40. since we account that he came home before the battell of Durham He was a man without question of exceeding great valour whom even the English Writers spare not to call one of the most valiant personages in his dayes within the Realme of Scotland And certainly his actions beare no lesse even as they are summarily set downe But if all had beene particularly described with the full circumstances it would have beene farre more cleare And not onely his valour would have appeared but his wisedome also travell and diligence which he must needs have used in recovering of so many Countreyes and Castles as he is recorded to have wonne and in so many yeares as he was employed in continuall action ever victorious without mention of any repulse overthrow or evill successe where himselfe was Conductor and we may say nor elsewhere safe at the battell of Durham Now all is involved in generall and rowled up in grosse expressing little or nothing of the accidents or particular wayes of his exploits onely they tell us this road he made and these Castles he wonne and tell the event indeed to have beene successefull but no more This good fortune as men call it though it be commended and commendable in Leaders yet it is seldome alone but accompanied with vertue to which it gives the lustre and without which he could never have atchieved such enterprises The love he carried to his Countrey and to the libertie thereof needs no declaration Those his travells declare it which could have no other end chiefly that act of withstanding King David in bringing in a forraine King with such resolution even to the discontentment of his Soveraign to whom otherwayes he had beene ever most obedient with the hazzarding of his person and estate In which opposition if we weigh it narrowly how many vertues doe appeare An unspeakable love to his Countrey with such hazzard freedome of minde and uprightnesse farre from flatterie or any dissimulation not following his Princes humour or soothing him in his present disposition but regarding vvhat vvas most for his good and honour vvhat best for his Countrey and vvhat the King vvas like to acknovvledge best for him vvhen he should be out of that fit We may also see in it a strange magnanimitie and courage in his resolving as he did vvithout all doubt to part vvith all that the vvorld could affoord and vvhatsoever is deare to men in the vvorld rather then not to maintaine that vvhich he accounted to be right his life lands dignities honours and all such things both for himselfe and his posteritie For what was that banding for it but a plaine opposing himselfe to the power of both the Kings Scottish and English the Suiter and for whom it was suited who questionlesse would both have concurred in that cause and what could the consequent of opposing then be other then the losse of his life lands and all or what other hope could he have and what meanes to double it out The more is his constancie remarkable that never yeelded up that disposition As for his wisedome it is included in all these things and doth shine in all his actions which without it could not have beene performed Likewise in that favour which was borne unto him by men the causes of favour are employed and such qualities and vertues are apt to gaine and procure affection to wit gentlenesse meeknesse sobernesse liberality and the like his generosity and courteous humility in his speech which are the true and onely meanes of acquiring the good will and hearts of men his generous minde and courteousnesse appeared in his speech and carriage towards the Duke of Lancaster his justice in pacifying the Countrey and purging out the theeves a worthy catastrophe of so well an acted life Some may think him ambitious in standing for the Crowne but if he thought he had right what could he doe lesse it was no ambition to seek what was his due And there was as great appearance of right on his side as might have deceived a better Lawer than he was Yet let it be his ambition and that he was not so ignorant but that he knew where the title was have not many dispenced with great duties in that case And is it not thought halfe dutie not to be over precise in dutie and half justice not to look too narrowly to justice Si violandum est jus c. If law or lawfulnesse should be broken where should it rather be broken then for a Kingdome which is not so much the saying of one man as the tacite opinion of almost all men as appeares by the approbation of themselves and all others after they have gotten it It were to be wished that errour were away and men saw as well the inward thornes as the outward pearles of the Diademe that they might let it lye at their foot and not take it up though they might have it for the lifting but that will be called a Stoicall Philosophy and even the Stoicks are thought to have much adoe to keepe themselves in that moderation Neither doe men beleeve them when they say they doe it in lesser matters where they may attaine them and what they lack is thought to be for want of power and dexteritie to compasse and obtaine not of judgement to contemne or neglect What could the Earle Douglas then doe who was not so well school'd or skill'd who had honour and glory for the great objects of his intentions which is the objects of these great spirits and many think it should be so So that in regard of this common opinion of men and the instructions of that age yea of all ages even of this age almost in such military men or politicke wise men who are not pedants as they call them or Theologues to give them the best name men terme them with I thinke it not so strange that he insisted as I marvell that he desisted so soone and easily neither can I so much dispraise his motion as I have reason to commend his modestie For his motion belike hath not beene immodestly moved or too vehemently pressed that he gave it soone over farre from the unbridlednesse of turbulent mindes that would rather have moved heaven and earth as we say to have come to their purpose and have cast themselves their Countrey and all into confused broillerie and into forraine hands and power nay which is more and worse then meerely forraine into English our enemies which would be flat slaverie as both the Balliols John and Edward had done before him and the last of them on no better nay not so good a ground Wherefore if we will needs call it ambition yet certainly it hath not beene of the worst sort thereof neither unruly nor immoderate but by the contrary very sober and temperate and such as may well fall and often doth fall into the best and greatest spirits that are not brought up and deeply instructed in the inmost and profound
of Rothsay his elder brother or for his mis-demeanour and undutifusnesse towards his Father Robert the third or for his neglecting himself in his captivity or for that he esteemed all that government of Robert and Murdock to be an usurpation of the Crowne and feared the like hereafter or even perhaps found such practisings to his prejudice is uncertain However being resolved to ridde himself of them he thought it the safest way to make them fast who hee beleeved would not be so well contented with it as he desired Hee did therefore commit them till he had tried their minds and drawn them to his course or at least taken order with them to sit quiet And this was not long a doing for we reade that the foresaid prisoners were all shortly releeved and some of them also put upon the others quree or assise as Douglas March Angus Arrole But by what means he hath constrained them to be content or what remonstrance or evidence hee hath given them to let them see that those men were guilty of death or what crime they died for if any new conspiracy or what else our Histories tell us not which is a great defect in them Major thinketh it likely that there was some conspiracy found against the King otherwise they would never saith hee have condemned such men to death Princes of the blood as wee may call them and their owne especiall friends And thus much of the Earle Douglas first committing and the issue thereof For the second Hollinshed and Boetius doe agree that the K. arrest the Earle Douglas and kept him long in prison till at last by the mediation of the Queen and Prelats he and the Earle of Rosse were released Boetius calleth him Archbald Duke of Turraine plainly but Hollinshed is pleased out of sume partiall humour as should seeme to suppresse the Title of Duke of Turrain and this is all the difference betwixt them It was some yeares after his first committing but what yeare it is not condiscended upon Some say it was in the yeare 1431. but impertinently for the yeare 1430. is the yeare of his releasing except wee will thinke that hee hath been imprisoned thrice which is not mentioned by any And a little mention there is of the cause wherefore hee was warded whereof Major complaineth saying that our Annals tell not the cause of the Stuarts executions and the incarcerating of the Earle Douglas and John Lord of Kennedie the Kings owne sister sonne for both were committed Douglas in Logh-leeven and Kennedy in Stirling for how shall it bee knowne whether it was done justly or for matters of weight or if for trifles onely and for his owne pleasure Others insinuate a cause but doe but glance at it without setting it downe so clearely as to let men know whether it were just or unjust which is the light and life of History and the right end and use thereof for they say no more but that they had spoken sinisterly or rashly and somewhat more freely then became them of the estate and government of the Countrey What use can any man make of this generality rashnesse may be a fault yet perhaps none at all in them of whom it is spoken they being Privie Counsellers Likewise the phrase freelier than became is so generall that the Reader remaineth unsatisfied neither can posteriry either King or Subject judge of this fact whether it were right or wrong or whether the example were such as men ought to follow or forbeare and avoid It should have been expressely set downe what they spake to whom if to the King himselfe or to others In what sort if by way of admonition counselling or advising or if by forme of cavilling detracting murmuring mutining and such other circumstances whereon the judgeing of it chiesly dependeth In this uncertainty wee can hardly condemne or absolve praise or censure them In that the Lord Kennedy was of the same minde and category with the Earle Douglas apparently it hath not been spoken in malice seeing the Kings nearest and his best friends such as these Kennedies were having approved thereof And that Noblemen must not speake their opinion freely of things to the King or if the King being without malice is very hard for how shall a King know that will not heare hee cannot know all by himself And how shall he heare if Noblemen have not leave to speake freely he cannot heare all by himself Such carriage as this hath often done Princes ill and it may bee hath done this same Prince no good And what ever it was that displeased the Earle Douglas in the government was either for the Countreyes sake or the Kings owne sake or for both why might not the King thinke there might be errours And why might hee not then have heard them To have proceeded so vehemently for their hath been great vehemency in it to have cut off his owne kinsmen and leave none but himself for the Earle of Athole to aim at it was most important and worthy to be considered of whether or not it were best for him in policie to do Doubtlesse his doing of it hath emboldned Athole to cut off the King himselfe when all the rest were cut off first by the King And was it nothing to lose the Nobility to alienate their hearts to irritate them by imprisonments forfeitures hath it not done ill thinke you and encouraged him to goe on in his intended treason looking for the favour of the offended Nobility or for neutrality and slacknesse to revenge the Kings death We see the King himselfe retreateth his taxations once or twice when he saw the people grieved therewith And wisely in that hee was carefull to keep the hearts of the people But was there no care to bee taken for keeping the Nobility also ungrieved was it enough that they would not or durst not perhaps or could not openly rebell was it not something to want their affections to want the edge and earnestnesse thereof to relent them to coole them Certainly such proceedings as these have encouraged his enemies in hope of impunitie greater then they found yet in hope of it to go on with their designes and hath furthered and hastned that dolorous conclusion which ensued What ever the cause were he acknowledgeth the Earle Douglas mind not to have been of the worst sort in that he releaseth him and in token of a full reconcilement makes him a witnesse to the Baptisme of his two sonnes twinnes which was in those dayes no small honour and signification of good will and a pledge of intimate friendship He made also his sonne William though but a childe of five yeares of age the first knight of fiftie who were dubbed at that solemnity as the Manuscript affirmeth By which actions as he honoured Douglas so did he withall honour himself in the eyes of the people and of forrainers gracing his Court and that so solemne action by the presence of such a Peere farre more
not then neither ought we to repent or repine it being much more tolerable then to bee overmatched by an enemy as it often falleth out and can hardly choose but fall out when a house standeth alone by it selfe having no honest member thereof to underprop and uphold it Besides while men thus seeke to make their friends altogether servile to them their friends perceiving it as it can hardly but bee perceived what ever cunning bee used to cover it are the lother to serve as mens nature is in whom love-service questionlesse is the best yea onely fruitfull service And therefore they will either repine the more or withdraw themselves altogether if they bee of any spirit and if they bee not their service is not worth having So that men lose even their service which they so effect and sometimes turn it by unkindnesse into unkindlinesse and enmitie which hath ever been found by experience neither did ever any house flourish so well or any man in any house as when they concurred with one minde to a mutuall helpe one of another and none ever prospered so well as hee who used and shewed his care not to keepe backe his friends or to neglect them but to advance them and take their businesse to heart as his owne This is a true patterne of kindnesse and no lesse of true wisedome howsoever men may subtillize as they please which is seriously and sincerely followed by our Earle Douglas and deserveth both commendation and imitation Neither will it bee found that this is it which did him hurt but questionlesse made him strong and not easie to bee medled with and so difficult that they could get no other mean to overthrow him but that which they used unto which they were forced and of which constraint is the onely excuse as we shall see where hee is slain Therefore to say his greatnesse was the cause of his wrack is more subtle then solid even as it may be said in some sort that a mans riches are the cause of his throat being cut by robbers and that a mans vertues and good qualities are oft times the cause of his overthrow which should not for all that bee eschewed But shall there then bee no moderation will some say and is it not fit that Subjects should keepe themselves within some certain bounds that are not envious or suspect to Princes Moderation is good both in Prince and Subject and it were to bee wished that all would moderate their greatnesse at least their appetite and desire of greatnesse or if not that yet so that they would limit the meanes of attaining it and the end for which they desire it and that they would have that wise conference of Cyneas with Pyrrhâ—…s before their eyes that they might lesse affect it or lesse erre in affecting of it But where the end is good and the mean right and lawfull who craves further moderation and limitation whether in Princes or Subjects of their Empire as Augustus or of their greatnesse as this Earle here and many others whatsoever shew it carry and however Histories speake thereof besides their moderation that duety and religion requires in so farre as touches Policy will be found but Sophistry and no good Policy when it is well examined In all this therefore wee can acknowledge no fault but on the contrary kindenesse effectuall freindship and a due and provident wisedome in strengthening himselfe against his enemies and underpropping his house most wisely and most circumspectly Where is then his fault ye will say and what was the cause of his ruine for we finde he did ruine in the end Truely we must not account of all that have fallen that they have faulted that is a great errour in our judgements and too common that by finding faults in others we may be thought the wisest yet it is not hard to finde his fault if wee will beleeve his enemies speeches set downe by our Historians for though his friends feare nothing and see nothing but his greatnesse which is but a vain feare his enemies see further as enemies are quicker sighted in faults or would seeme to espy further in their speech yee shall finde these grosse and lewd faults 1. An unsatiable cupidity and then they explain in what in avarice 2. Then an impotent Tyranny two great faults Tyranny and Avarice sufficient to bring downe and such as oft brought down Kings let be Subjects And that we may not think that there was but an idle disposition in him and but a naturall inclination which he bridled and suffered not to debord they tell us the effects of them Of his 1. avarice and that unjust as all avarice is if it bee properly avarice He seased on Noblemens Patrimontes hee himselfe by law and without law 2. Of his tyranny and oppression He gave the Patrimony of mean men as a prey to his dependers and yet further Them that withstood his pleasure hee harried or caused make them away by theeves and briggands he advanced new men to the highest honours placing them in the roomes of ancient Families If any man spake a free word tasting of liberty it cost him no lesse then his life These faults indeed are great ones if they were true and such as merited that their end should have been as it was These are indeed errours both in policie and humanitie in private men or in Princes in small or great in what ever person and they were worthy to be detested and abhominated by all men if they were true for our Authours say not that they were true I say again if they were true expressely for they doe but report them as the voyce of his enemies who did exaggerate things as enviously as they could as that amongst other speeches of theirs doth witnesse where they say That all the riches of the Countrey were heaped upon one Family that there were so many great Earles and Barons of them that they had so much power and potencie that the King reigned but by their license and courtesie as it were As for the Authours owne judgement hereof besides what he said before that they were amplyfied in the most odious manner hee subjoynes these and such like speeches as those Many of them were true many besides the truth and augmented above it to procure hatred unto them So he leaves the judgement uncertain and tells not what things were true and what false and augmented which we ought to discerne and separate if it be possible to make a right judgement for this is indeed the craft of Calumny to mingle truth with falsehood that something being knowne to be true the rest may passe for such also But Prudencie will sift and separate them and winnow them in a right judgement both that which is true from that which is false and in every point laid against him so much as it hath of truth from that falsehood is mingled with it for Calumniators are excellent in their mixtures and compositions of
if hee meant to enter the Town through some Orchards that lay on the West side thereof and at the same instant another with some other few Companies was sent to go through the Park as if they had intended to assault it on that hand near to the Castle hill while in the mean time the Noble men themselves with the grosse and body of the Army marched on the South side and passing the ditch a little above the Mill going through some Gardens entered at a certain narrow Lane not farre from the West gate where the way was so strait that single men with weapons could hardly passe it The hired souldiers which carried shot were set formost to remove any that should offer to make head against them They that were within the Town were equall in number to those that were to assault it without Noblemen the Earle Marshall and the Lord Seton and Barons who were come out of obedience to the Kings Proclamation These had the keeping of the West gate But the onely enemies were James and the Colonell Stuarts together with Montrose and Crawford in respect of some particular quarrels For Montrose had been Chancellour of the Assise by which the Earle of Morton was condemned and was esteemed to have been a bad instrument therein And Crawford had killed the Lord Glames the Masters brother whereupon deadly feude and divers murders had ensued on both sides The rest though they did not openly assist the invaders yet did they wish them no hurt nor make any resistance against them There were in the Castle the Master of Gray and Sir Lewis Ballandine who were suspected by James Stuart and not without cause He knew also that Master John Metellane bare him no great good will These hee intended to have rid himself of and to have slaughtered but they were too strong to do it without great hazard and besides it had been but little wisedome to have gone about that wherein if hee had failed it would have been his overthrow and though hee had prevailed it would not have freed him from his enemies without All he did was that the Colonell with some shot was set in the Street near the West-Gate of the town which was the place likeliest to be assaulted James Stuart himself stayed about the Bridge having the Keyes of that Gate in his pocket making that back-doore sure for his last refuge to escape by it The Earle of Montrose was placed at the foot of the Castle hill to make good the entrie through the Park The event was that having entred the Town through a narrow Lane they were welcomed and entertained by the Colonell with some shot in the street but seeing that they were resolute and more in number than he was able to deal with he retired to the Castle In this entrie there was but one onely of the Lords side killed and it is uncertaine whether it were done by the Enemie or by one of his fellowes who were so unskilfull in handling their Muskets that their Captain said That who had known them as well as hee did would not willingly have marched before them The Earle Marshall and the Lord Seton seeing the Colonell so quickly quit the Field stood still at the Gate invading no man and no man invading them The Earles of Montrose and Crawford hearing the tumult of the Towne taken on the other hand forsook their station and were received into the Castle James Stuart fled by the posterne on the Bridge and having locked the Gate behinde him he threw the Keyes into the River The Colonell in his retreat was followed so near by Master James Halden brother Germane to John Halden of Gleneagles that he overtook him and was laying hand on him but in the mean time was shot by Josua Henderson a servant of the Colonels and so died presently He was a young Gentleman much lamented of all that knew him being lately come out of France where as also in Italy he had lived divers years with great approbation of all his Countrey-men being greatly beloved for his sweet courteous disposition If it were lawfull here to bewaile a particular losse I have just cause to loose the reins of my private affection and pay that tribute of sorrow and teares which I owe to the memorie of so faithfull upright and trusty a friend For the present it shall suffise to say thus much and let it remaine as a poore witnesse of some small gratefull remembrance as long as this piece can remaine that before him I found not any and since have known but very few so hearty and sincere friends as he was to me from our childe-hood for many yeares Having thus without any further losse or hurt made themselves Masters of the Town all rejoyced at their successe and with chearfull minds and countenances welcomed them and congratulated their returne One thing was like to have bred some stirre and tumult but that the parties interressed knowing the Lords own noble disposition and how these things could not be helped bore patiently the losse they received for the joy they had of the publick good This it was when the Nobles and Gentlemen alighted to enter the Town on foot they gave their horses to their footmen to be held without till they had made all cleare within While they were busied in assaulting and rambarring Colonell Stuart the Annandale men and others also by their example who came with the Lord Maxwell seized on their horses and went cleare away with them having spared no man friend or foe of their own or the adverse partie It was no time to follow them and though it had yet could they not doe it their horses being gone That day they lodged in the Towne and kept watch and ward about the Castle that none might go forth or come in without their knowledge Robert Hamilton of Inchmachan who had falsly accused Master Douglas of Maines and Master Cunninghame of Drummiewhasle caused himself to be let downe over the Castle wall at the back-side thereof in a basket thinking so to escape but he was perceived followed and slaine in the Park by Johnston of Westerhall receiving that just reward of his betraying innocent bloud The Lord Hamilton himself when he heard of it said he had gotten but what hee had deserved The Castle not being provided of Victuals and no man almost caring to defend it it could not hold out wherefore messengers being sent to and fro betwixt the King and them all things were agreed on and so the fourth of November the Gates were set open and the Companies entering the Noblemen presented themselves before the King in all humble and submisse manner and did by their carriage and behaviour really confute the calumnies of their enemies who had accused them of traiterous intentions and practices When they came they used not many words onely They were his true and loyall Subjects ready to serve him with their bloud and that they were come to
for better times when the Captain of theeves being removed from the Kings side which they had of times done before they would approve their innocency to the King and all honest men These reproaches and brags touched and were meant of the Earle Douglas Him it was they called Captain of theeves because of the border men of whom many were his followers That they removed him often before was idle boasting for he had abstained to come to the King so long as the King was in their custody so long as he was in the Castle of Edinburgh where they might have murthered him as they did his Cousins That he was their enemy he denied not and had just cause so to be but to take that excuse from them he gave them assurance he should not proceed against them any wayes but by order of law and offered for that purpose to goe from Court till they should come to it in safetie And to meet their reproach of captain of theeves and their boasting of the just administration of their Offices hee was ready to prove that they themselves were theeves that they had stollen the Kings revenues and distributed to their friends and converted them to their owne particular use and that they had traiterously against justice murthered his Cousins whereof he besought the King to grant him justice and so a new charge was given out and another day appointed for them to compeir Which being come and they not compeiring they were denounced rebells in a Convention kept at Stirlin the fourth of November and their goods and moveables confiscated Thereafter John Forrester of Corstorphin a depender of the Earle Douglas is sent with a power of men to intromet with their goods who having received their houses some he razed some he manned with new forces and provision and so without resistance he returned laden with great spoil Hee was scarce retired when Creighton assembled his friends and followers so suddenly as none could imagine furrowed the lands of Corstorphin together with the lands of Strabrock Abercorn and Black-nesse and amongst other goods he drave away a race of mares that the Earle Douglas had brought from Flanders and were kept in Abercorn doing more harme then he had received This may seem strange to any man neither do our Histories sufficiently cleare it either where he got these forces or whither he carried the goods They insinuate that he was aided and assisted under-hand by Bishop Kennedie and the Earle of Angus and Morton Angus was the Kings Cousin germain sonne to his fathers sister and by her brother to the Bishop Morton had married the Kings owne sister But of these the Bishops power lay beyond Forth for he was Archbishop of Saint Andrewes and the Earle of Angus further beyond Tay so it is hard to conceive either how they could suddenly assemble to their folks or that they could conveene many except such as Angus had on the South side of Forth in Liddisdale Jedward Forrest and Bonkle likewise Mortons lands and friends were most part on the same side of Forth to make assistance against the Earle Douglas But how ever apparantly they did it not openly and this it was against order against authority and against Law and if the Earle Douglas had done it it would assuredly have been called an open Rebellion against the King theft oppression presumption arrogancie insolencie and faction as we heard it was before when he contemned the Governours onely and as it will be called perhaps hereafter If men alledge that the King was guided with the Earle Douglas counsell and his name used to a particular onely tell me I pray you was there ever any thing more formally than this against Creighton And if the Earle Douglas his particular was in it what then how many actions of justice are otherwise done without instigations of private men without the mixture of their cause without their particular suiting and particular insisting and if it be lawfull to any to seek justice for his own particular the Earle Douglas his particular was such as very well became him to insist in the wrong so manifest the murther so vile and traiterous And if that which is done against the lawes shall not be accompted wrong nor esteemed to touch the King because parties have their particular in that law none or few things shall be accounted to be done against the king or against law for there is almost ever some particular joyned and the same hath been and wil be the Earle Douglas his case This therefore cannot be accounted innocencie yea no lesse then open violence and plaine rebellion and presumption against the Earle clad now with justice and lawes and against the king as protector and Patron of justice No marvell then if the Earle Douglas was offended herewith both for his own cause whom the losse touched so neere and for such manifest contempt of the King and if therefore he seeke to be avenged thereof But there was a different forme to be used according to the different actours of which we see there are two sorts Creighton and Levingston were open enemies open actours they themselves obnoxious to the law against them the law will strike and so he proceeded with them he besieges openly Creighton in the Castle of Edinburgh and no question he had taken from him before whatsoever was without it The others not open enemies and actours themselves they were but secret stirrers up abetters and assisters of his enemies and among them Bishop Kennedie was the chiefe plotter and deviser the law could not well be had against him he must be met with in his owne way he had done besides the law he must be met with besides the law he had done disadvowedly he must be met with disadvowedly Therefore he writes to the Earle of Crawford who with Alexander Oglebee of Innerwharitie gathered a great hoast entred life and without resistance spoiled the Bishops lands either because they could not get himself or because they had a greater minde to the bootie then to the quarrell The Bishop using his own weapons curseth them but they made small reckoning of his curses Neverthelesse shortly after there fell variance between Crawfords eldest sonne the master of Crawford and the Oglebees about the Bailliarie of Arbroth for the Monks had given it from the Master to Innerwharitie and hereupon having assembled their forces on both sides they were readie to fight it out But the Earle of Crawford having gotten advertisement came into the field to have composed the busines and trusted they would have respected him and not have offered him any violence he entred in between the two parties where having stayed his sonnes companie he was going over to speak with the Oglebees to have brought matters to a parlee and treatie In the meane time one that neither knew what he was nor what his intent was runnes at him with a spear and slayes him hereupon the battells joyning the victorie fell to the
The word also will import not altogether flat cowardise but a natural sluggishnesse want of action whereof cowardise is sometimes the cause but not alway though they concurre often But there is another affection that makes men slack in action which proceeds not either of sluggishnesse or cowardise but of irresolution when a man swiming betwixt two opinions resolves not fully upon either and this seemes to have beene his disposition A great impediment in his actions and at least in this last point of such importance the cause of his ruine while neither his heart could suffer him to betake himself against his Prince whom naturally he affected neither could he digest to forget the fact done or after it to commit himself to the doer Which disposition though it have brought out the like effects as cowardlinesse and sluggishnesse are wont to do to wit lingring and eschewing of the battell yet this did not proceed in him from either of these two but had the originall from a very honest minde to his dutie His love to his Prince strove and fought with another dutie which was his love to his dead brother or to his owne honour Out of which whileas he either cannot or occasion is not offered to extricate himselfe and winde out a full resolution he suffered himselfe to be carried unto that which he was most inclined to his love to his Prince and thereby he slipt and let slide through his fingers as it were this faire occasion which was then offered unto him of no lesse in the judgement of his friends then the casting the dice for the Crown And so James Hamilton told him that the occasion was such that if he did not lay hold of it he should never finde the like again he told him withall that his want of resolution would be his overthrow as it was indeed For James Hammiltoun himselfe left him that same night and went to the King of whom hee was so honourably and well received that others thereby were encouraged to come in also Yet others write that he was committed to ward in Rosseline for a certaine season and afterward releeved at the entreatie of George Douglas Earle of Angus However by his information to the King of the estate of the Earle Douglas his Armie how forward they had beene to have fought and how discontented and discouraged they were with his lingring how the greatest motive that kept them with him was their doubting of pardon for their former offences the King caused make a Proclamation that whosoever would come unto him and forsake the Earle Douglas should have free remission for all that was past providing they came within 48. houres This being published the most part of the Earls Armie left him so that there remained not ere the next morning with him above 2000. men whereby he was constrained to leave the fields and his friends and servants that were in Abercorne to be cruelly slaine and executed for the Castle was taken by force and demolished to his no small reproach in that he was so irresolute and had not by some meane or other procured at least some honest composition for himselfe and them or else to have adventured all Where if he would not have taken the Kingdome in case of victorie yet might he honourably have set downe conditions of peace or if he had lost the field he could not have lost more then he did for by these meanes abandoned of all he was constrained to flee unto England In the yeare 1455. having gotten together a small company of men he returned into Annandale thinking to have found some friends in those quarters which were his own lands before but there he was encountred by the Kings followers especially by his own kinsman but the Kings Cousin George E. of Angus as some write who defeated him His brother the Earle of Murray was slain in the field and his other brother the Earle of Ormond was hurt and taken prisoner after his wounds were cured being brought to the King he was executed with greater regard to this last action then respect to his victory obtained not far from the same place at Sark against the English Magnus with the red main their insolent Champion which was so greatly praised by the King before and so acceptable to all Court and Countrey Such is the course and vicissitude of all humane affaires We heare of one onely sonne of Ormonds named Hugh Dean of Brichen of whom we shall speake somewhat hereafter in the life of Archbald Earle of Angus who was Chancellour of Scotland His takers were the Lord Carlile and Johnston of Johnston to whom the King gave in recompence the 40. l. land in Pittinen upon Clide to each of them a 20. l. land thereof The third brother John Lord of Balvenie escaped in a wood and the Earle himself by flight got him to Dunstaffage where finding Donald Earle of Rosse and Lord of the Isles he incited him to make war against the King in his favours and after he had ingaged him therein he withdrew himselfe again into England This is noted to have beene in the yeare 1455. after which there was a Parliament called about the fifth of June or August as the Acts beare wherein he and his brother John and his wife Beatrix were againe forfeited and their lands of Galloway annexed to the Crowne This Beatrix who had beene his Brothers wife and whom he had used and kept for his owne wife for certaine yeares came to the King and excused her selfe as being a woman and compelled to doe what she had done The King received her into favour and married her to John Stuart his halfe brother by the mother and gave her the lands of Balvenie This John was afterward made Earle of Athole in King James the thirds time he had by Beatrix two daughters onely the eldest of which was married to the Earle of Errole This is cast in by some in the next yeare following The Earl Douglas abandoned on all hands travelled with Donald of the Isles Earle of Rosse conforme to their old band made with Earle William to assist him and renew his claim to the Isles Hereupon Donald wasted Argyle Arran Loquhaber and Murray took the Castle of Inner-Nesse burnt the towne and proclaimed himselfe King of the Isles but his wife who was daughter to James Levingston and had beene given to him in marriage at the Kings desire of purpose to retain him the better in duty when she saw she could neither prevaile with him in that point and that besides she was but contemned by him and the barbarous people that were with him she left him and came to the King who received her very gladly About this same time Patrick Thornton a secret favourer of the Earle Douglas his faction though he had followed the Court a long time slew John Sandilands of Calder the Kings Cousin and Alane Stuart also upon occasion at Dumbartan These two were of the Kings side
own part my heart cannot like of such an one nor of such dealing It is true hee hath traffiqued with the States-men of England and others think fit to use him neither will I contest with them about it but truly I have no delight in such men But this was after at Norwich For that time hee said no more but desired him to write often to him both concerning businesse as hee could learn and other things as hee should also write to him upon occasion This was performed on both sides after such a private and secret way as they agreed upon before their parting For howsoever there was nothing passed betwixt them but what might have endured the censure of any man yet was it not fit that every man into whose hands their Letters might have falne should know all that was written familiarly betwixt them though the matter were never so good sincere and unblameable in regard that many are incapable of things many not able to discerne or judge of them many contemners and mockers many of a different and some of a contrary minde and judgement If these Letters were extant there were nothing more fit to shew the Lineaments of his minde and most inward thoughts and to represent to the life his true disposition without all mask of dissimulation from which he was ever free or shadow of ceremonious reservednesse which even the best men for some one respect or other are forced to draw over their inclinations and wrap up and obscure their meaning in it at some times especially in publick Besides they would also conduce to cleare some historicall points more fully which neither can ones memory serve to do nor can any other now alive supply so certainly and unsuspectedly Now wee can but grieve for this losse To supply which defect so farre as they can doe it wee will set downe one or two of those that were written to him which being answers to his and containing so much of them as that the summe and substance of them may bee gathered from thence will beare witnesse of his Noble and Honourable disposition The first was written in October one thousand five hundreth eightie and foure the first yeare of his banishment to Newcastle where hee still remained as then Please your Lordship I Received your letter dated in September Master James hath promised to seeke out those bookes of which your Lordship wrote to him and is in good hope to come by some of them though it bee harder to finde them out then it was not long agoe Other things I hope your Lordship is advertised of at length by Master John Colvill What bookes these were and what Master James this was is quite forgotten save that it would seeme to have beene Master James Carmichael whom hee imployed in things of this kinde for most part But this being onely for show that the paper might not seeme blanke if it had fallen into such hands as would have opened the letter the maine businesse was written in such darke and unperceiveable manner that none could reade it but such as were acquainted with the wayes thereof And thus it was I have read your Lordships letter and am very glad that my opinion did so jump with your Lordship concerning that point whereof you wrote that you have not beene forgetfull and that you minde to hold your ground as neare as can bee from which you thinke that other matter to bee so farre different and so contrary to all reason that no man as you beleeve will propound it to you directly That which made mee feare that it would bee propounded besides the speeches sounding that way was the end of your Lordships letter written before wherein you make mention that some thought it necessary for your cause that yee should enter with them into some strait and indissolvable bond This I tooke to bee a mean to trie your Lordships minde First in that generall that afterward they might come to the particular which would bee that the best way to make it strait and indissolvable were to have it of your Lordships hand-writing For as concerning the lawfulnes thereof it did seem to some unlawfull as I wrote to your Lordship at greater length and I had heard also generally that there was some scruple made by your Lordship to enter into bond with them And because if I be well remembred before your comming from Scotland you were resolved to receive them into the societie of that common action and to compose any particular of your owne which you had against them I did the rather thinke that some new occasion had occurred which had made you nice and difficult to it now And if I have failed in my conjecture of the cause it is no wonder that not having knowledge of the particular circumstances whereof you now write I lighted upon that which seemed to me would breed greatest difficultie in this If it be not so I am contented to be deceived could wish that every mans minde that shall have hand in that action were as upright as your Lordships then we might hope that it would prosper so much the better However I cannot omit to put your Lordship in minde of this generall caveat to take heed and have a care that whatever bond be made it may bee perspicuous cleare plaine and as particular as may bee for the more particular it be it is the better for your Lordship who meaneth uprightly and for all others that have the same meaning and who doe desire that their upright dealing may be evident unto all men It will also being such bee lesse obnoxious and subject to the calumnies and sinister interpretation of the adversary and enemies who may seeke to traduce your Lordship and make you odious thereby It will likewise bee freest and not lyable to the sinister glosse and wrong interpretations of those who shall bee bound by it if they should perhaps hereafter seeke any evasion or subterfuge to frustrate it and make it void through the generality or ambiguitie thereof And by the contrary where a bond is couched in obscure generall and doubtfull words it is both more easie for them who list to deale after that sort to elude it by some wrested construction as also for such as would calumniate your Lordships intention to finde greater colour to doe it Concerning which purpose I remember a distinction which the Earle of Gowry made upon occasion of the bond which your Lordship remembers was presented to him to have signed it It is said hee very good and well penned but it is too prolixe to be a Bond and too short to bee a Proclamation or Declaration for a Bond said hee ought to bee short and generall but a Proclamation or Declaration would contain the particulars I was then and still am of a contrary minde for I thinke a Bond should bee cleare and speciall and contain the causes of their binding and that a Manifesto or Declaration should bee
small number of the Scots or for that they thought they had no mind to fight but to retire adventured upon a hazzardous but hardie and worthy enterprise he did choose out two hundred of the choicest of his men and passing the river in the night season a little off from the English Camp he entred the enemies Trenches on that side they least expected and approached the Kings Tent thinking either to have taken or to have slaine him but the Kings Chaplaine being a wake discovered him whom he slew with his owne hand for his paines and now the alarme was given and the whole Armie was up against him wherefore having only cut the Kings Tentroapes he returned safe in spite of them leaving 300. of them slaine in the place who offered to hinder his retreat Upon this show and omen of successe and good fortune Thomas Randulph would have given them battell in the plaine fields but Sir James advised him otherwayes showing him how it was not for them being so few in number to deale with so great an Armie in the open and plaine fields but that their onely way was to use slights and stratagems and to keepe themselves in places of strength and advantage To which purpose he told him the Apologue of the Fox whom a Fisherman finding in his Lodge carrying away a Salmond to his denne for his young Cubs he drew his sword and stood in the doore to kill him knowing he had no other way to get out The Fox being thus straitned went and tooke hold of the Fishers mantle which lay by and went toward the fire to cast it into it and burne it the Fisher to save his mantle ranne to the fire and left the doore free so that the Fox escaped out at the door and in his way catched hold of the Salmond and went cleare away withall to the fishers great griefe who had his mantle burnt his Salmond lost and the Fox escaped Even so sayes Sir James it fares with us we have done these men harme and they think they have us in the nouse and in a mouse-trap but I have espied a way by which though it may seeme somewhat hard and troublesome we shall escape safe without the losse of a man They continued still in the same place certaine dayes after this without doing any thing of note or moment on either side for the English warned by their late danger kept better watch then they had done before and now having taken a Scottish prisoner they were informed by him that the host of the Scots was commanded to be in readinesse against the third watch to follow Sir James his standard This put them to no small businesse so that they presently armed and stood all night ranked in order of battell supposing that the Scots intended to make an onset and assaile them in their Trenches and therefore their Watches and Sentinels were doubled and the Foords strongly guarded But the Scots by this time were risen and departed passing through a Mosse or Bogue two miles long which was never passed before especially by horsemen but they had provided flaikes and hurdles upon which they made the horse to passe without sinking leading them in their hands and walking on foot by them About the breake of day two Scottish Trumpeters were brought to K. Edward who were taken by his Scouts and being come before him told that they were commanded to suffer themselves to be taken thus that they might tell him that the Scots were gone home and that if he had a minde to be revenged on them for any thing they had done he should follow them But he considering of the matter and weighing all things and with what men he had to doe being both valiant and able to endure so much hardship thought it his best to let them goe and so he returned to London having seene his Kingdome burnt and spoiled under his nose for all his great Armie and himselfe in the midst thereof in danger of his life or of taking which effronts he was forced to pack up at this time not without great griefe and anger without all doubt And this is the third piece of service done by that so despised man to the posterity of his despiser to his sonne before and now to his grand-childe in the yeare 1327. or 28. neare unto Stanhop park which because it cannot be denied Caxton alledgeth that it came to passe by the treason of Mortimer Earle of March who being corrupted by the Scots with money would not suffer saith he the Earle of Lancaster to passe the water not very deep at that part to invade them by which means they escaped But our Major doth justly scorn that point of corrupting and bribing with money and doth further affirme that they had not any conference at all with Mortimer So that it is likely that what Mortimer spake in that matter of not following or invading the Scots at their departure he hath spoken it out of judgement and not partiality and perhaps more prudently then they that counselled the contrary However they confesse that the King missed of his purpose and being very pensive therefore broke up his army and returned to London Amongst other things they tell that after the Scots were dislodged some of the English went to view their Camp partly to see their customes and manner of living and what provision they had partly to seek some spoil when they were come there they found onely five hundreth carcasses of red and fallow Deare a thousand paire of Highland showes called rullions made of raw and untand leather three hundreth hides of beasts set on stakes which served for Caldrons to seethe their meat There were also five English men who had their legs broken and were bound naked to trees whom they loosed and gave them to Chirurgions to bee cured When they saw these things and judged hereby how painfull and able to endure the Scottishmen were they found that counsell to have been good and sound which was given to their King not to follow them whether it were Mortimers or some others The English Writers upon this scarcitie and penury here found and upon such other passages as when Edward the second entred Scotland and was forced to returne for want of victualls the King having caused remove all things out of his way take occasion to speake contemptuously of the Scots as though they had not defended their Countrey by vertue and prowesse against England between it and which they think there is no comparison but partly by cold and hunger partly because the English Kings did slight it and were not desirous to conquer it as also for the English forces were almost imployed in France so that they had no leisure to bend their whole power against Scotland which if they had done they might easily as they think have mastered it Imputing hereby the cause of their failing to do it they having so great ods in number of men and warlike
appointment to want of will and their hinderance by France and the poverty of our Countrey together with the roughnesse thereof being so Mountainous and full of heaths and wasts harder enemies then the inhabitants giving no place to the vertue and valour of the people very absurdly and maliciously for as touching the first that they have had no desire of it it is a childish alledgeance when they see they cannot get a thing to deny that they desire it The great means they have used the many attempts they have made and that common and proverbiall speech so ordinary in their owne mouthes and devised amongst themselves Qui la France veut gagner a l' Escosse faut commencer do testifie the contrary And above all their often intending a full conquest of it as their owne Histories beare record And as for the hinderance by France their aides to Scotland have not been very great nor very frequent yea it may bee said justly that France hath received more help then ever it gave for since the league with Charlemaigne it may be truely said without any poeticall hyperbole nulla unquam Francis fulsit victoria castris sine milite Scoto that the French armies never wanted Scottish souldiers but the Scots have but very seldome had Frenchmen to helpe them And if the Kings of England have sometimes bended their forces towards France yet they did it not alwayes but have made more warre in Scotland when they had peace with France And it is amongst the complaints of our Nation that France have cast them into warres with England when they might have had peace Like as when they had advantage by warre France did often wring their weapons out of their hands and forced them to a disadvantagious peace which was commonly the greatest fruits of their friendship and league Now as for the difficulties of hills hunger c. These are not so great as they talke of for neither is it altogether so poore nor so hilly and mountanous as they would have it beleeved to bee and if King Robert at this time or any other at any time have caused spoil and waste in the Countrey at some times thereby to famish or straiten the enemy or have chosen to vexe or trouble them with a Camp volante to eschew the hazzard of a battell as Douglas and Randulph did at this time it hath been the practice of all warriours of all Nations but neither hath it been neither could it have been the onely mean of conserving this Countrey in freedome except manhood and valour had been joyned with it and that in a great measure whereof sufferance and hardnesse to endure great straits want scant cold hunger and travell is no little part As on the contrary not to be able to endure these is effeminatenesse the ordinary consequent of riches wealth ease abundance and delicacie all reprochfull to men Even as the other I confesse are oft the consequences of povertie and are helps to harden the bodies and whet the courages of men Wherefore if they had meant nothing else but that the poverty of Scotland did preserve the liberty thereof because it kept the inhabitants in continuall exercise both of body and minde and did not suffer them to grow tender delicate and effeminate but hardned their bodies against want and their minds and courages against perills and dangers which they imployed for the defence of their Countrey and by the which as the chief means under God they did defend it we could well admit of it and acknowledge as much poverty that is to say want of superfluity and vanity invented by soft and womenly minds and covered under the maske of civility as hath begotten in them valour and temperance as it is said to have done in many people before the Romanes Macedonians Turks Parthians Scythians c. But since that is not their meaning but even to detract from their valour they exprobrate their poverty and casts it up for a reproach to breed contempt of them in others and to ascribe to it what is due to their worth to wit the liberty and preservation of their Countrey from all forrain enemies we may say justly that it hath not been the immediate cause of their being preserved against England Danes or whatsoever enemy but that there hath been as much sufficiency of things necessary call it riches or by what other name you list as hath moved other Nations especially England to cover it and coveting to invade it and when they had done their best they were driven from it not so much by the barrennesse and roughnesse of the soyle as by many and sad stroakes of the inhabitants thereof and by such acts and deeds as became wise valiant and couragious men Touching all which this one example will serve to confute whatsoever hath been or can bee said in this kind then which we need no other proof and that is this same huge and great army raised by this King Edward the third and intending to have come into Scotland if hee had not been thus affronted by Sir James and Randulph and before in his fathers time at Biland and which admitteth for no exception at Bannockburne In all which there is no colour of want of will he showed it he professed it and presumed to devoure them in an instant No want of forces having gatâ—…ered from all Countreyes not onely his subjects but his friends also no scarcitie of victuall hee had abundance of all things no hills nor mountains they met in the plain fields no forrain aid on the Scots side that we heare of besides the two Brabanders that King Edward sent to help them And so again whatsoever progresse or appearance of conquest the English have made of Scotland it was never by their valour and armes but by the advantage of an intestine warre they siding with the one party and at last overcoming both as did Edward the first in the dayes of Balliol wherefore they make a wrong account and much mistake the matter that thinke the liberty of this Kingdome hath been maintained more by the wants of our soyle want of will in our enemies or of leasure in the English then by the worth of our predecessours if wee weigh things rightly But the true way and mean by which our Countrey and liberty thereof have stood and by which they have relieved and vindicated it when it was thralled are these we have spoken of by which also they procured peace at all times and now also at this time For the same yeare in March Ambassadours came from Edward to treat of perpetuall peace which the next yeare was concluded by the Parliament of England held at Northhampton unto this Parliament for treating of Articles of peace King Robert sent Sir James with some Prelates where it was concluded on these conditions That the King of England should renounce all title and claime that he and his predecessours had laid to the Crowne of Scotland and