots music, which has been so much admired for its elegant simplicity. He introduced organs into his chapels, and a much better style of architecture into all buildings whether civil or religious. Nor did he confine his cares to the fine arts, but encouraged and protected those of all kinds which were useful in society; and, in short, he did more towards the civilization of his people than had been done by any of his predecessors.

In the mean time the truce continued with England. James, however, seemed not to have any inclination to enter into a lasting alliance with that kingdom. On the contrary, in 1428, he entered into a treaty with France; by which it was agreed, that a marriage should be concluded between the dauphin of France, afterwards Louis XI. and the young princes of Scotland; and so great was the necessity of King Charles for troops at that time, that he demanded only 6000 forces as a portion for the princes.

The rest of the reign of James was spent in reform- ing abuses, curbing the authority of the great barons, and recovering the royal estates out of the hands of usurpers. In this, however, he used too much severity, that he was at last murdered, in the year 1437. The perpetrators of this murder were the earl of Athol; Robert Graham, who was connected with the earl, and who was discontented on account of his losing the estate of Strathern, which had been re-annexed to the crown; and Robert, grand-child and heir to the earl of Athol, and one of the king's domestics. The king had dismissed his army, without even referring to himself a body-guard, and was at supper in a Dominican convent in the neighbourhood of Perth. Graham had for some time been at the head of a gang of outlaws, and is said to have brought a party of them to Perth in the dead of the night, where he posted them near the convent. Walter Stratton, one of the king's cup-bearers, went to bring some wine to the king while at supper; but perceiving armed men standing in the passage, he gave the alarm, and was immediately killed. Catharine Douglas, one of the queen's maids of honour, ran to bolt the outer door; but the bar was taken away by Robert Stuart, in order to facilitate the entrance of the murderers. The lady thrust her arm into the staple; but it was instantly broken, and the conspirators rushed in upon the king. Patrick Dunbar, brother to the earl of March, was killed in attempting to defend his sovereign, and the queen received two wounds in attempting to interpose herself between her husband and the daggers of the assassins. James defended himself as long as he could; but at last expired under the repeated strokes of his murderers, after having received 28 wounds.

In the reign of James I., several important regulations were made for the improvement of the internal policy of the kingdom. James's long residence in England, then a great and happy nation, had taught him, that the prosperity of a people depended much on the wisdom of the legislature, in enacting salutary laws, and on the activity of the chief magistrates in putting them in execution. In his third parliament, was passed an act, which affords the first appearance of a College of Justice in Scotland. By this it was ordained, that the king might appoint the chancellor, and three discreet persons of the three estates, to act as the Session, whenever the king should think fit, three times in the year, for determination of such causes as had before been adjudged by the king and his council. In 1425, it was enacted, that five wise men of the three estates should examine the books of law, which then consisted of what were called Regiam Majestatem et Quoniam Archiepistula, and should amend what needed amendment. Various statutes were made, called the Black Acts, for preserving domestic tranquillity, diminishing the exorbitant power of the nobles, and promoting religious worship. Happy would it have been for Scotland if so wise a monarch had lived to execute strictly what had been enacted in so many parliaments for the general good of a wretched nation.

After the murder of James I., the crown devolved on his son James II., at that time only seven years of age. A parliament was immediately called by the queen-mother, at which the most cruel punishments were decreed to the murderers of the late king. The crime, no doubt, deserved an exemplary punishment; but the barbarities inflicted on some of those wretches are shocking to relate. Within less than six weeks after the death of the king, all the conspirators were brought to Edinburgh, arraigned, condemned, and executed. The meaner sort were hanged; but on the earl of Athol and Robert Graham the most cruel torments were inflicted, such as pinching with hot irons, dislocation of the joints, &c. The earl of Athol, had, besides, a crown of red-hot iron put on his head; and was afterwards cut up alive, his heart taken out, and thrown into a fire. In short, so dreadful were these punishments, that Æneas Sylvius, the pope's nuncio, who beheld them, said, that he was at a loss to determine whether the crime committed by the regicides, or the punishment inflicted upon them, was the greater.

As the late king had prescribed no form of regency in case of his death, the settlement of the government became a matter of great difficulty as well as importance. Archibald earl of Douglas, who had been created duke of Touraine in France, was by far the greatest subject in the kingdom; but as he had not been a favourite in the preceding reign, and the people were now disgusted with regencies, he was not formally appointed to the administration, though by his high rank he in fact enjoyed the supreme power as long as he lived; which, however, was but a short time. He died Supreme the same year (1438); and Sir Alexander Livingstone of Callendar was appointed to succeed him as governor of the kingdom, that is, to have the executive power, while William Crichton, as chancellor, had the direction of the civil courts. This was a most unfortunate partition of power for the public. The governor and chancellor quarrelled; the latter took possession of the king's person and the castle of Edinburgh, to neither of which he had any right; but the former had on his side the queen-mother, a woman of intrigue and spirit. Her son was shut up in the castle of Edinburgh; and in a short time there was no appearance either of law or government in Scotland. The governor's edicts were counteracted by those of the chancellor under the king's name, and those who obeyed the chancellor were punished by the governor; while the young earl of Douglas, with his numerous followers and dependents, was a declared enemy of both parties, whom he equally fought to destroy.

The queen-mother demanded access to her son, which Crichton could find no pretext for denying her; and she was accordingly admitted with a small train into liberty. She played her part so well, and dissembled with so much art, that the chancellor, believing she had become a convert to his cause, treated her with unbounded confidence, and suffered her at all hours to have free access to her son's person. Pretending that she had vowed a pilgrimage to the white church of Buchan, she recommended the care of her son's person, till her return, to the chancellor, in the most pathetic and affectionate terms: but, in the mean time, she secretly sent him to Leith, packed up in a clothes-chest; and both she and James were received at Stirling by the governor before the escape was known. As every thing had been managed in concert with Livingstone, he immediately called together his friends; and laying before them the tyrannical behaviour of the chancellor, it was resolved to besiege him in the castle of Edinburgh, the queen promising to open her own granaries. Scotland, for the use of the army. The chancellor foresaw the storm that was likely to fall upon him, and fought to prevent it by applying to the earl of Douglas. That haughty nobleman answered him in the terms already mentioned, and that he was preparing to exterminate both parties. The siege of Edinburgh castle being formed, the chancellor demanded a parley, and a personal interview with the governor; to which the latter, who was no stranger to the sentiments of Douglas, readily agreed. Common danger united them in a common cause; and the chancellor resigning to the other the custody of the castle and the king's person, with the highest professions of duty and loyalty, the two competitors swore an inviolable friendship for each other.

Next day the king cemented their union, by confirming both of them in their respective charges.

The lawless example of the earl of Douglas encouraged the other great landholders to gratify their private animosities, sometimes at the expense of their honour as well as their humanity. A family difference happened between Sir Allan Stuart of Darnley, and Thomas Boyd of Kilmarnock; but it was concluded that both parties should come to a peaceable agreement at Polmaifthorn, between Linlithgow and Falkirk, where Stuart was treacherously murdered by his enemy. Stuart's death was revenged by his brother, Sir Alexander Stuart of Beilmouth, who challenged Boyd to a pitched battle, the principals being attended by a retinue which carried the resemblance of small armies. The conflict was fierce and bloody, each party retiring in its turn, and charging with fresh fury; but at last victory declared itself for Stuart, the bravest of Boyd's attendants being cut off in the field.

About this time, the islanders, under two of their chieftains, Lauchlan Maclean and Murdoc Gibson, notorious freebooters, invaded Scotland, and ravaged the province of Lenox with fire and sword. They were opposed by John Colquhoun of Lufs, whom they flew, some say treacherously, and others, in an engagement at Lochlomond, near Inchmartin. After this, the robbers grew more outrageous than ever, not only filling all the neighbouring country with rapine, but murdering the aged, infants, and the defenceless of both sexes. At last, all the labouring hands in the kingdom being engaged in domestic broils, none were left for agriculture; and a dreadful famine ensued, attended, as usual, by a pestilence. James was now about ten years of age; and the wisest part of the kingdom agreed, that the public distresses were owing to a total disrespect of the royal authority. The young earl of Douglas never had fewer than 1000, and sometimes 2000 horse in his train; so that none was found hardy enough to controul him. He pretended to be independent of the king and his courts of law; that he had a right of judicature upon his own large estates; and that he was entitled to the exercise of royal power. In consequence of this he issued his orders, gave protections to thieves and murderers, affected to brave the king, made knights, and, according to some writers, even noblemen, of his own dependents, with a power of fitting in parliament.

The queen-mother was not wholly guiltless of those abuses. She had fallen in love with and married Sir James Stuart, who was commonly called the Black knight of Lorn, brother to the lord of that title, and a descendant of the house of Darnley. Affection for her husband caused her to renew her political intrigues; and not finding a ready compliance in the governor, her interest inclined towards the party of the Douglases. The governor sought to strengthen his authority by restoring the exercise of the civil power, and the reverence due to the person of the sovereign.

The conduct of the lord Callendar was in many respects not so defensible, either as to prudence or policy. When the queen expressed her inclinations that her husband might be admitted to some part of the administration, the governor threw both him and his brother the lord Lorn into prison, on a charge of undutiful practices against the state, and abetting the earl of Douglas in his enormities. The queen, taking fire at her husband's imprisonment, was herself confined in a mean apartment within the castle of Stirling; and a convention of the states was called, to judge in what manner she was to be proceeded against. The case was unprecedented and difficult; nor is it credible that the governor would have carried matters to such extremity, had he not had strong evidence of her illegal behaviour. She was even obliged to dissemble her resentment, by making an open profession before the states, that she had always been entirely innocent of her husband's practices, and that she would for the future behave as a peaceable and dutiful subject to the laws and the sovereign.

Upon making this purgation (as Lindsay calls it), she was released, as also her husband and his brother, being bailed by the chancellor and the lord Gordon, who became sureties for their good behaviour in the penalty of 4000 merks. The governor was afterwards accused of many arbitrary and partial acts of power; and indeed, if we consider his situation, and the violence of the parties which then divided Scotland, it was almost impossible, consistently with his own safety, to have exerted the virtues either of patriotism or moderation.

The chancellor was exceedingly vexed at the small regard which the governor paid to his person and dignity, and secretly connected himself with the queen-mother; but in the mean time he remained at Edinburgh. The king and his mother continued all this time at Stirling; where the governor, on pretence of consulting the public safety, and that of the king's person, maintained a strong guard, part of which attended James in his juvenile exercises and diversions. The queen-mother did not fail to represent this to her son as a restraint on his liberty; and obtained his consent to put himself into the chancellor's hands. The latter, who was a man of activity and courage, knew well how to avail himself of this permission; and, when the king crossed the Forth in the dark with a strong body of horse, they surrounded the king as he was hunting next morning by break of day. It was easy to perceive from the behaviour of James, that he was no stranger to the chancellor's attempt; but some of the king's guard offering to dispute the possession of his person, Sir William Livingston, the governor's eldest son, restrained them, and suffered the king to depart quietly. This surprisal happened on a day when the governor was absent from Stirling; and the chancellor, to make sure of his royal acquisition, entered Edinburgh. burgh at the head of 4000 horse, where the king and he were received by the citizens with loud acclamations of joy.

The governor showed no emotion at what had happened; on the contrary, he invited the chancellor to an interview, and settled all differences with him in an amicable manner. The young lord Douglas, however, continued to brave both parties. As if he had been a sovereign prince, he demanded by his ambassadors, Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld, and Allan Lawder, the investiture of the sovereignty of Touraine from Charles the seventh of France; which being readily granted him, served to increase his pride and insolence. The first-fruits of the accommodation between the two great officers of state was the holding of a parliament at Edinburgh, for redressing the public disorders occasioned by the earl of Douglas; and encouragement was given to all persons who had been injured to make their complaints. The numbers which on that occasion resorted to Edinburgh were incredible; parents, children, and women, demanding vengeance for the murder of their relations, or the plunder of their estates; till, by the multiplicity of their complaints, they became without remedy, none being found bold enough to encounter the earl of Douglas, or to endeavour to bring him to a fair trial. The parties therefore were dismissed without relief, and it was resolved to proceed with the haughty earl in a different manner. Letters were written to him, by the governor and chancellor, and in the name of the states, requesting him to appear with his friends in parliament, and to take that lead in public affairs to which they were intitled by their high rank and great possessions. The manner in which those letters were penned made the thoughtless earl consider them as a tribute due to his greatness, and as proceeding from the inability of the government to continue the administration of public affairs without his countenance and direction. Without dreaming that any man in Scotland would be so bold as to attack him, even single or unarmed, he answered the letters of the chancellor and governor, by affurring them that he intended to set out for Edinburgh: the chancellor, on pretence of doing him honour, but in reality to quiet his suspicions, met him while he was on his journey; and inviting him to his castle of Crichton, he there entertained him for some days with the greatest magnificence and appearance of hospitality. The earl of Douglas believed all the chancellor's professions of friendship, and even sharply checked the wits of his followers, who counselled him not to depend too much on appearances, or to trust his brother and himself at the same time in any place where the chancellor had power. The latter had not only removed the earl's suspicion, but had made him a kind of convert to patriotism, by painting to him the miseries of his country, and the glory that must redound to him and his friends in removing them. It was in vain for his attendants to remind him of his father's maxim, never to risk himself and his brother at the same time: he without hesitation attended the chancellor to Edinburgh; and being admitted into the castle, they dined at the same table with the king. Towards the end of the entertainment, a bull's head, the certain prelude of immediate death, was served up. The earl and his brother started to their feet, and endeavoured to make their escape: but armed men rushing in, overpowered them, and tying their hands and those of Sir Malcolm Fleming with cords, they were carried to the hill and beheaded. The young death with king endeavoured with tears to procure their pardon; his brother, for which he was feverishly checked by the unrelenting chancellor.

In 1443, the king being arrived at the age of 14, declared himself out of the years of minority, and took upon himself the administration of affairs. He appears to have been a prince of great spirit and resolution; and he had occasion for it. He had appointed one Robert Sempil of Fulwood to be chief governor of the castle of Dumbarton; but he was killed by one Galbraith (a noted partisan of the earl of Douglas), who seized upon the government of the castle. The popularity of the family of Douglas having somewhat subsided, and the young earl finding himself not supported by the chief branches of his family, he began to think, now that the king was grown up, his safest course would be to return to his duty. He accordingly repaired to the king at Stirling; and voluntarily threw himself at his majesty's feet, implored pardon for the king, all his transgressions, and solemnly promised that he would ever after set a pattern of duty and loyalty to all the rest of his subjects. The king, finding that he insisted on no terms but that of pardon, and that he had unconditionally put himself into his power, not only granted his request, but made him the partner of his most councils.

James had always disliked the murder of the earl of Douglas and his brother; and the chancellor, perceiving the ascendancy which this earl was daily gaining at court, thought it high time to provide for his own safety. He therefore resigned the great seal, and retired to the castle of Edinburgh, the custody of which he pretended had been granted to him by the late king during his life, or till the present king should arrive at the age of 21; and prepared it for a siege. The lord Great di-Callendar who knew himself equally obnoxious as disturbances Crichton was to the earl of Douglas, and that he could not maintain his footing by himself, resigned likewise all his posts, and retired to one of his own houses, but kept possession of the castle of Stirling. As both that and the castle of Edinburgh were royal forts, the two lords were summoned to surrender them; but instead of complying, they justified their conduct by the great power of their enemies, who fought their destruction, and who had been so lately at the head of robbers and outlaws: but promised to surrender themselves to the king as soon as he was of lawful age, (meaning, we suppose, either 18 or 21). This answer being deemed contumacious, the chancellor and the late governor, with his two sons Sir Alexander and Sir James Livingston, were proclaimed traitors in a parliament which was summoned on purpose to be held at Stirling. In another parliament held at Perth the same year, an act passed, that all the lands and goods which had belonged to the late king should be possessed by the present king to the time of his lawful age, which is not specified. This act was levelled against the late governor and chancellor, who were accused of having alienated to their own uses, or to those of their friends, a great part of the royal effects and jewels; and their estates being confiscated, the execution... Scotland. execution of the sentence was committed to John Forrester of Corforphlin, and other adherents of the earl of Douglas.

This sentence threw all the nation into a flame. The castle of Crichton was besieged; and being surrendered on the king's summons and the display of the royal banner, it was levelled with the ground. It soon appeared that the governor and chancellor, the latter especially, had many friends; and in particular Kennedy archbishop of St Andrews, nephew to James the First, who sided with them from the dread and hatred they bore to the earl of Douglas and his family. Crichton thus soon found himself at the head of a body of men; and while Forrester was carrying fire and sword into his estates and those of the late governor, his own lands and those of the Douglases were overrun. Corforphlin, Abercorn, Blacknefs, and other places, were plundered; and Crichton carried off from them more booty than he and his adherents had lost. Particular mention is made of a fine breed of mares which Douglas lost on this occasion. That nobleman was so much exasperated by the great damages he had sustained, that he engaged his friends the earl of Crawford and Alexander Ogilvy of Innerquharity, to lay waste the lands of the archbishop of St Andrew's, whom he considered as the chief support of the two ministers. This prelate was not more considerable by his high birth, than he was venerable by his virtue and sanctity; and had, from a principle of conscience, opposed the earl of Douglas and his party. Being conscious he had done nothing that was illegal, he first admonished the earl of Crawford and his coadjutor to desist from destroying his lands; but finding his admonitions ineffectual, he laid the earl under an excommunicate.

That nobleman was almost as formidable in the northern, as the earl of Douglas had been in the southern parts of Scotland. The Benedictine monks of Aberbrothock, who were possessed of great property, had chosen Alexander Lindlay, his eldest son, to be the judge or bailiff of their temporalities; as they themselves, by their profession, could not fit in civil or criminal courts. Lindlay proved so chargeable to the monks, by the great number of his attendants, and his high manner of living, that their chapter removed him from his post, and substituted in his place Alexander Ogilvy of Innerquharity, guardian to his nephew John Ogilvy of Airlie, who had an hereditary claim on the bailiwick. This, notwithstanding their former intimacy, created an irreconcilable difference between the two families. Each competitor strengthened himself by calling in the assistance of his friends; and the lord Gordon taking part with the Ogilvies, to whom he was then paying a visit, both parties immediately mustered in the neighbourhood of Aberbrothock. The earl of Crawford, who was then at Dundee, immediately posted to Aberbrothock, and placing himself between the two armies, he demanded to speak with Ogilvy; but, before his request could be granted, he was killed by a common soldier, who was ignorant of his quality. His death exasperated his friends, who immediately rushed on their enemies; and a bloody conflict ensued, which ended to the advantage of the Lindlays, that is, the earl of Crawford's party. On that of the Ogilvies were killed Sir John Oliphant of Aberdalgy, John Forbes of Pitligo, Alexander Barclay of Gartley, Robert Maxwell of Teling, Duncan Campbell of Campbellfether, William Gordon of Burrowfield, and others. With these gentlemen, about 500 of their followers are said to have fallen; but some accounts diminish that number. Innerquharity himself, in flying, was taken prisoner, and carried to the earl of Crawford's house at Finhaven, where he died of his wounds; but the lord Gordon (or, as others call him, the earl of Huntley) escaped by the swiftness of his horse.

This battle seems to have let loose the fury of civil discord all over the kingdom. No regard was paid to magistracy, nor to any description of men but that of clergy. The most numerous, fiercest, and best allied family, wreaked its vengeance on its foes, either by force or treachery; and the enmity that actuated the parties, stifled every sentiment of honour, and every feeling of humanity. The Lindlays, secretly abetted and strengthened by the earl of Douglas, made no other use of their victory than carrying fire and sword through the estates of their enemies; and thus all the north of Scotland presented scenes of murder and devastation. In the west, Robert Boyd of Duchal, governor of Dumbarton, treacherously surprised Sir James Stuart of Achmynto, and treated his wife with such inhumanity, that she expired in three days under her confinement in Dumbarton castle. The castle of Dunbar was taken by Patrick Hepburn of Hales, Alexander Dunbar dispossessed the latter of his castle of Hales; but it was retaken by the partizans of the earl of Douglas, whose tenants, particularly those of Annandale, are said to have behaved at that time with peculiar ferocity and cruelty. At last, the gentlemen of the country, who were unconnected with those robbers and murderers, which happened to be the case with many, shut themselves up in their several houses; each of which, in those days, was a petty fortress, which they victualled, and provided in the best manner they could for their own defence. This wise measure seems to have been the first measure that composed the public commotions.

The earl of Douglas, whose power and influence at court still continued, was sensible that the clergy, with the wiser and more disinterested part of the kingdom, considered him as the source of the dreadful calamities which the nation suffered; and that James himself, when better informed, would be of the same opinion. He therefore sought to avail himself of the juncture, by forming secret but strong connections with the earls of Crawford, Rothes, and other great noblemen, who desired to see their feudal powers restored to their full vigour. The queen-dowager and her husband made little or no figure during this season of public confusion: she had retired to the castle of Dunbar, while it was in Hepburn's possession, where she died soon after. She left by her second husband three sons; John, who in 1455 was made earl of Athol, by his uterine brother the king; James, who under the next reign, in 1469, was created earl of Buchan; and Andrew, who afterwards became bishop of Murray. As the earl of Douglas was an enemy to the queen-dowager's husband, the latter retired to England, where he obtained a pass to go abroad, with 20 in his train; but being taken at sea by the Flemish pirates, he died in confinement.

The great point between the king and Sir William Crichton Crichton, whether the latter should give up the castle to his majesty, remained still undecided; and by the advice and direction of the earl of Douglas, who had been created lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, it had now suffered a nine months siege. Either the strength of the castle, or an opinion entertained by Douglas that Crichton would be a valuable acquisition to his party, procured better terms for the latter than he could otherwise have expected; for he and his followers were offered a full indemnity for all past offences, and a promise was made that he should be restored not only to the king's favour, but to his former post of chancellor. He accepted the conditions; but refused to act in any public capacity till they were confirmed by a parliament, which was soon after held at Perth, and in which he was restored to his estate and honours. By this reconciliation between Douglas and Crichton, the former was left at full liberty to prosecute his vengeance against the lord Callendar, the late governor, his friends and family. That vengeance was exercised with rigour. The governor himself, Sir James Dundas of Dundas, and Sir Robert Bruce of Clackmannan, were forced to save their lives by the loss of their estates; but even that could not preserve their liberty, for they were sent prisoners to the castle of Dumbarton. The fate of Alexander, the governor's eldest son, and of two other gentlemen of his name and family, was still more lamentable; for they were condemned to lose their heads. These severities being inflicted after the king had in a manner readmitted the sufferers into his favour, fanned the public outcry against the earl of Douglas. We have in Lindlay an extract of the speech which Alexander Livingston, one of the most accomplished gentlemen of his time, made on the scaffold, in which he complained, with great bitterness, of the cruel treatment which his father, himself, and his friends, had undergone; and that he suffered by a packed jury of his enemies.

The king being now about 18 years of age, it was thought proper that a suitable comfort should be provided for him; and, after various consultations, Mary, the daughter of Arnold duke of Gueldres, was chosen, at the recommendation of Charles king of France, though the marriage was not completed till some time after. This produced an immediate rupture with England. The earls of Salisbury and Northumberland entered Scotland at the head of two separate bodies. The former burnt the town of Dumfries, as the latter did that of Dunbar; while Sir John Douglas of Balveny made reprisals by plundering the county of Cumberland, and burning Alnwick. On the return of the English armies to their own country, additional levies were made, and a fresh invasion of Scotland was resolved on under the earl of Northumberland, who had with him a lieutenant, whom the Scots of those days, from the bushiness and colour of his beard, called Magnus with the red mane. He was a soldier of fortune, but an excellent officer, having been trained in the French wars; and he is said to have demanded no other recompense for his services from the English court, but that he should enjoy all he could conquer in Scotland. The Scots, in the mean time, had raised an army commanded by George Douglas earl of Ormond, and under him by Wallace of Craigie, with the lords Maxwell and Johnston. The English having passed Solway frith, ravaged all that part of the country which belonged to the Scots; but hearing that the earl of Ormond's army was approaching, called in their parties, and fixed their camp on the banks of the river Sark. Their advanced guard was commanded by Magnus; their centre by the earl of Northumberland; and the rear, which was composed of Welsh, by Sir John Pennington, an officer of courage and experience.

The Scots drew up in three divisions likewise. Their right wing was commanded by Wallace, the centre by the earl of Ormond, and their left wing by the lords Maxwell and Johnston. Before the battle began, the earl of Ormond harangued his men, and inspired them with very high resentment against the English, who, he said, had treacherously broken the truce. The signal for battle being given, the Scots under Wallace rushed forward on their enemies; but, as usual, were received by so terrible a discharge from the English archers, that their impetuosity must have been stopped, had not their brave leader Wallace put them in mind, that their forefathers had always been defeated in distant fights by the English, and that they ought to trust to their swords and spears; commanding them at the same time to follow his example. They obeyed, and broke in upon the English commanded by Magnus, with such fury, as soon fixed the fortune of the day on the side of the Scots, their valour being suitably seconded by the other two divisions. The slaughter (which was the more considerable as both parties fought with the utmost animosity) fell chiefly upon the division commanded by Magnus, who was killed, performing the part of a brave officer; and all his body-guard, consisting of picked soldiers, were cut in pieces.

The battle then became general: Sir John Pennington's division, with that under the earl of Northumberland, was likewise routed; and the whole English army, struck by the loss of their champion, fled towards the Solway, where, the river being swollen by the tide, numbers of them were drowned. The loss of the English in slain amounted to at least 3000 men. Among the prisoners were Sir John Pennington, Sir Robert Harrington, and the earl of Northumberland's eldest son the lord Percy, who lost his own liberty in forwarding his father's escape. Of the Scots about 600 were killed; but none of note, excepting the brave Wallace, who died three months after of the wounds he had received in this battle. The booty that was made on this occasion is said to have been greater than any that had fallen to the Scots since the battle of Bannockburn.

The remaining history of this turbulent reign consists almost entirely of a relation of the cabals and conspiracies of the earls of the great men. The earl of Douglas had entered into a confederacy with the earls of Crawford, Moray, others, and Ross, and appeared on all occasions with such a train of followers as bade defiance to royal power itself. This insolence was detested by the wiser part of the nation; and one Maclellan, who is called the Tutor of Bemby, and was nephew to Sir Patrick Gray, captain of the king's guard, refused to give any attendance on the earl, or to concur in his measures, but remained at home as a quiet subject. This inoffensive behaviour was by the earl considered as treason against himself; and violently seizing on Maclellan's house and person, he sent him close prisoner to the castle of Douglas. As

Vol. XVIII. Part II. Scotland. Maclellan was a gentleman of great worth and reputation, his uncle Gray applied effectually to James in his favour; and such was that prince's regard for Maclellan, that he wrote and signed a letter for his release, addressed to the earl of Douglas. Upon Gray's delivering this letter to Douglas at his castle, the latter seemed to receive it with the highest respect, and to treat Gray with the greatest hospitality, by inviting him to dinner; but, in the mean time, he gave private orders that Maclellan's head should be struck off, and his body exposed upon the green before the castle covered with a linen cloth. After dinner, the earl told Gray that he was ready to obey the king's commands; and conducting him to the green, he showed him the lifeless trunk, which he said Gray might dispose of as he pleased. Upon this, Gray mounted his horse, and trusted to his swiftness for his own safety; for he was pursued by the earl's attendants to the gates of Edinburgh.

The conspiracy against James's government was now no longer a secret. The lords Balveny and Hamilton, with such a number of other barons and gentlemen, had acceded to it, that it was thought to be more powerful than all the force the king could bring into the field. Even Crichton advised James to dissemble. The confederates entered into a solemn bond and oath never to desert one another during life; and, to make use of Drummond's words, "That injuries done to any one of them should be done to them all, and be a common quarrel; neither should they desist, to their best abilities, to revenge them: that they should concur indifferently against whatsoever persons within or without the realm, and spend their lives, lands, goods, and fortunes, in defense of their debates and differences whatsoever." All who did not enter into this association were treated as enemies to the public; their lands were destroyed, their effects plundered, and they themselves imprisoned or murdered. Drummond says, that Douglas was then able to bring 45,000 men into the field; and that his intention was to have placed the crown of Scotland on his own head. How far he might have been influenced by a scene of the same nature that was then passing between the houses of York and Lancaster in England, we shall not pretend to determine; though it does not appear that his intention was to wear the crown himself, but to render it despicable on his foreigner's head. It is evident, from his behaviour, that he did not affect royalty; for when James invited him to a conference in the castle of Stirling, he offered to comply provided he had a safe-conduct. This condition plainly implied, that he had no reliance on the late act of parliament, which declared the proclamation of the king's peace to be a sufficient security for life and fortune to all his subjects; and there is no denying that the safe-conduct was expedited in the form and manner required.

This being obtained, the earl began his march towards Stirling with his usual great retinue; and arrived there on Shrove-Tuesday. He was received by the king as if he had been the best of his friends, as well as the greatest of his subjects, and admitted to sup with his majesty in the castle, while his attendants were dispersed in the town, little suspecting the catastrophe that followed. The entertainment being over, the king told the earl with an air of frankness, "That as he was now of age, he was resolved to be the father of all his people, and to take the government into his own hands; that his lordship, therefore, had no reason to be under any apprehensions from his old enemies Callendar and Crichton; that there was no occasion to form any confederacies, as the law was ready to protect him; and that he was welcome to the principal direction of affairs under the crown, and to the first place in the royal confidence; nay, that all former offences done by himself and his friends should be pardoned and forgotten."

This speech was the very reverse of what the earl of Douglas aimed at. It rendered him, indeed, the first subject of the kingdom; but still he was controulable by the civil law. In short, on the king's peremptorily putting the question to him, he not only refused to dissolve the confederacy, but upbraided the king for his government. This produced a passionate rejoinder on the part of James; but the earl represented that he was under a safe-conduct, and that the nature of his confederacy was such, that it could not be broken but by the common consent of all concerned. The king insisted on his setting the example; and the earl continuing more and more obstinate, James stabbed him with his dagger; and armed men rushing into the room, finished the atrocious deed.

After the death of the earl of Douglas, the confederacy came to nothing. The insurgents excused themselves as being too weak for such an enterprise; and were contented with trailing the safe-conduct at a horse's tail, and proclaiming, by trumpets and horns, the king a perfumed traitor. They proceeded no farther; and each departed to his own habitation, after agreeing to assemble with fresh forces about the beginning of April. James lost no time in improving this short reprieve; and found the nation in general much better disposed in his favour than he had reason to expect. The intolerable oppressions of the great barons made his subjects esteem the civil, far preferable to the feudal, subjection; and even the Douglases were divided among themselves: for the earl of Angus and Sir John Douglas of Dalkeith were among the most forward of the royalists. James at the same time wrote letters to the earl of Huntly, and to all the noblemen of his kingdom who were not parties in the confederacy, besides the ecclesiastics, who remained firmly attached to his prerogative. Before the effect of those letters could be known, the insurgents had returned to Stirling (where James still wisely kept himself on the defensive); repeated their insolences, and the opprobrious treatment of his safe-conduct; and at last they plundered the town, and laid it in ashes. Being still unable to take the castle, partly through their own divisions, and partly through the diversity of the operations they were obliged to carry on, they left Stirling, and destroyed the estate of Sir John Douglas of Dalkeith, whom they considered as a double traitor, because he was a Douglas and a good subject. They then besieged his castle: but it was so bravely defended by Patrick Cockburn, a gentleman of the family of Langton, that they raised the siege; which gave the royal party farther leisure for humbling them.

All this time the unhappy country was suffering the most cruel devastations; for matters were now come to such extremity, that it was necessary for every man to be Scotland. a royalist or a rebel. The king was obliged to keep on the defensive; and though he had ventured to leave the castle of Stirling, he was in no condition to face the rebels in the field. They were in possession of all the strong passes by which his friends were to march to his assistance; and he even consulted with his attendants on the means of escaping to France, where he was sure of an hospitable reception. He was diverted from that revolution by Archbishop Kennedy and the earl of Angus, who was himself a Douglas, and prevailed on to wait for the event of the earl of Huntly's attempts for his service. This nobleman, who was descended from the Seatons, but by marriage inherited the great estates of the Gordons in the north, had raised an army for James, to whose family he and his ancestors, by the Gordons as well as the Seatons, had been always remarkably devoted. James was not mistaken in the high opinion he had of Huntly; and in the mean time he issued circular letters to the chief ecclesiastics and bodies-politic of his kingdom, setting forth the necessity he was under of proceeding as he had done, and his readiness to protect all his loyal subjects in their rights and privileges against the power of the Douglases and their rebellious adherents. Before these letters could have any effect, the rebels had plundered the defences houses and estates of all who were not in their confederacy, and had proceeded with a fury that turned to the prejudice of their cause.

The indignation which the public had conceived against the king, for the violation of his safe-conduct, began now to subside; and the behaviour of his enemies in some measure justified what had happened, or at least made the people suspect that James would not have proceeded as he did without the strongest provocation. The forces he had assembled being unable, as yet, to act offensively, he resolved to wait for the earl of Huntly, who by this time was at the head of a considerable army, and had begun his march southwards. He had been joined by the Forbeses, Ogilvies, Leffles, Grants, Irvings, and other relations and dependants of his family; but having advanced as far as Brechin, he was opposed by the earl of Crawford, the chief ally of the earl of Douglas, who commanded the people of Angus, and all the adherents of the rebels in the neighbouring counties, headed by foreign officers. The two armies joining battle on the 18th of May, victory was for some time in suspense; till one Colos of Bonnymoon, on whom Crawford had great dependence, but whom he had imprudently disobliged, came over to the royalists with the division he commanded, which was the strongest part of Crawford's army, armed with battle-axes, broadswords, and long spears. His defection gave the fortune of the day to the earl of Huntly, as it left the centre flank of Crawford's army entirely exposed to the royalists. He himself lost one of his brothers; and fled with another, Sir John Lindsay, to his house at Finhaven, where it is reported that he broke out into the following ejaculation: "That he would be content to remain seven years in hell, to have in so timely a season done the king his master that service the earl of Huntly had performed, and carry that applause and thanks he was to receive from him."

No author informs us of the loss of men on either side, though all agree that it was very considerable on the whole. The earl of Huntly, particularly, lost two brothers, William and Henry; and we are told, that, to indemnify him for his good services, as well as for the rewards and presents which he had made in lands and privileges to his faithful followers, the king bestowed on him the lands of Badenoch and Lochaber.

The battle of Brechin was not immediately decisive in favour of the king, but proved so in its consequences. The earl of Moray, a Douglas likewise, took advantage of Huntly's absence to harass and ravage the estates of all the royalists in the north; but Huntly returning from Brechin with his victorious army, drove his enemy into his own county of Moray, and afterwards expelled him even from thence. James was now encouraged by the advice of his kinsman Kennedy archbishop of St Andrew's, to whose firmness and prudence he was under great obligations, to proceed against the rebels in a legal manner, by holding a parliament at Edinburgh, to which the confederated lords were summoned; and upon their non-compliance, they were solemnly declared traitors. This proceeding seemed to make the rebellion rage more fiercely than ever; and at last, the confederates, in fact, disowned their allegiance to James. The earls of Douglas, Crawford, Ormond, Moray, the lord Balveny, Sir James Hamilton, and others, signed with their own hands public manifestoes, which were pasted on the doors of the principal churches, importing, "That they were resolved never to obey command or charge, nor answer citation for the time coming; because the king, so far from being a just matter, was a bloodletter, a murderer, a transgressor of hospitality, and a suppurator of the innocent." It does not appear that these atrocious proceedings did any service to the cause of the confederates. The earl of Huntly continued victorious in the north; where he and his followers, in revenge for the earl of Moray's having burnt his castle of Huntly, seized or ravaged all that nobleman's great estate north of the Spey. When he came to the town of Forres, he burned one side of the town, because it belonged to the earl, and spared the other, because it was the property of his own friends. James thought himself, from the behaviour of the earl of Douglas and his adherents, now warranted to come to extremities; and marching into Annandale, he carried fire and sword through all the estates of the Douglases there. The earl of Crawford, on the other hand, having now recruited his strength, destroyed the lands of all the people of Angus and of all others who had abandoned him at the battle of Brechin; though there is reason to believe, that he had already secretly resolved to throw himself upon the king's mercy.

Nothing but the most obstinate pride and resentment could have prevented the earl of Douglas, at this time, from taking the advice of his friends, by returning to his duty; in which case, James had given sufficient intimations that he might expect pardon. He coloured his contumacy with the specious pretext, that his brother's fate, and those of his two kinsmen, sufficiently instructed him never to trust to James or his ministers; that he had gone too far to think now of receding; and that kings, when once offended, as James had been, never pardoned in good earnest. Such were the chief reasons, with others of less consequence, which Drummond has put into the mouth of Douglas at this time. James, after his expedition into Annandale, found the Scotland. soon too far advanced to continue his operations; and returning to Edinburgh, he marched northwards to Angus, to reduce the earl of Crawford, who was the second rebel of power in the kingdom. That nobleman had hitherto deferred throwing himself at the king's feet, and had refused his arms, in the manner related, only in hopes that better terms might be obtained from James for himself and his party. Perceiving that the earl of Douglas's obstinacy had cooled some other lords of the confederacy, and had put an end to all hopes of a treaty, he resolved to make a merit of breaking the confederacy, by being the first to submit. James having arrived in Angus, was continuing his march through the country, when the earl and some of his chief followers fell on their knees before him on the road, bareheaded and barefooted. Their dreary looks, their suppliant postures, and the tears which streamed abundantly from the earl, were expressive of the most abject contrition, which was followed by a penitential speech made by the earl, acknowledging his crimes, and imploring forgiveness.

James was then attended by his chief counsellors, particularly Archbishop Kennedy, who, he resolved, should have some share in the favour he meant to extend to the earl. He asked his advice; which proving to be on the merciful side, James promised to the earl and his followers the restitution of all their estates and honours, and full pardon for all that had passed. The earl, as a grateful return for this favour, before the king left Angus, joined him with a noble troop of his friends and followers; and attending him to the north, was extremely active in suppressing all the remains of the rebellion there.

The submission of the earl of Crawford was followed by that of the earl of Douglas; which, however, continued only for a short time. This powerful nobleman soon resumed his rebellious practices; and, in the year 1454, raised an army to fight against the king. The king erected his standard at St Andrew's; marched from thence to Falkland; and ordered all the forces of Fife, Angus, and Strathern, with those of the northern parts, to rendezvous by a certain day at Stirling; which they did to the number of 32,000. Douglas assembled his forces, which amounted to 40,000, some say 60,000 men, on the south side of the river Carron, about half way between Stirling and Abercorn. Notwithstanding this superiority of force, however, the earl did not think it proper to fight his sovereign. Archbishop Kennedy, the prelate of St Andrew's, had advised the king to divide his enemies by offering them pardon separately; and so good an effect had this, that in a few days the earl found himself deserted by all his numerous army, except about 100 of his nearest friends and domestics, with whom he retired towards England. His friends had indeed advised him to come to a battle immediately; but the earl, for reasons now unknown, refused. In his journey southward, however, he raised a considerable body of forces, consisting of his own tenants, of outlaws, robbers, and borderers, with whom he renewed his depredations on the loyal subjects of the king. He was opposed by the earl of Angus, who, though of the name of Douglas, continued firm in the royal cause. An engagement ensued at Ancram muir; where Douglas was entirely defeated, and he himself with great difficulty escaped to an adjacent wood.

What his fate was after this battle does not appear; but it is certain that his estates were afterwards forfeited to the king.

The rest of the reign of James II. was spent in making proper regulations for the good of his people. In killed by 1460, he was killed at the siege of Roxburgh castle, by accident, the bursting of a cannon, to which he was too near when it was discharged. This siege he had undertaken in favour of Margaret queen of England, who, after losing several battles, and being reduced to distress, was obliged to apply to James for relief. The nobility who were present concealed his death, for fear of discouraging the soldiers, and in a few hours after his queen appeared in the camp, and presented her son, James III., as their king.

James III. was not quite seven years of age at his accession to the crown. The administration naturally devolved on his mother; who pushed the siege of Roxburgh castle with so much vigour, that the garrison was obliged to capitulate in a few days; after which the army ravaged the country, and took and dismantled the castle of Wark.—In 1466, negotiations were begun for a marriage between the young king and Margaret princess of Denmark; and, in 1468, the following conditions were stipulated. 1. That the annual rent hitherto paid for the northern isles of Orkney and Shetland should be for ever remitted and extinguished. 2. That King Christiern, then king of Denmark, should give 60,000 florins of gold for his daughter's portion, whereof 10,000 should be paid before her departure from Denmark; and that the islands of Orkney should be made over to the crown of Scotland, by way of pledge for the remainder; with this express proviso, that they should return to that of Norway after complete payment of the whole sum. 3. That King James should, in case of his dying before the said Margaret his spouse, leave her in possession of the palace of Linlithgow and castle of Down in Menteith, with all their appurtenances, and the third part of the ordinary revenues of the crown, to be enjoyed by her during life, in case she should choose to reside in Scotland. 4. But if the rather choose to return to Denmark, that in lieu of the said different, place, and castle, she should accept of 120,000 florins of the rhyme; from which sum the 50,000 due for the remainder of her portion being deducted and allowed, the islands of Orkney should be reannexed to the crown of Norway as before.

When these articles were agreed on, Christiern found himself unable to fulfil his part of them. Being at that time engaged in an unsuccessful war with Sweden, he could not advance the 10,000 florins which he had promised to pay down as part of his daughter's fortune. He was therefore obliged to apply to the plenipotentiaries to accept of 2000, and to take a farther mortgage of the isles of Shetland for the other 8000. The plenipotentiaries of Scotland, plenipotentiaries, of whom Boyd earl of Argyll was one, gratified him in his request; and this concession is thought to have proved fatal to the family. Certain it is, that his father was beheaded for treasonable practices alleged to have been committed long before, and for which he in vain produced a parliamentary indemnity: the earl himself was divorced from his wife the king's sister, and obliged to live in perpetual exile, while the countess was married to another. In 1476, those misfortunes began to come on James which afterwards terminated in his ruin. He had made his brother, the duke of Albany, governor of Berwick; and had entrusted him with very extensive powers on the borders, where a violent propensity for the feudal law still continued. The Humes and the Hepburns, then the most powerful subjects in those parts, could not brook the duke of Albany's greatness, especially after he had forced them, by virtue of a late act, to part with some of the estates which had been indiscriminately granted them in this and the preceding reign. The pretended science of judicial astrology, by which James happened to be incredibly infatuated, was the easiest as well as most effectual engine that could aid their purposes. One Andrew, an infamous impostor in that art, had been brought over from Flanders by James; and he and Schevez, the archbishop of St Andrew's, concurred in persuading James that the Scotch Lion was to be devoured by his own whelps; a prediction that, to a prince of James's turn, amounted to certainty.

The condition to which James reduced himself by his belief in judicial astrology, was truly deplorable. The princes on the continent were smitten with the same infatuation; and the wretches who besieged his person had no safety but by continuing the delusion in his mind. According to Lindsay, Cochran, who had some knowledge of architecture, and had been introduced to James as a master-mason, privately procured an old woman, who pretended to be a witch, and who heightened his terrors by declaring that his brother intended to murder him. James believed her; and the unguarded manner in which the earl of Mar treated his weaknesses exaggerated him so much, that the earl giving a farther loofe to his tongue in railing against his brother's unworthy favourites, was arrested, and committed to the castle of Craig Miller; from which he was brought to the Canongate, a suburb of Edinburgh, where he suffered death.

The duke of Albany was at the castle of Dunbar when his brother the earl of Mar's tragedy was acted; and James could not be easy without having him like-wife in his power. In hope of surprising him, he marched to Dunbar; but the duke, being apprized of his coming, fled to Berwick, and ordered his castle of Dunbar to be surrendered to the lord Evendale, though not before the garrison had provided themselves with boats and small vessels, in which they escaped to England. He ventured to come to Edinburgh; where James was so well served with spies, that he was seized, and committed close prisoner to the castle, with orders that he should speak with none but in the presence of his keepers. The duke had probably suspected and provided against this disagreeable event; for we are told that he had agents, who every day repaired to the castle, as if they had come from court, and reported the state of matters between him and the king, while his keepers were present, in so favourable a light, that they made no doubt of his soon regaining his liberty, and being readmitted to his brother's favour. The seeming negociation, at last, went on to prosperity, that the duke gave his keepers a kind of a farewell entertainment, previous to his obtaining a formal deliverance; and they drank so immoderately, that being intoxicated, they gave him an opportunity of escaping over the castle wall, by converting the sheets of his bed into a rope. Whoever knows the situation of that fortress, must be amazed at the boldness of this attempt; and we are told that the duke's valet, the only domestic whom he was allowed, making the experiment before his master, broke his neck; on which the duke, lengthening the rope, slid down unhurt; and carrying his servant on his back to a place of safety, he went on board a ship which his friends had provided, and escaped to France.

In 1482, the king began to feel the bad consequences of taking into his favour men of worthless characters, which seems to have been one of this prince's chief foibes. His great favourite at this time was Cochran, whom he had raised to the dignity of earl of the king's Mar. All historians agree that this man made a most infamous use of his power. He obtained at last a liberty of coining, which he abused so much as to endanger an insurrection among the poor people: for he issued a base coin, called black money by the common people, which they refused to take in payments. This favourite's skill in architecture had first introduced him to James; but he maintained his power by other arts: for knowing that his master's predominant passion was the love of money, he procured it by the meanest and most oppressive methods. James, however, was inclined to have relieved his people by calling in Cochran's money; but he was diverted from that resolution, by considering that it would be agreeable to his old nobility. Besides Cochran, James had other favourites whose professions rendered them still less worthy of the royal countenance; James Hommil a tailor, Leonard a blacksmith, Torfian a dancing master, and some others. The favour shown to these men gave too much offence to the nobility, that, after some deliberation, they resolved to remove the king, with some of his least exceptionable domestics (but without offering any violence to his person) to the castle of Edinburgh; but to hang all his worthless favourites over Lawder-bridge, then the common place of execution. Their deliberation was not kept so secret but that it reached the ears of the favourites; who, suspecting the worst, awakened James before day-break, and informed him of the meeting. He ordered Cochran to repair to it, and to bring him an account of its proceedings (1). According to Lind-

(1) Lindsay's description of this upstart's magnificence is very particular, and may serve to give the reader an idea of the finery of that age. "Cochran (says he), the earl of Mar, came from the king to the council (which council was holden in the kirk of Lawder for the time), who was well accompanied with a band of men of war, to the number of 300 light axes, all clad in white livery, and black bands thereon, that they might be known for Cochran the earl of Mar's men. Himself was clad in a riding-pie of black velvet, with a great chain of gold about his neck, to the value of 500 crowns; and four blowing horns, with both the ends of gold and silk, set with precious stones. His horn was tipped with fine gold at every end, and a precious stone, called a beryl, hanging in the midst." Scotland. fay, who seems to have had very minute information as to this event, Cochran rudely knocked at the door of the church, just after the assembly had finished their consultation; and upon Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven (who was appointed to watch the door) informing them that the earl of Mar demanded admittance, the earl of Angus ordered the door to be thrown open; and rushing upon Cochran, he pulled a maffy gold chain from his neck, saying, that a rope would become him better; while Sir Robert Douglas stripped him of a costly blowing horn he wore by his side, as was the manner of the times, telling him he had been too long the hunter of mischief. Cochran, with astonishment, asked them whether they were in jest or earnest; but they soon convinced him they were in earnest, by pinioning down his arms with a common halter, till he should be carried to execution.

The earl of Angus, with some of the chief lords, attended by a detachment of troops, then repaired to the king's tent, where they seized his other favourites, Thomas Preston, Sir William Rogers, James Hommil, William Torfsan, and Leonard; and upbraided James himself, in very rude terms, with his misconduct in government, and even in private life, in not only being counselled by the above minions, but for keeping company with a lady who was called the Daily. We know of no resistance made by James. He only interceded for the safety of a young gentleman, one John Ramsay of Balmain. Cochran, with his other worthless favourites, were hanged over Lawder-bridge before his eyes; and he himself was conducted, under an easy restraint, to the castle of Edinburgh.

James, though confined, behaved with great spirit; and even refused to pardon those who had confined him, or who had any hand in the execution at Lawder. At last, however, he was relieved by the duke of Albany, who, at the queen's desire, undertook to deliver her husband from confinement. This he accomplished, as some say, by surprising the castle of Edinburgh; though, according to others, the gates were opened, on a formal requisition made for that purpose by two heralds at arms. After he had obtained his liberty, the king repaired to the abbey of Holyroodhouse with his brother, who now acted as his first minister. All the lords who were near the capital came to pay him their compliments; but James was so much exasperated at what had happened, that he committed 16 of them prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh. After his release, James granted a patent to the citizens of Edinburgh, and enlarged their privileges.

In 1487, James finished some secret negotiations in which he had been for some time engaged with Henry VII., king of England. The principal articles agreed on between the two monarchs were, That King James's second son should marry Catherine the third daughter of Edward IV., and sister to the princess Elizabeth, now queen of England; and that James himself, who was now a widower, should marry Queen Elizabeth. A third marriage was also to be concluded between the duke of Rothesay and another daughter of Edward IV.

That in order to these treaties, and for ending all controversies concerning the town of Berwick, which the king of Scotland desired so much to possess, a congress should be held the ensuing year.

But in the mean time a most powerful confederacy was formed against the king; the origin of which was as follows: James was a great patron of architecture, and being pleased with the situation of Stirling castle, the king resolved to give it all the embellishments which that art could bestow; and about this time he made it the chief place of his residence. He raised within it a hall, which at that time was deemed a noble structure; and a college, which he called the chapel-royal. This college was endowed with an archdeacon who was a bishop, a subdean, a treasurer, a chanter and subchanter, with a double set of other officers usually belonging to such institutions. The expenses necessary for maintaining these were considerable, and the king had resolved to assign the revenues of the rich priory of Coldingham to that purpose. This priory had been generally held by one of the name of Hume; and that family, through length of time, considered it as their property; they therefore strongly opposed the king's intention. The dispute seems to have lasted for some years; for the former parliament had passed a vote, annexing the priory to the king's chapel-royal; and the parliament of this year had passed a statute, strictly forbidding all persons, spiritual and temporal, to attempt anything, directly or indirectly, contrary or prejudicial to the said union and a quarrel with the annexation. The Humes resented their being stripped of so gainful a revenue, the loss of which affected most of the gentlemen of that name; and they united themselves with the Hepburns, another powerful clan in that neighbourhood, under the lord Hales. An association was soon formed; by which both families engaged to stand by each other, and not to suffer any prior to be received for Coldingham, if he was not of one of their surnames. The lords Gray and Drummond soon joined the association; as did many other noblemen and gentlemen, who had their particular causes of discontent. Their agents gave out, that the king was grasping at arbitrary power; that he had acquired his popularity by deep hypocrisy; and that he was resolved to be signally revenged on all who had any hand in the execution at Lawder. The earl of Angus, who was the soul of the confederacy, advised the conspirators to apply to the old earl of Douglas to head them; but that nobleman was now dead to all ambition, and instead of encouraging the conspirators, he pathetically exhorted them to break off all their rebellious connections, and return to their duty; expressing the most sincere contrition for his own past conduct. Finding he could not prevail with him, he wrote to all the numerous friends and descendants of his family, and particularly to Douglas of Cavers, sheriff of Teviotdale, dissuading them from entering into the conspiracy; and some of his original letters to that effect are said to be still extant. That great man survived this application but a short time; time; for he died without issue at Lindores, on the 15th of April 1483; and in him ended the first branch of that noble and illustrious house. He was remarkable for being the most learned of all the Scots nobility, and for the comeliness of his person.

James appears to have been no stranger to the proceedings of the conspirators; but though he dreaded them, he depended on the protection of the law, as they did on his pusillanimity. His degeneracy in this respect is remarkable. Defended from a race of heroes, he was the first of his family who had been branded with cowardice. But his conduct at this time fully justifies the charge. Instead of vigorously supporting the execution of the laws in his own person, he shut himself up in his beloved castle of Stirling, and raised a bodyguard; the command of which he gave to the lord Bothwell, master of his household. He likewise issued a proclamation, forbidding any person in arms to approach the court; and Bothwell had a warrant to see the same put in execution. Though the king's proceedings in all this were perfectly agreeable to law, yet they were given out by his enemies as so many indications of his aversion to the nobility, and served only to induce them to parade, armed, about the country in more numerous bodies.

The connections entered into by James with Henry VII. of England, alarmed the conspirators, and made them resolve to strike the great blow, before James could avail himself of an alliance that seemed to place him above all opposition either abroad or at home. The acquisition of Berwick to the crown of Scotland, which was looked on to be as good as concluded; the marriage of the duke of Rothesay with the daughter of the dowager and sister to the consort queen of England; and, above all, the strict harmony which reigned between James and the states of his kingdom, rendered the conspirators in a manner desperate. Besides the earl of Angus, the earls of Argyle and Lenox favoured the conspirators. When the whole of James's convention with England is considered, and compared with after-events, nothing can be more plain, than that the success of the conspirators was owing to his English connections; and that they made use of them to affirm, that Scotland was soon to become a province of England, and that James intended to govern his subjects by an English force.—Those specious allegations did the conspirators great service, and inclined many, even of the moderate party, to their cause. They soon took the field, appointed their rendezvous, and all the south of Scotland was in arms. James continued to rely on the authority of his parliament; and summoned, in the terms of law, the insurgents to answer at the proper tribunals for their repeated breaches of the peace.

The conspirators, far from paying any regard to his citations, tore them in pieces, buffeted and otherwise maltreated the messengers, and set the laws of their country at open defiance. Even north of the Forth, the heads of the houses of Gray and Drummond spread the spirit of disaffection through the populous counties of Fife and Angus; but the counties north of the Grampians continued firm in their duty.

The duke of Rothesay was then a promising youth about fifteen years of age; and the subjecting the kingdom of Scotland to that of England being the chief, if not the only cause urged by the rebels for their appearing in arms, they naturally threw their eyes upon that prince, as his appearance at their head would give strength and vigour to their cause; and in this they were not deceived. James, in the meantime, finding the inhabitants of the southern provinces either engaged in the rebellion, or at best observed a cold neutrality, embarked on board a vessel which was then lying in the frith of Forth, and passed to the north of that river, not finding it safe to go by land to Stirling. Arriving at the castle, he gave orders that the duke of Rothesay (as if foreseeing what afterwards happened) should be put under the care of one Schaw of Sauchie, whom he had made its governor, charging him not to suffer the prince on any account to depart out of the fort. The rebels giving out that James had fled to Flanders, plundered his equipages and baggage before they passed the Forth; and there they found a large sum of money, which proved to be of the utmost consequence to their affairs. They then surprized the castle of Dunbar, and plundered the houses of every man the rebels to the south of the Forth whom they suspected to be a royalist.

James was all this time making a progress, and holding courts of justice, in the north, where the great families were entirely devoted to his service, particularly the earls of Huntly, Errol, and Marhal.—Every day brought him fresh alarms from the south, which left him no farther room either for delay or deliberation. The conspirators, notwithstanding the promising appearance of their affairs, found, that in a short time their cause must languish, and their numbers dwindle, unless they were furnished with fresh pretences, and headed by a person of the greatest authority. While they were deliberating who that person should be, the earl of Angus boldly proposed the duke of Rothesay; and an immediate application was made to Schaw, the young prince's governor, who secretly favoured their cause, and was prevailed on by a considerable sum of money to put the prince into their hands, and to declare for the rebels.

James having ordered all the force in the north to assemble, hurried to Perth (then called St John's town), where he appointed the rendezvous of his army, which amounted to 30,000 men. Among the other noblemen who attended him was the famous lord David Lindsay of the Byres (an officer of great courage and experience, having long served in foreign countries), who headed 3000 foot and 1000 horse, raised chiefly in Fifeshire. Upon his approaching the king's person, he presented him with a horse of remarkable spirit and beauty, and informed his majesty, that he might trust his life to his agility and sure-footedness. The lord Ruthven, who was sheriff of Strathern, and ancestor (if we mistake not) to the unfortunate earls of Gowrie, joined James at the head of 3000 well armed men.—The whole army being assembled, James proceeded to Stirling; but he was astonished, when he was not only received with open arms, but saw the guns pointed against his person, and understood, for the first time, that his son was at the head of the rebels. Schaw pretended that the duke of Rothesay had been carried off against his will; but the king's answer was, "Eye, traitor, thou hast deceived me; and if I live I shall be revenged on thee, and thou shalt be rewarded as thou hast deserved." James lay that night in the town of Stirling, Stirling, where he was joined by all his army; and understanding that the rebels were advancing, he formed his line of battle. The earl of Athol his uncle, who was trusted by both parties, proposed an accommodation; which was accordingly effected, if we are to believe Abercromby and other historians; but we know not the terms, for none are mentioned on either side.—James is said to have failed on his part; but had there been any grounds for such a charge against him, there can scarcely be a doubt that the rebels would have published them. That a treaty was entered into is past dispute; and the earl of Athol surrendered himself as a hostage into the hands of the rebels.

James was sensible of the advantage which public clamour gave to his enemies; and he applied to the kings of France and England, and the pope, for their intervention. His holiness named Adrian de Caffello for his nuncio on that occasion; and the two kings threatened to raise troops for the service of James.—He, by a fatality not uncommon to weak princes, left the strong castle of Edinburgh, where he might have been in safety, till his friends, who had dispersed themselves upon the faith of the late negociation, could be reassembled; and crossing the Forth, he made another attempt to be admitted into the castle of Stirling; but was disappointed, and informed that the rebels were at Torwood in the neighbourhood, and ready to give him battle. He was in possession of the castle of Blackness; his admiral, Wood, commanded the Forth; and his loyal subjects in the north were upon their march to join him. Hawthornden says, that the rebels had made a show of dismissing their troops, that they might draw James into the field; and that while he remained at Blackness, he was attended by the earls of Montrose, Glencairn, and the lords Maxwell and Ruthven. To give his northern troops time to join him, he proposed a negociation; but that was soon at an end, on the rebels perpetually requiring him to resign his crown to his son, or rather to themselves.

The rebels had been inured to war. They consisted chiefly of borderers, well armed and disciplined; in which they had the advantage of the king's Lowland subjects, who had not been accustomed to arms. What the numbers on both sides were does not clearly appear; but it is probable that the forces of James were superior to the rebels. They were then at Falkirk; but they soon passed the Carron, encamped above the bridge near Torwood, and made such dispositions as rendered a battle unavoidable, unless James would have dispersed his army, and gone on board Wood's ships; but he did not know himself, and resolved on a battle. He was encamped at a small brook named Sauchie-burn, near the same spot of ground where the great Bruce had defeated the English under Edward the Second. The earl of Menteith, the lords Erskine, Graham, Ruthven, and Maxwell, commanded the first line of the king's army. The second was commanded by the earl of Glencairn, who was at the head of the Westland and Highland men. The earl of Crawford, with the lord Boyd and Lindsay of Byres, commanded the rear, wherein the king's main strength consisted, and where he himself appeared in person, completely armed, and mounted upon the fine horse which had been presented to him by Lindlay.

The first line of the royalists obliged that of the rebels to give way; but the latter being supported by the Annandale men and borderers, the first and second line of the king's army were beat back to the third. The little courage James possessed had forsaken him at his army, the first onset; and he had put spurs to his horse, intending to gain the banks of the Forth, and to go on board one of Wood's ships. In passing through the village of Bannockburn, a woman who was filling her pitcher at the brook, frightened at the sight of a man in armour galloping full speed left it behind her; and the horse taking fright, the king was thrown to the ground, and carried, bruised and wounded, by a miller and his wife, into their hovel. He immediately called for a priest to make his confession; and the rustics demanding his name and rank, "I was (said he incautiously) your king this morning." The woman, overcome with astonishment, clasped her hands, and running to the door called for a priest to confess the king. "I am a priest (said one passing by), lead me to his majesty." Being introduced into the hovel, he saw the king covered with a coarse cloth; and kneeling by him, he asked James whether he thought he could recover, if properly attended by physicians? James answering in the affirmative, the villain pulled out a dagger, and stabbed him to the heart. Such is the dark account we are able to give of this prince's unhappy end. The name of the person who murdered him is said to have been Sir Andrew Borthwick, a priest, one of the pope's knights. Some pretend that the lord Gray, and others that Robert Stirling of Keir, was the regicide; and even Buchanan (the tenor of whose history is a justification of this murder), is uncertain as to the name of the person who gave him the fatal blow.

It is probable that the royalists lost the battle through the cowardice of James. Even after his flight his troops fought bravely; but they were damped on receiving the certain accounts of his death. The prince, young as he was, had an idea of the unnatural part he was acting, and before the battle he had given a strict charge for the safety of his father's person. Upon hearing that he had retired from the field, he sent orders that none should pursue him; but they were ineffectual, the rebels being sensible that they could have no safety but in the king's death. When that was certified, hostilities seemed to cease; nor were the royalists pursued. The number of slain on both sides is uncertain; but it must have been considerable, as the earl of Glencairn, the lords Sempill, Erskine, and Ruthven, and other gentlemen of great eminence, are mentioned. As to the grief of his duke of Rothesay, who was now king, he appeared inconsolable when he heard of his father's death; but the rebels endeavoured to efface his grief, by the profusion of honours they paid him when he was recognized as king.

The remorse and anguish of the young king, on reflecting upon the unnatural part which he had acted, was inexpressible; and the noblemen who had been engaged in the rebellion became apprehensive for their own safety. The catastrophe of the unfortunate James III., however, was not yet become public; and it was thought by many that he had gone aboard one of the ships belonging to the Scottish admiral Sir Andrew Wood. James, willing to indulge hope as long as it was possible, desired an interview with the admiral; but the latter refused to come on shore, unless he had sufficient sufficient hostages for his safety. These being delivered, Sir Andrew waited on the king at Leith. He had again and again, by messages, assured him that he knew nothing of the late king; and he had even offered to allow his ships to be searched: yet such was the anxiety of the new king, that he could not be satisfied till he had examined him in person. Young James had been long a stranger to his father, so that he could not have distinguished him easily from others. When Wood, therefore, entered the room, being struck with his noble appearance, he asked him, "Are you my father?"

"I am not," replied Wood, bursting into tears; "but I was your father's true servant, and while I live I shall be the determined enemy of his murderers." This did not satisfy the lords, who demanded whether he knew where the king was. The admiral replied, that he knew not; and upon their questioning him concerning his manoeuvres on the day of battle, when his boats were seen plying backwards and forwards, he told them, that he and his brother had determined to assist the king in person; but all they could do was to save some of the royalists in their ships. "I would to God, (says he), my king was there safely, for I would defend and keep him safe from all the traitors who have cruelly murdered him: for I think to see the day to behold them hanged and drawn for their demerits." This spirited declaration, and the freedom with which it was delivered, struck the guilty part of the council with dismay; but the fear of sacrificing the hostages procured Wood his freedom, and he was suffered to depart to his ships. When he came on board, he found his brother preparing to hang the two lords who had been left as hostages; which would certainly have been their fate, had the admiral been longer detained.

Wood had scarcely reached his ships, when the lords, calling the inhabitants of Leith together, offered them a large premium if they would fit out a sufficient force to destroy that bold pirate and his crew, as they called Wood; but the townsmen, who, it seems, did not much relish the service, replied, that Wood's ships were a match for any ten ships that could be fitted out in Scotland. The council then removed to Edinburgh, where James IV. was crowned on the 24th of June 1488.

If we were to form an opinion of the manners of these times from the statutes enacted by the Scottish parliament during the reign of James III., we should suppose them to have been more refined than is evinced by the actions which we have just related. By those statutes the rights of the church were again confirmed, yet we have seen, from events, how little effect religion had produced on the morals of the age. One of the first acts of this reign was, to give the king the right of presentation to all benefices of ecclesiastical patronage, while the episcopal fees were vacant. The king was empowered to hold plea of any matter personally, at his empleaunce, as it was wont to be of before. The parliament again delegated to a few of its members the whole legislative power, yet was it not felt in that age, as begetting contempt, and consequently disobedience. The leges burgorum were declared to be part of the law, and the books of regiam majestatem were called his majesty's laws. In these declarations we may perceive that the legislators of those times were not very accurate antiquaries, yet did the estates display a just anxiety for the preservation of their rolls and registers, by directing that they should be entered in books. With an allusion, perhaps, to the atrocities of that period, the three estates declared that murder and affixations were not to be entitled to sanctuary. During this terrible reign, the parliament displayed more zeal than knowledge for promoting the agriculture and fishery, and for regulating the trade, coinage, and shipping of a people who still wanted credit, capital, and circulation, for the enjoyment of an active and profitable commerce. The legislative acts of this reign show, to an inquisitive eye, some progress towards civilization, though the history of its political events attests that there had been little improvement in the morality of the national character, or in the refinements of domestic life.

In the month of October this year, the nobility and others who had been present at the king's coronation, converted themselves into a parliament, and passed an act by which they were indemnified for their rebellion against their late sovereign; after which, they ordered the act to be exemplified under the great seal of Scotland, that it might be producible in their justification if called for by any foreign prince. They next proceeded to the arduous task of vindicating their rebellion in the eyes of the public; and so far did they gain on the king by force of flattery, that he consented to summon the lords who had taken part with his father, before the parliament, to answer for their conduct. In consequence of this, not fewer than 28 lords were cited to appear at Edinburgh in the space of 40 days. The first on the list was the lord David Lindsay, whose form of arraignment was as follows. "Lord David Lindsay of the Byres, answer for the cruel coming against the king at Bannockburn with his father, giving him counsel to have devoured the king's grace here present; and, to that effect, gave him a sword and a good horse, to fortify him against his son. Your answer hereto." Lord Lindsay was remarkable for the bluntness of his conversation and the freedom of his sentiments; and being irritated by this charge, he delivered himself in such a manner concerning the treason of the rebellious lords, as abashed the boldest of his accusers. As they were unable to answer him, all they could do was to press him to throw himself on the king's clemency; which he refused, as being guilty of no crime. His brother, Patrick Lindsay, undertook to be his advocate, and apologized on his knees for the roughness of his behaviour, and at last observed an informality in the proceedings of the court; in consequence of which Lindsay was released, on entering into recognition to appear again at an appointed day; but he was afterwards sent prisoner by the king's order, for a whole prisoned year, to the castle of Rothesay in the isle of Bute.

The regicides now endeavoured to gain the public favour by affecting a strict administration of justice. The king was advised to make a progress round the kingdom, attended by his council and judges; while, in the mean time, certain noblemen and gentlemen were appointed to exercise justice, and to suppress all kinds of disorders in their own lands and in those adjoining to them, till the king came to the age of 21. The memory of the late king was branded in the most opprobrious manner. All justices, sheriffs, and stewards, who were possessed of heritable offices, but who had taken up arms for the late king, were either deprived of them for three years, or rendered incapable of enjoying them for Scotland. All the young nobility who had been disinheritied by their fathers for taking arms against the late king, were, by act of parliament, restored to their several successions in the most ample manner. At last, in order to give a kind of proof to the world that they intended only to rettle the state of the nation, without prejudice to the lower ranks of subjects, who did no more than follow the examples of their superiors, it was enacted, "That all goods and effects taken from burgesses, merchants, and those who had only personal estates, or, as they are called, unlanded men, since the battle of Stirling, were not only to be restored, but the owners were to be indemnified for their losses; and their persons, if in custody, were to be set at liberty. Churchmen, who were taken in arms, were to be delivered over to their ordinances, to be dealt with by them according to the law." The castle of Dunbar was ordered to be demolished; and some statutes were enacted in favour of commerce, and for the exclusion of foreigners.

These last acts were passed with a view to recom- pence the boroughs, who had been very active in their opposition to the late king. Before they dissolved their parliament, the lords thought it necessary to give some public testimony of their disapproving the late king's connection with England. It was therefore enacted, "That as the king was now of an age to marry a noble princess, born and descended of a noble and worshipful house, an honourable embassy should be sent to the realms of France, Brittany, Spain, and other places, in order to conclude the matter." This embassy was to be very splendid. It was to consist of a bishop, an earl, or lord of parliament, a secretary, who was generally a clergyman, and a knight. They were to be attended by 50 horsemen; 500l. was to be allowed them for the discharge of their embassy, and they were empowered to renew the ancient league between France and Scotland; and, in the mean time, a herald, or, as he was called, a trysty squire, was sent abroad to visit the several courts of Europe, in order to find out a proper match for the king. One considerable obstacle, however, lay in the way of this embassy. The pope had laid under an interdict all those who had appeared in arms against the late king; and the party who now governed in Scotland were regarded by all the powers of Europe as rebels and murderers. The embassy was therefore suspended for a considerable time; for it was not till the year 1491 that the pope could be prevailed on to take off the interdict, upon the most humble submissions and professions of repentance made by the guilty parties.

In the mean time, the many good qualities which discovered themselves in the young king began to conciliate the affections of his people to him. Being considered, however, as little better than a prisoner in the hands of his father's murderers, several of the nobility made use of that as a pretence for taking arms. The most forward of these was the earl of Lennox, who with 2000 men attempted to surprize the town of Stirling; but, being betrayed by one of his own men, he was defeated, taken unawares, and the castle of Dumbarton, of which he was the keeper, taken by the opposite party. In the north, the earls Huntly and Marshal, with the lord Forbes, complained that they had been deceived, and declared their resolution to revenge the late king's death. Lord Forbes having procured the bloody shirt of the murdered prince, displayed it on the point of a lance, as a banner under which all loyal subjects should enlist themselves. After the defeat of Lennox, however, the northern chieftains found themselves incapable of marching southwards, and were therefore obliged to abandon their enterprise.

The cause of the mur.-Henry VII. dered king was next undertaken by Henry VII., of England, who made an offer to Sir Andrew Wood of five ships for this purpose. The admiral accepted the proposal, but the English behaving as pirates, and plundering indiscriminately all who came in their way, he thought proper to separate himself from them, yet without offering to attack or oppose them. Upon this, James was advised to send for the admiral, to offer him a pardon, and a commission to act against the English freebooters. Wood accepted the king's offer; and being well provided with ammunition and artillery, he, with two ships only, attacked the five English vessels, all of which he took, and brought their crews prisoners to Leith, for which he was nobly rewarded by his majesty.

This conduct of Wood was highly resented by the king of England, who immediately vowed revenge. The Scottish admiral's ships had been fitted out for commerce, as well as war, and Henry commanded his best sea officer, Sir Stephen Bull, to intercept him on his return from Flanders, whither he had gone upon a commercial voyage. Wood had not more than two ships gaunt with him: the English admiral had three; and the Scottish admiral much larger, and carrying a greater weight of metal, than the Scottish vessels. The English took their station at the island of May, in the mouth of the frith of Forth, and, having come unawares upon their enemies, fired two guns as a signal for their surrendering themselves. The Scottish commander encouraged his men as well as he could; and finding them determined to stand by him to the last, began the engagement in sight of numberless spectators who appeared on both sides of the frith. The fight continued all that day, and was renewed with redoubled fury in the morning; but in the mean time the ebb-tide and a south wind had carried both squadrons to the mouth of the Tay. Here the English fought under great disadvantages, by reason of the sand-banks; and before they could get clear of them, all the three were obliged to submit to the Scots, who carried them to Dundee. Wood treated his prisoners with great humanity; and having afterwards presented them to King James, the latter dismissed them not only without all his ships' ransom, but with presents to the officers and crews, and a letter to King Henry. To this Henry returned a polite answer, a truce was concluded, and all differences for the present were accommodated.

James all this time had continued to display such moderation in his government, and appeared to have the advantage of his subjects so much at heart, that they became gradually well affected to his government, and in 1490 all parties were fully reconciled. We may hence date the commencement of the reign of James IV.; and the next year the happiness of his kingdom was completed, by taking off the pope's interdict, and giving the king absolution for the concern he had in his father's death.

Tranquillity being thus restored, the negotiations concerning the king's marriage began to take place, but met with several interruptions. In 1493, Henry VII. proposed, proposed a match between the king of Scotland and his cousin the princess Catharine. James was too much attached to France to be fond of English connections, and probably thought this match below his dignity; in consequence of which the proposal was treated with contempt. Notwithstanding this ill success, however, Henry made another offer of alliance with James; and, in 1495, proposed a marriage betwixt him and his eldest daughter Margaret. This proposal was accepted: but the match seems not to have been at all agreeable to James; for, at the very time in which he was negotiating the marriage, he not only protected Perkin Warbeck, the avowed enemy and pretender to the crown of Henry, but invaded England on his account. This conduct was highly resented by the English parliament; but Henry himself forgave even this gross insult, and the marriage negotiations were once more resumed. The bride was no more than ten years and six months old; and being only the fourth degree of blood from James, it was necessary to procure a dispensation from the pope. This being obtained, a treaty of perpetual peace was concluded between the two nations, on the 1st of July 1503, being the first that had taken place for 170 years, since the peace of Northampton concluded between Robert I. and Edward III.

One of the great ends which Henry had in view in promoting this marriage, was to detach James from the French interest: no sooner, therefore, was the treaty signed, than he wrote to his son-in-law to this purpose; who, however, politely declined to break with his ancestors. On the 16th of June, the royal bride set out from Richmond in Surrey, in company with her father, who gave her convoy as far as Colleweaton, the residence of his mother the countess of Richmond. After passing some days there, the king resigned his daughter to the care of the earls of Surrey and Northumberland, who proceeded with her to the borders of Scotland. Here many of the company were permitted to take their leave; but those who remained still made a royal appearance. At Lamberton-church they were met by James, attended by a numerous train of his nobility and officers of state. From Lamberton they proceeded to Dalkeith, and next day to Edinburgh; where the nuptials were celebrated with the greatest splendour. On this occasion, it is said that the Scots surpassed all their guests in extravagance and luxury; a circumstance which must be imputed to the great intercourse and commerce which James and his subjects maintained with foreign courts and countries.

After the celebration of the nuptials, James appears to have enjoyed a tranquillity unknown almost to any of his predecessors; and began to make a considerable figure among the European potentates. But the magnificence of his court and embassies, his liberality to strangers and to learned men, his costly edifices, and, above all, the large sums he laid out in ship-building, had now brought him into some difficulties; and he so far attended to the advice and example of his father-in-law, that he supplied his necessities by reviving dormant penal laws, particularly with regard to wardships and old titles of estates, by which he raised large sums. Though he did this without assembling his parliament, yet he found agents who justified these proceedings, in the same manner as Epmon and Dudley, did those of Henry, under the sanction of law. At last, however, touched with the sufferings of his subjects, he ordered all prosecutions to be stopped. He even went farther: for, sensible of the detestation into which his father-in-law's avarice had brought himself and his administration, he ordered the ministers who had advised him to these shameful courses to be imprisoned; and some of them, who probably had exceeded their commission, actually died in their confinement.

About this time, James applied himself, with incredible assiduity, to the building of ships; one of which, himself to the St Michael, is supposed to have been the largest maritime then in the world (m). He worked with his own hands in building it; and it is plain, from his conduct, that he was aspiring to maritime power, in which he was encouraged by the excellent seamen which Scotland then produced. The first essay of his arms by sea was in favour of his kinsman John king of Denmark. This prince

(m) Of this ship we have the following account by Lindsay of Pitcottie. "In the same year, the king of Scotland bigged a great ship, called the Great Michael, which was the greatest ship, and of most strength, that ever failed in England or France. For this ship was of so great stature, and took so much timber, that, except Falkland, she wasted all the woods in Fife, which was oak-wood, by all timber that was gotten out of Norway; for she was so strong, and of so great length and breadth (all thewrights of Scotland, yea, and many other strangers, were at her device, by the king's commandment, who wrought very busily in her; but it was a year and day ere she was complete); to wit, she was twelve score foot of length, and thirty-six foot within the sides. She was ten foot thick in the wall, outted joints of oak in her wall, and boards on every side, so stark and so thick, that no cannon could go through her. This great ship cumbered Scotland to get her to the sea. From that time that she was afloat, and her masts and sails complete, with tows and anchors afferring thereto, she was counted to the king to be thirty thousand pounds of expenses, by her artillery, which was very great and costly to the king, by all the rest of her orders; to wit, she bare many cannons, fix on every side, with three great baffles, two behind in her dock, and one before, with three hundred shot of small artillery, that is to say, myand and battret-falcon, and quarter-falcon, flings, pestelent serpents, and double-dogs, with hagtor and culvering, cors-bows, and hand-bows. She had three hundred mariners to fail her; she had six score of gunners to use her artillery; and had a thousand men of war, by her captain, shippers, and quarter-masters.

"When this ship past to the sea, and was lying in the road, the king gart shoot a cannon at her, to essay her if she was wight; but I heard say, it deareth her not, and did her little faith. And if any man believe that this description of the ship be not of verity, as we have written, let him pass to the gate of Tillibardin, and there, afore the same, ye will see the length and breadth of her, planted with hawthorn, by the wright that helped to make her. As for other properties of her, Sir Andrew Wood is my author, who was quarter-master of her; and Robert Bartyne, who was master-shipper." prince was brother to the queen dowager of Scotland; and had partly been called to the throne of Sweden, and partly possessed it by force. He was opposed by the administrator, Sture, whom he pardoned after he was crowned. Sture, however, renewing his rebellion, and the Norwegians revolting at the same time, John found himself under such difficulties, that he was forced to return to Denmark; but he left his queen in possession of the castle of Stockholm, which he bravely defended against Sture and the Swedes. This heroic princess became a great favourite with James; and several letters that passed between them are still extant. The king of Denmark, next to the French monarch, was the favourite ally of James; who, early in his reign, had compromised some differences between them. It likewise appears, from the histories of the north, that both James and his father had given great affluence to his Danish majesty in reducing the Norwegians; and he resolved to become a party in the war against the Swedes, and the Lubeckers who assisted them, if the former continued in their revolt. Previous to this, he sent an ambassador to offer his mediation between John and his subjects. The mediation was accordingly accepted, and the negotiations were opened at Calmar. The deputies of Sweden not attending, John prevailed with those of Denmark and Norway to pronounce sentence of forfeiture against Sture and all his adherents. In the meantime, the siege of the castle of Stockholm was so warmly pressed, that the garrison was diminished to a handful, and those destitute of all kinds of provisions; so that the brave queen was forced to capitulate, and to surrender up the fortresses, on condition that she might be suffered to depart for Denmark; but the capitulation was perfidiously broken by Sture, and she was confined in a monastery.

It was on this occasion that James resolved to employ his maritime power. He wrote a letter, conceived in the strongest terms, to the archbishop of Upsal, the primate of Sweden, exhorting him to employ all his authority in favour of the king; and another letter to the Lubeckers, threatening to declare war against them, as well as the Swedes, if they jointly continued to assist the rebels. According to Hollinshed, James, in consequence of King John's application, gave the command of an army of 10,000 men to the earl of Arran, who replaced John upon his throne. Though this does not appear to be strictly truth, yet it is certain, that, had it not been for James, John must have sunk under the weight of his enemies. Sture, whose arms had made great progress, hearing that a considerable armament was fitting out in Scotland, and knowing that James had prevailed with the French king to assist John likewise, agreed to release the queen, and to conduct her to the frontiers of Denmark; where he died. By this time, James's armament, which was commanded by the earl of Arran, had set sail; but perceiving that all matters were adjusted between John and the Swedes, the ships returned sooner than James expected, "which (says he, in a very polite letter he wrote to the queen upon the occasion) they durst not have done, had they not brought me an account that her Danish majesty was in perfect health and safety." The levity of John having occasioned a fresh revolt, James again sent a squadron to his assistance, which appeared before Stockholm, and obliged the Lubeckers to conclude a new treaty.

James, having thus honourably discharged his engagements with his uncle the king of Denmark, turned his attention towards the Flemings and Hollanders, who had insulted his flag, on account of the affluence he had afforded the duke of Gueldres, as well as from motives of rapaciousness, which distinguished those traders, who Hollanders are said not only to have plundered the Scots ships, but to have thrown their crews overboard to conceal their villainy. James gave the command of a squadron to Barton; who put to sea, and, without any ceremony, treated all the Dutch and Flemish traders who fell into his hands as pirates, and sent their heads in hogsheads to James. Soon after, Barton returned to Scotland, and brought with him a number of rich prizes, which rendered his reputation as a seaman famous all over Europe.—James was then so much respected on the continent, that we know of no resentment shown either by the court of Spain, whose subjects those Netherlanders were, or of any other power in Europe, for this vigorous proceeding.

The peace with England continued all the remaining part of the reign of Henry VII. nor did his son Henry VIII., though he had not the same reason as his father to keep well with the Scots, for some time shew any disposition to break with them. A breach, however, at length took place, and was never afterwards thoroughly made up.

About 30 years before, one John Barton (a relation, probably, to the famous Barton) commanded a trading vessel, which was taken by two Portuguese sea-captains in the port of Sluys; and the captain, with several Scotchmen, were killed in endeavouring to defend their property. The action was esteemed cowardly as well as piratical, because it was done under the protection of a large Portuguese squadron. The ship, and the remaining part of the crew, with the cargo, were carried to Portugal, whence no redress could be obtained; and James III. granted letters of marque to John and Robert Bartons, heirs to the Barton who had been murdered. Upon the accession of James IV. to the crown of Scotland, the letters of marque were recalled, and a friendly correspondence was entered into between James and his Portuguese majesty. No redress, however, was to be had from the latter; and Robert Barton being made prisoner, and his ship a prize, he was detained in Zealand, till James procured his deliverance, by applying in his favour to the emperor Maximilian. Sir Andrew Barton took part in the quarrel; and having obtained a like letter of marque, he made dreadful depredations on the Portuguese trade, and, according to English authors, he plundered many English ships, on pretence of their carrying Portuguese property, and made the navigation of the narrow seas dangerous to Englishmen. The court of London received daily complaints of Barton's depredations; but Henry being at this time very averse to quarrel with James, these complaints were heard with great coldness at his council-board. The earl of Surrey had then two sons, gallant noblemen; and he declared to Henry's face, that while he had an estate that could furnish out a ship, or a son who was capable of commanding one, the narrow seas should not be infested. Henry could not discourage this generous offer; and letters of marque were accordingly granted to the two young noblemen, Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Howard. The prizes that Barton had taken. Scotland taken had rendered his ships immensely rich; consequently they were heavy laden, and unfit for fighting; while we may easily suppose, that the ships of the Howards were clean, and of a superior force in every respect to those of Barton. After encountering a great deal of foul weather, Sir Thomas Howard came up with the Lyon, which was commanded by Sir Andrew Barton in person; and Sir Edward fell in with the Unicorn, Barton's other ship. The event was such as might be expected from the inequality of the match. Sir Andrew Barton was killed, while he was animating, with his whistle, his men to hold out to the last; and both the Scotch ships being taken, were carried in triumph to London, with their crews prisoners.

James could never forgive Henry for the loss of his brave officer. He sent to demand satisfaction; but all the answer he received was, that Barton and his crews were lawless pirates, and that what had been done against them ought never to have been resented amongst sovereign princes. James asserted that Barton was no pirate, because he bore his commission; and that he ought to have been convicted of piratical acts before he was treated as being guilty of them. Henry intimated to James, that he was willing to accommodate the affair by way of negociation; but James thought himself affronted by the proposal.

Various negociations took place concerning this and other affairs till the year 1513; when James, though he had for some time before been fully resolved on a war with England, thought it highly necessary that it should have the sanction of his parliament, which he assembled for that purpose. The young nobility were not only inspired with the sentiments of James, but had been won over by the French; and the majority of them, as well as of the clergy (which was somewhat extraordinary, as James was, in effect, to fight against the pope and his allies), were keen for a war with England. The old counsellors, on the other hand, who saw the flourishing state of Scotland, arising from a long peace and commerce protected by a fleet, dreaded the ruinous consequences of the war. The queen naturally headed this party; and she was joined by the earl of Angus and the wisest part of the nobility. Their arguments made no impression upon James, who had received a present from Louis of four ships laden with wine and flour, and two ships of war completely equipped, one of them carrying 34 pieces of brass ordnance. He promised to the French queen, upon his honour, that he would take the field against the English; and she had sent him a fresh letter, gently reproaching him for want of gallantry, and for not being so good as his word. In short, the reasons of the wisest and best part of the nobility were overruled, and the expedition against England was resolved on.

The earl of Hume, who was chamberlain of Scotland, was, at this juncture, at the head of 7000 or 8000 men, with whom he committed prodigious devastations on the English borders. Henry's queen, Catharine of Spain, whom he had left regent of his dominions, issued a commission of array, directed to Sir Thomas Lovell, knight of the Garter, for assembling the militia of the counties of Nottingham, Derby, Warwick, Leicester, Stafford, Rutland, Northampton, and Lincoln. The management of the war, however, was chiefly committed to the earl of Surrey, who assembled the militia of Chester, Lancaster, Northumberland, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and the bishopric of Durham. The earl of Hume had by this time laid great part of Northumberland waste; and his men were returning home laden with booty. The earl of Surrey, resolving to intercept them, ordered Sir William Bulmer to form an ambush with 1000 archers, at a place called Broomhouse, which was extremely convenient for that purpose, as the Scots were obliged to pass that way. As the latter expected nothing of that kind, Bulmer executed his orders with great success. The archers assaulted the Scots all at once, and made so good use of their arrows, that their main body was put to flight, 500 were killed, and 400 taken, with the lord Hume's standard, which he left on the field of battle; the greatest part of the plunder being recovered at the same time. The commonalty of Scotland termed this expedition of the lord Hume's the Ill road.

James was more exasperated than ever by this defeat, and continued his preparations for invading England with additional vigour. His queen did all that she could to dissuade him from his design. She endeavoured to work on his superstition, by recounting to him her ominous dreams and boding apprehensions. James treating these as mere illusions and fictions of the brain, had recourse to other arts. While James was waiting at Linlithgow for the arrival of his army from the north and the Highlands, he afflicted one afternoon at the vespers in the church of St Michael. Being placed in one of the canon's seats, a venerable comely man, of about 52 years of age, entered, dressed in a long garment of linen, his forehead bald, and his yellow locks hanging down his shoulders; in short, he was dressed and formed to appear like St Andrew, the apostle of Scotland, as he is represented in painting and sculpture. The church being crowded, this personage, with some difficulty, made his way to the king's seat; and leaning over it, he spoke to the following purpose: "Sir (said he), I am sent hither to intreat you for this time to delay your expedition, and to proceed no farther in your intended journey: for if you do, you shall not prosper in your enterprise, nor any of your followers. I am further charged to warn you, if ye be refractory as to go forward, not to use the acquaintance, company, or counsel of women, as ye tender your honour, life, and estate." After delivering these words, he retired through the crowd, and was no more seen, though, when the service was ended, James earnestly inquired after him.

That this scene was acted, seems to be past dispute; for Sir David Lindsay, who was then a young man, and present in the church, reported it both to Buchanan and Lindsay the historian. It is, however, equally certain, that the whole was a contrivance of the queen, to whose other afflictions the flings of jealousy were now added. In one of the Scotch incursions into England, one Heron, the proprietor of the castle of Ford, had been taken prisoner, and sent to Scotland; where his mistresses he was detained on a charge of murder, of which he seems to have been innocent. The English historians mention this as having passed after James entered England; but from the latter part of the supposed phantom's speech, it is probable that it happened before; Scotland, and that Heron's wife and beautiful daughter had been for some time soliciting James for his deliverance. Be that as it may, it is too probable that James was smitten with the charms of the daughter; and that her mother, who was a most artful woman, knew how to avail herself of the conquest. Pretending that she had interest enough to procure the release of the lord Johnston and Alexander Home, who were prisoners in England, she was permitted by James to keep a constant correspondence with the earl of Surrey, to whom she is said to have betrayed all James's secrets and measures. The rendezvous of James's army was at the Burrow-moor, to which James repaired; and having given orders for the march of his artillery, he lodged at the abbey of Holyroodhouse. While he was there, another attempt was made to divert him from his purpose of invading England; but James, deaf to all the solicitations and inventions of his queen, mustered his army; and on the 22nd of August he passed the Tweed, encamping that night near the banks of the Twiffl. On his arrival at Twifflhaugh on the 14th, he called an assembly of his lords together, and made a declaration, that the heirs of all such as should die in the army, or be killed by the enemy during his stay in England, should have their wards, relief, and marriages of the king; who, upon that account, dispensed with their age. This is said to have been the crisis of that prince's fate. Abandoned to his passion for his English mistresses, he prevailed with him, at her mother's instigation, to trifle away his time for some days; during which interval, the junction of the English army was formed. The earl of Surrey, the English general, was then at Pomfret; but ordered the landholders of the neighbouring counties to certify to him in writing what number of men each could furnish, charging them to be ready at an hour's warning; and he laid his plan so as not to bring his army into the field till James had advanced so far into England as to render it very difficult for him to retire without a general battle. This precaution affrighted the lady Ford (as she is called) in persuading James that there was no danger in the delay, because the English had not the face of an army in the field.

In the mean time, the earl of Surrey ordered the governors of Berwick and Norham, the two strongest places on the frontiers of England, to prepare for a vigorous resistance in case they were attacked; and directed them to certify how long they could hold out, in hopes, that if they made a resolute defence, James would march on, and leave them in his rear. The governor of Norham's answer was, that his castle was well provided, as to leave him no doubt, in case of a siege, to be able to defend it till King Henry should return from abroad, and relieve it in person. James, however, besieged it on the 25th of August, and battered it so furiously, that he took it by capitulation the fifth day after. James then proceeded to the castle of Etal belonging to the family of Manners (now duke of Rutland); which he took and demolished likewise, as he also did Wark, and arrived before the castle of Ford. The Scotch army is generally allowed to have consisted of at least 50,000 men when it passed the Tweed. At this time it was encamped on the heights of Cheviot, in the heart of a country naturally barren, and now defoliate through the precautions taken by the English general. Being obliged to extend their quarters for the benefit of subsistence, the mercenary part of them had acquired a considerable plunder, with which, as usual, they retired to their own country, as many more did for want of subsistence. The earl of Surrey knew their situation, and ordered the rendezvous of his army, first at Newcastle, and then near Norham, having certain intelligence of the vast defections daily happening in the Scotch army, which had reduced it greatly. The wetness of the season rendered his march, especially that of the artillery, extremely difficult; but being joined by several persons of distinction, he marched on the 3rd of September to Alnwick, where he was reinforced by 5000 hardy veteran troops, sent from the English army on the continent, under the command of his son the lord-admiral of England; so that, as the English authors admit, his army consisted of 26,000 men, all completely armed and provided for the field. James having, in the manifesto which he dispersed on his entering England, given the death of Barton as one of the causes of his invasion, the lord-admiral had prevailed with Henry to send him upon this service; and he informed James by a letter, that he intended to justify the death of that pirate in the front of the English army.

By this time the army of James was, by desertion James dil- and other causes, reduced to less than half its numbers; gutes feve- but the chief misfortune attending it was his own con- ral of his duct. His indolence and inactivity, joined to the scan- nobility. dalous example of his amours, at such a season, had dis- gusting several of his greatest men and best friends; and some of them more than suspected a correspondence between the English lady and the earl of Surrey. James was deaf to all their remonstrances; and the earl of Angus declared, that he was resolved to return home, as he foresaw that the ruin of the army was inevitable through the obstinacy of James. He accordingly withdrew to Scotland, but left behind him his two sons. The lord Hume and the earl of Huntly were likewise discontented. The former had brought his men into the field; but according to some Scotch historians, with a design rather to betray than to serve James; but Huntly, though he disliked his master's conduct, remained firmly attached to his person.

The defection or backwardness of those great men seemed to make no impression upon James. He had chosen a strong camp in the neighbourhood of Ford, on the side of a mountain called Flodden-hill; and he was separated from the English army by the river Till. This advantageous situation put the earl of Surrey un- Encamps der great difficulties; for it rendered the Scotch army in an ad- inacessible, as it was fortified by artillery, and was now vantagous well supplied with provisions by the change of its situa- situation. The earl drew up a manifesto, with which he charged Rouge Croix herald, who was attended by a trumpet. It contained some proposals for an exchange of prisoners, which seems to have been calculated to give the lady Ford the more credit with James; but concluded with reproaches for his perfidious invasion of England, and a defiance to James to fight him in a general battle. The herald was farther charged with a verbal commission to acquaint James, that the earl of Surrey had issued orders that no quarter should be given to any of the Scotch army but the king himself.

A council of war was called on this occasion; in which the earl of Huntly and others made strong re- monstrances against a general engagement. They shewed how fatal it must be to Scotland, should it prove unsuccessful; and that the wisest course James could follow was to return home, where, if he was pursued by the enemy, he could fight to great advantage. The earl of Huntly, however, added, that his opinion should be determined by that of the king and council; and that he was equally ready to share in his majesty's danger as his glory.

Huntly and the other noblemen were opposed by the French ambassador, who represented a retreat as disgraceful to the nobility of Scotland and the arms of James; and used many romantic arguments of the same kind, which but too well suited with the king's disposition. According to Drummond, the council were of opinion that the king should immediately besiege Berwick; but the majority of them declared that it was beneath the dignity of James to fight the earl of Surrey at that nobleman's requisition, and that James could lose no honour by returning home. Patrick Lord Lindsay of Byres, mentioned on a former occasion, and who was president of the council, expressed himself so strongly on that head, that James, in a passion, is said by the historian Lindsay to have sworn, that if ever he lived to return to Scotland, he would hang that nobleman at his own gate. He ordered Rouge Croix to be called in; and after treating him with great politeness, he sent a message to the earl of Surrey by one of his own heralds (Islay), importing, that he would give the English battle on the Friday following; and that he had received such a message from the earl even in his own castle of Edinburgh, he would have left that, and all other business, to fight him. With this message, a small manifesto, in vindication of James's conduct, was sent by the same herald.

The earl of Surry, who was then to inform that he was carried about in a sedan or chariot, had foreseen that James would return an answer by one of his own heralds; but, unwilling that he should obtain any knowledge of the situation of the English camp, he ordered proper persons to receive him at two miles distance, where soon after he attended himself in person. Islay executed his commission, without paying much respect to the person of the English general; who dismissed him, after bestowing great compliments on the honour and courage of James. The earl then ordered his army to march in the line of battle towards Wolleraugh. There he was joined by Rouge Croix, his herald, who gave him an account of the strong situation of the Scottish camp; but the advanced posts of the English army were then within three miles of their enemies, and the earl of Surrey found his difficulties daily increasing. The roads were broken up, the swelling of the rivers cut him off from the necessary communications for supplying his army, and nothing but a battle could save him either from being disbanded or destroyed.

James seems to have so far regarded the advice of his wisest counsellors, as not to abandon his strong situation. They endeavoured to persuade him, that it was a sufficient guard to his honour, if he did not decline the battle on the day appointed; and that his engagement did not bind him to fight upon disadvantageous ground. The Scots, at the same time, knew of their enemy's difficulties; and, as Drummond elegantly expresses it, they remonstrated to their king, that he lacked nothing but patience to be victorious. The Scots thus lying on the defensive, the earl of Surrey again sent Rouge to Croix to inform James that he was ready to give him battle. James was sensibly nettled at this tacit imputation on his honour, and perhaps was inwardly vexed at having followed the wise advice of his noblemen. It appears, from the best authorities, that he neglected the necessary precautions for guarding the passages of the Till, which the English crossed, partly at a place where it was fordable, and partly at a bridge. We are told, not without great appearance of probability, that while the English were passing the bridge, Barthwick, master of the Scotch artillery, fell on his knees, and begged permission from James to point his cannon against the bridge; but that James answered him in a passion, that it must be at the peril of his (Barthwick's) head, and that he was resolved to see all his enemies that day on the plain before him in a body. The earl of Surrey, after passing the Till, took possession of Braxton, which lay to the right of the Scotch camp; and by that situation he cut off the communication of his enemies with the Tweed, and commanded the Till below Eton-castle. The Scotch generals saw themselves now in danger of being reduced to the same straits in which their enemies had been involved two days before, and their country open to an invasion of the English army. James had secret intelligence that this was far from being the intention of the English general; and imagining that the latter's intention was to take possession of a strong camp upon a hill between him and the Tweed, which would give the English a farther command of the country, he resolved to be beforehand with the earl, and gave orders for making large fires of green wood, that the smoke might cover his march along the height, to take advantage of that eminence. But while this stratagem concealed his march from the English, their movements were concealed from him: for when he came to the brow of the height over which he had marched, he found the enemy drawn up in order of battle on the plain, but so close to the height where he was, that his artillery, on which his great dependence was, must overlook them.

A battle was now not only unavoidable, but the only means of saving the Scotch army, which was probably the battle far from being a disagreeable circumstance to James. His person was so dear to his troops, that many of them drested themselves as nearly as they could in the same coats of armour and with the same difficulties that James wore that day. His generals had earnestly desired him to retire to a place of safety, where his person would be secure in all events: but he obstinately refused to follow their advice; and on the 9th of September, early in the morning, dispositions were ordered for the line of battle. The command of the van was allotted to the earl of Huntly; the earls of Lennox and Argyle commanded the Highlanders under James, who, some say, served only as a volunteer; and the earls of Crawford and Montrose led the body of reserve. The earl of Surrey gave the command of his van to his son, the lord admiral; his right wing was commanded by his other son, Sir Edward Howard; and his left by Sir Marmaduke Constable. The rear was commanded by the earl himself, Lord Dacre, and Sir Edward Stanley. Under these leaders served the flower of all the nobility and gentry then in England. Other writers give different accounts of the disposition of the English army, but they may be reconciled by the different forms into which the battle was thrown before it was decided. The lord Hume Scotland. Hume is mentioned as serving under the earls of Crawford and Montrose, and Hepburn earl of Bothwel was in the rear.

The first motion of the English army was by the lord-admiral, who suddenly wheeled to the right, and seized a pass at Milford, where he planted his artillery so as to command the most sloping part of the ascent on which the Scots were drawn up; and it did great execution. The Scots had not foreseen this manoeuvre; and it threw them into such disorder, that the earl of Huntly found it necessary to attack the lord-admiral; which he did with so much fury, that he drove him from his post; and the consequence must have been fatal to the English, had not his precipitate retreat been covered by some squadrons of horse under the lord Dacres, which gave the lord-admiral an opportunity of rallying and new-forming his men. The earl of Surrey now found it necessary to advance to the front, so that the English army formed one continued line, which galled the Scots with perpetual discharges of their artillery and bows. The Highlanders, as usual, impatient to come to a close fight, and to share in the honour of the day, which they now thought their own, rushed down the declivity with their broad swords, but without order or discipline, and before the rest of the army, particularly the division under Lord Hume, advanced to support them. Their impetuosity, however, made a considerable impression on the main battle of the English; and the king bringing up the earl of Bothwel's reserve, the battle became general and doubtful: but by this time the lord-admiral, having again formed his men, came to the assistance of his father, and charged the division under the earls of Crawford and Montrose, who were marching up to support the Highlanders, among whom the king and his attendants were now fighting on foot: while Stanley, making a circuit round the hill, attacked the Highlanders in the rear. Crawford and Montrose, not being seconded, according to the Scottish historians, by the Humes, were routed; and thus all that part of the Scotch army which was engaged under their king, was completely surrounded by the division of the English under Surrey, Stanley, and the lord-admiral. In this terrible situation, James acted with a coolness not common to his temper. He drew up his men in a circular form, and their valour more than once opened the ranks of the English, or obliged them to stand aloof, and again have recourse to their bows and artillery. The chief of the Scotch nobility made fresh attempts to prevail with James to make his escape while it was practicable; but he obstinately continued the fight; and thereby became accessory to his own ruin, and that of his troops, whom the English would gladly have suffered to retreat. He saw the earls of Montrose, Crawford, Argyle, and Lenox, fall by his side, with the bravest of his men lying dead on the spot; and darkness now coming on, he himself was killed by an unknown hand. The English were ignorant of the victory they had gained; and had actually retreated from the field of battle, with a design of renewing it next morning.

This disaster was evidently owing to the romantic disposition of the king himself, and to the want of discipline among many of his soldiers; though some writers have ascribed it to the treachery of Lord Hume. Many of James's domestics knew and mourned over his body; and it appeared that he had received two mortal wounds, one through the trunk with an arrow, and the other in the head with a ball. His coat of armour was presented to Queen Catharine, who informed her husband, then in France, of the victory over the Scots. The loss on both sides, in this engagement, is far from being ascertained; though Polydore Virgil, who lived at the time, mentions the loss of the English at 5000, and that of the Scots at 10,000 men.

Thus fell James IV. after having exercised the regal power for 25 years, and lived about 40. In reviewing the reign of the principal transactions of his reign, our chief attention is directed to the acts of the legislature. These, as in the preceding reigns, appear to have been very mindful of the freedom of the halie kirke. During the year 1489, was passed an act, by which it was made criminal for any one to intermeddle with the profits or duties of the church; and this act, which did not long protect, either the church or the clergy from the rapacity of the times, was speedily followed by legislative declarations for universal concord among the king's lieges. The parliament also endeavoured to protect the king's privileges, conferring him, still, however, as a minor; but he attempted in vain to restore to the royal prerogative the necessary vigour of ancient times. Additional exemptions were given to those members whose duty required their constant attendance in parliament; but by these exemptions the authority of the parliament was neither strengthened nor enlarged. The general principles of former ages, that the king, by his precept, might summon any of his subjects to give their presence and advice in parliament, was again recognized; and considering how much of the public revenue was paid by the boroughs, it was a salutary provision that their deputies should be always summoned as representatives of one of the three estates, when it was intended to require contributions from the people.

There seems to have been, during this reign, considerable zeal for promoting domestic economy, though the best means were not always employed for that purpose. Agriculture was encouraged, weights and measures were settled, craftsmen were regulated, coins were struck, the value of money diminished, and shipping were required to come first to the free boroughs. In addition to all these regulations, it was enacted under a penalty, that barons and freeholders should send their eldest sons to the schools, to learn Latin and law; but there seems to have been no provision made for instructing them in the more important information of morals and manners, in which the nation was notoriously deficient.

After the death of King James IV. the administration devolved on the queen-dowager; but the being pregnant with a posthumous child, and unable to bear the weight of public business, accepted Beaton archbishop of Glasgow and chancellor of Scotland, with the earls of Huntly, Angus, and Arran, to assist her in the affairs of government. Soon after her husband's death she had written an affecting letter to her brother the king of England, informing him of her pregnancy, etc. England, tinging forth the deplorable state of the kingdom, with her own condition, and imploring his friendship and protection for herself and her infant son. This letter seems never to have been communicated by Henry to his council; but he answered it, and informed his sister, that if the Scots would have peace, they should have peace, and war if they chose it. "He added (according to Drummond), that her husband had fallen by his own indiscreet rashness, and foolish kindness to France; that he regretted his death as his ally, and should be willing to prohibit all hostility against the country of Scotland during the minority of her son. For a remedy of present evils, one year's truce and a day longer was yielded unto; in which time he had leisure to prosecute his designs against France, without fear of being disturbed or diverted by the incursions and inroads of the Scots upon his borders."

Thus far Drummond; but though Henry might grant this time to his sister's intreaty, yet it certainly did not become a national measure; for it appears by a letter dated two years after, from the Scots council to the king of France, published by Rymer, that the Scots never had desired a truce. So far from it, the French influence, joined to a desire of revenge, remained so strong in the kingdom, that after the meeting of the parliament, some of the members were so violent as to propose a renewal of the war. This motion was indeed overruled by the more moderate part of the assembly; but they could not be brought to make any advances towards Henry for a peace; and every day now teemed with public calamity, which seems to have gathered strength while the queen was in childbed. The archbishopric of St Andrew's being vacant, it was offered by universal consent to Elphinstone bishop of Aberdeen; but being now old and infirm, he declined it. Three competitors for that high dignity then appeared. The first was Gawin Douglas, then abbot of Aberbrothockwick, to which he was presented by the queen on her recovery (having been brought to bed of a son) the very day before her marriage with his nephew the earl of Angus; and upon the death of Bishop Elphinstone in November following, she presented him likewise to the archbishopric of St Andrew's. The second competitor was John Hepburn, prior of St Andrew's; a bold, avaricious, restless, but shrewd and sensible priest. By his office he had received the rents of the see during its vacancy; and having prevailed with the canons, on pretence of ancient privileges, to elect him archbishop, without regard to the nomination either of the queen or pope, he drove Douglas's servants from the castle of St Andrew's, of which they had taken possession. The third and most powerful competitor was Forman bishop of Moray in Scotland, and archbishop of Bourges in France, a dignity to which he had been raised for his public services. He had in his interest not only the duke of Albany (son to the traitor duke) first prince of the blood, but also the court of Rome itself; and having received the pope's bull and nomination to the dignity, he was considered by the Scotch clergy in general, and by the principal tenants and dependents on the see, as the legal archbishop.

The preference given to Forman discouraged Douglas from pursuing his pretensions; but Hepburn, being supported by the clan of his own name and by the Humes, made so formidable an opposition to his rivals, that none could be found sufficiently daring to publish the papal bull in favour of Forman. The friends of the latter, however, having intimated to the earl of Hume, that his credit at the court of Rome could easily procure the rich abbey of Coldingham for his younger brother, the earl put himself at the head of his followers, and, notwithstanding all the opposition given by the Hepburns, he proclaimed the pope's bull at the cross of Edinburgh. This daring action plainly proved that the earl of Hume had more power than the queen-regent herself; but Hepburn's resolution and the greatness of his friends, obliged Forman to agree to a compromise. Hepburn was advanced to the see of Moray, without accounting for the revenues of the archbishopric, which he had received during its vacancy; and he gave Forman a prebend of three thousand crowns, to be divided among his friends and followers.

In April 1514, the posthumous son, of whom the queen had been delivered in Stirling castle, was by the bishop of Caithness baptized by the name of Alexander. On the 6th of August this year she was married to the earl of Angus; a circumstance than which nothing could be accounted more impolitic. She had neither consulted her brother nor the states of Scotland in the match; and by her having accepted of a husband, she in fact resigned all claim to the regency under the late king's will. The Douglas's did not dispute her having divested herself of the regency; but they affirmed, that the parliament might lawfully reinstate her in it; and that the peace of the kingdom required it, as it was the only measure that could preserve the happy tranquillity which then subsisted between Scotland and England. The earl of Hume put himself at the head of the opposition to this proposal. He knew that he had enemies, and he dreaded that the farther aggrandizement of Angus might weaken his interest on the borders. He was joined by a number of the young nobility, who, though divided among themselves, united against Angus. In short, the general opinion was, that the Douglas's were already too great; and that, should the queen be reinstated in the regency, they must be absolute within the kingdom, and engross all places of power and profit. It was added by the earl of Hume, that he had, out of respect to the late king's memory, submitted to the queen's government; and that, now when she had made a voluntary abdication of it by her marriage, it ought not to be renewed.

After some deliberations, the duke of Albany was chosen regent. He was a man possessed of all the qualities requisite for a good governor; nor did he disappoint the expectations of the public. On his arrival at Glasgow, he took upon him the titles of earl of March, Marr, Garioch, lord of Annandale, and of the isle of Man, regent and protector of the kingdom of Scotland. On his arrival at Edinburgh, he was received in form by the three estates of the kingdom, and the queen had met him at some distance from the town. The parliament then resumed its session, and the three estates took an oath of obedience, till the king, then an infant of four years old, should arrive at the years of maturity.

The first point at which the regent aimed, was the conciliating the differences amongst the various contending families in the kingdom; at the same time, that he suppressed some daring robbers, one of whom is said to have had not fewer than 800 attendants in his infamous profession. So great was his love of good order and decency, that he punished the lord Drummond with the loss of his estate for having struck Lyon king at arms, whose person, as the first herald in Scotland, ought to have been held sacred. Nay, it was at the earnest solicitation of Lyon himself, and many of the chief nobility, that a greater punishment was not inflicted. The forfeiture was afterwards, however, remitted; but not before Drummond had, upon his knees, acknowledged his offence, and humbled himself before Lyon.

The regent had not been long in office before he took into favour Hepburn the prior of St Andrew's, whom he consulted for information concerning the state of Scotland. Hepburn acquainted him with all the feuds and animosities which raged among the great families of Scotland, their ferocious character, and barbarous behaviour to their enemies. He represented the civil power as too weak to curb these potent chieftains; and gave it as his opinion that the regent's administration ought to be supported by foreign arms, meaning those of France.

Hepburn is said also to have gained an ascendancy over the regent by means of large sums of money laid out among his domestics, by an insinuating and plausible address, and by well-directed flatteries: and he employed this ascendancy to destroy those who were obnoxious to himself. The earl of Hume, as being the first subject in rank and authority, became obnoxious to the regent through the insinuations of Hepburn; and as that nobleman had frequent occasion to be at court by virtue of his office of chamberlain, he soon perceived that neither he nor his friends were welcome guests there. Alarmed for his own safety, he resolved to form a party with the queen-mother and her new husband against the regent. This was by no means a difficult task: for the queen naturally imagined that her new husband ought to have had some share in the government; and the earl of Angus readily concurred in the scheme. In the mean time, the regent was making a progress through Scotland, while bloody feuds were raging among the nobles: but before any remedy could be applied to these disorders, he was informed of the schemes laid by the queen-mother and her party; and that she had resolved to fly into England with her two infants. On this he instantly returned to Edinburgh; and as no time was to be lost, set out that very night, and surprized the castle of Stirling, where he found the queen-mother and her two infants.

The regent, after this bold step, took care to show that the care of the royal infants was his chief study. As he himself was nearly allied to the crown, in order to remove all suspicions and calumnies on that account, he committed the care of the king and his brother to three noblemen of the most unexceptionable characters in the kingdom, but of whom we now know the name only of one, viz. the earl of Lennox. They were appointed to attend the princes by turns; to whom also a guard, consisting partly of French and partly of Scots, was assigned; and the queen-mother was left at liberty to reside where she pleased.

The earl of Hume, finding his schemes thus abortive, retired to his own estate; whence he was soon after driven, and obliged to fly into England, by the earls of Arran and Lennox. The queen-mother retired to a monastery at Coldstream; and messengers were dispatched to the court of England, to know how Henry would have his sister disposed of. He ordered the lord Dacres, his warden of the marches, to attend her to Harbottle-castle in Northumberland; and here she was delivered of her daughter the Lady Mary Douglas, mother to Henry Lord Darnley, father to James VI. The regent dispatched ambassadors to Henry, in order to vindicate his own conduct. He likewise sent to assure the queen that she had nothing to fear in Scotland; and to invite her to return thither, where she should at all times be admitted to see her children. This offer, however, she declined; and set out for London, where she was affectionately received and entertained by her brother. But in the mean time, many disorders were committed throughout the kingdom by the party of the queen-mother; though, by the interposition of Archbishop Forman, they were at present terminated without bloodshed, and some of the principal offenders were persuaded to return to their duty. Among these was the earl of Angus himself, the queen's husband; which when King Henry heard, he exclaimed, "That band of the earl, by deterring his wife, had acted like a Scot." Her husband the Lord Hume refused to surrender himself, or to accept the regent's terms; and was of consequence declared a traitor, and his estate confiscated. All this time he had been infesting the borders at the head of a lawless banditti; and now he began to commit such devastations, that the regent found it necessary to march against him at the head of 1000 disciplined troops. Hume being obliged to lay down his arms, was sent prisoner to Edinburgh castle; where the regent very unaccountably committed him to the charge of his brother-in-law the earl of Arran. Hume easily found means to gain over this near relation to his own party; and both of them, in the month of October, escaped to the borders, where they soon renewed hostilities. Both the earls were now proclaimed traitors; but Hume was allowed fifteen days to surrender himself. This short interval the regent employed in quelling the rebellion, for which purpose the parliament had allowed him 15,000 men. He besieged the castle of Hamilton, the earl of Arran's chief seat, which was in no condition for defence; but he was prevailed on by Arran's mother, daughter to James II. and aunt to the regent himself, to forbear further hostilities, and even to pardon her son, provided he should return to his duty. Arran accordingly submitted; but the public tranquillity was not thus restored. An association, at the head of which was the earl of Moray, the king's natural brother, had been formed against the earl of Huntly. That nobleman was too well attended to fear any danger by day; but his enemies found means to introduce some armed troops in the nighttime into Edinburgh. On this a fierce skirmish ensued, in which some were killed on both sides; but farther bloodshed was prevented by the regent, who confined all the lords in prison till he had brought about a general reconciliation. One Hay, who had been very active in stirring up the quarrels, was banished to France; and only the earl of Hume now continued in arms.

In 1516 died the young duke of Rothesay: an event which brought the regent one degree nearer the crown, so that he was declared heir in case of the demise of young James. Negotiations were then entered into about prolonging the truce which at that time subsisted with England; but Henry insisting on a removal of the regent from his place, they were for the present dropped. dropped. Finding, however, that he could neither prevail on the parliament as a body to dismiss the regent, nor form a party of any consequence against him, he at last consented to a prolongation of the truce for a year.

In 1517, the affairs of the regent requiring his presence in France, he resolved, before his departure, to remove the earl of Hume, who, as we have seen, alone continued to disturb the public tranquillity. Under pretence of settling some differences which still remained with England, he called a convention of the nobility; and sent special letters to the earl of Hume and his brother to attend, on account of their great knowledge in English affairs. Both of them imprudently obeyed the summons, and were seized and executed as soon as they arrived at Edinburgh. Whatever occasion there might be for such severity, it alienated the affections of the people to such a degree, that the regent could scarcely get the place filled up which Lord Hume had possessed. That of lord warden of the marches he at last gave to his French favourite La Beaute, called by historians Sir Anthony D'Arcy. The post of lord chamberlain was given to Lord Fleming. Soon after this, the regent levied an army, on pretence of repelling some disturbances on the borders. These being speedily quelled, he feigned on his return the earl of Lennox, and forced him to deliver up his castle of Dumfries; not choosing to leave it, during his intended absence in France, in the custody of a nobleman of suspected fidelity; and from similar motives, afterwards took him with him on his departure for the continent. He then procured himself to be nominated ambassador to France, in which character he left the kingdom; having committed the government to the archbishops of St Andrews' and Glasgow, the earls of Arran, Angus, Huntly, and Argyle, with the warden D'Arcy, on whom was his chief dependence.

On the departure of the regent, the queen-mother left the English court; and arrived with a noble retinue at Berwick, on purpose to visit her son. Here she was received by her husband; for whom she had contracted an invincible aversion; either on account of his infidelities to her bed, or because he had deserted her in the manner already related. She suppressed her resentment, however, for the present, and accompanied him to Edinburgh. Here, in consequence of the proposals made by the regent, she demanded access to her son; but this was refused by D'Arcy. Lord Erskine, however, who was one of those to whom the care of the young king was committed, conveyed him to the castle of Craigmiller (where D'Arcy had no jurisdiction), on pretence that the plague was in Edinburgh; and there the queen was admitted; but this gave such offence to D'Arcy, that Lord Erskine was obliged to carry back the king to the castle of Edinburgh, where all further access was denied to his mother. In short, the behaviour of this favourite was on all occasions so haughty and violent, that he rendered himself universally odious; and was at last murdered, with all his attendants, in his way to Dunfermline, where he proposed to hold a court of justice.—His death was little regretted; yet his murderers were prosecuted with the utmost severity, and several persons of distinction declared rebels on that account.

Meanwhile, the regent was treated with high marks of distinction in France. The king showed him the greatest respect, promised to assist in establishing his authority in Scotland, and solemnly confirmed the ancient league between the two kingdoms. Soon after, the earl of Lennox arrived from France, with assurances of protection and assistance from the king, who was highly pleased with the zeal of the governors in punishing D'Arcy's murderers; and 500 soldiers arrived with him, to reinforce the garrisons, especially that of Dunbar.

All this time the queen-mother continued at Edinburgh, employing herself in attempts to procure a divorce from her husband, under pretence of his having been previously contracted to another. The affairs of the kingdom again began to fall into confusion, and many murders and commotions happened in different parts of the country. The earl of Arran had the chief direction in the state; but the earl of Angus, notwithstanding the difference with his wife, had still great interest, and waited every opportunity to oppose him. This emulation produced an encounter at Edinburgh; in which victory declared for Angus, and 72 of the routed party were killed. This skirmish was fought on the 30th of April 1519, and has been known in Scots history by the name of Clanranald's Caffeway.

On the 19th of November 1521, the regent returned from France. He found the kingdom in great disorder. The earl of Angus domineered in the field, but his antagonists outvoted his party in the parliament. The queen-mother, who had fixed her affections on a third husband, hated all parties almost equally; but joined the duke of Albany, in hopes of his depriving the other two of their power. This happened according to her expectation; and she was with the regent when he made a kind of triumphal entry into Edinburgh, attended by a number of persons of the first rank.—The earl of Angus was now summoned to appear as a criminal; but his wife interceded for him, not out of any remains of affection, but because he gave her no opposition in the process of divorce which was depending between them.

In the mean time, Henry VIII. of England, perceiving that the Scots were entirely devoted to the war with French interests, sent a letter full of accusations against the regent, and threats against the whole nation, if they did not renounce that alliance. No regard being paid to these requisitions, Lord Dacre was ordered to proclaim upon the borders that the Scots must stand to their peril if they did not accede to his measures by the first of March 1522. This producing no effect, Henry seized the effects of all the Scots residing in England, and banished them his dominions, after marking them, according to Bishop Leslie, with a cross, to distinguish them from his other subjects. A war was the unavoidable consequence of these proceedings; and, on the 30th of April, the earl of Shrewsbury, Henry's steward of the household, and knight of the Garter, was appointed commander in chief of the army that was to act against the Scots; and, in the mean time, Lord Dacre made an inroad as far as Kelso, plundering and burning wherever he came.

The regent ordered his army to rendezvous at Roxburgh; but the Scots, remembering the disaster at Flodden, showed an extreme aversion to the war, and even declared to the regent, that though they would defend themselves in case they were attacked, they would not not engage in a French quarrel. The regent remon- strated, but without effect; and as the malcontents continued obstinate, he was in danger of being left by himself, when the queen-mother interposed, and pre- vailed with Lord Dacres to agree to a conference, the event of which was a renewal of the negotiations for peace.

The regent perceiving, by the disgrace of this ex- pedition, that he had lost his former popularity, deter- mined to revenge himself; and therefore told those in whom he could confide, that he was about to return to France, whence he should bring such a force by sea and land, as should render it unnecessary for him again to ask leave of the Scots to invade England. Ac- cordingly he embarked for France on the 25th of Oc- tober, but publicly gave out that he would return the ensuing August.

On the regent's arrival in France, he made a demand of 10,000 foot and 5000 horse for carrying on the war against England; but the situation of Francis did not then allow him to spare so many at once, though he was daily sending over ships with men, ammunition, and mo- ney, for the French garrisons in Scotland. At last it was publicly known in England that the regent was about to return with a strong fleet, and 4000 of the best troops in France; on which Henry determined, if pos- sible, to intercept him. Sir William Fitz-Williams, with 36 large ships, was ordered to block up the French squadron in the harbour of Finhead; Sir Anthony Poyntz cruised with another in the western seas, as Sir Christopher Dow and Sir Henry Shireburn did in the northern with a third squadron. The duke of Albany, being unable to cope with Fitz-Williams, was obliged to set out from another port with 12 ships, having some troops on board. They fell in with Fitz-Williams's squadron; two of their ships were sunk, and the rest driven back to Dieppe. Fitz-Williams then made a defeat at Treport, where he burnt 18 French ships, and returned to his station off Finhead. By this time the French had given the duke such a reinforcement as made him an overmatch for the English admiral; "had the men been equally good; but the regent had no de- pendence on French sailors when put in competition with the English. Instead of coming to an engage- ment, therefore, as soon as Fitz-Williams appeared, he disembarked his soldiers, as if he had intended to de- lay his expedition for that year; but a storm soon aris- ing, which obliged the English fleet to return to the Downs, the regent took that opportunity of reembarking his men, and, failing by the western coasts, arrived safe in Scotland.

All this time the earl of Surrey had been carrying on the most cruel and destructive war against Scotland, infomuch that, according to Cardinal Wolsey, "there was left neither house, fortres, village, tree, cattle, corn, nor other succour for man," in the districts of Tweed- dale and March. The regent's return did not imme- diately put a stop to these devastations; for the inte- stine divisions in Scotland prevented him from taking the field. His party was weakened by his long ab- sence, and the queen-mother had been very active in strengthening the English interest. A parliament was called in 1523, in which it was debated, Whether peace or war with England should be resolved on? and the determinations of this parliament were evidently on the worse side of the question. Henry was at this time so well disposed to cultivate a friendship with Scotland, that he offered to James his eldest sister Mary in mar- riage; but the Scots, animated by the appearance of their French auxiliaries, and corrupted by their gold, which is rejected all terms, and resolved on war. However, rejected, when the army was assembled, and had advanced to the borders, he found the same difficulty he had formerly experienced; for they perpetually refused to enter England. With great difficulty he prevailed with part of the army to pass the Tweed; but not meeting with success, he was obliged to return to Scotland, which at this time was divided into four factions. One of these was headed by the regent, another by the queen, a third by the earl of Arran, and a fourth by the earl of Angus, who had lived as an exile under Henry's pro- tection. Had it been possible for the earl of Angus and his wife to be reconciled to each other, it would have been much for the interest of the kingdom; but all the art even of Cardinal Wolsey could not effect this reconciliation. At last, the duke of Albany, find- ing all parties united against him, resigned his office of Albany regent of Scotland. On the 14th of March that reigns his year, he went on board one of his own ships for France, whence he never returned to Scotland. He did not indeed make a formal abdication of his government; but he requested the nobility, whom he convened for that purpose, to enter into no alliance with England during his absence, which he said would continue no longer than the first of September following; to make no alteration in the government; and to keep the king at Stirling.

The nobility, who were impatient for the absence of the regent, readily promised whatever he required, but without any intention of performing it; nor, indeed, was it in their power to comply; for it had been pre- viously determined that James himself should now take the administration into his own hands. According to Buchanan, the regent had no sooner returned to France than Scotland relapsed into all the miseries of anarchy. The queen-dowager had the management of public af- fairs, but her power was limited. The earl of Arran, apprehending danger from the English, entered into the views of the French party. The queen-mother's dislike to her husband continued as great as ever, which pre- vented an union among those who were in the English interest; and Wolsey took that opportunity of restoring the earl of Angus to all his importance in Scotland.— The queen-mother, therefore, had no other means left to keep herself in power, than to bring James himself into action. On the 29th of July, therefore, he re- moved from Stirling to the abbey of Holyroodhouse; on him self where he took on himself the exercise of government, the govern- ment by convoking the nobility, and obliging them to swear allegiance to his person a second time. The truce with England was now prolonged, and the queen's party car- ried all before them. On the very day in which the last truce was signed with England, the earl of Argus en- tered Scotland. He had been invited from his exile in France into England, where he was counselled by Henry, who disregarded all his father's entreaties to send him back to France, and now resolved to support him in Argus re- Scotland. Yet, though his declared intention in send- ing the earl to Scotland was, that the latter might ba- lance the French party there, the king enjoined him to sue, in the most humble manner, for a reconciliation with his wife, and to co-operate with the earl of Arran; who now acted as prime minister, as long as he should oppose the French party. On his return, however, he found himself excluded from all share in the government, but soon found means to form a strong party in opposition to Arran. In the meantime, ambassadors were sent to the court of England, in order to bring about a lasting peace between the two nations.

At the same time a match was proposed between the young king of Scotland and Henry's daughter. This had originally been a scheme of Henry himself; but the emperor Charles V. had resolved to outbid him, by offering James a princess of his own family, with an immense treasure. The ambassadors arrived at London on the 19th of December, and found Henry very much disposed both to the peace and to the match. Commissioners were appointed to treat respecting it; but they were instructed to demand by way of preliminary, that the Scots should absolutely renounce their league with France, and that James should be sent for education to England till he should be of a proper age for marriage. The Scottish commissioners declared, that they had no instructions respecting these points; but one of them, the earl of Caithness, offered to return to Scotland, and bring a definitive answer from the three states; and in the mean time the truce was prolonged to the 1st of May.

On his arrival at Edinburgh, he found the earl of Angus the leading man in parliament; by whose influence it was determined that the Scots should renounce their league with France, and substitute in place of it a similar league with England; and that the king should be brought up at the English court till he was of an age proper for marriage; but at the same time they required of Henry to break off all engagements with Charles V., who was the bitter enemy of Francis, and at that time detained him prisoner. To this the English monarch returned but a cool reply, being then engaged in a number of treaties with the emperor, among which one was concerning the marriage of the princess Mary with his imperial majesty himself; however, before Caithness returned, a truce of two years and a half was concluded between England and Scotland.

Now, however, the queen-mother, though she had always been a warm advocate for an alliance between the two nations, disliked the means of bringing it about.—She saw her husband's party increasing every day in power; so that now she had no other resource but to keep possession of the king's person, whom she removed to the castle of Edinburgh. Being now under the necessity of convening a parliament, it was resolved to hold it within the castle; but this being an unconstitutional measure, gave a pretext to the earl of Arran and his party to complain of the innovation. They began with remonstrances; but finding these ineffectual, they formed a blockade of the castle with 2000 men, and cut off all communication with the town by means of trenches. As no provisions could be introduced into the castle, the queen ordered some of the cannon to be turned against the town, in order to force the citizens to terminate the blockade. Several shots were fired; but when all things appeared ready for a civil war, matters were compromised, though in such an imperfect manner as left very little room to hope for perfect tranquillity. It was agreed, that the king should remove out of the castle of Edinburgh to the palace of Holyroodhouse; from which he should repair with all possible magnificence to his parliament, in the house where it was commonly held; and there a termination was to be put to all differences. This agreement was signed on the 25th of February 1526. The parliament accordingly met, and the king's marriage with the princesses of England was ratified; but no mention was made of the king's being sent for his education into that countess's retinue; on the contrary, he was committed to the care of eight lords of parliament. These were to have the custody of the king's person, every one his month in rotation, and the whole to stand for the government of the state; yet with this limitation, "that the king, by their counsel, should not ordain or determine anything in great affairs to which the queen-dowager, as princess and dowager, should not give her consent." This partition of power, by giving the queen-dowager a negative in all public matters, soon threw everything into confusion. The earl of Angus, by leading the king into various scenes of pleasure and dissipation, so gained the ascendancy over him, that he became almost totally guided by him. The queen-mother, perceiving that she could not have access to her son, without at the same time being in company with her husband, whom she hated, retired suddenly with her domestics to Stirling. Thus the king was left under the sole tuition of the earl of Angus, who abused his power, engrossing all the places of honour or profit. The archbishop of St Andrews having now joined the queen's party, advised the earl of Angus to make a formal demand upon her husband, that the order of government which had been settled by the last parliament should take place, and that under a penalty he should set the king at liberty. To this the earl answered by a kind of manifesto drawn up by his brother; in which he declared, that "the earl of Angus having been so highly favoured by his good uncle the king of England, and that James himself being under great obligations to him, neither the queen nor the other lords need be in any pain about him, as he chose to spend his time with the earl of Angus rather than with any lord in the kingdom." James himself, however, had sufficient discernment to perceive, that, notwithstanding all the fair pretences of the earl of Angus, his liberty was in fact no better than his prisoner; and resolved to attempt the recovery of his liberty. The earls of Argyll and Arran had for some time retired from court, where they had no share in the administration, and were living on their own estates; but the earl of Lennox dissembled his sentiments so well, that he was suspected neither by the earl of Angus, nor any of the Douglas family, who were his partisans. The king being gained upon by his insinuating behaviour, opened his mind to him, and requested his assistance against such treacherous keepers. At the same time he sent letters to his mother, and the heads of her party, by some of his domestics whom Lennox had pointed out, intreating them to remove him from the earl, and not suffer him any longer to remain under his imperious jurisdiction; adding, that if this could not be done by any other means, they should use force of arms.

On receiving this letter, the queen-mother and her party assembled their forces at Stirling, and without loss of time began their march for Edinburgh. Angus, on the other hand, prepared to oppose them with vigour, but Scotland, but at the same time to carry along with him his royal charge. This resolution being made known to the queen-mother, she was so much concerned for the safety of her son, that the whole party disbanded themselves; and thus the authority of the earl of Angus seemed to be more established than ever. Nothing, indeed, was now wanting to render him despotic but the possession of the great seal, which the archbishop of St Andrew's had carried with him to Dunfermline. As no deed of any consequence could be executed without this, he prevailed on the king to demand it by a special message; in consequence of which, the archbishop was obliged to relinquish it.

About this time the divorce which had been so long in agitation between the queen-mother and the earl of Angus actually took place; and this, no doubt, increased the dislike of James to his confinement, while the imprudence of Angus daily gave fresh reason of disgust. As Angus knew that he had no firm support but in the attachment of his followers to his person, he suffered them to rob and plunder the estates of his opponents without mercy. These, again, did not fail to make reprisals; so that, towards the end of the year 1526, there was scarcely any appearance of civil government in Scotland. Thus the court became almost totally deserted; every nobleman being obliged to go home to defend his own estate. Even Angus himself shared in the common calamity, and hence was frequently obliged to leave the king to the custody of Lennox. To this nobleman the king now made the most grievous complaints, and charged him to contrive some plan for his escape. Lennox accordingly recommended to him the baron of Buccleugh, who was very powerful in the southern parts, and a violent enemy to Angus and the whole family of Douglas. To him he gave instructions to foment the disorders in the southern parts to such a degree as to require the king's personal presence to compose them. Buccleugh was then to attack the party, and take the king by force from the Douglases. This scheme was put in execution, but Buccleugh had the misfortune to be defeated; so that the attempt proved abortive, and James found himself in a worse situation than before. After this attempt, however, as the earl of Angus could not but know that Lenox had been accessible to it, the former behaved towards him with such visible indifference, that Lenox openly declared against him, and advised the king to form a friendship with the archbishop of St Andrew's, in order to effect his liberty. This was accordingly done; but the interest of the archbishop and Lenox was overbalanced by that of Arran and the Hamilton family, whom the earl of Angus had now drawn over to his party. The earl of Lenox, however, having received powers from the king for that purpose, suddenly retired from court; and published a manifesto, inviting all loyal subjects to assist him in delivering the king from confinement. In consequence of this he was soon joined by a numerous army, with whom he advanced towards Edinburgh. Angus did not fail to assemble his adherents; and sent orders to the inhabitants of Edinburgh to take the field, with the king at their head. The citizens immediately put themselves under arms; but James, pretending to be indisposed, Sir George Douglas, brother to the earl of Angus, made him the following speech: "Sir, rather than our enemies should take you from us, we will lay hold of your person; and should you be torn in pieces in the struggle, we will carry off part of your body." Upon this speech, which James never forgot, he mounted his horse and set forward to Linlithgow, but with a very slow pace; inasmuch that Sir George Douglas, afraid of not coming in time to succour his brother, made use of many indecent expressions and actions to push James on to the field of battle. Three messengers arrived from the earl of Angus; the first informing his brother that he was about to engage with a superior army; the second, that Angus was engaged with a division of Lenox's army, commanded by the earl of Glencairn; and that Lenox himself was engaged with the Hamiltons. The third informed him that Lenox, if not actually defeated, was on the point of being so. Upon receiving this last news, James hastened to the field of battle, that he might save Lenox, and put an end to the slaughter. But he came too late: for the royal party was already defeated with great slaughter; and Lenox himself, after being wounded and taken prisoner, was murdered by Sir James Hamilton.

On the night of the battle, the king was removed to Linlithgow; and though he was under the greatest grief for the fate of Lenox, the behaviour of the Douglases struck him with such terror that he dissembled his sentiments. The earl of Angus led his victorious troops into Fife, in hopes of surprising the queen-mother and the archbishop of St Andrew's. The queen-mother, on the news of his approach, fled, with her new husband Henry Stuart, brother to Lord Evandale, to Edinburgh, and both were admitted into the castle. The archbishop fled to the mountains, where he was obliged to keep cattle as a shepherd. Angus, after having plundered the castle of St Andrew's and the abbey of Dunfermline, returned in triumph to Edinburgh, where he prepared to besiege the castle; but the queen-mother, hearing that her son was among the number of the besiegers, ordered the gates of the castle to be thrown open, and surrendered herself and her husband prisoners to James, who was advised to confine them to the castle. After these repeated successes, the earl of Angus established a kind of court of justice, in which he prosecuted those who had opposed him, among whom was the earl of Caflis. He was offered by Sir James Hamilton, natural son of the earl of Arran, the same who had murdered Lenox, an indemnity if he would own himself a vassal of that house; but this condition was rejected. Being called to his trial, and accused of having taken arms against the king, a gentleman of his name and family, who was his advocate, denied the charge, and offered to produce a letter under James's own hand, desiring him to affix in delivering him from his gaolers. This striking evidence confounded the prosecutor so much, that the earl was acquitted; but on his return home he was way-laid and murdered by one Hugh Campbell, at the instigation of Sir James Hamilton.

During these transactions in the south, many of the Highland clans were perpetrating the most horrid scenes of rapine and murder, which also prevailed in some parts of the Lowlands. The state of the borders was little better than that of the Highlands; but it engaged the attention of Angus more, as he had great interest in these parts. Marching, therefore, against the banditti which infested these districts, he soon reduced them to subjection. His power seemed now to be firmly established, blished, infomuch that the archbishop of St Andrew's began to treat with Sir George Douglas, to whom he offered lucrative leaves and other emoluments if he would intercede with the regent, as Angus was called, in his favour. This was readily agreed to; and the archbishop was allowed to return in safety to his palace about the same time that Angus returned from his expedition against the borderers. Nothing was then seen at court but festivities of every kind, in which the queen-mother, who was now released from her confinement, took part; and she was afterwards suffered to depart to the castle of Stirling; which Angus, not considering its importance, had neglected to secure. In the meantime the archbishop invited the Douglases to spend some days with him at his castle; which they accordingly did, and carried the king along with them. Here James dissembled so well, and seemed to be so enamoured of his new way of life, that Angus thought there could be no danger in leaving him in the hands of his friends, while he returned to Lothian to settle some public as well as private affairs. Having taken leave of the king, he left him in the custody of his uncle Archibald, his brother Sir George, and one James Douglas of Parkhead, captain of the guards who watched his majesty on pretence of doing him honour. The earl was no sooner gone than the archbishop sent an invitation to Sir George Douglas, desiring him to come to St Andrew's, and there put the last hand to the leaves, and finish the bargains that had been spoken off between them. This was so plausible, that he immediately set out for St Andrew's; while his uncle the treasurer went to Dundee. James thinking this to be the best opportunity that ever presented itself for an escape, resolved to avail himself of it at all events; and found means, by a private message, to apprise his mother of his design. It was then the season for hunting and diversion, which James often followed in the park of Falkland: and calling for his forester, he told him, that as the weather was fine, he intended to kill a stag next morning, ordering him at the same time to summon all the gentlemen in the neighbourhood to attend him with their best dogs. He then called for his chief domestics, and commanded them to get his supper early, because he intended to be in the field by day-break; and he talked with the captain of his guard of nothing but the excellent sport he expected next morning. In the mean time, he had engaged two young men, the one a page of his own, the other John Hart, a helper about his stables, to attend him in his flight, and to provide him with the dress of a groom for a disguise. Having formally taken leave of his attendants, charging them to be ready early in the morning, and being left alone, he stole softly out of his bed-chamber, went to the stable unperceived by the guards, dressed himself in his disguise; and he and his companions mounting the three best horses there, galloped to Stirling castle; into which, by the queen's appointment, he was admitted soon after day-break. He commanded all the gates to be secured; and the queen having previously prepared every thing for a vigorous defence, orders were given that none should be admitted into the castle without the king's permission.

About an hour after the king's escape from Falkland, Sir George Douglas returned; and being assured that his majesty was asleep, he went to bed. It appears that James had been seen and known in his flight; for in the morning the bailiff of Abernethy came post-haste to inform Sir George that the king had passed Stirling bridge. They had, however, some glimmering hope that the king might be gone to Bamborough; but that surmise was soon found to be false; and an express was dispatched, informing Angus of all that had happened. The earl quickly repaired to Falkland, where he and his friends came to a resolution of going to Stirling, and demanding access to the king.

James by this time had issued letters to the earls of Huntly, Argyle, Athol, Glencarn, Menteith, Rothes, and Eglinton; the lords Graham, Livingston, Lindsay, Sinclair, Ruthven, Drummond, Evandale, Maxwell, and Semple. Before all of them could arrive at Stirling, the earl of Angus and his friends were upon their journey to the same place; but were stopped by a herald at arms, commanding them on their allegiance not to approach within six miles of the king's residence. This order having sufficiently intimated what they were to expect, the earl deliberated with his party how he should proceed. Some of them were for marching on and taking the castle by surprize; but that was found to be impracticable, especially as they had no artillery. The earl and his brother therefore resolved to make a show of submission to the king's order; and they accordingly went to Linlithgow. By this time all the nobility already mentioned, and many others, had assembled at Stirling; and James, calling them to council, inveighed against the tyranny of the Douglases with an acrimony that sufficiently discovered what pain it must have given him when he was obliged to bear it in silence. He concluded his speech with these words: "Therefore I desire, my lords, that I may be satisfied of the said earl, his kin, and friends. For I vow that Scotland shall not hold us both, while I be revenged on him and his."

The result of the council's deliberation was that proclamation should be made, renewing the order for the Douglases not to approach the court, and divesting the earl of Angus and his brother of all their public employments. In the mean time, such was the moderation of the assembly, that by their advice James ordered the earl to retire to the north of the Spey till his pleasure should be known; but his brother was commanded to surrender himself a prisoner in the castle of Edinburgh, to take his trial in a very full parliament (all the members being summoned to attend), to be held in that city next September. The earl and his brother considered compliance with these conditions as a prelude to their destruction; and resolved to justify their treasons by still greater excesses, in surprising the town of Edinburgh, and holding it against the king and parliament, before the latter could assemble. Historians have not done that justice to the proceedings of the royal party on this occasion which they deserve. The management of the king's escape, his reception into Stirling, the fortifying that castle, and the ready obedience of his great nobility, some of whom attended him with their followers before they received any summons for that purpose, are proofs of wise and spirited deliberations. Their conduct at this time was equally consistent with the same plan of foresight.

It was naturally to be supposed that the Douglases, who remained assembled in a numerous body, would make make the attempt already mentioned; but the royalists had the precaution to dispatch the lord Maxwell and the baron of Lochinvar, with a body of troops, to take possession of the town, till James could arrive with 2000 forces to their relief. Maxwell and Lochinvar made such dispatch, that they were in possession of the town when the Douglases appeared before it, and repulsed them; while a most terrible storm had scattered the troops under James before he could come to their assistance, so effectually, that, being left almost without attendants, his person might have been taken by the smallest party of the enemy. On the retreat of the Douglases from Edinburgh, the parliament met; and none of them appearing in pursuance of their summons, the earl of Angus, his brother Sir George Douglas, his uncle Archibald Douglas, and Alexander Drummond of Carnock, with some of their chief dependents, were indicted, and their estates forfeited for the following offences: "The assembling of the king's lieges, with intention to have affainted his person; the detaining of the king against his will and pleasure, and contrary to the articles agreed upon, for the space of two years and more; all which time the king was in fear and danger of his life." We know of no advocate for the earl and his friends but one Bannatyne, who had the courage to plead their cause against those heinous charges; and so exasperated were both the king and parliament against them, that the former swore he never would forgive them, and the latter that they never would intercede for their pardon. Thus it was not deemed sufficient simply to declare their resolutions; but the solemnity of oaths was added, with an intention to discourage the king of England from continuing the vigorous applications he was every day making, by letters and otherwise, for the pardon of Angus; and to exclude all hopes of that kind, James created his mother's third husband (to whom she had been married for some time) Lord Methven, and gave him the direction of his artillery.

The disgrace and forfeiture of the Douglases having created many vacancies in the state, Gavin Dunbar, archbishop of Glasgow, and tutor to the king, was nominated lord chancellor, though but indifferently qualified for a post which ought to have been filled by an able statesman; and Robert Carncroft, a person (says Buchanan), more eminent for wealth than virtue, was made treasurer: but this last was soon after displaced, being suspected of favouring the Douglases; and Robert Barton, one of the king's favourites, was appointed to succeed him. The Douglases still kept their arms; and being joined by a great number of outlaws and robbers in the south, they ravaged all the lands of their enemies, carrying their devastations to the very gates of Edinburgh. A commission of lieutenantcy was offered to the earl of Bothwell to act against those rebels; but he declining it, it was accepted by the earl of Argyle and Lord Hume, who did great service in protecting the country from the outlaws. Several villages, however, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, were burnt; and all the provisions which the Douglases could collect were carried off to their castle of Tantallon, which now served as their head-quarters, and was threatened with a siege.

It is remarkable, that the castle of Dunbar remained till in the hands of the duke of Albany's garrison, who recognized no master but him. The place was well stored with artillery of all kinds; and lying in the neighbourhood of Tantallon, it was easy to transport them to the siege; but James thought he had no right to make use of them without the consent of one Maurice, governor of the castle. Having summoned, by proclamation, the inhabitants of Fife, Angus, Strathearn, Stirlingshire, Lothian, Moray, and Teviotdale, to be ready to appear at Edinburgh on the 10th of December, with 40 days' victuals, to assist in the siege, he sent three noblemen to borrow artillery from Maurice, and to remain as pledges for the safe delivery of the same; and the several pieces required were accordingly sent him. This delicacy is the more remarkable, as we are told that the duke of Albany had given order that everything in his castle should be at the king's service, and his However unanimous the parliament might appear against scheme of revenge, the Douglases, James was but ill-favoured in this attempt. This proceeding, in a country where the Douglases had so many connections, carried with it an appearance of cruelty, and a thirst of revenge, especially as James had chosen such a season of the year for carrying on the siege. In short, after battering the place for some days, and losing one Falconer, his chief engineer, the king was obliged to abandon his enterprise, or rather to turn the siege into a blockade, with no great credit to his first military attempt in the field. Some historians intimate, that Angus found means to corrupt the other engineers; but we find, that before this time, a negotiation was going forward between James and the king of England; the nature of which proves that the former was now rendered more placable towards the Douglases, and this was the true reason why the siege was suspended.

The truce between Scotland and England was now near expiring; and Henry, under that pretence, gave a commission to the prior of Durham, Thomas Magnus, Sir Anthony Ughtred captain of the town and castle of Berwick, William Franklyn chancellor of Durham, and Sir Thomas Tempeit. James seems to have been in no haste to enter upon this negociation, because he understood that the English commissioners were privately instructed to insist upon the Douglases being restored to their estates and dignities. England was at that time the principal ally of Francis against the emperor; and this gave a pretence to Francis to interpose so far in favour of the Douglases, that he brought James to consent to a preliminary negociation for their obtaining at least a secure retreat in England. This was at last complied with.

James being now delivered from all dread of the Douglases, and under no controul from any party, showed excellent dispositions for government. Finding that the James reborderers were by no means pleased with the late treaty, and that they were renewing their depredations, he re-borderers resolved to strike at the root of an evil which had so long proved disgraceful and dangerous to his ancestors, by giving no quarter to the chiefs of these robbers, whose principal residence was in Liddesdale. This was the more necessary, as their daring attempts had exasperated the English so much, that they had actually burnt a town in Teviotdale; and had killed one Robert Kerr, a man of some consequence. Two of the chiefs of the Scotch borderers were Cockburn of Kenderlaw, and Adam Scot, commonly called king of the thieves. Both of them were barons; and had been so inured to the practice, that they thought there was no crime in robbing: they therefore appeared publicly in Edinburgh; where James ordered them to be apprehended, tried, and hanged. He next proceeded with great firmness against many noblemen and principal gentlemen, who were only suspected of being disaffected to the late peace. All of them had behaved with great loyalty, and some of them had done him the most important services. Of this number were the earl of Hume, the lord Maxwell, with the barons of Buccleuch, Farnhill, Polwart, Johnstone, and Mark Kerr. Though we know nothing particularly of what was laid to the charge of these noblemen and gentlemen, yet so zealous was James for the impartial administration of justice, that he ordered them all, with many other chief gentlemen of the borders, to be sent to prison; where they lay till they entered into recognizances themselves, and found bail for their good behaviour.

Of all the party of the Douglases, none of any note excepting Alexander Drummond of Carnock was suffered to return home, at the earnest request of the ambassadors, and the treasurer Barton. This lenity was of very little consequence; for James having appointed the earl of Murray to be sole warden of the Scotch marches, with power to treat with the earl of Northumberland, their conferences had broken off on account of fresh violences happening every day; and some information he had received from them, had prevailed with James to imprison the noblemen and gentlemen already mentioned. He now resolved to attempt in person what his predecessors and himself had so often failed to accomplish by their deputies. As he was known to be violently addicted to hunting, he summoned his nobility, even on the north of the Forth, to attend him with their horses and dogs; which they did in such numbers, that his hunting retinue consisted of above 8000 persons, two-thirds of whom were well armed. This preparation gave no suspicion to the borderers, as great hunting-matches in those days commonly consisted of some thousands; and James having set out upon his diversion, is said to have killed 540 deer. Among the other gentlemen who had been summoned to attend him, was John Armstrong of Gilnockhill. He was the head of a numerous clan, who lived in great pomp and splendour upon the contributions under which they laid the English on the borders. He was himself always attended by 26 gentlemen on horseback, well mounted and armed, as his body-guard. Having received the king's invitation, he was fond of displaying his magnificence to his sovereign; and adorning himself and his guard more pompously than usual, they presented themselves before James, from whom they expected some particular mark of distinction for their services against the English, and for the remarkable protection they had always given to their countrymen the Scots. On their first appearance, James, not knowing who he was, returned Armstrong's salute, imagining him to be some great nobleman; but upon hearing his name, he ordered him and his followers to be immediately apprehended, and sentenced them to be hanged upon the spot. It is said that James, turning to his attendants, asked them, pointing at Armstrong, "What does that knave want that a king should have, but a crown and a sword of honour?" Armstrong begged hard for his life; and offered to serve the king in the field with forty horsemen, besides making him large presents of jewels and money, with many other tempting offers. Finding the king inexorable, "Fool that I am (said he) to look for warm water under ice, by asking grace of a graceless face;" and then he and his followers submitted to their fate. These and similar executions restored peace to the borders.

Hitherto we have confined ourselves chiefly to the State of civil transactions of North Britain, and have only incidentally noticed the ecclesiastical affairs. There are now, however, to claim a considerable share of our attention, as about this time the spirit of the reformed religion had extended itself to Scotland, where it soon made a most rapid progress.

We have seen, that for several centuries, the hierarchy of North Britain possessed no small degree of influence and power; but we have found few instances of any remarkable respect being paid to the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. The pope, indeed, as supreme head of the church, had long assumed the right of consecration, and this right, in the opinion of those ages, was undoubted, according to the established law of the Christian world. The spiritual jurisdiction of the pope was always acknowledged; but before the end of the 12th century, his temporal power was disputed, because it would have absorbed the sovereign right of independent princes. After many struggles, Pope Celestine III., in 1188, declared the church of Scotland to be the daughter of Rome by special grace, and to be immediately subject to the apostolic jurisdiction. This was considered by the Scottish clergy as a charter, by which they were emancipated from the claims of jurisdiction which had been brought by the English archbishops of York and Canterbury.

From the beginning of the 12th century we begin to meet with instances of national councils of the Scottish clergy, at which the pope's legates assented; but still we find no authority assumed by the pope in temporal matters, before the reign of Alexander II., when the people of Scotland were excommunicated for engaging in hostilities with King John of England, then the adopted son of the church. This excommunication, indeed, produced but little effect, and during a reign which reflected glory on the king, and was productive of advantage to his kingdom, Alexander nearly established the independence of the Scottish church.

In the progress of papal usurpation, the court of Rome proceeded, from appropriating the revenues of the Scottish church, to the appointment of the Scottish bishops. This usurpation was first attended with success in 1259, when the pope appointed his own chaplain to the bishopric of Glasgow. The church of Scotland, however, to shew her independence on papal authority, assembled a general council at Perth in 1269. This was called by one of their own bishops, who presided at its meetings, and by this assembly was enacted a body of canons, which remained the ecclesiastical code of Scotland till the epoch of the reformation. Such councils continued to assemble from time to time for correcting clerical abuses, and maintaining the freedom of the Scottish church.

The right of presentation appears to have been exerted from the 12th century in North Britain, as it has always Scotland, always been exerted in England. The bishops were named by the king, elected by their chapters, and consecrated by the pope, or by some of the other bishops. The king appointed the rural deans, and the chancellor of Scotland exercised the king's right of presentation to the smaller benefices. The barons enjoyed the right of presentation to those benefices which had arisen from their own munificence, or the piety of their ancestors. The bishops and abbots had acquired, by the royal charters, or grants from the barons, the right of advowson over many churches, and from this right were deduced other privileges of great importance.

That form of popery which prevailed in Scotland was of the most bigotted and illiberal kind. Those doctrines which are most apt to shock the human understanding, and those legends which farthest exceed belief, were propounded to the people, without any attempt to palliate or disguise them; nor did they ever call in question the reasonableness of the one, or the truth of the other.

The power and wealth of the church kept pace with the progress of superstition; for it is the nature of that spirit to observe no bounds in its respect and liberality towards those whose character it esteems sacred. The Scottish kings early demonstrated how much they were under its influence, by their vast additions to the immunities and riches of the clergy. The profuse piety of David I. who acquired on that account the name of saint, transferred almost the whole crown lands, which were at that time of great extent, into the hands of ecclesiastics. The example of that virtuous prince was imitated by his successors. The spirit spread among all orders of men, who daily loaded the priesthood with new possessions. The riches of the church all over Europe were exorbitant; but Scotland was one of those countries wherein they had farthest exceeded the just proportion. The Scottish clergy paid one half of every tax imposed on land; and as there is no reason to think that in that age they would be loaded with any unequal share of the burden, we may conclude, that by the time of the Reformation, little less than one half of the property in the nation had fallen into the hands of a society, which is always acquiring, and can never lose.

The nature, too, of a considerable part of their property extended the influence of the clergy. Many estates throughout the kingdom held of the church; church lands were let in lease at an easy rent, and were possessed by the younger sons and descendants of the best families. The connection between superior and vassal, between landlord and tenant, created dependences, and gave rise to a union of great advantage to the church; and in estimating the influence of the papal ecclesiastics over the nation, these, as well as the real amount of their revenues, must be attended to, and taken into the account.

This extraordinary share in the national property was accompanied with proportionable weight in the supreme council of the kingdom. At a time when the number of the temporal peers was extremely small, and when the lesser barons and representatives of boroughs seldom attended parliaments, the ecclesiastics formed a considerable body there. It appears from the ancient rolls of parliament, and from the manner of choosing the lords of articles, that the proceedings of that high court must have been, in a great measure, under their direction.

The reverence due to their sacred character, which was often carried incredibly far, contributed not a little towards the growth of their power. The dignity, the titles, and precedence of the papish clergy are remarkable, both as causes and effects of that dominion which they had acquired over the rest of mankind. They were regarded by the credulous laity as beings of a superior species; they were neither subject to the same laws, nor tried by the same judges. Every guard that religion could supply, was placed around their power, their possessions, and their persons; and endeavours were used, not without success, to represent them all as equally sacred.

The reputation for learning, which, however inconsiderable, was wholly engrossed by the clergy, added to the reverence which they derived from religion. The principles of sound philosophy, and of a just taste, were altogether unknown; in place of these were substituted studies barbarous and unprofitable; but as the ecclesiastics alone were conversant with them, this procured them esteem; and a very slender portion of knowledge drew the admiration of rude ages, which knew little. War was the sole profession of the nobles, and hunting their chief amusement; they divided their time between these: unacquainted with the arts, and unimproved by science, they disdained any employment foreign to military affairs, or which required rather penetration and address, than bodily vigour. Wherever the former were necessary, the clergy were entrusted, because they alone were properly qualified for the trust. Almost all high offices in civil government devolved, on this account, on them. To all this we may add, that the clergy being separated from the rest of mankind by the law of celibacy, and undistracted by those cares, and unincumbered with those burdens which occupy and oppress other men, the interest of their order became their only object, and they were at full leisure to pursue it.

The nature of their function gave them access to all persons and at all seasons. They could employ all the motives of fear and of hope, of terror and of consolation, which operate most powerfully on the human mind. They haunted the weak and the credulous; they befriended the beds of the sick and of the dying; they suffered few to go out of the world without leaving marks of their liberality to the church, and taught them to compound with the Almighty for their sins, by bestowing riches on those who called themselves his servants.

During the Scoto-Saxon period, there were in Scotland two archbishoprics, viz. those of St Andrew's and Glasgow, and ten bishoprics, viz. those of Orkney, the Western islands, Galloway, Dunkeld, Moray, Brechin, Dunblane, Aberdeen, Rothes, and Argyle or Lismore (N). To the archbishopric of St Andrew's were attached eight deaneries, and nine to that of Glasgow.

The opinions of Luther had been propagated in Britain soon after his preaching in 1517. They had for some time

(N) The bishopric of Edinburgh did not exist in that period, but was founded by Charles I. Some years insensibly gained ground; and, when the contentions began between James and his nobility, were become formidable to the established religion. We have seen how James escaped from the hands of his nobles by means of the archbishop of St Andrew's. To the clergy, therefore he was naturally favourable; and as they naturally opposed the reformation, James became a zealous persecutor of the reformed. On the other hand, the nobility having already opposed the king and clergy in civil affairs, did the same in those of religion. The clergy finding themselves unequal in argument, had recourse to more violent methods. Rigorous inquisitions were made after heretics, and fires were everywhere prepared for them.

The first person who was called on to suffer for the reformed religion was Patrick Hamilton abbot of Ferne. At an early period of life he had been appointed to this abbacy; and having imbibed a favourable idea of the doctrines of Luther, had travelled into Germany, where, becoming acquainted with the most eminent reformers, he was fully confirmed in their opinions. Upon his return to Scotland, he ventured to expose the corruptions of the church, and to insist on the advantages of the tenets which he had embraced. A conduct so bold, and the avidity with which his discourses were received by the people, gave an alarm to the clergy. Under the pretence of a religious and friendly conference, he was seduced to St Andrew's by Alexander Campbell, a Dominican friar, who was instructed to remonstrate with him on the subject of the reformation. The conversations they held only served to establish the abbot more firmly in his sentiments, and to inflame his zeal to propagate them. The archbishops of St Andrew's and of Glasgow, and other dignitaries of the church, constituting a court, called him to appear before them.

The abbot neither lost his courage nor renounced his opinions. He was accordingly convicted of heretical pravity, delivered over to the secular arm, and executed in the year 1527 (o). This reformer had not attained the 24th year of his age. His youth, his virtue, his magnanimity, and his sufferings, all operated in his favour with the people. To Alexander Campbell, who insulted him at the stake, he objected his treachery, and cited him to answer for his behaviour before the judgment-seat of Christ. And this persecutor, a few days after, being seized with a frenzy, and dying in that condition, it was believed with the greater confidence, that Mr Hamilton was an innocent man and a true martyr.

A deed so affecting, from its novelty and in its circumstances, excited throughout the kingdom an universal curiosity and indignation. Minute and particular inquiries were made into the tenets of Mr Hamilton. Converts to the new opinions were multiplying in every quarter, and a partiality to them began to prevail even among the Roman clergy themselves. Alexander Seton, the king's confessor, took the liberty to inveigh against the errors and abuses of Popery; to neglect, in his discourses, all mention of purgatory, pilgrimages, and saints; and to recommend the doctrines of the reformed. What he taught was impugned; and his boldness rising with contradiction, he defended warmly his opinions, and even ventured to affirm, that in Scotland there were no true and faithful bishops, if a judgment of men in this station is to be formed from the virtues which St Paul has required of them. A sarcasm so just, and so daring, inflamed the whole body of the prelacy with resentment. They studied to accomplish his destruction; and, as Mr Seton had given offence to the king, whom he had exhorted to a greater purity of life, they flattered themselves with the hope of conducting him to the stake; but being apprehensive of danger, he made his escape into England.

In 1533, Henry Forest, a Benedictine friar, who discovered a propensity to the reformed doctrines, was not fortunate. After having been imprisoned for some time in the tower of St Andrew's, he was brought to his trial, condemned, and led to the flames. He had said, that Mr Hamilton was a pious man, and a martyr; and that the tenets for which he suffered might be vindicated. This guilt was aggravated by the discovery that Friar Forest was in possession of a New Testament in the English language; for the priests esteemed a careful attention to the Scriptures an infallible symptom of heresy. A cruelty so repugnant to the common senses and feelings of mankind, while it pleased the insolent pride of the ecclesiastics, was destroying their importance, and exciting a general disposition in the people to adopt in the fullest latitude the principles and tenets of the reformed.

The following year, James Beaton archbishop of St Andrew's, though remarkable for prudence and moderation, was overawed by his nephew and coadjutor as also David Beaton, and by his brethren the clergy. In his own person, or by commission granted by him, persecutions were carried on with violence. Many were driven into banishment, and many were forced to acknowledge what they did not believe. The more strenuous and resolute were delivered over to punishment. Among these were two private gentlemen, Norman Gourlay and David Stratton. They were tried at Holyroodhouse before the bishop of Ross; and refusing to recant, were condemned. King James, who was present, appeared exceedingly solicitous that they should recant their opinions; and David Stratton, upon being adjudged to the fire, having begged for his mercy, was about to receive it, when the priests proudly pronounced, that the grace of the sovereign could not be extended to a criminal whom their law and determination had doomed to suffer.

A few years after, the bishops having assembled at Edinburgh, At Glasgow, a similar scene was acted in 1539: Hieronymus Ruffel a Grey-friar, and a young gentleman of the name of Kennedy, were accused of heresy before the bishop of that see. Ruffel, when brought to the stake, displaying an undaunted demeanour, reasoned gravely with his accusers, and was only answered with reproaches. Mr Kennedy, who was not yet 18 years of age, seemed disposed to disavow his opinions, and to sink under the weight of a cruel affliction; but the exhortation and example of Ruffel awakening his courage, his mind assumed a firmness and constancy; his countenance became cheerful, and he exclaimed with a joyful voice, "Now, I defy thee, Death; I praise my God, I am ready."

James Beaton, the archbishop of St Andrew's having died about this time, the ambition of David Beaton, his coadjutor, was gratified in the fullest manner. He had before been created a cardinal of the Roman church, and he was now advanced to the possession of the primacy of Scotland. No Scottish ecclesiastic had ever been invested with greater authority; and the reformers had every thing to fear from so formidable an enemy. The natural violence of his temper had fixed itself in an overbearing insolence, from the success which had attended him. His youth had been palmed in scenes of political intrigue, which, while it communicated to him address and the knowledge of men, corrupted altogether the simplicity and candour of his mind. He was dark, crafty, and designing. No principles of justice were any bar to his schemes; nor did his heart open to any impressions of pity. His ruling passion was an inordinate love of power; and the support of his consequence depending only on the church of Rome, he was animated to maintain its superstitions with the warmest zeal. He seemed to delight in perfidiousness and dissimulation; he had no religion; and he was stained with an inhuman cruelty, and the most open profligacy of manners. In connection with these defects, he possessed a persevering obstinacy in pursuing his measures, the ability to perceive and to practise all the arts which were necessary to advance them, and the allurements of ostentation and prodigality.

He was scarcely invested with the primacy, when he exhibited an example of his taste for magnificence, and of his aversion to the reformation. He proceeded to St Andrew's with an uncommon pomp and parade. The earls of Huntly, Arran, Marischal, and Montrose, with the lords Fleming, Lindsay, Erskine, and Seton, honoured him with their attendance; and there appeared in his train, Gavin archbishop of Glasgow and lord high chancellor, four bishops, six abbots, many private gentlemen, and a vast multitude of the inferior clergy. In the cathedral church of St Andrew's, from a throne erected by his command, he harangued concerning the state of religion and the church, to this company, and to a crowd of other auditors. He lamented the increase of heretics; he insisted on their audacity and contempt of order; he said, that even in the court of the sovereign too much attention was shewn to them; and he urged the strong necessity of acting against them with the greatest rigour. He informed this assembly, that Sir John he had cited Sir John Borthwick, to appear before it, Borthwick for maintaining tenets of faith hostile to the church, and impeached for dispersing heretical books; and he desired that he might be assisted in bringing him to justice. The articles of accusation (p) were accordingly read against him; but he neither appeared in his own person, nor by any agent or deputy. He was found guilty; and the cardinal, with a solemnity calculated to strike with awe and terror, pronounced sentence against him. His goods and estate were confiscated; and a painted representation of him was burned publicly, in testimony of the malediction of the church, and as a memorial of his obstinacy and condemnation. It was ordained, that in the event of his being apprehended, he should suffer as a heretic, without hope of grace or mercy. All Christians, whether men or women, and of whatever degree or condition, were prohibited from affording him any harbour or sustenance. It was declared, that every off-

(v) They are preserved by Archbishop Spottiswood, and display great liberality of mind, in a period when philosophy may be said to have been almost unknown in Scotland. They are thus detailed by this judicious writer.

1. "That he held the pope to have no greater authority over Christians than any other bishop or prelate had. 2. "That indulgences and pardons granted by the pope were of no force nor effect, but devised to abuse people, and deceive poor ignorant souls. 3. "That bishops, priests, and other clergymen, may lawfully marry. 4. "That the heresies, commonly called heresies of England, and their new liturgy, were commendable, and to be embraced of all Christians. 5. "That the people of Scotland are blinded by their clergy, and professed not the true faith. 6. "That churchmen ought not to enjoy temporalities. 7. "That the king ought to convert the rents of the church into other pious uses. 8. "That the church of Scotland ought to be governed after the manner of the English. 9. "That the canons and decrees of the church were of no force, as being contrary to the law of God. 10. "That the orders of the friars and monks should be abolished, as had been done in England. 11. "That he did openly call the pope simoniac, for that he sold spiritual things. 12. "That he did read heretical books, and the New Testament in English, and some other treatises written by Melanchthon, Occolampadius, and Erasmus, which he gave likewise unto others. 13. "The last and greatest point was, that he refused to acknowledge the authority of the Roman see, or be subject thereunto." Hist. of the Church, p. 70. Sir John Borthwick having been apprised of his danger, fled into England, where he was kindly received by Henry VIII., who employed him in negotiations with the Protestant princes of Germany. Cardinal Beaton perceived with concern that this act of severity did not terrify the people. New defections from the church were announced to him. Andrew Cunningham son to the matter of Glencairn, James Hamilton brother to Patrick Hamilton the martyr, and the celebrated George Buchanan the historian, were imprisoned upon suspicion of heresy; and if they had not found means to escape, would probably have perished at the stake.

In this declining condition of Popery, the cardinal held many mournful consultations with the bishops. All their intrigues and wisdom were employed to devise methods to support themselves. The project of an inquisitorial court was conceived, and afforded a distant view of the extirpation of heretics. To erect this tribunal, they adored James V. with the hopes of the confiscation and spoils, which might enrich him, from the persecution and punishment of the reformed. He yielded to their solicitations, and gave them the sanction of his authority.

A formal commission was granted; constituting a court of inquiry after heretics, and nominating for its president Sir James Hamilton of Fennard, natural brother to the earl of Arran. The officious affability of this man, his ambition, and his thirst of blood, were in a high degree acceptable to the clergy; and to this eminence their recommendation had promoted him. Upon the slightest suspicion he was allowed to call any person before him, to scrutinize his creed, and to absolve or condemn him. A tribunal so dreadful could not have found a director more suited to it. He was in haste to fill the prisons of the kingdom with culprits, and was taking down in lists the names of all those to whom hereby was imputed by popular report, and whom the arts of malicious men had represented as the objects of correction and punishment. But, while he was brooding over mischief, and multiplying in fancy the triumphs of his wickedness, an unexpected turn of affairs presented Hamilton himself in the light of a criminal, and conducted him to the scaffold.

The brother of Mr Hamilton the martyr, to avoid persecution, had been obliged to go into banishment; but, by the intercession of his friends, he was permitted to return for a short time to his own country, that he might regulate the affairs of his family. He was connected with Sir James Hamilton; and, trifling to the ties of blood, ventured to prolong his stay beyond the period allowed him. This trespass was trivial. Sir James Hamilton, being willing to give a signal example of severity, and by this means to ingratiate himself the more with the priesthood, took the resolution of making his own relation the victim of his power. Mr Hamilton, attentive to his personal security, and not unacquainted with the most private machinations of this inquisitor, dispatched his son to the king, who was about to pass the Forth in a barge, and intreated him to provide for his safety, as Sir James Hamilton had conspired with the house of Douglas to assassinate him. James V. being at variance with the house of Douglas, had reasons of suspicion, Scotland, and was disposed to believe every thing that is most flagitious of Sir James Hamilton. He instructed the young gentleman to go with expedition to Edinburgh, and to open the matter to the privy-council; and that he might be treated with the greater respect, he furnished him with the ring which he was accustomed to send to them on those important occasions which required their address and activity. Sir James Hamilton was apprehended and imprisoned. An accusation of having devised and attempted the king's death at different times was preferred against him. His defence appeared to be weak and unsatisfactory. A jury, which consisted of men of rank and character, pronounced him guilty; and being condemned to suffer the death Condemnation of a traitor, he lost his head, and the quarters of his body were exposed upon the gates of the city of Edinburgh. The clergy, who could not prevent his trial and execution, regretted his death, but did not think of appointing a successor to him in their court of inquisition.

In other respects, however, James showed great concern for the welfare of his people. Being dissatisfied with the ordinary administration of justice, he had recourse to the parliament of Paris for a model of the like institution in Scotland. Great objections lay against juries in civil matters, and to ambulatory courts of justice. The authority of the heritable jurisdictions was almost exclusive of all law; for though the king might prefer in them, yet he seldom did so; and appeals before the council were disagreeable and expensive. The courts of institution of the lords of articles threw too much weight into their scale, as no benefits could be transacted in parliament but what they allowed or permitted; and it was always in the power of the king to direct them as he pleased. The true source of the public grievances, in matters of property, lay in the disregard shown to the excellent acts which had past during the reigns of the first three James's, and which had not been sufficiently supported in the late reigns. The evil had gathered strength during the minority of James V.; and he resolved to establish a standing jury for all matters of law and equity (for, properly speaking, the court of session in Scotland is no more), with a president, who was to be the mouth of the assembly. On the 13th of May, An. 1532., as we find by a curious manuscript in the British museum, the lords of the articles laid before the parliament the proposition for instituting this court, in the following words: "Item, anent (concerning) the second article concerning the order of justice; because our sovereign lord is maist deffuous to have an permanent order of justice for the universel of all his lieges; and therefore tendis to institute an college of cunning and wisemen for doing and administration of justice in all civil actions: and therefore thinke to be choosen certain persons maist convenient and qualified yair (there), to the number of fifteen persons, half spiritual, half temporal, with an president."

In the year 1533, hostilities were recommenced with England; but after some slight incursions on both sides, a truce again took place. The most remarkable transactions of this period, however, next to the religious persecutions already mentioned, were the negotiations for the king's marriage. Indeed, there is scarcely any monarch mentioned in history who seems to have had a greater greater variety of choice, or whom it was more difficult to please. The situation of affairs on the continent of Europe, had rendered Scotland a kingdom of great consequence, as holding the balance between France, England, and the empire of Germany; and each of the rival powers endeavoured to gain the favour of James, by giving him a wife.—In 1534, King Francis offered him his daughter; and the match was strongly recommended by the duke of Albany, who was still living in France, and served James with great fidelity. The same year the Imperial ambassador arrived in Scotland, and presented, in the name of his master, the order of the Golden Fleece to James, who had already been invested with that of St Michael by Francis. At the same time, he offered him his choice of three princesses; Mary of Austria, the emperor's sister, and widow of Lewis king of Hungary; Mary of Portugal, the daughter of his sister Eleonora of Austria; or Mary of England, the daughter of Catharine and Henry. Another condition, however, was annexed to this proposal, viz. that, to suppress the heresies of the time, a council should be held for obviating the calamities which threatened the Christian religion. These proposals would have met with a more ready acceptance from James, had not his clergy, at this time, been disgusted with Charles, for allowing too great a latitude to the Protestants of Germany. James, in his answer, rejected by returned the emperor his acknowledgments in the most polite terms, for the splendid alliances he had offered. He mentioned the proposal of the council as being a measure rather to be wished for than expected; because it ought to be free and holy, and upon the model of the first councils; its members consisting of the most charitable, quiet, and disinterested part of the clergy. He said, that if such a council could be obtained, he would willingly lend ecclesiastics to it; but if not, that every prince ought to reform the errors of doctrine, and the faults of the clergy, within his own dominions. He bewailed the obstinate conduct of his uncle in his divorce and marriage; and offered his best offices for effecting a reconciliation between him and the emperor, wishing that all the princes of Christendom would unite their arms against their common enemy the Turks. He hinted, very justly, that his Imperial majesty had offered more than he could perform; because his cousin, Mary of England, was not at his disposal. The ambassador replied, that his master, if persuasion failed, would compel Henry by force of arms to resign her. James answered this ridiculous declaration by observing, that the emperor then would be guilty of a breach of all laws both divine and human; that it would be impolitic to give a preference to any of the three princesses, all of them being so illustrious and deserving; but, to show how much he valued an alliance with his Imperial majesty, he would become a suppliant to that prince for his niece, daughter to Christian king of Denmark, to become his bride. The ambassador's answer to this unexpected request was, that she was already betrothed to the count palatine, and that before that time the marriage was probably completed.

But whether the Imperial ambassador had any right to offer the English princess or not, it is agreed by most historians, that James was offered either Mary or Elizabeth by their father Henry himself. To Mary of Bourbon, the daughter of the duke of Vendome, he is said to have been contracted; but for some reason all these matches were broken off; and the king at last went to France, where he married Magdalen the eldest daughter of Francis. The nuptials were celebrated at Paris in the year 1537, with great magnificence; and among France's other things served up by way of dainty at the marriage-dinner, feast, were a number of covered cups filled with pieces of gold and gold-dust, the native produce of Scotland, which James distributed among the guests. This gold was found in the mines of Crawford-moor, which were then worked by the Germans. In the beginning of May, the royal pair embarked for Leith, under convoy of four large ships of war, and landed on the 28th of the same month. The joy of the Scots was inexplicable, but it was of short continuance; for the young queen died of a fever on the 22nd of July the same year.

King James did not long remain a widower; for the same year he sent Beaton abbot of Arbroath, to negotiate his second marriage with a French lady, Mary of Guise, duchess-dowager of Longueville. In this he was rivalled by his uncle Henry VIII, but not before James had been contracted to her. But this was nothing to Henry; for he not only insisted on having this lady for his wife, but threw out some menaces against Francis, because he would not comply with this unjusifiable request. In January 1538, she was married to James, and escorted to Scotland by the admiral of France with a considerable squadron; as both James and Francis were suspicious that Henry would make some attempt to intercept the royal bride. But nothing of this kind happened, and she landed safely at Fifeness; whence she was conducted to the king at St Andrew's.

But while James appeared thus to be giving himself up to the pleasures of love, he was in other respects showing himself a bloody tyrant. Some differences subsisted between the families of Gordon and Forbes in the north. The heir of the house last mentioned had been educated in a loose dissipated manner, and associated with a worthless fellow named Strahan. Having refused this favourite something he had asked, the latter attached himself to Gordon earl of Huntly, who, it is said, assisted him in forming a charge of treason against Forbes. He was accused of intending to restore the Douglasses to their forfeited estates and honours; which improbable story being supported by some venal evidences, the unhappy young man was condemned and executed as a traitor. The king could not but see the injustice of this execution; and, in order to make some compensation for it, banished Strahan. The following execution, which happened a few days after, was much more inhuman, insomuch that it would have stained the annals even of the most despotic tyrant. The earl of Angus, finding that he could not regain the favour of the king, had recourse to the method usual in those days, viz. the committing of depredations on the borders. This crime was sufficient with James to occasion the death of his innocent sister, the dowager-lady of Glamis. She had been addressed by one Lyon, whom lady of he had rejected in favour of a gentleman of the name of Campbell. Lyon, exasperated at this repulse, found means of admittance to James, whom he filled with the greatest terrors on account of the practices of the family of Angus; and at last charged the lady, her husband, and and an old priest, with a design of poisoning the king in order to restore Angus. The parties were all remarkable for their quiet and innocent lives; but even this circumstance was by their diabolical accuser turned to their prejudice, by representing it as the effect of cunning or caution. In this reign an accusation of treason was always followed by condemnation. The evidence against the lady, however, appeared so absurd and contradictory, that some of the judges were for dropping the prosecution, and others for recommending her case to the king; but the majority prevailed to have it determined by a jury, who brought her in guilty; and she was condemned to be burnt alive on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh. The defence made by her would have done honour to the ablest orator, and undeniably proved her innocence; but though it was reported to James, it was so far from mitigating her sentence, that it was aggravated by her husband being obliged to behold her execution. The unhappy husband himself endeavoured to make his way over the castle wall of Edinburgh; but the rope proving too short, he was dashed in pieces: and Lord Glamis her son, though but a child, was imprisoned during the remainder of this reign. The old priest, though put to the torture, confessed nothing, and was freed. Lyon, like the other accuser already mentioned, was banished.

Whether these and other cruelties had affected the king's conscience, or whether his brain had been deranged by the distractions of the different parties, is unknown; but it is certain, that, in the year 1540, he began to live retired; his palace appeared like the cloistered retreat of monks; his sleep was haunted by the most frightful dreams, which he construed into apparitions; and the body of Sir James Hamilton, whose execution has already been mentioned, seemed continually presented to his eyes. Perhaps the loss of his two sons, who died on the same day that Sir James was executed, might have contributed to bring this man more remarkably to his remembrance. No doubt, it added to the gloom of his mind; and he now saw his court abandoned by almost all his nobility.

At last James was in some degree roused from his inaction, by the preparations made against him by his uncle Henry VIII. of England. Some differences had already taken place; to accommodate which, Henry had desired a conference with James at York. But this the latter, by the advice of his parliament, had declined. The consequence was a rupture between the two courts, and the English had taken 20 of the Scots trading vessels. Henry threatened to revive the antiquated claim of the English superiority over Scotland, and had given orders for a formidable invasion of the Scotch borders. He complained that James had usurped his title of Defender of the Faith, to which he had added the word Christian, implying that Henry was an infidel; but the kings of Scotland had, some time before, been complimented by the papal see with that title. James, on the other hand, turned his attention towards Ireland, the north of which was peopled with inhabitants who owned no sovereign but the king of Scotland, and who offered to serve James against the English; some of their chiefs having actually repaired to Scotland, and done homage to James. Henry had, about this time, declared himself king of Ireland, of which he was before only styled the lord; and James strenuously asserted, that he had a preferable claim to at least one half of that island, which had been peopled by the subjects of Scotland. Though the Scotch historians of this reign take very little notice of this incident, yet James appears to have been very tenacious of his title; and that there was a great intercourse carried on between the subjects of Scotland and the northern Irish, who unanimously acknowledged James for their natural sovereign. Indeed, this was the only ground of quarrel that the king, with the least shadow of justice, could allege against Henry.

His parliament being met, many public-spirited acts were passed; and before the assembly was dissolved, for crimes the members renewed the acts against lewd-making; committed by which is meant the misrepresenting of the king to his dukes the nobles, or the nobles to their king; and James, to disfigure his minority, passed an act of free grace for all crimes committed in his minority; the earl of Angus, and Sir George and Sir Archibald Douglas, being excepted.

Henry, after cutting off the head of his wife Catherine Howard, married and divorced the princess Anne of Cleves, and found himself either deserted or distrusted by all the princes on the continent, Protestant as well as Catholic. James and his clergy relied greatly on this public odium incurred by Henry; but the emperor having again quarrelled with Francis, left preparations of invade, at liberty to continue his preparations against the Scots. Henry first ordered his fleet, then the most formidable of any in the world, to make fresh descents upon Scotland. At the same time, he appointed a very considerable army to rendezvous upon the borders, under the command of Sir Robert Bowes, one of his wardens, the earl of Angus, and his two brothers Sir George and Sir Archibald Douglas. James was every day expecting supplies of money, arms, and other necessaries from Francis; but these not arriving, he reassembled his parliament on the 14th of March, which gratified him in all his demands. Many excellent regulations were made for the internal government, peace, and security of the kingdom, and against the exportation of money instead of merchandise. Acts were passed for fortifying and embellishing the town of Edinburgh, and for better supplying the subjects with wine and all the other necessaries of life. The royal revenue was increased by many additional estates; and there was completed one of the best plans for a national militia that perhaps ever appeared. As yet, excepting in the disappointment which Henry met with from his nephew in not meeting him at York, he had no grounds for commencing hostilities. But it is here proper to observe, that the queen-mother was then dead; and consequently, the friendly connection between James and Henry was weakened. Whatever her private character might be, she was certainly a happy instrument of preventing bloodshed between the two kingdoms. She was buried with royal honours at Perth.

James, to all appearance, was at this time in a most desirable situation. His domain, by forfeitures and otherwise, far exceeded that of any of his predecessors. He could command the purses of his clergy; he had large sums of ready money in his exchequer; his forts were well stored and fortified; and he was now daily receiving remittances of money, arms, and ammunition from... Scotland. All this happiness, however, was only apparent; for the affections of his nobility, and the wiser part of his subjects, were now alienated from him more than ever, by his excessive attachment to bigotry and persecution.

He had nominated the earl of Huntly to command his army on the borders, consisting of 10,000 men; and his lieutenant-general was Sir Walter Lindlay of Torphichen, who had been a great deal of foreign service, and was esteemed an excellent officer. Huntly acquitted himself admirably in his commission; and was so well served by his spies, as to have certain intelligence that the English intended to surprise and burn Jedburgh and Kelso. The English army under Sir Robert Bowes and the Douglas, with other northern Englishmen, continued still on the borders; and one of the resolutions which the Scotch nobility and gentry had formed, was, not to attack them on their own ground, nor to act offensively, unless their enemies invaded Scotland. Huntly being informed that the English had advanced, on the 24th of August, to a place called Haldamrig, and that they had destroyed great part of the Scotch and debatable lands, resolved to engage them; and the English were astonished, when at day-break they saw the Scotch army drawn up in order of battle. Neither party could now retreat without fighting; and Torphichen, who led the van, consisting of 2000 of the best troops of Scotland, charged the English so furiously, that Huntly gained a complete and easy victory. Above 200 of the English were killed, and 600 taken prisoners; among whom were their general Sir Robert Bowes, Sir William Mowbray, and about 60 of the most distinguished northern barons; the earl of Angus escaping by the swiftness of his horse. The loss of the Scots was inconsiderable.

In the mean time, the duke of Norfolk having raised a great army, had orders to march northwards, and to distribute a manifesto, complaining of James for having disappointed Henry in the interview at York, and reviving the ridiculous claim of his own and his ancestors superiority over the kingdom of Scotland. It was plain, from the words of this manifesto, that Henry was still placable towards James; and that he would easily have dropped that claim, if his nephew would make any personal advances towards a reconciliation.

The condition of James was now deplorable. The few faithful counsellors whom he had about him, such as Kirkaldy of Grange, who was then lord treasurer, plainly intimated, that he could have no dependence on his nobles, as he was devoted to the clergy; and James, sometimes, in a fit of distraction, would draw his dagger on the cardinal and other ecclesiastics when they came to him with fresh propositions of murder and proscriptions, and drive them out of his presence. But he had no constancy of mind; and he certainly put into his pocket a bloody scroll that had been brought him by his priests, beginning with the earl of Arran, the first subject of the kingdom. In one of his cooler moments, he appointed the lord Erskine, and some other of his nobility, to make a fresh attempt to gain time; and Henry even condescended to order the duke of Norfolk (who was then advanced as far as York), the lord privy seal, the bishop of Durham, and others, to treat with him. The conferences were short and unsuccessful. The duke bitterly complained, that the Scots sought only to amuse him till the season for action was over. In short, he considered both them and Learmouth, who was ordered to attend him, as so many spies, and treated them accordingly. It was the 21st of October before he entered the eastern borders of Scotland. According to the Scotch historians, his army consisted of 40,000 men; but the English have fixed it at 20,000.

James affected to complain of this invasion as being unprovoked; but he lost no time in preparing to repel the danger. The situation of his nobility, who were pressed by a foreign invasion on the one hand, and domestic tyrants on the other, induced them to hold frequent consultations; and in one of them, they resolved to renew the scene that had been acted at Lawderbridge under James III. by hanging all his grandsons' evil counsellors. The Scots historians say, that this resolution was not executed, because the nobility could agree not about the victims that were to be sacrificed; and that the king, who was encamped with his army at Fala-moor, having intelligence of their consultation, removed hastily to Edinburgh; from which he sent orders for his army to advance, and give battle to the duke of Norfolk, who appears not as yet to have entered the Scotch borders. The answer of the nobility was, that they were determined not to attack the duke on English ground; but that if he invaded Scotland, they knew their duty. The earl of Huntly, who commanded the van of the Scottish army, consisting of 10,000 men, was of the same opinion: but no sooner did Norfolk pass the Tweed, than he harried the English army, cut off their foraging parties, and dispersed them in such a manner, that the duke agreed once more to a conference for peace; which was managed, on the part of the Scots, by the bishop of Orkney and Sir James Learmouth; but nothing was concluded. The English general, finding it now impossible on many accounts to prosecute his invasion, repassed the Tweed; and was harried in his march by the earl of Huntly, who desisted from the pursuit the moment his enemies gained English ground.

James, whose army at this time amounted to above 30,000 men, continued still at Edinburgh, from which refuse he sent frequent messages to order his nobility and generals to follow the duke of Norfolk into England; but these were disregarded. James was flattered, that now he had it in his power to be revenged for all the indignities that had been offered by England to Scotland. In this he was encouraged by the French ambassador, and the high opinion he had of his own troops. About the beginning of November, he came to a resolution of reassembling his army, which was disbanded after the duke of Norfolk's retreat. This project appeared so plausible and so promising that several of the nobility are said to have agreed to it, particularly the lord Maxwell, the earls of Arran, Caithness, and Glencairn, with the lords Fleming, Somerville, and Erskine; others represented, but in vain, that the arms of Scotland had already gained sufficient honour, by obliging the powerful army of the English, with their most experienced general at their head, to make a shameful retreat before a handful; that the force of Scotland was inferior to that of England; and that an honourable peace was still practicable. It was said, in reply to those considerations, that the state of the quarter... rel was now greatly altered; that Henry had in his manifesto declared his intention of enslaving their country; that he treated the nobility as his vassals; that the duke of Norfolk had been guilty of burning the dwellings of the defenceless inhabitants, by laying about 20 villages and towns in ashes; and that no Scotman, who was not corrupted by Henry's gold, would oppose the king's will. The last, perhaps, was the chief argument that prevailed on the lord Maxwell, a nobleman of great honour and courage, to agree to carry the war into England by Solway, provided he were at the head of 10,000 men. It was at last agreed that the earl of Arran and the cardinal should openly raise men, as if they intended to enter the eastern marches, where they were to make only a feint, while the lord Maxwell was to make the real attempt upon the west. Private letters were everywhere circulated to raise those who were to serve under the lord Maxwell; among whom were the earls of Caflis and Glencairn, the lords Fleming, Somerville, Erskine, and many other persons of great importance. James, who never was suspected of pusillanimity, would probably have put himself at the head of this expedition, had he not been dissuaded from it by his priests and minions, who reminded him of the consultations at Falla-moor, and the other treasonable practices of the nobility. They added, that most of them being corrupted by English gold, he could not be too much on his guard. He was at last persuaded to repair to the castle of Lochmaben or Carlavrock, and there to wait the issue of the inroad.

It was probably at this place that James was prevailed on to come to the fatal resolution of appointing one Oliver Sinclair, a son of the house of Rossin, and a favourite minion at court, to command the army in chief; and his commission was made out accordingly. On the 23rd of November, the Scots began their march at midnight; and having passed the Esk, all the adjacent villages were seen in flames by the break of day. Sir Thomas Wharton, the English warden of those marches, the bastard Dacres, and Muirgrave, hastily raised a few troops, the whole not exceeding 500 men, and drew them up on an advantageous ground; when Sinclair, ordering the royal banner to be displayed, and being mounted on the shoulders of two tall men, produced and read his commission. It is impossible to imagine the consternation into which the Scots were thrown on this occasion; and their leaders setting the example, the whole army declared (according to the Scotch authors), that they would rather surrender themselves prisoners to the English, than submit to be commanded by such a general. In an instant, all order in the Scotch army was overturned; horse and foot, soldiers and scullions, noblemen and peasants, were intermingled. It was easy for the English general to perceive this confusion, and perhaps to guess at its cause. A hundred of his light-horse happened to advance; they met no resistance: the nobles were the first who surrendered themselves prisoners; and the rest of the English advancing, they obtained a bloodless victory; for even the women and the boys made prisoners of Scotch soldiers, and few or none were killed. The lord Herbert relates the circumstances of this shameful affair with some inmaterial differences; but agrees on the whole with the Scots authorities. He mentions, Vol. XVIII. Part II.

However, no more than 800 common soldiers having been made prisoners. The chief of the prisoners were the earls of Caflis and Glencairn, the lords Maxwell, Fleming, Somerville, Oliphant, and Gray, with above 200 gentlemen.

James was then at Carlavrock, which is about 12 miles distant from the place of action, depressed in his spirits, and anxious about the event of the expedition, which is to this day called the Raid of Solway moors. When the news reached him, and he learned that the earl of Arran and the cardinal were returned to Edinburgh, he was seized with an additional dejection of mind, which brought him to his grave. In such a situation every cruel action of his former life wounded his conscience; and he at last sunk into a full melancholy, which admitted of no consolation. From Carlavrock he removed to Falkland; and was sometimes heard to express himself as if he thought that the whole body of the nobility were in a conspiracy against his person and dignity. The presence of the few attendants who were admitted into his chamber, and who were the wicked instruments of his misconduct, seemed to aggravate his sufferings, and he either could not or would not take any sustenance. His death being now inevitable, Beaton approached his bed-side with a paper, to which he is said to have directed the king's hand, pretending that it was his last will. On the 10th of December, while James was in this deplorable state, a messenger came from Linlithgow, with an account that the queen was brought to bed of a daughter; and the last words he was distinctly heard to say, were, "It will end as it began; the crown came by a laf, and it will go by a laf." He then turned his face to the wall, and in broken ejaculations pronounced the word Solway moors, and some faint expressions alluding to the disgrace he suffered. In this state he languished for some days; for it is certain he did not survive the 14th.

James V. was succeeded by his infant daughter Mary, whose birth we have already mentioned. James had taken no steps for the security of his kingdom, so that ambitious men had now another opportunity of throwing the public affairs into confusion. The situation of Scotland indeed at this time was very critical. Many critical of the nobility were prisoners in England, and those who remained at home were factious and turbulent. The nation was dispirited by an unsuccessful war. Commotions were daily excited on account of religion, and Henry VIII. had formed a design of adding Scotland to his other dominions. By a testamentary deed, which Cardinal Beaton had forged in the name of his sovereign, he was appointed tutor to the queen and governor of the realm, and three of the principal nobility were named to act as his counsellors in the administration. The nobility and the people, however, calling in question the authenticity of this deed, which he could not establish, the cardinal was degraded from the dignity he had assumed; and the estates of the kingdom advanced to the regency James Hamilton, earl of Arran, whom Earl of Argyll judged to be entitled to this distinction, as the second patron of the kingdom, and the nearest heir, after Mary, to the crown.

The disgrace of Cardinal Beaton might have proved the destruction of his party, if the earl of Arran had been endowed with vigour of mind and ability. But his views were circumscribed; and he did not compensate for this defect by any firmness of purpose. He was too indolent to gain partizans, and too irresolute to fix them. Slight difficulties filled him with embarrassment, and great ones overpowered him. His enemies, applying themselves to the timidity of his disposition, betrayed him into weaknesses; and the esteem which his gentleness had procured him in private life, was lost in the contempt attending his public conduct, which was feeble, fluctuating, and inconstant.

The attachment which the regent was known to profess for the reformed religion, procured him the love of the people; his high birth, and the mildness of his virtues, conciliated their respect; and from the circumstance, that his name was at the head of the roll of heretics which the clergy had presented to the late king, a sentiment of tenderness was mingled with his popularity. His conduct at first corresponded with the impressions entertained in his favour. Thomas Guillame and John Rough, two celebrated preachers, were invited to live in his house; and he permitted them to declaim openly against the errors of the church of Rome. They attacked and exposed the supremacy of the pope, the worship of images, and the invocation of saints. Cardinal Beaton and the prelates were exceedingly provoked, and indefatigably active in defence of the established doctrines.

This public sanction afforded to the reformation was of little consequence, however, when compared with a measure which was soon after adopted by Robert Lord Maxwell. He proposed, that the liberty of reading the scriptures in the vulgar tongue should be permitted to the people; and that, for the future, no heretical guilt should be imputed to any person for having them in his possession, or for making use of them. The regent and the three estates acknowledged the propriety of this proposal. Gavin Dunbar archbishop of Glasgow, and chancellor of Scotland, protested, indeed, for himself and for the church, that no act on this subject should pass and be effectual, till a provincial council of all the clergy of the kingdom should consider and determine whether there was a necessity that the people should consult and study the scriptures in the vulgar tongue. But his protestation being disregarded, the bill of the lord Maxwell was carried into a law, and the regent made it generally known by proclamation.

From this period copies of the Bible were imported in great numbers from England; and men, allured by an appeal to flattering to their reason, were proud to recover from the supine ignorance in which they had been kept by an artful priesthood. To read became a common accomplishment; and books were multiplied in every quarter, which disclosed the pride, the tyranny, and the absurdities of the Roman church and superstitions.

The death of James V. proved very favourable to the ambitions designs of Henry. He now proposed to unite the kingdoms of the two kingdoms by the marriage of his son Edward VI. with Mary the young queen of Scotland. To promote this, he released the noblemen who had been taken prisoners at Solway, after having engaged them on oath, not only to concur in promoting the alliance, but to endeavour to procure him the charge and custody of the young queen, with the government of her kingdom, and the possession of her castles. The earl of Angus and his brother, who had been fifteen years in exile, accompanied them to Scotland, and brought letters from Henry recommending them to the restitution of their honours and estates. The regent was inclined to favour the demands of persons of such eminent station; but though the estates were inclined to the marriage, they refused to permit the removal of the queen into England, and treated with contempt the idea of giving the government of Scotland and the care of the castles to the king of England. Sir Ralph Sadler, the English ambassador, exerted all his endeavours to induce the regent to comply with the requisitions of his master; but all his intrigues were unsuccessful; and Henry perceiving that he must depart from such extravagant conditions, at last authorised the commissioners to consent to treaties of amity and marriage, on his proposal, that the regent should remain within her own dominions till she was ten years of age; and Henry was not to claim any share in the government. Six nobles, or their apparent heirs, were to be surrendered to him in security for the conveyance of the young queen into England, and for her marriage with Prince Edward, as soon as she was ten years of age. It was also stipulated, that though the queen should have issue by Edward, Scotland should retain not only its name, but its laws and liberties.

These conditions, however advantageous to Scotland, did not give entire satisfaction. Cardinal Beaton, who opposed and had been imprisoned on pretence of treasonable schemes, and was now released from his confinement by the influence of the queen dowager, took all opportunities of exclaiming against the alliance, as tending to destroy the independence of the kingdom. He pointed out to the churchmen the dangers which arose from the prevalence of heresy, and urged them to unanimity and zeal. Awakening all their fears and selfishness, they granted him a large sum of money with which he might gain partizans; the friars were directed to preach against the treaties with England; and fanatics were instructed to display their rage in offering indignities to Sir Ralph Sadler.

Cardinal Beaton was not the only antagonist with whom the regent had to deal. The earls of Argyle, Huntly, Bothwell, and Murray, concurred in the opposition; and having collected some troops, and possessed themselves of the queen's person, they assumed all the authority. They were joined by the earl of Lennox, who was led to hope that he might espouse the queen-dowager and obtain the regency. He was also inclined to oppose the earl of Arran, from an ancient quarrel which had subsisted between their two families; and from a claim which he had to supersede him, not only in the enjoyment of his personal estates, but in the succession to the crown. The regent, alarmed at such a powerful combination against him, inclined to attend to some advances which were made him by the queen-dowager and cardinal. To refuse to confirm the treaties, after he had brought them to a conclusion, was, however, a step so repugnant to probity, that he could not be prevailed on to adopt it. He therefore, in a solemn manner, ner, ratified them in the abbey-church of Holyroodhouse, and commanded the great seal of Scotland to be affixed to them. The same day he went to St Andrew's, and issued a mandate to the cardinal, requiring him to return to his allegiance. To this the prelate refused to pay any attention, or to move from his castle; on which the regent denounced him as a rebel, and threatened to compel him to submission by military force. But in a few days after, the pusillanimous regent meeting with Beaton, forsook the interest of Henry VIII., and embraced that of the queen dowager and of France. Being in haste also to reconcile himself to the church of Rome, he renounced publicly, at Stirling, the opinions of the reformed, and received absolution from the hands of the cardinal.

By this mean-spirited conduct the regent exposed himself to universal contempt, while Cardinal Beaton usurped the whole authority. The earl of Lennox, finding that he had no hopes of success in his suit to the queen-dowager, engaged in negotiations with Henry, to place himself at the head of the Scottish lords who were in the English interest, and to affect the cause of the reformation. The consequence of all this was a rupture with England. Henry not only delayed to ratify the treaties on his part, but ordered all the Scottish ships in the harbours of England to be taken and confiscated. This violent proceeding inflamed the national disaffection against the English alliance; and the party of the cardinal and queen-dowager thus obtained an increase of popularity. Henry himself, however, was so much accustomed to acts of outrage and violence, that he seemed to think the step he had just now taken a matter of no moment; and therefore he demanded that the hostages, in terms of the treaty of marriage, should still be delivered up to him. But the cardinal and regent informed his ambassador, Sir Ralph Sadler, that from their own authority they could not command any of the nobles to be committed to him as hostages; and that the offensive strain of behaviour assumed by the English monarch might have altered the sentiments of the Scottish parliament with regard to a measure of such importance. After much altercation, the conferences were broken off; and as the lords who were released from captivity had promised to return prisoners to England, it now remained with them to fulfil their engagements. None of them, however, had the courage to do so, except the earl of Cassillis; and Henry, being struck with his punctilious sense of honour, dismissed him loaded with presents.

Cardinal Beaton being thus in possession of power, took measures to secure it. The solemnity of the coronation of the young queen was celebrated at Stirling. A council was chosen to direct and assist the regent in the greater affairs of state, and at the head of this was the queen-dowager. John Hamilton, the abbot of Paisley, who had acquired an ascendancy over the regent, was also promoted to the privy seal, and made treasurer of the kingdom; and Cardinal Beaton, upon the request of the regent and the three estates, accepted the office of lord high chancellor.

After the flatteries and the hopes with which the earl of Lennox had been amused, the cardinal had reason to dread the utmost warmth of his resentment. He had, therefore, written to Francis I., giving a detail of the critical situation of affairs in Scotland, and intreating him to recall to France the earl of Lennox, who was now interested to oppose the influence and operations of the queen-dowager. But the indignation with which the treachery of the cardinal had inflamed the earl of Lennox, precipitated him into immediate action, and defeated the intention of this artifice. In the hostile situation of his mind towards Scotland, an opportunity of the latter commencing hostilities had presented itself. Five ships had arrived in the Clyde from France, loaded with warlike stores, and having on board the patriarch of Venice, Peter Contareni, legate from Paul III., with La Brofle, and James Meffaigne, ambassadors from France; and 30,000 crowns, which were to be employed in strengthening the French faction, and to be distributed by the queen-dowager and the cardinal. Prevailing with the commanders of these vessels, who conceived him to be the firm friend of their monarch, he secured this money for his own use, and deposited the military stores in his castle of Dumbarton, under the care of George Stirling the deputy-governor, who at that time was entirely in his interests.

By the successful application of this wealth, the earl of Lennox called forth the full exertion of his party in levying a formidable army, with which he threatened the destruction of the regent and the cardinal, offering them battle in the fields between Leith and Edinburgh. The regent, not being in a condition to accept the challenge of his rival, had recourse to negotiation. Carried himself of amity, and exerted themselves with so much address, that the earl of Lennox, losing the opportunity of chastising his enemies, consented to an accommodation, and again indulged the hope of obtaining the queen-dowager in marriage. His army was dismissed, and he threw himself at the feet of his mistress, by whom he was, in appearance, favourably received; but many of his friends were seduced from him under different pretences; and at last, apprehending his total ruin from some secret enterprise, he fled to Glasgow, and fortified himself in that city. The regent, collecting an army, marched against him; and having defeated his friend the earl of Glencairn in a bloody encounter, was able to reduce the place of strength in which he confided. In this ebb of his fortune, the earl of Lennox had no hope but from England.

The revolution produced in the political state of Scotland by the arts of Cardinal Beaton, while it defeated the intrigues of Henry VIII., pointed all its strength against the progress of the reformation. After abandoning his old friends, the regent, in connection with the cardinal, was ambitious to undo all the services he had rendered to them. The three estates annulled the treaties of amity and marriage, and empowered commissioners with France to conclude an alliance with France. The regent, charged the two preachers Guillame and Rough, whom he had invited to impugn the doctrines of the church, persecuted. He drove back into England many pious persons, whose zeal had brought them to Scotland, to explain and advance the new opinions. He cared with particular respect the legate whom the pope had sent to discontinue the marriage of the young queen with the prince of Wales, and to promote his assistance against the enterprises of Henry VIII. He procured an act of parliament to be passed for the persecution of heretics; and, on the foundation of this authority, the most rigorous proceedings proceedings were concerted against the reformed; when the arms of England, rousing the apprehensions of the nation, gave the fullest employment to the regent and his counsellors.

In the rage and anguish of disappointed ambition, the earl of Lennox made an offer to affix the views of the king of England; who, treating him as an ally, engaged, in the event of success, to give him in marriage his niece the lady Margaret Douglas, and to invest him with the regency of Scotland. To establish the reformation in Scotland, to acquire the superiority over it to Henry VIII., and to effectuate the marriage of the prince of Wales with the queen of Scots, were the great objects of their confederacy.

Henry, though engaged in a war with France, which required all his military force, could not refuse the earliest opportunity in his power to execute his vengeance against Scotland. Edward Seymour, earl of Hartford, was appointed to command 10,000 men; who were embarked at Tinmouth, on board a fleet of 200 ships, under the command of Sir John Dudley lord Lisle. This army was landed without opposition near Leith; and the earl of Hartford made it known to Sir Adam Otterburn, the provost of Edinburgh, that his commission empowered him to lay the country waste and defoliate, unless the regent should deliver up the young queen to the king of England. It was answered, that every extremity of distress would be endured, before the Scottish nation would submit to so ignominious a demand. Six thousand horse from Berwick, under the lord Evers, now joined the earl of Hartford. Leith and Edinburgh, after a feeble resistance, yielded to the English commander; who abandoned them to pillage, and then set them on fire. A cruel devastation ensued in the surrounding villages and country, and an immense booty was conveyed on board the English fleet. But, while an extreme terror was everywhere excited, the earl of Hartford reembarked a part of his troops, and ordered the remainder to march with expedition to the frontiers of England.

The regent, assisted by Cardinal Beaton and the earls of Huntly, Argyle, Bothwell, and Murray, was active, in the mean time, to collect an army, and to provide for the security of the kingdom. He felt, therefore, the greatest surprise on being relieved from unexpectedly from the most imminent danger; and an expedition conducted with so little discernment, did not advance the measures of Henry VIII. To accomplish the marriage of the young queen with the prince of Wales, to possess himself of her person, or to achieve a conquest over Scotland, were all circumstances apparently within the reach of the English commander; and yet, in the moment of victory, he neglected to prosecute his advantages; and having inflamed the animosities of the Scottish nation, by a display of the passions and cruelty of his master, left them to recover from their disaster, and to improve in their resources.

The earl of Lennox, taking the opportunity of the English fleet, went to consult with Henry VIII. on the desperate state of his affairs. He renewed his engagements with this monarch; and received in marriage the lady Margaret Douglas, with possessions in England. Soon after, he arrived in the frith of Clyde, with 18 ships and 600 soldiers, that he might secure the castle of Dumbarton, and employ himself in plundering and devastation. But George Stirling, to whom the castle was intrusted, refused to surrender it; and even obliged him to reimbark his troops. After engaging in a few petty incursions and skirmishes, he returned to England.

In this year, Henry consented to a truce; and Scotland, after having suffered the miseries of war, was subjected to the horrors of persecution. The regent had procured an act of parliament for the persecution of the reformed; and the cardinal, to draw to himself an additional splendour and power, had obtained from the pope the dignity of legate à latere. A visitation of his own diocese appeared to him the most proper method of commencing the proposed extirpation of heresy; and he carried with him in his train the regent, and many persons of distinction, to assist in his judicatories, and to share in his disgrace.

In the town of Perth many persons were accused and condemned. The most trifling offences were regarded as atrocious crimes, and made the subjects of prosecution and punishment. Robert Lamb was hanged for affirming that the invocation of saints had no merit to save. William Anderdon, James Reynold, and James Finlayson, suffered the same death, for having abused an image of St Francis, by putting horns upon his head. James Hunter, having associated with them, was found equally guilty, and punished in the same manner. Helen Stirke, having refused, when in labour, to invoke the assistance of the Virgin, was drowned in a pool of water. Many of the burgesses of Perth, being suspected of heresy, were sent into banishment; and the lord Ruthven, the provost, was upon the same account dismissed from office.

The cardinal was strenuous in persecuting heresy in other parts of his diocese. But the discontent and clamour attending the executions of men of inferior station were now lost in the fame of the martyrdom of George Wilhart; a person who, while he was respectable by his birth, was highly eminent from the opinion entertained of his capacity and endowments. The historians of the Protestant persuasion have spoken of this reformer in terms of the highest admiration. They extol his learning as extensive, insist on the extreme candour of his disposition, and ascribe to him the utmost purity of morals. But while the strain of their panegyric is exposed to suspicion from its excess, they have ventured to impute to him the spirit of prophecy; so that we must necessarily receive their eulogiums with some abatement. It may be sufficient to affirm, that Mr Wilhart was the most eminent preacher who had hitherto appeared in Scotland. His mind was certainly cultivated by reflection and study, and he was amply possessed of those abilities and qualifications which awaken and agitate the passions of the people. His ministry had been attended with the most flattering success; and his courage in encountering danger grew with his reputation. The day before he was apprehended, he said to John Knox, who attended him, "I am weary of the world, since I perceive that men are weary of God." He had already reconciled himself to that terrible death which awaited him. He was found in the house of Cockburn of Ormiston, in East Lothian; who refusing to deliver him to the servants of the regent, the earl of Bothwell, the sheriff of the county, required that he should be intrusted to his care, and promised promised that no injury should be done to him. But the authority of the regent and his counsellors obliged the earl to surrender his charge. He was conveyed to the cardinal's castle at St Andrew's, and his trial was conducted with precipitation. The cardinal and the clergy proceeding in it without the concurrence of the secular power, adjudged him to be burnt alive. In the circumstances of his execution there appeared a deliberate and most barbarous cruelty. When led out to the stake, he was met by priests, who, mocking his condition, called upon him to pray to the virgin, that she might intercede with her Son for mercy to him." Forbear to tempt me, my brethren," was his mild reply. A black coat of linen was put upon him by one executioner, and bags of gun-powder were fastened to his body by another. Some pieces of ordnance were pointed to the place of execution. He spoke to the spectators, intreating them to remember that he was to die for the true gospel of Christ. Fire was communicated to the faggots. From a balcony in a tower of his castle, which was hung with tapestry, the cardinal and the prelates, reclining upon rich cushions, beheld the inhuman scene. This insolent triumph, more than all his afflictions, affected the magnanimity of the sufferer. He exclaimed, that the enemy, who so proudly placed himself, would perish in a few days, and be exposed ignominiously in the place which he now occupied.

Cardinal Beaton took a pleasure in receiving the congratulations of the clergy upon a deed, which, it was thought, would fill the enemies of the church with terror. But the indignation of the people was more excited than their fears. All ranks of men were disgusted at an exercise of power which despised every boundary of moderation and justice. The prediction of Mr Withart, suggested by the general odium which attended the cardinal, was considered by the disciples of this martyr as the effusion of a prophet; and perhaps gave occasion to the assassination that followed. Their complaints were attended to by Norman Lefly, the eldest son of the earl of Rothes, whom the cardinal had treated with indignity, though he had profited by his services. He consented to be their leader. The cardinal was in the castle of St Andrew's, which he was fortifying after the strongest fashion of that age. The conspirators, at different times, early in the morning, entered it. The gates were secured; and appointing a guard, that no intimation of their proceedings might be carried to the cardinal, they dismissed from the castle all his workmen separately, to the number of 100, and all his domestics, who amounted to not fewer than 50 persons. The eldest son of the earl of Arran, whom he kept as an hostage for his father's behaviour, was alone detained by them. The prelate, alarmed with their noise, looked from his window, and was informed that his castle was taken by Norman Lefly. It was in vain that he endeavoured to secure the door of his chamber by bolts and chests. The conspirators brought fire, and were ready to apply it, when, admitting them into his presence, he implored their mercy. Two of them struck him hastily with their swords. But James Mcvil, rebuking their passion, told them, that this work and judgment of God, though secret, ought to be done with gravity. He reminded the cardinal, in general terms, of the enormity of his sins, and reproached him in a more particular manner with the death of Mr

Wihart. He swore, that he was actuated by no hopes of his riches, no dread of his power, and no hatred to his person, but that he was moved to accomplish his destruction, by the obstinacy and zeal manifested by him against Christ Jesus and his holy gospel. Waiting for no answer to his harangue, he thrust the cardinal three times through the body with his dagger, on the 29th of May 1546.

The rumour that the castle was taken giving an alarm to the inhabitants of St Andrew's, they came in crowds to gratify their curiosity, and to offer their assistance, according to the sentiments they entertained. The adherents and dependents of the cardinal were clamorous to see him; and the conspirators, carrying his dead body to the very place from which he had beheld the sufferings of Mr Withart, exposed it to their view.

The truce, in the mean time, which had been concluded with England was frequently interrupted; but peace between England and France, and while the regent was making military preparations, which gave the promise of important events, a treaty of peace was concluded between England and France, in which Francis I. took care to comprehend the Scottish nation. In this treaty it was stipulated by Henry, that he was not to wage war against Scotland, unless he should be provoked by new and just causes of hostility.

But the murderers of Cardinal Beaton, apprehensive of their safety, had dispatched messengers into England, with applications to Henry for assistance; and being joined by more than 120 of their friends, they took the resolution of keeping the castle, and of defending themselves. Henry, notwithstanding his treaty with France, resolved to embrace this opportunity of augmenting the disturbances of Scotland. He hastened to collect troops; and the regent and his counsellors preferred France for supplies in men, money, military stores, and artillery.

The high places which the cardinal occupied were proceeded filled up immediately upon his death. John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley, was elected archbishop of St Andrew's, and George earl of Huntly was promoted to be chancellor. By these officers the regent was urged to proceed with vigour against the conspirators; and it was a matter of the greatest anxiety to him to recover his eldest son, whom they detained in custody. The clergy had, in the most solemn manner, pronounced them to be accursed; and agreed to furnish, for four months, a monthly subsidy of 3000l. to defray the expense of reducing them to obedience. The queen-dowager and the French faction were, at the same time, eager to concur in avenging the assassination of a man to whose counsels and services they were so greatly indebted.—And that no dangerous use might be made of the eldest son of the earl of Arran, who, after his father, was the heir of the monarchy, an act of parliament was passed, excluding him from his birthright while he remained in the possession of the enemies of his country, and substituting his brothers in his place, according to their seniority. The dark politics of Henry suggested the necessity of this expedient; and in its meaning and tendency may be remarked the spirit and greatness of a free people.

A powerful army laid siege to the castle of St Andrew's, and continued their operations during four months; hegeled. months; but no success attended the assailants. The fortifications were strong; and a communication with the besieged was open by sea to the king of England, who supplied them with arms and provisions. The garrison received his pay, and the principal conspirators had pensions from him. In return for his generosity, they engaged to promote the marriage of his son with the young queen; to advance the reformation; and to keep in custody the eldest son of the regent. Negotiation succeeded to hostility; and as the regent expected assistance from France, and the conspirators had the prospect of support from an English army, both parties were disposed to gain time. A treaty was entered into, in which the regent engaged to procure from Rome an absolution to the conspirators, and to obtain for them from the three estates an exemption from prosecutions of every kind. On the part of the besieged, it was stipulated, that when these conditions should be fulfilled, the castle should be surrendered, and the regent's son delivered up to him. In the mean time Henry VIII died; and a few weeks after Francis I also paid the debt of nature. But the former, before his death, had recommended the prosecution of the Scottish war; and Henry II, the successor of Francis, was eager to show his attention to the ancient ally of his nation. When the absolution arrived from Rome, the conspirators refused to consider it as valid; and an expression used by the pope, implying an absurdity, furnished an apology for their conduct. They knew that the counsellors of Edward VI were making vigorous preparations to invade Scotland; they were confident of their present ability to defend themselves; and the advocates for the reformation encouraged them with hopes and with flattery.

The favourers of the reformation, in the mean time, adopting the intolerant maxims of the Roman Catholics, were highly pleased with the assassination of Beaton; and many of them congratulated the conspirators on what they called the godly deed and enterprise. John Rough, who had formerly been chaplain to the regent, entered the castle and joined them. At this time also John Knox began to distinguish himself, both by his success in argument and the unbounded freedom of his discourse; while the Roman clergy, everywhere defeated and ashamed, implored the affiance of the regent and his council, who assured them that the laws against heretics should be rigidly put in execution.

In the mean time the castle of St Andrew's being invested by a fleet of 16 sail under Admiral Strozzi from France, was obliged to capitulate. Honourable conditions were granted to the conspirators; but after being conveyed to France, they were cruelly used, from the hatred entertained by the Catholics against the Protestants. Many were confined in prisons; and others, among whom, says Dr Stuart, was John Knox, were sent to the galleys. The castle itself was nearly raised to the ground.

The same year (1547), Scotland was invaded by an English army under the duke of Somerset, who had been chosen protector of England during the minority of Edward VI. The design of this invasion was to oblige the Scots to comply with the scheme of Henry VIII, and conclude a marriage between Edward and the young queen of Scotland. The English army consisted of 18,000 men; besides which the protector had a fleet of 60 sail, one half of which were ships of war, and the others consisted of vessels laden with provisions and military stores. On the other hand, the regent opposed him with an army of 40,000 men. Before the commencement of hostilities, however, the duke of Somerset addressed a letter or manifesto to the government, in which he pressed the marriage with such powerful arguments, and so clearly showed the benefits which would result from it to both nations, that the regent and his party, who were adverse to peace, thought proper to suppress it, and to circulate a report that the English had come to force away the queen, and to reduce the kingdom to a state of dependence on him. All hopes of an accommodation being thus removed, the English army advanced to give battle to the Scots. They found the latter posted in the most advantageous situation, around the villages of Musselburgh, Inveresk, and Monkton; so that he could not force them to an action, at the same time that he found himself in danger of having his communication with his ships cut off, which would have totally deprived his army of the means of subsistence. In this dangerous situation he had again recourse to negotiation, and offered terms still more favourable than before. He now declared himself ready to retire into England, and to make ample compensation for the injuries committed by his army, if the Scottish government would promise that the queen should not be contracted to a foreign prince, but should be kept at home till she was of age to choose a husband for herself, with the consent of the nobility. These concessions increased the confidence of the regent so much, that, without taking advantage of the strength of his situation, he resolved to come to a general engagement.

The protector moved towards Pinkney, a gentleman's battle of house to the eastward of Musselburgh; and the regent Pinkney, conceiving that he meant to take refuge in his fleet, left September the strong position in which he was encamped. He commanded his army to pass the river Esk, and to approach the English forces, which were posted on the middle of Fife-hill. The earl of Angus led the van; the main body marched under the regent; and the earl of Huntly commanded in the rear. It was the regent's intention to seize the top of the hill. The lord Gray, to defeat this purpose, charged the earl of Angus, at the head of the English cavalry. They were received on the points of the Scottish spears, which were longer than the lances of the English horsemen, and put to flight. The earl of Warwick, more successful with his body of infantry, advanced to the attack. The ordnance from the fleet assisted his operations; and a brisk fire from the English artillery, which was planted on a rising ground, contributed still more to intimidate the Scottish soldiery. The remaining troops under the protector were moving slowly, and in the best order, to share in the engagement. The earl of Angus was not well supported by the regent and the earl of Huntly. A panic spread through the Scottish army. It fled in different directions, presenting a scene of the greatest havoc and confusion. Few perished in the fight; but the pursuit continuing in one direction to Edinburgh, and in another to Dalkeith, with the utmost fury, a prodigious slaughter ensued. The loss of the conquerors did not amount to 500 men; but 10,000 soldiers perished defeated on the side of the vanquished. A multitude of prisoners were taken; and among these the earl of Huntly, the lord high chancellor. Amidst the consternation of this decisive victory, the duke of Somerset had a full opportunity of effecting the marriage and union projected by Henry VIII., and on the subject of which such anxiety was entertained by the English nation. But the cabals of his enemies threatening his destruction at home, he yielded to the necessities of his private ambition, and marched back into England. He took precautions, however, to secure an entry into Scotland, both by sea and land. A garrison of 200 men was placed in the isle of St Columba in the Forth, and two ships of war were left as a further guard. A garrison was also stationed in the castle of Broughty, situated in the mouth of the Tay. When he passed through the Merse and Teviotdale, the leading men of these counties repaired to him; and taking an oath of allegiance to King Edward, surrendered their places of strength. Some of these he demolished, and to others he added new fortifications. Hume castle was garrisoned with 200 men, and intrusted to Sir Edward Dudley; and 300 soldiers were posted with 200 pioneers, in the castle of Roxburgh, under the command of Sir Ralph Bulmer.

The only resource of the regent now was the hope of assistance from France. The young queen was lodged in the castle of Dumbarton, under the care of the lords Erskine and Livingstone; and ambassadors were sent to Henry II. of France, acquainting him with the disaster at Pinkney, and imploring his assistance. The regent had sought permission from the protector to treat of peace, and the earl of Warwick was appointed to wait for them at Berwick; but none were ever sent on the part of Scotland. It was not long, therefore, before hostilities recommenced by the English. Lord Gray led an army into Scotland, fortified the town of Haddington, took the castles of Yester and Dalkeith, and laid waste the Merse, and the counties of East and Mid Lothian. On the other hand, in June 1548, Monsieur de Deffe, a French officer of great reputation, landed at Leith with 6000 soldiers, and a formidable train of artillery.

In the mean time, the regent was in disgrace on account of the disaster at Pinkney; and the queen dowager being disposed to supersede his authority, attempted to improve this circumstance to her own advantage. As she perceived that her power and interest could be best supported by France, she resolved to enter into the closest alliance with that kingdom. It had been proposed that the dauphin of France should marry the queen of Scotland; and this proposal now met with many partizans, the hostilities of the English having lost a great number of friends to the cause of that country. It was resolved to send the queen immediately to France, which would remove the cause of the present contentions, and her subsequent marriage with the dauphin would in the fullest manner cement the friendship betwixt the two nations. The French government also entered deeply into the scheme; and in order to promote it made presents of great value to many of the Scottish nobility. The regent himself was gained over by a pension of 12,000 livres, and the title of duke of Chatelherault. Monsieur de Villegagnon, who commanded four galleys in the harbour of Leith, making a feint as if he intended to proceed instantly to France, tacked about to the north, and, sailing round the isles, received the queen at Dumbarton; whence he conveyed her to France, and delivered her to her uncles the princes of Lorraine, in the month of July 1548.

These transactions did not put an end to the military operations. The siege of Haddington had been undertaken as soon as the French auxiliaries arrived, and was now conducted with vigour. To reinforce the garrison, 1500 horse advanced from Berwick; but an ambuscade being laid for them, they were intercepted, and almost totally destroyed. Another body of English troops, however, which amounted only to 300 persons, was more successful. Eluding the vigilance of the Scots and the French, they were able to enter Haddington, and to supply the besieged with ammunition and provisions. The lord Seymour, high-admiral of England, made a descent upon Fife with 1200 men, and some pieces of artillery; but was driven back to his ships with great slaughter by James Stuart, natural brother to the young queen, who opposed him at the head of the militia of the county. A second descent was made by him at Montrose; but being equally unsuccessful there, he was obliged to leave Scotland without performing any important or memorable achievement.

Having collected an army of 17,000 men, and adding to it 3000 German Protestants, the protector put it under the direction of the earl of Shrewsbury. On the approach of the English, Deffe, though he had been reinforced with 15,000 Scots, thought it more prudent to retreat than to hazard a battle. He raised the siege of Haddington, and marched to Edinburgh. The earl of Shrewsbury did not follow him to force an engagement; jealousies had arisen between the Scots and the French. The insolence and vanity of the latter, encouraged by their superior skill in military affairs, had offended the quick and impatient spirit of the former. The fretfulness of the Scots was augmented by the calamities inseparable from war; and after the conveyance of the young queen to France, the efficacious and peculiar advantage conferred on that kingdom by this transaction was fully understood, and appeared to them to be highly disgraceful and impolitic. In this state of their minds, Deffe did not find at Edinburgh the reception which he expected. The quartering of his soldiers produced disputes, which ended in an insurrection of the inhabitants. The French fired upon the citizens. Several persons of distinction fell, and among these were the provost of Edinburgh and his son. The national discontents and inquietudes were driven, by this event, to the most dangerous extremity; and Deffe, who was a man of ability, thought of giving employment to his troops, and of flattering the people by the splendour of some martial exploit.

The earl of Shrewsbury, after supplying Haddington with troops, provisions, and military stores, retired with his army into England. Its garrison, in the enjoyment of security, and unfavourable of danger, might be surprised and overpowered. Marching in the night, Deffe reached this important post; and destroying a fort of observation, prepared to storm the main gates of the city, when the garrison took the alarm. A French deserter pointing a double cannon against the thickest ranks of the assailants, the shot was incredibly destructive, and threw them into confusion. In the height of their consternation, a vigorous sally was made by the besieged. Deffe renewed the assault in the morning, and was again discomfited. He now turned his arms against against Broughty castle; and, though unable to reduce it, he recovered the neighbouring town of Dundee, which had fallen into the possession of the enemy. Hume castle was retaken by stratagem. Dele entered Jedburgh, and put its garrison to the sword. Encouraged by this success, he ravaged the English borders in different incursions, and obtained several petty victories. Leith, which from a small village had now grown into a town, was fortified by him; and the island of Inchkeith, nearly opposite to that harbour, being occupied by English troops, he undertook to expel them, and made them prisoners after a brief encounter.

His activity and valour could not, however, compose the discontents of the Scottish nation; and the queen-dowager having written to Henry II. to recall him, he was succeeded in his command by Monfieur de Thermes, who was accompanied into Scotland by Monluc bishop of Valence, a person highly esteemed for his address and ability. This ecclesiastic was intended to supply the loss of Cardinal Beaton, and to discharge the office of lord high chancellor of Scotland. But the jealousies of the nation increasing, and the queen-dowager herself suspecting his ambition and turbulence, he did not attain to this dignity, and soon returned to his own country.

De Thermes brought with him from France a reinforcement of 1000 foot, 2000 horse, and 100 men-at-arms. He erected a fort at Aberlady, to distress the garrison of Haddington, and to intercept its supplies of provisions. At Coldingham he cut in pieces a troop of Spaniards in the English pay. Faft-castle was regained by surprise. Distractions in the English court did not permit the protector to act vigorously in the war. The earl of Warwick was diverted from marching an army into Scotland. An infectious distemper had broken out in the garrison at Haddington; and an apprehension prevailed, that it could not hold out for a considerable time against the Scots. The earl of Rutland, therefore, with a body of troops, entered the town; and after setting it on fire, conducted the garrison and artillery to Berwick. The regent now in possession of Haddington, was solicitous to recover the other places which were yet in the power of the English. De Thermes laid siege to Broughty castle, and took it. He then besieged Lawder; and the garrison was about to surrender at discretion, when the news arrived that a peace was concluded between France, England, and Scotland.

By this treaty the king of France obtained the restitution of Boulogne and its dependencies, which had been taken from him by the king of England, and for which he paid 400,000 crowns. No opposition was to be given to the marriage of the queen of Scotland with the dauphin: the fortresses of Lawder and Douglas were to be restored to the Scots, and the English were to destroy the castles of Roxburgh and Eyemouth.

After the ratification of these articles, the queen-dowager embarked with Leon Strozzi for France, attended by many of the nobility. Having arrived there, she communicated to the king her design of assuming the government of Scotland, and he promised to assist her to the utmost of his power. But the jealousy which prevailed between the Scots and French rendered the accomplishment of this design very difficult. To remove the regent by an act of power might altogether endanger the scheme; but it might be possible to persuade him voluntarily to resign his office. For this purpose intrigues were immediately commenced; and indeed the regent himself contributed to promote their schemes by his violent persecution of the reformed. The peace was fearlessly proclaimed, when he provoked the public resentment by an act of flagrant infidelity. Adam Wallace, a man of simple manners, but of great zeal for the reformation, was accused of heresy, and brought to trial in the church of the Black Friars at Edinburgh. In the presence of the regent, the earls of Angus, Huntly, Glencairn, and other persons of rank, he was charged with preaching without any authority of law, with baptizing one of his own children, and with denying the doctrine of purgatory; and it was strenuously objected to him, that he accounted prayers to the saints and the dead an useless superstition, that he had pronounced the mass an idolatrous service, and that he had affirmed that the bread and wine in the sacrament of the altar, after the words of the consecration, do not change their nature, but continue to be bread and wine. These offences were deemed too terrible to admit of any pardon.—The earl of Glencairn alone protested against his punishment. The pious sufferer bore with resignation the contumelious insults of the clergy; and by his courage and patience at the stake gave a sanction to the opinions which he had embraced.

Other acts of atrocity and violence stained the administration of the regent. In his own palace, William Rances of Crichton, a man of family and reputation, was assassinated by the lord Semple. No attempt was made to punish the murderer. His daughter was the concubine of the archbishop of St Andrew's, and her tears and intreates were more powerful than justice. John Melvil, a person respectable by his birth and fortune, had written to an English gentleman, recommending to his care a friend who at that time was a captive in England. This letter contained no improper information in matters of state, and no suspicion of any crime against Melvil could be inferred from it. Yet the regent brought him to trial on a charge of high treason; and, for an act of humanity and friendship, he was condemned to lose his head. The forfeited estate of Melvil, was given to David the youngest son of the regent.

Amidst the pleasures and amusements of the French schemes of court, the queen-dowager was not inattentive to the scheme of ambition which he had projected. The earls of Huntly and Sutherland, Marischal and Caflis, with the lord Maxwell, and other persons of eminence who had accompanied her to France, were gained over to her interests. Robert Carnegie of Kinaird, David Panter bishop of Roos, and Gavin Hamilton, commendator of Kilwinning, being also at this time in that kingdom, and having most weight with the regent, were treated with a most punctilious respect. Henry declared to them his earnest wish that the queen-dowager might acquire the government of Scotland. In case the regent should consent to this measure, he expressed a firm intention that no detriment should happen to his consequence and affairs; and he desired them to inform him, that he had already confirmed his title of duke of Châtellerault, had advanced his son to be captain of the Scots gendarmes in France, and was ready to bestow other marks of favour on his family and relations. On this business, and with this message, Mr Carnegie was dispatched dispatched to Scotland; and a few days after, he was followed by the bishop of Rois. The bishop who was a man of eloquence and authority, obtained, though with great difficulty, a promise from the regent to resign his high office; and for this service he received, as a recompense, an abbey in Poitou.

The queen-dowager, full of hope, now prepared to return to Scotland, and in her way thither made use of a safe-conduct obtained from Edward VI. by the king of France. The English monarch, however, had not yet forgotten the beautiful queen of Scotland; and did not fail to urge his superiority of claim to her over the dauphin. The queen-dowager did not seriously enter upon the business; but only in general terms complained of the hostilities committed by the English; and two days after this conversation, she proceeded towards Scotland, and was conducted by the earl of Bothwel, Lord Hume, and some other noblemen, to Edinburgh, amidst the acclamations of the people. She had not long returned to the capital, when the bad conduct of the regent afforded her an opportunity of exerting her influence and address to the advantage of her project. The regent having proposed a judicial circuit through the kingdom, under pretence of suppressing crimes and disorders, molested the people by plunder and rapine. Great fines were levied for offences pretended as well as real; and the Protestants in particular seemed to be the objects of his displeasure and severity. In his progress he was accompanied by the queen-dowager; and as she affected to behave in a manner directly opposite, the most disagreeable comparisons were made between her and the regent. The bishop of Rois, to whom he had promised to resign his office, did not fail to put him in mind of his engagements; but he had now altered his mind, and wished still to continue in power. His resolution, however, failed him on the first intimation of a parliamentary inquiry into the errors of his administration. An agreement with the queen-dowager then took place; and it was stipulated, that he should succeed to the throne upon the death of the queen without issue; that his son should enjoy the command of the gendarmeries; that no inquiry should be made into his expenditure of the royal treasures; that no scrutiny into his government should take place; and that he should enjoy in the most ample manner his duchy and his pension. These articles were ratified at an assembly of parliament, and the queen-dowager was formally invested with the regency.

Mary of Lorraine, the new regent, though she had with great difficulty attained the summit of her wishes, seemed to be much less conversant with the arts of government than those of intrigue. She was scarcely settled in her new office when she rendered herself unpopular in two respects; one by her too great attachment to France, and the other by her persecution of the reformed religion. She was entirely guided by the councils of her brothers the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine; and paid by far too much attention to M. d'Oysel the French ambassador, whom they recommended to her as an able and faithful minister. Several high offices were filled with Frenchmen, which excited in the highest degree the resentment of the Scottish nobility; and the commonalty were instantly prejudiced against her by the partiality which she showed to the Papists. At first, however, she enacted many salutary laws; and while she made a progress through the southern provinces of the kingdom to hold judiciary courts, she endeavoured to introduce order and law into the western counties and isles; first by means of the earl of Huntly, and afterwards of the earl of Argyle and Athole, to whom she granted commissions for this purpose with effectual powers. In another improvement, which the attempts queen-regent attempted by the advice of her French council, she found herself opposed by her own people. It was proposed that the possessions of every proprietor of land in the kingdom should be valued and entered in registers; and that a proportional payment should be made by each. The application of this fund was to maintain a regular and standing body of troops. This guard or army, it was urged, being at all times in readiness to march against an enemy, would protect effectually the frontiers; and there would no longer be any necessity for the nobles to be continually in motion on every rumour of hostility or incursion from English invaders. No art, however, or argument, could recommend these measures. A perpetual tax and a standing army were conceived to be the genuine characteristics of despotism. All ranks of men considered themselves insulted and abused; and 300 tenants of the crown assembling at Edinburgh, and giving way to their indignation, sent their remonstrances to the queen-regent in such strong and expressive language, as induced her to abandon the scheme. Yet still the attempt which she had made left an impression in the minds of the people. They suspected her to be a secret enemy to their government and liberties; and they were convinced that the king of France was engaging her in refinements and artifices, that he might reduce Scotland to a province of France.

While an alarm about their civil rights was spreading itself among the people, the Protestants were rising encouragingly in their spirit and in their hopes. John Knox (p) the reformer whose courage had been confirmed by misfortunes, and whose talents had improved by exercise, was at this time making a progress through Scotland. The characteristic peculiarities of Popery were the favourite topics of his declamation and censure. He treated the mass, in particular, with the most sovereign contempt, representing it as a remnant of idolatry. Many of the nobility and gentry afforded him countenance and protection. They invited him to preach at their houses, and they partook with him in the ordinances of religion after the reformed method. Religious societies and assemblies were publicly held, in defiance of the Papists; and celebrated preachers were courted with affluence and bribes to reside and officiate in particular districts and towns. The clergy cited Knox to appear before them at Edinburgh, in the church of the Black-friars. On the appointed day he presented himself, with a numerous attendance of gentlemen, who were determined to exert themselves.

(p) When he was sent to France (says Dr Stuart), with the conspirators against Cardinal Beaton, he was confined to the galleys; but had obtained his liberty in the latter end of the year 1549. themselves in his behalf. The priesthood did not choose to proceed in his prosecution; and Knox, encouraged by this symptom of their fear, took the resolution to explain and inculcate his doctrines repeatedly and openly in the capital of Scotland. In 1556, the earl of Glencairn allured the earl Marischal to hear the exhortations of this celebrated preacher; and they were so much affected with his reasonings and rhetoric, that they requested him to address the queen-regent upon the subject of the reformation of religion. In compliance with this request, he wrote a letter in very disagreeable terms; and the earl of Glencairn delivered it with his own hand, in the expectation that some advantage might in this manner be obtained for the reformed. But the queen-regent was no less offended with the freedom of the nobleman than of the preacher; and, after perusing the paper, she gave it to James Beaton archbishop of Glasgow, with an expression of disdain, "Here, my lord, is a paquill."

Amidst these occupations, John Knox received an invitation to take the charge of the English congregation at Geneva; which he accepted. The clergy called on him in his absence, to appear before them, condemned him to death as a heretic, and ordered him to be burned in effigy.

This injurious treatment of John Knox did not in the least obstruct the progress of the reformation. Defects were made from Popery in every town and village; and even many members of the church, both secular and regular, were forward to embrace the new principles, and to atone for their past mistakes by the most bitter raileries against the corruptions and the folly of the Romish faith. The priests were treated in all places with ridicule and contempt. The images, crucifixes, and relics, which served to rouse the decaying fervours of superstition, were taken from the churches, and trampled under foot. The bishops implored the affiance of the queen-regent. Citations were given to the preachers to appear in their defence. They obeyed; but with such a formidable retinue, that it was with difficulty she was permitted to apologise for her conduct. James Chalmers of Galtgirth, pressing forward from the crowd, thus addressed her: "We vow to God, that the devices of the prelates shall not be carried into execution. We are oppressed to maintain them in their idleness. They seek to undo and murder our preachers and us; and we are determined to submit no longer to this wickedness." The multitude, applauding his speech, put their hands to their daggers.

A trusty messenger was dispatched to Geneva, inviting John Knox to return to his own country. But in the infancy of their connection, the Protestants being apprehensive of one another, uncertain in their counsels, or being deserted by persons upon whom they had relied, it appeared to them that they had adopted this measure without a due preparation; and, by other dispatches, Knox was requested to delay his journey for some time.

To this zealous reformer their unsteadiness was a matter of serious affliction; and in the answer he transmitted to their letters, he rebuked them with severity: but amidst this correction he intreated them not to faint under their purposes, from apprehensions of danger, which, he said, was to separate themselves from the favour of God, and to provoke his vengeance. To particular persons he wrote other addresses; and to all of them the greatest attention was paid. In 1557, a formal bond of agreement, which obtained the appellation of the first covenant, was entered into, and all the more eminent persons who favoured the reformation were invited to subscribe it. The earls of Argyll, Glencairn, and Morton, with the lord Lorn, and John Erskine of Dun, led the way, by giving it the sanction of their names. All the subscribers to this deed, renouncing the superstitions and idolatry of the church of Rome, promised to apply continually their whole power and wealth, and even to give up their lives, to forward and establish the word of God. They distinguished the reformed, by calling them the Congregation of Christ; and by the opprobrious title of the Congregation of Satan, they peculiarized the favourites of Popery.

After the leaders of the reformation had subscribed John Knox the first covenant, they addressed letters to John Knox, and Calvin urging in the strongest terms his return to Scotland; and that their hopes of his affiance might not be disappointed, they sent an address to John Calvin, the celebrated reformer, begging him to join his commands to their intreates. The archbishop of St Andrew's, who perceived the rising storm, was now in a difficult situation. A powerful combination threatened ruin to the church; and he had separated himself from the politics of the queen-regent. The zeal of the Roman Catholics pointed out strong measures to him; and his dispositions were pacific. The clergy were offended with his remittances and neglect of duty. The reformers detested his looseness of principles, and were shocked with the dissolute depravity of his life and conversation. He resolved to try the force of address, and did not succeed. He then resolved to be severe, and was still more unsuccessful.

The earl of Argyll was the most powerful of the reformed leaders. To allure him from his party, the bishop of archbishop of St Andrew's employed the agency of Sir David Hamilton. But the kindness he affected, and the advices he bestowed, were no compliment to the understanding of this nobleman; and his threats were reduced to nothing with contempt. The reformers, instead of loosing their courage, felt a sentiment of exultation and triumph; and the earl of Argyll happening to die about this time, he not only maintained the new doctrines in his last moments, but intreated his son to seek for honour in promoting the public preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in the utter ruin of superstition and idolatry.

It was determined by the archbishop and the prelates, that this disappointment should be succeeded by the furious persecution of the reformed. Walter Mill, a priest, had neglected to officiate at the altar; and having been Mill executed under the suspicion of heresy, was carried to St Andrew's, committed to prison, and accused before the archbishop and his suffragans. He was in extreme old age; and he had struggled all his life with poverty. He sunk not, however, under his fate. To the articles of his accusation he replied with signal recollection and fortitude. The firmness of his mind, in the emaciated state of his body, excited admiration. The insults of his enemies, and their contempt, serve to discover his superiority over them. When the clergy declared him a heretic, no temporal judge could be found to condemn him to the fire. He was respited to another day; and so great sympathy prevailed for his misfortunes, that it was necessary to allure one of the archbishop's domestics to supply the place of the civil power, and to pronounce the sentence of condemnation. When brought to the stake, the resolution of this sufferer did not forsake him. He praised God, that he had been called to feel the truth with his life; and he conjured the people, as they would escape eternal death, not to be overcome by the errors and the artifices of monks and priests, abbots and bishops.

The barbarity of this execution affected the reformers with inexpressible horror. Measures for mutual defense were taken. The leaders of the reformation, dispersing their emissaries to every quarter, encouraged the vehemence of the multitude. The covenant to establish a new form of religion extended far and wide. The point of the sword, not the calm exertions of inquiry, was to decide the disputes of theology.

When the leaders of the reformation were apprised of the ardent zeal of the people, and considered the great number of subscriptions which had been collected in the different counties of the kingdom, they assembled to deliberate concerning the steps to be pursued. It was resolved, accordingly, that a public and common supplication of the whole body of the Protestants should be presented to the queen-regent; which, after complaining of the injuries they had suffered, should require her to bestow upon them her support and assistance, and urge her to proceed in the work of a reformation. To explain their full meaning, a schedule, containing particular demands, was at the same time to be presented to her scrutiny. To Sir James Sandilands of Calder they committed the important charge of their manifesto and articles of reformation; and in appointing him to this commission, they consulted the respect which was due both to the government and to themselves. His character was in the highest estimation. His services to his country were numerous; his integrity and honour were above all suspicion; and his age and experience gave him authority and reverence.

The petition or supplication of the Protestants was expressed in strong but respectful terms. They told the queen-regent, that though they had been provoked by great injuries, they had yet, during a long period, abstained from assembling themselves, and from making known to her their complaints. Banishment, confiscation of goods, and death in its most cruel shape, were evils with which the reformed had been afflicted; and they were still exposed to these dreadful calamities. Compelled by their sufferings, they presumed to ask a remedy against the tyranny of the prelates and the estate ecclesiastical. They had usurped an unlimited domination over the minds of men. Whatever they commanded, though without any sanction from the word of God, must be obeyed. Whatever they prohibited, though from their own authority only, it was necessary to avoid. All arguments and remonstrances were equally fruitless and vain. The fire, the faggot, and the sword, were the weapons with which the church enforced and vindicated her mandates. By these, of late years, many of their brethren had fallen; and upon this account they were troubled and wounded in their consciences. For conceiving themselves to be a part of that power which God had established in this kingdom, it was their duty to have defended them, or to have concurred with them in an open avowal of their common religion. They now take the opportunity to make this avowal. They break a silence which may be misinterpreted into a justification of the cruelties of their enemies. And disdaining all farther dissimulation in matters which concern the glory of God, their present happiness, and their future salvation, they demand, that the original purity of the Christian religion shall be restored, and that the government shall be so improved, as to afford to them a security in their persons, their opinions, and their property.

With this petition or supplication of the Protestants, Sir James Sandilands presented their schedule of demands, or the preliminary articles of the reformation. They were in the spirit of their supplication, and of the following tenor.

I. It shall be lawful to the reformed to peruse the Articles of Scriptures in the vulgar tongue; and to employ also the reformation of their native language in prayer publicly and in private.

II. It shall be permitted to any person qualified by knowledge, to interpret and explain the difficult passages in the Scriptures.

III. The election of ministers shall take place according to the rules of the primitive church; and those who elect shall enquire diligently into the lives and doctrines of the persons whom they admit to the clerical office.

IV. The holy sacrament of baptism shall be celebrated in the vulgar tongue, that its institution and nature may be the more generally understood.

V. The holy sacrament of the Lord's supper shall likewise be administered in the vulgar tongue; and in this communion, as well as in the ceremonial of baptism, a becoming respect shall be paid to the plain institution of Christ Jesus.

VI. The wicked and licentious lives of the bishops and estate ecclesiastical shall be reformed; and if they discharge not the duties of true and faithful pastors, they shall be compelled to desist from their ministry and functions.

The queen-regent now found it necessary to flatter the Protestants. She assured them by Sir James Sandilands, their orator or commissioner, that every thing the queen could legally desire should be granted to them; and that, in the mean time, they might, without molestation, employ the vulgar tongue in their prayers and religious exercises. But, upon the pretence that no encouragement might be given to tumults and riot, she requested that they would hold no public assemblies in Edinburgh or Leith. The Congregation, for this name was now assumed by the Protestants, were transported with these tender proofs of her regard; and while they sought to advance still higher in her esteem by the offensive quietness of their carriage, they were encouraged in the undertaking they had begun, and anxious to accomplish the work of the reformation.

Nor to the clergy, who at this time were holding a provincial council at Edinburgh, did the Congregation scruple to communicate the articles of the intended reformation. The clergy received their demands with a storm of rage, which died away in an innocent debility. Upon recovering from their passions, they offered to submit the controversy between them and the reformed to dispute to a public disputation. The Congregation did not refuse this mode of trial; and desired, as their only consolation, dictions, that the Scriptures might be considered as the standard of orthodoxy and truth, and that those of their brethren who were in exile and under persecution might be permitted to assist them. These requests, though highly reasonable, were not complied with; and the church would allow of no rule of right but the canon law and its own councils. Terms of reconciliation were then offered on the part of the estate ecclesiastical. It held out to the Protestants the liberty of praying and administering the sacraments in the vulgar tongue, if they would pay reverence to the mass, acknowledge purgatory, invoke the saints, and admit of petitions for the dead. To conditions so ineffectual and absurd the Congregation did not deign to return any answer.

The meeting of parliament approached. The parties in contention were agitated with anxieties, apprehensions, and hopes. An expectation of a firm and open affiance from the queen-regent gave courage to the reformed; and, from the parliamentary influence of their friends in the greater and the lesser baronage, they expected the most important services. They drew up with eagerness the articles which they wished to be passed into a law; and as the spirit and sense of their transactions are to be gathered in the completest manner from the papers which were framed by themselves, it is proper to attend to them with exactness. Their petitions were few and explicit.

I. They could not, in consequence of principles which they had embraced from a conviction of their truth, participate in the Romish religion. It was therefore their desire, that all the acts of parliament, giving authority to the church to proceed against them as heretics, should be abrogated; or, at least, that their power should be suspended till the disputes which had arisen were brought to a conclusion.

II. They did not mean that all men should be at liberty to profess what religion they pleased, without the control of authority. They consented that all transgressors in matters of faith should be carried before the temporal judge. But it was their wish that the clergy should have the power of accusing; and they thought it conformable to justice, that a copy of the criminal charge should be lodged with the party upon trial, and that a competent time should be allowed him to defend himself.

III. They insisted, that every defence consistent with law should be permitted to the party accused; and that objections to witnesses, founded in truth and reason, should operate in his favour.

IV. They desired that the party accused should have permission to interpret and explain his own opinions; and that his declaration should carry a greater evidence than the deposition of any witness; as no person ought to be punished for religion, who is not obstinate in a wicked or damnable tenet.

V. In fine, they urged, that no Protestant should be condemned for heresy, without being convicted by the word of God, of the want of that faith which is necessary to salvation.

The Congregation presented these articles to the queen-regent, expecting that she would not only propose them to the three estates assembled in parliament, but employ all her influence to recommend them. But finding themselves disappointed, they began to doubt her sincerity; and they were sensible that their petitions, though they should be carried in parliament, could not pass into a law without her consent. They therefore abstained from presenting them; but as their complaints and desires were fully known in parliament, they ordered a solemn declaration to be read there in their behalf, and demanded that it should be inserted in the records of the nation. In this declaration, after expressing their regret at having been disappointed in their scheme of reformation, they protested, that no blame should be imputed to them for continuing in their religion, which they believed to be founded in the word of God; that no danger of life, and no political pains should be incurred by them, for disregarding statutes which support idolatry, and for violating rites which are of human invention; and that, if insurrections and tumults should disturb the realm, from the diversity of religious opinions, and if abuses should be corrected by violence, all the guilty disorder, and inconvenience thence arising, instead of being applied to them, should be ascribed to those solely who had refused a timely redress of wrongs, and who had despised petitions presented with the humility of faithful subjects, and for the purposes of establishing the commandments of God, and a most just and salutary reformation.

The three estates received this formidable protest with attention and respect; but the intention of inserting it in the national records was abandoned by the Congregation, upon a formal promise from the queen-regent, that all the matters in controversy should speedily be brought by her to a fortunate issue.

While the Protestants were thus making the most vigorous exertions in behalf of their spiritual liberties, the queen-regent, in order to establish herself the more effectually, used every effort to promote the marriage of her daughter with the dauphin of France. In 1557, commissioners were appointed to negotiate this marriage; but while these negotiations were going on, the court of France acted in the most perfidious manner. At the age of 15, after solemnly ratifying the independence of Scotland, and the succession of the crown in conduct of the house of Hamilton, Queen Mary was influenced by the court of France and her uncles the princes of Lorraine to sign privately three extraordinary deeds or instruments. By the first she conveyed the kingdom of Scotland to the king of France and his heirs, in default of children of her own body. By the second she assigned him, if she should die without children, the possession of Scotland, till he should receive a million of pieces of gold, or be amply recompensed for the sums expended by him in the education of the queen of Scotland in France. By the third she confirmed both these grants in an express declaration, that they contained the pure and genuine sentiments of her mind; and that any papers which might be obtained, either before or after her marriage, by means of the Scottish parliament, should be invalid, and of no force or efficacy. On the 24th of April, the nuptials were celebrated; and the dauphin, Francis, was allowed to assume the title of king of Scotland. The French court demanded for him the dauphin's crown and other ensigns of royalty belonging to Scotland; but the commissioners had no power to comply with this demand. It was then desired, that when they returned home, they should use all their influence to procure the crown matrimonial of Scotland for the dauphin. dauphin. This also was refused; the court of France was disgusted; and four of the commissioners died, it was supposed of poison, given them by the princes of Lorraine. This subject, however, was pressed, on the return of the surviving commissioners, by the king of France himself, the queen of Scotland, and the queen-regent. The Protestants also joined their interest, hoping by that means to gain over the queen and queen-regent to their party; so that an act of parliament was at length passed, by which the crown matrimonial was given to the dauphin during the time of his marriage with Queen Mary; but without any prejudice to the liberties of the kingdom, to the heirs of her body, or to the order of succession. With so many restraints, it is difficult to see the advantages which could accrue from this gift so earnestly sought after; and it is very probable, that the usurpations of France in consequence of it, would have been productive of many disturbances; but these were prevented by the death of Francis in December 1560.

Before this event took place, however, Scotland was, by the intrigues of France, involved in confusion on another account. After the death of Mary queen of England, and daughter to Henry VIII., the princes of Guise insisted on the claim of Mary queen of Scots to the crown of England, in preference to that of Elizabeth, whom they looked on as illegitimate. This claim was supported by the king of France, who prevailed with the queen of Scots to assume the title of queen of England, and to stamp money under that character. The arms of England were quartered with those of France and Scotland; and employed as ornaments for the plate and furniture of Mary and the dauphin. Thus was laid the foundation of an irreconcilable quarrel between Elizabeth and Mary; and to this, in some measure, is to be ascribed the inveteracy with which the former persecuted the unhappy queen of Scotland, whenever she had it in her power.

But while they imprudently excited a quarrel with England, they fell more imprudently quarrelled with the majority of the people of Scotland. As Elizabeth professed the Protestant religion, it was easily foreseen, that the Congregation, or body of the reformed in Scotland, would never consent to act against her in favour of a papish power; and as they could not be gained, it was resolved to destroy them at once, by putting to death all their leaders. The queen-regent gave intimation of her design to re-establish Popery, by proclaiming a solemn observance of Easter, receiving the sacrament according to the Roman communion, herself, and commanding all her household to receive it in the same manner. She next expressed herself in a contemptuous manner against the reformed, affirmed that they had insulted the royal dignity, and declared her intention of restoring it to its ancient lustre. The preachers of the Congregation were next cited to appear at Stirling, to answer the charges which might be brought against them. Alexander earl of Glencairn, and Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudon, were deputed to admonish her not to persecute the preachers, unless they had been obnoxious by circulating erroneous doctrines, or disturbing the peace of government. The queen regent in a passion told them, that the preachers should all be banished from Scotland, though their decrees might be as found as those of St Paul. The deputies urged her former kind behaviour and promises; but the queen-regent answered, that "the promises of princes ought not to be exacted with rigour, and that they were only binding when subservient to their convenience and pleasure." To this they replied, that in such a case they could not look on her as their sovereign, and must renounce their allegiance as subjects.

Soon after this transaction, the queen-regent received the news that the reformation was established in Perth. Lord Ruthven the provost of the city was summoned to answer for this innovation; but his reply was, that he had no dominion over the minds and consciences of men. The provost of Dundee, being ordered to apprehend an eminent preacher, named Paul Methven, sent him intelligence of the order, that he might provide for his safety. The proclamation for observing Easter was everywhere despised and neglected, and people exclaimed against the mass as an idol. New citations, in the mean time, had been given to the preachers to appear at Stirling. They obeyed the summons; but attended by such multitudes, that the queen-regent, dreading their power, though they were midable by their numbers, intreated Mr Erskine of Dun, whom they had sent before as a deputy, to stop their march; assuring him that all proceedings against the preachers should be stopped. In consequence of this, the multitude dispersed; yet, when the day came on which the preachers should have appeared, the queen-regent, with unparalleled folly and treachery, caused them to be declared traitors, and proclaimed it criminal to afford them any subsistence.

Mr Erskine exasperated by this shameful conduct, hastened to the Congregation, apologized for his conduct, and urged them to proceed to the last extremities. At this critical period John Knox returned from Geneva, and joined the Congregation at Perth. The returns to great provocations which the Protestants had already received, joined to the impetuous passions of the multitude, were now productive of the greatest disorders. Images were destroyed, monasteries pulled down, and their wealth either seized by the mob or given to the poor. The example of Perth was followed by Cupar in Fife; and similar insurrections being apprehended in other places, the queen-regent determined to punish the inhabitants of Perth in the most exemplary manner. With this view she collected an army; but being opposed with a formidable power by the Protestants, she thought proper to conclude an agreement. The Protestants, however, dreaded her infirmity; and therefore entered into a new covenant to stand by and defend each other. Their fears were not groundless. The queen-regent violated the treaty almost as soon as it was made, and began to treat the Protestants with severity. The earl of Argyll, and the prior of St Andrews's, who about this time began to take the title of Lord James Stuart, now openly headed the Protestant party, and prepared to collect their whole strength. The queen-regent opposed them with what forces she had, and which indeed chiefly consisted of her French auxiliaries; but, being again afraid of coming to an engagement, she consented to a truce until commissioners should be sent to treat with the lords for an effectual peace. No commissioners, however, were sent on her part; and the nobles, provoked at such complicated and unceasing treachery, treachery, resolved to push matters to the utmost extremity. The first exploit of the reformed was the taking of the town of Perth, where the queen-regent had placed a French garrison. The multitude, elated with this achievement, destroyed the palace and abbey of Scone, in spite of all the endeavours of their leaders, even of John Knox himself, to save them. The queen-regent, apprehensive that the Congregation would commit farther ravages to the southward, resolved to throw a garrison into Stirling; but the earl of Argyle and Lord James Stuart were too quick for her, and arrived there the very day after the demolition of the abbey and palace of Scone. The people, incapable of restraint, and provoked beyond measure by the perfidious behaviour of the Catholic party, demolished all the monasteries in the neighbourhood, together with the fine abbey of Cambuskenneth, situated on the north bank of the Forth.

From Stirling they went to Linlithgow, where they committed their usual ravages; after which, they advanced to Edinburgh. The queen-regent, alarmed at their approach, fled to Dunbar; and the Protestants took up their residence in Edinburgh.

Having thus got possession of the capital, the Congregation assumed to themselves the ruling power of the kingdom, appointed preachers in all the churches, and seized the mint, with all the instruments of coining. The queen-regent, unable to dispute the matter in the field, published a manifesto, in which she set forth their seditious behaviour, commanding them to leave Edinburgh within six hours, and enjoining her subjects to avoid their society under the penalties of treason. The Congregation having already lost something of their popularity by their violent proceedings, were now incapable of contending with government. As they had not established themselves in any regular body, or provided a fund for their support, they felt their strength decay, and multitudes of them returned to their habitations. Those who remained found themselves obliged to vindicate their conduct; and, in an address to the regent, to disclaim all treasonable intentions. Negotiations again took place, which ended as usual; the queen-regent, who had taken this opportunity of collecting her forces, marched against the Congregation on the 23d of July 1559. The Protestants now found themselves incapable of making head against their enemies; and therefore entered into a negociation, by which all differences were for the present accommodated. The terms of this treaty were, that the town of Edinburgh should be open to the queen dowager and her attendants; that the palace of Holyroodhouse and the mint should be delivered up to her; that the Protestants should be subject to the laws, and abstain from molesting the Catholics in the exercise of their religion. On the queen’s part, it was agreed, that the Protestants should have the free exercise of their religion, and that no foreign troops should enter the city of Edinburgh.

Notwithstanding this treaty, however, the reformed had no confidence in the queen’s sincerity. Having heard of the death of Henry II. of France, which took place on the 8th of March 1559, and the accession of Francis II. and Mary to the throne of that kingdom, they seem to have apprehended more danger than ever. They now entered into a third covenant; in which they engaged to refuse attendance to the queen-dowager, in case of any message or letter; and that immediately on the receipt of any notice from her to any of their number, it should be communicated without reserve, and be made a common subject of scrutiny and deliberation. It was not long before they had occasion for all their constancy and strength. The queen-regent repented of the favourable terms she had broken by granting the reformed; and being denied the favour she requested of saying mass in the high-church of Edinburgh, she ordered them to be everywhere disturbed in the exercise of their religion.

In this imprudent measure the queen-regent was confirmed by letters which now came from Francis and Mary, promising a powerful army to support her interests. The envoy who brought these dispatches also carried letters to the lord James Stuart, now the principal leader of the Protestants, and natural brother to the queen. The letters were filled with reproaches and menaces, mixed with intreacies; and along with them the envoy delivered a verbal message, that the king his master was resolved rather to expend all the treasuries of France than not to be revenged on the rebellious nobles who had disturbed the peace of Scotland. The lord James Stuart was not to be frightened by these menaces. He returned a cool and deliberate answer, apologizing for the Protestants, and vindicating them from the charge of rebellion; but at the same time intimating his full resolution of continuing to head the reformed as he had already done.

The letters of Francis and Mary were soon followed by 1000 French soldiers, with money and military stores; and the commander was immediately dispatched again to France, to solicit the assistance of as many more soldiers, with four ships of war, and 100 men-at-arms. But before he could set out, La Brosse, another French commander, arrived with 2000 infantry; and that the Congregation might be defeated not only by arms but in dilutation, the same ship brought three doctors of the Sorbonne, to show the pernicious tendency of the new doctrines. Thus matters were pushed on beyond all hopes of reconciliation. The nation was universally alarmed on account of the introduction of French troops, to which they saw no end. The queen-regent attempted to quiet the minds of the public by a proclamation: but their fears increased the more. The congregation assembled at Stirling, where they were joined by the earl of Arran, and soon after by his father the duke of Chatelherault. They next deliberated on the measures to be followed with the queen-regent; and the result of their consultations was, that an expostulatory letter should be addressed to her. This was accordingly done; but as the queen behaved with her usual duplicity, the nobles called the people to arms. Mutual manifestoes were now published; and both parties prepared to decide the contest by the sword. The congregation having seized Broughty castle, marched thence to Edinburgh. The queen-regent retired to Leith, which she had fortified and sent filled with French troops. Thither the nobles sent their last message to her, charging her with a design to overthrow the civil liberties of the kingdom. They requested her to command her Frenchmen and mercenaries to depart from Leith, and to make that place open, not only to the inhabitants who had been dispossessed of their houses, but to all the inhabitants of Scotland. They They declared, that her denial of this request should be considered by them as a proof of her intention to reduce the kingdom to slavery; in which case, they were determined to employ their utmost power to preserve its independence. Two days after this message, the queen-regent sent to them the lord Lyon, whom she enjoined to tell them, that she considered their demand not only as presumptuous, but as an encroachment on the royal authority; that it was an indignity to her to be dictated to by subjects; that Frenchmen were not to be treated as foreigners, being entitled to the same privileges with Scotsmen; and that she would neither disband her troops, nor command the town of Leith to be made open. The lord Lyon then, in the name of the queen-regent, commanded the lords of the Congregation to depart from Edinburgh, and disperse, under the pain of high treason. The Protestants irritated by this answer, after some deliberation degraded the queen-regent; and for this purpose the nobility, barons, and burgesses, all agreed in subscribing an edict, which was sent to the principal cities in Scotland, and published in them.

The next step taken by the Congregation was to summon Leith to surrender; but meeting with defiance instead of submission, it was resolved to take the town by escalade. For this service ladders were made in the church of St Giles; a business which, interrupting the preachers in the exercise of public worship, made them prognosticate misfortune and miscarriage to the Congregation. In the displeasure of the preachers, the common people found a source of complaint; and the emissaries of the queen-dowager acting with indefatigable industry to divide her adversaries, and to spread chagrin and dissatisfaction among them, discontent, animosity, and terror, came to prevail to a great degree. The duke of Chatelherault discouraged many by his example. Defection from the Protestants added strength to the queen-dowager. The most secret deliberations of the confederated lords were revealed to her. The soldiery were clamorous for pay; and it was very difficult to procure money to satisfy their claims. Attempts to soothe and appease them, discovering their consequence, engendered mutinies. They put to death a domestic of the earl of Argyle, who endeavoured to compose them to order: they insulted several persons of rank who discovered a solicitude to pacify them; and they even ventured to declare, that, for a proper reward, they were ready to suppress the reformation, and to re-establish the mass.

It was absolutely necessary to give satisfaction to the Protestant soldiery. The lords and gentlemen of the Congregation collected a considerable sum among them; but it was not equal to the present exigency. The avarice of many taught them to withhold what they could afford, and the poverty of others did not permit them to indulge their generosity. It was resolved, that each nobleman should surrender his silver plate to be coined. By the address, however, of the queen-dowager, the officers of the mint were bribed to conceal, or to convey to a distance, the stamps and instruments of coinage. A gloomy despair gave disquiet to the Congregation, and threatened their ruin. Queen Elizabeth, with whose ministers the confederated lords maintained a correspondence at this time, had frequently promised them her assistance; but they could not now wait the event of a deputation to the court of England. In an extremity so pressing, they therefore applied for a sum of money to Sir Ralph Sadler and Sir James Croft, the governors of Berwick; and Cockburn of Ormiston, who was entrusted with this commission, obtained from them a supply of 4000 crowns. Traitors, however, in the councils of the Congregation, having informed the queen-dowager of his errand and expedition, the earl of Bothwell, by her order, intercepted him upon his return, confiscated his retinue, and made a prize of the English subsidy.

To rouse the spirit of the party, an attack was projected upon Leith, and some pieces of artillery were planted against it. But before any charge could be made, the French soldiers fell out to give battle to the troops of the Congregation, possessed themselves of their cannon, and drove them back to Edinburgh. A tenant report that the victors had entered this city with the fugitives, filled it with disorder and dismay. The earl of Argyle and his Highlanders hastened to recover the honour of the day, and harassed the French in their retreat. This petty conflict, while it elated the queen-dowager, served to augment the despondence of the Protestants.

Vain of their prowess, the French made a new sally from Leith, with a view to intercept a supply of provisions and stores for the Congregation. The earl of Arran and the lord James Stuart advanced to attack them, and obliged them to retire. But pursuing them with too much precipitation, a fresh body of French troops made its appearance. It was prudent to retreat, but difficult. An obstinate resistance was made. It was tenants the object of the French to cut off the soldiery of the Congregation from Edinburgh, and by these means to divide the strength of that station. The earl of Arran and the lord James Stuart had occasion for all their address and courage. Though they were able, however, to effect their escape, their loss was considerable, and the victory was manifestly on the side of their adversaries.

About this time William Maitland of Lethington, secretary to the queen-dowager, withdrew secretly from the queen-Leith, and joined himself to the confederated nobles. He had been disgusted with the jealousies of the French secretary, counsellors, and was exposed to danger from having embraced the doctrines of the reformed. His reception was cordial, and corresponded to the opinion entertained of his wisdom and experience. He was skilled in business, adorned with literature, and accustomed to reflection. But as yet it was not known, that his want of integrity was in proportion to the greatness of his talents.

The accession of this statesman to their party could not console the lords of the Congregation for the unpromising aspect of their affairs. The two discomfits they had received sunk deeply into the minds of their followers. Those who affected prudence, retired privately from a cause which they accounted desperate; and the timorous fled with precipitation. The wailings and disrufit of the brethren were melancholy and infectious; and by exciting the ridicule and scorn of the partisans of the queen-dowager, were augmented the more. A distress not to be comforted seemed to have invaded the Protestants; and the associated nobles consented to abandon the capital. A little after midnight, they retired. tired from Edinburgh; and so great was the panic which prevailed, that they marched to Stirling without making any halt.

John Knox, who had accompanied the Congregation to Stirling, anxious to recover their unanimity and courage, addressed them from the pulpit. He represented their misfortunes as the consequences of their sins; and entreating them to remember the goodness of their cause, assured them in the end of joy, honour, and victory. His popular eloquence corresponding to all their warmest wishes, diffused satisfaction and cheerfulness. They passed from despair to hope. A council was held, in which the confederated nobles determined to solicit, by a formal embassy, the aid of Queen Elizabeth. Maitland of Lethington, and Robert Melville, were chosen to negotiate this important business; and they received the fullest instructions concerning the state and difficulties of the Congregation, the tyrannical designs of the queen-dowager, and the danger which threatened England from the union of Scotland with France.

The queen of England having maturely considered the case, determined to assist the reformers; whose leaders now dispersed, and went to different parts of the kingdom, to employ their activity there for the common cause. The queen-dowager, imagining that the lords were fled, conceived great hopes of being able at once to crush the reformed. Her language hopes, however, were soon checked, on receiving certain intelligence that Queen Elizabeth was resolved to assist them. She now took the best measures possible, as circumstances then stood; and determined to crush her enemies before they could receive any assistance from England. Her French troops took the road to Stirling, and wasted in their march all the grounds which belonged to the favourites of the reformation. After renewing their depredations at Stirling, they passed the bridge; and proceeding along the side of the river, exercised their cruelties and oppressions in a district which had distinguished itself by an ardent zeal against popery. While the terror of their arms was thus diffusing itself, they resolved to seize on the town and castle of St Andrew's, which they considered as an important military station, and as a convenient place of reception for the auxiliaries which they expected from France.

But the lord James Stuart exerted himself to interrupt their progress and frustrate their attempts; and it was his object at the same time to keep the force of the Congregation entire, to hazard no action of importance, and to wait the approach of the English army. A small advantage was obtained by the French at Petterik; and they possessed themselves of Kinghorn. The lord James Stuart, with 500 horse and 100 foot, entered Dyfart. With this inconsiderable force he proposed to act against an army of 4000 men. His admirable skill in military affairs, and his great courage, were eminently displayed. During 20 days he prevented the march of the French to St Andrew's, intercepting their provisions, harassing them with skirmishes, and intimidating them by the address and the boldness of his stratagems.

Monseigneur d'Oysel, enraged and ashamed at being disconcerted and opposed by a body of men so disproportionately to his army, exerted himself with vigour. The lord James Stuart was obliged to retire. Dyfart and Wemyss were delivered up to the French troops to be pillaged; and when d'Oysel was in full march to St Andrew's he discovered a powerful fleet bearing up the frith. It was concluded, that the supplies expected from France were arrived. Guns were fired by his soldiers, and their joy was indulged in all its extravagance. But this fleet having taken the vessels which contained their provisions, and the ordnance with which they intended to improve the fortifications of the castle at St Andrew's, an end was put to their rejoicings. Certain news was brought, that the fleet they observed was the navy of England, which had come to support the Congregation. A confirmation, heightened by the giddiness of their preceding transports, invaded them. Monseigneur d'Oysel now perceived the value and merit of the service which had been performed by the lord James Stuart; and thinking no more general way to Leith, from which he dreaded to be intercepted; but he reached that important station after a march of three days.

A formal treaty was now concluded between the lords of the Congregation and Queen Elizabeth; and in the meantime the queen-dowager was disappointed in her expectations from France. The violent administration of the house of Guise had involved that nation in troubles and distresses. Its credit was greatly sunk, and its treachery nearly exhausted. Persecutions, and the spirit of Calvinism, produced commotions and conspiracies; and amidst domestic and dangerous intrigues and struggles, Scotland failed to engage that particular distinction which had been promised to its affairs. It was not, however, altogether neglected. The count de Marigny had arrived at Leith with 1000 foot and a few horse. The marquise D'Elbeuf had embarked for it with another body of soldiers; but, after losing several ships in a furious tempest, was obliged to return to the haven whence he had sailed.

In this sad reverse of fortune many forsook the queen-dowager. It was now understood that the English army started on its march to Scotland. The Scottish lords who had affected a neutrality, meditated an union with the Protestants. The earl of Huntly gave a solemn assurance that he would join them. Proclamations were issued throughout the kingdom, calling on the subjects of Scotland to assemble in arms at Linlithgow, to re-establish their ancient freedom, and to assist in the utter expulsion of the French soldiery.

The English fleet in the mean time, under Winter the vice-admiral, had taken and destroyed several ships, had landed some troops upon Inchkeith, and discomfited a body of French mercenaries. On being apprised of these acts of hostility, the princes of Lorraine dispatched the chevalier de Seure to Queen Elizabeth, to make representations against this breach of peace, and to urge the recall of her ships. This ambassador affected like-Elizabeth to negotiate concerning the evacuation of Scotland by the French troops, and to propose methods by which the king of France might quarter the arms of England without doing a prejudice to Queen Elizabeth; but to prevent the execution of vigorous resolutions against the queen-dowager, and to gain time, were the only objects which he had in view. With similar intentions, John Monluc bishop of Valence, a man of greater address and ability, and equally devoted to the house of... house of Guise, was also sent at this time to the court of England. Queen Elizabeth, however, and her ministers, were too wise to be amused by artifice and dexterity. The lord Grey entered Scotland with an army of 1200 horse and 6000 foot; and the lord Scroop, Sir James Croft, Sir Henry Percy, and Sir Francis Lake, commanded under him. By a cruel policy, the queen-dowager had already wasted all the country around the capital. But the desolation which she had made, while it was ruinous to the Scottish peasants, affected not the army of England. The leaders of the Congregation did not want penetration and foresight, and had themselves provided against this difficulty. The duke of Chatelherault, the earls of Argyle, Glencairn, and Menteith, the lord James Stuart, and the lords Ruthven, Boyd, and Ochiltree, with a numerous and formidable force, joined the English commander at Preston.

Struck with the sad condition of her affairs, despairing of a timely and proper succour from France, and reminded by sickness of her mortality, the queen-dowager retired from Leith to the castle of Edinburgh, and put herself under the protection of the lord Erskine. At the period when she was appointed to the regency, the lord Erskine had received from the three estates the charge of this important fortress, with the injunction to hold it till he should know their farther orders; and he giving way to the solicitations of neither faction, had kept it with fidelity. By admitting the queen-dowager, he yielded to sentiments of honour and humanity, and did not mean to depart from his duty. Only a few of her domestics accompanied her, with the archbishop of St Andrew's, the bishop of Dunkeld, and the earl Marischal.

The confederated nobles now assembled at Dalkeith to hold a council; and conforming to those maxims of prudence and equity which, upon the eve of hostilities, had been formerly exercised by them, they invited the queen-dowager to an amicable conclusion of the present troubles. In a letter which they wrote to her, they called to her remembrance the frequent manifestoes and messages in which they had pressed her to dismiss the French soldiery, who had so long oppressed the lower ranks of the people, and who threatened to reduce the kingdom to servitude. The aversion, however, with which she had constantly received their suit and prayers, was so great, that they had given way to a strong necessity, and had intreated the assistance of the queen of England to expel these strangers by force of arms. But though they had obtained the powerful protection of this princess, they were still animated with a becoming respect for the mother of their sovereign; and, abhorring to stain the ground with Christian blood, were disposed once more to solicit the dismission of these mercenaries, with their officers. And that no just objection might remain against the grant of this last request, they assured her, that a safe passage by land, to the ports of England, should be allowed to the French; or that, if they judged it more agreeable, the navy of Queen Elizabeth should transport them to their own country. If these proposals should be rejected, they appealed and protested to God and to mankind, that it should be understood and believed, that no motive of malice, or hatred, or wickedness of any kind, had induced them to employ the fatal expedient of arms and battles; but that they had been compelled to this disagreeable and distressful remedy, for the preservation of their commonwealth, their religion, their persons, their estates, and their posterity. They begged her to weigh the equity of their petition, to consider the inconveniences of war, and to think of the rest and quiet which were necessary to relieve the afflictions of her daughter's kingdom; and they besought her to embalm her own memory, by an immortal deed of wisdom, humanity, and justice.

To give authority and weight to the letter of the associated lords, the lord Grey directed Sir George Howard and Sir James Croft to wait on the queen-dowager and stipulate the peaceable departure of the English troops, on condition that the French mercenary forces should be immediately dismissed from her service, have with and prohibited from residing in Scotland. Returning no direct answer to the applications made to her, she desired time to deliberate upon the resolution which it became her to adopt. This equivocal behaviour corresponded with the spirit of intrigue which had uniformly distinguished the queen-dowager; and it is probable, that her engagements with France did not permit her to be open and explicit.

The combined armies marched towards Leith. A body of the French, posted on a rising ground called Hawk-hill, disputed their progress. During five hours the conflict was maintained with obstinate valour. At length the Scottish horsemen charged the French with a fury which they were unable to resist. They fled to Leith with precipitation; and might have been cut off from it altogether, if the English cavalry had exerted themselves. Three hundred of the French soldiers perished in this action, and a few combatants only fell on the side of the Congregation.

Leith was invested. The pavilions and tents of the who lay English and Scottish nobility were planted at Refalrig, and around it. Trenches were cast; and the ordnance from the town annoying the combined armies, a mount was raised, upon which eight cannons were erected. A continued fire from these, against St Anthony's tower in South Leith, being kept up and managed with skill, the walls of this fabric were shaken, and the French found it necessary to dismount their artillery. Negligent from security, and apprehensive of no attack, the English and Scottish officers occupied themselves in amusements, and permitted a relaxation of military discipline. The French, informed of this supineness and levity, made a fall from Leith. While some of the party captains were diverting themselves at Edinburgh, and then cut off, the soldiery were engaged at dice and cards, they entered the trenches unobserved, and, improving their advantage, put 600 men to the sword. After this slaughter, the Protestants were more attentive to their affairs.—Mounts were built at proper distances, and these being fortified with ordnance, served as places of retreat and defence in the event of sudden incursions; and thus they continued the blockade in a more effectual manner.

The army under the marquis D'Elbeuf, promised so often to the queen-regent, was in vain expected by her; but she received, at this time, supplies in money and military stores; and Monluc bishop of Valence, though defeated in dexterity by Elizabeth and her ministers, had arrived in Scotland to try once more the arts of delay. delay and negociation. Conferences were held by him with the queen-dowager, with the English commanders, and with the confederated nobles; but no contract or agreement could be concluded. His credentials extended neither to the demolition of Leith, nor to the recall of the French mercenaries: and though he obtained powers from his court to consent to the former of these measures, they were yet burdened with conditions which were disgraceful to the Congregation; who, in the present prosperous state of their affairs, were not disposed to give up any of the objects for which they had struggled so long, and to the attainment of which they now looked forward with a settled hope and expectation.

Though the grave and measured orations of Monluc could not overpower the plain and stubborn sense of the Congregation, yet as he affected to give them admonitions and warnings, and even ventured to insult them with menaces, they appear to have conceived a high indignation against him. Under this impulse, and that, in so advanced a stage of their affairs, they might exhibit the determined firmness of their resolutions, and bind to them by an indissoluble tie the earl of Huntly and the other persons who had joined them in consequence of the English alliance, they thought of the assurance and stability of a new league and covenant, more solemn, expressive, and resolute, than any which they had yet entered into and subscribed.

The nobles, barons, and inferior persons, who were parties to this bond and association, bound themselves in the presence of Almighty God, as a society, and as individuals, to advance the reformation of religion, and to procure, by all possible means, the true preaching of the gospel, with the proper administration of the sacraments, and the other ordinances in connection with it. Deeply affected, at the same time, with the misconduct of the French statesmen, who had been promoted to high offices; with the oppressions of the French mercenaries, whom the queen-dowager kept up and maintained under the colour of authority; with the tyranny of their officers; and with the manifest danger of conquest to which the country was exposed, by different fortifications on the sea-coast, and by other dangerous innovations; they promised and engaged, collectively and individually, to join with the queen of England's army, and to concur in an honest, plain, and unreserved resolution of expelling all foreigners from the realm, as oppressors of public liberty; that, by recovering the ancient rights, privileges, and freedom of their nation, they might live for the future under the due obedience of their king and queen, be ruled by the laws and customs of the country, and by officers and statesmen born and educated among themselves. It was likewise contracted and agreed by the subscribers to this bond and covenant, that no private intelligence by writing or message, or communication of any kind, should be kept up with their adversaries; and that all persons who resisted the godly enterprise in which they were united, should be regarded as their enemies, and reduced to subjection.

When the strong and fervid sentiment and expression of this new association were communicated to the queen-dowager, she abandoned herself to sorrow. Her mind, inclined to despondence by the increase of her malady, felt the more intensely the cruel distractions and disquiet into which the kingdom had been driven by the ambition of France, her own doating affection for the princes of Lorraine, and the vain prognostications of flatterers and courtiers. In the agony of passion, she besought the malediction and curse of God to alight upon all those who had counselled her to persecute the preachers, and to refuse the petitions of the most honourable portion of her subjects.

In the mean time the siege of Leith was prosecuted. But the strength of the garrison amounting to more than 4000 soldiers, the operations of the besiegers were slow and languid. An accidental fire in the town, which destroyed many houses and a great part of the public granary, afforded them an opportunity of playing their artillery with some advantage; and a few days after they made a general assault. But the scaling-ladders which were applied to the walls being too short, tenants and Sir James Croft, who had been gained over to the queen-dowager, having acted a treacherous part, the attempt failed of success, and 1000 men were destroyed. The combined armies, however, did not lose their resolution or their hopes. The English and Scots animadverted the constancy of each other; and in the ratification of the treaty of Berwick, which was now made, a new source of cordiality opened itself. Letters had also come from the duke of Norfolk, promising a powerful reinforcement, giving the expectation of his taking on himself the command of the troops, and ordering his pavilion to be erected in the camp. Leith began to feel the misery of famine, and the French gave themselves up to despair. The besiegers abounded in every thing; and the arrival of 2000 men, the expected reinforcement from England, gave them the most decisive superiority over their adversaries. Frequent fallies were made by the garrison, and they were always unsuccessful. Discouraged by defeats, deprived with the want of provisions, and languishing under the negligence of France, they were ready to submit to the mercy of the Congregation.

Amidst this distress the queen-dowager, waited with a lingering distemper and with grief, expired in the queen-castle of Edinburgh. A few days before her death, she invited to her the duke of Chatelherault, the lord James Stuart, and the earls of Argyle, Glencairn, and Marischal, to bid them a last adieu. She expressed to them her sorrow for the troubles of Scotland, and made it her earnest suit, that they would consult their constitutional liberties, by disfranchising the French and English from their country; and that they would prefer a dutiful obedience to the queen their sovereign. She professed an unlimited forgiveness of all the injuries which had been done to her; and entreated their pardon for the offences she had committed against them. In token of her kindness and charity, she then embraced them by turns; and, while the tear started in her eye, presented to them a cheerful and smiling aspect. After this interview, the short portion of life which remained to her was dedicated to religion; and that she might allure the Congregation to be compassionate to her Popish subjects and her French adherents, she flattered them, by calling John Willocks, one of the most popular of their preachers, to assist and comfort her by his exhortations and prayers. He made long discourses to her about about the abominations of the mass; but she appears to have died in the communion of the Roman church; and her body being transported to France, was deposited in the monastery of St Peter, at Rheims, in Champagne, where her sister Renée was an abbess.

The death of the queen-dowager, at a period so critical, broke altogether the spirit of the French troops. They were blocked up so completely, that it was almost impossible for any supplies to reach them either by sea or land; and France had delayed too long to fulfill its magnificent promises, that it was no longer in a capacity to take any steps towards their accomplishment. Its internal distresses and disquietudes were multiplying. The nobility, impoverished by wars, were courting the rewards of service, and struggling in hostility. The clergy were avaricious, ignorant, and vindictive. The populace, knowing no trade but arms, offered their swords to the factious. Francis II., the husband of Mary, was without dignity or understanding. Catharine de Medici, his mother, was full of artifice and falsehood. Insurrections were dreaded in every province. The house of Guise was encompassed with difficulties, and trembling with apprehensions, so that they could not think of persisting in their views of distant conquests. It was necessary that they should abandon for a time all the proud projects they had formed for the extension of the French monarchy. It was chiefly in the exemption from foreign wars that they could hope to support their own greatness, and apply a remedy to the domestic disturbances of France.

It appeared to Francis and Mary, that they could not treat in a direct method with the Congregation, whom they affected to consider as rebellious subjects, without derogating from their royal dignity. In negotiating a peace, therefore, they addressed themselves to Queen Elizabeth. It was by her offices and interference that they projected a reconciliation with the confederated lords, and that they sought to extinguish the animosities which, with so much violence, had agitated the Scottish nation. They granted their commission to John Monluc bishop of Valence, Nicholas Pellevé bishop of Amiens, Jacques de la Broche, Henry Clentin de d'Oyfel, and Charles de la Rochefoucault le Feu de Randan; authorizing them in a body or by two of their number, to enter into agreements with the queen of England. The English commissioners were Sir William Cecil principal secretary of state, Nicolas Wotton dean of Canterbury and York, Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Henry Percy, and Sir Peter Crew; and the powers of treaty were to be exercised by them all in conjunction, or by four, three, or two of them.

The plenipotentiaries of France, though empowered only to treat with England, were yet, by a separate commission, entrusted to assure the Congregation, that notwithstanding the heinous guilt incurred by them, Francis and Mary were inclined to receive them into favour, upon their repentance and return to obedience; and to abstain for ever from all inquiry into their conduct. They had full authority, at the same time, by this new deed, to hear, in conjunction with the commissioners of Elizabeth, the complaints of the Congregation, and to grant, with their consent, the relief which appeared to them to be the most proper and salutary.

The nobility and people of Scotland, choosing for their representatives the lord James Stuart, the lord Ruthven, and Maitland of Lethington, expressed their willingness to concur in reasonable measures for the re-establishment of the public tranquillity. By the mode of a formal petition, they enumerated their grievances, laid claim to redress, and besought an uniform protection to their constitution and laws. To this petition the And at last interception of Queen Elizabeth effected the friendly attention of Francis and Mary; and on a foundation concerted with so much propriety, Montluc and Randan, Cecil and Wotton, the acting plenipotentiaries of France and England, drew up and authenticated the celebrated deed of relief and concession which does so much honour to the spirit, perseverance and magnanimity of the Scottish nation.

By this agreement, Francis and Mary stipulated and Nature of their treaty consented, that no French soldiers and no foreign troops should ever be introduced into Scotland without the counsel and advice of the three estates. They concurred in opinion, that the French mercenaries should be sent back to France, and that the fortifications of Leith should be demolished. They agreed that commissioners should be appointed to visit Dunbar, and to point out the works there which ought to be destroyed; and they bound themselves to build no new forts or places of strength within the kingdom, and to repair no old one, without a parliamentary sanction. They consented to extinguish all debts which had been contracted for the maintenance of the French and Scotch soldiery in their service. They appointed the estates of the realm to hold a parliament for the discussion of affairs of state; and they obliged themselves to consider the acts of this assembly as valid and effectual in every respect. They confirmed the ancient law of the country, which prohibited the princes of Scotland from making peace and war without the advice of the three estates. It was agreed by them that the three estates, in concurrence with the queen, should elect a council for the administration of affairs during her majesty's absence. They became bound to employ the natives of Scotland in the management of justice both civil and criminal, in the offices of chancellor, keeper of the seals, treasurer, comptroller, and in other stations of a similar nature; and to abstain from the promotion of all foreigners to places of trust and honour, and from investing any clergymen in the charge of affairs of the revenue. They determined to establish an act of oblivion, and to forget for ever the memory of all the late transactions of war and offence. It was concluded by them, that a general peace and reconciliation should take place among all parties. They expressed their determination, that no pretence should be assumed by them, from the late contentions, to deprive any of their subjects of their estates or offices. And they referred the reparation which might be proper to compensate the injuries which had been sustained by bishops and ecclesiastics, to the judgment of the three estates in parliament.

On the subject of the reformation, the plenipotentiaries of England and France did not choose to deliberate and decide, though articles with regard to it had been presented to them by the nobles and the people. They referred this delicate topic to the ensuing meeting of parliament; and the leaders of the Congregation engaged, that deputies from the three estates should repair Scotland, to the king and queen, to know their intention concerning matters of such high importance.

After having granted these concessions to the nobility and the people of Scotland, on the part of their respective courts, Monluc and Randan, Cecil and Wotton, concluded another treaty. By this convention it was determined, that the English and French troops should depart out of Scotland; that all warlike preparations should cease; that the fort of Eyemouth should be razed to the ground, in terms of the treaty of Cambrai; that Francis and Mary should abstain from bearing the title and arms of England or Ireland; that it should be considered, whether a farther compensation should be made to Elizabeth for the injuries committed against her; and that the king and queen of Scots should be fully and sincerely reconciled to the nobility and the people of their kingdom. The interests of England and France were the particular objects of this agreement. But though the concessions to the Protestants were not inferred in it at full length, an expressive reference was made to them; and they received a confirmation in terms which could not be misunderstood. This deed recorded the clemency of Francis and Mary to their subjects of Scotland, the extreme willingness of the nobility and the people to return to their duty and allegiance, the representation they had offered of their grievances, and the request of Queen Elizabeth that redress should be afforded them; and it appealed to the consequent concessions which had been stipulated to their advantage.

By these important negociations, the Protestants, while they humbled France, flattered Queen Elizabeth; and while they acquired a power to act in the establishment of the reformation, restored to Scotland its civil constitution. The exclusion of foreigners from offices of state, the limitation of the Scottish princes with regard to peace and war, the advancement of the three estates to their ancient consequence, and the act of oblivion of all offences, were acquisitions most extensively great and useful; and, while they gave the fullest security to the reformed, gratified their most sanguine expectations.

The peace, so fortunately concluded, was immediately proclaimed. The French mercenaries embarked for their own country, and the English army took the road to Berwick. Amidst events so joyful, the preachers exhorted the confederated nobles to command the solemnity of a thanksgiving. It was ordered accordingly; and after its celebration, the commissioners of the boroughs, with several of the nobility, and the tenants in capite, were appointed to choose and depute ministers to preach the gospel in the principal towns throughout the kingdom. John Knox was called to discharge the pastoral functions at Edinburgh, Christopher Goodman at St Andrew's, Adam Heriot at Aberdeen, John Row at Perth, Paul Methven at Jedburgh, William Christie at Dundee, David Ferguion at Dunfermline, and David Lindley at Leith. That the benefits of the church, at the same time, might be managed with propriety, superintendents were elected to preside over the ecclesiastical affairs of particular provinces and districts. Mr John Spottwood was named the superintendent for the division of Lothian, Mr John Willocks for that of Glasgow, Mr John Winram for that of Fife, Mr John Erskine of Dun for that of Angus and Mearns, Scotland, and Mr John Carthewell for that of Argyle and the Isles. This inconsiderable number of ministers and superintendents gave a beginning to the reformed church of Scotland.

Amidst the triumph and exultation of the Protestants, the meeting of parliament approached. All persons who had a title from law, or from ancient custom, to attend meets, the great council of the nation, were called to assemble. While there was a full convention of the greater barons and the prelates, the inferior tenants in capite, or the lesser barons, on an occasion so great, instead of appearing by representation, came in crowds to give personally their assistance and votes; and all the commissioners for the boroughs, without exception, presented themselves.

It was objected to this parliament when it was assembled, that it could not be valid, since Francis and Mary were not present, and had not empowered any person to represent them. But by the terms of the late concessions to the nobility and the people, they had in effect dispensed with this formality; and the objection, after having been warmly agitated for some days, was rejected by a majority of voices. The lords of the articles were then chosen; and as the Protestant party were superior to the Popish faction, they were careful, in electing the members of this committee, to favour all those who were disposed to forward the work of the reformation. The first object which the lords of the articles held out to parliament was the supplication of the petition of the nobility, gentry, and all the other persons who professed the new doctrines. It required, that the Romish church should be condemned and abolished. It reproved the tenet of transubstantiation, the merit of works, papistical indulgences, purgatory, pilgrimages, and prayers to departed saints; and considering them as pestilent errors, and as fatal to salvation, it demanded, that all those who should teach and maintain them should be exposed to correction and punishment. It demanded, that a remedy should be applied against the profanation of the holy sacraments by the catholics, and that the ancient discipline of the church should be restored. In fine, it insisted, that the supremacy and authority of the pope should be abolished; and that the patrimony of the church should be employed in supporting the reformed ministry, in the provision of schools, and in the maintenance of the poor.

This supplication of the Protestants was received in parliament with marks of the greatest deference and respect. The popish doctrines it censured, and the strong language it employed, excited no dispute or altercation. The nobility, however, and the lay members, did not think it expedient that the patrimony of the church, in all its extent, should be allotted to the reformed ministry, and the support of schools and the poor. Avoiding, therefore, any explicit scrutiny into this point, the parliament gave it in charge to the ministers and the leading men of the reformation, to draw up, under distinct heads, the substance and sense of those doctrines which ought to be established over the kingdom. Within four drawn up days this important business was accomplished. The writing or instrument to which the reformed committed their opinions was termed, "The Confession of Faith, professed and believed by the Protestants within the realm..." It was read first to the lords of the articles. It was then read to the parliament; and the prelates of the Romish church were commanded, in the name of God, to make publicly their objections to the doctrines it professed. They preferred a profound silence. A new dict was appointed for concluding the transaction. The articles of the Confession were again read over in their order, and the votes of parliament were called. Of the temporal nobility, three only refused to bestow on it their authority. The earl of Athol, and the lords Somerville and Bothwell, protested, that "they would believe as their fathers had done before them." The bishops and the estate ecclesiastical, from a consciousness of the weakness of popery, seemed to have lost all power of speech. No dissent, no vote, was given by them. "It is long (said the earl Marischal), since I entertained a jealousy of the Romish faith, and an affection to the reformed doctrines. But this day has afforded me the completest conviction of the falsehood of the one, and the truth of the other. The bishops, who do not conceive themselves to be deficient in learning, and whose zeal for the maintenance of the hierarchy cannot be doubted, have abandoned their religion, and their interest in it, as objects which admit of no defence or justification." All the other constituent members of this great council were zealous for the establishment of the reformation, and affirmed the propriety of its doctrines. Thus the high court of parliament, with great deliberation and solemnity, examined, voted, and ratified the confession of the reformed faith.

A few days after the establishment of the Confession of Faith, the parliament passed an act against the mass and the exercise of the Romish worship. And it scrupled not to ordain, that all persons saying or hearing mass should, for the first offence, be exposed to the confiscation of their estates, and to a corporal chastisement, at the discretion of the magistracy; that for the second offence, they should be banished the kingdom; and that for the third offence they should suffer the pains of death.

This fierce enthusiasm, it is to be acknowledged, did not fail the generosity of victory; and while an excuse is sought for it in the perfidiousness of the Romish priesthood, it escapes not the observation of the most superficial historians, that these severities were exactly those of which the Protestants had complained so loudly, and with so much justice. By another ordination, the parliament, after having declared, that the pope, or bishop of Rome, had inflicted a deep wound and a humiliating injury upon the sovereignty and government of Scotland, by his frequent interferences and claims of power, commanded and decreed, that, for the future, his jurisdiction and authority should be extinct; and that all persons maintaining the smallest connection with him, or with his sect, should be liable to the loss of honour and offices, proscription, and banishment.

These memorable and decisive statutes produced the overthrow of the Romish religion. To obtain for these proceedings, and to its other ordinances, the approbation of Francis and Mary was an object of the greatest anxiety, and of infinite moment to the three estates.

Sir James Sandilands lord St John was therefore appointed to go to France, and to express to the king and queen the affection and allegiance of their subjects, to explain what had been done in consequence of the late concessions and treaty, and to solicit their royal ratification of the transactions of parliament. The spirited behaviour of the congregation had, however, exceeded all the expectations of the princes of Lorraine; and the business of the embassy, and the ambassador himself, though a man of character and probity, were treated not only with ridicule, but with insult and contumely. He returned accordingly without any answer to his commission. Instead of submitting the heads and topics of a reformation to Francis and Mary, by a petition or a narrative, the parliament had voted them into laws; and from this informality the validity of its proceedings has been suspected. But it is observable of the Protestants, that they had not concealed their views with regard to religion and the abolition of Popery; that in the grant of redress and concession, and in the deed of treaty, no actual prohibition was made to prevent the establishment of the reformation; that a general authority was given to parliament to decide in affairs of state; and that Francis and Mary were solemnly bound to authenticate its transactions. Though a formality was infringed, the spirit of the treaties was yet respected and maintained. The nation, of consequence, imputed the conduct of Francis and Mary to political reasons suggested by the princes of Lorraine, and to the artifices of the Papist clergy; and as Elizabeth did not refuse, on her part, the ratification of the agreements, and solicited and pressed the French court in vain to adopt the same measure, a strength and force were thence communicated to this conclusion.

When the three estates dispatched Sir James Sandilands to France, they instructed the earls of Morton and Glencairn, with Maitland of Lethington, to repair to the court of England. By these ambassadors they presented to Elizabeth their sincere and respectful thanks, for the attention shown by her to Scotland, in her late most important services. And while they solicited the continuance of her favour and protection, intreated, in an earnest manner, that her majesty, for the establishment of a perpetual peace and amity, would be pleased to take in marriage the earl of Arran, the next heir after his father to the Scottish monarchy. The queen made new and fervent protestations of her regard and attachment; and gave the promise of her warmest aid when it would be necessary, in their just defence, upon any future occasion. She spoke in obliging terms of the earl of Arran; but as she found in herself no present disposition to marriage, she desired that he might consult his happiness in another alliance. She expressed a favourable opinion of the Scottish nobility; and as a demonstration of her affection and esteem, she took the liberty to remind them of the practices which had been employed to overturn their independency, and begged them to consider the unanimity and concord of their order as a necessary guard against the ambition and the artifice of the enemies of their nation.

(q) It is given at full length in Knox, in the collection of confessions of faith, vol. ii. and in the statute book, parl. 1567. The success of the Congregation, though great and illustrious, was not yet completely decisive. The refusal of Francis and Mary to ratify their proceedings opened a source of bitterness and inquietude. The Popish party, though humbled, was not annihilated. Under the royal protection it would soon be formidable. Political considerations might arise, not only to cool the amity of England, but even to provoke its resentment. And France, though it could now transport no army against Scotland, might soon be able to adopt that expedient. Great sufferings and severe calamities were still to be dreaded. In the narrowness of their own resources they could find no solid and permanent security against the rage and weight of domestic faction, and the frenzied exertions of an extensive kingdom. All their fair achievements might be blasted and overthrown. Popery might again build up her towers, and a fanatical domination destroy alike their religious and civil liberties.

While the anguish of melancholy apprehensions repressed the triumph of the Congregation, the event which could operate most to their interests was announced to them. This was the death of Francis II. The tie which knit Scotland to France was thus broken. A new scene of politics displayed itself. Catharine de Medicis, the queen-mother, ruled Charles IX. and was the personal enemy of the queen of Scots. The power and the credit which Mary had lent to her uncles, and the frequent and humiliating disappointments which the queen-mother had suffered from her influence over Francis, were now repaid with a studied indifference and neglect. In the full perfection of her charms, with two crowns upon her head, and looking towards a third, she felt herself to be without grandeur and without consequence. Leaving a court where she had experienced all the enjoyments of which humanity is susceptible, she retired to Rheims, to indulge her sorrow.

In the humiliation of their queen, and in the change produced in the councils of France, the Protestants of Scotland found every possible encouragement to proceed with vigour towards the full establishment of the reformed doctrines. After the parliament had been dissolved, they turned their thoughts and attention to the plan of policy which might best suit the tenets and religion for which they had contended. The three estates, amidst their other transactions, had granted a commission to John Winram, John Spottifwood, John Willocks, John Douglas, John Row, and John Knox, to frame and model a scheme of ecclesiastical government. They were not long in complying with an order so agreeable to them, and composed what is termed the First Book of Discipline; in which they explained the uniformity and method which ought to be preserved concerning doctrine, the administration of the sacraments, the election and provision of ministers, and the policy of the church.

A convention of the estates gave its sanction to the Presbyterian form of government. But while the Book of Discipline sketched out a policy beautiful for its simplicity, still it required that the patrimony and the rich possessions of the ancient church should be allotted to the new establishment. The reformers, however, so successful in the doctrines and the policy which they had proposed, were in this instance very unfortunate. This convention of the estates did not pay a more respectful regard to this proposal than had been done by the celebrated parliament, which demolished the mists and the jurisdiction of the fee of Rome. They affected to consider it as no better than a dream. The expression "a devout imagination" was applied to it in mockery; and it was not till after long and painful struggles, that the new establishment was able to procure a becoming and necessary provision and support. The Roman clergy were strenuous to continue in their possessions, and to profit by them; and the nobles and the laity having seized on great proportions of the property of the church, were no less anxious to retain the acquisitions they had made.

The avarice entertained to the bestowing of riches on the Presbyterian establishment, encouraged the ardour which prevailed for advancing all the other views and interests of the reformed. And this end was also promoted in no inconsiderable degree by the insidious policy of Catharine de Medicis. She was willing to increase and to foster all the difficulties and dangers in the situation of the queen of Scots and her subjects. On this account she had engaged Charles IX. to dispatch Monseigneur Noailles to the Scotch parliament, to urge it in strong terms to renew the ancient league between the two kingdoms, to dissolve the alliance with England, and to re-establish over Scotland the Popish doctrines and the Popish clergy. A new meeting of the estates was assembled, which considered these strange requisitions, and treated them with the indignation they merited. Monseigneur Noailles was instructed to inform his sovereign, that France having acted with cruelty and perfidy towards the Scots, by attacking their independence and liberties under pretence of amity and marriage, did not deserve to know them any longer as an ally; that principles of justice, a love of probity, and a high sense of gratitude, did not permit the Scottish parliament to break the confederacy with England, which had generously protected their country against the tyrannical views of the French court, and the treacherous machinations of the house of Guise; and that they were never to acknowledge the Popish clergy as a distinct order of men, or the legal possessors of the patrimony of the church; since, having abolished the power of the pope, and renounced his doctrines, they could bestow no favour or countenance upon his vassals and servants.

To this council of the estates a new supplication was presented by the Protestants. They departed from the high claim which they had made for the riches and patrimony of the Popish church; and it was only requested by them, that a reasonable provision should be allotted to the true preachers of the gospel. This application, however, no less than their former extravagant demand, was treated with neglect. But amidst the anxiety manifested by the nobles and the tenants of the crown to hold the Presbyterian clergy in subjection and in poverty, they discovered the warmest zeal for the extension and continuance of the reformed opinions.

For in this supplication of the Protestants, an ardent final desire being intimated and urged, that all the monstrous fictions of idolatry which remained should be utterly destroyed, the fullest and most unbounded approbation was given to it. An act was accordingly passed, which commanded that every abbey-church, every cloister, with every memorial whatever of Popery, should be finally land. finally demolished; and the care of this barbarous, but popular employment, was committed to those persons who were most remarkable for their keenness and ardour in the work of the reformation. Its execution in the western counties was given in charge to the earls of Arran, Argyll, and Glencairn; the lord James Stuart attended to it in the more northern districts; and in the inland divisions of the country, it was intrusted to the barons in whom the Congregation had the greatest confidence. A dreadful devastation ensued. The populace, armed with authority, spread their ravages over the kingdom. It was deemed an execrable lenity to spare any fabric or place where idolatry had been exercised. The churches and religious houses were everywhere defaced, or demolished; and their furniture, utensils, and decorations, became the prize of the invader. Even the sepulchres of the dead were ransacked and violated. The libraries of the ecclesiastics, and the registers kept by them of their own transactions and of civil affairs, were gathered into heaps, and committed to the flames. Religious antipathy, the sanction of law, the exhortation of the clergy, the hope of spoil, and, above all, the ardent desire of putting the last hand to the reformation, concurred to drive the rage of the people to its wildest fury; and, in the midst of havoc and calamity, the new establishment surveyed its importance and its power.

The death of Francis II, having left his queen, Mary, in a very disagreeable situation while she remained in France, it now became necessary for her to think of returning to her own country. To this she was solicited both by the Protestants and Papists; the former, that they might gain her over to their party; and the latter, hoping that, as Mary was of their own persuasion, Popery might once more be established in Scotland. For this deputation, the Protestants chose Lord James Stuart, natural brother to the queen; and the Papists, John Lely, official and vicar-general of the diocese of Aberdeen. The latter got the start of the Protestant ambassador, and thus had the opportunity of first delivering his message. He advised her strongly to beware of the lord James Stuart, whom he represented as a man of unbounded ambition, who had espoused the Protestant cause for no other reason than that he might advance himself to the highest employments in the state; nay, that he had already fixed his thoughts on the crown. For these reasons he advised that the lord James Stuart should be confined in France till the government of Scotland could be completely established. But if the queen were adverse to this measure, he advised her to land in some of the northern districts of Scotland, where her friends were most numerous; in which case an army of 20,000 men would accompany her to Edinburgh, to restore the Popish religion, and to overcome her enemies. The next day the lord James Stuart waited on her, and gave an advice very different from that of Lely. The surest method of preventing insurrections, he said, was the establishment of the Protestant religion; that a standing army and foreign troops would certainly lose the affections of her subjects; for which reason he advised her to visit Scotland without guards and without soldiers, and he became solemnly bound to secure their obedience to her. To this advice Mary, though she distrusted its author, listened with attention; and Lord James, imagining that she was prejudiced in his favour, took care to improve the favourable opportunity; by which means he obtained a promise of the earldom of Marr.

Before Mary set out from France, she received an embassy from Queen Elizabeth, pressing her to ratify the treaty of Edinburgh, in which she had taken care to have a clause inserted, that Francis and Mary should forever abstain from assuming the title and arms of England and Ireland. But this was declined by the queen of Scotland, who, in her conference with the English ambassador, gave an eminent proof of her political abilities.* Her refusal greatly augmented the jealousies which already prevailed between her and Elizabeth, infomuch that the latter refused her a safe passage through her dominions into Scotland. This was considered by Mary as a high indignity; she returned a very spirited answer, informing her rival, that she could return to her own dominions without any assistance from her, or indeed whether she would or not. In the month of August 1561, Mary set sail from Calais for Scotland. She left France with much regret; and at night ordered her couch to be brought upon deck, desiring the pilot to awaken her in the morning if the coast of France should be in view. The night proved calm, so that the queen had an opportunity of once more indulging herself with a sight of that beloved country. A favourable wind now sprang up, and a thick fog coming on, the escaped squadron of men of war which Elizabeth had sent out to intercept her; and on the 20th of the month she landed safely at Leith.

But though the Scots received their queen with the greatest demonstrations of joy, it was not long before an irreconcilable quarrel began to take place. The Protestant religion was now established all over the kingdom; and its professors had so far deviated from their own principles, or what ought to have been their principles, that they would grant no toleration to the opposite party, not even to the sovereign herself. In consequence of this, when the queen attempted to celebrate mass in her own chapel of Holyroodhouse, a violent mob assembled, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the lord James Stuart and some other persons of high distinction could appease the tumult. Mary attempted to allay these ferments by a proclamation, in which she promised to take the advice of the states in religious matters; and, in the mean time, declared it to be death for any person to attempt an innovation or alteration of the religion which she found generally established upon her arrival in Scotland. Against this proclamation the earl of Arran protested, and formally told the herald, the queen's proclamation should not protect her attendants and servants if they professed to commit idolatry and to say mass. John Knox declared from the pulpit, that one mass was more terrible to him than if 10,000 armed enemies had landed in any part of the kingdom to re-establish Popery. The preachers everywhere declaimed against idolatry and the mass; keeping up, by their mistaken zeal, a spirit of discontent and sedition throughout the whole kingdom. John Knox was called before the queen to answer for the freedom of his speeches; but his unbounded boldness when there gave Mary much disquiet, as not knowing in what manner to treat him. The freedoms, however, which were taken with the queen, could not induce her to depart from that plan of government which she had laid down in France. To the Protestants she resolved to pay the greatest attention; from among them she chose her privy-council, and heaped favours upon the lord James Stuart, who for his activity in promoting the reformation was the most popular man in the kingdom; while to her courtiers of the Catholic persuasion she behaved with a distant formality.

In the mean time, the differences between the two rival queens became every day greater. The queen of Scotland pressed Elizabeth to declare her the nearest heir to the crown of England, and Elizabeth urged Mary to confirm the treaty of Edinburgh. With this the latter could not comply, as it would in fact have been renouncing for ever the title to that crown for which she was so earnestly contending. Endless negotiations were the consequence, and the hatred of Elizabeth to Mary continually increased. This year the queen of Scotland amused herself by making a circuit through part of her dominions. From Edinburgh she proceeded to Stirling; thence to Perth, Dundee, and St Andrew's. Though received everywhere with the greatest acclamations and marks of affection, she could not but remark the rooted aversion which had universally taken place against Popery; and upon her return to Edinburgh, her attention was called to an exertion of this zeal, which may be considered as highly characteristic of the times. The magistrates of this city, after their election, enacted rules, according to custom, for the government of their borough. By one of these acts, which they published by proclamation, they commanded all monks, friars, and priests, together with all adulterers and fornicators, to depart from the town and its limits within 24 hours, under the pains of correction and punishment. Mary, justly interpreting this exertion of power to be an usurpation of the royal authority, and a violation of order, displaced the magistrates, commanded the citizens to elect others in their room, and granted by proclamation a plenary indulgence to all her subjects not convicted of any crime, to repair to and remain in her capital at their pleasure.

Besides these disturbances on account of religion, the kingdom was now in confusion from another cause. The long continuance of civil wars had everywhere left a propensity to tumults and insurrections; and thefts, rapine, and licentiousness of every kind, threatened to subvert the foundations of civil society. Mary made considerable preparations for the suppression of these disorders, and appointed the lord James Stuart her chief justiciary and lieutenant. He was to hold two criminal courts, the one at Jedburgh, and the other at Dumfries. To assist his operations against the banditti, who were armed, and often associated into bodies, a military force was necessary; but as there were at present neither standing army nor regular troops in the kingdom, the county of Edinburgh, and ten others, were commanded to have their strength in readiness to assist him. The feudal tenants, and the allodial or free proprietors of these districts, in complete armour, and with provisions for 20 days, were appointed to be subservient to the purposes of his commission, and to obey his orders in establishing the public tranquillity. In this expectation he was attended with his usual success. He destroyed many of the strong holds of the banditti; hanged 20 of the most notorious offenders; and ordered 50 more to be carried to Edinburgh, there to suffer the penalties of law on account of their rebellious behaviour. He entered into terms with the lord Grey and Sir John Foster, the wardens of the English borders, for the mutual benefit of the two nations; and he commanded the chiefs of the disorderly clans to submit to the queen, and to obey her orders with regard to the securing of the peace, and preventing insurrections and depredations in future.

In the mean time the queen was in a very disagreeable situation, being suspected and mistrusted by both parties. From the concessions which she had made to the Protestants, the Papists supposed that she had a design of renouncing their religion altogether; while, on the other hand, the Protestants could scarcely allow themselves to believe that they owed any allegiance to an idolater. Disquiet of another kind also now took place. The duke of Chatelherault, having left the Catholics to join the opposite party, was neglected by his sovereign. Being afraid of some danger to himself, he fortified the castle of Dumbarton, which he resolved to defend; and in case of necessity to put himself under the protection of the queen of England.—The earl of Arran was a man of very slender abilities, but of boundless ambition. The queen's beauty had made an impression on his heart, and his ambition made him fancy himself the fittest person in the kingdom for her husband. But his fanaticism, and the violence with which he had opposed the mass, had disgusted her. He bore her dislike with an uneasiness that preyed upon his intellects and disordered them. It was even supposed that he had concerted a scheme to possess himself of her person by armed retainers; and the lords of her court were commanded to be in readiness to defeat any project of this nature. The earl of Bothwell was distinguished chiefly by his prodigalities and the licentiousness of his manners. The earl Marischal had everything that was honourable in his intentions, but was wary and slow. The earl of Morton possessed penetration and ability, but was attached to no party or measures from any principles of rectitude: His own advantage and interests were the motives by which he was governed. The earl of Huntly the lord chancellor, was unquiet, variable, and vindictive: His passions, now fermenting with violence, were soon to break forth in the most dangerous practices. The earls of Glencairn and Menteith were deeply tinctured with fanaticism; and their inordinate zeal for the new opinions, not less than their poverty, recommended them to Queen Elizabeth. Her ambassador Randolph, advised her to secure their services, by addressing herself to their necessities. Among courtiers of this description, it was difficult for Mary to make a selection of ministers in whom she might confide. The consequence and popularity of the lord James Stuart, and of Maitland of Lethington, had early pointed them out to this distinction; and hitherto they had acted to her satisfaction. They were each of eminent capacity; but the former was suspected of aiming at the sovereignty; the latter was prone to refinement and duplicity; and both were more attached to Elizabeth than became them as the ministers and subjects of another sovereign. Scotland.

Beside the policy of employing and trusting statef- men who were Protestants, and the precaution of main- taining a firm peace with England, Mary had it also at heart to enrich the crown with the revenues of the an- cient church. A convention of estates was assembled to deliberate on this measure. The bishops were alarm- ed at their perilous situation. It was made known to them, that the charge of the queen's household required an augmentation; and that as the rents of the church had flowed chiefly from the crown, it was expedient that a proper proportion of them should now be resumed to uphold its splendour. After long consultations, the pre- lates and ecclesiastical estate considering that they existed merely by the favour of the queen, consented to re- sign to her the third part of their benefices, to be mana- ged at her pleasure; with the reservation that they would be secured during their lives against all farther payments, and relieved from the burden of contributing to the maintenance of the reformed clergy. With this offer the queen and the convention of estates were satisfied. Rentals, accordingly, of all their benefices throughout the kingdom, were ordered to be produced by the an- cient ecclesiastics; the reformed ministers, superintend- ants, elders, and deacons, were enjoined to make out registers of the grants or provisions necessary to support their establishment; and a supereminent power of judg- ing in these matters was committed to the queen and the privy-council.

While the prelates and ecclesiastical estate submitted to this offer from the necessity of their affairs, it was by no means acceptable to the reformed clergy, who at this time were holding an assembly. It was their earnest wish to effect the entire destruction of the ancient esta- blishment, to succeed to a large proportion of their emo- luments, and to be altogether independent of the crown. But while the Protestant preachers were naturally and unanimously of these sentiments, the nobles and gentle- men who had promoted the reformation were disposed to think very differently. To give too much of the wealth of the church to the reformed clergy, was to in- vest them with a dangerous power. To give too great a proportion of it to the crown, was a step still more dangerous. At the same time it was equitable, that the ancient clergy should be maintained during their lives; and it accorded with the private interests of the noble- men and gentlemen, who had figured during the refor- mation, not to consent to any scheme that would de- prive them of the spoils which they had already pos- sessed themselves out of the ruins of the church, or which they might still be enabled to acquire.

Thus public as well as private considerations contri- buted to separate and divide the lay Protestants and the preachers. The general assembly, therefore, of the church, was not by any means successful in the views which had called them together at this time, and which they submitted to the convention of estates. Doubts were entertained whether the church had any title to assemble itself. The petition preferred for the complete abolition of idolatry, or for the utter prohibition of the mass, was rejected, notwithstanding all the zeal mani- fested by the brethren. The request that Mary should give authority to the book of discipline, was not only refused, but even treated with ridicule. The only point pressed by the church which attracted any notice, was its requisition of a provision or a maintenance; but the measure proposed for this end was in opposition to all its warmest desires.

This measure, however, so unpromising to the preach- ers in expectation, was found to be still more unsatis- factory on trial. The wealth of the Romish church had been immense, but great invasions had been made on it. The fears of the ecclesiastics, on the overthrow of po- pery, induced them to engage in fraudulent transactions with their kinsmen and relations; in consequence of which many possessions were conveyed from the church to private hands. For valuable considerations, leaves of church-lands, to endure for many years, or in perpe- tuity, were granted to strangers and adventurers. Sales also of ecclesiastical property, to a great extent, had been made by the ancient incumbents; and a validity was supposed to be given to these transactions by confirma- tions from the pope, who was zealous to assist his vo- taries. Even the crown itself had contributed to make improper dispositions of the ecclesiastical revenues. Lay- men had been presented to bishoprics and church-liv- ings, with the power of disposing of the territory in con- nection with them. In this diffusion of the property of the church, many great acquisitions, and much ex- tensive domain, came to be invested in the nobles and the gentry.

From these causes the grant of the third of their be- nefices, made by the ancient ecclesiastics to the queen, with the burden of maintaining the reformed clergy, was not nearly so considerable as might have been ex- pected. But the direction of the scheme being lodged in the queen and the privy-council, the advantage to the crown was still greater than that bestowed upon the preachers. Yet the carrying the project into execu- tion was not without its inconveniences. There were still many opportunities for artifice and corruption; and the full third of the ecclesiastical benefices, even after all the previous abstractions of them which had been made, could not be levied by any diligence; for the ecclesiastics often produced false rentals of their bene- fices; and the collectors for the crown were not always faithful to the trust reposed in them. The complete produce of the thirds did not amount to a great sum; and it was to contribute towards the expenses of the queen, as well as to the support of the preachers. A pro- fusely proportion went to the latter; and yet the per- sons who were chosen to fix their particular stipends were the firm friends of the reformation. For this busi- ness was committed in charge to the earls of Argyle and Morton, the lord James Stuart, and Maitland of Lethington, with James Mackgill the clerk-registrar, and Sir John Ballenden the justice-clerk. One hundred Scottish merks were deemed sufficient for a common mi- nister. To the clergymen of greater interest or consid- eration, or who exercised their functions in more ex- tensive parishes, 300 merks were allotted; and, except- ing to superintendents, this sum was seldom exceeded. To the earl of Argyle, to the lord James Stuart, to Lord Erskine, who had large ecclesiastical revenues, their thirds were usually remitted by the queen; and on the establishment of this fund or revenue, she also granted many pensions to persons about her court and of her household.

The complaints of the preachers were made with little decency, and did not contribute to improve their condi- tion. The coldness of the Protestant laity, and the hu- manity manity shown to the ancient clergy, were deep wounds both to their pride and to their interests. To a mean spirit of flattery to the reigning power, they imputed the defection of their friends; and against the queen they were animated with the bitterest animosity. The poverty in which they were suffered to remain inflamed all their passions. They industriously fought to indulge their rancour and turbulence; and inveterate habits of insult fortified them with a contempt of authority.

To the queen, whose temper was warm, the rudeness of the preachers was a painful and endless inquietude, which, while it fostered her religious prejudices, had the good effect of confirming her constancy to her friends, and of keeping alive her gratitude for their activity. The lord James Stuart, who was intitled to her respect and esteem from his abilities, and his proximity to her in blood, had merited rewards and honours by his public services and the vigour of his counsels. After his successful discharge of her commission as chief judiciary and lord lieutenant, she could not think of allowing him to descend from these offices, without bestowing on him a solid and permanent mark of her favour. She advanced him to the rank of her nobility, by conferring on him the earldom of Mar. At the same time she contributed to augment his consequence, by facilitating his marriage with Agnes the daughter of the earl Marischal; and the ceremonial of this alliance was celebrated with a magnificence and ostentation so extravagant in that age, as to excite the fears of the preachers lest some avenging judgment or calamity should afflict the land. They exclaimed with virulence against his riotous feasting and banquets; and the malquerades which were exhibited on this occasion, attracting in a still greater degree their attention, as being a species of entertainment hitherto unknown in Scotland, and which was favourable to the profaneness of gallantry, they pointed against them the keenest strokes of their censure and indignation.

The abilities of the earl of Mar, the ascendancy he maintained in the councils of his sovereign, and the distinctions which he had acquired, did not fail to expose him to uncommon envy. The most desperate of his enemies, and the most formidable, was the earl of Huntly. In their rivalry for power, many causes of distrust had arisen. The one was at the head of the Protestants, the other was the leader of the Papists. On the death of Francis II, Huntly and the Popish faction had sent a deputation to Mary, inviting her to return to Scotland, and offering to support her with an army of 30,000 men. His advances were treated with attention and civility, but his offer was rejected. The invitation of the Protestants, presented by the earl of Mar, was more acceptable to her. Huntly had advised her to detain his rival in confinement in France till the Catholic religion should be re-established in Scotland. This advice he not only disregarded, but cared for his enemy with particular civilities. On her arrival in her own country, Huntly renewed his advances, offering to her to set up the masts in all the northern counties. He even conferred in a pressing manner upon this subject with her uncles and the French courtiers who attended her. Still no real attention was paid to him. He came to her palace, and was received only with respect. He was lord high chancellor without influence, and a privy counsellor without trust. The earl of Mar had the confidence of his sovereign, and was drawing to him the authority of government. These were cruel mortifications to a man of high rank, inordinate ambition, immense wealth, and who commanded numerous and warlike retainers. But he was yet to feel a stroke still more severely excruciating, and far more destructive of his consequence. The opulent estate of Mar, which Mary had erected into an earldom, and conferred on his rival, had been lodged in his family for some time. He considered it as his property, and that it was never to be torn from his house. This blow was at once to insult most sensibly his pride, and to cut most fatally the finesse of his greatness.

After employing against the earl of Mar those arts of detraction and calumny which are so common in the lord courts, he drew up and subscribed a formal memorial, in which he accused him of aiming at the sovereignty of Scotland. This paper he presented to the queen; but the arguments with which he supported his charge being weak and inconclusive, she was the more confirmed in her attachment to her minister. Huntly then addressing himself to the earl of Bothwel, a man disposed to deperate courses, engaged him to attempt involving the earl of Mar and the house of Hamilton in open and violent contention. Bothwel represented to Mar the enmity which had long subsisted between him and the house of Hamilton. It was an obstacle to his greatness; and while its destruction might raise him to the highest pinnacle of power, it would be most acceptable to the queen, who, beside the hatred which princes naturally entertain to their successors, was animated by particular causes of offence against the duke of Chatelherault and the earl of Arran. He concluded his exhortation with making an unlimited offer of his most strenuous services in the execution of this flagitious enterprise. The earl of Mar, however, abhorring the baseness of the project, suspicious of the sincerity of the proposer, or satisfied that his eminence did not require the aid of such arts, rejected all his advances. Bothwel, disappointed on one side, turned himself to the other. He practised with the house of Hamilton to assassinate the earl of Mar, whom they considered as their greatest enemy. The business, he said, might be performed with ease and expedition. The queen was accustomed to hunt in the park of Falkland; and there the earl of Mar, not suspecting any danger, and ill attended, might be overpowered and put to death. The person of the queen, at the same time, might be seized; and by keeping her in custody, a sanction and security might be given to their crime. The integrity of the earl of Arran revolting against this conspiracy, defeated its purposes. Dreading the perpetration of so cruel an action, and yet sensible of the resolute determination of his friends, he wrote privately to the earl of Mar, informing him of his danger. But the return of Mar to his letter, thanking him for his intelligence, being intercepted by the conspirators, Arran was confined by them under a guard in Kennelhouse. He effected his escape, however, and made a full discovery of the plot to the queen. Yet as in a But fails matter so dark he could produce no witnesses and no written vouchers to confirm his accusations, he, according to the fashion of the times, offered to prove his information, by engaging Bothwel in single combat. And though, in his examinations before the privy-council, his love to the queen, his attachment to the earl of Mar, the atrocity of the scheme he revealed, and, above all, his duty and concern for his father the duke of Chatelherault, threw him into a perturbation of mind which expressed itself violently in his speech, his countenance, and his actions; yet his declarations, in general, were so consistent and firm, that it was thought advisable to take the command of the castle of Dumbarton from the duke of Chatelherault, to confine the other conspirators to different prisons, and to wait the farther discoveries which might be made by time and accident.

The earl of Huntly, inflamed by these disappointments, invented other devices. He excited a tumult while the queen and the earl of Mar were at St Andrew's with only a few attendants; imagining that the latter would fall forth to quell the insurgents, and that a convenient opportunity would thus be afforded for putting him to the sword without detection. The caution, however, of the earl of Mar, defeating this purpose, he ordered some of his retainers to attack him in the evening when he should leave the queen; but these assassins being surprised in their station, Huntly affected to excuse their being in arms in a suspicious place and at a late hour, by frivolous apologies, which, though admitted, could not be approved.

About this period, too, letters were received by Mary from the pope and the cardinal of Lorraine, in consequence of the intrigues of the earl of Huntly and the Catholic faction. They pressed her to consider, that while this nobleman was the most powerful of her subjects, he was by far the most zealous in the interests of the church of Rome. They intreated her to flatter him with the hope of her marriage with Sir John Gordon his second son; held out to her magnificent promises of money and military supplies, if she would set herself seriously to recover to power and splendour the ancient religion of her country; and recommended it to her to take measures to destroy the more strenuous Protestants about her court, of whom a roll was transmitted to her, which included the name of her confidant and minister the earl of Mar. These letters could not have reached her at a juncture more unfavourable to their success. The earl of Mar, to whom they communicated them, was encouraged to proceed with the greatest vigour in undermining the designs and the importance of his enemies.

New incidents exasperated the animosities of the enemies of the earl of Mar and his own. Sir John Gordon and the lord Ogilvie having a private dispute, happened to meet each other in the high street of Edinburgh. They immediately drew their swords; and the lord Ogilvie receiving a very dangerous wound, Sir John Gordon was committed to prison by the magistrates. The queen, at this time in Stirling, was informed by them of the riot; and while they expressed a fear lest the friends of the prisoner should rise up in arms to give him his liberty, they mentioned a suspicion which prevailed, that the partizans of the lord Ogilvie were to assemble themselves to vindicate his quarrel. The queen, in her reply, after commending their diligence, instructed them to continue to have a watch over their prisoner; made known her desire that the law should take its course; and counselled them to have no apprehensions of the kindred of the parties at variance, but to rely on the earl of Mar for providing a sufficient force for their protection. Sir John Gordon, however, found means to break from his confinement; and flying into Aberdeenshire, filled the retainers of his family with his complaints, and added to the disquiet of his father the earl of Huntly.

The queen, on returning to Edinburgh, held a consultation on affairs of state with her privy council; and soon after set out on a progress to the northern parts of her kingdom. At Aberdeen she was met by the lady Huntly, a woman of deep dissimulation and of refined address; who endeavoured to conciliate her affections, was prodigal of flattery, expressed her zeal for the Popish religion, and let fall insinuations of the great power of her husband. She then interceded with the queen for forgiveness to her son: and begged with a keen importunity, that he might be permitted to have the honour to kiss her hand. But Mary having told her, that the favour she had solicited could not be granted till her son should return to the prison from which he had escaped, and submit to the justice of his country, the lady Huntly engaged that he should enter again into custody, and only intreated, that, instead of being confined at Edinburgh, he should be conducted to the castle of Stirling. This request was complied with; and in the prosecution of the business, a court of judiciary being called, Sir John Gordon made his appearance, and acknowledged himself to be the queen's prisoner. The lord Glamis was appointed to conduct him and attend to the castle of Stirling. But on the road to this fort, he eluded the vigilance of his guards, hastened back, and gathering 1000 horsemen among his retainers, entrusted his security to the sword.

In the mean time, the queen continued her progress. The earl of Huntly joined himself to her train. His anxiety to induce her to allow him to attend her to his house of Strathbogie was uncommon; his intretries were even pressed beyond the bounds of propriety. The intelligence arrived of the escape and rebellion of Sir John Gordon. The behaviour of the father and the son awakened in her the most alarming suspicions. Assembling her privy-council, who, according to the fashion of those times, constituted her court, and attended her person in her progresses through her dominions; she, with their advice, commanded her heralds to charge Sir John Gordon and his adherents to return to their allegiance, and to surrender to her their houses of strength and castles, under the penalties of high treason and forfeiture. Disdaining now to go to the house of the earl of Huntly, where, as it afterwards appeared, that nobleman had made secret preparations to hold her in captivity, she advanced to Inverness by a different route. In the castle of Inverness she proposed to take up her residence; but Alexander Gordon the deputy governor, a dependent of the family of Huntly, refused to admit her. She was terrified with the prospect of certain and imminent danger. Her attendants were few in number, the town was without walls, and the inhabitants were suspected. In this extremity, some ships in the river were kept in readiness as a last refuge; and she issued a proclamation, commanding all her loyal subjects in those parts immediately to repair to her for her protection. The Frasers and Monroes came in crowds to make her the offer of their swords. The Clan Chattan, though called to arms by the earl of Huntly, for- Scotland. took his standard for that of their sovereign, when they discovered that his intentions were hostile to her. She employed this strength in laying siege to the castle, which surrendered itself on the first assault. The lives of the common soldiers were spared, but the deputy-governor was instantly executed. The queen, full of apprehensions, returned to Aberdeen.

To intimidate the earl of Huntly, to revenge the troubles which his family had created to the queen, and to convince him that his utter ruin was at hand, a measure infinitely humiliating was now concerted and put in practice. The earl of Mar resigned the rich estate of that name to the lord Erskine, who laid claim to it as his right; and received in recompense, after its erection into an earldom, the territory of Murray, which made an extensive portion of the possessions of the earl of Huntly.

The lady Huntly hastened to Aberdeen to throw herself at the feet of her sovereign, to make offer of the most humble submissions on the part of her husband, and to avert by every possible means the downfall of his greatness. But all access to the queen was refused her; and the earl of Huntly was summoned to appear in person before the privy council, to answer for his conduct, and to make a full resignation of all his castles and fortresses. He did not present himself, and was declared to be in open rebellion. A new proclamation was circulated by the queen to collect a sufficient strength to subdue the insurgents. The command of her troops was given to the earl of Murray, who put them instantly in motion. Huntly advancing towards Aberdeen to give them battle, was informed of their approach. He halted at Corrichie, solacing himself with the hope of a decisive victory. The army of the queen was the more numerous; but there were several companies in it in whom little confidence could be placed. These the earl of Murray posted in front of the battle, and commanded them to begin the attack. They recoiled on him in disorder, according to his expectation; but a resolute band in whom he trusted, holding out their spears, obliged them to take a different course. Their confusion and flight made Huntly conceive that the day was his own. He therefore ordered his soldiers to throw aside their lances, and to rush on the enemy sword in hand. His command was obeyed, but with no precaution or discipline. When his men came to the place where the earl of Murray had stationed himself, the points of the extended spears of his firm battalion put a termination to their progress. The panic communicated by this unexpected resistance was improved by the vigour with which he pressed the assailants. In their turn they took to flight. The companies of the queen's army which had given way in the beginning of the conflict were now disposed to atone for their misconduct; and taking a share in the battle, committed a signal slaughter upon the retainers of the earl of Huntly. This nobleman himself expired in the thong of the pursuit. His sons Sir John Gordon and Adam Gordon were made prisoners, with the principal gentlemen who had assisted him.

Mary, on receiving the tidings of this success, discovered neither joy nor sorrow. The passions, however, of the earl of Murray and his party were not yet completely gratified. Sir John Gordon was brought immediately to trial, confessed his guilt, and was condemned to suffer as a traitor. The sentence was accordingly executed, amidst a multitude of spectators, whose feelings were deeply affected, while they considered his immature death, the manliness of his spirit, and the vigour of his form. Adam Gordon, upon account of his tender age, was pardoned; and fines were levied from the other captives of rank according to their wealth. The lord Gordon, after the battle of Corrichie, fled to his father-in-law the duke of Chatelherault, and put himself under his protection; but was delivered up by that nobleman, all whose endeavours in his favour were ineffectual. He was convicted of treason, and condemned; but the queen was satisfied with confining him in prison. The dead body of the earl of Huntly was carried to Edinburgh, and kept without burial, till a charge of high treason was preferred against him before the three estates. An ostentatious display was made of his criminal enterprises, and a verdict of parliament pronounced his guilt. His estates, hereditary and moveable, were forfeited; his dignity, name, and memory, were pronounced to be extinct; his armorial ensigns were torn from the book of arms; and his posterity were rendered unable to enjoy any offices, honour, or rank within the realm.

While these scenes were transacting, Mary, who was sincerely solicitous to establish a secure amity between the two kingdoms, opened a negociation to effect an interview with Elizabeth. Secretary Maitland, whom she employed in this business, met with a most gracious reception at the court of London. The city of York was appointed as the place where the two queens should express their mutual love and affection, and bind themselves to each other in an indissoluble union; the day of their meeting was fixed; the fashion and articles of their interview were adjusted; and a safe-conduct into England was granted to the queen of Scots by Elizabeth. But in this advanced state of the treaty it was unexpectedly interrupted. The disturbances in France, the persecution of the Protestants there, and the dangerous consequence which threatened the reformed countries, seemed to require Elizabeth to be particularly on her guard, and to watch with eagerness the machinations of the adversaries of her religion. On these pretences she declined for a time the projected interview; sending to Mary with this apology Sir Henry Sidney, a minister of ability, whom she instructed to dive into the secret views of the Scottish queen. This was a severe disappointment to Mary; but it is reasonable to believe, that Elizabeth acted in the negociation without sincerity, and on principles of policy. It was not her interest to admit into her kingdom a queen who had pretensions to her crown, and who might there strengthen them; who might raise the expectations of her Catholic subjects, and advance herself in their esteem; and who far surpassed her in beauty, and in the bewitching allurements of conversation and behaviour.

Amidst affairs of great moment, a matter of smaller consequence, but which is interesting in its circumstances, deserves to be recorded. Chatelard, a gentleman of family in Dauphiny, and a relation of the chevalier de Bayard, had been introduced to Queen Mary by the sieur Damville, the heir of the house of Montmorency. Polished manners, vivacity, attention to please, the talent of making verses, and an agreeable figure, were recommendations of this man. In the court they drew Scotland drew attention to him. He made himself necessary in all parts of pleasure at the palace. His affinities drew on him the notice of the queen; and, at different times, she did him the honour of dancing with him. His complaisance became gradually more familiar. He entertained her with his wit and good humour; he made verses on her beauty and accomplishments; and her politeness and condescension instilled into him other sentiments than those of gratitude and reverence. He could not behold her charms without feeling their power; and instead of stifling in its birth the most dangerous of all the passions, he encouraged its growth. In an unhappy moment, he entered her apartment; and, concealing himself under her bed, waited the approach of night. While the queen was undressing, her maids discovered his situation, and gave her the alarm. Chatelard was dismissed with disgrace, but soon after received her pardon. The frenzy, however, of his love compelling him to repeat his crime, it was no longer proper to show any compassion to him. The delicate situation of Mary, the noise of these adventures, which had gone abroad, and the rude suspicions of her subjects, required that he should be tried for his offences and punished. This imprudent man was accordingly condemned to lose his head; and the sentence was put in execution.

The disagreeable circumstances in which Mary found herself involved from her quarrel with Elizabeth, the excessive bigotry and overbearing spirit of her Protestant subjects, together with the adventure of Chatelard, and the calumnies propagated in consequence of it, determined her to think of a second marriage. Her beauty and expectations of the crown of England, joined to the kingdom which she already possessed, brought her many suitors. She was addressed by the king of Sweden, the king of Navarre, the prince of Condé, the duke of Ferrara, Don Carlos of Spain, the archduke Charles of Austria, and the duke of Anjou. Her own inclination was to give the preference, among these illustrious lovers, to the prince of Spain; but her determination, from the first moment, was to make her wishes bend to other considerations, and to render her decision on this important point as agreeable as possible to Queen Elizabeth, to the English nation, and to the Protestants in both kingdoms. Her succession to the crown of England was the object nearest her heart; and Elizabeth, who wished to prevent her from marrying altogether, contrived to impress on her mind an opinion that any foreign alliance would greatly obstruct that much desired event. She therefore pitched on two of her own subjects, whom she successively recommended as fit matches for the queen of Scots; and she promised, that on her acceptance of either her right of inheritance should be inquired into and declared. Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards earl of Leicester, was the first person proposed; and except a manly face and fine figure he had not one quality that could recommend him to the Scottish princes. Whilst Mary received this suitor with some degree of composure, she did not altogether repel his scorn. "She had heard good accounts (she owned) of the gentleman; but as Queen Elizabeth had said, that in proposing a husband to her, she would consult her honour, she asked what honour there could be in marrying a subject?" The English queen then proposed to Mary another suitor, lest her thoughts should return to a foreign alliance. This was Lord Darnley, of the house of Stuart itself, whose birth was almost equal to her own, and whom the Scottish princes was she makes induced to accept as a husband by motives which we choose of have detailed elsewhere. (See Mary.) Elizabeth, Lord Darnley, however, was not more sincere in this proposal than in the former; for after permitting Darnley and his father the earl of Lenox to visit Scotland merely with the view of diverting the attention of the queen from the continent, she threw, in the way of the marriage, every obstacle which art and violence could contrive. When she found Mary so much entangled, that she could scarcely retract or make any other choice than that of Darnley, Elizabeth attempted to prevent her from going farther; and now intimated her disapprobation of that marriage, which she herself had not only originally planned, but, in these latter stages, had forwarded by every means in her power. The whole council of Elizabeth declared against the marriage. Even from her own subjects Mary met with considerable opposition. An inveterate enmity had taken place between the duke of Chatelherault and the earl of Lenox, in consequence of which the former deserted the court, and very few of the Hamiltons repaired to it. The lord James Stuart, now earl of Murray, fought to promote the match with Lord Dudley. In consequence of this he was treated openly with disrespect by the earl of Lenox; he lost the favour of his sovereign, and Darnley threatened him with his vengeance when he should be married to the queen. John Knox in the meantime behaved in the most furious manner, forgetting not only the meek and peaceable behaviour of a Christian, but the allegiance of a subject. This preacher even interfered with the marriage of his sovereign. He warned the nobility, that if they allowed a Papist or an infidel to obtain her person and the government of Scotland, they would be guilty, to the full extent of their power, of banishing Jesus Christ from the kingdom, of bringing down on it the vengeance of God, of being a curse to themselves, and of depriving their queen of all comfort and consolation. As Darnley was a Papist, he was of consequence execrated by the whole body of Protestants, laity as well as clergy; while, on the other hand, he was supported by the earls of Athol and Caithness, the lords Ruthven and Hume, and the whole Papist faction.

It was exceedingly unfortunate for the queen, that neither Lord Darnley himself, nor his father the earl of Lenox, had any talents for buffoonery; and as they naturally had the direction of the queen's affairs, it is no wonder that these were very ill managed. But a source of opposition, more violent than any imperfections of their own, rose against them in the attachment which they discovered to a person on whom the queen had of late bestowed her favour with an imprudent prodigality. David Rizzio from a mean origin had raised himself to a distinguished eminence. He was born at Turin, where David Rizzi, his father earned a subsistence as a musician. Varieties of situation and adventure, poverty, and misfortunes, had taught him experience. In the train of the count de Morette, the ambassador from the duke of Savoy, he had arrived in Scotland. The queen, delirious of completing her band of music, admitted him into her service. In this humble station he had the dexterity to attract her attention; and her French secretary falling into disgrace, from negligence and incapacity, he was promoted Scotland. to discharge the duties of that office. A necessary and frequent admission to her company afforded him now the fullest opportunity of recommending himself to her; and while he approved his manners, she was sensible of his fidelity and his talents. His mind, however, was not sufficiently vigorous to bear such prosperity. Ambition grew on him with preterment. He interfered in affairs of moment, intruded himself into the conventions of the nobles at the palace, and was a candidate for greatness. The queen consulted him on the most difficult and important business, and intrusted him with real power. The suppleness, fervency, and unbounded complaisance which had characterized his former condition, were exchanged for insolence, pride, and ostentation. He exceeded the most potent barons in the stateliness of his demeanour, the sumptuousness of his apparel, and the splendour of his retinue. The nobles, while they despised the lowness of his birth, and detested him as a foreigner and a favourite, were mortified with his grandeur, and insulted with his arrogance. Their anger and abhorrence were driven into fury; and while this undervailing minion, to uphold his power, courted Darnley, and with officious affinities advanced his suit with the queen, he hastened not only his own ruin, but laid the foundation of cruel outrages and of public calamity.

To the earl of Murray the exaltation of Rizzio, so offensive in general to the nation, was humiliating in a more particular degree. His interference for the earl of Leicester, the partiality he entertained for Elizabeth, his connections with Secretary Cecil, and the favour he had shown to Knox, had all contributed to create in Mary a suspicion of his integrity. The practices of Darnley and Rizzio were thence the more effectual; and the fullest weight of their influence was employed to undermine his power. His passions and dispositions were violent; and in his mind he meditated revenge. Mary, aware of her critical situation, was solicitous to add to her strength. Bothwell, who had been imprisoned for conspiring against the life of the earl of Murray, and who had escaped from confinement, was recalled from France; the earl of Sutherland, an exile in Flanders, was invited home to receive his pardon; and George Gordon, the son of the earl of Huntly, was admitted to favour, and was soon reinstated in the wealth and honours of his family.

As soon as Bothwell arrived, the earl of Murray insisted that he should be brought to trial for having plotted against his life, and for having broke from the place of his confinement. This was agreed to; and on the day of trial Murray made his appearance with 800 of his adherents. Bothwell did not choose to contend with such a formidable enemy; he therefore fled to France, and a protestation was made, importing that his fear of violence had been the cause of his flight. The queen commanded the judge not to pronounce sentence. Murray complained loudly of her partiality, and engaged more deeply in cabals with Queen Elizabeth. Darnley, in the mean time, pressed his suit with eagerness. The queen used her utmost endeavours to make Murray subscribe a paper expressing a consent to her marriage; but all was to no purpose. Many of the nobility, however, subscribed this paper; and he ventured to summon a convention of the estates at Stirling, to whom he opened the business of the marriage; and who approved her choice, provided the Protestant should continue to be the established religion of the country.

In the mean time ambassadors arrived from England, with a message importing Elizabeth's entire disapprobation and disallowance of the queen's marriage with Lord Darnley. But these ambassadors Mary replied only, that matters were gone too far to be recalled; and that Elizabeth had no solid cause of displeasure, since, by her advice, she had fixed her affections not on a foreigner, but on an Englishman; and since the person she favoured was descended of a distinguished lineage, and could boast of having in his veins the royal blood of both kingdoms. Immediately after this audience she created Lord Darnley a lord and a knight. The oath of knighthood was administered to him. He was made a baron and a banneret, and called Lord Armanagh. He was belted earl of Rothes. He then promoted 14 gentlemen to the honour of knighthood, and did homage to the queen, without any reservation of duty to the crown of England, where his family had for a long time resided. His advancement to be duke of Albany was delayed for a short time; and this was so much resented by him, that, when informed of it by the lord Ruthven, he threatened to stab that nobleman.

In the mean time the day appointed for the assembly of parliament, which was finally to determine the subject of the marriage, was now approaching. The earl of Murray, encouraged by the apparent firmness of Elizabeth, goaded on by ambition, and alarmed with the approbation bestowed by the convention of the estates on the queen's choice of Lord Darnley, perceived that the moment was at hand when a decisive blow should be struck. To heighten the resentments of his friends, and to justify in some measure the violence of his projects, he affected to be under apprehensions of being assassinated by the lord Darnley. His fears were founded abroad; and he avoided going to Perth, where he affirmed that the plot against him was to be carried into execution. He courted the enemies of Darnley with an unceasing affluency; and united to him in a confederacy against the duke of Chatelherault, and the earls of Argyle, and Rothes, and Glencairn. It was not the sole object of their association to oppose the marriage. They engaged in more criminal enterprises. They meditated the death of the earl of Lennox and the lord Darnley; and while the queen was on the road to Calander place to visit the lord Livingston, they proposed to intercept her and to hold her in captivity. In this state of her humiliation, Murray was to advance himself to the government of the kingdom, under the character of its regent. But Mary having received intelligence of their conspiracy, the earl of Athol and the lord Ruthven suddenly raised 300 men to protect her in her journey. Defeated in this scheme, the earl of Murray and his associates did not relinquish their cabals. They projected new achievements; and the nation was filled with alarms, suspicions, and terror.

Amidst the arts employed by the Scottish malcontents to inflame the animosities of the nation, they forgot not to insist on the dangers which threatened the Protestant religion from the advancement of Lord Darnley, and from the rupture that must ensue with England. Letters were everywhere dispersed among the faithful, reminding them of what the eternal God had wrought for them in the abolition of idolatry, and admonishing monishing them to oppose the restoration of the mass. A supplication was presented to the queen, complaining of idolaters, and insisting on their punishment. In the present juncture of affairs it was received with unusual respect; and Mary instructed the Popish ecclesiastics to abstain from giving offence of any kind to the Protestants. A priest, however, having celebrated the mass, was taken by the brethren, and exposed to the insults and fury of the populace at the market-place of Edinburgh, in the garments of his profession, and with the chalice in his hand; and the queen having given a check to this tumultuous proceeding, the Protestants, rising in their wrath, were the more confirmed in the belief that she meant to overthrow their religion. The most learned and able of the clergy held frequent consultations together; and while the nation was disturbed with dangerous ferments, the general assembly was called to deliberate on the affairs of the church. Their hope of success being proportioned to the difficulties in the situation of the queen, they were the least scrupulous in forming their resolutions; and the commissioners, whom they deputed to her, were ordered to demand a parliamentary ratification of their desires.

They insisted, that the mass, with every remnant of popery, should be universally suppressed throughout the kingdom; that in this reformation, the queen's person and household should be included; and that all Papists and idolaters should be punished on conviction according to the laws. They contended, that persons of every description and degree should resort to the churches on Sunday, to join in prayers, and to attend to exhortations and sermons; that an independent provision should be assigned for the support of the present clergy, and for their successors; that all vacant benefices should be conferred on persons found qualified for the ministry, on the trial and examination of the superintendents; that no bishopric, abbey, priory, deanery, or other living, having many churches, should be bestowed on a single person; but that, the plurality of the foundation being dissolved, each church should be provided with a minister; that glebes and manors should be allotted for the residence of the ministers, and for the reparation of churches; that no charge in schools or universities, and no care of education, either public or private, should be intrusted to any person who was not able and found in doctrine, and who was not approved by the superintendents; that all lands which had formerly been devoted to hospitality, should again be made subservient to it; that the lands and rents which formerly belonged to the monks of every order, with the annuities, alterations, obits, and the other emoluments which had appertained to priests, should be employed in the maintenance of the poor and the upholding of schools; that all horrible crimes, such as idolatry, blasphemy, breaking of the Sabbath, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, adultery, manifest whoredom, the keeping of brothels, murder, and oppression, should be punished with severity; that judges should be appointed in every district, with powers to pronounce sentences and to execute them; and, in fine, that for the ease of the labouring husbandmen, some order should be devised concerning a reasonable payment of the tythes.

To these requisitions, the queen made an answer full of moderation and humanity. She was ready to agree with the three estates in establishing the reformed religion over the subjects of Scotland; and she was steadily resolved not to hazard the life, the peace, or the fortune, of any person whatever on account of his opinions. As to herself and her household, she was persuaded that her people would not urge her to adopt tenets in contradiction to her own conscience, and thereby involve her in remorse and uneasiness. She had been educated and brought up in the Roman faith; she conceived it to be founded on the word of God; and she was desirous to continue in it. But, setting aside her belief and religious duty, she ventured to assure them, that she was convinced from political reasons, that it was her interest to maintain herself firm in the Catholic persuasion. By departing from it, she would forfeit the amity of the king of France, and that of other princes who were now strongly attached to her; and their disaffection could not be repaired or compensated by any new alliance. To her subjects she left the fullest liberty of conscience; and they could not surely refuse to their sovereign the same right and indulgence. With regard to the patronage of benefices, it was a prerogative and property which it would ill become her to violate. Her necessities, and the charge of her royal dignity, required her to retain in her hands the patrimony of the crown. After the purposes, however, of her station, and the exigencies of government, were satisfied, she could not object to a special assignment of revenue for the maintenance of the ministry; and, on the subject of the other articles which had been submitted to her, she was willing to be directed by the three estates of the kingdom, and to concur in the resolutions which should appear to them most reasonable and expedient.

The clergy, in a new assembly or convention, expressed great displeasure with this return to their addresses. They took the liberty of informing the queen, that the doctrines of the reformation which she refused to adopt were the religion which had been revealed by Jesus Christ, and taught by his apostles. Popery was of all persuasions the least alluring, and had the fewest recommendations. In antiquity, consent of people, authority of princes, and number of profelytes, it was plainly inferior to Judaism. It did not even rest on a foundation so solid as the doctrines of the Koran. They required her, therefore, in the name of the eternal God, to embrace the means of attaining the truth, which were offered to her in the preaching of the word, or by the appointment of public disputations between them and their adversaries. The terrors of the mass were placed before her in all their deformity. The performer of it, the action itself, and the opinions expressed in it, were all pronounced to be equally abominable. To hear the mass, or to gaze on it, was to commit the complicated crimes of sacrilege, blasphemy, and idolatry. Her delicacy in not renouncing her opinions from the apprehension of offending the king of France and her other allies, they ridiculed as impertinent in the highest degree. They told her, that the true religion of Christ was the only means by which any confederacy could endure; and that it was far more precious than the alliance of any potentate whatever, as it would bring to her the friendship of the King of kings. As to patronages, being a portion of her patrimony, they intended not to defraud her of her rights; but it was their judgment, that the superintendents ought to make a trial of the qualifications of candidates for the ministry; and Scotland, and as it was the duty of the patron to present a person to the benefice, it was the business of the church to manage his institution or collation. For without this restraint, there would be no security for the fitness of the incumbent; and if no trials or examinations of ministers took place, the church would be filled with misrule and ignorance. Nor was it right or just that her majesty should retain any part of the revenue of benefices; as it ought to be all employed for the uses of the clergy, for the purposes of education, and for the support of the poor. And as to her opinion, that a suitable assignment should be made for them, they could not but thank her with reverence: but they begged leave to solicit and importune her to condescend on the particulars of a proper scheme for this end, and to carry it into execution; and that, taking into due consideration the other articles of their demands, she would study to comply with them, and to do justice to the religious establishment of her people.

From the fears of the people about their religion, disturbances and insurrections were unavoidable; and before Mary had given her answer to the petitions or address of the clergy, the Protestants, in a formidable number, had marched to St Leonard's Craig; and, dividing themselves into companies, had chosen captains to command them. But the leaders of this tumult being apprehended and committed to close custody, it subsided by degrees; and the queen, on the intercession of the magistrates of Edinburgh, instead of bringing them to trial, gave them a free pardon. To quiet, at the same time, the apprehensions which had gone abroad, and to controvert the injurious reports which had been industriously spread of her inclination to overturn the reformed doctrines, she repeatedly issued proclamations, assuring her subjects that it was her fixed determination not to molest or disturb any person whatever on account of his religion or conscience; and that she had never presumed even to think of any innovation that might endanger the tranquillity or prejudice the happiness of the commonwealth.

While Mary was conducting her affairs with discernment and ability, the earl of Murray and his confederates continued their consultations and intrigues. After their disappointment in the conspiracy against the queen and the lord Darnley, they perceived that their only hope of succor or security depended on Elizabeth; and as Randolph had promised them her protection and assistance, they scrupled not to address a letter to her, explaining their views and situation. The pretences of their hostility to their sovereign which they affected to insist on, were her settled design of overturning the Protestant religion, and her rooted desire to break off all correspondence and amity with England. To prevent the accomplishment of these purposes, they said, was the object of their confederacy; and with her support and aid they did not doubt of being able effectually to advance the emolument and advantage of the two kingdoms. In the present state of their affairs, they applied not, however, for any supply of troops. An aid from her treasury only was now necessary to them; and they engaged to bestow her bounty in the manner most agreeable to her inclinations and her interests. The pleasure with which Elizabeth received their applications was equal to the aversion she had conceived against the queen of Scots. She not only granted them the relief they requested, but assured them by Randolph of her esteem and favour while they should continue to uphold the reformed religion and the connection of the two nations. Flattered by her assurances and generosity, they were strenuous to gain partizans, and to disunite the friends of their sovereign; and while they were secretly preparing for rebellion, and for trying their strength in the field, they disseminated among the people the tenets, That a Papist could not legally be their king; that the queen was not at liberty of herself to make the choice of a husband; and that, in a matter so weighty, she ought to be entirely directed by the determination of the three estates assembled in parliament.

Elizabeth, at the same time, carrying her dissimulation to the most criminal extremity, commanded Randolph to ask an audience of Mary; and to counsel her to nourish no suspicions of the earl of Murray and his friends; to open her eyes to their sincerity and honour; and to call to mind, that as their services had hitherto preserved her kingdom in repose, her jealousies of them might kindle it into combustion, make the blood of her nobles flow, and hazard her person and her crown. Full of afflatusment at a message so rude and improper, the queen of Scots desired him to inform his mistress, that she required not her instructions to distinguish between patriotism and treachery; that she was fully sensible when her will or purpose was resisted or obeyed; and that she possessed a power which was more than sufficient to repress and to punish the enormities and the crimes of her subjects. The English resident went now to the earl of Lennox, and the lord Darnley, and charged them to return to England. The former expressed an apprehension of the severity of his queen, and sought an assurance of her favour before he could venture to visit her dominions. The latter, exerting greater fortitude, told him, that he acknowledged no duty or obedience but to the queen of Scots. The resident treating this answer as disrespectful to Elizabeth, turned his back upon the lord Darnley, and retired without making any reverence, or bidding him adieu.

The behaviour of Elizabeth, so fierce and so perfidious, was well calculated to confirm all the intentions of Mary; and this, doubtsless, was one of the motives by which she was actuated. But while the queen of Scots was eager to accomplish her marriage, she was not attentive to the rising troubles of her country. The parliament which she had appointed could not now be held; it was therefore prorogued to a more distant period; and the violence of the times did not then permit it to assemble. By letters she invited to her, with all their retainers, the most powerful and most eminent of her subjects. Bothwell was again recalled from France; and by general proclamation she summoned to her standard the united force of her kingdom. The castle of Edinburgh was likewise amply provided with stores and ammunition, that, in the event of misfortunes, it might afford her a retreat and defence. The alacrity with which her subjects flocked to her from every quarter, informed her of her power and popularity; and while it struck Murray and his adherents with the danger to which they were exposed, it declared to them the opinion entertained by the nation of the iniquity and the selfishness of their proceedings.

On the 29th of July 1565, the ceremony of marriage riage between the queen and Lord Darnley was performed. The latter had been previously created duke of Albany. The day before the marriage, a proclamation was published, commanding him to be styled king of the realm, and that all letters after their marriage should be directed in the names of her husband and herself. The day after it, a new proclamation was issued confirming this act: he was pronounced king by the sound of trumpets, and associated with the queen in her government. This measure seems to have been the effect of the extreme love the queen had for her husband, which did not permit her to see that it was an infringement of the constitution of the kingdom; though perhaps she might also be urged to it by the pressing eagerness of Lord Darnley himself, and the partial councils of David Rizzio. The earl of Murray made loud complaints, remonstrated, that a king was imposed on the nation without the consent of the three estates, and called on the nation to arm against the beginnings of tyranny. The malecontents accordingly were immediately in arms; but their success was not answerable to their wishes. The bulk of the nation were satisfied with the good intentions of their sovereign, and the herself took the earliest opportunity of crushing the rebellion in its infancy.

The earl of Murray was declared a traitor; and similar steps were taken with other chiefs of the rebels. She then took the field against them at the head of a considerable army: and having driven them from one place to another, obliged them at last to take refuge in England. Queen Elizabeth received them with that duplicity for which her conduct was so remarkable. Though she herself had countenanced, and even excited them to revolt, she refused to give an audience to their deputies. Nay, she even caused them to issue a public declaration, that neither she, nor any person in her name, had ever excited them to their rebellious practices. Yet, while the public behaviour of Elizabeth was so acrimonious, she afforded them a secure retreat in her kingdom, treated the earl of Murray in private with respect and kindness, and commanded the earl of Bedford to supply him with money. Mary, however, resolved to proceed against the rebels with an exemplary rigour. The submissions of the duke of Chatelherault alone, who had been less criminal than the rest, were attended to. But even the favour which he obtained was precarious and uncertain; for he was compelled to use the pretence of sickness, and to pass some time into foreign countries. A parliament was called; and a summons of treason being executed against the earls of Argyle, Glencairn, and Rothes, with others of the principal rebels, they were commanded to appear before the three estates; in default of which their lives and estates were declared forfeited.

In the mean time Throgmorton the English ambassador solicited the pardon of the rebels; which Mary was at first inclined to grant. By the persuasion of the Mary accedes to the treaty of Bayonne.

The rebels were acquainted with the danger of their situation; and being now rendered desperate, they were ready to engage in the most atrocious designs. Unhappily, the situation of affairs in Scotland rendered the accomplishment of their purposes too easy. Violent dissensions had taken place between the queen and her husband. Her fondness had been excessive; but she soon perceived that the qualities of his mind were not proportioned to his personal accomplishments. He was proud, disdaining, and suspicious. No persuasions could correct his obstinacy; and he was at the same time giddy and obstinate, insolent and mean. The queen in consequence began to show an indifference towards him; which he took care to augment, by showing the like indifference towards her, and engaging in low intrigues and amours, indulging himself in dilapidation and riot, &c. The desire of dominion was his ruling passion however; and the queen, finding his total incapacity for exercising his power to any good purpose, had excluded him from it altogether. He was therefore at present a proper object for the machinations of the rebels, and readily entered into an agreement with them to depose the queen; vainly thinking by that means to secure the crown to himself. As the parliament was soon to assemble, in which the rebels had every reason to believe that they would be condemned for high treason, it was necessary that the kingdom should be thrown into disorder before that time, otherwise their fate was inevitable. Practising on the imbecility of Darnley, they persuaded him that a criminal correspondence subsisted between the queen and David Rizzio (r). For the destruction of David Rizzio, this reason the king resolved on his destruction; and the conspirators with the rebellious nobles.

That there subsisted a criminal intercourse between Mary and Rizzio is a scandal which is now given up by her enemies. It seems to rest on the authority of Buchanan and Knox; and their evidence in this case is clearly of no weight, not only from their being the strenuous partisans of her adversaries, but from the multitude of falsehoods which they anxiously detail to calumniate her. The love she felt for Darnley was extreme, and their acquaintance commenced a month or two after the appointment of Rizzio to be her secretary for French affairs. She became pregnant soon after her marriage; and it was during her pregnancy that Rizzio was assassinated. These are striking presumptions in her favour. And what seems to put her innocence out of all question, is the silence of the spies and residents of Elizabeth with regard to this pretended amour; for, if there had been anything real in it, they could not have made their court to their queen more effectually than by declaring to her its particulars; and their want of delicacy, so observable in other circumstances, would have induced them on this occasion to give the greatest foulness and deformity to their information.

It appears that Rizzio was ill-favoured, and of a disagreeable form. Buchanan says of him, "Non faciem cultus honestabat, sed facies cultum defruebat." Hist. Scot. lib. xvii. This expression is very strong; but it would have little weight if other authors had not concurred in giving a similar description of Rizzio. In a book intitled, "Le Livre de la Morte de la Reyne d'Ecosse," and printed in the year 1587, he is said to be "disgracié de corps." Cauffin, ap. Jebb, p. 37. This work, too, while it records the unkindness of nature to his person, has observed, that he conspirators hoped thus not only to get an indemnity to themselves, but to effect a total revolution at court, and the entire humiliation of Bothwel, Huntly, and Athol, who were the associates of Rizzio. In order to save themselves, however, they engaged the king to subscribe a bond, affirming that the project of assassinating Rizzio was altogether of his own devising; acknowledging that he had solicited them to take a part in it, from the apprehensions that resistance might be made to him; and agreeing, on the word and honour of a prince, to protect and secure them against every hazard and injury to which they might be exposed from the achievement of his enterprise. Having procured this security, and having assured the earl of Lennox the king's father to approve of their measures, they adjusted the method of the projected murder; and dispatched a messenger to the English frontier, advertising the earl of Murray and the rebels of their intentions, and inviting them to return to the court.

On the 9th of March, about seven o'clock in the evening, armed men, to the number of 500, surrounded the palace of Holyroodhouse. The earl of Morton and the lord Lindlay entered the court of the palace, with 160 persons. The queen was in her chamber at supper, having in her company her natural sister the countess of Argyle, her natural brother Robert commendator of Holyroodhouse, Beton of Creich master of the household, Arthur Erskine, and David Rizzio. The king entering the apartment, seated himself by her side. He was followed by the lord Ruthven, who being waited with sickness, and clad in armour, exhibited an appearance that was hideous and terrible. Four ruffians attended him. In a hollow voice he commanded Rizzio to leave a place which did not become him. The queen, in astonishment and consternation, applied to the king to unfold to her this mysterious enterprise. He affected ignorance. She ordered Ruthven from her presence, under the penalty of treason; declaring at the same time, that if Rizzio had committed any crime, she would produce him before the parliament, and punish him according to the laws. Ruthven drawing his dagger, advanced towards Rizzio. The queen rose to make an exertion of her authority. The unfortunate stranger laid hold of her garments, crying out for justice and mercy. Other conspirators, rushing into the chamber, overturned the table, and increased the dismay and confusion. Loaded pistols were presented to the bosom of the queen. The king held her in his arms. George Douglas, snatching the dagger of his sovereign, plunged it into the body of Rizzio. The wounded and screaming victim was dragged into the antechamber; and so eager were the assassins to complete their work, that he was torn and mangled with 60 wounds.

While the queen was pressing the king to satisfy her inquiries into the meaning of a deed so execrable, Ruthven returned into their presence. She gave a full vent to indignation and reproach. Ruthven, with an intolerable coldness and deliberation, informed her, that Rizzio had been put to death by the counsel of her husband, whom he had dishonoured; and that by the persuasion of this minion she had refused the crown-matrimonial to the king, had engaged to re-establish the ancient religion, had resolved to punish the earl of Murray and his friends, and had entrusted her confidence to Bothwel and Huntly, who were traitors. The king, taking the part of Ruthven, remonstrated against her proceedings, and complained that from the time of her familiarity with Rizzio, she had neither regarded, nor entertained, nor trusted him. His suspicions and ingratitude shocked and tortured her. His connection with the conspirators gave her an ominous anxiety. Apprehensions of outrages still more atrocious invaded her. In these agitated and miserable moments she did not lose herself in the helplessness of sorrow. The loftiness of her spirit communicated relief to her; and wiping away her tears, she exclaimed, that it was not now a season for lamentation, but for revenge.

The earls of Huntly, Bothwel, and Athol, the lords Fleming and Levingston, and Sir James Balfour, who were obnoxious to the conspirators, and at this time in the palace, found all resistance vain. Some of them eluding the vigilance of Morton, made their escape; and others were allowed to retire. The provost and magistrates of Edinburgh getting intelligence of the tumult, ordered the alarm bell to be rung. The citizens, apprehensive and anxious, approached in crowds to inquire into the welfare of their sovereign; but she was not permitted to address herself to them. The conspirators told her, that if she presumed to make any harangue, they would "cut her in pieces, and cast her over the walls." The king called to the people that she was well, and commanded them to disperse. The queen was shut up in her chamber, uncertain of her fate, and without the consolation or attendance of her women.

In the morning a proclamation was issued by the king, without the knowledge of his queen, prohibiting the meeting of parliament, and ordering the members to retire from the city. The rebellious lords now returned from England, and arrived at Edinburgh within 24 hours after the assassination of Rizzio. The queen, knowing of how much consequence it was for her to gain the earl of Murray, invited him to wait on her. Notwithstanding the extreme provocation which she had met with, Mary so far commanded her passions, that she gave him a favourable reception. After informing him of the rudeness and severity of the treatment she had received, the queen observed, that if he had remained in friendship with her at home, he would have protected her against such excesses of hardship.

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he was in his old age when he made a figure in the court of Mary. "Elle traitait ordinairement avec David Riccio son secretaire, homme age et prudent, qui possédait son oreille." Ibid. And other authors give their testimonies to the same purpose.

It is probable that the panegyrists of Mary exaggerate somewhat the imperfections as well as the good qualities of Rizzio. But there seems in general to be no reason to doubt his fidelity and talents, any more than his ugliness and senility. He had therefore a better title to be her secretary than her lover. It is an absurdity to think that a queen so young and beautiful would yield herself to deformity and old age. Scotland. hardship and insult. Murray, with a hypocritical compassion, shed abundance of tears; while the queen seemed to entertain no doubt of his sincerity, but gave him room to hope for a full pardon of all his offences. In the mean time, however, the conspirators held frequent consultations together, and in these it was debated, whether they should hold the queen in perpetual captivity, or put her to death; or whether they should content themselves with committing her to close custody in Stirling castle till they should obtain a parliamentary sanction to their proceedings, establish the Protestant religion by the total overthrow of the mass, and invest the king with the crown-matrimonial and the government of the kingdom.

Mary now began to perceive the full extent of her wretchedness; and therefore, as her last resource, applied to the king, whom she treated with all those blandishments usually employed by the fair sex when they want to gain the ascendancy over the other. The king, who, with all his faults, had a natural facility of temper, was easily gained over. The conspirators were alarmed at his coldness, and endeavoured to fill his mind with fears concerning the duplicity of his wife; but, finding they could not gain their point, they at last began to treat for an accommodation. The king brought them a message, importing, that Mary was disposed to bury in oblivion all memory of their transgressions; and he offered to conduct them into her presence. The earls of Murray and Morton, with the lord Ruthven, attended him into her presence; and, falling on their knees before the queen, made their apologies and submissions. She commanded them to rise; and having desired them to recollect her abhorrence of cruelty and rapacity, she assured them with a gracious air, that instead of designing to forfeit their lives, and possess herself of their estates, she was inclined to receive them into favour, and to grant a full pardon, not only to the nobles who had come from England, but to those who had assassinated David Rizzio. They were accordingly ordered to prepare the bonds for their security and forgiveness, which the queen promised to take the earliest opportunity of subscribing; but in the mean time the king observed, that the conspirators ought to remove the guards which they had placed around the queen, that all suspicion of restraint might be removed. This measure could not with any propriety be opposed, and the guards were therefore dismissed; on which the queen, that very night, left her palace at midnight, and took the road to Dunbar, accompanied by the king and a few attendants.

The news of the queen's escape threw the conspirators into the utmost consternation; as she immediately issued proclamations for her subjects to attend her in arms, and was powerfully supported. They sent therefore the lord Semple, requesting, with the utmost humility, her subscription to their deeds of pardon and security; but to this message she returned an unfavourable answer, and advanced towards Edinburgh with an army of 8000 men. The conspirators now fled with the utmost precipitation. Even John Knox retired to Kyle till the storm should blow over. On the queen's arrival at Edinburgh, a privy council was instantly called, in which the conspirators were charged to appear as guilty of murder and treason; their places of strength were ordered to be surrendered to the officers of the crown; and their estates and possessions were made liable to confiscation and forfeiture.

But while the queen was thus eager to punish the conspirators, she was sensible that so many of the nobility, by uniting in a common cause, might raise a powerful party in opposition to her; for which reason she endeavoured to detach the earl of Murray from the rest, by making him offers of pardon. Sir James Melville accordingly pledged himself to produce his pardon and that of his adherents, if he would separate from Morton and the conspirators. He accordingly became cold and distant to them, and exclaimed against the murder as a most execrable action; but notwithstanding his affected anger, when the conspirators fled to England, he furnished them with letters of recommendation to the earl of Bedford. After the flight of the conspirators, the king thought it necessary for him to deny having any share in the action. He therefore embraced an opportunity of declaring to the privy council his total ignorance of the conspiracy against Rizzio; and not satisfied with this, he, by public proclamations at the market-place of the capital, and over the whole kingdom, protested to the people at large that he had never bestowed on it, in any degree, the sanction of his command, consent, affiance, or approbation.

In the mean time, the queen granted a full and ample pardon to the earls of Murray, Argyle, Glencairn, and some of Rothes, and their adherents; but towards the conspirators she remained inexorable. This lenity, to Murray especially, proved a source of the greatest inquietude to the queen; for this nobleman, blind to every motive of action distinct from his own ambition, began to contrive new plots, which, though disappointed for a time, soon operated to the destruction of the queen, and almost to the ruin of the nation.

On the 19th of June 1566, the queen was delivered birth of a prince, who received the name of James VI. This happy event, however, did not extinguish the quarrel betwixt her and the king. His desire to intrude himself into her authority, and to fix a stain on her honour, his share in the murder of Rizzio, and his extreme meanses in publicly denying it, could not fail to impress her with the strongest sentiments of detestation and contempt. Unable, however, totally to divest herself of regard for him, her behaviour, though cold and distant, was yet decent and respectful. Caffelnaul, at this time ambassador extraordinary from France, conceived reconciliation that a reconciliation might be effected, and employed himself for some time in this friendly office. Nor were even the king and queen's intentions altogether ineffectual. The king and queen spent two nights together; and proceeded, in company with each other, to Meggatland in Tweeddale, in order to enjoy the diversion of the chase, attended by the earls of Huntly, Bothwell, Murray, and other nobles. Thence they passed to Edinburgh, and then took the road to Stirling. Had the king been endowed with which is any prudence, he would have made the best use of this broken opportunity to regain the affections of his queen; but, instead of this, finding that he was not immediately intrusted with power, his peevishness suggested to him the design of going abroad. To Monsieur du Croc, the French resident, who had attended Mary at Stirling, he ventured to communicate his chimerical project. This statesman represented to him its wildness and inefficacy; and could scarcely believe that he was serious. To his father the earl of Lenox, who paid him a visit at this place immediately on Mary's departure from it, he likewise communicated his intention; and all the intreates, arguments, and remonstrances of this nobleman to make him relinquish his design, were without success. He provided a vessel, and kept it in readiness to carry him from Scotland. The earl of Lenox, after returning to Glasgow, where he usually resided, gave way to his paternal anxieties, and solicited the queen by letter to interfere with her authority and persuasions; and on the evening of the day in which she received this dispatch, the king alighted at Holyroodhouse. But the names of the nobles who were with the queen being announced to him, he objected to three of them, and insisted that they should be ordered to depart, before he would enter within the gates of the palace. The queen, alarmed with a demeanour so rude and so unwarrantable, condescended to leave her company and her palace to meet him; and it was with great difficulty that she was able to entice him into her own apartment. There he remained with her during the night. She communicated to him his father's letter, and employed every art and blandishment to engage him to abandon his perverse design. But he gave her no satisfaction. He was unmoved by her kindness; and his silence, dejection, and peevishness, augmented her distress. In the morning, she called her privy council to assemble in the palace, and invited to her Monseigneur du Croc the French envoy. By the bishop of Ross she explained the intention of the king, and made known the dispatch of the earl of Lenox. The privy council were urgent to know the reasons of a voyage that appeared to them so inexplicable; and earnestly pressed the king to unbosom himself. If his resolution proceeded from discontent, and if there were persons in the kingdom who had given him causes of offence, they assured him, that they were ready, upon his information, to take the necessary steps to make him easy and happy. No quality or rank should exempt those from inquiry and punishment who had committed misdemeanors against him. This, they said, conflicted with his honour, with the honour of the queen, and with their own. If, however, he had received no sufficient provocation to justify his behaviour, and if he had no title to complain of actual injuries, they admonished him to remember, that his flight from a queen so beautiful, and from a kingdom so ancient and noble, would expose him to the greatest ridicule and disgrace. They pointed out the happiness of his fortune, and counselled him not to part lightly with all its flattering advantages. The queen herself, taking his hand into her's, and pressing it with affection, besought him to say by what act or deed she had unfortunately induced him to conceive so fatal a purpose. Her memory did not reproach her with any crime or indiscretion which affected his honour or her integrity: yet if, without any design on her part, she had incurred his displeasure, she was disposed to atone for it; and she begged him to speak with entire freedom, and not in any degree to spare her. Monseigneur du Croc then addressed him, and employed his interest and persuasions to make him reveal his inquietudes. But all this respectful attention and ceremonious duty were ineffectual. Obstinate froward, he refused to confess that he intended any voyage, and made no mention of any reasons of discontent.

He yet acknowledged with readiness, that he could not with justice accuse the queen of any injury or offence. Oppressed with uneasiness and perturbation, he prepared to retire; and, turning to her, said, "Adieu, Madam! you shall not see me for a long time." He then bowed to the French envoy, and to the lords of the privy council.

He hastened back to Stirling, leaving the queen and her council in surprise and astonishment. They resolved to watch his motions with anxiety, and could not conjecture what step he would take. Mary, to prevent the effect of rumours to her disadvantage, dispatched a courier to advertise the king of France and the queen-mother of his conduct. It was not possible that a prince so meanly endowed with ability could make any impression on her allies. Nor did it appear to be in his power to excite any domestic insurrection or disturbance. He was universally odious; and, at this time, the queen was in the highest estimation with the great body of her subjects. After passing some days at Stirling, he addressed a letter to the queen, in which, after hinting at his design of going abroad, he insinuated his reasons of complaint. He was not trusted by her with authority, and she was no longer studious to advance him to honour. He was without attendants; and the nobility had deserted him. Her answer was sensible and temperate. She called to his remembrance the distinctions she had conferred on him, the uses to which he had put the credit and reputation accruing from them, and the heinous offences he had encouraged in her subjects. Though the plotters against Rizzio had represented him as the leader of their enterprise, she had yet abstained from any accusation of him, and had even behaved as if she believed not his participation in the guilt of that project. As to the defects of his retinue, she had uniformly offered him the attendance of her own servants. As to the nobility, they were the supports of the throne, and independent of it. Their countenance was not to be commanded, but won. He had discovered too much statelessness towards them; and they were the proper judges of the deportment that became them. If he wished for consequence, it was his duty to pay them court and attention; and whenever he should procure and conciliate their regard and commendation, she would be happy to give him all the importance that belonged to him.

In the mean time, the earls of Murray and Bothwell were industriously striving to widen the breach between the king and queen, and at the same time to foment the division between the king and his nobles. The earl of Morton excited disturbances on the borders; and as no settled peace had taken place there since Mary's marriage, there was the greatest reason to believe that he would succeed in his attempts. Proclamations were therefore issued by the queen to call her subjects to arms; and she proceeded to Jedburgh to hold justice-courts, and to punish traitors and disorderly persons. In the course of this journey she was taken dangerously ill; inasmuch that, believing her death sick, but to be at hand, she called for the bishop of Ross, telling him to bear witness that she had persevered in that religion in which she had been nourished and brought up; taking the promise of her nobles, that after her death they would open her last will and testament, and pay to it that respect which consisted with the laws, recommending mending to them the rights of her infant son, and the charge of educating him in such a manner as might enable him to rule the kingdom of his ancestors with honour; and intreating them to abstain from all cruelty and persecution of her Catholic subjects. Notwithstanding her apprehensions, however, and the extreme violence of her distemper, the queen at last recovered perfect health. As soon as she was able to travel, she visited Kelso, Wark castle, Hume, Langton, and Wedderburn. The licentious borderers, on the first news of her recovery, laid down their arms. Being desirous to take a view of Berwick, the queen advanced to it with an attendance of 1000 horse. Sir John Forster, the deputy warden of the English marches, came forth with a numerous retinue, and conducted her to the most proper station for surveying it, and paid her all the honours in his power, by a full discharge of the artillery, and other demonstrations of joy. Continuing her journey, she passed to Eyemouth, Dunbar, and Tantallon; proceeding thence to Craigmillar castle, where she proposed to remain till the time of the baptism of the prince, which was soon to be celebrated at Stirling.

During the severe sickness of the queen, her husband kept himself at a distance; but when she was so far recovered as to be out of danger, he made his appearance; and being received with some coldness and formality, he retired suddenly to Stirling. This cruel neglect was a most sensible mortification to her; and while she suffered from his ingratitude and haughtiness, she was not without suspicion that he was attempting to disturb the tranquillity of her government. She was seized with a settled melancholy; and, in her anguish, often wished for death to put a period to her existence. Her nobles, who were caballing against her, remarked her condition, and took advantage of it. Bothwell, who had already recommended himself by his services, redoubled his efforts to heighten the favour which these services had induced her to conceive for him. At this time, it is probable, he sought to gain the affection of the queen, with a view to marry her himself, providing a divorce from her husband could be obtained; and this was now become the subject of consultation by Murray and his associates. After much deliberation, the queen herself was made acquainted with this project; and it was told her, that provided she would pardon the earl of Morton and his associates, the means should be found of effecting the divorce. This was urged as a matter of state by the earls of Murray, Lethington, Argyle, and Huntly; and the queen was invited to consider it as an affair which might be managed without any interference on her part. The queen replied, that she would listen to them, on condition that the divorce could be obtained according to law, and that it should not be prejudicial to her son: but if they meant to effect their purpose by a disregard to these points, they must think no more of it; for rather than consent to their views, she would endure all the torments, and abide by all the perils, to which her situation exposed her.

Lethington on this, in the name of the rest, engaged to rid her of her husband, without prejudice to her son; words which could not be understood otherwise than as pointing at murder. Lord Murray (added he), who is here present, ferulous as he is, will connive; and behold our proceedings without opening his lips. The queen immediately made answer, "I desire that you will do nothing from which any stain may be fixed upon my honour or conscience; and I therefore require the matter to rest as it is, till God of his goodness send relief: What you think to be of service to me may turn out to my displeasure and harm."

It appears, however, that from this moment a plot was formed by Murray, Bothwell, and Lethington, against the life of Darnley, and by some of them probably against the queen herself; and that Morton, who with the other conspirators against Rizzio had received a pardon, was closely associated with them in their nefarious designs. That profligate peer was, in his way to Scotland, met at Whittingham by Bothwell and the secretary. They proposed to him the murder of the king, and required his assistance, alleging that the queen herself consented to the deed; to which Morton by his own account replied, that he was disposed to concur, provided he were sure of acting under any authority from her; but Bothwell and Lethington having returned to Edinburgh, on purpose to obtain such an authority, sent him back a message, That the queen would not permit any conversation on that matter.

In the mean time, preparations were made for the baptism of the young prince; to assist at which the queen left Craigmillar and went to Stirling. The ceremony was performed on the 17th of December 1566. After the baptismal rites were performed, the name and titles of the prince were three times proclaimed by the heralds to the sound of trumpets. He was called and designed, Charles James, James Charles, prince and steward of Scotland, duke of Rothesay, earl of Carrick, lord of the isles, and baron of Renfrew. Amidst the scenes of joy displayed on this occasion, the king showed his folly more than he had ever done. As Elizabeth did not mean to acknowledge Albert before him in his sovereign capacity, it was confessed neither behaviour with the dignity of the queen, nor his own, that he the king, should be present at the baptism. He did not indeed pretend himself either at the ceremony or the entertainments and masquerades with which it was accompanied. At this juncture, however, though he had often kept at a greater distance before, he took up his residence at Stirling, as if he meant to offend the queen, and to expose their quarrels to the world. Du Croc, who was inclined to be favourable to him, was so struck with the impropriety of his behaviour, that he affected to have instructions from France to avoid all intercourse with him; and when the king proposed to pay him a visit, he took the liberty of informing him, that there were two passages in his chamber; and that if his majesty should enter by the one, he should be constrained to go out by the other.

While he resided at Stirling, the king confined himself chiefly to his chamber. His strange behaviour to the queen did not give the public any favourable idea of him; and as the earl of Murray and his faction took care to augment the general odium, no court was paid to him by foreign ambassadors. His situation, therefore, was exceedingly uncomfortable; but though he must have been conscious of his folly and imprudence, he did not alter his conduct. In a sudden humour he left Stirling, and proceeded to Glasgow. Here he fell sick. Scotland. sick, with such symptoms as seemed to indicate poison.

He was tormented with violent pains, and his body was covered over with pustules of a bluish colour; so that his death was daily expected. Mary did not repay his coldness to her by negligence. She set out immediately for Glasgow, and waited on him with all the assiduity of an affectionate wife, until he recovered; after which she returned with him to Edinburgh; and as the low situation of the palace of Holyroodhouse was thought to render it unhealthy, the king was lodged in a house which had been appointed for the superior of the church called St Mary's in the Fields. This house stood on a high ground, and in a salubrious air; and here she tarried with him some days.—Here the conspirators thought proper to finish their plot in the most execrable manner. On the 10th of February 1567, about two o'clock in the morning, the house where the king resided was blown up by gunpowder. The explosion alarming the inhabitants, excited a general curiosity, and brought multitudes to the place whence it proceeded. The king was found dead and naked in an adjoining field, with a servant who used to sleep in the same apartment with him. On neither was there any mark of fire or other external injury.

The queen was in the palace of Holyroodhouse, taking the diversion of a masked ball, which was given to honour the marriage of a favourite domestic, when the news of the king's death was brought to her. She showed the utmost grief, and appeared exasperated to the last degree against the perpetrators of a deed at once so shocking and barbarous. The most express and peremptory orders were given to inquire after the perpetrators by every possible method. A proclamation was issued by the privy-council, afflicting the people, that the queen and nobility would leave nothing undone to discover the murderers of the king. It offered the sum of £2000, and an annuity for life, to any person who should give information of the devisers, counsellors, and perpetrators of the murder; and it held out this reward, and the promise of a full pardon, to the conspirator who should make a free confession of his own guilt, and that of the confederates. On the fourth day after this proclamation was published, a placard was affixed to the gate of the city prison, affirming that the earl of Bothwell, James Balfour, David Chalmers, and black John Spence, were the murderers. No name, however, was subscribed to this intelligence, nor was any demand made for the proffered reward; so that it was difficult to know whether this advertisement had been dictated by a spirit of calumny or the love of justice.

In the mean time, the earl of Murray conducted himself with his usual circumspection and artifice. On supposition of a pretence that his wife was dangerously sick at his castle in Fife, he, the day before the murder, obtained of the queen's permission to pay her a visit. By this means he proposed to prevent all suspicion whatever of his guilt. He was so full, however, of the intended project, that while he was proceeding on his journey, he observed to the person who accompanied him, "This night, before morning, the lord Darnley shall lose his life." When the blow was struck, he returned to Edinburgh to carry on his practices. Among foreign nations, the domestic disputes of the queen and her husband being fully known, it was with the greater ease that reports could be propagated to her disadvantage. Letters were dispatched to France, expressing, in fervent terms, her participation in the murder. In the queen's England, the ministers and courtiers of Elizabeth could not flatter that princess more agreeably, than by industriously detracting from the honour and the virtue of the Scottish queen. Within her own dominions a similar spirit of outrage exerted itself, and not without success. As her reconciliation with her husband could not be unknown to her own subjects, it was regarded as disimulation and treachery. The Protestant clergy, who were her most determined enemies, possessed a leading direction among the populace; and they were the friends and the partizans of the earl of Murray. Open declamations from the pulpit were made against Bothwell, and strong insinuations and biting sarcasms were thrown out against the queen. Papers were dispersed, making her a party with Bothwell in the murder. Every art was employed to provoke the frenzy of the people. Voices, interrupting the silence of the night, proclaimed the infamy of Bothwell; and portraits of the regicides were circulated over the kingdom (s).

The queen's determination, however, to scrutinize the

(s) In the article Mary Queen of Scotland, we have stated at considerable length the arguments for and against the participation in the murder of Darnley, of which Mary has been accused. As we have concluded that article with the arguments brought by one of her ablest accusers, justice and impartiality require that we should embrace this only opportunity of presenting our readers with the arguments in favour of the queen, brought forward by her most recent defender Mr Chalmers. "Mary herself (says Mr Chalmers, Caledonia, vol. i. p. 850.) seems to have been the only person of any consequence who was unacquainted with a design which was attended with such mighty consequence; yet it has been a question of debate, from that age to the present, whether Mary had been an accomplice in the murder of Darnley her husband. The prejudice of the late Lord Orford led him to lay, that a plea of such length serves rather to confirm than weaken the evidence for the fact. But, it had been an observation full as just, as well as logical, to have said that, since the criminations of 240 years have not proved her guilty, she ought to be fairly deemed innocent. Party has, however, entered into this question, with its usual unfairness; and it is supposed, that the ought to be presumed to be guilty, rather than innocent; it being more likely that a wife would murder her husband, and a queen act as an affluence, than that nobles who were accustomed to crimes, should perform this atrocious action, and cast the offence from themselves on an innocent person. The same inconsistency argues that, as she was educated in a corrupt court, the mulf have been corrupt; yet, her sonnet and her sorrow for the loss of Francis, her first husband, attested that her heart was yet uncontaminated with corruption; and the steadfastness with which she adhered to her faith, amidst 20 years persecution, evinces that religion had its Scotland, the matter was unabated; and to the earl of Lenox, the king's father, she paid an attention which he could have expected from her only on an emergency of this kind. Having pressed her by letter to the most diligent inquiry after the regicides, she returned an answer so completely to his wishes, that he was fully convinced of the sincerity and rigour with which she intended to proceed against them; and he urged her to assemble the three estates, that their advice might direct the order and manner of their trial. She wrote to him, that an assembly of the estates was already proclaimed; and that it was her earnest and determined will and purpose, that no step should be neglected that could promote the advancement and execution of justice. Yielding to his anxieties, he addressed her again, intreating that the trial might not be delayed; observing, that it was not a matter of parliamentary inquiry; advising that it would be more proper to proceed with the greatest expedition; and urging her to commit to prison all the persons who had been named and described in the papers and placards which had been put in the public places of the city. The queen informed him, that although she had thought it expedient to call a meeting of parliament at this juncture, it was not her intention that the proceedings against the regicides should be delayed till it was actually assembled. As to the placards and papers to which he alluded, they were so numerous and contradictory, that she could not well determine on which to act; but if he would condescend to mention the names which, in his opinion, were most suspicious, she would instantly command that those steps should be taken which the laws directed and authorized. He named the earl of Bothwell, James Balfour, David Chalmers, black John Spence, Francis Sebastian, John de Burdeaux, and Joseph the brother of David Rizzio; and assured her majesty, that his suspicions of these persons were weighty and strong. In reply to his information, Mary gave him her solemn promise, that the persons he had named should undergo their trial in conformity to the laws, and that they should be punished according to the measure of their guilt: and she invited him to leave his retirement immediately, and meet her at court, that he might witness the proceedings against them, and the zeal with which she was animated to perform the part that became her.

While the queen carried on this correspondence with the earl of Lenox, she resided partly at the palace of the lord Seton, at the distance of a few miles from the capital, and partly at Holyroodhouse. By the time that she sent her invitation to him, she was residing in the capital. She delayed not to confer with her counsellors, and to lay before them the letters of the earl of Lenox. Bothwell was earnest in his protestations of innocence; and he even expressed his wish for a trial, that he might establish his integrity. No facts indicated his guilt; there had appeared no accuser but the earl of Lenox; and no witnesses had been found who could establish his criminality. Her privy-council seemed to her to be firmly persuaded that he was suffering under the malice of defamation. Murray, Morton, and Lethington, whatever their private machinations might be, were publicly his most strenuous defenders; and they explained the behaviour of the earl of Lenox to be the effect of hatred and jealousy against a nobleman who had outrun him so far in the career of ambition. But though all the arts of Murray and Bothwell, Morton and Lethington, were exerted to the utmost to mislead the queen, they were not able to withhold her from adopting the conduct which was the most proper and the most honourable to her. It was her own ardent desire that the regicides should be punished; she had given her solemn promise to the earl of Lenox, that the persons whom he suspected should

its proper influence upon her soul. Hitherto, in this argument, no positive evidence has been adduced to prove her guilt; and therefore she ought to be acquitted as innocent. But at length certain letters, sonnets, and contracts between Mary and Bothwell, have been introduced as proofs of a guilty intercourse, rather than a direct participation in the crime; and those letters, sonnets, and contracts, were first produced by the earl of Morton, the queen's chancellor for life, who pretended to have found them in the custody of Dalgliesh, a servant of Bothwell. Yet this wretched magistrate had committed murder and treason at the affixation of Rizzio; he knew of the design to assassinate Darnley, yet he concealed it, and was thereby guilty of misprision; he knew of the crime, and was of course a participant, for which he was brought to the scaffold, where he acknowledged his crimes; now, this convicted criminal would not be admitted as a witness in any court of justice within Great Britain; and the production of such documents by such a wretch at such a time, casts strong suspicion on such papers, which were contaminated by his guilty touch. When those culpable epistles were first introduced into the privy-council, they appeared, as the register asserts, to have been written and subscribed by her own hand, and sent to James Earl of Bothwell. When those previous letters were first brought into the Scottish parliament, they appear only to have been hastily written with her own hand, as the record evinces, and not subscribed by her. When those dubious letters were first produced before the commissioners at York, for judging of the proofs of her guilt, they seem to have been superscribed to Bothwell; yet, they afterwards appeared before Elizabeth's commissioners at Westminster, without any superscription to any man; and those letters finally appear to have been neither subscribed by Mary, nor superscribed to Bothwell. When those letters were first produced before the privy-council of Scotland, they were written in the Scottish language; so they appeared to the commissioners at York; but when they were produced to the commissioners at Westminster, they were written in French. The whole thus appears to have been a juggle of state, to cozen the people into obedience. The sonnets and contracts have been equally convicted, by their own contents, of forgery. I have read the whole controversy on the genuineness or forgery of those documents; I have ransacked the Paper office for information on this interesting subject, and there does not appear to me to be a tittle of evidence, exclusive of those despicable forgeries, to prove that Mary Stuart had any knowledge of the murder of her husband." Scotland should be prosecuted; and amidst all the appearances in favour of Bothwel, and all the influence employed to serve him, it is to be regarded as a striking proof of her honour, vigour, and ability, that she could accomplish this measure. An order of the privy-council was accordingly made, which directed, that the earl of Bothwel, and all the persons named by Lenox, should be brought to trial for the murder of the king, and that the laws of the land should be carried into execution.

The 12th of April was appointed for the trial. A general invitation was given to all persons to prefer their accusations. The earl of Lenox was formally cited to do himself justice, by appearing in the high court of judicature, and by coming forward to make known the guilt of the culprits.

In the mean time, it was proper to repress that spirit of outrage which had manifested itself against the queen. No discoveries, however, were made, except against James Murray, brother to Sir William Murray of Tulibardin, who at different times had published placards injurious to her. He was charged to appear before the privy-council: but refusing to obey its citation, it was made a capital offence for any commander of a vessel to convey him out of the kingdom; and the resolution was taken to punish him with an exemplary severity. Effecting his escape, however, he avoided the punishment due to his repeated and detestable acts of calumny and treason.

The day for the trial of Bothwel approached. The conspirators, notwithstanding their power, were not without apprehensions. Their preparations, however, for their safety had been anxious; and among other practices, they neglected not to attempt to infuse a panic into the earl of Lenox. They were favoured by his consciousness of his unpopularity, and his want of strength, by his timidity, and his spirit of jealousy. Suspicions of the queen's guilt were infatuated; and the dangers to which he might be exposed by insisting on the trial were placed before him in the strongest colours. He was sensible of her aversion to him; and his weakness and the sovereign authority were contrasted. His friends concurred with his enemies to intimidate him, from the spirit of flattery, or from a real belief that his situation was critical. By the time he reached Stirling on his way to Edinburgh, his fears predominated. He made a full stop. He was no longer in haste to proceed against the regicides. He addressed a letter to the queen, in which he said he had fallen into such sickness, that he could not travel; and he affirmed, that he had not time to prepare for the trial and to assemble his friends. He complained, too, that Bothwel and his accomplices had not been committed to custody; he insisted, that this step should be taken; and he requested, that a more distant day might be appointed for the trial. After the lengths to which matters had been carried, this conduct was most improper; and it is only to be accounted for from terror or caprice. His indisposition was affected; he had been invited by Mary to wait on her at Edinburgh at an early period, to concert his measures; and the delay he asked was contradictory to his former intrigues. After the invitation sent to him, he might have relied with safety on the protection of the queen, without any gathering of his friends; from the time of her private intimation to him, and of the legal citations of her officers, there had passed a period more than sufficient for the purpose of calling them together; and Scotland indeed to suppose that there was any necessity for their assistance, was an insult to government, and a matter of high indecency. There was more justice in the complaint, that the earl of Bothwel and his accomplices had not been taken into custody; and yet even in this peculiarity he was to blame in a great degree. For he had not observed the precaution of that previous display of evidence, known in the Scottish law under the term of a precognition, which is common in all grosser offences, and which the weighty circumstances of the present case rendered so necessary as a foundation for the confinement and conviction of the criminals.

An application for the delay of a trial so important, but his petition on the night immediately preceding the day stated for it, and reciting inconclusive reasons, could not with propriety be attended to. The privy-council refused the demand of the earl of Lenox. The court of judicature was assembled. The earl of Argyle acted in his character of lord high judicature; and was aided by four assurers, Robert Pitcairn, commendator of Dumbarton, and the lord Lindsay, with Mr James Macgill and Mr Henry Balnaves, two lords of session. The indictment was read, and the earls of Bothwel and Lenox were called on; the one as the defender, the other as the accuser. Bothwel, who had come to court with an attendance of his vassals, and a band of mercenary soldiers, did not fail to present himself; but Lenox appeared only by his servant Robert Cunningham; who, after apologizing for his absence, from the shortness of the time, and the want of the presence of his friends, desired that a new day might be appointed for the trial; and protested, that if the jury should now enter on the business, they should incur the guilt of a wilful error, and their verdict be of no force or authority.

This remonstrance and protestation did not appear to the court of sufficient importance to interrupt the trial. They paid a greater respect to the letters of the earl of Lenox to the queen insisting on an immediate prosecution, and to the consequent order of the privy-council. The jury, who consisted of men of rank and condition, after considering and reasoning on the indictment for a considerable time, were unanimous in acquitting Bothwel of all share and knowledge of the king's murder. Bothwel's machinations however of Morton, which we have acquitted, mentioned in the life of Mary, were so apparent, that the earl of Caithness, the chancellor of the assizes, made a declaration in their name and his own, that no wilful error ought to be imputed to them for their verdict; no proof, vouchers, or evidence, to confirm or support the criminal charge having been submitted to them. At the same time, he offered a protestation for himself, that there was a mistake in the indictment, the 9th day of February instead of the 10th being expressed in it as the date of the murder. It is not to be doubted, that this flaw in the indictment was a matter of design, and with a view to the advantage of Bothwel, if the earl of Lenox had made his appearance against him. And it has been remarked as most indecent and suspicious, that soldiers in arms should have accompanied him to the court of justice; that during the trial, the earl of Morton stood by his side to give him countenance and to assist him; and that the four assurers to the chief judicature were warm and strenuous friends to the earl of Murray.

Immediately Immediately after his trial, Bothwel placed a writing in a conspicuous place, subscribed by him, challenging to single combat, any person of equal rank with himself, who should dare to affirm that he was guilty of the king's murder. To this challenge an answer was published, in which the defiance was accepted, on the condition that security should be given for a fair and equal conflict; but no name being subscribed to this paper, it was not understood to correspond with the law of arms; and of consequence no step was taken for the fighting of the duel. Two days after parliament met, and there the party of Bothwel appeared equally formidable. The verdict in his favour was allowed to be true, and just. He was continued in his high offices; and obtained a parliamentary ratification of the place of keeper of Dunbar castle, with the estates connected with it; and other favours were conferred on Murray, with the rest of the nobles suspected as accomplices in the murder.

A very short time after the final acquittal of Bothwel, he began to give a greater scope to his ambition, and conceived hopes of gaining the queen in marriage. It has been already remarked, that he had industriously endeavoured to gain her affection during the lifetime of her husband; but though he might have succeeded in this, the recent death of the king in such a shocking manner, and the strong suspicions which must unavoidably still rest on him, notwithstanding the trial he had undergone, necessarily prevented him from making his addresses to her openly. He therefore endeavoured to gain the nobility over to his side; which having done one by one, by means of great promises, he invited them to an entertainment, where they agreed to ratify a deed pointing him out to the queen as a person worthy of her hand, and expressing their resolute determination to support him in his pretensions. This extraordinary bond was accordingly executed; and Murray's name was the first in the list of subscribers, in order to decoy others to sign after him; but that he might appear innocent of what he knew was to follow, he had, before any use was made of the bond, asked and obtained the queen's permission to go to France. In his way thither he visited the court of Elizabeth, where he did not fail to confirm all the reports which had arisen to the disadvantage of Mary; and he now circulated the intelligence that she was soon to be married to Bothwel. Her partizans in England were exceedingly alarmed; and even Queen Elizabeth herself addressed a letter to her, in which she cautioned her not to afford such a mischievous handle to the malice of her enemies.

Mary, on the dissolution of parliament, had gone to Stirling to visit the young prince. Bothwel, armed with the bond of the nobles, assembled 1000 horse, under the pretence of protecting the borders, of which he was the warden; and meeting her on her return to her capital, dismissed her attendants, and carried her to his castle of Dunbar. The arts which he used there to effect the accomplishment of his wishes we have mentioned under another article, (see Mary). But having been married only six months before to Lady Jane Gordon, sister to the earl of Huntly, it was necessary to procure a divorce before he could marry the queen. This was easily obtained. The parties were cousins within the prohibited degrees, and had not obtained a dispensation from Rome. Their marriage, therefore, in the opinion of the queen and her Catholic subjects, was illicit, and a profane mockery of the sacrament of the church. The husband had also been unfaithful; so that two actions of divorce were instituted. The lady commenced a suit against him in the court of the commissaries, charging him as guilty of adultery with one of her maids. The earl himself brought a suit against his wife before the court of the archbishop of St Andrew's, on the plea of confangunity. By both courts their marriage was declared to be void; and thus two sentences of divorce were pronounced.

Bothwel now conducted the queen from Dunbar to her capital. But instead of attending her to her palace of Holyroodhouse, his jealousy and apprehensions induced him to lodge her in the castle of Edinburgh, where he could hold her in security against any attempt of his enemies. To give satisfaction, however, to her people, and to convince them that she was no longer a prisoner, a public declaration on her part appeared to be a measure of expediency. She presented herself, therefore, in the court of session; the lords chancellor and president, the judges, and other persons of distinction, being present. After observing that some stop had been put to the administration of justice on account of her being detained at Dunbar against her will by the lord Bothwel, she declared, that though she had been highly offended with the outrage offered to her, she was yet inclined to forget it. His counsellors, the sense she entertained of his past services to the state, and the hope with which she was impressed of his zeal and activity for the future, compelled her to give him and his accomplices in her imprisonment a full and complete pardon. She at the same time desired them to take notice, that she was now at liberty; and that she proposed, in consideration of his merits, to take an early opportunity of promoting him to new and distinguished honours.

It was understood that the queen was immediately banns of the marriage proclamations of the banns; and Mr John Craig, claimed. One of the ministers of Edinburgh, was desired to perform this ceremony. But though the order was subscribed by the queen, he absolutely refused his compliance without the authority of the church. The brethren, after long reasonings, granted him permission to discharge this duty. His scruples and delicacy were not yet removed. He protested, that, in obeying their desire, he should be allowed to speak his own sentiments concerning the marriage, and that his publishing the banns should infer no obligation in him to officiate in the solemnity. In his congregation, accordingly, before a crowded audience, and in the presence of several noblemen and privy-counsellors, he declared that the marriage of the queen and the earl of Bothwel was unlawful, and that he was prepared to give his reasons for this opinion to the parties themselves. He added, that if leave to do this was denied him, he would either abstain altogether from proclaiming the banns, or take the liberty, after proclaiming them, to inform his people of the causes of his disapprobation of the marriage. He answered, that the church had prohibited the marriage of persons separated for adultery; and that the divorce between him and his wife must have been owing to collusion; since the sentence had been given with precipitation, and since his new contract was so sudden; and he objected to him the abduction and ravishment of the queen, and his suspicion of his guilt of the king's murder. This bold language drew no reply from Bothwel that was satisfactory to Mr Craig, or that could intimidate him. He proclaimed in his church the banns of marriage; but he told the congregation, that he discharged the suggestions of his conscience in pronouncing it to be a detestable and scandalous engagement. He expressed the sorrow he felt for the conduct of the nobility, who seemed to approve it from their flattery or silence; and addressing himself to the faithful, he besought them to pray to the Almighty that he would turn a resolution intended against law, reason, and religion, into a comfort and benefit to the church and the kingdom. These freedoms were too great to pass unnoticed. Mr Craig was ordered again to attend the privy-council; and he was reprimanded with severity for exceeding the bounds of his commission. He had the courage to defend himself. His commission, he said, was founded in the word of God, positive law, and natural reason; and on the foundation of these topics he was about to prove that the marriage must be universally odious, when the earl of Bothwel commanded him to be silent. The privy council, struck with the vigour of the man, and apprehensive of the public discontent, did not dare to inflict any punishment on him; and this victory over Bothwel, while it heightened all the suspicions against him, served to encourage the enemies of the queen, and to undermine the respect of her subjects.

Mary, before she gave her hand to Bothwel, created him duke of Orkney. The ceremony was performed in a private manner, after the rules of the Popish church; but, to gratify the people, it was likewise solemnized publicly according to the Protestant rites by Adam Bothwel bishop of Orkney, an ecclesiastic who had renounced the episcopal order for the reformation. It was celebrated with little pomp and festivity. Many of the nobles had retired to their seats in the country; and those who attended were thoughtful and sad. Du Croc, the French ambassador, sensible that the match would be displeasing to his court, refused to give his countenance to the solemnity. There were no acclamations of the common people. Mary herself was not unconscious of the imprudence of the choice she had made, and looked back with surprise and sorrow to the train of circumstances which had conducted her to this fatal event. Forsaken by her nobles, and imprisoned at Dunbar, she was in so perilous a situation that no remedy could save her honour but death. Her marriage was the immediate and necessary consequence of that situation (r). It was the point for which her enemies had laboured with a wicked and relentless policy.

Mary was unfortunate in her second marriage, but much more so in her third. Bothwel had neither talents for business nor affection for his wife. Ambitious and jealous to the last degree, he sought only to establish himself in power, while his fears and jealousies made him take the most improper means. The marriage had already thrown the nation into a ferment; and the least improper exercise of power, or indeed an appearance of it, even on the part of the queen, would have been sufficient to ruin them both forever. Perhaps the only thing which at this juncture could have pacified the people, would have been the total abolition of Popery, which they had often required. But this was not thought of. Instead of taking any step to Bothwel please the people, Bothwel endeavoured to force the attempts to get the earl of Mar to deliver up the young prince to his custody. This was sufficient to rekindle the flame which had hitherto been smothered, and make it burst out with all its violence. It was universally believed that power.

Bothwel, who had been the murderer of the father, designed also to take away the life of the son, and the queen was thought to participate in all his crimes. The earl of Murray now took advantage of the queen's unfortunate situation to aggrandize himself and effect her ruin. After having visited the English court, he proceeded to France, where he assiduously disseminated all rumours against the queen which were injurious to her reputation; and where, without being exposed to suspicion, he was able to maintain a close correspondence with his friends Morton and Lethington, and to inspirit their machinations. His associates, true to his ambition and their own, had promoted all the schemes of Bothwel on the queen with a power and influence which injured their success. In confederacy with the earl of Murray, they had conspired with him to murder the king. Assisted with the weight of the earl of Murray, they had managed his trial, and promoted the verdict by which he was acquitted. By the same arts, and with the same views, they had joined with him to procure the bond of the nobles recommending him to the queen as a husband, afflicting his integrity and innocence, recounting his noble qualities, expressing an unalterable resolution to support the marriage against every opposer and adversary, and recording a with that a defection from its objects and purposes should be branded with everlasting infamy, and held out as a most faithless and perjured treachery. When the end, however, was accomplished for which they had been so zealous, and when the marriage of the queen was actually celebrated, they laid aside the pretence of friendship, and were in haste to entitle themselves to the ignominy which they had invited to fall on them. The murder of the king, the guilt of Bothwel, his acquittal, his divorce, and his marriage, became the topics of their complaints and declamation. On the foundation of this hated marriage, they even ventured privately to infer the privity of the queen.

(r) "The queen (says Melvil) could not but marry him; seeing he had ravished her and lain with her against her will." Memoirs, p. 159. In the following passage, from a writer of great authority, in our history, this topic is touched with no less exactness, but with greater delicacy. "After Mary had remained a fortnight under the power of a daring profligate adventurer," says Lord Hailes, "few foreign princes would have solicited her hand. Some of her subjects might still have fought that honour; but her compliance would have been humiliating beyond measure. It would have left her at the mercy of a capricious husband; it would have exposed her to the disgrace of being reproached, in some fulsome hour, for the adventure at Dunbar. Mary was so situated, at this critical period, that she was reduced to this horrid alternative, either to remain in a friendless and hazardous celibacy, or to yield her hand to Bothwel." Remarks on the History of Scotland, p. 204. queen to all his iniquitous transactions; and this step seemed doubtless, to the mass of her own subjects and to more distant observers, a strong confirmation of all the former suspicions to her fame which had been circulated with so much artifice. Their imputations and devices excited against her, both at home and abroad, the most indignant and humiliating odium. Amidst the ruins of her fame, they thought of burying forever her tranquillity and peace; and in the convulsions which they had meditated, they were already anticipating the downfall of Bothwell, and snatching at the crown that tottered on her head.

But while this cabal were prosecuting their private against Bothwell.

A confederacy formed ends, several noblemen, not least remarkable for their virtue than their rank, were eager to vindicate the national integrity and honour. The earl of Athol, on the king's murder, had retired from court, and was waiting for a proper season to take revenge on the regicides. The earl of Mar, uneasy under the charge of the young prince, was solicitous to make himself strong, that he might guard him from injury. Motives so patriotic and honourable drew applause and partizans. It was sufficient to mention them. By private conference and debate, an association was indefinably formed to punish the murderers of the king, and to protect the person of the prince. Morton and Lethington encouraged and promoted a combination from which they might derive so much advantage. A convention was accordingly appointed at Stirling, for the purpose of conferring on the measures which it was most expedient to pursue. They agreed to take an early opportunity of appearing in the field; and when they separated, it was to collect their retainers, and to inspirit their passions.

Of this confederacy, the leading men were the earls of Argyle, Athol, Morton, Mar, and Glencairn; the lords Hume, Semple, and Lindsay; the barons Kirkaldy of Grange, Murray of Tullibardine, and Maitland of Lethington. The earl of Bothwell was sensible, that if he was to sit on a throne, he must wade to it through blood. By his advice, two proclamations were issued in the name of the queen, under pretence of suppressing insurrections and depredations on the border.

The queen herself. By the former, she called together in arms, on prepares for an early day, the earls, barons, and freeholders, of the districts of Forfar and Perth, Strathern and Menteith, Clackmannan, Kinross, and Fife. By the latter she charged the greater and lesser baronage, with all the inferior proprietors of the shires of Linlithgow and Edinburgh, and the constabulary of Haddington and Berwick, to prepare immediately for war, and to keep themselves in readiness to march at her order. These military preparations admonished the association to be firm and active, and added to the public inquietudes and discontents. The rumours against the queen were most violent and loud. It was said, that she meant to overturn the constitution and the laws; that she had been careless of the health of her son, and was altogether indifferent about his preservation; that she had separated herself from the councils and affluence of her nobles; and that she wished to make her whim or discretion the only rule of her government. Agitated with the hazardous state of her affairs, she published a new proclamation, in which she employed herself to refute these accusations; and in which she took the opportunity of expressing in a very forcible manner, not only her attachment to her people and the laws, but the fond affection which she bore to the prince, whom she considered as the chief joy of her life, and without whom all her days would be comfortless.

The declarations of the queen were treated with scorn. The nobles, abounding in vassals, and having the hearts of the people, were soon in a situation to take the field. They were advancing to the capital. The royal army was not yet assembled; and the queen and Bothwell suspected that the castle of Edinburgh would shut its gates upon them. The fidelity of Sir James Balfour the deputy-governor had been shaken by the practices of the earl of Mar and Sir James Melville. Mary left her palace of Holyroodhouse, and was conducted to Borthwick castle. The afflicated lords, informed of her flight, took the road to this fortress with 2000 horse. The lord Hume, by a rapid march, proceeded himself before it with the division under his command; but being unable to guard all its avenues, the queen and Bothwell effected their escape to Dunbar; where the strength of the fortifications gave them a full security against a surprize.

On this second disappointment, the nobles resolved to enter Edinburgh, and to augment their strength by new partizans. The earl of Huntly and the lord Boyd were here on the side of the queen, with the archbishop of St Andrew's, the bishop of Ross, and the abbot of Kilwinning. They endeavoured to animate the inhabitants to defend their town and the cause of their sovereign. But the tide of popularity was favourable to the confederated lords. The magistrates ordered the gates of the city to be shut; but no farther resistance was intended. The lords, forcing St Mary's port, found an easy admittance, and took possession of the capital. The earl of Huntly and the queen's friends fled to the castle, to Sir James Balfour, who had been the confidant of Bothwell, and who agreed to protect them, although he was now concluding a treaty with the insurgents.

The afflicated lords now formed themselves into a council, and circulated a proclamation. By this paper they declared, that the queen, being detained in captivity, was able neither to govern her realm, nor to command a proper trial to be taken of the king's murder. In an emergency so pressing they had not despaired of their country; but were determined to deliver the queen from bondage, to protect the person of the prince, to revenge the murder of the king, and to vindicate the nation from the infamy which it had hitherto suffered through the impunity of the regicides. They therefore commanded in general all the subjects of Scotland, and the burgesses and inhabitants of Edinburgh in particular, to take part with them, and to join in the advancement of purposes so beneficial and salutary. The day after they published this proclamation, they issued another in terms that were stronger and more resolute. They definitely expressed their persuasion of Bothwell's guilt in the rape and seduction of the queen, and in his perpetration of the king's murder, in order to accomplish his marriage. They incited it as their firm opinion, that Bothwell had now formed the design of murdering the young prince, and that he was collecting troops with this view. Addressing themselves, therefore, to all the subjects of the realm, whether they resided in counties Scotland, or in boroughs, they invited them to come forward to their standard; and defied them to remember, that all persons who should presume to disobey them would be treated as enemies and traitors.

Bothwel, in the mean time, was not inactive; and the proclamations of the queen had brought many of her vassals to her assistance. Four thousand combatants ranged themselves on her side. This force might augment as she approached to her capital; and Bothwel was impatient to put his fortunes to the issue of a battle. He left the strong castle of Dunbar, where the nobles were not prepared to assist him, and where he might have remained in safety till they dispersed; for their proclamations were not so successful as they had expected; their provisions and stores were scanty; and the zeal of the common people, unsupported by prosperity, would soon have abated. Imprudent precipitation served them in a most effectual manner. When the queen had reached Gladsmuir, she ordered a manifesto to be read to her army, and to be circulated among her subjects. By this paper, she replied to the proclamations of the confederated nobles, and charged them with treachery and rebellion. She treated their reasons of hostility as mere pretences, and as inventions which could not bear to be examined. As to the king's murder, she protested, that she herself was fully determined to revenge it, if she could be so fortunate as to discover its perpetrators. With regard to the bondage from which they were so desirous to relieve her, she observed, that it was a falsehood so notorious, that the simplest of her subjects could confute it; for her marriage had been celebrated in a public manner, and the nobles could scarcely have forgotten that they had subscribed a bond recommending Bothwel to be her husband. With regard to the industrious defamation of this nobleman, it was urged, that he had discovered the utmost solicitude to establish his innocence. He had invited a scrutiny into his guilt; the justice of his country had absolved him; the three estates assembled in parliament were satisfied with the proceedings of his judges and jury; and he had offered to maintain his quarrel against any person whatever who was equal to him in rank and of an honest reputation. The nobles, she said, to give a fair appearance to their treason, pretended, that Bothwel had schemed the destruction of the prince, and that they were in arms to protect him. The prince, however, was actually in their own custody; the use they made of him was that of a cover to their perfidiousness; and the real purposes by which they were animated, were the overthrow of her greatness, the ruin of her posterity, and the usurpation of the royal authority. She therefore entreated the aid of her faithful subjects; and as the prize of their valorous service, she held out to them the estates and possessions of the rebels.

The associated nobles, pleased with the approach of the queen, put themselves in motion. In the city of Edinburgh they had received an addition to their force; and it happened that the Scottish officer who commanded the companies, which, in this period, the king of Denmark was permitted to enlist in Scotland, had been gained to assist them. He had just completed his levies; and he turned them against the queen. The nobles, after advancing to Musselburgh, refreshed their troops. Intelligence was brought that the queen was on her march. The two armies were nearly equal in numbers; but the preference, in point of valour and discipline, belonged decisively to the soldiers of the nobles.

The queen posted herself on the top of Carberry hill. The lords, taking a circuit to humour the ground, seemed to be retreating to Dalkeith; but wheeling about, they approached to give her battle. They were ranged each other in two divisions. The one was commanded by the earl of Morton and the lord Hume; the other by the earls of Athol, Marr, and Glencairn, with the lords Lindsay, Ruthven, Sempill, and Sanghar. Bothwel was the leader of the royal forces; and the lords Seton, Yeister, and Borthwick, served under him.

It was not without apprehensions that Mary surveyor Du Croc ed the formidable appearance of her enemies. Du Croc, the French ambassador, hastened to interpose his good offices, and to attempt an accommodation. He assured the nobles of the peaceful inclinations of the queen; and that the generosity of her nature disposed her not only to forgive their present insurrection, but to forget all their former transgressions. The earl of Morton informed him, that they had not armed themselves against the queen, but against the murderer of the late king; and that if she would surrender him up to them, or command him to leave her, they would consent to return to their duty. The earl of Glencairn desired him to observe, that the extremity to which they had proceeded might have instructed him that they meant not to ask pardon for any offences they had committed, but that they were resolved to take cognizance of injuries which had provoked their displeasure. This aspiring language confounded Du Croc, who had been accustomed to the worshipful submissions which are paid to a deposed. He conceived that all negociation was fruitless, and withdrew from the field in the expectation that the sword would immediately give its law and determine every difference.

Mary was full of perturbation and distress. The state into which she had been brought by Bothwel did not fail to engage her serious reflection. It was with infinite regret that she considered the consequences of her situation at Dunbar. Nor had his behaviour since her marriage contributed to allay her inquietudes. The violence of his passions, his suspicions, and his guilt, had induced him to surround her with his creatures, and to treat her with insult and indignity. She had been almost constantly in tears. His demeanour, which was generally rude and indecent, was often savage and brutal. At different times his provocations were so insulting, that she had even attempted to arm her hand against her life, and was desirous of relieving her wretchedness by spilling her blood. On this account, she was now encompassed with dangers. Her crown was in hazard. Under unhappy agitations, she rode through the ranks of her army, and found her soldiers dispirited. Whatever respect they might entertain for her, they had none for her husband. His own retainers and dependents only were willing to fight for him. He endeavoured Bothwel to awaken the royal army to valour, by throwing down challenged the gauntlet of defiance against any of his adversaries who should dare to encounter him. His challenge was instantly accepted by Kirkaldy of Grange, and by Murray of Tullibardin. He objected that they were not peers. The lord Lindsay discovered the greatest impatience to engage him, and his offer was admitted; but the queen interposing her prerogative, prohibited the Scotland. All the pride and hopes of Bothwel sunk within him. His soldiers in small parties were feerily abandoning their standards. It was equally perilous to the queen to fight or to fly. The most prudent expedient for her was to capitulate. She desired to confer with Kirkaldy of Grange, who remonstrated to her against the guilt and wickedness of Bothwel, and counselled her to abandon him. She expressed her willingness to dismiss him on condition that the lords would acknowledge their allegiance and continue in it. Kirkaldy passed to the nobles, and received their authority to assure her that they would honour, serve, and obey her as their princess and sovereign. He communicated this intelligence to her. She advised Bothwel to provide for his safety by flight; and Kirkaldy admonished him not to neglect this opportunity of effecting his escape. Overwhelmed with shame, disappointment, terror, and remorse, and despair, this miserable victim of ambition and guilt turned his eyes to her for the last time. To Kirkaldy of Grange she stretched out her hand; he kissed it; and taking the bridle of her horse, conducted her towards the nobles. They were approaching her with becoming reverence. She said to them, "I am come, my lords, to express my respect, and to conclude our agreement; I am ready to be instructed by the wisdom of your counsels; and I am confident that you will treat me as your sovereign." The earl of Morton, in the name of the confederacy, ratified their promises, and addressed her in these words: "Madam, you are here among us in your proper place; and we will pay to you as much honour, service, and obedience, as ever in any former period was offered by the nobility to the princes your predecessors."

This gleam of sunshine was soon overcast. She remained not many hours in the camp, till the common soldiers, inflamed by her enemies, presumed to insult her with the most unfeeling reproaches. They exclaimed indignantly against her as the murderer of her husband. They reviled her as a lewd adulteress in the most open manner, and in language the coarsest and most opprobrious. The nobility forgot their promises, and seemed to have neither honour nor humanity. She had changed one miserable scene for a distress that was deeper and more hopeless. They surrounded her with guards, and conducted her to her capital. She was carried along its streets, and shown to her people in captivity and sadness. She cried out to them to commiserate and protect her. They withheld their pity, and afforded her no protection. Even new insults were offered to her. The lowest of the populace, whom the declamations of the clergy had driven into rage and madness, vied with the soldiery in the licentious outrage of invective and execration. She besought Maitland to solicit the lords to repel the infupportable atrocity of her treatment. She conjured him to let them know, that she would submit herself implicitly to the determination of parliament. Her intreatesies and her sufferings made no impression on the nobles. They continued the savage cruelty of their demeanour. She implored, as the last request she would prefer to them, that they would lead her to her palace.

This consolation, too, was refused to her. They wished to accustom her subjects to behold her in disgrace, and to teach them to triumph over her misfortunes. In the most mortifying and afflicting hour she had ever experienced, oppressed with fatigue, and disfigured with dust and sorrow, they shut her up in the house of the lord provost: leaving her to revolve in her anxious and agitated mind the indignities she had already endured, and to suffer in anticipation the calamities they might yet inflict on her.

The malice of Morton and his adherents was still far from being gratified. In the morning, when the queen looked from the window of the apartment to which she had been confined, she perceived a white banner displayed in such a manner as to fix her attention. There was delineated on it the body of the late king stretched at the foot of a tree, and the prince on his knees before it, with a label from his mouth, containing this prayer, "Judge and revenge my cause, O Lord!" This abominable banner revived all the bitterness of her afflictions. The curiosity of the people drew them to a scene so new and so affecting. She exclaimed against the treachery of her nobles; and she begged the spectators to relieve her from their tyranny.

The eventful story of the preceding day had thrown her capital into a ferment. The citizens of a better condition crowded to behold the degraded majesty of their sovereign. Her state of humiliation, so opposite to the grandeur from which she had fallen, moved them with compassion and sympathy. They heard her tale, and were filled with indignation. Her lamentations, her disorder, her beauty, all stimulated their ardour for her deliverance. It was announced to the nobles, that the tide of popular favour had turned towards the queen. They hastened to appear before her, and to assure her, with smiles and courtesy, that they were immediately to conduct her to her palace, and to reinstate her in her royalty. Impressing on her credulous nature, and that beautiful humanity which characterized her even in the most melancholy situations of her life, they prevailed with her to inform the people, that she was pacified, and that she wished them to disperse. They separated in obedience to her desire. The nobles but by now conveyed her to Holyroodhouse. But nothing could be farther from their intentions than her re-establishment in liberty and grandeur. They held a council, in which they deliberated concerning the manner in which they ought to dispose of her. It was resolved, that she should be confined during her life in the fortress of Lochleven; and they subscribed an order for her commitment.

A resolution so sudden, so perfidious, and so tyrannical, filled Mary with the utmost astonishment, and drew from her the most bitter complaints and exclamations. Kirkaldy of Grange, perceiving with surprise the lengths to which the nobles had proceeded, felt his indignation take the alarm for the part he had acted at their desire. He expostulated with them on their breach of trust, and censured the extreme rigour of the queen's treatment. They counselled him to rely on the integrity of their motives; spoke of her passion for Bothwel as most vehement, and insisted on the danger of intrusting her with power. He was not convinced by their speeches; and earnestly recommended lenient and moderate measures. Discreet admonitions, he said, could not fail of impressing her with a full sense of the hazards and inconveniences of an improper passion, and a little time would cure her of it. They assured him, that when it appeared that she detested Bothwel, she had Scotland had utterly abandoned his interests; they would think of kindness and moderation. But this, they urged, could scarcely be expected; for they had recently intercepted a letter from her to this nobleman, in which she expressed her fixed purpose never to forsake him (v). Kirkaldy was desired to peruse this letter; and he pressed them no longer with his remonstrances. The queen, in the mean time, sent a message to this generous soldier, complaining of the cruelty of her nobles, and reminding him that they had violated their engagements. He instantly addressed an answer to it, recounting the reproaches he had made to them; stating his advice; describing the surprise with which he had read her intercepted letter; and conjuring her to renounce and forget a most wicked and flagitious man, and, by this victory over herself, to regain the love and respect of her subjects. The device of a letter from her to Bothwell completed the amazement of the queen. So unprincipled a contempt of every thing that is most sacred, so barbarous a perseverance in perfidiousness and injustice, extinguished every sentiment of hope in her bosom. She conceived that she was doomed to inevitable destruction, and sunk under the pangs of unutterable anguish.

The lords Ruthven and Lindsay arrived during this paroxysm of her distress, to inform her, that they were commanded to put in execution the order of her commitment. They charged her women to take from her all her ornaments and her royal attire. A mean dress was put on her; and in this disguise they conveyed her with precipitation to the prison appointed for her. The lords Seton, Yester, and Borthwick, endeavoured to rescue her, but failed in the attempt. She was delivered over to William Douglas the governor of the castle of Lochleven, who had married the mother of the earl of Murray, and was himself nearly related to the earl of Morton. See Mary.

On the same day on which the nobles subscribed the order for the imprisonment of the queen, they entered into a bond of concurrence or confederacy. By this deed they bound themselves to the strenuous prosecution of their quarrel; and it detailed the purposes which they were to pursue. They proposed to punish the murderers of the king, to examine into the queen's rape, to dissolve her marriage, to preserve her from the bondage of Bothwell, to protect the person of the prince, and to restore justice to the realm. The function of a most solemn oath confirmed their reliance on each other; and in advancing their measures, they engaged to expose and employ their lives, kindred, and fortunes.

It is easy to see, notwithstanding all the pretended patriotism of the rebels, that nothing was farther from their intentions than to prosecute Bothwell and restore the queen to her dignity. They had already treated her in the vilest manner, and allowed Bothwell to escape when they might have easily apprehended and brought him to trial. To exalt themselves was their only aim. Eleven days after the capitulation at Carberry hill, they held a convention, in which they very properly assumed the name of lords of the secret council, and issued a proclamation for apprehending Bothwell as the murderer of the king; offering a reward of 1000 crowns to any person who should bring him to Edinburgh. A search was made for the murderers of the king that very night, in which the queen was confined in Lochleven castle, on account of her supposed guilt. One Sebastian a Frenchman, and Captain Blackadder, of the castle, were apprehended; and soon after James Edmonstone, king's messenger, John Blackadder, and Mynart Frazer, were taken up, and imprisoned. The people expected full and satisfactory proofs of the guilt of Bothwell, but were disappointed. The affirmation of the nobles, that they were possessed of evidence which could condemn him, appeared to be no better than an artifice. Sebastian found means to escape; the other persons were put to the torture and sustained it without making any confession that the nobles could publish. They were condemned, however, and executed, as being concerned in the murder. In their dying moments they protested their innocence. Sanguine hopes were entertained that Captain Blackadder would reveal the whole secret at the place of execution, and a vast multitude of spectators were present. No information, however, could be derived from what he said with respect to the regicides; but while he solemnly protested that his life was unjustly taken away, he averred it as his belief that the earls of Murray and Morton were the contrivers of the king's murder.

The lords of the secret council now proceeded to the greatest enormities. They robbed the palace of Holyroodhouse of its furniture and decorations; converted the queen's plate into coin; and possessed themselves of her jewels, which were of great value; and while the faction at large committed these acts of robbery, the earl

(v) "Mr Hume is candid enough to give up the authenticity of this letter; and indeed, so far as I have observed, there is not the slightest pretence of a reason for conceiving it to be genuine; (Hist of England, vol. v. p. 120.). It was not mentioned by the earl of Morton and his adherents to Throgmorton, when Elizabeth interfered in the affairs of Scotland upon the imprisonment of the queen in the castle of Lochleven: a period of time when these statesmen were desirous to throw out every imputation to her prejudice, and when in particular they were abusing her with vehemence for her attachment to Bothwell; (Keith, p. 419.). Nor was it made use of by Murray before the English commissioners. Mary, in the condition to which the nobles had reduced her, could not well think of a step of this sort, although her attachment to Bothwell had been as strong as they were pleased to pronounce it. For, not to speak of the greatness of her distress, she was guarded by them so strictly, as to make it vain for her to pretend to elude their vigilance. In regard, too, to her love of Bothwell, it is not clear that it was ever real. While the king was alive, there are no traces of their improper intercourse. The affair of Dunbar was a criminal seduction. The arts of a profligate man overcame her. There was no sentiment of love upon either side. After her marriage, his rudeness extinguished in her altogether any remain of kindness and respect; and hence the coldness with which she parted with him." Stuart's History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 253. note. earl of Glencairn with solemn hypocrisy demolished the altar in the queen's chapel, and defaced and destroyed all its pictures and ornaments. These excessive outrages, however, lost them the favour of the people, and an association was formed in favour of the queen. The court of France, as soon as the news of Mary's imprisonment arrived, dispatched M. de Villeroy to console with her on her misfortunes; but the lords of the secret council would not admit him to see her, on which he immediately returned to his own country. The earl of Murray, however, was at this time in France; and to the promises of this ambitious and treacherous noble the king trusted, imagining him to be a steady friend to the unfortunate queen. Elizabeth also pretended friendship, and threatened the associated lords; but as they had every reason to doubt her sincerity, they paid no regard to her threats, and even refused to admit her ambassador to Mary's presence.

From all these appearances of friendship Mary neither did nor could derive any real assistance. On the 24th of July 1567, the lord Lindsay, whose imperious behaviour, says Dr Stuart, approached to insanity, was ordered by the lords to wait on the queen at Lochleven. He carried with him three decrees or instruments, and was instructed not to be sparing in rudeness and menaces in order to compel her to subscribe them. By the first, she was to resign her crown to her infant son; by the second, she appointed the earl of Murray regent of Scotland; and by the third, she constituted a council to direct the prince till this nobleman should arrive in Scotland, or on the event of his death or refusal of the office. On the part of the queen all resistance was vain. Sir Robert Melvil assured her, that her best friends were of opinion, that what she did by compulsion, and in a prison, could have no power to bind her; and of this she was also assured by Throgmorton, the English ambassador, in a letter which Sir Robert Melvil brought in the scabbard of his sword. Mary, therefore, forlorn and helpless, could not resist the barbarous rudeness with which Lindsay pressed the subscription of the papers, though she would not read them. Five days after, the lords of the secret council met at Stirling, for the coronation of the young prince, and considered themselves as representing the three estates of the kingdom. A protestation was made in the name of the duke of Chatelherault, that this solemnity should neither prejudice his rights of succession nor those of the other princes of the blood. The young prince being presented to them, the lords Lindsay and Ruthven appeared, and in the name of the queen renounced in his favour her right and title to the crown, gave up the papers, which she had subscribed, and surrendered the sword, sceptre, and royal crown. After the papers were read, the earls of Morton, Athol, Glencairn, Mar, and Menteith, with the master of Graham, the lord Hume, and Bothwel bishop of Orkney, received the queen's resignation in favour of her son in the name of the three estates. After this formality, the earl of Morton, bending his body, and laying his hand on the Scriptures, took the coronation-oath for the prince, engaging that he should rule according to the laws, and root out all heretics and enemies to the word of God. Adam Bothwel then anointed the prince king of Scotland; a ceremony with which John Knox was displeased, as believing it to be of Jewish invention. This prelate next delivered to him the sword and the sceptre, and finally put the crown on his head. In the procession to the castle from the church, where the inauguration was performed, and where John Knox preached the inauguration sermon, the earl of Athol carried the crown, Morton the sceptre, Glencairn the sword, and the earl of Mar carried the prince in his arms. These solemnities received no countenance from Elizabeth; and Throgmorton, by her express command, was not present at them.

Soon after this ceremony, the earl of Murray returned from France; and his presence gave such a strength to his party and firmness to his faction, that very little opposition could be given by the partisans of Mary, who were unsettled and desponding for want of a leader. A short time after his arrival, this monstrous hypocrite and traitor waited on his distressed and insulted sovereign at Lochleven. His design was to get her to desire him to accept of the regency, which he otherwise pretended to decline. The queen, unfavourable to the deepness of his arts, conscious of the gratitude she owed her, and trifling to his natural affection, and their tie of a common father, received him with a tender welcome. She was in haste to pour forth her soul to him; and with tears and lamentations related her condition and her sufferings. He heard her with attention; and turned occasionally his discourse to the topics which might lead her to open to him her mind without disguise in those situations in which he was most anxious to observe it. His eye and his penetration were fully employed; but her distress awakened not his tenderness. He seemed to be in suspense; and from the guardedness of his conversation she could gather neither hope nor fear. She begged him to be free with her, as he was her only friend. He yielded to her intrigues as if with pain and reluctance; and taking a comprehensive survey of her conduct, described it with all the severity that could affect her most. He could discover no apology for her misgovernment and disorders; and, with a mortifying plainness, he prefaced on her conscience and her honour. At times she wept bitterly. Some errors she confessed; and against calumnies she warmly vindicated herself. But all she could urge in her behalf made no impression on him; and he spoke to her of the mercy of God as her chief refuge. She was torn with apprehensions, and nearly distracted with despair. He dropped some words of consolation; and after expressing an attachment to her interests, gave her his promise to employ all his consequence to secure her life. As to her liberty, he told her, that to achieve it was beyond all his efforts; and that it was not good for her to desire it. Starting from her seat, she took him in her arms, and kissing him as her deliverer from the scaffold, solicited his immediate acceptance of the regency. He declared he had many reasons to refuse the regency. She implored and conjured him not to abandon her in the extremity of her wretchedness. There was no other method, she said, by which the herself could be saved, her son preserved, and her realm rightly governed. He gave way to her anxiety and solicitations. She besought him to make the most unbounded use of her name and authority, desired him to keep for her the jewels that yet remained with her, and recommended it to him to get an early possession of all the forts of her kingdom. He now took his leave of her, and embracing anew this pi- Scotland.ous traitor, she sent her blessing with him to the prince her son.

In the meantime the wretched earl of Bothwell was struggling with the greatest difficulties. Sir William Murray and Kirkaldy of Grange had put to sea in search of him. He had been obliged to exercise piracy in order to sustain himself and his followers. His pursuers came on him unexpectedly at the Orkney islands, and took three of his ships; but he himself made his escape. Soon after, having seized a Turkish trader on the coast of Norway, two ships of war belonging to the king of Denmark gave chase to him as a pirate. An engagement ensued, in which Bothwell was taken. His officers and mariners were hanged in Denmark; but Bothwell himself, being known by some Scottish merchants, had his life spared. He was thrown, however, into a dungeon, where he remained ten years; and at last died melancholy and distracted. The regent sent commissioners to the king of Denmark to demand him as a prisoner; but that prince considering him as a traitor and usurper, totally disregarded his request.

The dreadful fate of Bothwell did not make any alteration in the situation of the queen. Her enemies, bent on calumniating her, produced letters, which they said were written and sent by her to that licentious nobleman during the life of the king. These letters are now generally admitted to have been forged by the rebels themselves, who practised likewise on some servants of Bothwell to accuse the queen of the murder of her husband. The letters for some time gained credit; but the confessions of the servants were all in her favour. When on the scaffold, they addressed themselves to the people; and after having solemnly declared the innocence of the queen, they protested before God and his angels, that the earl of Bothwell had informed them that the earls of Murray and Morton were the contrivers of the king's murder.

It was impossible that such transactions could advance the popularity of the regent. His unbounded ambition and cruelty to his sovereign began at last to open the eyes of the nation; and a party was forming itself in favour of the queen. She had been often meditating her escape from prison; and at last effected it by means of a young gentleman, George Douglas, brother to her keeper, who had fallen in love with her. On the 2d day of May 1568, about seven o'clock in the evening, when her keeper was at supper with his family, George Douglas, professing himself of the keys of the castle, hastened to her apartment, and conducted her out of prison. Having locked the gates of the castle, they immediately entered a boat which waited for them; and being rowed across the lake, the lord Seton received the queen with a chosen band of horsemen in complete armour. That night he conveyed her to his house of Niddrie in West Lothian; where having rested a few hours, she set out for Hamilton.

The escape of the queen threw her enemies into the greatest consternation. Many forsook the regent openly; and still more made their submissions privately, or concealed themselves. He did not, however, despond; but resolved to defend himself by force of arms. The queen soon found herself at the head of 6000 men, and the regent opposed her with 4000. Mary, however, did not think it proper to risk a battle; knowing the capacity of the regent as a general, and that his officers were all men of approved valour and experience. But in this prudent resolution she was overruled by the imputability of her troops. A battle was fought on the 13th of May 1568, at Langside near Glasgow; in which Mary's army was defeated, and her last hope deserted at blasted. The unfortunate queen fled towards Kirkcudbright; where finding a place of safety, she deliberated on the plan she should afterwards follow. The result of her deliberations, as frequently happens in cases of perplexity, led her to take the worst possible step. Notwithstanding all the peril she had found in Elizabeth, Mary could not think that she would now refuse to afford her a refuge in her dominions; and therefore determined to retire into England. To this she had to fly into England, being solicited by Elizabeth during her confinement in Lochleven castle; and she now resolved, in opposition to the advice of her most faithful counsellors, to make the fatal experiment.

In obedience to her order, the lord Herries addressed and puts a letter to Mr Lauder, the deputy-commander at Carlisle; and after detailing her defeat at Langside, desired to know if she might trust herself on English ground. This officer wrote instantly an answer, in which he said, that the lord Scroop the warden of the frontiers being absent, he could not of his private authority give a formal assurance in a matter which concerned the state of a queen; but that he would send by post to his court to know the pleasure of his sovereign, and that if in the mean time any necessity should force Mary to Carlisle, he would receive her with joy, and protect her against her enemies. Mary, however, before the messenger could return, had embarked in a fishing boat with 16 attendants. In a few hours she landed at Wirkington in Cumberland; and from thence she proceeded to Cockermouth, where she continued till Mr Lauder, having assembled the gentlemen of the country, conducted her with the greatest respect to the castle of Carlisle.

To Elizabeth she announced her arrival in a dispatch, which described her late misfortunes in general and pathetic terms, and in which she expressed an earnest solicitude to pay her a visit at court, and the deep sense the entertained of her friendship and generosity. The queen of England, by obliging and polite letters, condoled with her on her situation, and gave her assurances of all the favour and protection that were due to the justice of her cause. But as they were not accompanied with an invitation to London, Mary took the alarm. She thought it expedient to instruct Lord Fleming to repair to France; and she intrusted Lord Herries with a most pressing remonstrance to Elizabeth. Her anxiety for an interview in order to vindicate her conduct, her ability to do so in the most satisfactory manner, and her power to explain the ingratitude, the crimes, and the perfidy of her enemies, were urged to this princess. A delay in the state of her affairs was represented as nearly equivalent to absolute destruction. An immediate proof was therefore requested from Elizabeth of the sincerity of her professions. If she was unwilling to admit into her presence a queen, a relation and a friend, she was reminded, that as Mary's entrance into her dominions had been voluntary, her departure ought to be equally free and unrestrained. She valued the protection of the queen of England above that of every other potentate on earth; but if it could not be granted, Scotland.

granted, she would solicit the amity, and implore the aid of powers who would commiserate her afflictions, and be forward to relieve them. Amidst remonstrances, however, which were so just and natural, Mary did not fail to give thanks to Elizabeth for the courtesy with which she had hitherto been treated in the castle of Carlisle. She also took the opportunity of begging that this princess would avert the cruelty of the regent from her adherents, and engage him not to waste her kingdom with hostility and ravages; and she had the prudence to pay her compliments in an affectionate letter to Secretary Cecil, and to court his kind offices in extricating her from her difficulties and troubles.

But the queen of England was not to be moved by remonstrances. The voluntary offer of Mary to plead her cause in the presence of Elizabeth, and to satisfy all her scruples, was rejected. Her disaffections were a matter rather of exultation than of pity. The deliberations of the English queen, and those of her statesmen, were not directed by maxims of equity, of compassion or of generosity. They considered the flight of Mary into England as an accident that was fortunate and favourable to them; and they were solicitous to adopt those measures which might enable them to draw from it the greatest profit and advantage. If the queen of Scots were allowed to return to her own dominions, it was probable that she would soon be in a condition to destroy the earl of Murray and his faction, who were the friends of England. The house of Hamilton, who were now zealous in the interests of France, would rise to consideration and power. England would be kept in perpetual broils on the frontiers; Ireland would receive molestation from the Scots, and its disturbances grow important and dangerous. Mary would renew with redoubled ardour her designs against the Protestant religion; and a French army would again be introduced into Scotland. For these reasons, Elizabeth and her ministers determining not to restore the queen of Scots to her throne, considered what might be the probable consequences of permitting her to remain at liberty in England. In this situation, she would augment the number of her partizans, send her emissaries to every quarter, and inculcate her title to the crown. Foreign ambassadors would afford her aid, and take a share in her intrigues; and Scotland, where there was so high an object to be gained, would enter with cordiality into her views. This plan being also hazardous, it was deliberated whether the queen of Scots might not be allowed to take a voyage to France. But all the pretensions which had hitherto threatened the crown of Elizabeth would in this case be revived. A strong resentment to her would even urge Mary and Charles IX., to the boldest and most desperate enterprises. The party of the queen of Scots in England, strong from motives of religion and affection, and from discontented and the love of change, would stimulate their anger and ambition. England had now no territories in France. A war with that country and with Scotland would involve the greatest dangers. On revolving these measures and topics, Elizabeth and her counsellors were induced to conclude, that it was by far the wisest expedient to keep the queen of Scots in confinement, to invent methods to augment her distresses, to give countenance to the regent, and to hold her kingdom in dependence and subjection.

Vol. XVIII. Part II.

In consequence of this cruel and unjust resolution, Mary was acquainted, that she could not be admitted to Elizabeth's presence till she had cleared herself of the crimes imputed to her; she was warned not to think of introducing French troops into Scotland; and it was hinted, that for the more security she ought to be removed farther from the frontier. This message at once showed Mary the imprudence of her conduct in trusting herself to Elizabeth. But the error could not now be remedied. She was watched to prevent her escape, and all her remonstrances were vain. The earl of Murray had offered to accuse her; and it was at last concluded that Elizabeth could not, consistently with her own honour and the tranquillity of her government, suffer the queen of Scots to come into her presence, to depart out of England, or to be restored to her dignity, till her cause should be tried and decided. An order was given to remove her from Carlisle castle to a place of strength at a greater distance from the borders, to confine her more closely, and to guard against all possibility of an escape.

In consequence of these extraordinary transactions, a trial took place, perhaps the most remarkable for its injustice and partiality of any recorded in history. Mary, confined and apprehensive, submitted to be tried as they thought proper. The regent, who was to be the accuser, was summoned into England, and commissioners were appointed on both sides. On the 4th of October, the commissioners met at York; and four days after, messengers for the deputies of the queen of Scots were called to make known their complaints. They related the most material circumstances of the cruel usage she had received. Their accusations were an alarming introduction to the business in which the regent had embarked; and notwithstanding the encouragement shown to him by Elizabeth, he was afflicted by apprehensions. The artifices of Maitland added to his alarms. Instead of proceeding instantly to defend himself, or to accuse the behaviour of Murray, he sought permission to relate his doubts and scruples to the English commissioners. In his own name, and with the concurrence of his associates, he demanded whether they had sufficient authority from Elizabeth to pronounce, in the case of the murder, Guilty or not guilty, according to the evidence that should be laid before them; whether they would actually exercise this power; whether, in the event of her criminality, their sovereign should be delivered to him and his friends, or detained in England in such a way as that no danger should ensue from her activity; and whether, on her conviction, the queen of England would allow his proceedings, and those of his party, to be proper, maintain the government of the young king, and support him in the regency in the terms of the act of parliament which had confirmed him in that office. To these requisitions, it was answered, on the part of the English deputies, that their commission was so ample, that they could enter on and proceed in the controversy; and that they had liberty to declare, that their sovereign would not restore the queen of Scots to her crown, if satisfactory proofs of her crime should be produced; but that they knew not, and were not instructed to say, in what manner she would finally conduct herself as to her person and punishment. With regard to the sovereignty of the prince, and the regency of the earl of Murray, they were points, they observed, which might Scotland might be canvassed at a future period. These replies did not please the regent and his associates; and they requested the English commissioners to transmit their doubts and scruples to be examined and answered by Elizabeth.

But while the regent discovered in this manner his apprehensions, he yet affirmed that he was able to answer the charges brought against him and his faction; and this being in a great measure a matter distinct from the controversy respecting the murder, he was desired to proceed. It was contended, that Bothwell, who had His accuasion against the chief concern in the murder of Lord Darnley, confessed such credit with the queen, that within three months after that horrible event, he seized her person and led her captive to Dunbar, obtained a divorce from his wife, and married her: that the nobility, being moved with his crimes, did confederate to punish him; to relieve her from the tyranny of a man who had ravished her, and who could not be her husband; and to preserve the life of the prince: that having taken arms for these purposes, the earl marched against them; but that, proposing to decide the quarrel by single combat, his challenge was accepted: that he declined to enter the lists, and fled: that the queen, preferring his impunity to her own honour, favoured his escape by going over to the nobility: that they conducted her to Edinburgh, where they informed her of the motives of their proceedings, requested her to take the proper steps against him and the other regicides, and intreated her to dissolve her pretended marriage, to take care of her son, and to consult the tranquillity of her realm: that this treatment being offensive to her, she menaced them with vengeance, and offered to surrender her crown if they would permit her to possess the murderer of her husband: that her inflexible mind, and the necessities of the state, compelled them to keep her at a distance from him, and out of the way of a communication with his adherents: that during her confinement, finding herself fatigued with the troubles of royalty, and unfit for them from vexation of spirit and the weakness of her body and intellect, she freely and of her own will resigned her crown to her son, and constituted the earl of Murray regent; that the king accordingly had been crowned, and Murray admitted to the regency; that the sanction of the three estates assembled in parliament having confirmed these appointments, an universal obedience of the people had ensued, and a steady administration of justice had taken place: that certain persons, however, envious of the public peace and order, had brought her out of prison, and had engaged to subvert the government; that they had been disappointed in their wicked attempts; and that it was most just and equitable, that the king and the regent should be supported in power, in opposition to a rebellious and turbulent faction.

This apology, so imperfect, so impudent, and so irreconcilable with history, received a complete confutation from the deputies of the queen of Scots. To take arms against her because Bothwell had her favour, was, they laid, a lame justification of the earl of Murray and his friends; since it had never been properly manifested to her that he was the murderer of her husband. He had indeed been suspected of this crime; but had been tried by his peers, and acquitted. His acquittal had been ratified in parliament, and had obtained the express approbation of the party who were now so loud in accusing him, and who had conspired against her authority. These rebels had even urged her to accomplish her marriage with him, had recommended him as the fittest person to govern the realm, and had subscribed a bond afflicting his innocence, and binding themselves to challenge and punish all his adversaries and opponents. They had never, either before or after the marriage, like true subjects, advertised the queen of his guilt, till, having experience of their strength, they secretly took arms, and invested her in Borthwick castle. The first mark of their displeasure was the sound of a trumpet in hostility, and the display of warlike banners. She made her escape to Dunbar; and they returning to Edinburgh, levied troops, issued proclamations, took the field against her, under pretence of delivering her from his tyranny, and got possession of her person. She was willing to prevent the effusion of blood, and was very far from preferring his impunity to her honour. Kirkaldy of Grange, in obedience to instructions from them, desired her to cause him to retire, and invited her to pass to them under the promise of being served and obeyed as their sovereign. She consented, and Kirkaldy taking Bothwell by the hand, recommended it to him to depart, and assured him that no man would pursue him. It was by their own contrivance that he fled; and it was in their power to have taken him: but they showed not the smallest desire to make him their prisoner. He remained, too, for some time in the kingdom, and was unmolested by them; and it was not till he was on the seas that they affected to go in search of him. When she surrendered herself in the fight of their army, the earl of Morton ratified the stipulations of Kirkaldy, made obeisance to her in their names, and promised her all the service and honour which had ever been paid to any of her predecessors. They were not slaves, however, to their engagements. They carried her to Edinburgh, but did not lodge her in her palace. She was committed to the house of a burgess, and treated with the vilest indignities. She indeed broke out into menaces, and threatened them; nor was this a matter either of blame or of wonder. But it was utterly false that she had ever made any offer of giving away her crown, if she might possess Bothwell. In the midst of her sufferings, she had even required them by Secretary Maitland to specify their complaints, and besought them to allow her to appear in parliament, and to join and assist in seeking a remedy to them from the wisdom of the three estates. This overture, however, so salutary and submissive, they absolutely rejected.—They were animated by purposes of ambition, and had not in view a redress of grievances. They forced her from her capital in the night, and imprisoned her in Lochleven; and there, they affirm, being exhausted with the toils of government and the languors of sickness, she, without constraint or solicitation, resigned her crown to her son, and appointed the earl of Murray to be regent during his minority. This indeed was to assume an unlimited power over facts; but the truth could neither be concealed, subverted, nor palliated. She was in the vigour of youth, unafflicted by maladies, and without any infirmity that could induce her to surrender the government of her kingdom. Nor was it unknown to them that the earl of Athol and the barons Tullibardin and Lethington, principal men of their council, council, dispatched Sir Robert Melvil to her with a ring and presents, with a recommendation to subscribe whatever papers should be laid before her, as the only means in her power to save her life, and with an assurance that what she did under captivity could not operate to her injury. Melvil, too, communicated to her an intimation in writing from Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, which gave her the same advice and the same assurance. To Sir Nicholas Throgmorton she sent an answer, informing him that she would follow his counsel; and enjoining him to declare to his mistress her hapless state, and that her resignation of her crown was constrained. Nor did this ambassador neglect her commission; and it was a popular persuasion that Elizabeth would have marched an army to her relief, if she had not been intimidated by the threats of the rebels, that the blood of the queen of Scots would be the wages of her followers.

It was also not to be contradicted, that when the lord Lindsay presented to his sovereign the instruments of resignation, he menaced her with a closer prison and a speedy death if she should refuse to subscribe them. It was under an extreme terror, and with many tears, that she put her name to them. She did not consider them as her deeds; did not read them; and protested, that when she was at liberty, she would disavow subscriptions which had been extorted from her. Even Douglas, the keeper of Lochleven, could not endure to be a witness of the violence employed against her. He departed out of her presence, that he might not see her surrender her rights against her will; and he fought and obtained from her a certificate, that he was not accessory to this compulsion and outrage. Nor was it consistent with the slightest probability or reason, that she would, of her own accord, execute a resignation of her royal estate, and retain no provision for her future maintenance. Yet by these extraordinary deeds, the condition to which she was reduced was most miserable and wretched. For no portion of her revenue was reserved to her, and no security of any kind was granted either for her liberty or her life. As to the coronation of the prince, it could have no validity, being founded in a pretended and forced resignation. It was also defective in form; for there were in Scotland more than a hundred earls, bishops, and lords; and of these the whole, or at least the major part, ought to concur in matters of importance. Now there did not assist in it more than four earls, six lords, one bishop, and two or three abbots. Protests, too, were openly made, that nothing transacted at that period should be any prejudice to the queen, her estate, and the blood-royal of Scotland, neither could it be rightly conceived, that if the queen had willingly surrendered her dignities, she would have named the earl of Murray to the regency in preference to the duke of Chatelherault, who had a natural and proper claim to it, and who had deserved well of her country by discharging that high office during her minority. As to the ratification of the investiture of the young prince, and the regency of the earl of Murray, by the estates, it was observable, that this was done in an illegal parliament. It was an invalid confirmation of deeds which in themselves had no inherent power or efficacy. The principal nobility, too, objected in this parliament to this ratification. Protests were made before the lords of the articles, as well as before the three estates, to interrupt and defeat transactions which were hostile to the constitution and the laws. Nor was it true that the government of the king and the regent was universally obeyed, and administered with equity and approbation: for a great division of the nobility never acknowledged any authority but that of the queen, and never held any courts but in her name; and it was notorious, that the administration of the usurpers had been marked and distinguished by enormous cruelties and oppressions. Many honourable families and loyal subjects had been persecuted to ruin, and plundered of their wealth, to gratify the retainers and soldiers who upheld this insolent domination; and murder and bloodshed, theft and rapine, were prevalent to a degree unheard of for many ages. On all these accounts, it was inferred, that Elizabeth ought to support the queen of Scots, to restore her to her crown, and to overthrow the power of a most unnatural and rebellious faction.

To these facts the regent did not pretend to make any objection; and though required by the English commissioners to produce better reasons for his treatment of the queen, he did not advance any thing in his own behalf. He even allowed the charges of treason and usurpation to be pressed against him, without presuming to answer. This surprising behaviour, which might readily have been construed into an acknowledgment of his guilt, it seems, proceeded from some conferences which he had with the duke of Norfolk. This nobleman was a zealous partisan for the succession of Mary to the English crown. He was strongly possessed with the opinion, that his mistress, while she was disposed to gratify her animosity and jealousies against the queen of Scots, was secretly resolved, by fixing a stain on her, to exclude her altogether from the succession, and to involve her son in her disgrace. He was eager to defeat a purpose, which he conceived to be not only unjust in itself, but highly detrimental to his country. It was in his power to act with this view; and he observed with pleasure, that Maitland of Lethington was favourable to Mary. To this statesman, accordingly, he ventured to express his surprise, that the regent could be allured to think of an attempt so blamable as that of criminating his sovereign. If Mary had really given offence by miscarriage and mistakes, it was not the business of a good subject industriously to hold her out to scorn. Anxious and repeated conferences were held by them; and at length it was formally agreed, that the regent should not accuse the queen of Scots; and that the duke in return should protect him in the favour of Elizabeth, and secure him in the possession of his regency.

But while the regent engaged himself in this intrigue with the duke of Norfolk, he was desirous notwithstanding of gratifying the resentments of Elizabeth, and of advancing his own interests by undermining secretly the fame and reputation of his sovereign. He instructed Maitland, George Buchanan, James Macgill, and John Wood, to go to the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Sussex, and Sir Ralph Sadler, and to communicate to them as private persons, and not in their character of commissioners, the letters to Bothwell, and the other proofs on which he affirmed the guilt of the queen of Scots. It was his desire that they should examine these papers, give their opinion of them to Elizabeth, and inform him whether she judged them sufficient. Scotland. Sufficient evidences of Mary's concern in the murder of her husband. If this should be her opinion, he testified his own readiness, and that of his associates, to swear that the papers were genuine, and of the handwriting of the queen. By this operation, he was solicitous to establish his vouchers as incontrovertible, and as testimonies of record. The commissioners examined his papers, and heard the comments of Buchanan and his other assistants; but they do not seem to have given them much credit. They described them, however, to Elizabeth; pointed out the places of them which were strongest against Mary; and allowed that their force and meaning were very great, if their genuineness could be demonstrated. But of their genuineness they acknowledged that they had no other evidence than stout assertions, and the offer of oaths. The Earl of Suffolk, in a private dispatch to Secretary Cecil, does more than infirmate*, that he thought Mary would be able to prove the letters palpable forgeries; and with respect to the murder of the king, he declares in plain terms, that from all he could learn, Murray and his faction would, on a judicial trial, be found by "proofs hardly to be denied," more criminal in that charge than the queen herself. Elizabeth and her ministers, on the receipt of such dispatches, did not think it expedient to empower them to adopt a method of proof so palpably suspicious, and in which she could not openly concur, without grossly violating even the appearance of probity.

The regent had before attempted to engage her in a direct assurance of the validity of his papers, when he submitted copies of them to her inspection by his secretary Mr Wood. His attempt at this juncture was of a similar kind; and it could not recommend him to the English commissioners.

Nor were these the only transactions which took place during the continuance of the commissioners at York. The inventive and refining genius of Lethington had suggested to him a project, which he communicated in confidence to the bishop of Roos. It received the warm approbation of this ecclesiastic; and they determined to put it to a trial. While they attended the duke of Norfolk to the diversion of hawking, they intimated the notion of his allying himself with the queen of Scots. Her beauty, her accomplishments, and her kingdom, were high allurements to this nobleman; and as he was the greatest subject of England, and perhaps of Europe, he seemed not to be unworthy of them. The proposal was very flattering to the admiration he entertained of Mary, to his ambition, and to his patriotism. The more he thought of it, he was the more convinced of its propriety. His access to be informed of the practices of the regent, destroyed in him the operation of these flanders by which her enemies were so active in traducing her. In this state of his mind, the lady Scroop, his sister, who resided at Bolton Castle with Mary, completely confirmed his resolution. For from her he learned the orderly carriage and the amiable dispositions of the queen of Scots. He was now impatient to have a fit season to make her formally the offer of his hand.

Elizabeth in the mean time was thrown into confusion by the refusal of the regent to accuse the queen of Scots. To give a positive answer to his doubts and scruples was not consistent with her honour; and yet, without this concession, she was assured that the Scottish deputies would not exhibit their charge or censure. Having deceived Mary therefore with fair promises, she was active in gaining over the regent to her views; which having done, he at last consented to prefer his accusation against Mary before the commissioners, who now met at Westminster by the command of Elizabeth. The charge was expressed in general and Articles of presumptive terms. It affirmed, that as James earl of the queen's accuser, Bothwell was the chief executor of the murder of King Henry, so the queen was his persuader and counsellor in the device; that she was a maintainer and fortifier of this unnatural deed, by stopping an enquiry into it and preventing its punishment, and by taking in marriage the principal regicide; that they had begun to exercise a cruel tyranny in the commonwealth, and had formed a resolution of destroying the innocent prince, and of transferring the crown from the true line of its kings to a bloody murderer and a godless tyrant; and that the estates of the realm, finding her unworthy of reigning, had ordered her to resign the crown, her son to be crowned, and the earl of Murray to be established in the regency. Before this accusation was preferred, the earl of Lenox presented himself before the English commissioners; made a lamentable declaration of his griefs, and produced to them the letters which had passed between him and Mary concerning the murder, with a writing which contained a direct affirmation of her guilt.

The deputies of Mary were astonished at this accusation, being a violent infringement of a protestation which franchises they had formerly given in, and which had been accepted by the Scots, namely, that the crown, estate, person, and honour of the queen of Scots, should be guarded against every assault and injury; yet in all these particulars she was touched and affected. It was understood that no judicial proceedings should take place against her; yet she was actually arraigned as a criminal, and her deputies were called on to defend her. They discovered not, however, any apprehension of the validity of the charge; and while they fully explained the motives which actuated the earl of Murray and his faction in their proceedings, they imputed to persons among themselves the guilt of the king's murder. They affirmed, that the queen's adversaries were the accomplices of Bothwell; that they had subscribed a bond conspiring the death of the king; and that their guilt had been attested in the sight of 10,000 spectators by those of their confederates who had already been executed. They exclaimed against the enormous ingratitude, and the unparalleled audacity of men, who could forget to completely all the obligations which they owed to their sovereign; and who, not satisfied with usurping her power, could even charge her with a murder which they themselves had committed. They represented the strong necessity which had arisen for the fullest vindication of their interests; and they said, that in so weighty an extremity, they could not possibly suppose that she would be restrained from appearing in her own defence. They had her instructions, if her honour was touched, to make this requisition; and till it was granted, they insisted, that all proceedings in the conference should be at an end. A refusal of this liberty, in the situation to which she was driven, would be an infallible proof that no good was intended her. It was their wish to deal with sincerity and uprightness; and they were persuaded, Scotland, ed, that without a proper freedom of defence, their queen would necessarily fall a victim to partiality and injustice. They therefore earnestly pressed the English commissioners, that she might be permitted to present herself before Elizabeth, the nobles of England, and the ambassadors of foreign nations, in order to manifest to the world the injuries she had suffered, and her innocence.

After having made these spirited representations to the English commissioners, the deputies of Mary desired to have access to the queen of England. They were admitted accordingly to an audience; and in a formal address or petition they detailed what had happened, insisted that the liberty of personal defence should be allowed to their mistress, and demanded that the earl of Murray and his associates should be taken into custody, till they should answer to such charges as might be preferred against them. She desired to have some time to turn her thoughts to matters of such great importance; and told them, that they might soon expect to hear from her.

The bishop of Roos, and the other deputies of Mary, in the mean time, struck with the perfidious management of the conference, convinced of the jealousies and passions of Elizabeth, sensible that her power over her commissioners was unlimited, and anxious for the deliverance of their mistress, made an overture for an accommodation to the earl of Leicester and Sir William Cecil. They proposed, that the original meaning of the conference should still be adhered to, notwithstanding the accusation which had been presented by the earl of Murray; and that Elizabeth, disregarding it as an effort of faction, should come to a good agreement with Mary and her subjects. For this scheme, which is so expressive of their suspicions of Elizabeth and of her commissioners, they had no authority from their mistress. They acknowledged accordingly, that it was made without her instructions, and intimated that they were moved to it by their anxiety for peace and the re-establishment of the affairs of the Scottish nation. They were introduced at Hampton-court to Elizabeth; who listened to their motion, and was adverse to it. They then repeated the desires of the petition they had presented to her; but she did not think it right that the queen of Scots should as yet have the liberty of defending herself in person. She confessed, indeed, that it was reasonable that Mary should be heard in her own cause; but she affirmed, that she was at a loss at what time she should appear, in what place, and to whom she should address herself. While she let fall, however, the hope that Mary might obtain the permission to repeatedly and so earnestly requested, she expressed her resolution that the earl of Murray should first be heard in support of his charge, and that she should attend to the proofs which he affirmed himself in readiness to produce. After this business should be transacted, she told the deputies of Mary that she would again confer with them. It was to no purpose that they objected to a procedure so strange and so improper. An accusation, said they, is given; the person accused is anxious to defend herself; this privilege is denied her; and yet a demand is to be made for the vouchers of her guilt. What is this but an open violation of justice? It did not become them to dispute her pleaure in her own dominions; but they would not, they informed her, consent to a measure which was so alarming to the interests of their queen; and if it was adopted, she might expect that a protest against its validity would be lodged with her commissioners.

The English commissioners resumed the conference, and were about to demand from the earl of Murray between the proofs with which he could support his accusation. The bishop of Roos and his associates being admitted to them, expressed themselves in conformity to the conversation they had held with Elizabeth. They declared, that it was unnatural and preposterous in their sovereign to think of receiving proofs of the guilt of the queen of Scots before she was heard in her own defence; and they protested, that in the event of this proceeding, the negociation should be dissolved, and Elizabeth be disarmed of all power to do any prejudice to her honour, person, crown, and estate. The commissioners of the English queen were affected with this protestation, and felt more for the honour of their mistress than for their own. They refused to receive it, because there were engrossed in it the words of the refusal which Elizabeth had given to the petition for Mary. They did not choose to authenticate the terms of this refusal by their subscriptions; and were solicitous to suppress so palpable a memorial of her iniquity. They alleged, that the language of her refusal had not been taken down with accuracy; and they pressed Mary's deputies to present a simpler form of protestation. The bishop of Roos and his colleagues yielded not, however, immediately to their infatuated importunity; but, repeating anew their protestation as they had at first planned it, included the express words of Elizabeth; and, when compelled by the power of the commissioners to expunge the language of the English queen, they still insisted on their protestation. An interruption was thus given to the validity of any future proceedings which might affect the reputation of the queen of Scots. The earls of Murray and Morton, with their friends, were very much disappointed. For they had placed themselves with the hope of a triumph before there was a victory; and thought of obtaining a decree from Elizabeth, which, while it should pronounce the queen of Scots to be an adulteress and a murderer, would exalt them to the station and character of virtuous men and honourable subjects.

Though the conference ought naturally to have terminated on this protestation of the deputies of Mary demands against the injustice of Elizabeth, yet it did not satisfy vouchers of the latter princesses that the accusation only had been delivered to her commissioners; she was seriously disposed to propose a judicial production of its vouchers. The charge would thus have a more regular aspect, and be a sounder foundation on which to build, not only the infamy of the Scottish queen, but her own justification for the part she had acted. Her commissioners accordingly, after the bishop of Roos and his colleagues had retired, disregarding their protestation, called on the earl of Murray and his associates to make their appearance. The pretence, however, employed for drawing from him his papers was sufficiently artful, and bears the marks of that systematic duplicity which so shamefully characterizes all the transactions of Elizabeth at this period. Sir Nicholas Bacon, the lord keeper addressed himself to the earl of Murray. He said, that, in the opinion of the queen of England, it was a matter strange strange and surprising, that he should accuse his sovereign of a crime most horrible, odious to God and man, against law and nature; and which, if proved to be true, would render her infamous through all the kingdoms of the world. But though he had so widely forgotten his duty, yet Elizabeth had not renounced her love of a good father, a good neighbour, and a good friend; and it was her will that he and his company should produce the papers by which they imagined they were able to maintain their accusation. The earl of Murray, in his turn, was not wanting in dissimulation. He expressed himself to be very sorry for the high displeasure he had given to Elizabeth by his charge against Mary, and for the obstinacy of the Scottish queen and her deputies, which made it necessary for him to vindicate himself by discovering her dishonour. Under the load of this double and affected sorrow, he made an actual and formal exhibition of the vouchers by which he pretended to fix and establish her criminality. A particular account and examination of these vouchers, the reader will find in our life of Mary, and the works to which we have there referred.

To enumerate all the shifts to which Elizabeth and the adversaries of Mary were put, in order to make the strange evidence that was produced wear some degree of plausibility, would far exceed our bounds. It is sufficient to say, that after having wearied themselves with prevarication and falsehood; after having pressed Mary to abdicate her crown, a requisition with which she never would comply; and after having finally refused to hear her in her own defence; Elizabeth, on the 10th of January 1569, gave leave to the earl of Murray and his accomplices to depart her dominions; telling them, that since they came into England, nothing had been objected to them which could hurt their honour as men, or affect their allegiance as subjects. At the same time she told them, that they had produced no information or evidence by which she was entitled to conceive any bad opinion of the queen of Scots. It was therefore her pleasure to allow the affairs of Scotland to continue precisely in the condition in which they were situated at the beginning of the conference. Three days after this, they formally took their leave of the queen of England. The deputies of Mary remonstrated, protested, and argued, to no purpose; the English privy-council, with the most provoking indifference, told them, that "the earl of Murray had promised to their sovereign, for himself and his company, to return to England at any time she should call on him. But, in the mean time, the queen of Scots could not for many strong reasons, be permitted to take her departure out of England. As to her deputies, they would move Elizabeth to allow them to return to Scotland; and they believed that she would not detain them."

Mary was exceedingly disappointed and chagrined by this singular issue of her cause. Her friends during this period had increased, and the cruel and injurious treatment she had met with was so flagrant, that the earl of Murray and his faction were apprehensive of a sudden reverse of fortune. The earls of Argyle and Huntly protested against the injustice of their proceedings, at the same time that they openly accused the earl of Murray and Maitland of Lethington as the associates of Bothwell in the murder of the king. This charge, according to the custom of the times, they offered to prove as true and certain by the law of arms; and they protested, that if their adversaries should delay to answer their challenge, they should be held as confessing themselves guilty of the murder. Elizabeth, however, foreseeing something of this kind, had dismissed Murray and his adherents with precipitation, so that there could now be no formal production of it before the English commissioners. It was known and published, however, in the court of Elizabeth. Murray made an evasive reply, and Lethington made none at all.

This, however, afforded no relief to the unhappy Mary, queen of Scotland. Her inveterate and treacherous enemy held her fast, and endeavoured by every method cleverer than her power to render her life miserable. Mary, on the other hand, lost neither her spirit nor her dignity. She attempted to rouse in the minds of her nobles that passion for liberty which had once so much distinguished the Scottish nation, but which now seemed to be exchanged for a servile submission to the queen of England. But some dispatches which urged these topics being intercepted, Mary was removed from Bolton to Tutbury castle, where she was intrusted to the earl of Shrewsbury, and committed to closer confinement than she had yet experienced; while Elizabeth dispersed manifestoes all over the northern counties of England, complaining of reports injurious to her honour, and disclaiming all hostile intentions towards the liberties of Scotland.

In the meantime Murray returned to Scotland, where he took every method of establishing himself in his ill acquired power. Mary had commanded the duke himself in Chatelherault to return to Scotland, in order to raise power forces for her advantage; but this nobleman had been long detained in England by the artifices of Elizabeth, so that Murray had arrived there before him. The duke, however, began to raise forces, and might have proved a troublesome antagonist, had not Murray deceived him by a pretended negociation, and got him into his power; immediately after which he imprisoned him, and forced most of the other lords who were on that side to submit.

When the news of this important event reached the queen of Scots, she instructed the bishop of Rois to repair to Elizabeth, and to make remonstrances in their behalf. By the agency of this ecclesiastic, whom the Scots had constituted her ambassador, she meant to conduct England, her transactions with the queen of England; and from the conclusion of the conferences, she had been meditating a proper plan on which to accomplish her liberty and reformation. The bishop of Rois, after complaining loudly of the rigorous proceedings of the regent, and intimating the general belief which prevailed that he was supported by the English court, pressed the propriety of a final settlement of the affairs of his mistress. With this view, he was admitted by Elizabeth and her privy-counsellors to frequent conferences; and they even desired him to present to them in writing the articles which he was commanded to propose as the foundation of a treaty. He failed not to comply with this injunction; and it was the import of his schedule of agreement, that Mary should engage never to molest Elizabeth, and the lawful heirs of her body, respecting the succession to the crown of England and Ireland, if she could obtain sufficient security that on their demise her rights would be respected; that a new treaty of alliance and Scotland, and friendship should be concluded between the two queens, by the advice of the estates of both kingdoms; that this league should be ratified by their oaths and seals, and confirmed by parliamentary acts; and, if any farther assurance should be deemed necessary on the part of Mary, that she would procure the kings of France and Spain to be the guarantees of her punctuality and concord; that in compliance with the pleasure of Elizabeth, she would extend her clemency to all her subjects who had offended her, under the provision that they would submit to her sovereignty, deliver up the prince her son, restore her castles, give back her jewels, and surrender to her friends and servants the estates and possessions of which they had been deprived; that the murder of the king should be punished against all the actors in it without delay, and according to the laws; that to prevent Bothwell from returning to Scotland, and to please those who imagined that it was in his power to excite ferments and trouble, she would be bound to institute a process of divorce against him; and that these articles being adjusted, the queen of England should allow her to proceed to Scotland, under a safe and honourable convoy, to be re-established by the three estates in her realm and government, and to be gratified with the dissolution of all the acts and statutes which had been passed to her prejudice.

These heads of alliance were received with a respect and cordiality which were not usually paid to the transactions of Mary in the court of Elizabeth; and the bishop of Ross was elated with expectation. Their justification, however, was not the sole, or even the chief, cause of this attention and complaisance. A combination of the English nobles had taken place against Cecil, whose power and credit were objects of indignation and jealousy; and the duke of Norfolk had been active and successful in promoting the scheme of his marriage with the queen of Scots. Taking advantage of the condition of parties, he had practised with the principal nobility to encourage his pretensions to Mary; and he secretly communicated to them the promises of support he had received from the earl of Murray. By the advice and influence of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, he engaged in his behalf the earl of Leicester; and this nobleman imparted the matter to the earls of Pembroke and Arundel. The duke himself was able to conciliate the favour of the earls of Derby, Bedford, Shrewsbury, Southampton, Northampton, Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Sussex. In the mean time, he was eagerly pressing Mary herself with his suit and importunities; and had mutually exchanged the tokens of a constant and sincere love. It was in this forward state of the match, that the bishop of Ross drew up the schedule of articles for the accommodation of the rival queens.

At the desire of Elizabeth, her privy-council conferred with the bishop on these articles at different times; and they expressed themselves highly pleased with their general import. Little doubt was entertained of their success; and the earl of Leicester, in order to complete the business, and to serve the duke of Norfolk, undertook to give them a more special force, and to improve them by the introduction of a stipulation about the marriage of the queen of Scots. According to his scheme of agreement, it was required of Mary, that she should be a party to no attempt against the rights and titles of the queen of England, or her heirs; that she should consent to a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, between the two kingdoms; that she should finally establish the Protestant religion in Scotland; that she should admit to her favour those of her subjects who had appeared against her; that if she had made any affignment of her kingdom to the duke of Anjou, in the expectation of a marriage to be contracted between them, it should be dissolved; and that instead of looking to a foreign prince, whose alliance would be dangerous, not only to the religion but to the liberty of the two realms, she would agree to marry the duke of Norfolk, the first peer of England. These articles being communicated to the bishop of Ross, he was desired to transmit them to Mary; but as they touched on some points concerning which he had no instructions, he declined this office, and recommended the propriety of their employing a special messenger of their own in a commission of such high importance. They accordingly appointed Mr Caudill to go with them to the queen of Scots, and, in a formal dispatch, they extolled the merits of the duke of Norfolk; assured her of the general favour and support of the English nobility, if she should approve of his love; and intimated their belief that Elizabeth would not be adverse to a marriage which gave the certain prospect of tranquillity and happiness to the two kingdoms. This dispatch was in the hand-writing of Leicester; and it was subscribed by this nobleman, and the earls of Arundel and Pembroke, and the lord Lumley.

Mary, in the solitude of her prison, received this application with pleasure. By the lord Boyd the return was treated very favourably answered to it; but took the liberty to admonish them of the necessity of their securing the good-will of Elizabeth, lest her dislike of the treaty of the marriage should excite new difficulties and misfortunes, and involve the duke of Norfolk in inconvenience and danger. This advice, the suggestion of her delicacy and prudence, did not draw their attention sufficiently. The duke of Norfolk was now impatient to conclude this great transaction, in which he had engaged himself; and admitted into his councils many nobles whom he had hitherto neglected to court, and many gentlemen who were considerable from their distinction and fortunes. The countenance and consent of the kings of France and Spain were thought necessary to the measures in agitation, and were solicited and obtained. In the universality of the applause with which they were honoured, it was supposed that Elizabeth would be allured into a cordial acknowledgement of their propriety, or be compelled to afford them a reluctant approbation; and so ardent a belief prevailed of their fortunate termination, that the marriage-contract was actually intrusted to the keeping of M. Fenelon the French ambassador.

The activity of the duke of Norfolk with the English nobles did not so much engross his attention as to make him forget the regent. He kept up a close correspondence with him in consequence of the concert into which they had entered, and received the most ample assurances of his fidelity and service. The most sanguine and seducing hopes elated him. The regent, while he stipulated for terms of favour and security to himself and his faction, appeared to be full of the marriage, as a measure from which the greatest advantages would would arise to the two kingdoms, to the two queens, and to the true religion. The match, in the mean time, was anxiously concealed from Elizabeth; but she was zealously pressed to conclude an accommodation with Mary, on the foundation of the schedule of agreement presented by the bishop of Ross. After having had many conferences with her privy-council, she seemed inclined to treat definitively for the restoration of the queen of Scots, and actually agreed to open the transaction to the regent. The lord Boyd was sent into Scotland on this business; and while he carried her letters, he was intrusted with dispatches from Mary, the duke of Norfolk, and Sir Nicholas Throgmorton.

As the regent was returning from his northern expedition, he was saluted at Elgin by the lord Boyd, who immediately laid before him the dispatches and instructions with which he had been charged. The queen of England, in her letters, made three propositions in behalf of Mary, and intimated a desire that one of them should be accepted. The queen of Scots, she said, might be restored fully and absolutely to her royal estate: she might be associated in the government with her son, have the title of queen, and, till the prince should attain the age of 17 years, the administration might continue in the regent; or she might be permitted to return to Scotland in a private station, and have an honourable appointment to maintain her in a safe and happy obscurity. The dispatches from Mary to the regent desired, that judges might immediately be allowed to inquire into the legality of her marriage with Bothwel; and that, if it was found to have been concluded in opposition to the laws, it should be declared void, and that the liberty be granted to her of entering again into a matrimonial engagement. The duke of Norfolk expressed to the regent the gratitude he felt for his friendship; promised him the command of the fullest exertions of his consequence and power; intreated him to proceed expeditiously in promoting the business of the marriage, and referred him to the instructions of Lord Boyd for a satisfactory answer to any doubts which might give him disgust or uneasiness. By the letters of Throgmorton, the regent was advertised that the marriage of the queen of Scots with the duke of Norfolk was a certain and decided point; and he was counselled to concur heartily and expeditiously in this transaction, that his consent might not seem to have been extorted. Maitland of Lethington was recommended to him by this statesman, as the person whom he should choose to represent him in the English court, as he could negotiate both the terms and mode of his security and of that of his party. In fine, Throgmorton intreated him not to be troubled with any precise scruples or objections; for that his overthrow, if he resisted, would be inevitable; and, in the view of his services and cordiality, he assured him, that no man's friendship would be accepted with greater affection, and no man's estimation be higher or more fortunate. The zeal of Throgmorton induced him also, on this occasion, to address to Maitland a dispatch, in which he was infinitely importunate to hasten his expedition to England, in the character to which he recommended him. He complimented him as the fittest person to open the match to the English queen, on the part of the regent and the Scottish nobility; and he represented the success of the scheme to be infallible, as Elizabeth would never be so unwise as to put her own safety, the peace of her kingdom, and the preservation of her people, in competition with the partial devices that might proceed from the vanity and the passions of any person whatever. He enumerated the names of the English nobility who had confederated to promote the marriage. He enlarged on it as an expedient full of wisdom, and as advantageous in the highest degree to religion and the state. He pointed out the lasting and inseparable connection of England and Scotland, as its happy and undoubted consequence. For, if James VI. should die, the sceptres of the two kingdoms might devolve on an English prince; and if he should attain to manhood, he might marry the daughter of the duke of Norfolk, and unite, in his person, the two crowns.

These weighty dispatches fully employed the thoughts of the regent. The calls of justice and humanity were loud in behalf of Mary; his engagements to Norfolk were precise and definitive; and the commission of Elizabeth afforded him the command of the most important services. But, on the other hand, the restoration of Mary, and her marriage, would put an end for ever to his greatness; and, amidst all the stipulations which could be made for his protection, the enormity of his guilt was still haunting him with suspicions and terror. His ambition and his selfish sensibilities were an overmatch for his virtue. He practised with his partizans to throw obstacles in the way of the treaty and the marriage; and, on pretence of deliberating concerning the restoration of Mary, and on her divorce from Bothwel, a convention of the estates was summoned by him to assemble at Perth. To this assembly the letters of Elizabeth were recited; and her propositions were considered in their order. The full restoration of Mary to her dignity was accounted injurious to the authority of the king, and her association with her son in the government was judged improper and dangerous; but it was thought that her deliverance from prison, and her reduction to a private station, were reasonable expedients. No definitive treaty, however, was pronounced. The letters of Mary were then communicated to this council, and gave rise to vehement debates. She had written and subscribed them in her character of queen of Scotland. This carriage was termed insolent and imperious by the friends of the regent. They also held it unsafe to examine her requests, till they should be communicated to Elizabeth; and they inferrated, that some inclement and partial device was concealed under the purpose of her divorce from the earl of Bothwel. The favourites of Mary endeavoured to apologize for the form of the letters, by throwing the blame on her secretaries; and engaged, that while the commissioners, or judges, were proceeding in the business of the divorce, new dispatches in the proper method should be applied for and procured. They were heard with evident symptoms of displeasure; and exclaimed, "that it was wonderful to them, that those very persons who had lately been so violent for the separation of the queen and Bothwel should now be so adverse to it." The partizans of the regent replied, "that if the queen was so eagerly solicitous to procure the divorce, she might apply to the king of Denmark to execute Bothwel as the murderer of her husband; and that then she might marry the person who was most agreeable to her." The passions of the two factions were were inflamed to a most indecent extremity, and the convention broke up with strong and unequivocal marks of hostility and anger.

Notwithstanding the caution with which Mary and Norfolk carried on their intrigues, intimations of them had come to Elizabeth. Norfolk himself, by the advice of the earl of Pembroke, had ventured to disclose his secret to Sir William Cecil, who affected to be friendly to him. The regent, in answer to her letters, transmitted to her the proceedings of the convention at Perth. The application of Mary for a divorce was a key to the ambitions hopes of the duke of Norfolk. She commanded Sir William Cecil to apply himself to discover the conspiracy. This statesman betrayed the confidence with which he had been entrusted; and Elizabeth, while the duke was attending her at Farnham, discovering a mixture of pleasantry and passion, admonished him to be careful on what pillow he repose his head. The earl of Leicester, alarmed by his fears, revealed to her at Titchfield the whole proceedings of the duke of Norfolk and his friends. Her fury was ungovernable; and at different times she loaded Norfolk with the severest reproaches and contumely, for presuming to think of a marriage with the queen of Scots without the sanction of her concurrence. Insulted with her discourse and her looks, abandoned by Leicester, and avoided by other nobles in whom he had confided, he felt his courage to forsake him. He left the court at Southampton without taking his leave, and went to London to the earl of Pembroke. New intimations of her displeasure were announced to him, and he retired to his seat at Kinninghall in Norfolk. His friends urged him to take the field, and to commit his safety to the sword; but having no inclination to involve his country in the miseries of war, he rejected their advice; and addressing an apology to Elizabeth, protested that he never meant to depart from the fidelity which he owed her; and that it was his fixed resolution to have applied for her consent to his marriage with the queen of Scots. In return, she ordered him to repair to her court at Windsor; and, as he appeared to be irresolute, a messenger was dispatched to take him into custody. He was first confined to the house of Paul Wentworth, at Burnham, in the neighbourhood of Windsor, and then committed to the Tower. The earls of Pembroke and Arundel, the lord Lumley, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, and the bishop of Ross, were also apprehended and confined.

Elizabeth, amidst the ferment of her inquietudes, forgot not to gratify her revenge by insulting the queen of Scots. The name of Mary was sufficient to convulse her with anger. The earl of Huntingdon, who affected to have pretensions to the crown of England that were preferable to those of the Scottish princes, was joined with the earl of Shrewsbury in the office of guarding her. His instructions were rigorous, and he was disposed to exceed them. The earl of Shrewsbury considered it as an indignity to have an associate who was a declared enemy to his charge, who had an interest in her death, and who was remarkable for a natural ferocity of disposition. Mary exclaimed against the indelicacy and rudeness of Elizabeth, and protested that all her intentions were commendable and innocent. Huntingdon took a delight in her sufferings. He ransacked her coffer with a view of making discoveries; but her prudence had induced her to destroy all the evidences of her transactions with the duke of Norfolk; and the officious affluence of this jailor was only rewarded with two cyphers which he could not comprehend. The domestics whom she favoured were suspected and dismissed. Her train of attendants was diminished. An unrelenting watch was kept over her. No couriers were allowed to carry her dispatches. No messengers were admitted to her presence; and all the letters from her friends were ordered to be intercepted, and to be conveyed to the queen of England.

The proceedings of the convention at Perth were affecting to Elizabeth, to Mary, and to the duke of Norfolk. In the first they created suspicions of the regent; and they were a certain announcement to Mary that he was resolved to support himself in the government of Scotland. Uncertain rumours had reached Elizabeth of the interviews he had held with Norfolk in the bullies of the marriage. Her surprise and indignation were unbounded. Mr Wood, who brought from the regent his answer to her letter, was treated with disrespect. Secretary Cecil dispatched instructions to the lord Hundon, the governor of Berwick, to watch his operations with a jealous eye. Elizabeth, by a special envoy, required from him an explanation of his ambiguous carriage. The regent, true to his interests, apologized to her for his connections with the duke of Norfolk, by laying open the design of that nobleman, to cut him off, in his way to Scotland, by a full communication of whatever had passed between them in relation to Mary, and by offers of an unlimited submission and obedience.

While the duke of Norfolk was carrying on his intrigues with Mary, the scheme of an insurrection for her deliverance was advancing under the direction of the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland. Motives of religion were the chief foundations of this conspiracy; and the more zealous Catholics over England were concerned in it. Mary, however, by the advice of the duke of Norfolk, who was afraid of her marrying a foreign prince, did not enter into it with cordiality. It advanced notwithstanding; and the agents of the pope were lavish of exhortations and donatives. The duke of Alva, by order of his master the king of Spain, encouraged the conspirators with the offer of 20,000 men from the Netherlands; and, under the pretence of adjusting commercial disputes, he sent into England Chiappini Vitelli marquis of Celona, an officer of ability, that he might be at hand, and prepare to take the command of them.—The report of an insurrection was universal. Elizabeth kept an army of 15,000 men near her person. The queen of Scots was removed to Coventry, a place of great strength; and if a superior and commanding force should appear before it, her ferocious keeper, it is said, had orders to assassinate her. Repeated commands were sent to the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, to repair to court. But the imprisonment of the duke of Norfolk and his friends had struck a panic into them. They conceived that their conspiracy was discovered; and putting themselves at the head of their followers, they issued their manifesto. The restoration of Popery, the establishment of the titles of Mary to the English crown, and the reformation of abuses in the commonwealth, were the avowed objects of their enterprise. But they had embarked Scotland, in a business to which they were altogether unequal. Their efforts were feeble and defultory. The duke of Alva forgot his promises. Wherever the peace was disturbed by insurgents, there were troops to oppose them. The vigilance of Elizabeth disconcerted with ease the operations of men whom no resources or popularity could have conducted to greatness, and who could neither conquer nor die. The earl of Westmoreland, after concealing himself for some time in Scotland, effected his escape into Flanders, where he passed a miserable and useless existence; and the earl of Northumberland being taken by the regent, was imprisoned in the castle of Lochleven.

As the fury of Elizabeth abated, her resentment to the duke of Norfolk lost its power; and she failed not to distinguish between the intrigues of an honourable ambition, and the practices of an obstinate superstition. It was the result of the examination of this nobleman, and of the confessions of the other prisoners, that Lethington had schemed the business of the marriage, and that the earl of Murray had encouraged it; that her consent was understood to be necessary to its completion; and that Mary herself had warmly recommended the expedient of consulting her pleasure. On receiving proper admonitions, the earls of Pembroke, Arundel, the lord Lumley, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, and the bishop of Ross, were released from confinement; and, after a more tedious imprisonment, the duke of Norfolk was set at liberty. This favour, however, was not extended to him till he had not only submissively acknowledged his presumption in the business of the marriage; but had fully revealed whatever had passed between him and Mary, and solemnly engaged never more to think of this alliance, and never more to take any concern whatever in her affairs.

The regent, in the meanwhile, was very anxious to recover the good opinion of Elizabeth. Her treatment of Mr Wood, and her discovery of his practices, had excited his apprehensions. He therefore assembled at Stirling a convention of the estates; and taking her letters a second time into consideration, returned her a reply by Robert Pitcairn abbot of Dunfermline, in a style suited to her temper and jealousies, and from which she could decisively infer, that no favour of any kind would be shown to the queen of Scots. But this base condescension, though afflicting by his treachery to the duke of Norfolk, not being sufficient, in his opinion, to draw completely to him the cordiality of the queen of England, he was preparing to gratify her with another sacrifice. The partiality of Maitland to Mary, and his intrigues with Norfolk and the English malcontents, had rendered him uncommonly obnoxious to Elizabeth and her ministry. The late commotions had been chiefly ascribed to his arts; and it was natural to dread new calamities and tumults from the fertile spring of his invention. Under pretence of employing his service in dispatches to England, the regent invited him to Stirling. He was then with the earl of Athol at Perth; and suspecting some improper design, he obeyed the summons with reluctance. When he took his place in the privy-council, Captain Crawford, the minion of the earl of Lennox, who had distinguished himself in the trial of Mary, accused him, in direct terms, of being a party in the murder of the late king. The regent affected astonishment, but permitted him to be taken into custody. He was soon after sent to Edinburgh under a guard, and admonished to prepare for his trial. On similar charges, the lord Seton and Sir James Balfour were seized and imprisoned.

Kirkaldy of Grange, the governor of the castle of Edinburgh, who was warmly attached to Maitland, affected by ter having in vain remonstrated with the regent on the violence of his conduct, employed address and stratagem in the service of his friend. Under the cover of night, he went with a guard of soldiers to the lodging where Maitland was confined; and showing a forged warrant for taking his person into custody, got possession of him. Kirkaldy had now in his castle the duke of Chatelherault, the lord Herries, and Maitland. The regent sent for him to a conference; but he refused to obey his message. He put himself and his friends under the direction of his prisoners. The regent, condescending to pay him a visit, was more lavish than usual of his promises and kindness. His arts, however, only excited the disdain of this generous soldier. Since he could not lead out Maitland to the block, he instituted a process of treason against him, in order to forfeit his estates. Kirkaldy, by the mouth of a trumpeter, desired him to commence similar actions against the earl of Morton and Mr Archibald Douglas, as it was notorious that they were parties to the king's murder. This messenger was likewise charged with delivering a challenge from him to Mr Archibald Douglas, and another from the lord Herries to the earl of Morton. This disappointment, and these indignities, made a deep impression on the regent; and, in a thoughtful disaffected humour, about this time, he made a short progress towards the English border, courting popularity, and deserving it, by an attention to order and justice.

Elizabeth, flattered by his submissive advances, and Elizabeth pleased with his ambition, was now disposed to gratify his fullest wishes; and she perceived, that by delivering him to the queen of Scots, she would effectually relieve herself of a prisoner whose vigour and intrigues were a constant interruption to her repose. A treaty for this purpose was entered into and concluded. The regent was to march an army to the English frontiers, and to receive from her his sovereign into her own dominions, the victim of his power, and the sport of his passions. No hostages and no security were stipulated for her entertainment and good usage. His authority over her was to be without any limits. On his part, he was to deliver to Elizabeth the young prince, to put her in possession of the principal forts of Scotland, and to affix her with troops on the event of a war with France. This treaty, so fatal to Mary, and so ruinous to the independence of Scotland, escaped not the vigilance of the bishop of Ross. He complained of it in the strongest terms to Elizabeth; and declared it to be equivalent to a sentence of death against his mistress. The ambassadors of France and Spain were also strenuous in their remonstrances to her on this subject. All resistance, however, was unavailing; and the execution of the treaty seemed inevitable. Yet how vain are the loftiest schemes of human pride! The career of the regent was hastening to its crisis; and the hand of an assassin put a period to his dream of royalty. Scotland did not lose its liberties; but Mary continued to be unfortunate. James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Langside, obtained his liberty and life; but his estates were forfeited.—His wife, the heiress of Woodhoullie, retired on this emergency to her paternal inheritance, in the hope that it might escape the rapacity of the regent. He had, however, given it away to one of his favourites, Sir James Ballenden; and the instruments of his power having the inhumanity to strip her of her garments, and to turn her naked out of her house, in a cold and dark night, she became disfigured before the morning. Hamilton vowed revenge; and the regent made a mockery of his threats. This contempt infuriated his passions; and the humiliation of the house of Hamilton, to which he was nearly allied, fostered the eagerness of his discontentments. The madness of party added fuel to his rage. His mind became reconciled to assassination. After watching for some time a proper opportunity to perpetrate his horrid purpose, he found it at Linlithgow. The regent was to pass through this town on his way from Stirling to Edinburgh. Intimation reached him that Hamilton was now to perpetrate his design; and he unaccountably slighted the intelligence. The assassin, in a house that belonged to the archbishop of St Andrew's, waited deliberately his approach; and firing his musket from a window, shot him through the body. The wound, when examined, was not judged to be mortal; but the regent finding its pain to increase, prepared himself for death; and in a few hours after he expired. A fleet horse of the abbot of Arbroath carried the assassin to the palace of Hamilton; and thence he soon after effected his escape to France.

The death of the earl of Murray made no favourable alteration in the affairs of Mary. Confusion and disorder prevailed throughout the kingdom; and though the friends of the queen were promised assistance from France, nothing effectual was done for them. At last the regency was conferred on the earl of Lennox; an enemy to the queen, who treated her friends with the utmost rigour. At the same time Elizabeth continued to amuse with negotiations her unhappy rival. She granted liberty to the bishop of Roos to repair to the queen of Scots, who had been removed to Chatsworth, and to confer with her on the subject of the intended treaty. Mary, conforming to the advances of Elizabeth, authorized the lord Levington to pass to her dominions, and desire her friends to appoint a deputation of their number to give their assistance in promoting the salutary purpose of establishing the tranquillity of their country: and after meeting with some interruptions on the English borders from the earl of Sussex, this nobleman successfully executed his commission. The queen's lords gave powers to ten nobles to act in a body, or by two of their number, in the intended negotiation: and a safe-conduct from Elizabeth allowed them to enter the English realm, and to remain in it during six months.

While the lord Levington was consulting the interests of Mary with her friends in Scotland, the bishop of Roos was making earnest suit with Elizabeth to proceed in the projected negociation. His solicitations were not ineffectual; and Sir William Cecil and Sir Walter Mildmay received the instructions of their ministers to wait on the queen of Scots at Chatsworth. The heads of accommodation which they proposed were explicit; and the rigour which they discovered towards the Scottish princes seemed to prove their sincerity. It was proposed, that a perfect amity should take place between the two queens; that all the treaties which had formerly been concluded by the two nations should receive an ample confirmation; that the queen of Scotland should ratify the treaty of Edinburgh, and forbear to advance any title or claim to the crown of England during the life of Elizabeth, or to the prejudice of the heirs of her body; that in case of foreign invasions, the two realms should mutually assist each other; that all foreign soldiers should be ordered to depart out of Scotland; that in future, strangers of the profession of arms should be prohibited from repairing to it, and from taking up their residence in any of its castles or houses of strength; that Mary should hold no correspondence, directly or indirectly, with any subject of England, without the permission of the English queen; that the earl of Northumberland, and the English rebels in Scotland, should be delivered up to Elizabeth; that redress should be given to the subjects of England for the spoils taken by them on the Scottish borders; that the murderers of the lord Darnley and the earl of Murray should be duly and effectually punished; that before the queen of Scots should be set at liberty, the young prince her son should be brought into England, and that he should continue in the keeping of Elizabeth till the death of his mother, or till her resignation to him of her crown on his attaining majority; that the queen of Scots should not enter into a negociation for her marriage without the knowledge of the queen of England, nor conclude it without her approbation, or that of the greatest part of the Scottish nobility; that none of the subjects of Scotland should be suffered to go to Ireland without the safe-conduct of Elizabeth; and that Mary should deliver to her sister all the testimonies and writings which had been sent from France, renouncing and disavowing the pretended marriage between her and the duke of Anjou. Besides these articles of agreement, it was proposed by another treaty to adjust the differences of the queen of Scots and her subjects; and Sir William Cecil and Sir Walter Mildmay embraced the present opportunity of conferring with her on this business, under pretence of facilitating its management in the future stages of its progress.

During their stay at Chatsworth, these statesmen were completely satisfied with the behaviour of the queen of Scots. The candour, sincerity, and moderation, which she displayed, were full assurances to them that on her part there was no occasion for apprehending any improper policy or art; and the calamities of her condition were a still more secure pledge of her compliance. Elizabeth, on hearing their report, affected to be highly pleased with her sister, and sent a message to the earl of Lennox, instructing him in the conditions which had been submitted to Mary; and desiring him to dispatch commissioners into England to deliberate on the treaty, and to consult his interest and that of his faction. Nor did Mary neglect to transmit to her friends in Scotland the proposed terms of agreement; and the bishop of Roos, who had assisted her in the conferences with Sir William Cecil and Sir Walter Mildmay, conveyed intimations of them to the pope, the king of France, and the duke of Alva; besought their advice, and informed these princes, that unless an efficacious relief could be expected from their favour, the necessities of her condition would compel her to subscribe to the hard and humiliating dictates of the queen of England.

But while Mary and her friends were indulging the hope of a termination to her troubles, Elizabeth was secretly giving comfort to her adversaries, and encouraging them to throw obstacles in the way of the treaty. Sir William Cecil wrote to the regent, expressing his disapprobation of the negotiations at Chatsworth; deferring him not to be apprehensive of the beatings of the adherents of the queen of Scots; and advising him to make choice of commissioners, in the name of the king, on whose constancy and fortitude he could rely, and whom no address could allure from his interest, or from the common cause in which he and his friends were embarked. The earl of Suffolk also sent him dispatches, in which he admonished him to turn his anxious attention to the approaching negociation, and to insist on secure stipulations for the preservation of the prince, for his own safety, and for a general indemnity to the nobles and their adherents, whose party he had espoused. In every event, he represented it as proper for him to pay the greatest respect to Elizabeth; and, if no treaty should be concluded, he advised him to be prepared for reducing the friends of Mary to obedience, and for defending himself against invasions from abroad. By these artifices, the regent and his faction were inclined to intimate to Elizabeth their warm dissatisfaction with the terms of agreement which she had proposed to Mary; and Pitcairn abbot of Dunfermline, who had been appointed secretary of state in the room of Maitland of Lethington, was deputed to her on this business. He exclaimed against the treaty as wild and impolitic; and contended, that no stipulations could bind Mary, whose religion taught her to keep no faith with heretics; that her claims to the English crown, and her resentment against the queen of England, as well as her own subjects, would immediately on her restoration, involve the two kingdoms in blood; and that no peace or quiet could be expected or enjoyed, but by adhering to the salutary maxim of detaining her in close captivity. Elizabeth did not discourage these inclement sentiments; and Pitcairn was assured by her, that from her natural love to the king, and her regard to the nobles who upheld his authority, she would faithfully provide for their security; and that if justice should appear on their side, she would even strenuously maintain their quarrel and their consequence.

Mary had been carried to Sheffield, and was recovering from a feverish indisposition. To this place the bishop of Galloway and the lord Levington, who had been selected by her friends to be her acting deputies in England, repaired in order to impart to her the state of affairs in Scotland, and to receive her commands. After repeated conferences on the subject of the approaching treaty, she gave them her commission and instructions, and joining them to the bishop of Roos, sent them to Elizabeth. They requested an audience of this princess, and were admitted to it at Hampton-court. Having presented their credentials, they informed her, that they were ready to conclude a treaty of concord and agreement, on principles the most extensive and liberal; and, representing to her the impoverished and tumultuous state of their country, they begged her to proceed in the business with expedition. The orders, they said, which they had received, and their own inclinations, disposed them to follow her advice and counsel in all points which were honourable and consistent with reason; and as her protection was the only refuge of the adversaries of their queen, they took the liberty of observing, that it was completely in her power to put a period to all disturbances and animosity, and to accomplish an accord, which would not only confer on her the highest reputation, but be of the most signal utility to the two kingdoms. Elizabeth declared, that it would please and flatter her in no common degree to advance in the negociation; and that it was painful to her that the regent, by his delay in sending commissioners, should discover any aversion to it. This answer was deemed very favourable by the bishop of Roos and his associates; and they obtained her authority to dispatch a messenger to the regent to hasten his operations.

In the mean time, Mary received dispatches from the pope, the king of France, and the duke of Alva; and they concurred in recommending it to her to accept the articles of accommodation which were offered by Elizabeth. The Turks were giving employment to the accom- pope and the king of Spain; Charles IX., already enfeebled by the obstinate valour of the Huguenots, was busy in deceiving them with appearances of peace, and in plotting their overthrow; and the duke of Alva felt himself insecure in his government of the Netherlands. But while they strongly advised Mary to conclude an agreement with the queen of England, they were yet lavish to her of their expressions of a constant amity; and if the treaty should miscarry, they promised to make the most strenuous exertions in her behalf, and to assist her adherents with money, ammunition, and troops.

The earl of Morton, the abbot of Dunfermline, and Mr James Macgill, had been appointed by the regent and his faction to be their commissioners in the name of the king; and at length their arrival was announced to Elizabeth. Conforming to the spirit of their party, the earl of Morton and his colleagues took an early opportunity of justifying to her the deposition of the queen of Scots, and by this means to interrupt the progress of the treaty. In an elaborate memorial, they affected to consider Mary as unworthy to reign, and asserted the constitutional power of the people to curb her ambition, and to degrade her from royalty. They endeavoured to intrench themselves within the authority of laws, civil, canon, and municipal; and they recited opinions to her prejudice by many pious divines. But though the general position, that the people have a title to refuse the domination of the sovereign is clear and undoubted; yet their application of it to the queen of Scots was improper. To speak of her tyranny, and her violation of the rights of her people, was even a wanton mockery of truth and justice; for instead of having assumed an illegal exorbitancy of power, she had suffered in her own person and rights, and had been treated by her subjects with the most cruel and tyrannical insolence. Elizabeth, who was unwilling and afraid to enter again into the conduct of Mary, who was fully sensible of the insolence of her adversaries, and who did not approve of any maxims that pressed against the majesty of princes, received received their memorial with surprise and indignation. She perceived not, she told them, any reason that could vindicate the severity which had been shown to the queen of Scots by her enemies; and advised them to consider, that in the present negotiation it was their proper business to consult the security of the king and of their party.

On the part of Elizabeth, the commissioners were the lord keeper Bacon, the earls of Suffolk and Leicester, the lord Clynton, the lord chamberlain, Sir William Cecil, who about this time was created Lord Burleigh, Sir Francis Knollys, Sir James Croft, Sir Water Mildmay, and Sir Thomas Smith. The deputies of Mary were invited to meet the English commissioners in the house of the lord keeper; and after he had stated the general purposes of the treaty, he intimated to them, that there were two points which required a particular discussion. A proper security, he said, ought to be given by the queen of Scots for her due performance of the stipulations of the agreement with Elizabeth; and it was expedient to concert the mode of the pardon and indemnity which she was to extend to the subjects of Scotland who had offended her. As an assurance of the accommodation with his mistress, he demanded, that the duke of Chatelherault, the earls of Huntly and Argyle, the lords Hume and Herries, with another person of high rank, should be surrendered to her, and remain in England for three years; that the cattle of Dumbarton and Hume should be in her possession during the same period; and as to the article concerning the delivery of the prince into her custody, he observed, that it should be required from the regent, the queen of Scots not having the power of its performance. The deputies of Mary, surprised with this language, intreated the English delegates to reflect, that their queen, if deprived of the most faithful of her nobles, and of her strongest forts, could have little desire or ambition to return to her own kingdom; for she would thus be unable to protect herself against the turbulence of her subjects, and be a sovereign without friends, and without strength. They were inclined, they said, to put their commission and powers to the fullest stretch, in order to gratify Elizabeth; and they would agree, that two earls and two barons should be surrendered for two years, as hostages of the fidelity of their sovereign; under the restriction, that they might be exchanged every six months for persons of an equal condition, if they should be desirous of returning to their own country. As to the giving up of any forts or cattle, they would not agree to it, because among the other inconveniences of this measure, similar claims might be made by the king of France, by the spirit of the treaty of Edinburgh, which stipulated, that no French or English troops should be admitted into Scotland. The lord keeper Bacon, resuming his discourse, told them, that the whole realm of Scotland, its prince, nobles, and cattle, were an inadequate pledge to the queen of England; and that, if his advice should be followed, the queen of Scots would not obtain her liberty on any kind of security which could be granted by the Scottish nation. In all public treaties, said the deputies of Mary, no further assurance can be required from a sovereign than what confits with his safety; and when exactions are pressed from a contracting party in a league which are ruinous and impossible, it is understood that a foundation is sought to break off the negotiation. The English commissioners, now interfering in a body, declared on their honour, that it was the meaning of Elizabeth to agree to the restoration of the queen of Scots to her crown and realm on receiving sufficient assurances for the articles of the accommodation; that the security offered for her acceptance should be submitted to her deliberation; and that they would immediately proceed to confer with the deputies from the king of Scots.

The English commissioners were not unacquainted with the sentiments of the earl of Morton and his colleagues; and it was from this quarter that they expected a reluctant and definitive interruption to the treaty. Nor did these delegates disappoint the expectations conceived of them. After affecting to take a comprehensive view of the articles under debate, they declared, that their commission gave them authority to treat about the amity of the two kingdoms, and the maintenance of the true religion; but that it conferred on them no power to receive their queen into Scotland, or to surrender to Elizabeth the person of their king. They therefore begged not to be urged to accede to a league which, at some future period, might expose them to a charge of high treason.

This singular declaration was considered to be solid Elizabeth and weighty by the English commissioners; and, in an obstructive new conference, it was communicated by them to the deputies of Mary. The bishop of Roos and his associates were disgusted with this formal impertinence. They did not hesitate to pronounce the plea of an insufficient commission from the king to his delegates to be an unworthy and most frivolous subterfuge. The authors, they said, of the deposition of their sovereign did not need any authority but their own to fet her at liberty; the prince was not yet five years of age, and could give them no instructions; and the regent was wholly dependent on the will and pleasure of the queen of England. It was represented in return by the English delegates, that the commission of King James to his deputies, having been perused by Elizabeth, was accounted by her to be insufficient; and that it was her opinion, that the earl of Morton should return to Scotland to hold a parliament for obtaining new powers. The bishop of Roos exclaimed, that the queen of Scots had been amused with deceitful promises, that the prudence of Elizabeth had been corrupted by partial counsels, and that the allegations and pretences held out for interrupting the negotiation were affected and unreal. The instructions, he said, from his sovereign to her commissioners, were to negotiate and to conclude, and not to trifle; and they would not by any means consent to protract, by artificial delays, a treaty which the queen of England, if her intentions were sincere and right, could immediately terminate on reasonable and honourable terms. His speech and his demeanour he acknowledged to be free and open; and he besought them to excuse him, since, having been made an instrument to abuse his mistress with false hopes, he could not but resent the indignity, and express what he knew and what he felt. The English deputies, addressing him and his colleagues, observed, that as the friends of Mary, and those of the king her son, could not come to an agreement, and as their queen was refused Scotland. Fused the assurance she expected, they held their commission to be at an end, and were no longer at liberty to negotiate.

The infidelity of Elizabeth, and the failure of the league or agreement, filled Mary with resentment and complaints. Her animosities, and those of Elizabeth, were increased. She was in haste to communicate to her allies the unworthy treatment she had received; and she sent her commands to her adherents in Scotland to rise in arms, to repose no trust in truces which were prejudicial and treacherous, and to employ all their resources and strength in the humiliation of the regent and his faction. Elizabeth, who by this time apprehended no enterprise or danger from Charles IX. or the duke of Alva, resolved, on the other hand, to give a strong and effectual support to James's friends, and to disunite by stratagem, and oppress by power, the partizans of the Scottish princes. The zeal of the bishop of Roos having raised her anger, she commanded him to depart from London; and Mary, in contempt of her mandate, ordered him to remain there under the privilege of her ambassador. The high and unbroken spirit of the Scottish queen, in the midst of her misfortunes, never once awakened the generous admiration of Elizabeth. While it uniformly inflamed her rage, it seems also to have excited her terror. With a pusillanimous manner, she sent a dispatch to the earl of Shrewsbury, instructing him to keep his charge in the closest confinement, and to be incessantly on his guard to prevent her escape. He obeyed, and regretted her severity. The expense, revenue, and domestics, of the queen of Scots, were diminished and reduced, and every probable means by which she might endeavour to obtain her liberty were removed from her. The rigours, however, that invaded her person could not reach her mind; and she pitied the tyrant that could add contumely to oppression, and deny her even the comforts of a prison.

All this time Scotland was involved in the miseries of civil war. The friends of Mary were everywhere punished with fines and forfeiture. Private families took the opportunity of the public confusion to revenge their quarrels against each other. Individuals of every denomination ranged themselves on the side either of the regent or of the queen, and took a share in the hostilities of their country. Fathers divided against sons, and sons against their fathers. Acts of outrage and violence were committed in every quarter, while, amidst the general confusion, religion was made the pretence by both parties.

In the mean time, though many encounters took place between the two factions, yet neither party seems to have been conducted by leaders of any skill in military affairs. This year, in one of these skirmishes, the regent himself was taken prisoner by a party of the queen's faction, and put to death. But this event made little alteration in the affairs of the nation. The earl of Mar, another of the queen's enemies, was chosen to the regency; but though he proposed to act against her party with rigour, he was baffled before Edinburgh castle, which was still held by her friends; and some bloody skirmishes were fought in the north, where victory declared in favour of the queen. These advantages, however, were more than compensated to the other party by the following event.

While the negotiations with Elizabeth for Mary's restoration were depending, the scheme of a conspiracy for her deliverance was communicated to her by Robert Ridolphi a Florentine, who lived in London for many years as a merchant, and who was secretly an agent for the court of Rome. But to his letters, while the fate of the treaty was uncertain, she returned no reply. Its miscarriage, through the duplicity of Elizabeth, recalled them forcibly to her attention, and stimulated her to seek the accomplishment of her liberty by measures bolder and more arduous than any which she had hitherto employed. She drew up in cipher an ample discourse of his communications and of her situation, and dispatched it to the bishop of Roos, together with letters for the duke of Norfolk. Her instructions to this ecclesiastic were to convey the discourse and letters expeditiously to Norfolk, and to concert an interview between that nobleman and Ridolphi. The confidential servants by whom the duke acted with the bishop of Roos were Bannister and Barker; and having received from them the discourse and the letters, they were deciphered by Hickford his secretary. Having considered them maturely, he delivered them to Hickford, with orders to commit them to the flames. His orders, however, were disobeyed; and Hickford deposited them, with other papers of consequence, under the mats of the duke's bedchamber. The contents of the discourse and the letters awakening the hope and ambition of Norfolk, he was impatient to see Ridolphi; and the bishop of Roos soon brought them together. Ridolphi, whose ability was excited by motives of religion and interest, exerted all his eloquence and address to engage the duke to put himself at the head of a rebellion against his sovereign. He represented to him, that there could not be a season more proper than the present for achieving the overthrow of Elizabeth. Many persons who had enjoyed authority and credit under her predecessors were much disgusted; the Catholics were numerous and incensed; the younger sons of the gentry were languishing in poverty and inaction in every quarter of the kingdom; and there were multitudes disposed to insurrection from reflection, the love of change, and the ardour of enterprise. He intimated that his rank, popularity, and fortune, enabled him to take the command of such persons with infinite advantage. He insisted on his imprisonment and the outrages he had sustained from Elizabeth; represented the contempt to which he would expose himself by a tame submission to these wrongs; extolled the propriety with which he might give way to his indignation and revenge; and pointed out the glory he might purchase by the humiliation of the enemies, and by the full accomplishment of his marriage with the queen of Scots. To give strength and confirmation to these topics he produced a long list of the names of noblemen and gentlemen with whom he had practised, and whom he affirmed to be ready to hazard their lives and riches for a revolution in the state, if the duke would enter into it with cordiality. To fix decisively the duke, he now opened to him the expectations with which he might flatter himself from abroad. The pope, he assured him, had already provided 100,000 crowns for the enterprise; and if Popery should be advanced in England, he would cheerfully defray the whole charges of the war. The king of Spain would supply 4000 horse and 6000 foot, which might be landed at Harwich. Charles IX. was devotedly attached to the queen of Scots, notwithstanding the treaty which had been enter- ed into with Elizabeth for her marriage with his brother the duke of Anjou: and when he should discover that, on the part of the English princes, this matrimonial scheme was no better than a device or a mockery, he would renounce the appearance of friendship which he had assumed, and return to his natural sentiments, of disdain and hatred, with redoubled violence. In fine, he urged, that while he might depend on the affiance and arms of the greatest princes of Christendom, he would intitle himself to the admiration of all of them by his magnanimous efforts and generous gallantry in the cause of a queen so beautiful and so unfortunate.

The duke of Norfolk, allured by appearances so plausible and flattering, did not scruple to forget the duties of a subject, and the submissive obligation in which he had bound himself to Elizabeth never more to interfere in the affairs of the Scottish princes. Ridolphi, in this forward state of the business, advised him to address letters to the pope, the king of Spain, and the duke of Alva, expressive of his concurrence in the design, and exciting their activity and resolution. He even produced dispatches framed for this purpose; and while he intreated the duke to subscribe them, he offered to carry them himself to Flanders, Rome, and Spain. The duke of Norfolk, who was ambitious and timid, disposed to treason, and unfit for it, hesitated whether he should subscribe the letters; and at length refused to proceed to that extremity. He yet allowed the bishop of Rois, and Barker his servant, to go to the Spanish ambassador to express his approbation of the measures of Ridolphi, to acknowledge that the letters were according to his mind, and to empower this statesman to certify their authenticity to his court. Ridolphi, full of hopes, set out to execute his commission. He passed first to the duke of Alva, to whom he communicated the transactions in which he had been engaged, and with whom he held many conferences. There was at this time at Bruges Charles Bailly, a servant of the queen of Scots; and Ridolphi, after disclosing to him his proceedings with Alva, entrusted him with letters to her, to the duke of Norfolk, the Spanish ambassador, and the bishop of Rois. When this messenger reached Calais, a letter was delivered to him from the bishop of Rois, desiring him to leave his dispatches with the governor of that place. From inexperience and vanity he neglected this notice; and being searched at Dover, his letters, books, and clothes, were seized, and he himself sent to London, and imprisoned in the Marshalsea. The bishop of Rois, full of apprehensions, applied to Lord Cobham, the warden of the cinque ports, who was friendly to the duke of Norfolk; and obtaining by his means the packet of dispatches from Ridolphi, he substituted another in its place, which contained letters of no danger or usefulness. He had also the dexterity to convey intelligence of this trick to Bailly, and to admonish him to preserve a profound silence, and not to be afraid. This simple and unpractised agent had, however, excited suspicions by the symptoms of terror he had exhibited on being taken, and by exclaiming, that the dispatches he brought would involve his own destruction and that of others. At his first examination he confessed nothing; but being sent to the Tower, and put on the rack, he revealed his conversations with Ridolphi, and declared, that the dispatches which he had brought had been delivered to the bishop of Rois. An order was granted for taking the bishop into custody. Having been aware, however, of his perilous situation, his house was searched in vain for treasonable papers; and he thought to screen himself from answering any interrogatories under the sanctity of his character as the ambassador of an independent prince.

An unexpected incident excited, in the meantime, the duke's new suspicions and alarms. Mary, being desirous of transmitting 2000 crowns to the lord Herries to advance her interests in Scotland, the duke of Norfolk hence undertook to convey it to him with safety. He intrusted himself to the charge of his confidants Hickford and Barker, who putting it into a bag with dispatches from their master to Lord Herries, ordered a servant called Brown to carry it to Bannister; who, being at this time on the border could forward it to Scotland. Brown, suspicious or corrupted, instead of proceeding on his errand, carried the bag and its contents to Sir William Cecil, now Lord Burleigh. The privy-council, deeming it treason to send money out of the realm for the use of the friends of Mary, whom they affected to consider as enemies, ordered Hickford and Barker to be apprehended. The rack extorted from them whatever they knew to the prejudice of their master. Hickford gave intelligence of the fatal discovery and the letters from Mary, which he had preserved in opposition to the orders given to him. All the proceedings between the queen of Scots, the duke of Norfolk, the bishop of Rois, and Ridolphi, were brought to light. A guard was placed on the house of the duke of Norfolk, in order to prevent his escape. Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Henry Nevil, and Dr Willson, were commissioned to examine him; and being impressed with the belief that the discovery and the letters had been destroyed, he positively denied that he had any concern in the affairs of the queen of Scots, or any knowledge of them whatever. He was committed to the Tower a close prisoner. Bannister by this time was taken; and he confirmed the relations of Hickford and Barker. In the course of their discoveries, there appeared reasons of suspicion against many persons of rank and distinction. The earls of Arundel and Southampton, the lord Cobham, Mr Thomas Cobham his brother, Sir Thomas Stanley, Sir Henry Percy, and other gentlemen who were friendly to the queen of Scots and the duke of Norfolk, were ordered to be lodged in different prisons; and the rack, and the expectation of a pardon, drew from them the fullest confessions. The duke was altogether unable to defend himself. The concurring testimonies of his friends and servants, with the discovery and the letters, which he fondly imagined had been committed to the flames, were communicated to him. He was overwhelmed with amazement and distress; and exclaimed, that he had been betrayed and undone. He made ample acknowledgments of his guilt, and had no foundation of hope but in the mercy of his sovereign.

By the confession of the duke himself, and from all the inquiries which had been made by the ministers of Elizabeth, it appeared obvious beyond a doubt, that the bishop of Rois had been the principal contriver of the conspiracy. Ridolphi had acted under his direction, and he had excited the duke of Norfolk. He had even proceeded to the extremity of advising that nobleman Lely. Scotland. man to put himself at the head of a select band of adherents, and to feign boldly the person of Elizabeth. In his examinations he was treated with great rigour and insult. But he made an able defence, and permanently refused to make any answer to interrogatories. The counsellors of Elizabeth were disturbed with his obstinacy; and having certified him, that the rack would soon render him morepliant, he was ordered into close confinement in a dark apartment of the Tower. When he had remained a few days in this melancholy situation, four privy-counsellors, the lord-admiral, the lord Burleigh, Sir Francis Knollys, and Sir Thomas Smith, went to the Tower, and caused him to be brought to them to the lieutenant's lodging. After having assured him that he was charged by all the prisoners as the principal contriver of the conspiracy, they insisted, in the name of their sovereign, that he should explain fully the part he had acted. The confessions of the duke of Norfolk and his servants, of the lord Lumley, Sir Thomas Stanley, and other gentlemen, with the discourse and dispatches of the queen of Scots, were set before him. They now protested on their honour, that if he would make a free and open declaration of his proceedings, it should be employed neither against himself, nor against any other person; but that if he should continue to be reluctant in refusing to give this satisfaction to their queen, who was anxious to search the matter to the bottom, they were instructed to let him know, that she would absolutely consider him as a private person, and order him to be tried and executed as a traitor. In this extremity he accepted the conditions held out to him, and disclosed minutely all the transactions of the principal parties in the conspiracy. But while he described the offences of his ministers, the duke of Norfolk, and himself, he could not avoid to lessen their blame by apologies. It was natural, he said, for the queen of Scots to exert the most strenuous endeavours in her power to recover her freedom and crown; and the methods she adopted to obtain her purposes ought to be considered in connection with the arts of Elizabeth, who persistently denied her access to her presence, who kept her a close prisoner in contempt of all the principles of humanity and justice, and who afforded an open and powerful assistance to her enemies. The duke of Norfolk he was earnestly excused on the foundation of the advances which had been made towards his marriage with the queen of Scots. Their plighted love, and their engagements, did not allow him to forsake her. As for himself, he was her ambassador and her servant; and being highly indebted to her generosity and kindness, he could not abandon her in captivity and distress without incurring the guilt of the most sinful treachery and ingratitude. The daring proposal he had made to seize the person of Elizabeth was the point, he observed, which seemed to press on him the most severely; and he intreated them to believe, that he had moved it only with the view of trying the courage of the duke of Norfolk.—The privy-counsellors of Elizabeth were now in possession of all the evidence they could expect in this important business. Norfolk was admonished to prepare for his trial; and Bishop Lely perceived, that though he might escape with his life, he would never more be permitted to reside in England, and to act there as the ambassador, the minister, and the friend of the queen of Scots.

The defeat of the duke of Norfolk's conspiracy was a blow to Mary which she never recovered. Her most faithful friends were languishing in prisons on her account; she had no longer the counsels of the bishop of Ross; and the Spanish ambassador, who had entered into the further concerns with an unscrupulous cordiality, had been ordered to withdraw from England. The trial and condemnation of Norfolk soon followed, and plunged her into the most calamitous distress.

The massacre of the Protestants at Paris in 1572 proved also extremely detrimental to her. It was interpreted to be a consequence of the confederacy which had been formed at Bayonne for the extermination of the reformed. The Protestants were everywhere transported with rage against the Papists. Elizabeth prepared herself against an attack from the Catholic powers; and was haunted with the notion that they meant to invade her kingdom, and to give it to the queen of Scots. Her ambassador at Paris, Sir Francis Walsingham, augmented her apprehensions and terror. He compared her weaknesses with the strength of her enemies, and assured her that if they should possess themselves of Scotland, she would soon cease to be a queen. He represented Mary as the great cause of the perils that threatened her personal safety and the tranquillity of her kingdom; and as violent diseases required violent remedies, he scrupled not to counsel her to unite Scotland to her dominions, and to put to death a rival whose life was inconsistent with her security. The more bigotted Protestants of Scotland differed not very widely in their sentiments from Sir Francis Walsingham; while such of them as were more moderate were still more attached to their religion than to Mary; and amidst the indignation and horror into which the subjects of Scotland were thrown by the sanguinary outrages of Charles IX. and Catharine de Medici, they surveyed the sufferings of their sovereign with a diminished sympathy.

This year the regent, finding himself beset with difficulties which he could not overcome, and the affairs of the nation involved in confusion from which he could not extricate them, died of melancholy, and was succeeded by the earl of Morton.

During the regency of the earl of Mar, a remarkable innovation took place in the church, which deserves to be particularly explained, being no less than the introduction of Episcopacy instead of the Presbyterian form of worship. While the earl of Lennox was regent, the archbishop of St Andrew's was put to death, because he was strongly suspected of having had a concern in the death of the earl of Murray; after which the earl of Morton procured a grant of the temporalities of that see. Out of these he allotted a stipend to Mr John Douglas, a Protestant clergyman, who assumed the title of archbishop. This violence excited censure and murmurs. In the language of the times, it was pronounced to be a profanation of the kirk, and a high contempt of God; and it underwent the scrutiny of the ministry in applications and complaints to the regent. The matter was doubted of too much importance to be overlooked; and a commission of privy-counsellors and clergymen was appointed in the name of the king to inquire into it, and to reform and improve the policy of the church. This commission, on the part of the privy-council, consisted of the earl of Morton, the lord Ruthven, Scotland, ven, Robert abbot of Dunfermline, Mr James Macgill, Sir John Ballenden, and Colin Campbell of Glenorchie; and on the part of the church there were named John Erskine of Dun, and Mr John Winram, Mr Hay, Mr Lindsay, Mr Pont, and Mr John Craig. The consultations and debates were long; and the influence and management of the earl of Morton directed their determinations. It was resolved, that till the majority of the king, or till the wisdom of the three estates should be consulted, the titles of archbishop and bishop should continue as in the times which preceded the reformation; and that a chapter of learned ministers should be annexed to every metropolitan or cathedral seat. It was determined that the fees, as they became vacant, should be given to those of the Protestant ministry who were most eminent for their qualifications; that the archbishops and bishops should exercise no higher jurisdiction than what was permitted to superintendants; and that they should be subject to the control of the general assemblies of the church. It was agreed, that all abbots, priors, and other inferior prelates presented to benefices, should be examined by the bishop or superintendent of the diocese or presbytery where the preferment was situated; and that their fitness to represent the church in parliament should be duly inquired into. It was judged that the king and the regent should recommend qualified persons to vacant bishoprics, and that the elections of them should be made by the chapters of the respective cathedrals. It was ordered that all benefices with cure under prelacies should be disposed of only to officiating ministers; that every minister should receive ordination from the bishop of the diocese, or the superintendent of the province; and that the bishops and superintendants, on the ordination of ministers, should exact an oath from them to recognize the authority of the king, and to pay canonical obedience to their ordinary in all things that were lawful.

By these artful regulations the earl of Morton did not mean solely to consult his own rapacity or that of the nobles. The exaltation of the Protestant church to be one of the three estates was a consequence of them; and the clergy being the strenuous enemies of Mary, he might by their means secure a decided influence in parliament. The earl of Mar, as regent, giving his sanction to the proceedings of the commission, they were carried into effect. The delusive expectation of wealth, which this revival of Episcopacy held out to the ministry, was flattering to them; and they bore with tolerable patience this severe blow that was struck against the religious policy of Geneva. Mr John Douglas was desired to give a specimen of his gifts in preaching; and his election took effect, notwithstanding the opposition that was made to it by John Knox and other ecclesiastics, who stood up for the rules and forms which had been established at the reformation. He was inaugurated in his office by the bishop of Caithness, Mr John Spottwood superintendent of Lothian, and Mr David Lindsay, who, violating the book of discipline, communicated to him his character and admission by the imposition of hands. This was a singular triumph to Episcopacy; and the exaltation of Douglas included other peculiarities remarkable and offensive. He denied that he had made any simoniacal agreement with the earl of Morton; yet it was known that the revenues of the archbishopric were almost wholly engrossed by that nobleman. He had promised to resign, upon his installation, the office of rector which he held in the university of St Andrew's; yet he refused to execute this engagement. He was in a very advanced age; and his mental qualifications, which had never been eminent, were in a state of decay.

A general assembly, which was held at St Andrew's, considering the high moment of the new regulations introduced into the church, appointed commissioners to go to John Knox, who was at this time indisposed, and to consult with him deliberately in his house, whether they were agreeable to the word of God. But from the arts of the nobles, or from the sicknesses of Knox, it happened that this conference was not carried into effect. In a general assembly, however, which met at Perth, the new polity was reported and examined. The names of archbishop, dean, archdeacon, chancellor, and chapter, were excepted against as Popish distinctions, and as dangerous to the ears of pious Christians. A wish was expressed that they might be exchanged for titles less profane and superstitious; and an unanimous protestation was made, that the new polity was merely a temporary expedient, and should only continue till a more perfect order should be obtained from the king, the regent, and the nobility. This tolerating revolution left the new polity in its full force; and a colourable foundation was now established for the laity to partake in the profits of bishoprics. The simoniacal pacton of Morton and Douglas was not long a matter of singularity. Mr James Boyd was appointed to the archbishopric of Glasgow, Mr James Paton to the bishopric of Dunkeld, and Mr Andrew Graham to the see of Dumbarton; and these compromising ecclesiastics, on being allowed competencies to themselves, gratified their noble friends with the greatest proportion of their revenues. The virtue of the common people approved not this spirit of traffic; and the bishops of the new polity were treated openly with reproach or with ridicule.

The year 1572 is also remarkable for the death of John Knox, whose mistaken zeal had contributed not a little to bring on the queen those misfortunes with which she was now oppressed. Neither by his death, however, nor by the change of the regency, could she now be relieved. The earl of Morton was so much devoted to Elizabeth, that he received particular instructions from her how to govern the young king. His elevation, indeed, gave the finishing stroke to the queen's affairs. He employed himself with success in dividing her party among themselves, and by his means the duke of Chatelherault and the earl of Huntly were induced to forswear Mary. As for Elizabeth, she was bent on putting Mary to death; but as no crime could be alleged against her in England, she thought it proper that she should be carried back to suffer death in her own dominions. This proposal, however, was rejected; and the friends who remained true to Mary once more began to indulge themselves in hopes of succours from France. New misfortunes, however, awaited them.—The castle of Edinburgh, which had hitherto been held for the queen by Kirkaldy of Grange, was obliged to surrender to an English army commanded by Sir William Drury. Kirkaldy was solemnly assured by the English commander of his life and liberty; but Elizabeth violated this capitulation, and commanded him to be delivered up to the regent. A hundred of his relations offered to be come vassals to Morton, and to pay him 3000 merks yearly, if he would spare his life; but in vain: Kirkaldy and his brother Sir James were hanged at Edinburgh. Maitland of Lethington, who was taken at the same time, was poisoned in the prison house of Leith.

The jealousy of Elizabeth did not diminish with the decline of Mary's cause. She now treated her with more rigour than ever, and patronized Morton in all the enormities which he committed against her friends. Leslie bishop of Rothes had been long imprisoned in England, on account of his concern in the duke of Norfolk's conspiracy. Morton earnestly solicited the queen to deliver him up, and would undoubtedly have put him to death; but as he had acted in the character of ambassador from Mary, this was judged impolitic, and the prelate was suffered to depart for France. When he arrived there, he endeavoured in vain to stir up the emperor, the pope, and the duke of Alva, to exert themselves in behalf of the queen of Scotland; and, in 1574, the misfortunes of his royal mistress were farther aggravated by the death of Charles IX., of France, and her uncle the cardinal of Lorraine. The regent, in the meantime, ruled with the most despotic sway. He twice coined base money in the name of his sovereign; and after putting it into circulation the second time, he issued orders for its passing only for its intrinsic value. The duke of Chatelherault happening to die this year, the regent took every method of ruining all those of his name and family. He committed to prison all the Hamiltons, and every person of distinction who had fought for the queen at the battle of Langside, and compelled them to buy their liberty at an exorbitant price. He instigated Douglas of Lochleven to assassinate Lord Arbroath, and it was with difficulty that the latter escaped the ambush that was laid for him. Reid, the bishop of Orkney, having left his estate to pious and charitable uses, the regent prohibited the execution of the will, and took himself the administration. To be rich was a sufficient crime to excite his vengeance. He entered the warehouses of merchants, and confiscated their property; and if he wanted a pretence to justify his conduct, the judges and lawyers were ready at his call.

In this disastrous period the clergy augmented the general confusion. Mr Andrew Melvil had lately returned from Geneva; and the discipline of its assembly being considered by him as the most perfect model of ecclesiastical policy, he was infinitely offended with the introduction of Episcopacy into Scotland. His learning was considerable, and his skill in languages was profound. He was fond of disputation, hot, violent, and pertinacious. The Scottish clergy were in a humour to attend him; and his merit was sufficient to excite their admiration. Infatuated by his practices, John Drury, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, called in question, in a general assembly, the lawfulness of the bishops and the authority of chapters in electing them. Melvil, after commending his zeal and his motion, declaimed concerning the flourishing state of the establishment of Geneva; and having recited the opinions of Calvin and Beza on ecclesiastical government, maintained, that there should be no office-bearers in the church whose titles were not seen in the book of God. He affirmed, that the term bishop was nowhere to be found in it in the sense in which it was commonly understood, as Christ allowed not any superiority among ministers. He contended that Christ was the only lord of his church, and that the ministers of the word were all equal in degree and power. He urged, that the estate of the bishops, besides being unlawful, had grown unseemly with corruptions; and that if they were not removed out of the church, it would fall into decay, and endanger the interests of religion. His sentiments were received with approbation; and though the archbishop of Glasgow, with the bishops of Dunkeld, Galloway, Brechin, Dumbarton, and the Isles, were present in this assembly, they ventured not to defend their vocation. It was resolved, that the name of bishop conferred no distinction or rank; that the office was not more honourable than that of the other ministers; and that by the word of God their functions consisted in preaching, in administering the sacraments, and in exercising ecclesiastical discipline with the consent of the elders. The Episcopal estate, in the meantime, was watched with anxious care; and the faults and demerits of every kind, which were found in individuals, were charged on the order with rudeness and asperity. In a new assembly this subject was again canvassed. It was moved, whether bishops, as constituted in Scotland, had any authority for their functions from the Scriptures? After long debates, it was thought prudent to avoid an explicit determination of this important question. But a confirmation was bestowed on the resolution of the former assembly; and it was established as a rule, that every bishop should make choice of a particular church within his diocese, and should actually discharge the duties of a minister.

The regent, disturbed with these proceedings of the brethren, was disposed to amuse and to deceive them. He sent a messenger to advise them not to infringe and disfigure the established forms; and to admonish them, that if their aversion to Episcopacy was insurmountable, it would become them to think of some mode of ecclesiastical government to which they could adhere with constancy. The assembly taking advantage of this message, made a formal intimation to him, that they would diligently frame a lasting form of polity, and submit it to the privy-council. They appointed, accordingly, a committee of the brethren for this purpose. The business was too agreeable to be neglected; and in a short time Mr David Lindsay, Mr James Lawson, and Mr Robert Pont, were deputed to wait on the regent with a new scheme of ecclesiastical government. After reminding him, that he had been a notable instrument in purging the realm of Popery, and begging that he would consult with them on any of its articles which he thought improper or incomplete, they informed him, that they did not account it to be a perfect work, to which nothing could be added, of from which nothing could be taken away; for that they would alter and improve it, as the Almighty God might farther reveal his will unto them. The regent, taking from them their schedule, replied, that he would appoint certain persons of the privy-council to confer with them. A conference was even begun on the subject of their new establishment; but from his arts, or from the troubles of the times, no advances were made in it.

This earl the earl of Bothwell died in Denmark; and in his last moments, being stung with remorse, he confessed... Scotland confessed that he had been guilty of the king's murder, revealed the names of the persons who were his accomplices, and with the most solemn protestations declared the honour and innocence of the queen. His confession was transmitted to Elizabeth by the king of Denmark; but was suppressed by her with an anxious solicitude (x).

The regent still continued his enormities, till having rendered himself obnoxious to the best part of the nobility, he was, in 1577, compelled to resign his office into the hands of James VI.; but as his majesty was then only twelve years of age, a general council of twelve peers was appointed to assist him in the administration. Next year, however, the earl of Morton having found means to gain the favour of the young king, procured the dissolution of this council; and thus being left the sole adviser of the king, he hoped once more to be raised to his former greatness. This could not be done; however, without keeping the king in a kind of captivity, so that nobody could have access to him but himself. The king, sensible of his situation, sent a dispatch to the earls of Argyle and Athole, intreating them to relieve him. An army for this purpose was soon raised; and Morton's partisans were in danger of being defeated, had not the opposite party dreaded the vengeance of Elizabeth, who was resolved to support the earl of Morton. In consequence of this negotiation was entered into, by which it was agreed, that the earl of Argyll, with some others, should be admitted into the king's council; and that four noblemen should be chosen by each party to consider of some proper method of preserving tranquillity in the nation.

This pacification did not greatly diminish the power of Morton. He soon got rid of one of his principal antagonists, the earl of Athole, by poisoning him at an entertainment; after which he again gave a loafer to his resentments against the house of Hamilton, whom he persecuted in the most cruel manner. By these means, however, he drew on himself a general hatred; and he was supplanted in the king's favour by the lord d'Aubigny, who came from France in the year 1579, and was created earl of Lennox. The next year Morton was suspected of an intention to deliver up the king to Elizabeth, and a guard was appointed to prevent any attempts of this kind. The queen of England endeavoured to support her zealous partisan; but without effect. He was tried, condemned, and executed, as being concerned in the murder of Darnley. At the place of execution, it is said that he confessed his guilt; but of this the evidence is not quite satisfactory. It is however certain that he acknowledged himself privy to the plot formed against the life of the king; and when one of the clergymen attending him before his execution observed, that by his own confession he merited death in foreknowing and concealing the murder, he replied, "Ay but, Sir, had I been as innocent as St Stephen, or as guilty as Judas, I must have come to the scaffold. Pray, what ought I to have done in this matter? You knew not the king's weakness, Sir. If I had informed him of the plot against his life, he would have revealed it even to his enemies and those concerned in the design; and I would, it may be, have lost my own life, for endeavouring to preserve his to no purpose."

The elevation of King James, and the total overthrow of Morton, produced no beneficial consequences to the crown of Elizabeth Mary. In the year 1581, she addressed a letter to Castelnau the French ambassador, in which she complained that her body was so weak, and her limbs so feeble, that she was unable to walk. Castelnau therefore intreated Elizabeth to mitigate a little the rigours of Mary's confinement; which being refused, the latter had thoughts of resigning her claims to the crown both of England and Scotland into the hands of her son, and even of advising him to use every effort in his power to establish his claim to the English crown as preferable to that of Elizabeth. But being apprehensive of danger from this violent method, she again contented herself with sending to the court of England ineffectual memorials and remonstrances. Elizabeth, instead of taking compassion on her miserable situation, affluently encouraged every kind of disorder in the kingdom, on purpose to have the queen more and more in her power. Thus the Scottish malcontents finding themselves always supported, a conspiracy taken prisoner, was at last entered into, the design of which was to hold James in captivity, and to overthrow the authority of Arran and Lennox, who were now the principal persons in the kingdom. The chief actors in this conspiracy were the earls of Gowrie, Mar, and Glencairn, the lords Lindsay and Boyd, with the masters of Glamis and Oliphant. By reason of the youth and imbecility of the king, they easily accomplished their purpose; and having got him in their power, they promised him his liberty, provided he would command Lenox to depart out of the kingdom. This was accordingly done; but the king found himself as much a prisoner as before. The more effectually to detain him in custody, the rebels constrained him to issue a proclamation, wherein he declared himself to be at perfect liberty. Lenox was preparing to advance to the king's relief with a considerable body of forces, when he was disconcerted by the king's peremptory command to leave Scotland; on which he retired to Dumbarton, in order to wait for a more favourable opportunity. The earl of Arran being more forward, was committed to close custody for some time, but afterwards confined only in his house of Kinneil. The rebels took on them the title of "lords for the reformation of the state."

The clergy, who had all this time been exceedingly adverse to Episcopacy, now gave open countenance to approved the lords of the reformation. On the 13th of October 1582, they made a solemn act, by which the raid of Ruthven, as the capture of the king was called, was deemed a service most acceptable to all who feared God, respected

(x) Jebb, vol. ii., p. 227. It has never been published. Keith and other historians have preferred what they call the earl of Bothwell's declaration at his death, and account it to be genuine. Their partiality for Mary induced them the more easily to fall into this mistake. The paper they give is demonstratively a forgery; and the want of the real confession of Bothwell is still a deficiency in our history. respected the true religion, and were anxious for the preservation of the king and state; and every minister was commanded to declare from his pulpit on the expediency of this measure, and to exhort the people to concur with the lords in prosecuting the full deliverance of the church, and the perfect reformation of the commonwealth. Not satisfied with this approbation of the clergy, the conspirators got their proceedings approved by the states of Scotland, as "a good, a thankful, and a necessary service to the king." At the same time it was enacted, that no civil or criminal suit of any kind should ever be instituted against the persons concerned in it. Soon after this, Lenox took his leave of Scotland, and sailed for France, where he died.

The unfortunate Mary was driven to despair when she heard that her son was taken prisoner by rebels who had been instigated by Elizabeth. In this distress, she addressed a most spirited letter to Elizabeth, in which she at once asserted her own innocence, and set forth the conduct of Elizabeth herself in such language as must have put the most impudent of her adversaries to the blush. Elizabeth could not reply, and therefore had recourse to her usual arts of treacherous negotiation. New terms were proposed to Mary, who would gladly have submitted almost to anything, provided she could procure her freedom. It was proposed, as had often been done before, to associate the queen of Scots with her son in the government; but as this was to be referred to the king, who was in the hands of Elizabeth's friends, and to the parliament, who were under the power of the same faction, it is easy to see that no such association ever could take place, or indeed was ever intended.

After the death of Lenox, the conspirators apprehended no further danger, little supposing that a prince so young and inexperienced could deliver himself from captivity. This, however, in the year 1583, he effected in the following manner. A convention of the estates had been summoned to meet at St Andrew's. James, whom the earl of Arran, notwithstanding his confinement at Kinnell, had found means to instruct and advise, pretended a desire of visiting his grand-uncle the earl of March, who resided at St Andrew's, and was for that purpose permitted to repair thither a few days before the convention. The better to deceive the earls of Gowrie, Angus, and Mar, who attended him, he took up his lodgings in an old inn, which was quite open and defenceless. But having expressed a desire to see the castle of St Andrew's, he was admitted into it; and Colonel Stuart, who commanded the castle, after admitting a few of his retinue, ordered the gates to be shut. The earls of Argyle, Marischal, Montrose, and Rothes, who were in concert with the king, hastened to make him an offer of their swords. The opposite faction, being unprepared for hostilities, were filled with consternation. Of all the conspirators, the earl of Gowrie alone was admitted into the king's presence, by the favour of Colonel Stuart, and received his pardon. The earls of March, Argyle, Gowrie, Marischal, and Rothes, were appointed to be a council for assiting the king in the management of his affairs; and soon after this James set out for Edinburgh. The king no sooner found himself at liberty, than, by the advice of his privy council, he issued a proclamation of mercy to the conspirators; but they, flattering themselves with the hopes of support from Elizabeth, obstinately refused to accept his pardon. In consequence of this, they were denounced rebels. Elizabeth failed not to give them secretly all the encouragement she could, and the clergy uttered the most seditious discourses against the king and government; and while they railed against Popery, they themselves maintained openly the very characteristic and distinguishing mark of Popery, namely, that the clerical was entirely independent of the civil power.

At last the rebels broke forth into open hostilities; but by the vigilance of Arran, the earl of Gowrie, who Gowrie had again begun his treasonable practices, was committed to custody; while the rest, unable to oppose the king, who appeared against them with a formidable army, were obliged to fly into England, where Elizabeth, with her usual treachery, protected them.

The earl of Gowrie suffered as a traitor; but the severity exercised against him did not intimidate the clergy. They still continued their rebellious practices, until the king being informed that they were engaged in a correspondence with some of the fugitive lords, citations were given to their leaders to appear before the privy-council. The clergymen, not daring to appear, fled to England; and on the 20th of May 1584, the kings against summoned a convention of the estates, on purpose to humble the pride of the church in an effectual manner. In this assembly the raid of Ruthven was declared to be rebellion, according to a declaration which had formerly been made by the king. And, as it had grown into a custom with the promoters of sedition and the enemies of order, to decline the judgment of the king and the council, when called before them to answer for rebellious or contumelious speeches, uttered from the pulpit or in public places, an ordination was made, asserting that they had complete powers to judge concerning persons of every degree and function; and declaring, that every act of opposition to their jurisdiction should be accounted treason. It was enacted, that the authority of parliament, as constituted by the free votes of the three estates, was supreme; and that every attempt to diminish, alter, or infringe, its power, dignity, and jurisdiction, should be punished as treason. All jurisdictions and judgments, all assemblies and conventions, not approved of by the king and the three estates, were condemned as unlawful, and prohibited. It was ordained, that the king might appoint commissioners, with powers to examine into the delinquencies of clergymen, and, if proper, to deprive them of their benefices. It was commanded, that clergymen should not for the future be admitted to the dignity of lords of the session, or to the administration of any judicature civil or criminal. An ordination was made, which subjected to capital punishment all persons who should inquire into the affairs of state with a malicious curiosity, or who should utter false and slanderous speeches in sermons, declamations, or familiar discourse, to the reproach and contempt of the king, his parents, and progenitors. It was ordered that a guard, consisting of 40 gentlemen, with a yearly allowance to each of £200, should continually attend on the king. This parliament, which was full of zeal for the crown, did not overlook the history of Buchanan, which about this time was exciting a very general attention. It commanded, that all persons persons who were possessed of copies of his chronicle, and of his treatise on the Scottish government, should surrender them within 40 days, under the penalty of 200l. in order that they might be purged of the offensive and extraordinary matters they contained. This stroke of tyranny was furious and ineffectual. Foreign nations, as well as his own countrymen, were filled with the highest admiration of the genius of Buchanan. It was not permitted that his writings should suffer mutilation; they were multiplied in every quarter; and the severity exercised against them only served the more to excite curiosity, and to diffuse his reputation.

While the parliamentary acts, which struck against the importance of the church, were in agitation, the ministers deputed Mr David Lindsay to solicit the king that no statutes should pass which affected the ecclesiastical establishment, without the consultation of the general assembly. But the earl of Arran having information of this commission, defeated it, by committing Mr Lindsay to prison as a spy for the discontented nobles. On the publication, however, of these acts by the heralds, Mr Robert Pont minister of St Cuthbert's, and one of the senators of the court of session, with Mr Walter Balcanqual, protested formally in the name of the church, that it differed from them, and that they were consequently invalid. Having made this protestation, they instantly fled, and were proclaimed traitors. By letters and pamphlets, which were artfully spread among the people, their passions were roused against the king and his council. The ministers of Edinburgh took the resolution of forsaking their flocks, and retreating to England. And in an apology circulated by their management, they anxiously endeavoured to awaken commiseration and pity. They magnified the dangers which threatened them; and they held out, in vindication of their conduct, the example of the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, and of Christ himself, who all concurred, they said, in opposing the ordinations of men, when contradictory to the will of heaven, and in declining the rage of the enemies of God. The king appointed his own chaplains and the archbishop of St Andrew's to perform the ministerial functions in his capital. The clergy over Scotland were commanded to subscribe a declaration, which imported the supremacy of the king over the church, and their submission to the authority of the bishops. The national ferments still increased in violence. Many ministers refused to subscribe this declaration, and were deprived of their livings. It was contended, that to make the king supreme over the church was no better than to set up a new pope, and to commit treason against Jesus Christ. It was urged, that to overthrow assemblies and presbyteries, and to give dominion to bishops, was not only to overturn the established polity of the church, but to destroy religion itself. For the bishops were the slaves of the court, were schismatical in their opinions, and depraved in their lives. It was affirmed, that hereby, atheism, and popery, would strike a deep root, and grow into strength. And the people were taught to believe, that the bishops would corrupt the nation into a resemblance with themselves; and that there everywhere prevailed dissimulation and blasphemy, persecution and obscenity, the profanation of the Scriptures, and the breach of faith, covetousness, perjury, and sacrilege. It was reported abroad, that the ministers alone were entrusted with ecclesiastical functions, and with the sword of the word; and that it was most wicked and profane to imagine, that Jesus Christ had ever committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven to civil magistrates and their servants or deputies.

While the clergy were thus impotently venting their wrath, Elizabeth, alarmed beyond measure at this sudden revolution, and terrified by a confession extorted by the rack from one Francis Throgmorton, concerning a combination of the Catholic princes to invade England, began to treat with Mary in a more sincere manner than usual; but having gained over to her side the earl of Arran, the only man of activity in Scotland, she resolved to proceed to extremities with the queen of Scots. The Catholics, both at home and abroad, were inflamed against her with a boundless and implacable rage. There prevailed many rumours of plots and conspiracies against her kingdom and her life. Books were published, which detailed her cruelties and injustice to Mary in the most indignant language of reproof, and which recommended her assassination as a most meritorious act. The earl of Arran had explained to her the practices of the queen of Scots with her son, and had discovered the intrigues of the Catholic princes to gain him to their views. While her sensibilities and fears were feverishly excited, intending to her, circumstances happened which confirmed invasion of them, and provoked her to give the fullest scope to the malignity of her passions. Crichton, a Scottish Jesuit, falling into his own country, was taken by Netherland pirates; and some papers which he had torn in pieces and thrown into the sea being recovered, were transmitted to England. Sir William Wade put them together with dexterity; and they demonstrated beyond a doubt, that the invasion of England was concerted by the Pope, the king of Spain, and the duke of Guise. About this time, too, a remarkable letter was intercepted from Mary to Sir Francis Englefield. She complained in it that she could have no reliance on the integrity of Elizabeth, and that she expected no happy issue to any treaty which might be opened for her restoration and liberty. She urged the advancement of the "great plot;" she intimated, that the prince her son was favourable to the "designment," and disposed to be directed by her advice; she intreated, that every delicacy with regard to her own state and condition should be laid aside without scruple; and she assured him, that she would most willingly suffer perils and dangers, and even death itself, to give relief to the oppressed children of the church. These discoveries, so exasperating to the inquietudes and distresses of Elizabeth, were followed by a deep and general consternation. The terror of an invasion spread itself with rapidity over England; and the Protestants, while they trembled for the life of their champion, were still more alarmed with the dangers which threatened their religion.

In this state of perplexity and distraction, the counsellors of Elizabeth did not forget that they had been her instruments in persecuting the queen of Scots, and of the severities with which she had treated the Catholics. They were fully sensible, that her greatness and safety were intimately connected with their own; and they concurred in indulging her fears, jealousies, and resentment. It was resolved that Mary should perish. An association was formed, to which persons of every condition Scotland. dition and degree were invited. The professed business of this association was the preservation of the life of Elizabeth, which it was affirmed was in danger, from a conspiracy to advance some pretended title to the crown; and its members vowed and protested, by the majesty of God, to employ their whole power, their bodies, lives, and goods, in her service; to withstand, as well by force of arms as by other methods of revenge, all persons, of whatever nation or rank, who should attempt in any form to invade and injure her safety or her life, and never to desist from the forcible pursuit of them till they should be completely exterminated. They also vowed and protested, in the presence of the eternal God, to prosecute to destruction any pretended successor, by whom, or for whom, the detestable deed of the affiliation of Elizabeth should be attempted or committed.

The earl of Leicester was in a particular manner the patron of this association; and the whole influence of Elizabeth and her ministers was exerted to multiply the subscription to a bond or league which was to prepare the way, and to be a foundation for accomplishing the full destruction and ruin of the Scottish queen.

A combination so resolute and so fierce, which pointed at the death of Mary, which threatened her titles to the crown of England, and which might defeat the succession of her son, could not fail to excite in her bosom the bitterest anxieties and perturbation. Weary of her sad and long captivity, broken down with calamities, dreading afflictions still more cruel, and willing to take away from Elizabeth every possible pretext of fidelity, she now framed a scheme of accommodation, to which no reasonable objection could be made. By Naw, her secretary, she presented it to Elizabeth and her privy-council. She protested in it, that if her liberty should be granted to her, she would enter into the closest amity with Elizabeth, and pay an observance to her above every other prince of Christendom; that she would forget all the injuries with which she had been loaded, acknowledge Elizabeth to be the rightful queen of England, abstain from any claim to her crown during her life, renounce the title and arms of England, which she had usurped by the command of her husband the king of France, and reprobate the bull from Rome which had deposed the English queen. She likewise protested, that she would enter into the association which had been formed for the security of Elizabeth; and that she would conclude with her a defensive league, provided that it should not be prejudicial to the ancient alliance between Scotland and France; and that nothing should be done during the life of the English queen, or after her death, to invalidate her titles to the crown of England, or those of her son. As a confirmation of these articles she professed that she would consent to stay in England for some time as an hostage; and that if she was permitted to retire from the dominions of Elizabeth, she would surrender proper and acceptable persons as sureties. She also protested, that she would make no alterations in Scotland; and that, on the repeal of what had been enacted there to her disgrace, she would bury in oblivion all the injuries she had received from her subjects; that she would recommend to the king her son those counsellors who were most attached to England, and that she would employ herself to reconcile him to the fugitive nobles; that she would take no steps respecting his marriage without acquainting the queen of England; and that, to give the greater firmness to Scotland, the proposed accommodation, it was her desire that he should be called as a party: and, in fine, she affirmed, that she would procure the king of France and the princes of Lorraine to be guarantees for the performance of her engagements. Elizabeth, who was skilful in hypocrisy, discovered the most decisive symptoms of treasatisfaction and joy when these overtures were communicated to her. She made no advances, however, to conclude an accommodation with Mary; and her ministers and courtiers exclaimed against lenient and pacific measures. It was loudly insisted, that the liberty of Mary would be the death of Elizabeth; that her association with her son would be the ruin both of England and Scotland; and that her elevation to power would extend the empire of Popery, and give a deadly blow to the doctrines of the reformation.

In the mean time, an act of attainder had passed against the fugitive nobles, and their estates and honours were forfeited to the king; who, not satisfied with this, sent Patrick master of Gray, to demand from the queen of England a surrender of their persons. As this ambassador had resided for some time in France, and been intimate with the duke of Guise, he was recommended to Mary; but being a man of no principle, he easily suffered himself to be corrupted by Elizabeth; and while he pretended friendship to the unfortunate queen, he discovered all that he knew of her intentions and those of her son. The most scandalous false falsehoods were forged against Mary; and the less she was able to execute, the more she was said to design. That an unhappy woman, confined and guarded with the utmost vigilance, who had not for many years sufficient interest to procure a decent treatment for herself, should be able to carry on such close and powerful negotiations with different princes as were imputed to her, is an absurdity which it must ever be impossible to explain. That she had an amour with her keeper the earl of Shrewsbury, as was now reported, might be; though of this there is no proof. This, however, could scarcely be treason against Elizabeth: yet, on account of this, Mary was committed to the charge of Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury, zealous puritans, and who, it was hoped, would treat her with such severity as might drive her to despair, and induce her to commit some rash action.

The earl of Leicester, said to be Elizabeth's paramour, even ventured to send affluents, on purpose, by the murder of Mary, at once to deliver his mistress from her fears. But the new keepers of the castle, though religious bigots, were men of strict probity, and rejected with scorn such an infamous transaction. In 1585, Mary began to feel all the rigours of a severe imprisonment. She had been removed from Sheffield to the castle of Tutbury; and under her new keepers she experienced a treatment which was in the highest degree unjust, disrespectful, and avaricious. Two apartments or chambers only were allotted to her, and they were small and inconvenient, meanly furnished, and so full of apertures and chinks, that they could not protectively her against the inclemencies of the weather. The liberty of going abroad for pleasure or exercise was denied to her. She was afflicted by rheumatism and other maladies; and her physician would not undertake to effect a cure, or even to procure her any ease, unless she Applications for this purpose were frequently made, and uniformly rejected. Here, however, her own afflictions did not extinguish in her mind her sensibility for the misfortunes of others; and she often indulged herself in the satisfaction of employing a servant to go through the village of Tutbury in search of objects of distress, to whom she might deal out her charity. But her inhospitable keepers, envying her this pleasure, commanded her to abstain from it. Imputing their rigour to a suspicious fidelity, she desired that her servant might, on these occasions, be accompanied by one of the soldiers of their guard, or by the constable of the village. But they would not alter their prohibition. They refused her the exercise of the Christian duty of dispensing an alms; and they would not allow her the soft consolation of moistening her eye with tears not her own. To insult her more, the castle of Tutbury was converted into a common jail. A young man, whose crime was the profession of the Roman religion, was committed to a chamber which was opposite to her window, in order that he might be persecuted in her sight with the greatest cruelty. Notwithstanding his cries and resistance, he was dragged every morning to hear prayers, and to join in the Protestant worship; and after enduring several weeks this extraordinary violence to his conscience, he was unmercifully strangled without any form of law or justice.

Mary remonstrated with warmth to Elizabeth against indignities so shocking and so horrible; but instead of obtaining consolation or relief, she was involved more deeply in woe, and exposed to still severer inventions of malice and of anger.

In the midst of her misfortunes, Mary had still placed herself with hope; and from the exertions of her son she naturally expected the greatest advantage. He had hitherto behaved with a becoming cordiality; and in the negociation which he had opened with him for her association in the government, he had been studious to please and flatter her. He had informed her by a particular dispatch, that he found the greatest comfort in her maternal tenderness, and that he would accomplish her commands with humility and expedition; that he would not fail to ratify her union and association with him in the government; that it would be his most earnest endeavour to reconcile their common subjects to that measure; and that he might expect from him, during his life, every satisfaction and duty which a good mother could promise to herself from an affectionate and obedient son. But these fair blossoms of kindness and love were all blasted by the treacherous arts of Elizabeth. By the master of Gray, who had obtained an ascendant over James, she turned from Mary his affections. He delayed to ratify her association in the government; and he even appeared to be unwilling to urge Elizabeth on the subject of her liberty. The master of Gray had convinced him, that if any favour were shown to Mary by the queen of England, it would terminate in his humiliation. He assured him, that if his mother were again to mount the Scottish throne, her zeal for Popery would induce her to seek a husband in the house of Austria; that she would dissolve his association with her in the government, on pretence of his attachment to the reformed doctrines; and that he would not only lose the glory of his present power, but endanger his prospects of succession. Mary expostulated with him by letter on the timidity and coldness of his behaviour, and he returned her an answer full of disrespect, in which he intimated his resolution to consider her in no other character than as queen-mother. Her amazement, indignation, and grief, were infinite. She wrote to Castelnau the French ambassador to inform him of her iniquities and anguish. "My son (said she) is ungrateful; and I desire that the king your master may consider him no longer as a sovereign. In your future dispatches, abstain from giving him the title of king. I am his queen and his sovereign; and while I live, and continue at variance with him, he can at most be only an usurper. From him I derive no lustre; and without me he could only have been Lord Darnly or the earl of Lennox; for I raised his father from being my subject to be my husband. I ask from him nothing that is his; what I claim is my own; and if he persists in his course of impiety and ingratitude, I will bestow on him my malediction, and deprive him not only of all right to Scotland, but of all the dignity and grandeur to which he might succeed through me. My enemies shall not enjoy the advantages they expect from him. For to the king of Spain I will convey, in the amplest form, my claims, titles, and greatness."

Elizabeth having thus found means to sow dissension between the queen of Scots and her son, did not fail to make the best use of the quarrel for her own advantage. The Pope, the duke of Guise, and the king of Spain, had concluded an alliance, called the holy league, for the extirpation of the Protestant religion all over Europe. Elizabeth was thrown into the greatest consternation on this account; and the idea of a counter association among the Protestant princes of Europe immediately suggested itself. Sir Edward Wotton was deputed to Scotland; and so completely gained on the imbecility of James, that he concluded a firm alliance with Elizabeth, without making any stipulation in favour of his mother. Nay, so far was he the dupe of mean and this ambassador and his mistresses, that he allowed himself shameful behaviour to be persuaded to take into his favour Mr Archibald Douglas, one of the murderers of Lord Darnley; and, as if all this had not been sufficient, he appointed the assassin to be his ambassador to England.

Mary, thus abandoned by all the world, in the hands of her most inveterate and cruel enemy, fell a victim to her resentment and treachery in the year 1587. A plot of assassination had been formed in the spring of the Babington year 1586 against the English queen; partly with the view of releasing the Scottish princess; but chiefly from a motive to serve the interests of the Catholic religion. This conspiracy, which originated with Catholic priests and persons of no distinction, was soon imparted to Mr Babington, a person of great fortune, of many accomplishments, and who had before that time discovered himself to be the zealous friend of Queen Mary. That she had corresponded with Babington there is no doubt; but it was some years previous to the formation of the plot. A long silence had taken place between them; and Morgan, one of the English fugitives in France, and a warm friend of Mary's, in the month of May 1586, wrote a letter to her, repeatedly and in the most pressing manner recommending a revival of that correspondence. In consequence of which, in her answer to Scotland. Morgan, dated the 27th day of July, she informed him that she had made every apology in her power to Babington, for not having written to him for so long a space; that he had generously offered himself and all his fortune in her cause; and that, agreeably to Morgan's advice, she would do her best to retain him in her interests; but she throws out no hint of her knowledge of the intended assassination. On the very same day she likewise wrote to Paget, another of her most confidential friends; but not a word in it with respect to Babington's scheme of cutting off the English queen. To Morgan and to Paget she certainly would have communicated her mind, more readily and more particularly than to Babington, and have consulted them about the plot, had she been accessory to it. Indeed it seems to have been part of the policy of Mary's friends to keep her a stranger to all clandestine and hazardous undertakings in her favour. To be convinced of this, we have only to recollect, that Morgan, in a letter of the fourth of July, expressly, and in the strongest terms, recommended to have no intelligence at all with Ballard*, who was one of the original contrivers of the plot, and who was the very person who communicated it to Babington. The queen, in consequence of this, shut the door against all correspondence, if it should be offered, with that person†.

At the same time, Morgan assigned no particular reasons for that advice; so cautious was he of giving the queen any information on the subject: What he said was generally and studiously obscure: "Ballard (he said, only) is intent on some matters of consequence, the issue of which is uncertain." He even went farther, and charged Ballard himself to abstain by all means from opening his views to the queen of Scots.

The conspiracy which goes under the name of Babington was completely detected by the court in the month of June: The names, proceedings, and residences, of those engaged in it were then known: The blow might have been soon struck: The life of Elizabeth was in imminent danger. The conspirators, however, were not apprehended; they were permitted to enjoy complete liberty; treated as if there were not the least suspicion against them; and in this free and quiet state, were they suffered to continue till the beginning of August, for a period of nearly two months. What could be the reasons for such a conduct? From what causes did the council of England suspend the just vengeance of the laws, and leave their queen's life still in jeopardy? Was it on purpose to procure more conspirators, and involve others in the crime?

Mary queen of Scots continued still detached from Babington and his associates. Their destruction was a small matter compared with her's. Could she be decoyed into the plot, things would have put on a very different aspect. Babington's conspiracy, which in reality occasioned little dread, as it was early found out, and well guarded against, would prove one of the most grateful incidents in Queen Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth's ministers, too, knew how much they had rendered themselves justly obnoxious to the Scottish princes: Should she come to mount the throne of England, their downfall was inevitable; from which, it should seem, is to be explained, why they were even more zealous than their mistress to accomplish her ruin.

Of these, Sir Francis Walsingham secretary of state and appears to have taken on himself the chief management treachery in concerting a plan of operations against the queen of Scots; and as a model, he seems to have had in his eye that which was purposed on a former occasion by the earl of Murray. His spies having early got into the confidence of the lower sort of the conspirators, he now employed the very agency of the latter for his purposes. Learning that a packet from France was intended to be conveyed by them to Queen Mary, and by the hands of one Gilbert Gifford a priest, whom he had secretly gained over from their association, he wrote a letter to Sir Amias Paulat, who had now the custody of the Scottish queen, requesting that one of his domestics might be permitted to take a bribe for conveying that packet to the captive princess. This was on purpose to communicate to her a letter forged in the name of Babington, in which that conspirator was made to impart to the Scottish queen his scheme of assassination, and to claim rewards to the perpetrators of the deed. Paulat, however, to his honour, refused to comply with the request of Walsingham; on which Gifford corrupted a brewer in the neighbourhood, who put his letters to Mary in a hole in the castle-wall. By the same conveyance it was thought that Mary would answer the letters; but it appears that she never saw them, and that of course no return was made (y). It was then contrived that answers, in the name of the queen of Scots to Gifford, should be found in the hole of the wall. Walsingham, to whom these letters were carried, proceeded formally to decipher them by the help of one Thomas Philips, a person skilled in these matters; and after exact copies were taken of them, it is said that they were all artfully sealed and sent off to the persons to whom they were directed. It appears, however, that only the letters directed to Babington were sent to him; and the answers which he made to the queen's supposed letters were carried directly to Walsingham. A foundation for criminating Mary being thus laid, the conspirators were quickly discovered, as being already known,

(y) Dr Robertson of Dalmeny, who, in his history of Mary queen of Scots, has thrown much light on those dark transactions of Elizabeth's nefarious ministers, thinks it not improbable that an answer to Babington's letter was written by the Scottish queen's secretaries. Although they could not communicate that letter to herself, on account of her known abhorrence of assassination, they perhaps wrote a dispatch in her name, approving of it; tempted by the prospect of escaping from imprisonment, and of their mistress being seated on the throne of England. This dispatch being conveyed through the same chink of the wall, was carried by Gifford to Walsingham; opened; deciphered, and copied by him; and then sent to Babington. Camden informs us, that Walsingham artfully forged a postscript in the same cipher to this dispatch; in which Queen Mary was made to request of Babington to inform her particularly of the names of his accomplices, and of others who were friends to the cause. known, and suffered the death of traitors. The unhappily princes, eagerly watched by Paulet, and unacquainted with the late occurrence, received a visit from Sir Thomas Gorges. This envoy, as instructed by Elizabeth, surprized her when she had mounted her horse to take the pleasure of the chase. His salutation was abrupt and unceremonious; and after informing her of the discovery and circumstances of the conspiracy of Babington, he rudely charged her with a concern in it. Her afflention was great, and she desired to return to her chamber; but this favour was refused to her; and after being carried from one house to another, in an anxious and perplexing uncertainty, she was committed to Fotheringay castle in Northamptonshire. Naw and Curl, her two secretaries, the former a Frenchman, the latter a native of Scotland, were taken into custody. Paulet, breaking open the doors of her private closet, possessed himself of her money, which amounted to not more than 7000 crowns. Her cabinets were carefully sealed up; and being sent to London, were examined in the presence of Elizabeth. They contained many dispatches from persons beyond the sea, copies of letters which had been dictated by her, and about 60 tables of ciphers and characters. There were also discovered in them many dispatches to her from English noblemen, which were full of admiration and respect. These Elizabeth concealed; but their authors suspecting that they were known, sought to purchase her forgiveness by the most abject protestations of an attachment to her person, and by the exercise of the most inveterate enmity to the queen of Scots. Naw and Curl declared, that the copies of her letters were in their handwriting. They had been dictated by her in the French language to Naw, translated into English by Curl, and then put into cipher. They contained not, however, any matters with which she could be reproached or criminated.

It was on the foundation of the letters which Gifford had communicated to Walsingham that her guilt was to be inferred; and with copies of these, and with an attested account of the conspiracy of Babington and his associates, Sir Edward Wotton was now dispatched into France to accuse her to Henry III., and to explain to him the dangers to which Elizabeth was exposed from the machinations and practices of the English exiles.

The privy counsellors of Elizabeth deliberated on the most proper method of proceeding against Mary. To some it appeared, that as she was only accessory to the plot, and not the designer of it, the most eligible severity to be exercised against her was a closer and more rigorous confinement; and they endeavoured to fortify this opinion, by observing, that she was sickly, and could not live long. By others who were haunted by the terrors of Popery, it was urged, that she ought to be put instantly to death by the formalities of the law. The earl of Leicester recommended it as most prudent to dispatch her secretly by poison. But this counsel was rejected, as mean, disgraceful, and violent. The lawyers were of opinion, that she might be tried on the statute of Edward III.; by which it was enacted to be treason to imagine the destruction of the sovereign, to make war against his kingdom, or to adhere to his enemies. Elizabeth, however, and her ministers had provided a more plausible foundation for her trial. This was a parliamentary statute approving the act of association. As it had been passed while Mary was in England, it was argued, that she was bound by it in a local allegiance to Elizabeth. The next point of debate was the designation under which it was most advisable to arraign her. To employ a foreign name and title as directly descriptive of her, was not judged to be consistent with the law of England. It was therefore resolved to designate her "Mary, daughter and heir of James V., king of Scotland, and commonly called queen of Scots, and dowager of France."

This resolution being once taken, Elizabeth next appointed above 40 peers or privy-counsellors, and five judges, bestowing on them in a body, or on the greater part of them, absolute power and authority to inquire into the matters compassed and imagined against her by the Scottish princes, and to pass sentence according to the spirit and tenor of the act which had been passed. Of these commissioners a great majority proceeded to the castle of Fotheringay; and the day after their arrival, they deputed to Mary, Sir Walter Mildmay, Sir Amias Paulet, and Edward Barker, a public notary, to deliver to her a letter from Elizabeth. In this letter the English queen gratified her unhappy passions, and after reproaching Mary with her crimes, informed her that commissioners were appointed to take cognizance of them. The Scottish princes, though astonished with the project of being brought to a public trial, was able to preserve her dignity, and addressed them with a composed manner and air. "It is a matter (said she) altogether uncommon and strange, that Elizabeth should command me to submit to a trial, as if I were her subject. I am an independent sovereign; and will not tarnish by any means my high birth, the princes my predecessors, and my son. Misfortunes and misery have not yet so involved me in dejection, as that I am to faint and sink under this new calamity and insult. I desire that you will remember what I formerly protested to Bromley, who is now lord chancellor, and to the lord La War. To speak to me of commissioners is a vain mockery of my rank. Kings alone can be my peers. The laws of England are unknown to me; and I have no counsellors to whose wisdom I can apply for instruction. My papers and commentaries have been taken from me; and no person can have the courage to appear as my advocate. I have indeed recommended myself and my condition to foreign princes; but I am clear of the guilt of having conspired the destruction of Elizabeth, or of having incited any person whatever to destroy her. It is only by my own words and writings that an imputation of this kind can be supported; and I am conscious beyond the possibility of a doubt, that these evidences cannot be employed against me." The day after she had in this manner refused to allow the jurisdiction of the commissioners, Paulet and Barker returned to her, and informed her that they had put her speech into writing, and desired to know if she would abide by it. She heard it read distinctly, acknowledged it to be rightly taken, and avowed her readiness to persist in the sentiments she had delivered. But she added, there was a circumstance of which she had omitted to speak. "Your queen (said she) affects in her letter to observe, that I am subject to the laws of England, because I have lived under their protection. This sentiment and mode of thinking are very surprising to me. I came into England to crave her assistance and aid; and, ever since, I have been confined to a prison. The miseries of captivity..." Scotland, captivity cannot be called a protection, and the treatment I have suffered is a violation of all law."

This afflicted but undaunted princess, after having thus scorned the competency and repelled the pretexts of the commissioners, was induced at last, by arguments under the infidels' mask of candour and friendship, to depart from the proper and dignified ground which she had taken, and consent to that mode of trial which had been proposed. It was represented to her by Hatton the vice-chamberlain, that by rejecting a trial, she injured her own reputation and interests, and deprived herself of the only opportunity of setting her innocence in a clear light to the present and to future times. Imposed on by this artifice, she consented to make her appearance before the judges; at the same time, however, she still protested against the jurisdiction of the court, and the validity of all their proceedings.

After various formalities, the lord-chancellor opened the case; and was followed by Sergeant Gawdy, who proceeded to explain the above statute, and endeavoured to demonstrate that she had offended against it. He then entered into a detail of Babington's conspiracy; and concluded with affirming, "That Mary knew it, had approved of it, had promised her assistance, and had pointed out the means to effect it." Proofs of this charge were exhibited against her, and displayed with great art. The letters were read which Sir Francis Walsingham had forged, in concert with Gifford, &c., and her secretaries Naw and Curl. The three spies had afforded all the necessary intelligence respecting the conspiracy, on which to frame a correspondence between Mary and Babington, and on which dispatches might be fabricated in her name to her foreign friends; and the ciphers were furnished by her two secretaries. But besides these pretended letters, another species of evidence was held out against her. Babington, proud of the dispatch sent to him in her name by Walsingham and Gifford, returned an answer to it; and a reply from her by the same agency was transmitted to him. Deceived, and in toils, he communicated these marks of her attention to Savage and Ballard, the most confidential of his associates. His confession and theirs thus became of importance. Nor were her letters and the confessions of these conspirators deemed sufficient vouchers of her guilt. Her two secretaries, therefore, who had lately forsaken her, were engaged to subscribe a declaration, that the dispatches in her name were written by them at her command, and according to her instructions. These branches of evidence, put together with skill, and heightened with all the imposing colours of eloquence, were prefixed on Mary. Though she had been long accustomed to the perfidious inhumanity of her enemies, her amazement was infinite. She felt not, however, her courage; and her defence was alike expressive of her penetration and magnanimity.

"The accusation preferred to my prejudice is a most detestable calumny. I was not engaged with Babington in his conspiracy; and I am altogether innocent of having plotted the death of Elizabeth. The copies of Babington's letters which have been produced, may indeed be taken from originals which are genuine; but it is impossible to prove that I ever received them. Nor did he receive from me the dispatches addressed to him in my name. His confession and those of his associates, which have been urged to establish the authority of my letters to him, are imperfect and vain. If these conspirators could have testified any circumstances to my hurt, they would not so soon have been deprived of their lives. Tortures, or the fear of the rack, extorted improper confessions from them; and then they were executed. Their mouths were opened to utter false accusations; and were immediately shut for ever, that the truth might be buried in their graves. It was no difficult matter to obtain ciphers which I had employed; and my adversaries are known to be superior to scruples. I am informed that Sir Francis Walsingham has been earnest to recommend himself to his sovereign by practices both against my life and that of my son; and the fabrication of papers, by which to effectuate my ruin, is a business not unworthy of his ambition. An evidence, the most clear and incontrovertible, is necessary to overthrow my integrity; but proofs, the most feeble and suspicious, are held out against me. Let one letter be exhibited, written in my hand, or that bears my superscription, and I will instantly acknowledge that the charge against me is sufficiently supported. The declaration of my secretaries is the effect of rewards or of terror. They are strangers; and to overcome their virtue was an easy achievement to a queen whose power is absolute, whose riches are immense, and whose ministers are profound and daring in intrigues and treachery. I have often had occasion to suspect the integrity of Naw; and Curl, whose capacity is more limited, was always most obsequious to him. They may have written many letters in my name without my knowledge or participation; and it is not fit that I should bear the blame of their inconsiderate boldness. They may have put many things into dispatches which are prejudicial to Elizabeth; and they may even have subscribed their declaration to my prejudice, under the pretension that the guilt which would utterly overwhelm them might be pardoned in me. I have never dictated any letter to them which can be made to correspond with their testimony. And what, let me ask, would become of the grandeur, the virtue, and the safety of princes, if they depended upon the writings and declarations of secretaries? Nor let it be forgotten, that by acting in hostility to the duty and allegiance which they solemnly swore to observe to me, they have utterly incapacitated themselves from obtaining any credit. The violation of their oath of fidelity is an open perjury; and of such men the protestations are nothing. But, if they are yet in life, let them be brought before me. The matters they declare are so important as to require that they should be examined in my presence. It argues not the fairness of the proceedings against me, that this formality is neglected. I am also without the assistance of an advocate; and, that I might be defenceless and weak in the greatest degree, I have been robbed of my papers and commentaries. As to the copies of the dispatches which are said to have been written by my direction to Mendoza, the lord Paget, Charles Paget, the archbishop of Glasgow, and Sir Francis Inglefield, they are most unprofitable forgeries. For they tend only to show that I was employed in encouraging my friends to invade England. Now, if I should allow that these dispatches were genuine, it could not be inferred from them that I had conspired the death of Elizabeth. I will even confess, that I have yielded to the strong impulses of nature; and that, like a human creature, encompassed Scotland, with dangers, and insulted with wrongs, I have exerted myself to recover my greatness and my liberty. The efforts I have made can excite no blushes in me; for the voice of mankind must applaud them. Religion, in her sternest moments of severity, cannot look to them with reproach; and to consider them as crimes, is to despise the sanctimonious reverence of humanity, and to give way to the suspicious wretchedness of despotism. I have fought by every art of concession and friendship to engage my sister to put a period to my sufferings. Invited by her smiles, I ventured into her kingdom, in the pride and gaiety of my youth; and, under her anger and the miseries of captivity, I have grown into age. During a calamitous confinement of 20 years, my youth, my health, my happiness, are for ever gone. To her tenderness and generosity I have been indebted as little as to her justice: and, opprest and agonizing with unmerited afflictions and hardships, I scrupled not to beseech the princes my allies to employ their armies to relieve me. Nor will I deny, that I have endeavoured to promote the advantage and interest of the persecuted Catholics of England. My entreaties in their behalf have been even offered with earnestness to Queen Elizabeth herself. But the attainment of my kingdom, the recovery of my liberty, and the advancement of that religion which I love, could not induce me to stain myself with the crimes that are objected to me. I would disdain to purchase a crown by the assassination of the meanest of the human race. To accuse me of scheming the death of the queen my sister, is to brand me with the infamy which I abhor most. It is my nature to employ the devotions of Esther, and not the sword of Judith. Elizabeth herself will attest, that I have often admonished her not to draw upon her head the resentment of my friends by the enormity of her cruelties to me. My innocence cannot sincerely be doubted; and it is known to the Almighty God, that I could not possibly think to forego his mercy, and to ruin my soul, in order to compass a transgression so horrible as that of her murder. But amidst the inclement and unprincipled pretences which my adversaries are pleased to invent to overwhelm me with calamities and anguish, I can trace and discover with ease the real causes of their hostility and provocation. My crimes are, my birth, the injuries I have been compelled to endure, and my religion. I am proud of the first; I can forgive the second; and the third is a source to me of such comfort and hope, that for its glory I will be contented that my blood shall flow upon the scaffold."

To the defence of Mary, no returns were made beside unsupported affirmation of the truth of the evidence produced to her prejudice. In the course of the trial, however, there occurred some incidents which deserve to be related. My lord Burleigh, who was willing to discomfit her, charged her with the fixed resolution of conveying her claims and titles to England to the king of Spain. But though, in a discontented humour with her son, she had threatened to disinherit him, and had even corresponded on the subject with her fellow friends, it appears that this project is to be considered as only a transient effect of resentment and passion. She indeed acknowledged, that the Spanish king professed to have pretensions to the kingdom of England, and that a book in justification of them had been communicated to her. She declared, however, that she had incurred the displeasure of many by disapproving of this book; and that no conveyance of her titles to the Spanish king had been ever executed.

The trial continued during two days; but the commissioners avoided delivering their opinions. My lord Burleigh, in whose management Elizabeth chiefly confided, and whom the Scottish queen discomfited in no common degree by her ability and vigour, being eager to conclude the business, demanded to know if he had anything to add to what she had urged in her defence. She informed him, that she would be infinitely pleased she desired and gratified, if it should be permitted to her to be heard heard in her justification before a full meeting of parliament, or before the queen and her privy-council. This before intimation was unexpected; and the request implied in the queen's it was rejected. The court, in consequence of previous instructions from Elizabeth, adjourned to a farther day, and appointed that the place of its convention should be the star-chamber at Westminster. It accordingly assembled there; and Naw and Curl, who had not been produced at Fotheringay-castle, were now called before the commissioners. An oath to declare the truth was put to them; and they definitely affirmed and protested that the declaration they subscribed was in every respect just and faithful. Nothing farther remained but to pronounce sentence against Mary. The commissioners unanimously concurred in delivering it as their verdict or given a judgment, that she "was a party to the conspiracy against her, Babington;" and that she had compassed and imagined matters within the realm of England tending to the hurt, death, and destruction, of the royal person of Elizabeth, in opposition to the statute framed for her protection." On the same day in which this extraordinary sentence was given, the commissioners and the judges of England issued a declaration, which imported, that it was not to derogate in any degree from the titles and honour of the king of Scots.

The sentence against Mary was very soon ratified by the English parliament. King James was struck with intense rati-horror at hearing of the execution of his mother; but fed by the spiritless prince could show his resentment no farther than by unavailing embassies and remonstrances. France interposed in the same ineffectual manner; and on the 6th of December 1586, Elizabeth caused the sentence of the commissioners against her to be proclaimed. After this she was made acquainted with her fate, and received the news with the greatest composure, and even apparent satisfaction. Her keepers now refused to treat her with any reverence or respect. They entered her apartment with their heads covered, and made no obeisance to her. They took down her canopy of state, and deprived her of all the badges of royalty. By these insulting mortifications they meant to inform her, that she had sunk from the dignity of a princess to the abject state of a criminal. She smiled, and said, "In despite of your sovereign and her subservient judges, I will live and die a queen. My royal character is indelible; and I will surrender it with my spirit to Almighty God, from whom I received it, and to whom my honour and my innocence are fully known. In this melancholy situation Mary addressed a magnanimous letter to Elizabeth, in which, without making the least solicitation for her life, she only requested that her body might be carried to France; that she might be publicly executed; that her servants might be permitted to de- part out of England unmolested, and enjoy the legacies which the bequeathed them." But to this letter no answer was given.

In the mean time James, who had neither address nor courage to attempt anything in behalf of his mother, announced her situation to his bigotted subjects, and ordered prayers to be said for her in all the churches. The form of the petition he prescribed was framed with delicacy and caution, that the clergy might have no objection to it. He enjoined them to pray, "that it might please God to enlighten Mary with the light of his truth, and protect her from the danger which was hanging over her." His own chaplains, and Mr David Lindsay minister of Leith, observed his command. But all the other clergy refused to prostitute their pulpits by preferring any petitions to the Almighty for a Papist. James, shocked with their spirit of intolerance and sedition, appointed a new day for prayers to be said for Mary, and issued a stricter injunction to the clergy to obey him; and that he might be free himself from any insult, he commanded the archbishop of St Andrew's to preach before him. The ecclesiastics, disgusted with his injunction, persuaded Mr John Cowper, a probationer in divinity, to occupy the pulpit designed for the archbishop. When the king entered the church, he testified his surprise; but told Cowper, that if he would obey his injunction, he might proceed to officiate. Cowper replied, "that he would do as the spirit of God would direct him." The king commanded him to retire, and the captain of his guard advanced to compel him to obedience. The enraged probationer exclaimed, that this violence "would witness against the king in the great day of the Lord;" and denounced a curse against the spectators for not exerting themselves in his defence. The archbishop now ascending the pulpit, performed with propriety the function to which he had been called, and took the opportunity of recommending moderation and charity to the audience. In the afternoon Cowper was cited before the privy council; and was accompanied by Mr Walter Balcanquall and Mr William Watson, two ministers remarkable for their zeal. As a punishment for his audacious petulance, he was committed to the castle of Blackness; and his attendants having distinguished themselves by an impudent vindication of him, were prohibited from preaching during the pleasure of the king.

Elizabeth, in the mean time, felt the torment and disquiet of unhappy and miserable passions. At times she courted the sadness of solitude, and refused to be consoled or to speak. In other seasons her sighs were frequent, and she broke out into loud and wild exclamations expressive of the state of her mind. Her subjects waited the determination of her will under a distracting agitation and uncertainty. Her ministers, who knew that it is the nature of fear to exclude pity, were industrious in inventing terrifying intelligence, and in circulating it through the kingdom. There were rumours that the Spanish fleet had arrived at Milford-haven; that a formidable army of Scottish combatants was advancing to the capital; that the duke of Guise had disembarked many troops of veteran soldiers in Sussex; that Mary had escaped out of prison, and was collecting the English Catholics; that the northern counties had thrown aside their allegiance; and that there was a new plot to kill Elizabeth, and to reduce London to ashes. An actual conspiracy was even maliciously charged upon L'Aubespine the French resident; and he was forced to withdraw from England in disgrace. From the panic terrors which the ministers of Elizabeth were so studious to excite, they scrupled not loudly and invariably to infer, that the peace and tranquillity of the kingdom could be re-established only by the speedy execution of the Scottish queen.

While the nation was thus artfully prepared for the destruction of Mary, Elizabeth ordered Secretary Davidsdon to bring to her the warrant for her death. Having perused it with deliberation, she observed that it was extended in proper terms, and gave it the authority of her subscription. She was in a humour somewhat gay, and demanded of him if he was not sorry for what she had done. He replied, that it was afflicting to him to think of the state of public affairs; but that he greatly preferred her life to that of the Scottish princes. She enjoined him to be secret, and desired, that before he should deliver the warrant to the chancellor, he should carry it to Walsingham. "I fear much (said the, in a merry tone), that the grief of it will kill him."

This levity was momentary; and fears and anxieties succeeded it. Though she earnestly desired the death of Mary, she was yet terrified to encounter its infamy. She was solicitous to accomplish this base transaction by some method which would conceal her consent to it. After intimating to Mr Davidon an anxious wish that Witches to his blame should be removed from her, she counselled have her him to join with Walsingham in addressing a letter to privately Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Dury, recommending it to them to manifest their love to her by shedding privately the blood of her adversary. The unlawfulness of this deed affected Davidon, and he objected to it. She repeated resolutely her injunctions, and he departed to execute them. A letter under his name and that of Walsingham was dispatched to Mary's keepers, communicating to them her purpose. Corrupted by her passions, and lost to the sensibilities of virtue, Elizabeth had now reached the last extremity of human wickedness. Though a sovereign princess, and entrusted with the cares of a great nation, she blushed not to give it in charge to her ministers to enjoin a murder; and this murder was connected with every circumstance that could make it most frightful and horrid. The victim for whose blood she thirsted was a woman, a queen, a relation, who was splendid with beauty, eminent in abilities, magnanimous under misfortunes, and smiling with innocence. Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury, which her though the slaves of religious prejudices, felt an elevation of mind which reflected the greatest disgrace on the sovereign. They considered themselves as grossly insulted by the purpose proposed to them; and in the return they made to Walsingham, they assured him, that the queen might command their lives and their property, but that they would never consent to part with their honour, and stain themselves and their posterity with the guilt of an assassination. When Davidon carried their dispatch to her, she broke out into anger. Their scrupulous delicacy, she said, was a dainty infringement of their oath of association; and they were nice, precise, and perjured traitors, who could give great promises in words, and achieve nothing. She told him, that the business could be performed without them; and recom- mended one Wingfield to his notice, who would not hesitate to strike the blow. The astonished secretary exclaimed with warmth against a mode of proceeding so dangerous and unwarrantable. He protested, that if she should take upon herself the blame of this deed, it would pollute her with the blackest dishonour; and that, if she should disavow it, she would overthrow forever the reputation, the estates, and the children, of the persons who should assist in it. She heard him with pain, and withdrew from him with precipitation.

The warrant, after having been communicated to Walsingham, was carried to the chancellor, who put the great seal to it. This formality was hardly concluded, when a message from Elizabeth prohibited David from waiting upon the chancellor till he should receive farther instructions. Within an hour after, he received a second message to the same purpose. He hastened to court; and Elizabeth asked eagerly, if he had seen the chancellor. He answered in the affirmative; and she exclaimed with bitterest against his haste. He said, that he had acted exactly as she had directed him. She continued to express warmly her displeasure; but gave no command to stop the operation of the warrant.

In a state of uneasiness and apprehension, he communicated her behaviour to the chancellor and the privy-council. These courtiers, however, who were well acquainted with the arts of their mistresses, and who knew how to flatter her, paid no attention to him. They perceived, or were secretly informed, that she desired to have a pretence upon which to complain of the secretary, and to deny that he had obeyed her instructions. They observed to him, that by subscribing the warrant, she had performed whatever the law required of her; and that it was not proper to delay the execution any longer. While they were anxious to please Elizabeth, they were conscious of their own cruelty to Mary, and did not imagine they could be in perfect security while she lived. They dispatched the warrant to the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, with instructions to them to fulfil its purpose.

When the two earls and their retinue reached Fotheringay castle, they found that Mary was sick, and reposing on her bed. They insisted, notwithstanding, to be introduced to her. Being informed by her servants that the message they brought was important and pressing, she prepared to receive them. They were conducted into her presence by Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury; and with little formality they told her, that Elizabeth had consented to her death, and that she was to suffer the next morning at eight o'clock. Then Beale, one of the clerks of the privy-council, who accompanied them, read over the warrant, which she heard with pious composure and unshaken fortitude. They then affected to justify their mistress by entering into details concerning the conspiracy of Babington. She put her hand on the Scriptures, which lay on a table near her, and swore in the most solemn manner, that she never devised, consented to, or pursued the death of Elizabeth in any shape whatever. The earl of Kent, unwisely zealous for the Protestant religion, excepted against her oath as being made on a Popish bible. She replied to him mildly, "It is for this very reason, my lord, to be relied on with the greater security; for I esteem the Popish version of the Scriptures to be the most authentic." Indulging his puritanical fervour, he declaimed against popery, counselled her to renounce its errors, and recommended to her attention Dr Fletcher dean of Peterborough. She heard him with some impatience; and discovered no anxiety to be converted by this ecclesiastic, whom he represented as a most learned divine. Rising into passion, he exclaimed, that "her life would be the death of their religion, and that her death would be its life." After informing him that she was unalterably fixed in her religious sentiments, she desired that her confessor might have the liberty to repair to her. The two earls concurred in observing, that their consciences did not allow them to grant this request. She intimated to them the favours for which she had applied by her letter to Elizabeth, and expressed a wish to know if her sister had attended to them. They answered, that there were points on which they had received no instructions. She made inquiries concerning her secretaries Naw and Curl; and asked, whether it had ever been heard of, in the wickedest times of the most unprincipled nation, that the servants of a sovereign princess had been suborned for the purpose of destroying her. They looked to one another, and were silent. Bourgoin her physician, who with her other domestics was present at this interview, seeing the two earls ready to depart, besought them with an emphatic earnestness to reflect on the short and inadequate portion of time that they had allotted to his mistress to prepare herself for death. He insisted, that a respect for her high rank, and the multiplicity and importance of her concerns, required at least a period of some days. They pretended, however, not to understand the propriety of his petition, and refused it.

On the departure of the two earls, her domestics gave her a full vent to their afflictions; and while she experienced a melancholy pleasure in their tears, lamentations, death, and kindness, she endeavoured to console them. Their grief, she said, was altogether unavailing, and could better neither her condition nor their own. Her cause had everything about it that was most honourable; and the miseries from which she was to be relieved were the most hopeless and the most afflicting. Instead of dejection and sadness, she therefore enjoined them to be contented and happy. That she might have the more leisure to settle her affairs, she supped early, and, according to her usual custom, she ate little. While at table, she remarked to Bourgoin her physician, that the force of truth was insurmountable; for that the earl of Kent, notwithstanding the pretence of her having confired against Elizabeth, had plainly informed her, that her death would be the security of their religion. When supper was over, she ordered all her servants to appear before her, and treated them with the kindness which we have mentioned in her life. Having settled these attentions, she entered her bedchamber with her women; and, according to her uniform practice, employed herself in religious duties, and in reading in the Lives of the Saints. At her accustomed time she went to sleep; and after enjoying some hours of sound rest, she awoke. She then indulged in pious meditation, and partook of the sacrament by the means of a consecrated host, which a melancholy premonition of her calamities had induced her to obtain from Pius V.

At the break of day she arrayed herself in rich, but becoming apparel; and calling together her servants, she ordered her will to be read, and apologised for the smallness smallness of her legacies from her inability to be more generous. Following the arrangement she had previously made, she then dealt out to them her goods, wardrobe, and jewels. To Bourgein, her physician, she committed the care of her will, with a charge that he would deliver it to her principal executor, the duke of Guise. She also entrusted him with tokens of her affection for the king of France, the queen-mother, and her relations of the house of Lorraine. Bidding now an adieu to all worldly concerns, she retired to her oratory, where she was seen sometimes kneeling at the altar, and sometimes standing motionless with her hands joined, and her eyes directed to the heavens. In these tender and agitated moments, she was dwelling on the memory of her sufferings and her virtues, repelling her weaknesses in the bosom of her God, and lifting and solacing her spirit in the contemplation of his perfections and his mercy. While she was thus engaged, Thomas Andrews, the high sheriff of the county, announced to her, that the hour for her execution was arrived. She came forth dressed in a gown of black silk; her petticoat was bordered with crimson-velvet; a veil of lawn bowed out with wire, and edged with bone-lace, was fastened to her caul, and hung down to the ground; an Agnus Dei was suspended from her neck by a pommel chain; her beads were fixed to her girdle; and she bore in her hand a crucifix of ivory. Amidst the screams and lamentations of her women she descended the stairs; and in the porch she was received by the earls of Kent and Shrewsbury with their attendants.—Here, too, she met Sir Andrew Melvil the master of her household, whom her keepers had debarred from her presence during many days. Throwing himself at her feet, and weeping aloud, he deplored his sad destiny, and the sorrowful tidings he was to carry into Scotland.

After she had spoken to Melvil, she besought the two earls that her servants might be treated with civility, that they might enjoy the presents she had bestowed on them, and that they might receive a safe conduct to depart out of the dominions of Elizabeth. These slight favours were readily granted to her. She then begged that they might be permitted to attend her to the scaffold, in order that they might be witnesses of her behaviour at her death. To this request the earl of Kent discovered a strong reluctance. He said that they would behave with an intemperate passion; and that they would practise superstitious formalities, and dip their handkerchiefs in her blood. She replied, that she was sure that none of their actions would be blameable; and that it was but decent that some of her women should be about her. The earl still hesitating, she was affected with the insolent and stupid indignity of his malice, and exclaimed, "I am cousin to your mistress, and descended from Henry VII. I am a dowager of France, and the anointed queen of Scotland." The earl of Shrewsbury interposing, it was agreed that she should select two of her women who might assist her in her last moments, and a few of her men-servants, who might behold her demeanour, and report it.

She entered the hall where she was to suffer, and advanced with an air of grace and majesty to the scaffold, which was built at its farthest extremity. The spectators were numerous. Her magnanimous carriage, her beauty, of which the lustre was yet dazzling, and her matchless misfortunes, affected them. They gave way to contending emotions of awe, admiration, and pity. She ascended the scaffold with a firm step and a serene aspect, and turned her eye to the block, the axe, and the executioners. The spectators were dissolved in tears. A chair was placed for her, in which she sat herself. Silence was commanded; and Beale read aloud the warrant for her death. She heard it attentively, yet with a manner from which it might be gathered that her thoughts were employed on a subject more important. Dr Fletcher dean of Peterborough taking his station opposite to her without the rails of the scaffold, began a discourse on her life, past, present, and to come. He affected to enumerate her trespasses against Elizabeth, and to describe the love and tenderness which that princess had shown to her. He counselled her to repent of her crimes; and while he inveighed against her attachment to Popery, he threatened her with everlasting fire if she should delay to renounce its errors. His behaviour was indolent and coarse in the highest degree; and while he meant to insult her, he insulted still more the religion which he professed, and the sovereign whom he flattered. Twice the interrupted him with great gentleness. But he pertinaciously continued his exhortations. Raising her voice, she commanded him with a resolute tone to withhold his indignities and menaces, and not to trouble her any more about her faith. "I was born (said she) in the Catholic religion; I have experienced its comforts during my life, in the trying seasons of sickness, calamity, and sorrow; and I am resolved to die in it." The two earls, ashamed of the savage obstinacy of his deportment, admonished him to desist from his speeches, and to content himself with praying for her conversion. He entered on a long prayer; and Mary falling on her knees, and disregarding him altogether, employed herself in devotions from the office of the Virgin.

After having performed all her devotions, her women assisted her to disrobe; and the executioners offering their aid, she repressed their forwardness by observing, that she was not accustomed to be attended by such servants, nor to be undressed before so large an assembly. Her upper garments being laid aside, she drew on her arms a pair of silk gloves. Her women and men servants burst out into loud lamentations. She put her finger to her mouth to admonish them to be silent, and then bade them a final adieu with a smile that seemed to console, but that plunged them into deeper woe. She kneeled resolutely before the block, and said, "In thee, O Lord! do I trust, let me never be confounded." She covered her eyes with a linen handkerchief in which the eucharist had been inclosed; and stretching forth her body with great tranquillity, and fitting her neck for the fatal stroke, she called out, "Into thy hands, O God! I commit my spirit." The executioner, from design, from unkindfulness, or from iniquitude, struck three blows before he separated her head from her body. He held it up mangled with wounds, and streaming with blood; and her hair being discomfited, was discovered to be already gray with afflictions and anxieties. The dean of Peterborough alone cried out, "So let the enemies of Elizabeth perish." The earl of Kent alone, in a low voice, answered, "Amen." All the other spectators were melted into the tenderest sympathy and sorrow. Her women hastened to protect her dead body from the curiosity of the spectators; and solaced themselves with the thoughts of mourning over it undisturbed when they should retire, and of laying it out in its funeral garb. But the two earls prohibited them from discharging these melancholy yet pleasing offices to their departed mistress, and drove them from the hall with indignity. Bourgoin her physician applied to them that he might be permitted to take out her heart for the purpose of preserving it, and of carrying it with him to France. But they refused his intreaty with disdain and anger. Her remains were touched by the rude hands of the executioners, who carried them into an adjoining apartment; and who, tearing a cloth from an old billiard-table, covered that form, once so beautiful. The block, the cushion, the scaffold, and the garments, which were stained with her blood, were consumed with fire. Her body, after being embalmed and committed to a leaden coffin, was buried with royal splendour and pomp in the cathedral of Peterborough.

Elizabeth, who had treated her like a criminal while she lived, seemed disposed to acknowledge her for a queen when she was dead.

On the death of his mother, the full government of the kingdom devolved on James her son. Elizabeth, apprehensive of his resentment for her treatment of his mother, wrote him a letter, in which she disclaimed all knowledge of the fact. James had received intelligence of the murder before the arrival of this letter, which was sent by one Cary. The messenger was stopped at Berwick by an order from the king, telling him, that, if Mary had been executed, he should proceed at his peril. James shut himself up in Dalkeith castle, in order to indulge himself in grief; but the natural levity and imbecility of his mind prevented him from acting in any degree as became him. Instead of resolutely adhering to his first determination of not allowing Cary to set foot in Scotland, he in a few days gave his consent that he should be admitted to an audience of certain members of his privy-council, who took a journey to the borders on purpose to wait upon him. In this conference, Cary demanded that the league of amity between the two kingdoms should be inviolably obferved. He said that his mistress was grieved at the death of Mary, which had happened without her consent; and, in Elizabeth's name, offered any satisfaction that James could demand. The Scots commissioners treated Cary's speech and proposal with becoming disdain. They observed, that they amounted to no more than to know whether James was disposed to sell his mother's blood; adding, that the Scottish nobility and people were determined to revenge it, and to interest in their quarrel the other princes of Europe. On this Cary delivered to them the letter from Elizabeth, together with a declaration of his own concerning the murder of the queen; and it does not appear that he proceeded farther.

This reception of her ambassador threw Elizabeth into the utmost consternation. She was apprehensive that James would join his force to that of Spain, and entirely overwhelm her; and had the resentment or the spirit of the king been equal to that of the nation, it is probable that the haughty English princes would have been made severely to repent her perfidy and cruelty. It does not, however, appear, that James had any ferious intention of calling Elizabeth to an account for the murder of his mother; for which, perhaps, his natural imbecility may be urged as an excuse, though it is more probable that his own necessity for money had swallowed up every other consideration. By the league formerly concluded with England, it had been agreed that Elizabeth should pay an annual pension to the king of Scotland. James had neither economy to make his own revenue answer his purposes, nor address to get it increased. He was therefore always in want; and as Elizabeth had plenty to spare, her friendship became a valuable acquisition. To this consideration, joined to his view of attending the English throne, must chiefly be ascribed the little resentment shown by him to the atrocious conduct of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was not wanting in the arts of dissimulation and treachery now more than formerly. She prosecuted and fined Secretary Daviddon and Lord Burleigh for the active part they had taken in Mary's death. Their punishment was indeed much less than they deserved, but they certainly did not merit such treatment at her hands. Walsingham, though equally guilty, yet escaped by pretending indisposition, or perhaps cleaped because the queen had now occasion for his services. By her command he drew up a long letter addressed to Lord Thirlton, King James's prime minister; in which he showed the necessity of putting Mary to death, and the folly of attempting to revenge it. He boasted of the superior force of England to that of Scotland; shewed James that he would for ever ruin his pretensions to the English crown, by involving the two nations in a war; that he ought not to trust to foreign alliances; that the Catholic party were so divided among themselves, that he could receive little or no assistance from them, even supposing him so ill advised as to change his own religion for Popery, and that they would not trust his sincerity. Lastly, he attempted to show, that James had already discharged all the duty towards his mother and his own reputation that could be expected from an affectionate son and a wise king; that his interceding for her with a concern so becoming nature, had endeared him to the kingdom of England; but that it would be madness to put his resentment farther.

This letter had all the effect that could be desired. James gave an audience to the English ambassador; and being assured that his blood was not tainted by the execution of his mother for treason against Elizabeth, but that 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 conciliations to Elizabeth, and his constant applications to her for money, filled up the measure of his meannesses. 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. 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. Continuous 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. These 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 re-modelled, the constitution to no purpose. The clergy continued their insolence, and the laity their violences on one another; at the same time that the king, by his unhappy credulity 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.

King James had for some time formed a matrimonial scheme, and had fixed his eyes on the princess Anne, daughter of Frederick II., king of Denmark. Queen Elizabeth attempted to embarrass this marriage as she had done that of his mother, but James overlooked all obstacles by an effort of gallantry of which he was deemed incapable. On the 22nd of October, 1589, he failed to Denmark and married the princess Anne, then in the 16th year of her age. The character of this princess has been generally represented in a very unfavourable light, but probably the imputations which have been cast on it, arose more from prejudice than reality.

In autumn 1600, a remarkable conspiracy happened 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, An. 1600, 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 pallion 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 Arnot, 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 (z).

The particulars of this conspiracy, as far as they can be collected from the trial of the conspirators, and the depositions of the witnesses, published by Mr Arnot and the earl of Cromarty, are as follows. On the 5th of August at seven in the morning, while the king was about

(z) 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 regal 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 sanguine 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, about to mount his horse, to hunt in Falkland park, Alexander Ruthven, brother of the earl of Gowrie, addressed him in a very familiar manner. After the hunt was over, the king desired the duke of Lennox to accompany him to the earl of Gowrie's at Perth, telling him that Alexander Ruthven had invited him to get some hidden treasure, but desired the duke to have an eye to himself, and to follow him wherever he went with Alexander Ruthven. When they arrived at the earl of Gowrie's, it was observed that the earl's servants were armed. After the king had dined, Ruthven carried him to the uppermost part of the house, where he attempted to make him a prisoner, and to bind his hands; but the king resisted, and called out treason from the window. Sir John Ramsay, who carried the king's hawk, first entered the chamber, where he saw Ruthven struggling with the king. Ramsay soon dispatched the traitor, and the earl of Gowrie entering with a sword in each hand, and followed by armed men, there ensued a short conflict, in which the earl was mortally wounded by Sir John Ramsay.

For this eminent service Sir John Ramsay was 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 island, which were very improveable, 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; 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.

From the conspiracy of the Gowries there are few transactions deserving of notice in the reign of James VI. till the death of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603, called him to the English throne. From that period the affairs of Scotland are so intimately blended with those of England, that they cannot properly be considered apart. We have accordingly given a detail of the transactions of both countries from the accession of James to the throne of England, in the article BRITAIN. Some circumstances more peculiarly relating to Scotland, will be found under the articles EDINBURGH, LEITH, and SCOTLAND.

We shall conclude the historical part of this article with a brief review of the state of affairs in Scotland from the introduction of the reformed religion, and a general statement of the effects produced, by the accession of James, on the state of his native kingdom.

The period of the reformation may be regarded as Review of the period of crimes. The people were reformed from public affections to Protestantism; but there was no reform in the reformation of morals. It was the fashion to declaim about religion; but if we may judge from the facts related by the annalists of those revolutionary times, religion had but little influence on the lives and manners of the people. Conspiracy followed conspiracy, and crime succeeded crime in rapid succession. History evinces that every great revolution produces the most unhappy effects on the human character; and it is certain from the annals of the reformation in Scotland, that the turbulent spirit of the people received an additional incitement from the civil conflicts of the superior classes.

We have seen that the reformers were more studious to pull down than to build. The whole estates of the ancient church were appropriated by the nobles before any proper establishment was made for the reformed clergy. Laws for promoting and securing the reformation were ratified on every topic, except that of providing for the ministers of the new religion. The church judicatories and the reformed clergy took the place, and assumed the practices, of the Papal establishment and the Popish functionaries. The ministers censured from the pulpits the conduct of the court; they disputed the authority of the king, and promoted tumults and sedition through the nation, so that the king and the parliament found it necessary to enact a variety of laws for enforcing the obedience of the ecclesiastical to the civil power; and some of the clergy continuing contumacious, they were expelled the kingdom. From this measure, however necessary it might be deemed, the king acquired much popular odium; and it was the prelude to continual disputes between him and the leaders of the reformation. In 1580, a convention of the clergy assembled at Dundee, and passed a resolution abolishing Episcopacy. This was opposed by a counter declaration from the king; and in 1597, the parliament passed a law, by which it was enacted, that "ministers, provided to prelacy, should have a place in the three estates."

In order to erect the assumptions of the newly formed church on the ruins of the state, the clergy had proceeded to such lengths, that it became necessary to oppose barriers to their pretensions. So early as the year 1584, the parliament had passed an act, declaring, that the honour, authority, and dignity, of the estates shall stand and continue in their ancient integrity, supreme over all things and all persons; and, to support this declaration by an adequate penalty, it was further declared to be treason to call in question, or to diminish, the power of the three estates. All other conventions or assemblies that pretended to meet without the king's authority, were denounced as illegal. What was thus declared amid the ravings of anarchy respecting the supreme power of the state, constituted only new affirmations of the ancient law; but these wise provisions were followed by a whole code respecting the constituent members, the mode of fitting, and the authority of the three estates. This code was drawn up in the 11th parliament of James VI.

As a new power had arisen rather in the church than in the state, disputing the king's legal capacity, the 18th parliament in its zeal passed an act, acknowledging the royal prerogative and the privilege of the crown over all estates, persons, and causes; and this prerogative and privilege the three estates engaged to maintain with their lives, lands, and goods. Besides this, they provided a standing guard for the safety of the king's person.

The judicial power of the state had acquired a useful improvement by the establishment of the college of justice in the preceding reign; but if the senators could not act without question by individuals, justice held her scales in vain. Amid the wildness and irascibility of those times, some of the judges had been thus questioned, and the parliament interposed in behalf of justice, by declaring, that whoever should challenge a senator for his opinion, should be punished with death.

During the early ages of the Scottish nation, clanship from blood had existed in every part of North Britain. Throughout the whole Scot-Saxon period there existed, as we have seen, from conquest and from birth, a state of universal villainage, which disappeared in the 13th century. Amid the anarchy of subsequent times, there arose various clans, which were divided, according to the policy of those times, into clans of the borders and clans of the Highlands. From such a state of society, and from the want of employment, we may account for the facility with which great bodies of men were then drawn together at the call of every petty chieftain. In some measure to counteract this facility of exciting disturbance and rebellion, the parliament of 1587 had passed an act, by which the chiefs of all the clans were obliged to give security for their peaceable demeanour, and were made answerable for the enormities committed by their adherents. By the union of the two crowns, however, the clans of the borders were in a great measure dissolved, and the quiet of that part of the kingdom finally established.

The Scots had so long considered their monarchs as next heirs to the English throne, that they had full leisure to reflect on all the consequences of their being advanced to that dignity. But dazzled with the glory of giving a sovereign to their powerful enemy, relying on the partiality of their native prince, and in full expectation of sharing liberally in the wealth and honours which he would now be able to bestow, they attended little to the most obvious consequences of that great event, and rejoiced at his accession to the throne of England, as if it had been no less beneficial to the kingdom than honourable to the king. They soon had reason, however, to adopt very different sentiments, and from that period we may date a total alteration in the political constitution of Scotland.

The feudal aristocracy which had been subverted in most nations of Europe by the policy of their princes, or had been undermined by the progress of commerce, still subsisted with full force in Scotland. Many causes had contributed gradually to augment the power of the Scottish nobles; and even the Reformation which, in every other country where it prevailed, added to the authority of the monarch, had increased their wealth and influence. A king possessed of a small revenue with a prerogative extremely limited, and unsupported by a standing army, could not exercise much authority over such potent subjects. He was obliged to govern by expedients; and the laws derived their force not from his power to execute them, but from the voluntary submission of the nobles. But though this produced a species of government extremely feeble and irregular, though Scotland, under the name and with all the outward ensigns of a monarchy, was really subject to an aristocracy, the people were not altogether unhappy, and even in this wild form of a constitution there were principles, which tended to their security and advantage. The king, checked and overawed by the nobles, durst venture upon no act of arbitrary power. The nobles, jealous of the king, whose claims and pretensions were many, though his power was small, were afraid of irritating their dependants by unreasonable actions, and tempered the rigour of aristocratical tyranny with a mildness and equality to which it is naturally a stranger. As long as the military genius of the feudal government remained in vigour, the vassals both of the crown and of the barons were generally not only free from oppression, but were courted by their superiors, whose power and importance were founded on their attachment and love.

But, by his accession to the throne of England, James acquired such an immense accession of wealth, of power, and of splendour, that the nobles, affrighted and intimidated, thought it vain to struggle for privileges which they were now unable to defend. Nor was it from fear alone that they submitted to the yoke. James, partial to his countrymen, and willing that they should partake in his good fortune, loaded them with riches and honours; and the hope of his favour concurred with the dread of his power in taming their fierce and independent spirits. The will of the prince became the supreme law in Scotland; and the nobles strove, with emulation, who should most implicitly obey commands which they had formerly been accustomed to contemn. Satisfied with having subjected the nobles to the crown, the king left them in full possession of their ancient jurisdiction over their own vassals. The extensive rights, vested in a feudal chief, became in their hands dreadful instruments of oppression; and the military ideas, on which these rights were founded, being gradually lost or disregarded, nothing remained to correct or to mitigate the rigour with which they were exercised. The nobles, exhausting their fortunes by the expense of frequent attendance upon the English court, and by attempts to imitate the manners and luxury of their more wealthy neighbours, multiplied exactions upon the people, who durst hardly utter complaints, which they knew would never reach the ear of their sovereign, nor move him to grant any redress.

At their accession to the throne of England, the kings of Scotland, once the most limited, became, in an instant, the most absolute princes in Europe, and exercised a despotic authority, which their parliaments were unable to control, or their nobles to resist.

The church felt the effects of the absolute power which the king acquired by his accession; and its revolutions, too, are worthy of notice. James, during the latter years of his administration in Scotland, had revived the name and office of bishops. But they possessed Scotland. no ecclesiastical jurisdiction or pre-eminence; their revenues were inconsiderable; and they were scarcely distinguished by any thing but by their seat in parliament, and by being the object of the clergy's jealousy and the people's hatred. The king, delighted with the splendour and authority which the English bishops enjoyed, and eager to effect a union in the ecclesiastical policy which he had in vain attempted in the civil government of the two kingdoms, resolved to bring both churches to an exact conformity with each other. Three Scottishmen were consecrated bishops at London. From them their brethren were commanded to receive orders. Ceremonies unknown in Scotland were imposed; and, though the clergy, less obsequious than the nobles, boldly opposed the innovations, James, long practised and well skilled in the arts of managing them, obtained at length their compliance.

The monuments of antiquity belonging to North Britain may be considered under three heads, as they belong to the Celtic period, the Roman period, or the Scoto-Irish period. Of the first of these periods very few monuments now remain, and these are chiefly of the tumular kind; consisting either of circles of stones, the evident remains of drudical worship, or of the remains of the hill forts, which appear to have been employed by the ancient Caledonians as places of defence. Of these hill forts there is a remarkable example at Barrow-hill in Aberdeenshire, which is described and figured by Mr Chalmers; and a similar fort appears to have existed at Barry-hill near Alyth in Perthshire.

The remains of the Roman period in North Britain appear chiefly in the celebrated wall built in the reign of Antoninus Pius, between the friths of Forth and Clyde; in the ruins of which many curious inscriptions have been found. Another striking object of this epoch was a small edifice, vulgarly called Arthur's oven, which seems to have been regarded by some antiquaries as a small temple, dedicated to the god Terminus; probably after the erection of the wall of Antoninus, for we are not to conceive that these walls were the absolute lines, beyond which the Romans possessed no territory; while, on the contrary, in the pacific intervals, the garrisons along the wall may have claimed the forage of the exterior fields; and the stream of Carron, beyond which this chapel stood, may have been considered as a necessary supply of water. The remains of the wall and forts, and other Roman antiquities in Scotland, particularly their camps and stations, many of which are remarkably entire, are ably illustrated in a publication of General Roy, and in the Caledonia of Mr Chalmers. General Roy, indeed, has too implicitly followed a common antiquarian error, in ascribing all these camps, stations, &c., to Agricola; while they may be more justly assigned to Lollius Urbicus, A.D. 140, or to the emperor Severus, A.D. 207, especially, indeed, to the latter; for the emperor's appearance in person to conduct two campaigns, probably as far as Inverness, must have occasioned the erection of works more eminent and durable than usual; the soldiers being excited by the animating control of a military monarch. In the reign of Domitian, Bolanus, as we learn from Statius the poet, erected several works in Britain, probably in the north; so that it is idle to impute these remains to any one author: but, to a judicious eye, the claims of Lollius Urbicus and of Severus seem preferable. One of the most northerly Roman camps yet discovered, is that near the source of the river Ythan, Aberdeenshire; periphery about two English miles. A smaller station has also been observed at Old Meldrum, a few miles to the south-east.

Four remarkable Roman stations are described and figured by Mr Chalmers; one on the north bank of the river Dee, near Peterculter in Aberdeenshire, occupying about eight Scotch acres; a second in Banffshire; a third on the southern bank of the Spey, near its mouth; a fourth, now called the Green Castle, near Clattering Brig in Kincardine-shire, forming a fort whose internal area measures nearly 158 feet, by 262 feet.

Roman roads have been traced a considerable way in the east of Scotland, as far as the county of Angus, affording some evidence of the existence of the province of Vespasiana; but the chief remains are within the wall. A hypocaust was also discovered near Perth, and another near Muffelburgh, so that there was probably some Roman station near the Scottish capital; but the name of Alaterva is a ridiculous error, arising from an inscription by some foreign cohort to obscure goddesses of their own country, styled Matres Alatervae. The smaller remains of Roman antiquity found in Scotland, as coins, utensils, &c., are numerous.

There remain few monuments of antiquity that can be referred to the earlier part of the Scoto-Irish period. These consist principally of stone pillars and obelisks of rude workmanship, and generally without inscriptions. There are, however, some remarkable sculptured monuments referable to this period, such as the upright stones that stand in a cultivated field near Cargil, and are carved with figures of the moon and stars; a sculptured pillar near Forres, supposed to refer to the expulsion of the Danes in the reign of Malcolm II.; a hieroglyphical column which stands conspicuous on the moor of Rhyne in Aberdeenshire; some carved stones in the churchyard of Meigle, and perhaps the chapel of St Regulus at St Andrew's.

Among the antiquities of this period we must not omit to mention the remarkable terrace-hills, which are seen in many parts of Scotland (especially in Peeblesshire, as in the parish of Newlands). These hills appear to have served the purpose of amphitheatres, where the people witnessed the exhibition of plays and other public sports.

The monuments of antiquity that have been referred to the Picts, are rather of doubtful authenticity. These round towers, composed of stones without cement, which have been called Pictish houses, and are still found in the Orkney islands, and in some parts of the north of Scotland, are generally considered as the remains of the nation whose name they bear, though Mr Chalmers will have them to be the remains of the old Celtic architecture.

Many Danish monuments have been described by antiquaries as existing in North Britain; but the characters of most of them are not sufficiently distinct to ascertain their Danish origin. One of the most certain Danish antiquities is found in the churchyard of Ruthwell in Dumfries-shire. When this monument was entire, it appears to have been about 18 feet high, without its pedestal. Scotland, pedestal, and to have been sculptured on each of its four sides with foliage, birds, and marine animals, and inscribed with Runic letters. This curious pillar, which seems to be almost the only Runic remain in Scotland, was formerly held in such high veneration by the common people, that a decree of the general assembly of the kirk, in 1644, ordained it to be thrown down as an object of idolatry.

Of the numerous remains of castles, cathedrals, and monasteries, which occur in almost every part of Scotland, our limits do not permit us to take particular notice. Many of them have been already described under the names of the places where they are found; and such of our readers as desire a more particular account of these interesting ruins, may consult the Beauties of Scotland, where their curiosity will be amply gratified.

In our tabular view of the counties of Scotland, we have noted the population of each county as it was ascertained in 1801, from which it appeared, that, in that year, the whole population of Scotland amounted to 1,624,826. From the best accounts which we can collect of the population of North Britain, at some preceding periods, there can be no doubt that the general population of the country is gradually increasing. Thus it appears, that, in the year 1755, there were in Scotland about 1,265,000 souls; in 1791, 1,526,000; and in 1798, about 1,526,492 (A). Hence it appears, that notwithstanding the emigrations which for many years took place to America, especially from the Highlands, the general population has rapidly increased within the last 50 years.

The government of Scotland since the union has been blended with that of England. The chief distinction between the original constitution of the two countries was, that Scotland had no house of commons, the parliament consisting of all descriptions, assembled in one hall. That enlightened prince James I. of Scotland, endeavoured to establish a house of commons in imitation of that of England, where he was educated; but the people most firmly and vigorously defended their ancient customs. The most splendid remaining feature of government in Scotland is the general assembly. Next to this may be classed the high courts of justice, especially that styled the Session, lately consisting of a president and fourteen senators. The Lords of Council and Session, as they are styled in Scotland, upon their promotion to office, assume a title, generally from the name of an estate, by which they are known and addressed, as if peers by creation, while they are only constituted lords by superior intellect or talents. This court is the last resort in civil causes, and the only appeal is to the British house of peers. The judiciary court, which is the criminal court of Scotland, consists of five judges, who are likewise lords of session; but with a president, styled the lord justice clerk, as he is understood to represent the formerly great office of justice Scotland general, an office which still continues, though it may be considered rather as a post of honour and profit. This is the supreme court in criminal causes, which are determined by the majority of a jury, and not by their unanimity as in England. There is also a court of exchequer, consisting of a lord chief baron and four barons, who have the chief jurisdiction over the public revenue of Scotland; and a high court of admiralty, in which there is only one judge, who is the king's lieutenant and justice general, on the high seas, and in all ports and harbours. From this court there is no appeal in maritime cases. The keepers of the great and privy seals, and the lord-register or keeper of the records, may also be mentioned under this head.

Besides the above national judges, there is in every county, a sheriff, who acts as chief magistrate, and whose jurisdiction extends to some criminal cases, and to all civil matters which are not by special law or custom appropriated to other courts.

The recent changes which have been made in the court of session, by dividing it into two houses, are well calculated to favour the dispatch of business, and to prevent that notorious delay which had become the disgrace of the Scottish court of judicature. At present the court of session consists of two divisions, the first of which is composed of eight judges, having the lord-president at their head, while in the second there are seven judges, whose president is the lord justice clerk (B).

Sir John Sinclair has stated the proportion of the public revenues furnished by North Britain to be as follows, in the year 1789. The produce of the Scotch customs, in the year ending January 5th 1789, was 255,839l.; from which was deducted for debentures, bounties, salaries, and incidents, 171,638l. The average yearly amount of the money belonging to the exchequer is 72,500l. The salt duties in the same year yielded 18,043l. from which was deducted for drawbacks, salaries, &c. 8749l. The duties of excise for that year exceeded 422,000l.; the expense of management 83,982l. The stamp duties amounted to 73,877l.; the charges of managing and collecting were 8032l. The whole revenue of Scotland for 1788 was 1,099,148l. The expenditure was as follows: expenses of the crown 60,342l.; expenditure of the public 173,921l.; bounties, drawbacks, &c. 127,629l.; public expenses settled by the union, and by subsequent acts of parliament, 64,868l.; cash remitted to the English exchequer 628,881l.; balance remaining for national purposes 44,307l. According to the same authority, at least \( \frac{1}{7} \) of the revenue raised by Great Britain is now drawn from Scotland, whereas, at the time of the union, the proportion furnished by North Britain was supposed not more than \( \frac{1}{8} \) of the whole *.

*See Play added the income arising from the posts, which in 1801 geography, vol. ii. p. 558.

(A) This last number is taken from the returns published in Sir John Sinclair's account. According to the returns in the population act in 1801, Scotland, at that period, contained 294,553 inhabited houses, 9537 uninhabited houses, 364,079 families, 734,581 males, 864,487 females, making a total of 1,599,068 inhabitants; of whom 365,516 were chiefly employed in agriculture; 293,373 chiefly employed in trade, manufactures, and handicrafts, and 833,914 were not included in these two classes.

(B) For an account of the first establishment of the College of Justice by James V. see No 473. Scotland amounted to £89,817; and the product of the income tax, which about the same time yielded £344,015, was paid by 20,537 persons of various professions, whose incomes were assessed at £4,512,570. Thus the whole revenue of Scotland at the end of the 18th century, may be estimated at nearly one million and a half.

The great increase of the public revenues of Scotland since the union, will appear from the following statement. In the year 1706, the income of the post-office was not more than £1194; that arising from the excise, only £33,500; and that from the customs, only £34,000; making a total of £68,694; whereas in 1801, the income of the post amounted, as we have said, to £89,817; that from the excise to £833,000; and that from the customs, to £578,000; making a total of £1,500,817. Thus, the increase of these three sources of revenue above, in less than 100 years, amounted to £1,432,123.

Mr Chalmers estimates the whole revenue derived from Scotland at the union, at £160,000, while in 1800, the same author states it at £1,790,000. Hence the increase on the whole Scottish revenue since the union, according to this statement, is £1,630,000.

It appears that the hereditary revenue of the crown in Scotland was so much diminished during the 18th century, by lavish grants made by the crown, and a neglect in collecting what remained, as to amount in 1788 to only £800.

Scotland is represented in the British parliament by 16 peers, chosen by the whole body of the Scottish peerage, and by 45 commoners, of whom 30 are elected by the counties, and the remaining 15 by as many districts of royal boroughs, one by each district. The following table will show what royal boroughs belong to each district.

| Districts | Members | |------------------------------------------------|---------| | 1. Edinburgh city | | | 2. Aberdeen, Aberbrothick, Bervie, Montrose, and Brechin | | | 3. Ayr, Irving, Inverary, Rothsay, and Cambeltown | | | 4. Anstruther Easter and Wester, Crail, Kilrenny, and Pittenweem | | | 5. Banff, Cullen, Kintore, Elgin and Inverurie | | | 6. Stirling, Culross, Inverkeithing, Dunfermline, and Queensferry | | | 7. Perth, Dundee, Forfar, St Andrew's, and Cupar Fife | | | 8. Glasgow, Renfrew, Rutherglen, and Dumbarton | | | 9. Dumfries, Sanquhar, Annan, Lochmaben, and Kirkcudbright | | | 10. Inverness, Fortrose, Nairn, and Forres | | | 11. Kinghorn, Dysart, Kirkcaldy, and Burntisland | | | 12. Jedburgh, Haddington, Lauder, Dunbar, and North Berwick | | | 13. Selkirk, Peebles, Lanark, and Linlithgow | | | 14. Stranraer, Wigton, Whitehorn, and New Galloway | | | 15. Kirkwall, Tain, Dingwall, Wick, and Dornoch | |

The county members are elected by gentlemen possessed of landed property, or superiorities of lands valued in the cens-rolls of the county at £400. Scots yearly rent, according to a valuation first introduced during the administration of Cromwell, and afterwards sanctioned by parliament.

The law of Scotland differs essentially from that of England, as the former is founded in a great measure on the civil law, while the latter depends chiefly on the statutes or acts of parliament. The law of Scotland also consists partly of statute law; but as many of its ancient statutes have never been enforced, the chief rule of practice arises from the decisions of the court of session, which are carefully preserved and published, and afford precedents that are generally deemed unexceptionable. The civil and canon laws may be said to form the two great pillars of Scottish judicature, for of common law there is scarcely a trace. The modes of procedure in Scotland are in general free from many of those legal fictions which disgrace the laws of some other countries, though it may be regarded as a fiction, that a debtor who refuses or neglects to pay, should be proclaimed a rebel to the king. The procedure in cases of debt is peculiarly mild in Scotland. No man can be suddenly arrested as in England; but he is first put to the horn, as it is termed, after which a certain delay is granted before the caption or arrest takes place. For a particular account of the Scottish laws, see the article Law.

The Presbyterian church government, which, since the revolution in 1688, has formed the established religion in Scotland, is founded on an equality of authority among all its pastors or presbyters, and is modelled after the Calvinistic plan adopted at Geneva, and recommended to the Scotch reformers by the celebrated John Knox. This form of church government, therefore, excludes all pre-eminence of rank, as all the ministers are on an equal footing. The want of ceremony in the ordinances of the Scottish church is unpleasing to the eye of a stranger who has been brought up in the Catholic or Lutheran persuasion. He will particularly be led to make a comparison between the form or rather mode of burial in Scotland and the burial service of England, very unfavourable to the former. He will contrast the hurried step, and indifferent if not noisy behaviour of the bearers and attendants, and the uncereemonious deposition of the body in the earth, according to the Scotch custom, with the slow and measured pace, the serious demeanour and melancholy silence, the solemn and impressive burial-service, at an English funeral; and he cannot but give the preference to the latter, as being alone calculated to produce sentiments of awe and becoming thoughts of death and a future state, both on the actors and spectators of the solemn scene.

The most ceremonious ordinance of the Scotch church is the administration of the sacrament. This takes place twice a-year, and the communicants are generally very numerous, though in most parishes they must have previously been examined by the minister, and received from him a token of their qualification. Before the sacrament is administered, a solemn fast is held on the preceding Thursday, and the communicants attend divine worship in the forenoon, on the Saturday preceding and the Monday following the sacrament Sunday.

The former austerity of the Scottish clergy is considerably relaxed; but some marks of the ancient strictness of discipline still remain. In particular, the flood of repentance, so commonly used in the age of fanaticism, cism, is still occasionally brought forward, especially in the country churches, where a rustic culprit is sometimes seen doing penance, and receiving public reproof for some flagrant act of incontinence.

The ecclesiastical power is distributed among the judicatories of the church in the following manner. Scotland is divided into 935 parishes, each of which has one or more ministers, who discharge the pastoral office according to their discretion, and are accountable only to the presbytery of which they are members. In matters relating to discipline, the ministers are assisted by elders, selected from among the most intelligent and regular of his parishioners; but these elders have no right to teach, or to dispense the sacraments. Their proper office is to watch over the morals of the people, to question them as to their knowledge of the church catechism, and to visit the sick. In attending to the interests of the poor, they also discharge the office of deacons, or church-wardens, and are commonly called ruling elders. The ruling elders and the minister of the parish form what is called the kirk-session, which is the lowest assembly of ecclesiastical judicature in Scotland. The kirk-session distributes among the poor the alms which are collected at the church doors every Sunday, and it takes cognizance of petty offences against religion and good morals. Neither the kirk-session, nor any other ecclesiastical court, however, can impose any civil penalty, but must confine its punishments to private or public admonitions, or refusing the offender admission to the sacraments of the church. Next above the kirk-session is the presbytery, composed of an indefinite number of ministers of contiguous parishes, with one ruling elder, elected half-yearly as the representative of each kirk-session; so that a presbytery is composed of an equal number of ministers and elders. The presbyteries take cognizance of all ecclesiastical matters within their bounds; judge in cases of appeal from the kirk-sessions, and judge of the qualifications of candidates for admission to holy orders. Three or more adjacent presbyteries form a synod, of which there are 15. The synod is a court of appeal from the presbyteries within its bounds, and has the power of confirming or reversing the judgments of those inferior assemblies, an appeal lying from it to the general assembly. This is the great ecclesiastical court of Scotland, and is composed of representatives from presbyteries, universities, and royal boroughs, in the following proportion. The presbyteries send 200 ministers, and 89 ruling elders; the royal boroughs 67 elders, and the universities five representatives, who may be either ministers or elders. These representatives are elected annually, and the assembly itself meets once a year, and holds its sittings for about 10 days, after which it is dissolved by the moderator or the ecclesiastical president, and by the lord commissioner, who sits in it as the representative of the king. The general assembly judges in appeals from the synods, and it can also enact laws which are binding on the whole church for one year. A permanent law can be made only in the following manner. It must be decreed by a majority of the general assembly, and be afterwards remitted to the consideration of all the presbyteries. If a majority of these approve it, and if it is also approved by the succeeding general assembly, it becomes a law, and can be repealed only in the form in which it was enacted (c). The numbers of presbyteries and parishes which compose each synod, will appear from the following table:

| Synods | Prefb. | Parishes | |-------------------------|--------|----------| | 1. Lothian and Tweeddale | 7 | 107 | | 2. Merle and Teviotdale | 6 | 67 | | 3. Dumfries | 5 | 54 | | 4. Galloway | 3 | 37 | | 5. Glasgow and Ayr | 7 | 123 | | 6. Perth and Stirling | 5 | 79 | | 7. Fife | 4 | 65 | | 8. Forfar and Mearns | 6 | 81 | | 9. Aberdeen | 9 | 103 | | 10. Murray | 7 | 53 | | 11. Rothes | 3 | 24 | | 12. Sutherland and Caithness | 3 | 23 | | 13. Argyle | 5 | 52 | | 14. Glenelg | 5 | 29 | | 15. Orkney | 4 | 38 |

The stipends or salaries of the ministers are paid by the proprietors of the lands within their parishes, called the heritors, and are fixed by the court of session acting as a committee of the Scottish parliament. They are usually paid partly in money and partly in kind, and in general the latter is preferred by the minister.

There are in Scotland numerous dissenters from the Dissenters, established persuasion. Of these, some differ in nothing but their ideas of church-government, as those which are called the churches of Relief. These compose a single synod, comprising six presbyteries, viz. Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Ninian's, Dysart, Perth and Dumfries, and about 73 parishes. Two of the principal sects of Scotch dissenters, or, as they are called, Seceders, are the Burghers and Antiburghers, both independent of the established church, and differing from each other principally in this circumstance, that the Burghers admit the legality of the oaths taken by burgesses in some of the royal boroughs, while the latter deny the legality of these oaths. The Burghers are the more numerous body, and comprise a single synod, comprehending 10 presbyteries, viz. those of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Falkirk and Stirling, Dunfermline, Perth, Coldstream, Selkirk, Lanark, and Aberdeen. The Antiburgher synods are three in number, viz. the synod of Edinburgh, comprehending the presbyteries of Edinburgh, Kelso, and Dumfries; the synod of Perth, comprehending the presbyteries of Perth, Kirkcaldy and Forfar; and the synod of Glasgow, containing the presbyteries of Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Stirling, Elgin, and Aberdeen.

Besides these dissenters, there are in Scotland seven dioceses belonging to the Episcopalian church, viz. those of Edinburgh and Fife, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Moray, Ross, Dunkeld, and Brechin, and the congregations

(c) The general assembly owes its institution to the parliament that met in 1560, by consent of Francis and Mary, to regulate the affairs of the nation and the church; and the first assembly was held in that year. of this persuasion are numerous and respectable. The Methodists and Anabaptists are also numerous, but the Quakers are few in number.

It is well known that there prevail in Scotland two languages that are extremely different in their nature and origin, the Earse or Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands and in the Western Islands, and the Lowland Scotch, spoken in the remaining parts of the country. Of the Gaelic language we have already treated at some length in the article PHILOLOGY, No 205, et seq., and shall here only give a specimen of that language in the Lord's prayer, contrasting it with the Norse language as formerly spoken in the Orkneys, and with the ancient form of the Lowland Scotch.

**Lord's Prayer in Gaelic.**

A n'Athair ata air Neamh, Gu naamhaichear t-Tinm. Tigeadh do Righachd. Deanthar do Thoil air an Talamh mar a nitheir air Neamh. Tabhair dhinn an diu ar n-Aran laitheil. Agus maith dhinn ar Fiacha amhul mar mhaithmid d'ar luchd-fia chaibh. Agus na leig am buaireadh finn. Ach faor finn o ole. Amen.

**Lord's Prayer in the Orkney Norse Language.**

Favor ir i chimre. Helleur ir i namhite. Gilla codhum thite cumma. Veya thine mota vara gort o yurn finna gart i chimrie. Ga vus da on da delight brow vora. Tirgile vus finna vora fin vee forgive fin-dara mutha vus. Lyve us ye i tuntation. Min delivira vus fro olt ill. Amen; or, on fa meteth vera.

**Lord's Prayer in Old Scotch.**

Uor fader quhill beest i Hevin. Hallowit weird thyne nam. Cum thyne kingrik. Be dune thyne wull as is i hevin sva po yerd. Uor deillie breid gif us thilk day. And forfeit us uor skaths, as we forfeit than quha skath us. And leed us na intil tentation. Butan fre us fra evil. Amen.

By comparing the above specimens, it will be evident, that both the Norse of the Orkneys, and the old Lowland Scotch are essentially different from the Gaelic, but that the two former have some distant resemblance to each other, which may lead an etymologist, without any great stretch of fancy, to believe that they originated from the same source. It has indeed been very generally believed, and almost taken for granted, that the language spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland is merely a corrupt dialect of the Anglo-Saxon, and that it was introduced into Scotland from South Britain at no very early period. The learned author of Caledonia is decidedly of this opinion, and contends that, previous to the establishment of a Saxon monarch on the throne of Scotland in the person of Edgar, son of Malcolm Canmore, no other language but Gaelic was spoken in North Britain, except in Lothian, which may be considered as then an English settlement. He further declares that the oldest document which he has met with in the Scottish language, is a contract with the magistrates of Edinburgh in 1387.

There can be no doubt of the affinity between the Lowland Scotch and the Anglo-Saxon. The only matter in dispute is, whether the latter was borrowed from the former, or was a dialect of the same Gothic language introduced into Scotland at an earlier period. One of the most strenuous, and perhaps successful advocates for the latter opinion is Dr John Jamieson, who in his elaborate work on the Scottish language has ably controverted the arguments of Mr Chalmers, and pleaded for the independent origin of the Scottish language. This is believed by Dr Jamieson to have been spoken by the Picts, and to have been brought by them from Scandinavia; for he is decidedly of opinion, in opposition to Mr Chalmers, that the Picts were not a remnant of the ancient Caledonians under a new name, but an independent Gothic tribe, who at a very early period established themselves in the north of Scotland (D).

There are two principal peculiarities in the Scottish language; the use of the quh at the beginning of words, where the English use the wh, and the change of the Anglo-Saxon th into d; both which peculiarities are evidently borrowed from the northern Gothic languages.

In their pronunciation of the vowels, the Scotch follow the method of the French, and other nations of the continent, though, as in England, this general custom is subject to many anomalies. Thus the a, which in man, and most other words, is pronounced broad, is, in Father, and a few other instances, pronounced open, Feyther.

Scottish literature cannot be traced to an early period. In the middle ages it consisted, like that of other countries, in little more than meagre chronicles, composed by ill-informed and credulous monks. Indeed, according to Mr Pinkerton, the country that produced Buchanan in the 16th century, could not in the 12th boast of a single native writer. It first began to dawn in the 13th century, when Scotland, filled with a barbarous Scandinavian colony, cannot be compared, in respect of literature, with the southern countries of England and Ireland; but with Scandinavia itself, with Holland and with the north of Germany, with Poland, Prussia, Russia, and Hungary. In all these countries literature is comparatively recent, and compared with them, Scotland will not be found deficient. It must not indeed be forgotten, that in the sacred ground of Iona flourished several respectable Scoto-Irish writers, who were also clasped among the apostles of religion in England, such as the biographers of Columba, Cumenius, and Adamnan, the latter the friend of the English historian.

(D) We have in the early part of this article, perhaps too hastily, adopted Mr Chalmers's opinion, that the Picts were not an independent race. The arguments which Mr Chalmers has adduced in support of this opinion, so opposite to that of most antiquaries and historians, are ingenious and plausible; but as they are drawn chiefly from the names of places, rivers, &c., in North Britain, which are allowed on all hands to be generally Celtic, and are in direct opposition to the testimony of Bede, the earliest British historian, Dr Jamieson will not allow that they have the weight which at first sight they appear to merit. Scotland. Storiar Bede, and among the Strathclyde Gaels, may be noticed St Patrick, the apostle of Ireland.

The earliest fragment of Scottish literature is the Chronicon Pictorum, supposed to have been written by some Irish priest, in the beginning of the 11th century. Of the 12th century there are some fragments of the register of St Andrew's, some short chronicles published by Father Innes; the chronicle of Melrose, and that of Holyrood. Towards the conclusion of the 13th century, appeared some writers of considerable estimation, particularly Michael Scot a philosopher, mathematician and physician, and also celebrated as an astrologer and alchemist, who published voluminous commentaries on the works of Aristotle; Thomas Learmont of Ercildoun, commonly called Thomas the Rhymer, famous for his poetical compositions, and his skill in heraldry, who wrote a metrical romance called Sir Tristram; and John Scot of Dunfermline, or Duns Scotus, a consummate metaphysician and voluminous writer. In the 14th century lived John of Fordoun, the author of Scotichronicon, a historical work of considerable merit, and John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen, who wrote a poem on the actions of Robert I., which is no mean monument of the industry and talents of that age. King James I., who flourished in the beginning of the 15th century, may be ranked as the next Scottish writer of eminence. He was a learned and accomplished prince, and was the author of some excellent poems. James was followed by Holland and Harry the Rhymer. In the 16th century we may notice Elphinstone, bishop of Aberdeen, who composed the Scotichronicon Chronicum, and was distinguished both for learning and piety; Dunbar, the chief of the ancient Scottish poets; Gavin Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld, who published an excellent poetical translation of Virgil's Æneid, and David Lindsay of the Mount. John Knox, the chief instrument and promoter of the reformation; John Major and Hector Boethius, two historians of considerable note, also belonged to this century; and the admirable Crichton must not be forgotten, though the usual accounts that have been given of his accomplishments are strongly tinctured with fable and romance. At the latter end of the same period flourished the classical Buchanan, an elegant historian and Latin poet, and John Leslie bishop of Ross, the author of many esteemed works, who was versed in theology and philosophy, in the civil and canon law, and was besides an able statesman.

The learned Archbishop Spottiswoode, published a judicious ecclesiastical history of Scotland; and the natural history of this country was illustrated by Sir Andrew Balfour and Sir Robert Sibbald, two of its greatest ornaments. The discovery of logarithms in the beginning of the 17th century, is the indisputable right of Napier of Merchiston; and since his time, mathematical science has been cultivated in Scotland with singular success. The works of Keill, Gregory, MacLaurin, Simson, Stewart, Robison, &c. are universally read and admired. During the 18th century this country produced other eminent writers in various departments of science. Among the Scots divine and moral philosophers, we may particularize Blair, Campbell, Hutcheson, Leechman, Macknight; among the statesmen and lawyers, Sir George Mackenzie, Viscount Stair, Sir Thomas Craig, Lord Kames; among the historians, Hume, Robertson, Henry, Lord Hailes, Ferguson; among the political and moral writers, Reid, Lord Monboddo, Beattie; among the physicians and surgeons, Bell, Black, Culven, Gregory, William and John Hunter, Hutton, Monro, Smellie, Whytt; and among the Scottish poets, Blair, Burns, Home, Ramsay, Thomson, Wilkie. The names now mentioned, besides Mansfield and Burnet, may be sufficient to show that Scotland has produced able writers in almost every useful branch of science. Among the few departments of literature in which Scottish writers have been less successful, may be mentioned biography, epic poetry, the critical illustration of the classics, and comedy*. Indeed the efforts of the See Pietaristic muse have been singularly damped in Scotland from the fanatical prejudices of its clergy; but we trust Geography, vol. i. and that these illiberal prejudices have now subsided, and Playfair's that the venerable author of Douglas will stand on record as the last example of ecclesiastical censure, on account of his devotion to the drama.

Within the last 20 years, the progress of Scottish literature has perhaps been greater than at any former period. During that interval, booksellers shops have been established, where formerly there was scarcely a book stall, and there are now few towns of any consideration that do not possess a printing-press. The increase of newspapers and periodical publications, especially in the capital of Scotland, is also very great, there being now published at Edinburgh not fewer than six monthly and quarterly reviews and magazines, and at least eight newspapers.

The progress of the arts in Scotland has of late scarce State of the ly fallen short of that of the sciences. Skilful workmen, in the mechanic arts, especially in those of joinery and cabinet-making, are numerous in the large towns; and even musical instruments of considerable price and excellent workmanship, are constructed in Edinburgh. The liberal arts of painting and engraving have been carried to great perfection; and both these and the art of printing are now exercised in Edinburgh in a style little, if at all, inferior to that of the London artists. The numerous public and private buildings in Edinburgh and Glasgow, bear ample testimony to the abilities of Scottish architects, and show that they are by no means behind their brethren of the south in grandeur and beauty of design, and elegance and solidity of execution.

The mode of education pursued in Scotland is highly Education laudable; and is, perhaps, the best practical system pursued in any country in Europe. The plan which is followed in the cities, is nearly the same with that in England, either by private teachers, or at large public schools, of which the high school of Edinburgh is the most eminent, and may be traced back to the 16th century. The superior advantage of the Scottish education consists in every country parish providing a schoolmaster as uniformly as a clergyman; at least, the rule is general, and the exceptions rare. The schoolmaster has a small salary, which enables him to educate the children at a rate easy and convenient even to indigent parents. It may, indeed, be computed, that a shilling will go as far in this parochial education, as a guinea in an English school. In the Highlands, the poor children attend to the flocks in summer, and the school in winter. Till within these few years, the salaries of the Scotch parochial schoolmasters were so trifling as to hold out no adequate encouragement to young men of abilities to engage in that useful office; but they have lately been been augmented, and the establishment of a fund for the widows of schoolmasters in Scotland, has added to the respectability of the situation.

A great majority of the Scottish youth are educated for the church, and from this class the families of the gentry are generally supplied with private tutors, and the schools and academies with masters. It has been observed by Mr Laing, that "the poverty of the church of Scotland is peculiarly unfavourable to the pursuit of letters; her universities make no provision for the independence and ease of a studious life. The wealthy benefices of the English church may afford a final retreat, and its well endowed universities, an intermediate sanctuary for literary repose, where a taste for classical and polite learning is cultivated and preserved. But the Scottish clergy, who are removed from the university early in life, to a remote solitude, have neither access to the works of the learned, nor the means, if they retain the desire, of improving the acquisitions which they have already made. No one is illiterate, but the church has not yet been distinguished by a man of extensive or profound erudition. Their education imparts some smattering of science; their trials of ordination, require an equal proportion of Greek and Hebrew; and the same parity is observable in the learning and in the discipline of the church."

There are in Scotland four universities, viz. those of St Andrew's, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh; a particular account of which will be found under those articles. The university of Edinburgh, though of most recent origin, is now in the highest estimation; from the numerous departments of science and literature there taught, and the general ability of its professors. The Scotch universities, unlike those of England, seldom consist of more than one college, and St Andrew's may be considered as the only proper exception to this observation, as the colleges of Aberdeen are in distinct towns, viz. the one in Old, and the other in New Aberdeen. There are professors of medicine at all these universities, but only Edinburgh and Glasgow can be regarded as medical schools.

We can here only enter on a few general observations respecting Scottish agriculture, as the state of husbandry in Scotland may be best seen from the general description given of the several counties, and from the article AGRICULTURE. In the lower districts particularly, agriculture has arrived at a great degree of perfection. In the counties of Berwick, East Lothian, Ayr, Lanark, Stirling, Perth, Angus, and Moray, the face of the country has, in consequence of the improved cultivation, assumed a new appearance, being highly cultivated, and generally inclosed with stone hedges, instead of the former inclosures of stone dykes. Rich crops of wheat, barley, clover and turnips, are now raised on fields which some years ago afforded only scanty pasturage for sheep; and potato crops are now become general and excellent. Of the mountainous districts, black cattle and sheep are the staple commodities, and the rocky shores produce abundance of kelp. In a few years the deficiency of timber, so much complained of by southern travellers, will be abundantly supplied, as many proprietors are now covering their waste lands with extensive forests. One nobleman, the earl of Moray, from 1767 to 1807, planted upwards of 13,000,000 of trees, of which 1,500,000 are oak. The value of land in Scotland is within these few years progressively increased, and an Englishman will scarcely believe, that in some parts of Scotland extensive farms are let at 5l. and even 6l. per acre.*

As the valued rent of land is intimately connected with the progress of agricultural improvement, we shall here give a table of the rental of the several Scotch counties, as it has been valued in Scotch money.

| Counties | Valued rent in Scots Money | |-------------------|----------------------------| | Aberdeen | L.235,665 8 11 | | Argyll | 149,595 10 0 | | Ayr | 191,605 0 7 | | Banff | 79,200 0 0 | | Berwick | 178,305 7 3 4 | | Bute and Arran | 15,022 13 8 | | Caithness | 37,250 2 10 | | Clackmannan | 25,482 10 10 | | Cromarty | 12,897 2 8 | | Dumbarton | 33,327 19 0 | | Dumfries | 158,627 10 0 | | Edinburgh | 191,954 3 9 | | Elgin | 65,663 0 5 | | Fife | 362,534 7 5 | | Forfar | 171,026 0 0 | | Haddington | 168,878 5 10 | | Inverness | 73,188 9 0 | | Kincardine | 74,921 1 4 | | Kinross | 20,192 11 2 | | Kirkcudbright | 114,571 19 3 | | Lanark | 162,118 16 11 | | Linlithgow | 74,931 19 0 | | Nairn | 15,163 1 1 | | Orkney and Shetland| 56,551 9 1 | | Peebles | 51,937 3 10 | | Perth | 339,818 5 8 | | Renfrew | 68,076 15 2 | | Rothes | 75,140 10 3 | | Roxburgh | 315,594 14 6 | | Selkirk | 80,307 15 6 | | Stirling | 108,518 9 9 | | Sutherland | 26,193 9 9 | | Wigton | 67,646 17 0 |

Total, L.3,802,574 10 5½ Scots. Or, Sterling, L.316,881 4 2½

The inhabitants of North Britain can scarcely be regarded as a commercial people before the end of the thirteenth century, when the accession of Edgar, by placing a line of Saxon monarchs on the Scottish throne, introduced into Scotland that spirit of trade and commerce, which at an early period distinguished the Saxon inhabitants of South Britain. It has indeed been pretended that the Scotch had a fishery at home, and a foreign traffic with the Dutch, as early as the beginning of the ninth century; but the former is improbable, since the religious prejudices of the Gaelic people led them to regard fish as unhallowed food, and fishery as an unlawful occupation; and the latter assertion is at least incorrect, since the Dutch did not exist as a commercial society at that early period. The chief seats of trade have, in all ages, and in every country, been the towns; but Celtic Scotland had neither towns nor cities, till the erection of castles and monasteries, subsequent Scotland, to the eleventh century, produced the formation of villages under their walls. These villages became towns, from the settlements of the English, Anglo-Normans, and Flemings in them, during the 12th century; and from that time we may properly date the commencement of Scottish commerce.

At a period little anterior to this, the Scotch carried on several domestic manufactures. They manufactured their own flax into linen, and their hides into leather. They also wrought the wool of their flocks into coarse cloth: and these woollen fabrics were regulated by a particular adiz during the reign of David I. Necessity had early introduced smiths, tanners, and shoemakers, into every village, and dyers, goldsmiths, and armourers into every town. Salt works became an object of attention in the reign of David I., because they furnished a revenue to the kings and nobles, and profit to the monks. In the same reign, water-mills were subject to tithes, and tenants were obliged to grind at particular mills. The Scottish kings had mills at each of their burghs, and on several of their manors; and from these mills they derived a considerable revenue, and a constant source of munificent grants to the religious establishments. Before the middle of the thirteenth century, wind-mills had been universally introduced, and there was a malt-kiln and a brewhouse in every village. These objects were considered as domestic manufactures, arising from husbandry, which was at that time the universal pursuit among all ranks, from the prince to the peasant.

It is curious to observe, that Seone was not only the metropolis of Scotland at the beginning of the Seoto-Saxon period, but also one of the earliest places of foreign commerce. Perth had also a foreign traffic in those early times, and St Andrew's partook of the riches which flow from distant trade. Next to these, in the advantages resulting from a commercial intercourse with foreign nations, followed Stirling, Inveresk, Dunfermline and Aberdeen.

The erection of certain towns into royal burghs, though founded on the principles of exclusion and monopoly, tended to advance the general interests of trade. Each of these burghs had particular districts through which their privileges extended, and to which they were confined. Towards the conclusion of the Seoto-Saxon period, the Flemings had placed a commercial factory at Berwick, and before the death of Alexander III., a trade had been opened with Gafcony, for the importation of wine and corn.

The first great traders in Scotland seem to have been the heads of monasteries, as they alone possessed at once the spirit of commercial enterprise, and a sufficient capital to engage in promising speculations. To them belonged the principal ships; they had at first the exclusive privileges of fishing, and they were the chief bankers of those times.

After the numerous conflicts and revolutions which disturbed the peace of Scotland, previous to its union with England, its manufactures were not probably in a much better state of improvement at that epoch, than they had been at the death of Alexander III. They had been sometimes encouraged, but they seem never to have advanced beyond the domestic supply. Of course the commerce of North Britain could never have been very extensive, and its exports must have been confined chiefly to corn, and the raw products of the country. Scotland. Since the union, the industry and manufactures of Scotland have been assiduously cultivated, and the attempts at improvement in the national commerce have, in the tedious result, proved successful beyond expectation. The establishment of the Royal Bank, and of the society for the improvement of agriculture in the reign of George I., and the subsequent establishment of a board of trustees for improving the manufactures, trade, and fisheries of North Britain, have been the means of adding greatly to the riches and prosperity of the country.*

Since the union, this country has shared in the national prosperity. Towards the middle of last century, vol. i. manufactures began to flourish, and trade increased in due proportion. Without troubling the reader with a detail on this subject, it may be sufficient to observe that about 20 years ago, manufactures in many towns were carried on to a great extent. Cotton cloths alone employed in Glasgow, and its neighbourhood, 15,000 looms and 135,000 persons. Queen's ware, and the kink manufacture, were likewise important branches in that city. In and near Paisley, upwards of 10,000 persons of all descriptions, were employed, in the manufacture of silk gauze, and 12,000 in working lawns, muslins, and cambrics; besides other trades, which were very productive. Common and flint-glas to a great amount is prepared in Dumbarton, Leith, and other parts of the country. Diapers are wrought in Dunfermline to the value of 50,000l. or 60,000l. a-year. Checks and ticks are staple commodities in Kirkaldy. Coarse linen, fail-cloth, ofaburgs, &c. are manufactured in Dundee, Arbroath, Aberdeen, and Forfar. Paper-mills, delft-houses, and sugar-houses have been erected in several towns and villages. Extensive iron-works are established in Fife, on the Clyde, and at Carron; in the last of which more than 1000 workmen are occasionally employed. The whale, herring, and salmon fisheries are inexhaustible sources of wealth. The coal trade is well known, and extremely productive. Here it may not be improper to state that the limits of the coal country on the west coast, are Saltcoats and Girvan; on the east coast, North Berwick and Fifeness; stretching from south-west to north-east in breadth, about 30 or 40 miles. Beyond these limits, no coal strata have hitherto been found. The exportation of black cattle to England has been highly advantageous to this country. The coaling trade to the south is carried on from Leith and other eastern ports, while Glasgow is the great emporium with the West Indies†.

Some interesting details are furnished by Mr Chalmers, reflecting the progressive improvement of the manufactures and commerce of Scotland, since the union; and the principal of these we shall here lay before our readers.

In 1707, the surplus linen over the consumption made in North Britain was estimated at 1,500,000 yards.

In 1727, it was estimated at 2,000,000 yards.

In 1754, it amounted to 8,914,360 yards.

In 1794, it had risen to 12,823,048.

In 1772, the surplus value of the linen manufacture amounted to 13,089,006.

In 1782, the same surplus amounted to 15,348,744.

In 1792, it amounted to 22,065,386, and thus it was gradually gradually extended to above 24,000,000 yards, till the introduction of the cotton manufactories rendered that of linen of less importance, and consequently diminished the quantity made for exportation.

The whole quantity of corn exported from Scotland at the union has been estimated at 22,937 quarters.

The quantity exported in 1749 was 105,573 quarters. From that period, owing partly to bad seasons and partly to increased consumption, the export of corn from one part of the country has generally been equalled by its import into others.

The importation of cotton wool into Scotland during the year 1755 amounted to 105,851 pounds.

The importation of the same article in 1789 amounted to 2,401,661.

Its importation during 1803 was estimated at 8,620,996 pounds.

The value of cargoes exported from North Britain in 1754 was 672,000l.

Their value in 1764 was 1,244,000l.

In 1774 1,372,143l.

In 1792 1,230,884l.

In 1802 2,602,858l.

The shipping employed in the foreign trade of North Britain during the year 1763 amounted to 33,352 tons.

In 1782, it amounted to 50,530 tons.

In 1792, it had risen to 84,027 tons.

And in 1802, it was not less than 94,276 tons.

The whole number of ships belonging to Scotland at the union has been estimated at 215, carrying 14,485 tons.

The whole number of Scottish ships in 1805 was at least 2581, and their whole tonnage was estimated at 210,295 tons.

It was estimated, that in 1792 the whole number of men, women, and children, occupied chiefly in the woollen, cotton, and linen manufactories, in the four counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, and Dunbarton, amounted to at least 90,000, who earned daily 6850l. or yearly 2,137,200l. sterling.

The union with England was not for many years productive of those advantages which were at first expected from it. A feeble attempt to obtain a share in the colonial trade was defeated by new regulations, which the commercial jealousy of the English merchants procured. The migration of stock and trade to the north was a visionary expectation. No new manufactures were attracted to Scotland by the cheapness of labour; no improvement was introduced into agriculture; on the contrary, commerce was still languid, and the price and rents of estates inconsiderable. Every national exertion was discomfited; and, during the interval between the two rebellions, the country was alternately disregarded, or treated like a conquered province prone to revolt. The nation, notwithstanding the gradual increase of its linen manufacture, appeared to be nearly stationary, and was certainly far less progressive for half a century than if no union had ever been contracted.

When the contests of domestic faction had ceased, the turbulent fanaticism which distinguished the Scotch during the former century was lost in the pursuits of industry, of literature, and of the arts of peace. Some attempts had been made before the last rebellion to introduce a better cultivation into the Lothians, which has since extended through the west and the north to the richest provinces beyond the Tay. The gentry, among other efforts to promote manufactures, had begun to breed their sons to mechanical arts, in order to retain them at home. By the abrogation and sale of hereditary jurisdictions, the poverty of the nobles was relieved, and the people were emancipated from their oppressive coercion. The country was gradually enriched by the troops retained to prevent insurrection; and from the advanced price and consumption of cattle in the English market, the farmers accumulated their first flock for the improvement of the soil.

But the beneficial effects of the union were peculiarly reserved for the present reign. The progress of industry and trade was immense; new manufactures, particularly of silk, were introduced with success. The Scots employed in the seven years war returned from abroad with the means or spirit to improve their estates; and the rapid cultivation of the country has redoubled the produce and the value of the soil. Before the commencement of the American war, the merchants of Glasgow had engrossed the chief trade in tobacco for exportation. The interruption of trade during that disastrous war directed their capital and the national industry to the improvement of domestic arts. And from the perfection of modern machinery, the cotton manufacture, a recent acquisition, in all its branches so prodigiously increased, History of Scotland, vol. iv.

Connected with the commerce of Scotland are its coins, weights and measures. Since the union, the coins weights are the same both in England and Scotland; but the Scotch money of account is still occasionally employed.

The pound Scots is equal to 1 shilling and 8 pence English. See Coin. The Scotch weights and measures still differ from those of England. Their proportions and value according to the English standard are explained under Weight and Measure.

Another subject connected with commerce is the inland navigation. The canals of Scotland are the Forth navigation and Clyde, the Crinan (see Canal), the Monkland running 12 miles east from Glasgow, the Caledonian, and the Ardrossan, the two latter yet unfinished.

"The Scotch (says Dr Playfair) are commonly divided into two classes, viz. the Highlanders and Low-and-cutlanders; the former occupying the northern and mountainous provinces, the latter the southern districts. These classes differ from each other in language, manners, and dress. The Highlanders use the Irish or Celtic tongue; while, in the low country, the language is the ancient Scandinavian dialect blended with the Anglo-Saxon.

About half a century ago, the Highlands of Scotland were in a state somewhat similar to that of England before the Norman conquest. The inhabitants were divided into tribes called clans. The inferior orders were vassals of particular chiefs, to whom they were attached, and on whom they relied for that safety which the laws were not alone able to ensure to them. On the other hand, the security and consequence of a chief-tain depended on the number and fidelity of his servants and retainers; who, on account of their relation to him, assumed a dignity, and acquired in their manners a degree... gree of politeness, to which other uncivilized nations are strangers.

"The rents of farms which those vassals occupied were inconsiderable, and paid chiefly in military service; so that the value of a proprietor's land was estimated, not by the money it produced, but by the men whom it could send into the field; and that the number of dependents might be increased, the farms, or allotments of land, were small, and barely sufficient for a scanty subsistence to the tenants. As an inconsiderable proportion of the country was cultivated, and as no intercourse subsisted between the inhabitants and other nations, little time was employed in agriculture and commerce. Most of it was wasted in idleness or amusement, unless when their superior summoned them to avenge, on some neighbouring tribe, an insult or injury. No more grain was raised, and no more raiment manufactured by any family, than what barely sufficed itself.

"Villages and hamlets, situated in valleys for shelter, were rudely constructed of turf and stone. In spring the natives ploughed, or dug, some adjacent patches of soil, in which barley or oats were sown; in summer they prepared and collected turf and peat for fuel; in autumn they gathered in their scanty crops of grain and hay; and the remainder of the year was devoted to pastime, or predatory excursions. In winter evenings, around a common fire, the youth of both sexes generally assembled, for the song, the tale, and the dance. A taste for music was prevalent among them. Their vocal strains were plaintive and melancholy; their instrumental airs were either lively for the dance, or martial for the battle. Every family of note retained an historian, to narrate its heroic deeds and feats of valour, or a bard who sung the praises of the chieftain and his clan. Some fragments of their poetry have been handed down from remote ages, and recently moulded into heroic poems. Strangers, who have ventured to penetrate into their fastnesses, they received and treated in the most hospitable manner; but themselves seldom went abroad, except for the purposes of devastation or plunder.

"Their dress was the last remains of the Roman habit in Europe, well suited to the nature of the country and the necessities of war. It consisted of a light woollen jacket, a loose garment that covered the thigh, and a bonnet that was the usual covering for the head all over Europe, till the hat was introduced towards the end of the 16th century.

"Always armed with a dirk and pistols, they were ready to resist an assault, or revenge a provocation, as soon as it was given. This circumstance contributed to render them polite and guarded in their behaviour to one another. When embodied by their chieftain, they were armed with a broad sword, a dagger, a target, a musket, and two pistols. In close engagement, and in broken ranks, they were irresistible. The only foe they dreaded was cavalry. As soon as the battle was over, most of the troops dispersed, and returned home to dispose of their plunder, and to provide for their families.

"Their religion was deeply tinged with superstition. They believed in ghosts and apparitions; by appearances in the heavens they predicted future events; they practised charms and incantations for the cure of various diseases; and to some individuals they thought the divinity had communicated a portion of his pre-eminence.

"But the state of society in the Highlands has been greatly changed and ameliorated since the rebellions in 1715 and 1745. The Roman dress and the use of arms were prohibited by government; roads, constructed at vast expense, opened an easy communication with the low country; and the courts of barons were suppressed by the jurisdiction act. The heads of clans have now ceased to be petty monarchs, and the services of their vassals are no longer requisite for their defence or grandeur. Divested of their legal authority, they now endeavour to preserve their influence by wealth. With this view their attention is directed to the improvement of their estates. Their ancient mode of living is also entirely altered; and the Highland gentleman, in every respect, differs little from a proprietor of the like fortune in the southern counties. A spirit of industry has been excited among the tenants, while in many places arts and manufactures are encouraged.

"The manners, habits, and dress, of the gentlemen in the low countries, resemble those of their English neighbours, with whom they have frequent intercourse. The peasantry and middle class are sober, industrious, and good economists; hospitable and discreet, intelligent, brave, steady, humane, and benevolent. Their fidelity to one another is a striking feature in their character. In their mode of living and dress there are some peculiarities, but these are gradually wearing out. Within these few years the use of potage, and bread of oatmeal, is almost disused among the commonalty; and tea, wheaten bread, and animal food, are as frequent on the north as on the south of the Tweed."

Though the diet of the superior classes in Scotland differs little from that of the same rank in England, there are still some peculiarities not generally known to strangers, which deserve notice. Among the peculiar Scotch dishes we may enumerate the haggies, a sort of hash, made of the lungs, heart, and liver, of a sheep, minced fine, and mixed with suet, oatmeal, onions, pepper, and salt, and boiled in the sheep's maw or stomach; hotchpotch, a soup, prepared from mutton or lamb, cut into small pieces, with a large quantity of green peas, carrots, turnips, onions, and sometimes celery or parsley, served up to table with the meat and vegetables in the soup; cockie-leekie, a soup made of a cock or capon, with a large quantity of leeks; crappit-heads, i.e. the heads of haddock stuffed with a pudding made of the soft roe, or butter, oatmeal, onions, and spices, and boiled; fish and sauce, a sort of stew, made of haddock, whitings, or codlings, stewed with parsley, onions, butter, and spices; and the celebrated old dish of singed sheep's-head, i.e. a sheep's-head, with the skin on, and the wool singed off with a hot iron, well boiled with carrots, turnips, onions, &c. so as to form a rich broth, which is generally served up distinct from the meat.

On the subject of the Scottish diet the following lively remarks of an intelligent French naturalist may prove acceptable to our reader. These remarks refer particularly to the higher ranks in the Western isles; but they will, with some limitation, apply to the same class in the greater part of Scotland. "The English eat very little bread; the Scots eat more: there were three different kinds used at Mr McLean's table." "The first, which may be regarded as a luxury for the country, is sea-biscuit, which vessels from Glasgow sometimes leave in passing.

"The second is made of oatmeal, formed into an unleavened dough, and then spread with a rolling pin into round cakes, about a foot in diameter, and the twelfth part of an inch thick. These cakes are baked, or rather dried, on a thin plate of iron, which is suspended over the fire. This is the principal bread of such as are in easy circumstances.

"The third kind, which is specially appropriated to tea and breakfast, in the opulent families of the isles, consists of barley-cakes, without leaven, and prepared in the same manner as the preceding, but so thin, that after spreading them over with butter, they are easily doubled into several folds, which render them very agreeable to those who are fond of this kind of dainties.

"At ten in the morning the bell announces that breakfast is on the table. All repair to the parlour, where they find a fire of peat, mixed with pit-coal, and a table elegantly served up, and covered with the following articles:

"Plates of smoked beef; cheese of the country, and English cheese, in trays of mahogany; fresh eggs; salted herrings; butter; milk and cream; a sort of bouillie of oatmeal and water (porridge). In eating this bouillie, each spoonful is plunged into a basin of cream, which is always beside it. Milk worked up with the yolks of eggs, sugar, and rum. This singular mixture is drank cold, and without being prepared by fire. Currant jelly; conserve of bilberries, a wild fruit that grows among the heath; tea; coffee; the three sorts of bread above mentioned, and Jamaica rum.

"Such is the style in which Mr McLean's breakfast-table was served up every morning while we were at his house. There was always the same abundance, with no other difference, in general, than in the greater or less variety of the dishes."

"Dinner is put on the table at four o'clock. It consists, in general, of the following particulars, which I correctly noted in my journal.

"1. A large dish of Scotch soup, composed of broth of beef, mutton, and sometimes fowl, mixed with a little oatmeal, onions, parsley, and a considerable quantity of peas. Instead of slices of bread, as in France, small slices of mutton, and the giblets of fowls, are thrown into this soup. 2. Pudding of bullock's blood and barley-meal, seasoned with plenty of pepper and ginger. 3. Excellent beef-steaks, broiled. 4. Roasted mutton of the best quality. 5. Potatoes, done in the juice of Scotland, the mutton. 6. Sometimes heathcocks, woodcocks, or water-fowl. 7. Cucumbers and ginger, pickled with vinegar. 8. Milk, prepared in a variety of ways. 9. Cream and Madeira wine. 10. Pudding made of barley-meal, cream, and currants, done up with suet.

"All these various dishes appear on the table at the same time, the mistress of the house presides, and serves all around.

"In a very short time the toasts commence; it is the business of the mistress to begin the ceremony. A large glass, filled with port-wine, is put into her hand; she drinks to the health of all the company, and passes it to one of the persons who sit next to her; and it thus proceeds from one to another round the whole table.

"The sideboard is furnished with three large glasses of a similar kind, of which one is appropriated to beer, another to wine, and the third to water, when it is called for in its unmixed state, which is not often. These glasses are common to all at table; they are never rinsed, but merely wiped with a fine towel after each person drinks.

"The dessert, from the want of fruit, consists for the most part only of two sorts of cheese, that of Cheshire, and what is made in the country itself.

"The cloth is removed after the dessert; and a table of well-polished mahogany appears in all its lustre. It is soon covered with elegant glass decanters of British manufacture, containing port, cherry, and Madeira wines; and, with capacious bowls, filled with punch. Small glasses are then profusely distributed to every one.

"In England the ladies leave table soon after the toasts begin. The custom is not precisely the same here, they remain at least half an hour after, and justly partake in the festivity of a scene, in which formality being laid aside, Scottish frankness and kindness have full room to display themselves. It is certain that the men are benefited by this intercourse, and the ladies are nothing the losers by it. The ladies then left us for a little to prepare the tea. They returned in about half an hour after, and the servants followed them with coffee, small tarts, butter, milk, and tea. Music, conversation, reading the news, though a little old by the time they reach this, and walking when the weather permits, fill up the remainder of the evening; and thus the time passes quickly away. But it is somewhat unpleasant to be obliged to take one's seat at table again about ten o'clock, and remain until midnight over a supper nearly of the same fare as the dinner, and in no less abundance."

*See the public amusements in Scotland nearly resemble those of England, especially among the higher classes.*

There p. 67.

(e) The abundance provided at a Scotch breakfast has been remarked by many travellers. Of these Know, who travelled more upon the main land than in the islands, gives the following particulars of the breakfasts of the more wealthy families:

"A dram of whisky, gin, rum, or brandy, plain or infused with berries that grow among the heath, French rolls, oat and barley bread, tea and coffee, honey in the comb, red and black currant jellies, marmalade, conserves, and excellent cream, fine flavoured butter fresh and salted, Cheshire and Highland cheese, the last very indifferent; a plateful of very fresh eggs, fresh and salted herrings, broiled ditto, haddock and whitings, the skin being taken off; cold round of venison; beef and mutton hams. Besides these articles, which are commonly placed on the table at once, there are generally cold beef and moorfowl to those who choose to call for them. After breakfast the men amuse themselves with the gun, fishing, or sailing, till the evening, when they dine, which meal serves with some families for supper." There are, however, two games which may be considered as peculiar to the Scotch. These are golf and curling. Of the former we have given an account under the article GOLF. The diversion of curling, which is we believe unknown in England, is adapted only to frosty weather, and is played on the ice, by sliding from one mark to another large stones, of from forty to seventy pounds weight, of a hemispherical shape, very smooth on the flat side, and furnished with an iron or wooden handle at top. The great object of the player is to lay his stone as near to the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner which had before been placed in a good position, or to strike off that of his antagonist. To attain these ends much skill and dexterity are often required; and the great art of the game is to make the stones bend in towards the mark, when this is obstructed by other stones that they cannot reach it by being directed in a straight line.

To conclude: The union having incorporated the two nations of England and Scotland, and rendered them one people, the distinctions that had subsisted for many ages are gradually wearing away. Peculiarities disappear; similar manners prevail in both parts of the island; the same authors are read and admired; the same entertainments are frequented by the elegant and polite; and the same standard of taste and of language is established throughout the British empire.

NEW SCOTLAND. See NOVA SCOTIA.