once more we have attempted it in five rencounters already and fail'd but in the sixth we shall prevail and so having gather'd some Force together he advanced towards Sterling where he gave Edward the II. who was then King of England such a Defeat as Scotland never gave the like to our Nation and so continued War with various Fortune with Edward the III. till at last Age and Leprosie brought him to his Grave But some time before his Death he got the Crown settled upon his Son David then a Child and for want of his having Issue upon Robert Stuart his Sister's Son and this by Act of Parliament and the Nobles sware to it accordingly His Son David of between eight and nine Years old inherited that which he had with so much Difficulty and Danger obtain'd and wisdom kept He was in his Minority govern'd by Thomas Randolf Earl of Murrey whose severity in punishing was no less dreaded than his Valour had been honoured but he soon after dying of Poyson and Edward Baliol the Son of John coming with a Fleet and being strengthned with the assistance of the English and some Robbers the Governor the Earl of Mar was put to the Rout so that Baliol makes himself King and David was glad to retire into France Amidst these Parties Edward the III. backing of Baliol Scotland was pitifully torn and the Bruces in a manner extinguished till Robert Stuart afterward King of Scotland with the Men of Argyle and his own Friends and Family began to renew the claim and brought the Matter into a War again which was carry'd on by Andrew Murray the Governor and afterward by himself so that David after nine Years Exile adventured to return where making frequent Incursions he did at length in the fourth year after his Return march into England and in the Bishoprick of Durham was routed and fled to an obscure Bridge shewed by the Inhabitants to this day where he was taken Prisoner by John Copeland and continued so for the space of eleven Years Soon after his Releasment and Return home he calls a Parliament wherein he enacted several Laws for the punishment of such as had fled from him at the Battle of Durham and more particularly levelling at Robert Stuart as being one of them who had been the Cause of that great Overthrow He got that Act passed in his Father's time whereby the Crown was appointed for want of Issue of his Body lawfully begotten to descend to the said Robert Stuart to be repeal'd and John Southerland Son to Jane his youngest Sister made Heir apparent in his stead and the Nobility swore to the observance of the said Law This made the Earl of Southerland so confident of the matter that he gave almost all his Lands away among his Friends and Acquaintance But alas he was wretchedly mistaken for his Son being afterwards one of those sent as Hostages into England for the security of the payment of King David's Ransom he died there of the Plague and Robert Stuart attain'd the King's Favour again and succeeded as Heir to the Crown being the first of the Name of the Stuarts that ever sway'd a Scepter But things did not go on so smoothly with Robert Stuart upon the Death of Southerland his Competitor first and of King David afterward but that he met with another Rub in his way from William Earl of Dowglas who when the Lords were assembled at Lithguo about the Succession came thither with a great Power and urged he ought to be preferr'd before Stuart as being descended from the Baliols and Cummins But finding at length that his own Friends and particularly the Earls of March and Murray his Brethren with the Lord Erskein who all three were in great power as being Governors one of Dunbritton another of Sterling and the third of Edinburg opposed him he thought it most advisable to desist from his Claim And so Robert Stuart was Crown'd at Scone on Lady-day in the Year 1370. being the 47th Year of his Age. But that Dowglas might be a little soothed up under his present Disappointment and kept from disturbing the common Tranquillity the King bestows Euphemia his eldest Daughter in Marriage upon him Whether it were thro' an advanced Age or Sloth we find he did but little since his Accession to the Crown but his Lieutenants and the English were perpetually in action during the course of his Reign which was according to Buchanan nineteen Years and four and twenty Days And tho' it's true we do not find his Death to have been violent or any ways accelerated by Grief of Heart but natural in an old age having lived seventy-four Years yet surely he laid the Foundation for the many Parricides Fratricides and other dreadful Calamities that befel his Posterity in a very great measure by preferring his Illegitimate Children by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine before those he had lawfully begotten on Euphemia Ross his Wife And the Case was briefly thus At the time of his attaining the Crown the foresaid Euphemia Daughter to Hugh Earl of Ross was his lawful Wife by whom he had two Sons Walter afterward created Earl of Atholl and David Earl of Strathern but before he was married he kept one Elizabeth Mure for so the Scotch write the Name as his Concubine and had by her three Sons John Earl of Carrick Robert Earl of Mentâ—ith and Fife and Alexander Earl of Buchan with several Daughters Now Queen Euphemia departed this Life three Years after her Husband became King who forthwith marry'd Elizabeth Mure his old Paramour either to legitimate the Children he had by her which it seems was the manner in those days or else for old acquaintance her Husband Gifford for you must know he had got her matched to cover her shame dying about the same time as the Queen had done This step drew on another and there was no stoping now but the Children formerly begotten on this Woman in Adultery must have the Crown entailed upon them by Parliament in prejudice to the other two who by any thing that appears in History were finer Gentlemen and fitter as they had a juster Claim to govern then either of these I know the Lord Viscount Tarbert in a late Pamphlet has taken upon him to vindicate the Legitimacy of Moor's Children against all the Authority of the Scotch Historians who lived at or near those times and ever since who could not be ignorant of so material a thing as this and to this end he Cites several Records It 's not my business to answer his allegations but I am sure the Records would never have named John that afterwards succeeded Tanquam haeres if he had been true and undoubted Heir And so I leave any one to judge if the Records do not thereby make much more against his Legitimacy than it does for it But right or wrong the Sluts Will must be gratified and so John succeeds his Father in the Scottish Kingdom but not by the
was so put to it that he was forced to flee out of Edenburg to save his own life whereupon he enters into a Confederacy with his Friends for his own security which together with some Depredations made in the Lord Ferres Lands by some of the Earls Tenants without redress from him upon Complaint made thereof enraged the King to an high degree against him But sore disorders still increasing through the Earls not punishing of the offenders at last Ferres makes an inroad by way of reprisal into his Lands was taken and by the Earls command was put to Death tho' the King by an Herault commanded the contrary so that upon serious Deliberation the King finding his power unsufficient for curbing him had no other way left than to send to him in a most Courteous manner to come to him who was then in Sterling Castle The Earl apprehensive of some design upon his Person refused without he had an assurance of safe Conduct under the Kings great Seal which being Granted he came and was received with a great semblance of good Will by the King who toâ—k him into a Room by themselves and there after some other Admonitions expostulated with him about the Confederâ—cy he had entred into with the Earl of Crawford and others and would have urged him to forsake the same Alledging it was no ways Honourable for him but hurtfull and tho' he took it very ill at his hands yet he allowed him the Liberty to disâ—null it tho' himself had full power to command it Dowglass was very obsequious in all things 'till this business of the League came in Question whereunto he did not Answer distinctly but would have put it off 'till he had discoursed with his Confederates thereupon neither could he well see at present what could be in that League which could be offensive to the King that he should insist so much upon his breaking of it whereupon the King who it's likely had already determined to commit the perjur'd Fact tho' his flattering Courtiers would have his displeasure only to arise from the Earls present stubborness said if you will not I will break it and without any more ado struck him with his Dagger in his breast those that stood at the Door hearing the bustle rushed in and dispatched him by many wounds His Brethren and Kindred being at first surprized and then exasperated at the horridness of the Fact and the faithless proceedings of the King towards the Earl flew to their Arms and made no less than a Civil War of it which was waged between the King and them with various Fortunes at last the King prevailed which brought great Destruction and Calamity upon that Noble Family of the Dowglasses And then it was that King James began to Reign as the Historian says their greatness having been hitherto a Check upon him But his Civil broils were scarce ended when he was brought to engage in the fatal controversy which happened in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster He at first sided with King Henry VI against Richard Duke of York but afterward faced about Upon the Duke's promise that Cumberland and other Lands should be restored unto him that had been in the possession of his Ancestors if the Duke prevailed and so assisted the Yorkians having therefore raised an Army as he was entering into England he was for a time diverted cunningly by an English Gentleman who took upon him to be the Pope's Nuncio His Speech Habit and Retinue were perfectly Italian and to make the matter more plausible with the Cloak of Religion he had a Monk along with him and so with the Popes Counterfeit Letters they approached to the King and charged him to proceed on no farther and threatned him if he did to curse him For that the Pope to the end the War might be carried on against the Common Enemy of Christianity with greater vigor having now Composed all differences in Europe was set upon Accommodating this matter in Britain That they indeed were sent before to preadmonish him but that another Legate would quickly follow with an Ample power to Compose the Civils Discords in England and to procure satisfaction for the injuries sustained by the Scots This bait took him and so he Disbanded his Army But alas nothing could divert this Prince's now impending Fate for being soon after advertised of the trick put upon him by the foresaid Counterfeit Nuncio he re-assembles his Army and because he could not directly Joyn with York's Forces He marches to the Siege of Roxborough and having quickly master'd the Town lays close Seige to the Castle which made a brave defence The Duke and his Companions having in the mean time prevailed sent to give King James thanks for his Assistance desire him now things were amicably terminated to return home least the English being incensed they should be forced to march against the Scotch Army The King having received the Message asked those that brought it whether the Duke of York and his Friends said any thing in relation to the promises they had made when he came into their Assistance but finding no satisfaction in that point he proceeds with great Fury to assault the Castle and Batters the Walls with Cannon which began then to be much used as they were much dreaded and being very forward and intent upon his work one of his Guns being over-charged burst and a slice thereof struck the King dead to the ground and hurt no other besides himself a strang fatality that brought him to his end when he had lived twenty nine Years and of them Reigned twenty four Anno. 146â— He left three Sons behind him James that Succeeded him Alexander Duke of Albany and John Earl of Mar who were a plague to one another while alive and not one of them died a natural death as we shall shew in its proper place James III. a Minor of seven Years old as his Father before him came to the Crown and at first fell under the Care and Regency of his Mother as did the whole Kingdom a Woman after the decease of her Husband James II. that lead a Scandalous life keeping one Adam Hepborn who was himself a Married Man for her Gallant but death put an end to her Lewdness and Government together about three Years after Then he came into the hands of the Boyds who Ruled the roast for a long time but at last made a fatal Catastrophe he took to Wife Margaret Daughter to the King of Denmark and Norway Anno. 1469. And about this time began to Exercise the Royal power himself He involved himself at first with the Affairs of the Church and not long after became miserably enslaved with the predictions of Astrologers and Witches to which he was strangely addicted and which brought not only destruction upon his kindred but also at last upon himself which we shall now prosecute as they fell out in order He was on a time it seems informed by some
chesit to be Governor quan we were fallen into decrepit age to our Subdittes and Realme beseekaund thy hieness thairfore to be sa favarable that this Bearer James our second and allanerlie Son may have to liefe under thy Fayth and Justice to be some memory of owr Posterity knuwaund the unstable Condition of mans life sa sodanlie altered Now flurisaund an sodenlie falling to utter consumption Forthir beliefe well quhan Kings and Princes hes na other beild bot in thair owin folkes thair Empireis caduke and fragill for the minds of common People are evir slowaund and mair inconstant than wind Èœit quhen Princes are robarat be amited of othir uncowth Kings thair brathir and neighbowris na adversitie may occure to eject thaim fra thair dignitie viall Forthir gif thy hieness thinke nocht expedient as Gad forbeid to obtemper to thir owr desires Èit we request any thing quhilk was ratisijt in owr last trewes and conditioun of Peace that the supplicatioun made be ony of the two Kings of Ingland and Scotland sall staund in manner of saufe conduct to the Bearer And thus we desire to be observat to this owr allanerlie Sonne and the gracious God conserve thee maist nobill Prince When King Henry had read this Letter he deliberated with his Council what was most expedient for him to do upon this occasion at last considering there were divers English Rebels harbour'd in Scotland he resolved to keep Prince James as his Prisoner but yet in such Honourable State that he could not have met with such Treatment and Advantages of a Princely and Liberal Education in his own native Country The immature and violent Death of Prince David as has been already noted had sunk King Robert's Spirits very low but when the dreadful News of Prince James being made Prisoner in England reached his Ears which was as he sat at Supper he had like to have died in the Arms of the Standers by his Heart was so overpower'd with Grief and Melancholy as to admit of no manner of Consolation exclaiming against his hard Fortune in marrying a Woman of so mean a degree to the disparagment of his Blood as was Queen Annabel by whom he had these Sons which as he took it was the only Cause why Forreign Princes as well as his own Subjects had him thus so much in Contempt So being carried into his Chamber what with wilful Abstinence and violent Sorrow he died in three Days after having reign'd about sixteen Years Anno Dom. 1408. A Man he was of a mighty stature but had not an Heart proportionable to his Bulk as appears manifestly by the Circumstances of his Death which tho' not procur'd by violent Hands yet was sufficiently tragical and herein discover'd himself to be far from the Temper Senecca speaks of Nihil tam acerbum est in quo non aquus animus solâ—tium inveniat The Death of King Robert introduced an Interregnum in Scotland for the space of near Eighteen Years for so long a time was James detain'd a Prisoner in England and there was no way left but to confirm the old Governor in his Station again who held it for the space of fifteen Years longer and at length died a natural Death but 't is strange he should that had been so unnatural to his own Nephew by famishing him to Death and done so many barbarous actions for to clear himself and to palliate his horrid Fact He was succeeded in his Estate and Honours by Mordo his eldest Son who was also chosen Governor of the Kingdom a Man full of Repugnant Vices and so unfit for the management of that high Office he was entrusted with that he was not capable to rule his own Family He had three Sons Walter James and Alexander who abusing the Lenity and Foolish Indulgence of their Father and playing many Outragious Tricâ—s to the Offence and Prejudice of many and one of them at length being displeased with his Father in that he would not give him a Falcon he had for a long time greatly desired he stept unto him and audaciously plucking the Bird from off his Father's Fist wrung his Neck from his Body before his Face whereupon the Father being somewhat enraged with such presumptuous Doings of his Son said Walter for so was his Name seeing it is come to that pass that thou and thy Brothers will not be ruled by my soft and gentle Government I shall ere long bring him home that shall chastise both you and me after another manner and from hence forwards he made it his whole Business to get King James redeem'd from the Hands of the English and to set him on the Throne To this purpose he call'd a Parliament at Perth where it was unanimously agreed to send a solemn Embassie to the King of England to demand the Restitution of their King and to offer Terms for his Releasment James had contracted some Friends in England during his Captivity especially by the means of the Lady Jane Daughter to the Earl of Somerset whom he had taken to Wife so that in a short time the Terms for his Liberty were agreed on and so he sets forwards towards Scotland Where he was no sooner arrived but he was encountred with diverse Complaints against several Persons and especially Walter Stuart the Son of the Governor aforesaid who was sent to Prison in the Bass and in the next Parliament convened at Perth Duke Mordo himself with Alexander another of his Sons were arrested and committed to safe Custody the Duke to Carlaurock and his Dutchess to a place call'd Tantalloun Not long after James Duke Mordo's third Son to hasten the fate of the Stuarts being moved with great Indignation that his Father and Brethren were thus as he conceived unjustly imprison'd came suddenly with a good Band of Men to the Town of Dunbritton sack't and burn the Place killing one Stuart more to wit John sirnamed the Red as Buchanan says and the King's Uncle with two and thirty Persons besides But he was so straitned by the King's Arms and pursued so close that he was forced to flee into Ireland and soon after died there an exile The same Year the King call'd a Parliament at Sterling whereing Mordo with his two Sons Walter and Alexander and Duncan Stuart Earl of Lenox four of them at one clap were convicted of High-Treason and the two Sons the very same day were beheaded in the open place before the Castle and next Morning Duke Mordo and Lenox run the same Fate in the same place It 's a constant Fame saith Buchanan tho' I find it written no where that the King sent the Heads of the Father Husband and Children to Isabella Wife to the said Mordo his Cousin-Germane to try a barbarous Practise whether she who was known to be a fierce Woman would as mostly it happens through excess of Grief discover the Secresie of her Mind upon such an occasion But she notwithstanding all that grievous and unlook'd
for Spectacle did not inordinately break forth into any bitter Words but only said with a calm Temper If the faults were true which have been laid to their Charge the King had done nothing but what is Right and Just unto them As this King's Reign was usher'd in with the foresaid Troubles it continued to be in a ferment upon other Accounts and particularly for the great Pension raised for his Ransom and for raising of other Moneys which tho' the Revenues were exhausted was interpreted Covetousness in him But in the thirteenth and last Year of his Reign a sharp Rencounter happening between Henry Percy and William Dowglas Earl of Angus at a place call'd Piperden in the Kingdom of Scotland James thinking himself injured hereby by the English as the Scotch Historians write but Hall and Graston charge him home with Ungratitude herein raises a great Army and lays Siege to the Castle of Roxborough but when as the Scotch write he had almost brought his Work to Perfection and that the besieged began to capitulate about surrendring of the place the Queen in all haste came to the Camp and acquainted him there was a horrid Conspiracy framed against his Life and conjured him to use all the Precautions imaginable to secure himself The King was surprized with the Message he forthwith raised the Siege and returned home to provide for his better safety tho' all avail'd little But that you may have a clearer Idea of the whole Matter we must a little look back and tell you again that Robert II. had three Sons by his Concubine whom he afterward married and so settled the Crown upon them to the Exclusion of his two legitimate Sons by his Queen Euphemia Ross who were Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern Now these two tho' they found themselves injured by such a Preference of an illegitimate Race before them Yet being inferiour both in Years and Wealth they dissembled their Resentment for the present The Death also of the Earl of Strathern weakned their Hands who left one only Daughter behind him who was given in Marriage to Patrick Graham a noble Youth and a most potent and illustrious Family as any in that Age on whom he begat Melisse Graham whose Parents did not long survive And the Child not many Years after being then a Stripling was sent into England among those who were Hostages till the Money for the Kings Ransom were discharg'd and paid But Atholl tho' he were every ways inferior to the opposite Faction yet ever made it his Business to take off his Kindred and did not lay aside his Hopes of recovering the Crown and because he was not capable of doing any thing by open force he craftily sowed Discord among them and so plied the Matter that as has been already in some measure set forth a very numerous Family were reduced to a few for the most part by his Council For many were of Opinion that it it was by his Contrivance that David Duke of Rothsay King Robert's Son was cut off neither had James escap'd his Snares unless he had spent the greatest part of his Life in England far from his reach He would have encouraged the Earl of Fife to seise upon the Kingdom taxing his Brother with Slothfulness and fit to be taken off and when the King having now no Children to succeed him for James was then a Prisoner in England and obnoxious to the Pleasure of his Brother had suddenly died of Grief there was only the Governor now and his Children that impeded his Hopes But when Robert the Governor was dead and his Son John kill'd at the Battle of Vernole in France he re-assumed his former Thoughts with greater Vigour and strain'd all his Wits to compass the same first by getting of King James released and then contriving Duke Mordo's and his Children's Death and since it was almost inconsistent that all these should subsist and be safe together he foresaw that which soever fell of them he was one degree nearer to the Crown Therefore when James was at last return'd to his Country he set all his Engines on work to hasten Mordo's death finds out fit tools to bear Testimony against him and set himself as Judge upon him and his Children and when they also were cut off there was only King James and a young Son of six Years old that stood in the way and when he by a conjuration of the Nobility were once removed the Earl did not doubt but himself who was the only surviving Person of the Royal Stem should be advanced to the Throne Atholl therefore I say being night and day agitated with such Considerations did however keep all his Designs close and secret and thro' a counterfeit Zeal for the King's Welfare made it his Business to cut off his Relations and Friends and more especially to advance his own Estate by the Misfortune and Crimes of other Men and so to lessen his Adversaries In the mean time King James to further his own Misfortune deprived Melisse Graham who we have said was one of the Hostages in England of the Earldom of Strathern alledging it was bestowed on his Grandfather of the maternal side and his Masculine Line and for want of such Issue to revert to the Crown The Misfortune of the young Man induced many to commiserate his Case but made Robert his Guardian almost stark mad and so being more impatient of the Injury offer'd to his Kinsman stuck not to accuse the King openly of unjustice and being cited to appear to make his defence but did not a Sentence of Banishment pass'd against him This did but enrage him more and more and his whole Business seem'd to be to engage others who had been injur'd in their own Persons or Friends to entertain the same Sentiments of the King in respect to his Avarice and Cruelty as he had done but it had been well if he had rested here You have heard before how the King was advertised of a Conspiracy against him at Roxborough and how the King to obviate the same retired home and took up his Lodgings in the Convent of the Dominicans at Perth and what Designs Walter Earl of Atholl had been hatching from time to time Now this Walter the King's Uncle tho' he were Principall Author and Contriver of the Conspiracy yet he did his utmost endeavour to put off all manner of Suspition of it from himself therefore he privily sends for and discourses with Robert Graham afore-mentioned who as being an active bold rash Man and an hater of the King upon account of his own Imprisonment and â—anishment and the Injury done to his Nephew by divesting of him of the Earldom of Strathern he thought to be a Person most fit for his purpose and with him he engaged his own Grandson Robert Stuart a stout hardy Youth who readily engaged in the Work He instructs them what they were to do assured them of his favour when the Fact was perpetrated
aid at hand had set themselves in array at the Bridge of the River Aven which is about a mile from Linlithgow and placed a small Guard upon the Bridge to secure the Pass and drew up the rest of their Forces at the brow of the Hiâ—â— which they knew the Enemy must pass Lennox seeing that this passage over the Bridge was stopped Commanded his Men to pass over a small River a little above by the Nunnery called Manuell and so to beat the Hamiltonians from the Hills before Dowglass's Forces had joyned them The Lennoxians advanced towards the Enemy thorough thick and thin but were much incommoded by the others throwing of Stones down the Hills upon them and when they came to handy strokes the word was given that the Dowglasses were at hand and indeed they from their march ran in hastily into the Fight and soon carried the Day so that Lennox's Men were grievously wounded and put to flight The Victory was used by the Hamiltonians with much cruelty and among the Number of the slain was the Earl of Lennox himself highly lamented by all Persons and more especially by the King himself who now saw no visible hopes of ever retrieving his Liberty and could not choose but see how fatal his presence was to all that attempted it Now the Dowglasses are Lords paramount and carry all before them those that had taken up Arms against their King as they phrased it for fear of a Tryal were forced to compound with them for money or to put themselves into the Clanships of the Hamiltons or themselves and such as refused they utterly ruined yea and the Queen her self thought fit to retire to a place of Secrecy least she should fall into the hands of her Husband whom she hated But fury abating with time and the Dowglasses being severally intent upon other matters and concerns and secure as they thought as to the Kings Departure from them gave him at last an opportunity to gain his Liberty which all the former attempts of his Friends could not effect for him They believed now that his mind was fully Reconciled to them by those Blandishments and Immoderate Pleasures they had indulged him in and besides thought that if he were minded to remove there was no faction strong enough to oppose them neither was there any strong Garrison whither to retire but only to Sterling Castle which was allotted to the Queen for her Habitation And then it was deserted for a time by the Queens Officers when she hid her self for fear of the Dowglasses and when the tumult was a little appeased 't was somewhat Fortified but rather for a shew then any real defence The King having obtained some small relaxation saw that this must be his only refuge and and therefore he deals privately with his Mother to exchange that Castle and the Lands adjoining for other Lands as convenient for her and providing all other requisites as private as he could the Dowglasses not being so intent as formerly in their watch over him he retired by night with a small retinue from Falkland to Sterling whither he soon sent for some of the Nobles to come to him and others hearing the News came of their own accord so that now he seemed sufficiently secured against all force Then he issued out a Proclamation that the Dowglasses should abstain from all the Administration of publick affairs and that none of their Dependants should come within 12 miles of the Court upon pain of Death This Proclamation was quickly seconded with an Assembly of the Nobles at Edenburg where they had such Terms offered them as they would not accept whereupon their Offices were taken from them and themselves Summoned to attend the Parliament at Edenburg But they knowing the danger Endeavoured to seise upon Edenburg and dissolve the Parliament but failed in the attempt So that thâ— Earl of Angus retired to his Castle of Tanâ—allon and the Parliament proceeded in their business and the Earl with his Brothers Relations and intimate Friends were out Lawed They on the other hand being enraged at these proceedings and seeing all hopes of Pardon cut off betook themsâ—lves to open force and Committed all sorts of Outrages upon the Lands of their Enemies and with their Horse advanced many times to the very Gates of Edenburg so that the City was almost besieged by them The King thinking to unroost them all at once raises Forces and lays siege to Tantallon Castle but all that ever he could do could not take it At length the Dowglasses finding the Hamiltons and the rest of their Friends fail them found it necessary to retire for their better safety into England from whence came Ambassadors shortly after about settling a firm Peace between both Kingdoms and with the same labour to procure the Restitution of the Dowglasses King James was mighty desirous to have Tantallon Castle in his Power and at the same time his mind as averse to the Restoration of the Dowglasses and for that reason the matter was convassed too and fro for some Days and no temper of Accommodation could be found out But at length they came to this That Tantallon Castle should be surrendered to K. James a Truce between both Nations for five Years and the other demands in referrence to the Dowglasses he promised to grant under his Signet When the Castle was surrendered according to Composition the King failed of his Royal Word and not one of the Dowglasses were permitted to return which was foul prevarication in him and a stain that will not easily be blotted off his Memory seeing this was a principal matter in the Agreement and the Equivalent for the Castle The Truce about half expired was infringed by a War between both Nations which the French Ambassador endeavoured to compose and about the same time James transacts with the French King and afterward with the Emperor about a Match which was like to endanger his life For the Hamiltons almost confident of the Succession yet looking upon it a long way about to stay either for Fortuitous or Natural dangers to befall him and fearfull in case he married he might have Lawfull Issue of his own studied to hasten his Death by Treachery a fair opportunity was offered them to effect it by his Night-walkings to his Misses having but one or two in Company but however it were they ne'er could put their purpose in Execution The Emperor's offers were rejected and at last he went over himself into France to seek him a Wife and brings over along with him Magdelen Daughter to Francis the French King but she died soon after and had no issue The Death of Magdalen did but whet his desires to get him another Wife and to that End he dispatched Cardinal David Beaton and others into France to treat of a Match between himself and Mary of the House of Guise Widdow to the Duke of Longeville by whom he had two Sons and a Daughter of whom you 'll hear by
Parliaments stiffness to supply their Court Extravagancies in time of Peace and rejection of the King 's much desired proposal to unite both Nations by a Naturalization of the Scots without they would come under the English Laws and Government was some allay to his Delights At last an accident broke out which wrought in him no small disquiet as you have already heard while King James was only King of Scotland that he was entirely at his Favourites Devotion which as has been related had many Tragical Effects you must know he was become no changling now he was King of England and among others one Robert Carr a young Man of no fortune in the World and who it seems had been formerly one of his Pages in Scotland coming to Court in a good Garb and being a comely Person was taken notice of by the King and in a short time was Knighted by him made Gentleman of his Bed-Chamber Viscount Rochester and at length Earl of Sommerset and over-topped all the rest of his Favourites abundantly even to Cope with the Prince himself who disdaining to be thus bearded by an upstart of yesterday would not afford him a good look nor speak to him and some said that some love Jealousies the Prince being now in his Puberty encreased the Emulation between Carr and him The Countess of Essex then a top Gallant Lady in the Bloom of her years and disdaining the Company of the Noble Earl her Husband being the Bane of Contention between them but be this as it will the Countess was enamoured on the Favourite and cast her Love-Anchor there but I should think the Prince above all these Thoughts by the following passage for being on a time Dancing among the Ladies and the Countesses Glove falling down it was taken up and presented to him by one that thought he did him acceptable Service but the Prince refused to receive it saying publickly He would not have it it was streatched by another meaning Carr then Viscount Rochester But things could not continue long in this State for as the Court were full of Rejoycings upon the Palsgrave's arrival in England to Marry the Lady Elizabeth there was a damp struck upon the Hearts of all true Englishmen upon the suddain immature and I doubt violent death of the Noble Prince Henry in the flower of his years Sir A. W. says his death had been foretold by one Bruce a famous Scotch Astrologer for the which the Earl of Salisbury caused him to be banished who left this farewell with the Earl That it should be too true but that his Lordship should not live to see it The Earl dying in Day and the Prince in November following to the infinite grief of all but Sommerset and the Family of the Howards who by his death thought themselves secured from all future dangers for he being an open Prince and hating all baseness would often say He would not leave one of that Family to piss against a Wall I do not know why Sir Anthony might not have put the King himself into the foresaid number I am sure he shewed but small symptoms of Sorrow at his death which happened as was said but then in November by his commanding no Man should appear at Court in Mourning in the Christmass Holidays following the Jollity Feasting and Magnificence whereof must not be laid aside upon any account whatsoever it is certain that the Princes Court was frequented more than the King 's and by another sort of Men so that the King upon seeing of him once at a distance in the Park with a far more numerous Train than himself was heard to say What will he bury me alive jealousie is like a fire that burns all before it and that fire is hot enough to dissolve all Bonds that tend to the diminution of a Crown Don Carlos Prince of Spain and Henry's Contemporary not long before this for wishing himself but one day in his Father's Throne fell soon after into the hard hand of an immature fate However it were the manner of the Prince's death was variously rumour'd some saying he was poison'd with a bunch of Grapes others with the venemous scent of a pair of Gloves presented to him and some again that a French Physician gave him poison and it was observed that poison was never more in fashion than at this time but surely there was something black enough in it for when Sir Thomas Mouson a long time after who was one of the Countess of Essex's Agents in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury had past one days Trial at Guildhall the Lord Chief Justice Coke vented some expressions as if he could discover more than the death of a private Person saying God knows what is become of that sweet Babe Prince Henry but I know somewhat and blessing himself at the horror of such villanies as came to his knowledge and 't was believed that in searching the Cabinets he had lighted on some Papers that spake plain in that which was ever whispered and what strongly increased the suspicion was that Monson's Trial was laid aside he quickly set at liberty and the Chief Justices wings clipt for ever after And no less jealousie did something relating to the Earl of Somerset's Trial for the said Murder of Overbury create in Men's Minds about this matter for when the Lieutenant of the Tower according to Custom gave Somerset notice of his Trial next day he absolutely refused it saying They should carry him in his Bed that the King had assured him he should not come to any Trial neither durst the King bring him to any this was an high strain and a Language not understood by Sir George Moor the Lieutenant and tho' otherwise esteemed a wise Man it reduced him to his Wits end After some pauses he at last resolves to go to the King then at Greenwich as late as it was being Twelve a Clock at night he bounced at the Back Stairs as if he had been mad to whom Jo. Leveston one of the Grooms came out of his Bed and enquired the reason of that unreasonable distemper Moor tells him he must speak with the King immediately Loveston answered He was quieted meaning in his Scottish Dialect He was fast asleep but Moor said he must awake him and so was called in and left alone with the King in his Bed-chamber where he tells him those passages that happened between Sommerset and himself and desired to be directed by the King what he should do for he was gone beyond his Reason to hear such bold and undutiful Expressions from a faulty Subject against a Just Sovereign Hereupon the King falls into a fit of Tears and said On my Soul Moor I wot not what to do thou art a Wise Man help me in this great streight and thou shalt find thou dost it for a faithful Master with other sad Expressions to the same purpose Moor leaves the King in that Agony but first assured him he would strain his Wits
to the abrogating of which by the enormous power of the Sword because he could by no means be induced he was brought thither to undergo a Martyrdom for his People Then he prayed and being minded by the Bishop to satisfie the Spectators as to his Religion he said that he had deposited the Testimony of his Faith with that holy Man meaning the Bishop That his Life and Profession had been well known and that now he died in the Christian Faith according to the Profession of the Church of England as the same was left him by his Father of Blessed Memory And then turning about to the Officers and professing the hopes he had of his Salvation he began to prepare for the Circumstances of Death The Bishop put on his Night-cap and uncloathed him to his Sky-coloured Sattin Wastcoat he delivered his George to the Bishop's hands and charged him to remember to give the same to the Prince and having prayed again he stooped down to the Block and had his Head severed from his Body at one Blow about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day aforesaid in the year 1648. dying the same death as to kind as his Grandmother Mary Queen of Scots had done sixty two years and eight days before at Fothringham Castle in Northamptonshire and I think was no whit inferior to her in the misfortunes of his Life And to note a few his three Favourites to wit Buckingham Laud and Strafford undergoing a violent death and the two latter falling by the Axe as forerunners of his own destiny And as to his own Personal errors when Bristol was cowardly surrendred by Fines had he then marched to London as he might have done very well all had been his own but loytering to no purpose at Gloucester he was soon after well banged by the Earl of Essex When he had worsted Essex in Cornwall he neglected the like opportunity of getting to London Guilty he was of the same oversight in not commanding the Duke of Newcastle to march Southwards toward the Metropolis of England before the Scots entred the English Borders and in not doing the like himself after he had taken Leicester for there was nothing then that could have hindred him to become Master of the City The same ill success he had as to his Treaties about being restored And in short he was generally unfortunate in the World in the esteem not only of his Enemies but in some sort of his Friends too for as the later were n'er pleased with his breach of Faith so the former would say he could never be fast enough bound and the Blood that some years before dropt upon his Statue at Greenwich and the falling off of the Silver Head of his Cane at his Trial were interpreted as dismal presages of his disastrous fate His Head and Trunk after the Execution were immediately put into a Coffin and conveyed to the Lodgings in Whitehall and there Embowelled and from thence conveyed to St. James House and Coffined in Lead About some fortnight after the Duke of Lennox Marquess of Hartford Earl of Southampton and Bishop of London got leave to bury the Body which they conducted to the Chappel at Windsor and Interred it there in the Vault of Henry the Eight with this Inscription only upon his Coffin Charles King of England And herein he was more unhappy than his Grandmother Mary for whereas her Corpse were some years after her death taken up by her Son King James and Reposited with all the Funeral Pomp that could be in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh her Great Grand Father This King's Remains notwithstanding the Commons had Voted in 1669 the Sum of 50000 l. for the Charge of taking it up a Solemn Funeral had of it and a Monument for it yet lay neglected as if it had been blasted by fate King Charles the Second his Son they said forbidding of it A Physician that made inspection into the dissection of the Body related that nature had designed him above the most of mortal men for a long life but Providence ordered it otherwise for he was cut off in the Forty ninth year of his Age being his Climacterical and twenty fourth of his Reign leaving six Children behind him three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two Elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter Charles his Eldest Son who was then at the Hague when he heard of his Father's disastrous fate assumed the Title of King of England c. tho an Exile and without any Kingdom to command He was born at St. James's May 30. 1630. it was said a Star appeared over the place where he had been born in broad day which in those times was interpreted to prognosticate his happiness but the Ecclipse of the Sun which happened presently after was no less a presage of his future Calamities There was little remarkable in him or concerning him till the year 1639 when the unhappy disaster of breaking his Arm befell him and that not long after he was afflicted with a violent Feaver accompanied with a little of the Jaundice but having at length recovered his perfect health and the fatal differences begun long before but now daily increasing between the King his Father and the People he accompanied him into the North of England where he was a Spectator of that dismall Cloud which tho small at its first gathering yet was pregnant with that dreadful storm which in a short time spread it self over him his Father and three Nations For going to take possession of Hull as they thought they were by Sir John Hotham denied Entrance and forced to wait several hours at the Gate all in vain From this time forward the War increasing between the King and Parliament he was first spectator of that successless Battle to his Father's Arms at Edgehill staid some time after at Oxford From thence returning to the Field and the King's forces in the West under the command of the Lord Hopton of which the Prince was nominally General being routed by General Fairfax he was necessitated to retire to the Isle of Scilly and from thence betook himself into France To whom his Father now depriv'd of Command himself sent a Commission of Generalissimo of those few Royalists that survived the late unhappy overthrows and this brought him to the Isle of Guernsey where he possest himself of some Vessels that lay there and having joyned them to those he had brought with him out of France he sailed from thence into the Downs where he seized several rich Merchant-Ships and expected some Land-forces from Holland raised by the Prince of Orange for his Service But alas he was as unfortunate now in his Warlike attempts as his Father had been before and was still in his Treaties of Peace for Poyer and Langhorn who made a
of War That the late King whom some have so much cried up for a Lover of Military Glory has no Share therein But his Admirers have found out as they think a very plausible Pretence for his Absence Because it is not known in what Quality he would have appeared in the Field But the Truth is my Lord they have no great Opinion of his Valour and Conduct and he has succeeded so very ill in his own Concerns and Undertakings that they are very much afraid his Presence should infuse some malignant Influence into the French King's Designs And whatever Veneration those now in England of his Interest and from thence denominated according to his Name may have for him there is hardly a Day passes here wherein some Satyrical Piece or other does not appear against him far enough from sparing Personal Reflections But this will make the Confederates in general but small Amends for the Loss of Mons However I could not but once take notice of it to your Lordship desiring you to believe how ready I am to the utmost of my Intelligence My Lord To Serve and Obey you whilst Paris April 18. 1691. N. S. LETTER XX. Of the Raising of the Siege of Coni and of the Death of that Grand Minister of State to the French King the Marquis of Louvois and also of Monsieur Barillon's once the French King's Ambassador in England My Lord THE general Affairs of the War are so publick that your Lordship cannot but come to the Knowledge of such Transactions as fall out from Time to Time as soon as any other in the Kingdom and they are such at this Juncture as sufficiently perplex this Court especially so far as they regard Italy and Savoy in particular from whence they have just received the bad News of the raising the Seige of Coni which is yet but whispered amongst them But your Lordship may so far rely upon my Intelligence in this particular as confidently to report it in England of which News I question not your giving hereby the first Intelligence But though this ill Success is so much the more mortifying to this Court in that they fully reckoned upon the Taking of the Place seeing all others that had hitherto been besieged by their Arms on that side have made little or on Resistance and that they own themselves they have lost before it Eighteen Hundred of the best of their Men Yet another Accident has my Lord this very Day happened here which at present seems more surprizing and a greater Subject of Discourse than the other and that is the Death of our Grand Minister of State the Marquess de Louvois Your Lordship knows what Relation I have stood to him in and what Word I sent you once by Major H if there was a Possibility of his seeing you of my then Circumstances upon the same Foot Things being still much the same I shall not further trouble you with a vain Repetition of what I am now well assured the said Major has reported to your Honour but observe That the Marquess having dined with the Princess d'Espenoy and Madam de Soubize he found himself presently after ill in the King's Chamber from whence he retired into his own to be Let Blood but not finding any Ease by Bleeding in one Arm and being extreamly oppressed in his Spirits nothing would content him but he must needs be Let Blood in the other and thereupon died at the same time These my Lord are the naked Circumstances of this Great Man's Departure and you may relie upon it though I do not question but many may be apt to ascribe his Death to some extraordinary and violent Cause since I have even already heard a Whisper of it in a Corner But whatever Reflections the World may make upon the Causes of his Death I foresee there will be no less Animadversions upon the Train of Consequences that may attend it Perhaps many of the Confederates may be apt to believe that the Death of Monsieur de Louvois may produce such an Alteration of Affairs here as may not a little contribute to the Advantage of theirs since much of the happy Success that has hitherto attended the King's Designs will be ascribed to the Address Cunning and Policy of this Minister and that the French Lilies will wither in another's hands I do very well know that such Suggestions carry a great Appearance of Truth in them But if I may freely deliver my Opinion to your Lordship from my own Observation and Experience I cannot but declare my self contrary to the aforesaid Sentiments which if any Ways relyed on will be found to prove but broken Reeds For believe me my Lord the French King has had a greater Share in the publick Transactions of his Kingdom than any of his Ministers for all the Time I have known France And no one understands his own Affairs and Interests as well as himself to say nothing of the Assistance of so many politick Persons and Men of great Abilities he has constantly about his Person and who serve him with more than ordinary Zeal and Affection which will sufficiently compensate for the Loss of one single Minister Your Honour cannot but be sensible why I observe this at the present Juncture such an Aery Advantage as this is like to prove can bring no solid benefit to my Country but a real Detriment will infallibly succeed a Dependance upon it But the Death of Monsieur Barillon which happened a few Hours before the other and who knew England better than any other French-man may I trust conduce more to the Tranquility of the Kingdom within which none more passionately desires to hear of than My Lord Your ever Obliged and Most Faithful Serv. Versailles July 16. 1691. N. S. LETTER XXI Of Monsieur Pompone's being made Minister of State And of some Particulars relating to a Peace said to be offered by France to the Confederates My Lord WHat I observed to your Lordship in my last how vain the Hopes of the Confederates were like to prove of any good Advantage to their Affairs by the Death of Monsieur de Louvois appears here daily more and more by divers Instances that might be given But I shall only confine my self to inform your Honour that the Advancement of Monsieur Pompone to be Prime Minister of State is a clear Demonstration of the Truth I have advanced as 't is of the King 's great Skill and Judgment also Though indeed it must be owned that this new Favourite enters upon his Ministry in a ticklish Juncture of Time yet for my own part I am fully satisfied Things are not so bad with France as the World would believe them to be and the following Proposals of Peace intended to be or as some say already offered to the Confederates would insinuate of which I communicate to your Lordship a Copy as I have received them from a Friend with some difficulty First That the Most Christian King will acknowledge
Lordship here the reason of my so long silence since you know it already by a remarkable instance and it is possible you may have by his time heard the issue of our King's mâ—â—ch towards Pont Esperies and the Daupâ—e's diligence to secure that Pass Were you to have seen the Consternation men generally were under in this City upon the first advice of the said March you would have thought all France had been in danger of being lost without retrieval and the letter of thanks which the King hâ—â— dispatched to the Dauphine the rest of the Generals and to every particular Regiment both French and Switz by Name for their Zeal and indefatigable industry for the preservation of their Country lifes and most important places on the Sea Coast is an evident demonstration hereof As the common Murmurs and many Libels that appear abroad every day against the Government are no less a proof of the decline of the French affairs and growing greatness of the Confederates the causes of both which I need not take upon me to commemorate to your Lordship since they are evident to none more than your self My Lord I must keep my Hand in use and write to you as long as I am here and can have any opportunity to testify thereby how much I am My Lord Your Humble and ever Obliged Servant Paris Octo. 2. 1694. N. S. LETTER XXX Of the King James his receiving an account of Queen Mary's death c. My Lord I have had often some Thoughts to inform your Lordship of many unhappy accidents that have befallen me of late in this Country but had I been now at length fully determined to transmit the particulars the general Calamity in the untimely fate of the Excellent Princess Mary Queen of Great Britain c. must have quite supprest it I am so concerned not only for the present loss but for the events to follow that I am not fit for ordinary Conversation It s scarce belief how elevated those in the late King's Interests are upon this turn of things but the truly vertuous tho' Enemies carry the signs of Sorrow in their Countenances This Court and the late King have had very timous information of this our misfortune and I am well assured they have had a long Conference together upon the said subject and that at the same time some Letters have been dispatch'd in order to a Tryal whether any Tares may be sown in England upon this occasion But I hope the prudenâ— Management of Affairs on your side of which the Nations Enemies of late begin to have an high Opinion will choke them in the production Neither of the Courts are yet gone into Mourning neither is there any appearance they will But several private Gentlemen under pretence of the Death of Relations in the Country are in Black For any other particulars I beg your Lordship to Pardon me that I can give no account and to believe that I am My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant Paris Jan. 10. 1695. N. S. POSTSCRIPT My Lord I had under my present concern of mind almost forgot to acquaint you that five days ago the Duke of Luxenburg departed this Life at Versailles in the Sixty Fourth Year of his Age while he was sick the King continually sent to see how he did and went often in person to visit and comfort him and when he was dead he publickly declared that a greater loss could not have befallen him I am My Lord Your c. LETTER XXXI Of the Successes of the Confederates in Flanders Italy c. in the year 1695. with some account of the designs of France for the succeeding year and of the Authors design to return to England My Lord THe great success the Confederate Arms have had this Compaign both in Italy and Brabant by the Reduction of Cazal and Namur is more mortifying to this Court than I am able to express tho' a good meen is put upon it and that it is already given out that the King of France being weary of acting defensively as has been done the last Summer will act offensively next Campaign and that the Council have already found out ways for the settling of sufficient Funds towards the maintaining not only of such forces as are already on foot but for a considerable augmentation of them And for Men the raising of them is made practicable by an Edict prohibiting all persons whatsoever to keep any Male Servants above One and Twenty Years of Age so that all Young Men that are above those Years must either starve steal or go to the Wars How far these projects may be put in Execution I know not but I do believe them in the main impracticable Yet I question not but there are some more secret and dangerous Machinations on foot and the more than ordinary consultations between the two Kings I fear forbodes no good to England in particular Some general observations that I have made of things during my aboad in I shall reserve till I see your Lordship which my present circumstances urge me to and which I hope and long to effect before who am in the mean time and always will be My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant 〈◊〉 Paris Nov. 3. 1695. N. S. THE Tragical History OF THE STUARTS FROM The First Rise of that Family in the Year 1086. down to the Death of Her Late Majesty Queen MARY of Blessed Memory By D. JONES Gent. LONDON Printed in the Year 1697. THE Tragical History OF THE STUARTS IN the Reign of Duncane King of Scotland who came to the Possession of the Scotish Crown upon the decease of his Uncle Milcolm in the Year 1040. while one Bancho Thane of Lochquaber from whom the Stuarts descended was gathering the King's Revenues within the bounds of his own Jurisdiction and withal somewhat severely punishing such as he found to be notorious Offenders it caused a Mutiny in the Country and so a Conspiracy was formed against Bancho by a parcel of Riotous and Lawless Fellows who first spoil'd his Goods and then assaulted his Person giving him many dangerous Wounds so that he had much ado to escape with his Life But assoon as he found himself a little recover'd and in a condition to travel he determined to repair to the Court in order to require Satisfaction for the Damages he had sustained where after he had made Complaint to the King of the same and of the Indignities that had been offer'd to him he at length prevail'd to have an Herald sent to the Offenders to cite them to make their personal Appearance for to answer to such Matters as should be laid to their Charge But they instead of complying with the Summons entertain'd the Messenger first with all manner of Reproaches and when they had as despitefully used him both in Words and Actions as they could slew him out-right and so entring into a Confederacy with their Friends and Kinsfolks as expecting to be call'd to a
that our History may appear to be all of a piece and void of Breaks as much as may be Walter therefore had a Son named Alane who as they say follow'd Godfrey of Bullogn into the Holy Land in the Year 1099. Alexander was his Son who begat Walter Stuart he had Issue Alexander whose Son was John the Father of Walter Stuart that marry'd the Daughter of King Robert Bruce and begat on her Robert Stuart call'd in the Scotch Chronology Robert the second King of Scotland but he was the first Stuart that was advanced to the Throne of that Kingdom But before we can fairly come to give you an exact Account hereof it will be necessary to premise a short Scheme of the Contests between the said Baliol and Bruce because somewhat interwoven with the Affair of this Family Upon the disastrous death of Alexander the Third who broke his Neck as he was gallopping his Horse at Kingcorn over the West-clift of the place near the Sea-side and left no Issue but had only a Grand-child by his Daughter in Norway very young and who died soon after Scotland fell under an Interregnum for the space of six Years and nine Months as Buchanan computes it for so long it was between the Death of Alexander and the declaring of John Baliol King of Scotland and in the mean time you may be sure there wanted not Pretensions to the Crown and the case briefly was thus William King of Scotland had a Brother named David Earl of Huntington and great Uncle to this Alexander the III. which David had three Daughters Margaret marry'd to Allan Lord of Gallaway Isabel to Robert Bruce Lord Annadale and Cleveland and Adda to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington now Allane begat on his Wife Margaret a Daughter named Dornadilla marry'd in process of time to John Baliol after King of Scotland and two other Daughters Bruce by his Wife Isabel had Robert Bruce Earl of Carrick as having married the Inheritrix thereof but as for Huntington he laid no manner of Claim Now the question was whether Baliol in right of the eldest Daughter or Robert Bruce being descended of the second but a Male should have the Crown he being in the same Degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversie was tossed up and down by the Governors and Nobles of the Kingdom for a long time but at last upon serious deliberation it was agreed to refer the whole matter to the decision of Edward the I. King of England which he was not a little glad of For resolving to fish in these troubled Waters he stirs up eight Competitors more that he might further puzzle the Cause and at length with twenty four Councellors half Scots half English and a great many Lawyers so handled the Business that after a great many cunning delays he secretly tampers with Bruce who was then conceiv'd to have the better Right of the Business that if he would acknowledge to hold the Crown of him he would adjudge it in favour of him But he generously answering That he valued a Crown at a less rate than for the wearing of the same to put his Country under a Foreign Yoke Edward turns about and makes the same motion to Baliol who did not stick to accept of it Baliol having thus gotten a Crown as unhappily kept it for he was no sooner invested with it and done Homage to King Edward according to Agreement but the Aberthenys having slain Mackduff Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them the Fact but gave them a piece of Land that was in Controversie between them Whereupon Mucduff's Brother being enraged makes a Complaint of him to King Edward who sent for him used him so that he made him rise from his Seat at Parliament and go to the Bar and answer for himself He hereupon was so enraged at this manner of Usage that when King Edward sent to him for Assistance against the French he absolutely refused it and proceeded so far as to renounce his Homage to him This incensed King Edward to the quick and so with an armed Power he hastens to Berwick where he routed the Scots took and kill'd to the number of Seven Thousand of them among them most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and some time after gave them also a great Overthrow at Dunbar which occasion'd the immediate surrender of the Castle of the said place into his Hands After this he marches to Montross where Baliol was brought to resign up both himself and his Crown to King Edward all the Scotch Nobility at the same time doing him Homage The Consequence whereof was that Baliol was sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a Years detention into France But while Edward was possess'd of all Scotland one William Wallace arose who tho' but a private Man bestirred himself in the publick Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable Foyls This brought King Edward into Scotland again with an Army and falling upon Wallace routs him who was overcome with Emulation and Envy from his Countrymen as well as power from the Enemy upon which he laid by his Command and never acted after but by slight Incursions but the English Army after this being beaten at Roslin Edward comes in again and takes Sterling and makes them all render him Homage Robert Bruce Son to the foresaid Bruce that contested with Baliol for the Crown was in King Edward's Court and him the King had often promised to put in possession of the Crown But Bruce finding at last that all his promises were illusory and nothing but smoak he enters into a Confederacy with John Cummin sirnamed the Red how he might get the Kingdom but being basely betray'd by him to King Edward he had much ado to make his escape and when he was got into Scotland the first thing he did was to stab Cummin at Drumâ—reis and then got himself Crown'd King at Scone Never did any Man come with greater disadvantage to the possession of a Crown or underwent greater Hardships for the sake of it He was beaten over and over by King Edward's Troops forced to flee to the Highlands with one Companion or two and to lurk in the Mountains in great misery as if he had been rather a Beast of prey than a rational Creature And while he was in this miserable State it is storied of him by Fourdon That being in a Morning lying down on his Bed in a little Cottage whither he was glad to retire and make the same his Pallace he espies a Spider striving to climb up into her Web which she had spun to the roof of the House but failing of her purpose the first time she attempts it the second and third time and so on to the sixth and last wherein she accomplishes it and gets in the King who as well as his Companion had all the while view'd the Action said Now let 's get up and hasten to the Lowlands to try our Fortunes
name of John for that forsooth was ominous for John King of France was a Prisoner in England but by the name of Robert It 's true there is no great matter in the thing it self either one way or other for an Alias or a double name cannot prejudice an honest and vertuous Man and when Judge Catiline took exception at one in this respect saying that no honest Man had a double name and came in with an Alias the party asked him what exception his Lordship could take to Jesus Christ Alias Jesus of Nazareth The Father was scarce well cold in his Grave or the Son warm in his Throne but his Progeny begot by him in the heat of his Blood began in their Stations to act their Tragical part This King in his Fathers life-time had the misfortune to be kicked on the Leg by an Horse of Sir James Douglass of Dalkeith and so lamed his Body as he was lame in his Intellectuals being a dull stupid Man and unfit to Govern insomuch that he had but the name of King the whole Administration being lodged in his Brother Robert Earl of Fife who did what he pleased with him and his as you 'll see by and by Alexander the youngest brother and Earl of Buchan a Man of a Fierce Nature could not long contain it but he begins to disturb the Government of his Brethren upon a slight displeasure conceived against the Bishop of Murray and seeing he could find no opportunity to kill him he revengfully sets fire to the Cathedral Church which was the stateliest Pile of Building in all the North of Scotland A Son he had whose name was Duncane or Dunach ten times more profligate if it were possible than himself and guilty of the basest and most degenerous actions He upon the death of his Grand-father lets the Reins loose and supposing now there was room for Rapine and Villany Heads a strong band of Thiefs and comes down to the Country of Angus spoils and ravages the Country as if he had been a professed Enemy and being elevated by some petty success they had against Walter Ogilby and Walter Lichton who opposed them they proceeded to perpetrate greater Villanies than before till at last being dispersed by the Earl of Crawford many of them were persued and slain and the rest taken and suffered condign Punishment King Robert had now Governed by his Governour for the space of Light Years when a Parliament was held at Perth wherein to manifest his Favour he made his Eldest Son David who was then Eighteen Years of Age Duke of Rothsay and his Brother the Governour Duke of Albany Virgin Titles that till this time had been unknown in Scotland saith Buchanan and which boded no good success to the Masters of them but generally proved very ominous About some three years after dyed Queen Annabella and Walter Tralie Archbishop of St. Andrew's the one while he lived keeping up the Ecclesiastical Discipline in the Church and the other the Dignity of the Court so that the death of two such useful and Illustrious Persons ushered in great Calamities in the Land and such a Tragedy as can scaâ—ce be met with in the Records of Time The Queen in her life-time had had a particular eye over and care of the Education of her Son David Duke of Rothsay and by a severe Discipline restrained his boisterous and untoward nature in a great measure But now the check was taken off he gave himself over to all manner of licentiousness His Fathers indulgence to him proved an incitative to his Lust and lack of Authority despoiled him of that Reverence that should have been paid unto him and made his admonitions of none effect So that at last he grew to that height of outrageousness and impiety that laying aside all manner of fear and shame he made it his business to defile mens Wives dâ—flower Virgins Nuns and all other kind of Women and where he found opposition he made use of Force and Violence These Tragedies could not go long undiscovered and therefore several complaints were prefered against him to his Father who at last perceiving it beyond his power to restrain those exorbitant Courses and that such violations would unavoidably bring both Father and Son to utmost Contempt and might have a very bad Consequence to attend them he Writes to his Brother the Governour and now Duke of Albany to take the young Man into his own governance and keeping till such time and in expectation he should be reclaimed and brought to a better temper This was that which the Governour for a long time had lacked as thinking if he were once taken out of the way his passage to the Crown might in time be made smooth and easie and therefore leaves no stone unturned to get him into his bloody Clutches at last he contrived the matter so that he seized him upon the Road near St. Andrew's and conveyed him to the Castle of the said place which he had taken into his own hands upon the death of the Bishop a little before under pretence of securing of it and in a short time after removed him thence into his own Castle of Falkland making him there a close Prisoner And now resolved he was to be rid of him and he could think of no method more expedient to effect his devilish design than by starving of him But that life which the barbarous cruelty of the Unkle had destined for a most miserable death the compassion of two young Women prolonged for a time One of them was daughter to the Governour of the Castle and who had the charge of the young Duke who as often as she had an opportunity to go into the Gardens adjacent to the Castle did put into him some oaten Cake folded up in a Vail which she carelesly wore on her head to keep off the Sun through a small chink rather than a Window The other was a poor Nurse who through a long Read fed him with the Milk from her own Breasts When the young Man's Punishment as well as his Life had by this hard shift been for some days prolonged which rather served for the increasing than allaying of his hunger the Women were at last discovered by the Spies they had every where about them and were both villanously put to death the Father shewing as much unhumane cruelty towards his daughter as she had shewn mercy to his Royal Prisoner bitterly cursing her perfidy as he called it as endeavouring thereby to shew himself faithful to a faithless Brother Unkle and Governour The young Man being thus deprived of all humane relief was constrain'd through the violence of hunger not only to eat all such filth as he could find within his Prison but at last to set upon his own flesh and to gnaw off his own Fingers and so ended his wretched life and died as I may say a double Death This barbarous act needs no Comment it bespeaks Villany to the height in
Man as the Chancellor and without delay raises Forces and Besieges him in Edenburg Castle He perceiving the danger had no other way left but to send to the Earl of Dowglass for his Assistance Dowglass disdains them both and would not be concerned The Chancellor seeing this agrees with the Governor and he was still to keep the Castle and his Chancellorship Not long after died Dowglass and was succeeded by his Son William who kept a greater port and retinue than his Father But things could not hold long in this State for the Chancellor disdaining that the Governor should take the whole Administration upon him leaves him and the King at Sterling where he then was and repairs to Edenburg and there imploys all his Wits how he might recover the King from the Governor and after he had well thought of it he rides one morning with four and twenty Men in his Company to the Park of Sterling where he knew the King was a Hunting and that the Governor was absent at Perth He found the King with a very small retinue and saluted him very dutifully and finding him in some surprize at the Company he exhorted him in a few words as the time would permit to be of good cheer and fear nothing that they were come to deliver him from his Captivity that he might be no longer under the Government of another but take the Administration into his own hands and much to the same purpose All which the King received with a pleasant aspect either because the motion pleased him as desirous to Rule or to dissemble the fear he had of the Chancellor and so went with him to Edenburg The Governor upon his return was horribly surprized at the News but being now unable to remedy the matter by the means of friends he and the Chancellor came to an Accommodation again and the result was that the Governor should still continue in his Office and the King remain in the keeping of the Chancellor as at first So that the freedom before tendred to him and with which he seem'd to be well pleas'd was now but a meer illusion being as much a Captive as ever And if the King was no better for this Agreement It proved fatal to the Earl of Dowglass Both Governor and Chancellor dreading his power now conbine together to ruine him and to that End a Parliament must be called where several Complaints were made against Dowglass and his followers But they two perswade the Parliament to send for the Earl in a friendly manner and not as a delinquent to take his place in that Assembly And by the Governors contrivance Honourable Letters were directed to him in the Name of them all full of soothing expressions intimating his own Person was so far from being in any danger by such his attendance in Parliament that if any of his Friends or Family had chanced to be guilty of any disorders all should be frankly remitted This bait took the young Gentleman and so with his Brother David and an handsom retinue sets forward for Edenburg the Chancellor the better to cloak the Treachery rode out many miles from Edenburg to meet him Caressed and Entertained him splendidly on the way at the Castle of Creichton and to blind him the more there in the most friendly and tender manner in the World began to advise the Earl in what concerned his Duty towards his Prince and the Honour and Glory of his Family and this showed him on to Edenburg tho' things could not be carried on so coverlly between the Governor and Chancellor in the management of this intrigue but that some of the Earls Friends began to smell a Rat and advised him not to go to Edenburg But finding him quite averse to Counsel and void of all suspicion they urged him to send his Brother David back to the End he might not hazard the whole Family under the fortune of one stroke as his Father had before admonished him upon his Death-Bed But all in vain and so to Edenburg Castle they came where the Governor meets him and Carressed him highly and because he should now think his Entertainment every ways suitable to the semblance made of it all along he was set to Dine at the King's Table but latet Angus in herba the Earl before he hâ—d well half Din'd was strangely surprized with the sight of a Bulls Head set before him which in those Days was a certain sign of Death whereat being about to rise from the Table he and his Brother David were immediately seized by Armed men set there for that purpose carried into the Court yard and there forthwith beheaded It was said the King in whose presence this was done and who now was entring into years of Maturity and Discretion lamented his Death bitterly for which the Chancellor severely rebuked him but however it was in this case it 's most certain he afterwards most barbarously murdered one of this Earls Successors with his own hands as you 'l see by and by This Earl of Dowglass was Succeeded in his Estate and Honours by his Unkle James Dowglass Baron of Abercorn who is Succeeded by his Son William who to prevent the division of the Inheritance Married the only Sister of the last William Beheaded who was Stiled the fair Maid of Gallaway This Earl flourishing in Estate and Honours and finding the King take the Administration of the Government upon himself came to Sterling and in a short time grew into high Favour with him insomuch that through his perswasion the Chancellor and Governor were not only discharged from their Offices but put out of the Council and their Friends banished the Court and themselves Summoned to appear before the King and upon default proclaimed Rebels so that now the Tables are quite turn'd Dowglass Rules all and the King suffers minority under him in his Just Age as he really did under the others during his nonage himself and his Kindred and Friends possessing all places of profit and Preferment in the Kingdom But the Earl having I know not what crochet in his brain must needs go into Italy and a Noble retinue he had with him but leaves his Estate during his absence to be managed by his Brother the Earl of Ormond His back was no sooner turned but his Enemies set all their Engines on work to put him out of the Kings Favour and good Esteem and prevailed so far upon him as to put out an unreasonable Summons requiring the Earl to appear within forty Days or else he should be put to the Horn and so his Lands were seized on to the Kings hands The Earl being advertised hereof returns with all speed and was again received into Favour But happening to go into England without leave this incensed the King highly against him yet upon submission was again reconciled But there was nothing could reconcile him and the Chancellor Creichton envy brought them to make attempts upon each other's life and at last the Earl
Sycophant or other that his kindred laid in wait for his life and that he was in great danger which agreeing with the sayings of the Witches which he had Consulted and who had told him that the Lyon should be devoured by his Whelps it made very deep impressions upon his suspicions mind and so from a Prince at first very hopefull and of great expeâ—â—ation degenerated to a Monstrous Tyrant So that now these suspicions having once possession of his mind from henceforth he looked upon his neer Relations and almost all the best of the Nobility as his Enemies The Nobility on the other hand finding none preferred by the K. but Men of base degree were not a little disatisfied and began to alienate their Affections from him wherefore they met together upon this occasion to concert measures how they might purge the Court of those abject Fellows and reduce it to its former State of Grandeur The principal of this Assembly were the Kings two Brothers Alexander and John the latter whereof having discoursed of the Irregularities and the present State of that Kingdom somewhat frankly and liberally and with less Caution than the rest he was suddenly taken by night in his own House by the Court Faction and conveyed to a place called Crâ—gmiller and there Imprisoned by the King's order and not long after by the same Courtly Crew was adjudged to Die and Executed accordingly in the Cannon Gate by cutting his Veins and letting him bleed to Death And as they had thus barbarously murdered his Person they proceeded also to murder the Earls fame for they gave out that his Crime was that he had had Secret Consultation with Witches about destroying the King and to put as good a Colour as they could upon this unnatural Act tho' it were by heaping up iniquity upon iniquity they brought several other Witches and Sorcerers to their Tryal for the said Fact and burnt them at Edenburg for the same So that here is one of the three Brothers dispatch'd you 'll here of the rest by and by Alexander the other Brother and Duke of Albany tho he had neither acted nor said any thing that might Justly disgust either the King or Courtiers that were about him yet as he was next of Kin so it seems he was next in danger for these Blood-suckers mistrusting with themselves that they could ne'er be safe as long as he was alive got him suddenly seized and sent Prisoner to Edenburg Castle He was kept close there by such as did believe his power might be Fatal to them and finding there was no way by his Friends for to pacify the Kings displeasure he had nothing to do now but to consider how he might make his escape he had none to communicate his design to or to further him in it but one only Servant of his own that was left to be with him in his Chamber him he sent to get a Ship ready to attend him at the next Part at the time appointed which he does effectually In the mean time his persecutors to Plague him the more with their delusions sent several Messengers from the Court who feigned in the presence of his Keepers for he was not allowed to talk with any privately that the King's Anger began to be pacified and that he might shortly hope for his Liberty but when the day appointed for his escape was come he puts as good a meen as possible he could upon the matter and begins to feign a belief in what the Messengers said in Favour of him and Questioned not but to have a speedy and honourable deliverance And to further the Design treats his Keepers with a splendid Supper and Drinks with them till it was late at night but when they were gone and fast asleep he falls to work and makes a Rope of the Sheets of his Bed long enough as he thought to reach the ground and first for to make a Tryal therof le ts down his Man by it by whole fall he finds it was shorter then it should have been Having therefore lengthened the Rope as much as the present Circumstance would admit he follows his Man who in his descent had broke his Leg takes him up upon his back and carries him about a mile to the Sea-side and having got a Favourable Wind set sail for Dumbarton and from thence having first well secured the Castle he sailed into France The Duke was honourably received in France and Married the Earl of Bologn's Daughter but upon the Death of his Wife who lived not long with him finding Affections cool towards him he goes over into England and was entertained by Edward IIII. then King of England who assisted him with an Army to invade Scotland under the Command of his Brother Richard Duke of Gloucester King James makes all the Force he could to oppose them but being Governed by his former Councells the Nobility took it in high disdain and therefore they met together in the Church of Lowder where the King and his Army then were to deliberate what they should do in such a conjuncture Where Archibald Dowglass Earl of Angus takes upon him to set forth the occasion of their meeting which he did in a very pathetick Speech and shew'd at large all the enormities of the King's Reign down to the present time the danger they then stood in from a Foreign Army and therefore exhorts them first to shake of the Domestick Yoke of servitude they were under before they Engaged with the Enemy c. this Oration wrought so effectually upon their minds that they were immediately ready to run in headlong into the Pallace without any Consideration of what they were to do But the principal Men amongst them appeasing the tumult advised that a sufficient number should only enter in without any shew of Commotion and take out the Criminals lead them to Judgment and Punish them according to Law In the mean time while these things were in Agitation comes a Rumour into the Court that the Nobles held a Consultation together before day in the Church the subject whereof was uncertain but that it must be strange that such Men should Assemble together without the King and his Councellors Knowledge The King hereupon being hastily awaken out of his sleep enquires of those about him what he had best to do in the mean time he sends Cockram before to observe what was done and to give him an Account of all with speed he with a few followers goes towards the Church and meets the cheif of the Nobility advancing towards the Court whom they no sooner espied but Dowglass laid hands on him and catching hold of a large Gold Chain he had about his neck squeezed him first a little and then sends him to Prison himself with the rest going directly to the King's Bed-Chamber Where when they came they filled all with Astonishment so as that there seemed to be a little pause upon the matter for the present but it was not
seeing his Enemies were unprepared of all things necessary for a Siege That his Fleet also which he had prepared to be an help to him at all adventures might be at hand This advice did indeed seem to be sound and real and had been safe enough in all probability in the event had it not been that the Governour of the Castle being corrupted by the opposite Faction excluded him from admittance And now all things conspire to his ruin for the Lords were now at his heels that he could not possibly retire to the Castle of Edenburg again and the Forces raised by the Earls of Huntley Errol Athol and diverse other Noblemen who stuck to him and which they said amounted to the number of Forty Thousand Men being not yet come up he would not stay for them and so with those Forces he had with him hazards a Battle The Battle was at first very fierce and the first Wing of the Nobâ—es Army gave way but the Annandalians and their Neighbours who inhabite the Western parts of Scotland press hard upon the Kings Forces and with their huge Spears much longer than their Adversaries quickly broke the King's main Body who finding now it was in vain to stand it and being injured with the fall of his Horse retires to a Mill that was not far off from the place of Battle with a design as was thought to get aboard his Ships which were not far off where being taken with a few more he was slain It 's not fully agreed who killed him but pursued he was to the foresaid place by Patrick Grey Sterling Keiry and a Priest whose name was Borthick and who it was said being asked by the King for a Confessor roughly replied That though he was no good Priest yet he was a good Leech and with that stab'd him to the Heart And here you see how contemptible the Majesty of a Prince is that is sullied with degenerous actions and there was this further ignominy affixed to his Death That it was enacted in the next Sessions of Parliament that he Justly suffered and strictly forbidden that any who had bore Arms against him or thier descendants should be upbraided therewith Young he was being about 35 years when he died and of them had Reigned near Twenty Eight in the year of our Lord 1488. The Son who had headed this Army is now advanced to the Father's Throne and known by the name of James the IV. being then about Sixteen years of Age. Wood who Commanded the Ships before mentioned was with great difficulty brought to submit and did afterward this King great Service who it seems had some remorse for his contributing so much to his Fathers Death for in token thereof he wore continually an Iron Chain about his middle all the days of his life made frequent visits to Religious places c. all which methinks seems to have been put upon him by some crafty Priest tho Historians are silent in that particular but he had hardly been warm in his Throne when those Nobles that were of his Father's Party sent their Emissaries to all the parts of the Kingdom and exhort one another not to endure the present state of things That so many brave Men should not suffer such publick paricides who had murdred one King and kept the other in servitude so proudly to illude them and to charge them with being guilty of High-Treason who fought for the King's defence and safety but that they should arrogate to themselves who were violators of all Divine and Humane Laws the title of being defenders of the Honour and Dignity of the Commonwealth and preservers of their Country in whose hands the King himself was not free as being enforced first to take up Arms against his Father and King and having wickedly slain him to prosecute his Father's Friends and such ns engaged in his defence by an unjust and Cruel War that was intollerable When many things of this nature had been bandyed about amongst the Common People Alexander Forbes to excite in them a greater hatred towards the present Administration caused the dead King 's bloody Shirt to be hung up on a long Pole and exposed publickly at Aberdeen and other places where there was great concourse of People This being as it were a publick Edict to stir up all Men to revenge so foul a Deed. Nay many of them who had engaged with them actually in the slaughter finding that all things did not go as they would have it now joyned with these Malecontents And as things were transacted in these parts about Aberdeen much to the new King's prejudice Matthew Stewart Earl of Levins a popular and potent Man in his Country summons all such as he had influence over this side the Forth to come to him and having raised a good body of Men finding he could not make his way over Sterling Bridge which was guarded by the Royalists he hastens towards a Ford not far from the River-head at the foot of Mount Grampias with a design to joyn with his Friends in those parts Now when John Drummond had notice hereof by Alexander Mac Alpin his Tenant and who had joyned the Enemy and found plainly that all things were so careless and secure in the Enemies Camp that they dispearsed themselves up and down as every one pleased and had no Centry nor Scouts and destitute of all Military Order and Discipline he immediately with the Courtiers and a few Voluntiers he had with him sets upon them un-a-wares and in a manner all asleep which was in too many of them continued by Death the rest unarm'd run back headlong from whence they came and many were made Prisoners but some known Friends and Acquaintance were let go they were severe only upon such as wrote or spoke very contumeliously of the Government and so this storm blew over and not long after a Parliament was called wherein past a general Act of Indemnity so that now nothing was expected here but Halcyon Days but a Storm quickly arose which terribly shook not only this but the Kingdom of England also by one Perkin Warbeck's pretending himself to be Richard Duke of York and second Son to King Edward IV. and so to have an undoubted Right to the Crown of England He came over from France into Scotland and possest this King so far with a belief of his Right and the Justice of his Cause that he not only gave him the Lady Margaret the Earl of Huntley's Daughter for a Wife but also raised an Army to defend his Cause which took up some Years of his Reign little enough to his or the Kingdoms Commodity and Advantage At last a Truce for some Years was agreed on between him and the King of England and the Consequence of that was first orders for Perkin of whom you may read at large in my Lord Bacon's History of Henry VII to depart the Realm of Scotland then a Marriage between King James and the Lady Margaret
before the Army which so distasted all of them and especially the Lord Maxwell that all things were presently in a Confusion and the Army ready to disband The opportunity of an adjoining Hill gave the English a full prospect into their Army and invited them to make advantage thereof and so they fell upon the Scots with a furious charge quickly routed them slew a great number of them and took abundance of prisoners among whom Sinclair their General made one The News of this defeat was no sooner brought to the King who was not far off but he fell into a great rage and fury which terminated in sadness and heavy grief of heart as Robert II. his great Ancestor did upon the taking of his Son James by the English and this brought him to watch and be abstemious disdaining to eat his Victuals And coming to understand that the Country was full of murmurings that the Kingdom should be thus endangered for the Prelates pleasure and knowing withal that such Complaints were Just and True this made him burst out with some threatning and revengeful language against such as had given him such bad advice and so hastned his untimely Death For those evil Councellors had no sooner understood what he said but they considered the danger they might be in if he should survive and fearing the Effects of his displeasure they poisoned him having learnt the Art in Italy called an Italian Posit in the Three and Thirtieth year of his Age and two and Thirtieth of his Reign See Melvill's Memoirs Cardinal Beaton who t is supposed had a great hand in his Death counterfeited his will wherein himself and three more were appointed Governors of the Kingdom He left one only Daughter Mary that Succeeded him in his Kingdom and Misfortunes and was at her Fathers Death but eight Days old He never saw her and 't was said when he was informed of her Birth it did rather aggravate his sorrow then exhilarate his mind as foreseeing Scotland would one way or other fall under the Government of the English Nation The King cut thus off in the flower of his Age the tumults of the former times were rather hushed up then composed so that Wise men foresaw such a tempest impending over Scotland as they had neither ever heard before in the ancient records of time nor had themselves seen the like For what from private animosities and dissension upon the score of Religion and from a War from aboard with a puissant King now enraged with the Scots prevaricating with him there was reasonably to be hoped for little less then an utter desolation However something must be done and the Cardinal according to his Develish subornation takes the Administration into his hands but James Hamilton Earl of Arran being presumptive Heir to the Crown and his friends as well as many others disdaining to be under the bondage of a Mercenary Priest they encouraged him to assume the Regency which the return of the Prisoners taken in the last Battle by the English who were released by the King of England with the hopes and upon promise of procuring their young Queen to be married to Prince Edward and thereby to have the two Crowns United did not a little promote so that the Cardinals forgery being in a little time detected he was casheered and his Kinsman Arran substituted in his room Not long after came Sir Ralph Sadler Ambassador from King Henry into Scotland to treat about the foresaid Match but the Cardinal and his faction raise forty colourable pretences to affront him and elude his Message and to fortify themselves as much as might be sent for Mathew Stuart Earl of Lennox out of France by whose Interest they thought to ballance that of the Hamiltons But soon after his arrival finding the Regent and Cardinal had joined Interests and that himself was eluded in respect to the promise made him of Marrying the Queen Dowager and having the chief management of affairs and withal mis-representing his proceeding to the French King he has recourse to Arms But not finding himself to have Force sufficient to cope with the Regent with the additional Interest of the Queen and Cardinal he makes some sort of Accommodation with them But at last experimenting there was but little sincerity in all their Actions and that himself was opprest and in danger of his life every moment he made some faint resistance and in the end withdrew into England where he was Honourably received by the King who besides his other respects gave him Margaret Dowglass in Marriage who was Sister by the Mother side to James V. last King of Scotland begot by the Earl of Angus upon Margaret Sister to Henry VIII from which Marriage sprâ—ng Henry Stuart Lord Darnley Husband to Mary Queen of Scots and Father to James VI. of Scotland and I. of England of whom more here after The King of England in the mean time being highly affronted with the Scots violating of their faith with him in respect to the Marriage resolves to call them to a severe account for their perfidity and to that End invades their Country with a puissant Army commits great ravages and even Pillaged and Burnt Edenburg it self and then retreated The Scots with the assistance of the French whose Alliance they had preferred before that of the King of England endeavoured to retrieve the loss by the Invasion of the English Bordirs but made little of the matter So â—hat things for a time seemed to hang in â—uspence between both Nations and the Cardinal with his cut-throat Ecclesiasticks had leasure to prosecute those that espouesd the Reformation and because the Civil power would not meddle with the matter they take the whole into their own hands And among others put to Death one George Wiseheart burning him for an Heretick and who when the Governor who stood by exhorted him to be of good cheer and ask Pardon of God for his offences He replied This flame occasions trouble in deed to my body but it hath in no wise broken my spirit but he who now proudly looks down upon me from yonder lofty place pointing to the Cardinal shall e're long be as ignominiously thrown down as now he proudly â—ies at his ease Which strangely came to pass and which because of the Tragicalness of the Story we think will not be impertinent to insert in this place The Cardinal being on a time at St. Andrew's and having appointed a day for the Nobility and especially those whose Estates lay nearest the Sea to Meet and Consult what was fit to be done for the common safety for their Coasts were severely threatned by the great Naval preparations of the English made against them He determined for the more effectual Execution of his Design to take a strict view of all the Sea-Coasts to Fortify all Convenient Places and to put Garrisons into them Among the rest of the Noble Men Sons who came into the Cardinal Norman Lesley Son to the
Consent they do Pronounce and Declare this judicial Verdict and say that after the end of the said Parliament specified in the Commission viz. After the first of June in the Seven and twentieth year of the Queen divers Matters were compassed and imagined in England by Anthony Babington and others with the Privity of Mary Queen of Scots pretending Title to the Crown of England tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royal Person of our Sovereign Lady the Queen and furthermore that after the said Day and Year and before the Date of our Commission the said Mary hath compassed and imagined in this Kingdom of England divers Matters tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royal Person of our said Sovereign against the Form of the Statute specified in the said Commission Soon after a Parliament was called wherein the House of Peers by the Chancellor petitioned the Queen that the Sentence might be promulgated and withal besought Her Majesty for the Safety of Her Person and Kingdoms to execute Justice on the Queen of Scots the Queen in her Answer shewed a great reluctancy to cut her off but concluded with Her Thanks for their Care and Advice but in a case of so great consequence said She would not be rash but consider and some Twelve days after desir'd the Parliament to consult some other way of Safety and to spare the Queen of Scots but they persisted in their former Advice so that some time after the Sentence was proclaimed throughout London and all the Kingdom King James upon the news sends one Kieth to Queen Elisabeth to intercede on his Mothers behalf and after him came the Master of Gray and Sir Robert Melvill to whom She said She was sorry no way could be found out to Save their King's Mother and secure her own Life they offer Pledges of the Scots Nobility for Her Security and wondred what should move any Man to attempt any thing against Her Majesty for Queen Mary's sake because said Queen Elisabeth they think She shall succeed me and She a Papist they to salve this Proposed that the Right of Succession might be made over in King James's Person and this would cut off the hopes of the Papists and they were sure Queen Mary would readily resign all her Right to Her Son but Queen Elisabeth urged She had no Right being Declar'd uncapable of Succession tho' the Papists would not allow her Declaration and this brought them again to press the Resignation but the Earl of Liecester who stood by objected that Queen Mary being a prisoner she could not deny 't the Scots Answer That it being made to her Son with the Advice of all her Friends in Europe in case Queen Elisabeth should miscarry none will partake with the Mother against her Son c. Here the Queen misunderstanding the Ambassador's meaning was told that the King would be in his Mother's Place Say you so said she 'Sdeath that were to cut my own Throat he shall ne'r come to that place and be Party with me and added Well tell your King what I have done for him to keep the Crown on his Head since he was Born and for my part I shall keep the League betwixt us and if he break it it shall be a double Fault and in passion got away Melvill followed her praying respite of Execution not an Hour said she and so they parted Some time after she Signed a Warrant for a Mandate fitted for the Great Seal for her Execution and entrusted the same with Davidson one of her Secretaries to be in a readiness in case of danger but he too hastily got it to pass the Seal which some said she would afterwards have recalled but was prevented by the earnest prosecution of Beal Clerk of the Council who was sent by them to the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent Derby and Cumberland to take care of her Execution unknown to the Queen for it was said that she should tell Davidson at that instant that she was resolved of another way then by death the Earls arriving at Fotheringham Castle in Northamptonshire where she was detained gave her notice on Monday Feb. 6. 1586. to prepare for Death the Wednesday next following but one when the fatal day came she was cloathed in Black had an Agnus Dei about her Neck a pair of Beads at her Girdle with a Golden Cross at the end of them and so passed through the Hall and mounted the Scaffold raised Two Foot high and Twelve broad Railed about with a low Stool a Cushion and a Block all covered with Black being set down the Lords and the Sheriffs of the County stood on her Right Hand Sir Annias Paulet and Drewry on her Left the two Executioners one the Common Hangman of London and the other of the County standing before her and the Knights and Gentlemen placed round about without the Rail Silence being made the Clerk of the Council having read the Commission for her Execution the People shouted and cryed God Save our Queen then Dr. Fletcher Dean of Peterborough standing before her gave her several Godly Exhortations as preparatory for her Death but she little regarded him and at last interrupted him saying he needed not trouble himself that she was a Roman Catholick and so forth then the Earls offered to join in Prayer with her that she might be enlightned in the true Faith but that she refused to do saying she would use her own Devotions then they required the Dean to Pray who did it with an audible Voice the Queen all the while sitting on her Stool with a Latin Prayer Book in her Hand a Crucifix and a pair of Beads and not minding what he said when the Dean had done the Queen with her own People all in Tears Prayed aloud in Latin and concluded her self with an English Prayer professing to be Saved by Christ's Blood and thereupon kissed the Crucifix then her Women begun to undress her and one of the Executioners taking from her Neck the Agnus Dei tyed behind the Queen laid hold on it gave it to her Women saying he should have Money but she suffered them and her Women to take off her Chain and Apparrel in some haste always smiling and put off her strait Sleeves with her own Hands hindring the Fellow who rudely offer'd at it to do it and now being in her Petticoat and Kirtle prepared for Death she crossed and kissed her Women who were lamentably skreeking and crying and crossed also her Men-Servants who stood without the Rails and then kneeled upon her Cushion saying in Latin the whole Psalm In te Domine confido ne eoufundas in aeternum and groping for the Block laid down her Head putting her Chin over the Block with both her Hands and held them there which might have been cut off with her Head had they not been timely espyed being thus fixed while one of the Executioners gently held her down the other with two stroaks with the Axe
all his days they framed an Accusation against Morton and got him committed to Edinburgh Castle from whence in a short time he was brought to his Tryal and Condemned for having an hand in the Lord Darnley the King's Father's Murder that he was privy to the same he did not deny at his Execution and withall confessed that he had a design to send the young King into England for his Safety and so there 's another Governor gone who was the fourth and last and every one whereof died a violent Death and now the King assumes the Government himself and if he was unhappy during the time of the Regency I think it will appear it was no better with him ever after for he himself was as much governed now by his Favourites and Sycophants as the Kingdom had been by a Regent and the first into whose Hands he fell was Aubonie now Created Duke of Lennox and a Papist and the aforesaid James Steward who assumed to himself the Style and Title and then the Earldom of Arran These two led him by the Nose at their Pleasure and carried all things with an high Hand lording it over the rest of the Nobility and aiming at their Estates which made them begin to look about them and concluding after serious Consultation that from two such Counsellors no wholsome Advice could proceed for the Peace of the Country and Establishment of Religion but rather if they were suffered to go on still both the one and the other would be endangered they resolve to remove them The King was at that time designing to go from Athol to Dumfermling to take his usual Divertisement of Hunting where the Lords designed to encounter him with a supplication full of Complaints against the Duke and Earl with pressing Instances for the removing of them and least their supplication should miscarry they backt it with strong Forces which could not be resisted The King had but a very few attendance at Dumfermling for Lennox staid at Dalkeith and Arran at Kinweel and several of the Council were gone to hold the Assizes in divers Shires of the Country Sir James Melvill was at Edenburgh whither a Gentleman one morning came to his Bed-side and told him that he had formerly done him several kindnesses which till then he was never able to recompence but that now he would make him an Instrument of saving the King his Master out of the Hands of those who were upon an enterprise to take and secure him Melvill replied he could hardly believe such a thing but that he feared the Duke of Lennox might be in danger who was gone to Glasgow because of the Hatred that was bore to him by the Nobility The Gentleman subjoyned they will lay hands first on the King's Person and then the Duke and Earl of Arran dare no more be seen their insolency being looked upon as the Cause of almost all the Disorders of the Nation and when he had so said he desired the King might be acquainted with the matter but to have his Name concealed from him for he said that design would be put in execution in ten days time and as Sir James started up to put on his Cloaths he slipt out at the door with a short farewell Sir James upon this Information rides with all the expedition imaginable to Dalkeith where the Duke of Lennox then was and laid the whole matter open before him and advised him withal to lose no time but to Ride to the King to give him notice that he might make timely provision for his own security but the Duke chose rather to dispatch a Gentleman with all possible diligence to the King upon that Occasion and wished Sir James to write to the Earl of Gaury about the same for it seems the Gentleman that gave him the first Information of the Plot had not named Gaury with the rest of the Lords to him either out of forgetfulness or else because he had been but lately won over to the Party by the Land of Drumwhafel who had assured him that Lennox had resolved to kill him whereever he met him and used this as a convincing argument to Embark the Earl in the same Cause but however matters fell out the Lords receded from their first Resolution of presenting their supplication as aforesaid and would not tarry 〈◊〉 the King came to Dumferling but they surprised him at Huntingtown-House which was the Earl of Gaury's its uncertain whether it were not done with a design to imbark the Earl more deeply in their Bond or that fearing least the design was discovered they made the greater haste to execute the same by seising the King there which was afterward called the Road of Ruthven The King is once more a Prisoner and the Lords conduct him to Sterling-Castle where he is kept for a time In the mean while the French King and Queen Elizabeth by their Ambassadors make Instances for his Liberty and Condole his Misfortune but so hen-hearted was he that he ordered their Ambassadors to declare to their respective Princes that he was well satisfied with the Lords that were about him that they were his own Subjects c. and when the Lords called a Council to resolve what course to take he agreed with them to form an Act declaring That what they had done was good service to himself the Kirk and Commonwealth though Mr. Carey who I think was afterward Created Earl of Monmouth whispered him in the Ear and desired him to tell the plain Truth which he engaged to conceal from all others whatsoever and only acquaint the Queen his Mistress therewith he told him his Heart was full fraught with Grief and Displeasure at his Misfortune The Lords having thus effected their purpose as having now rid the Court of the Duke of Lennox who fled into France and the Earl of Arran whom they committed to the Custody of the Earl of Gaury most of them withdrew from the Court to their respective homes whereupon the King retaining a displeasure still in his Heart towards them takes occasion to appoint a Convention to be held at St. Andrews whereunto by Missive Letters he invited some of the Nobility but none of the Lords that had lately left him designing thereby to get loose out of their Hands and to retain about him such Lords as he had written for and notwithstanding some about him endeavoured to divert him from the said Resolution alledging the fresh Jealousie that would be Created in the absent Lords by such a procedure and with all the Power they had to be revenged of the conceived affront he rejected the advice wherefore for the better management of his design it was thought expedient that he should go a few days to St. Andrews before the Convention was to meet that being once there a Proclamation might be issued out to forbid any Nobleman whatsoever to come to the said Convention without express Orders from the King so to do and to this end it was
Queen of Scots that his Son William was Created Earl of Gowry in King James's Minority and two years after fell into actual Rebellion at Dundee for which he was Beheaded at Sterlin in 1584. but Sir James Melvill who had as good an opportunity to know this Affair as any man says The Earl of Gowry was related to the King in high Favour and by the villanous Contrivance of a Court Faction cut off for little or no fault and seems to censure his hard Fate and not to excuse the King himself in his proceedings against him The Earl's Eldest Son named John was not long after restored in Blood and had leave to Travel and Sanderson said he had a Manuscript containing that the Earl at Padua caused an Hand and Sword aiming at a Crown to be used for his Device and that the Earl of Argyle acquainted King James that he found a Prophesie at an House in Orleans in France where the Earl of Gowry had had Lodgings that he should with too much love fall into Melancholly have great Power and Rule and Die by the Sword After his return that he carried himself very Haughtily and being too big for Court observance retired to his Family leaving his Brother Alexander who was made Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber to play the Courtier and Cloak the Design and thus according to Sanderson's Relation was the Conspiracy formed The Earl sent his Brother Alexander from St. Johnstown where he lived to the King at Faulkland to entice him to come thither with as much Privacy as could be and commands one of his Servants Andrew Henderson by Name to go with his Brother and one Andrew Ruthwen to the Court which they in the morning did being the 5th of August 1600. and as the King was putting his Foot into the Stirrup to go a Hunting Alexander informed him that he had apprehended one lately come from beyond Seas with much Gold about him and several suspicious Letters to some Popish Lords advising his Majesty to receive the Money and the Letters and to examine the Person who was in safe Custody at his Brother the Earl's House but ten miles of and this with as much speed and privacy as could be to which the King assents and that he would go at Noon while his Attendants were at Dinner Alexander hereupon dispatched Henderson to give the Earl notice that the King would be there about Noon and that the Business took so well with him that he had clipt him about the Neck that he had but a slender Retinue as the Duke of Lennox Sir Thomas Erskin and about a Dozen more Well said the Earl Get on your Plate Sleeves for I must take an Highland Robber The King staying at his sport of Hunting somewhat longer than was expected the Earl had half Dined when Andrew Ruthen aforesaid came in haste and acquainted him the King was hard by and presently after came in Alexander and Bloire who withdrew to consult and sent Henderson for the Earls Gauntlet and Steel Bonnet the King quickly followed and was received by the Earl who conducted him into Dinner In the mean time Alexander bids Henderson fetch the Keys of the Chambers from one Rynd and presently after one Crâ—uston calls Henderson to come to the Earl who commanded him to do whatever his Brother Alexander should bid him which was to be locked up in the round Chamber and to stay there silently till his return When the Dinner was near over and the King eating some Fruit and the Lords and other Attendants gone to eat Alexander begs of him to make use of that opportunity and withdraw to dispatch the Business and up he leads him through four or five Rooms locking every Door as he passed behind him until they came to the round Chamber where Henderson stood armed They were no sooner entred but Alexander pulls out Henderson's Dagger held it to the King's Breast and said with a stern Countenance Now Sir you must know I had a Father whose Blood calls for Revenge and you must Die surely if this had been true the very fright must have killed King James but to proceed the King seeing his danger deals gently with his fury excuses himself from the guilt of his Death by his then Infancy advising him not to lay violent hands on the Sacred Person of his Sovereign pleading the Laws of God and Man and his Merits in Restoring his Brother to his Estate and Honours by Breeding his Sister the nearest in the Queen's Affections and by his Reception of himself to be of his Bed-Chamber and withall promising Pardon for all that was past which so wrought upon Alexander for the present that he left the King in Henderson's Custody untill he returned back from his Brother having first taken an Oath of the King not to stir nor cry out and so locks them both in Alexander being gone Henderson in the mean time relented and swore he would not kill him but presently Alexander returns with a String in his Hand and said Sir There is no Remedy By God you must Die and so strives to Bind him Nay says the King I was Born free and will not be Bound and so struggling together Alexander got the King's Head under his Arm and clapped his Hand upon his Mouth which the King bit by the Thumb and dragging him to the Window bad Henderson open it where the King cryed out to the back Court Treason where the Duke of Lennox Earl of Mar and others were in pursuit of him it having been given out that he was gone the back way into the Park As soon as they knew it was the King they ran to the Chamber where he Dined but could find no entrance In the mean time John Ramsey Groom of the Bed-Chamber and Sir Thomas Erskin endeavoured to get up by the Turn-Pike back-stairs being directed thither by a Boy of the House who saw Alexander ascend that way and forcing one Door open found them panting Ramsey immediately draws his Fauchion and run Alexander in the Belly being bid to strike low for the King found him armed with a Coat of Mail and so with the assistance of Sir Thomas Erskin Doctor Herres and one Wilson quickly dispatched him whilst Henderson slipt out of the way but the danger was not yet over for perceiving by the noise of unlocking the Doors that the Earl himself was coming to assault them they advised the King to withdraw into the Lobby but first cast the King's Coat over the Dead Body which was no sooner done but the Earl enters by his double Keys attended with seven of his Servants the foreway and his Case of Rapiers and his usual Arms ready drawn to whom Erskin to divert him from his purpose earnestly said What do you mean my Lord the King is killed and points to his Brothers covered Body bleeding on the Floor at which Gowry stoops dropping the points of his Weapons when suddenly Herres assaulted him with his Sword and being
to run away with the prey from both of them The People of England were no more satisfied before with their imaginary happiness in the King's Restoration but they were now upon the ill management of Affairs the much Treasure that had been spent to so little purpose and more especially upon our Conjunction with the French to the manifest hazard of the Protestant Religion as well as the Civil Rights of Europe as much uneasie and suspitious of the Court-proceedings And it did not a little incense them that the French made such a Progress in Flanders and got all by Land while we got nothing but Blows at Sea and therefore the House of Commons on the 31. of October 1673. Voted that considering the present State of the Natition they would not take into further Consideration any Aids or Charges upon the Subject except it did appear that the obstinacy of the Dutch did render it necessary nor before the Kingdom should be effectually secured from Popery and Popish Counsels and other Grievances redressed which procedure thunder-struck the King and his Frenchified Council so as that a Peace with the Dutch was quickly huddled up and so he then set up for a Mediator of Peace between the rest and the Treaty spun out to a very great length at Nimeguen and was at last concluded after some years Conferences without King Charles consent by Beverning the Dutch Agent which spared him a labour of entring into an actual War with Franee as the Parliament would have had him and to which he was as unwilling as he had been before forward in his engaging against the Dutch a Protestant State The remainder of his succeeding Reign was as uneasie to himself and to the Nation upon the account first of the Popish Plot the many endeavours to stiffle it the Bill of Exclusion and the Division of the Nation into Whig and Torry hereupon then that called the Presbyterian Plot both Plots they said against his life which if true he was the more unhappy for which last the Noble Lord Russel suffered and the Great Earl of Essex had his Throat Barbarously cut in the Tower of London the King's Prison and King Charles had the unhappiness to be there that day where he had not been hardly in twenty years before And last of all the forfeiture and seizure of Charters which tho carried on with great fury in his Reign that thereby he might have a Parliament of his own choosing as Cromwell had and so do what he pleased yet he did not live to compleat his designs Tho' the Censures upon the manner of his Death are various yet most are agreed says the Author of the Introduction to King Charles II. Character there was some fraud in it some ascribing it to the intreagues of France who as they Undid his Father by a Wife Ruined the Son by a Mistress and therefore alleadge that the French King being weary of feeding him with Pensions and dreading his natural Parts if upon any disgust he should come to unite with his Parliaments against France he thought it his Interest to take him off and make way for a Successor who as he made open profession of his own Religion would be more pliable to his dictates Then as touching the method of effecting it they say that the Dutchess of P. who bewitched him with her Amours and had not only drained the substance of his Body but likewise the substance of his Purse either of which being once accomplished the Love of a St â—t to her Paramour vanishes so that having a mind to change Gallants or seeing no more hopes of former advantages she gave him such Provocatives as made him act beyond his natural Strength and threw him into those Apoplectick Fits which carryed him off There are others who ascribe his Death to the Romish Faction who being angry at his having so often deceived them and impatient till they came to a tryal of skill for establishing their Religion while Lewis XIV was in the height of his Power and Glory did therefore administer the fatal Dose which sent King Charles II. a Packing and brought his Brother to the Throne under whose auspicious Conduct they made no question of restoring the Church of Rome to the full possession of all she had formerly enjoy'd in these three Kingdoms It 's certain there were some accidents fell out some time before the King's Death that raised some Jealousy in the breast of the Romanists who thought by that he would upon the presenting of the first opportunity face about as they found by experience he had more then once done and fall in with the Interest of a Party he now for some years by their instigation had been endeavouring to destroy and root out of the World And what rendred their suspitions of him the more incurable was that a Pamphlet having been spread abroad a little before Christmas 1684. setting forth that the Earl of Essex had not cut his own Throat but had been Murdered by Russians set on by the Papists c. the King upon the hearing of it should say Well I am resolved to examine Essex's Cause once more And that he might meet with no obstruction in the way he ordered the Duke his Brother to prepare to go for Scotland which the other whether smelling the design or that the train to blow the King up was already layd by him absolutely refused to do this occasioned high words between them insomuch that the late M. of H. who was well known to be a great favourite coming on the Sunday before the King Dyed to wait upon him after Evening Service he found him in his Closet alone under great concern of Mind puffing after a more then ordinary rate and looking pensive with his Face towards the ground which the M. observing made him stand still till the King looking up asked hastily How now my Lord How do you do to which the M. answering the better to see his Majesty well and soforth the King returned again to his former posture but at length broke forth into these Words My Lord will you be ingenious with we and answer me one question to which the Marquess replying he would if he could Then said the King I charge you upon your Alleagiance to tell me how I stand affected with the People of England The M. after some pause answered Sir you have been always ranked among the mercifull and Clement Princes and have given evident Testimonies of your being so upon various occasions but I must tell your Majesty that of late your Government has been somewhat uneasy to your People Well said the King one thing I am resolved on I 'll once more throw my self upon the People of England and to that end will go this week into the City and I 'le call a Parliament at the Guild-Hall the M. was somewhat surprized at these words and said Sir If that be your Resolution I pray God to bless it but let me beg of
your Majesty never to let it go out of your own Breast any further tilâ— you put it in Execution Which when the King had promised to do they parted The King that night supped at P. Lodgings where he seemed to be very merry and in the close drunk a Dish of Chocolate prepared by a Wise Lady of which he complained again and again that it tasted hotter than ordinary but he sipped it off and thence went to his Rest Next morning which was Munday he was taken very Ill which no doubt was the effect of the last nights Entertainment however they might call his Distemper and so continued till the Fryday following in extream Misery and Anguish when he dyed most People suspecting he had foul Play And many that saw him during his Illness believing it to be so and particularly says the Author of his Character the most knowing and deserving of his Physitians Doctor Short did not only believe him Poysoned but thought himself so too not long after for having declared his opinion a little too boldly in the case And as the manner and contrivance of this King's Death was the work of Darkness so were his Funeral Obsequies for never any King who dyed possest of a Crown was so obscurely and contemptibly Buryed being hurryed in the dead of the Night to his Grave as if his Corps had been to be arrested for Debt and not so much as the Blew-Coat Boys to attend it King Charles was no sooner gone but James Duke of York his only surviving Brother ascends the English Throne by the style and Title of James II. And made open Profession immediately of the Popish Religion for which some in his Brother's Reign were severely punished for but saying he was such or so inclined and not only so but ordered his Brothers Dying in the Communion of the Church of Rome and before his Death his receiving his Viaticum and other Ceremonies of that Church and attested by Father Huddleston to be printed and also the Papers taken out of the King 's strong Box shewing That however he outwardly appeared otherwise in his Life yet in his Heart he was sincerely a true Roman Catholick He made profession in his Speech to the Council the day of his Brother's Death that he would preserve the Church and State of England as by Law Established and as he would never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so he would never invade any Man's Property but how ill he conformed himself hereunto is but too manifestly known to all the World For the very first Week he took both the Customs and the Excise granted only for his Brothers Life before they were given him by Parliament And for the Church I think no Man so Audacious as to deny the design of his whole tho' blessed be God short Reign was to overthrow it by the introduction of his own Monkish Religion in the room of it But if he was unhappy first in making such a Promise of adhering to both Church and State as then Established contrary no doubt to the designs he had framed before of Ruining them he was much more so in the methods he took to bring his ends about which Terminated at last in a fatal Abdication yet so as that he remains to this day naturally alive to be a living Monument and confessor of his own egregious folly And the loss of the Button of his Scepter that day he was Crowned which as far as I could hear was never found was I remember then Interpreted by some as a presage of no lasting connection between him and the Nation His petty success against the D. of Monmouth and his Adherents did not a little elate his spirits which gave him an opportunity to keep a standing Army and put such Officers into it as were of his own stamp and so being backt with this Armed Power he proceeds bare-fac'd to dispence with the Laws by granting Liberty of Conscience to all that dissented from the Church of England thinking hereby and by a timely regulating of Corporations to gain such a Parliament as would quite repeal them And that in the mean time he might curb the Church and the Universities he puts his High Commission upon their Backs thinking by it to worry them into a compliance And because my Lord of London would not comply with his Arbitrary Proceedings Jeffery's with this Popish Bull I mean the High Commission roared him into a Suspension And because the Fellows of Magdalen-Colledge would not contrary to their Statutes and Oaths choose a President to the King's mind he first entertained them with a Dish of Billingsgate and then by virtue of the same Commission sent them a Grazing into the Countries to make room for his own Popish Seminaries and Cut-throat Jesuits But among all the actions of this King 's Diminitive reign That of sending the Bishops to the Tower not for refusing to take care to have the Declaration of Indulgence read in their respective Diocesses but for Petitioning of him in a regular and dutiful manner wherein they gave their Reasons why they could not comply with his order together with an Introduction of a Prince of Wales into the World as a new Miracle to the Legend the next day after their Commitment was the rashest most inconsiderate and madest thing he could be guilty of Surely when he did this he wanted some body to pray over the Poets wish for him Dii te damasippe Deaeque Donent Tonsore For it was most apparent by the Universal Joy expressed throughout the Nation at their Acquitment how they resented their Commitment and Trial And if the King did before decline in the affection of the People day by day I may truly say this was a concluding act and lost him England For now all the Eyes of the People are turned from him towards Holland where the Prince of Orange was Arming to come to their relief The King would not at first believe that the vast Preparations in Holland concerned him tho the French King had given him notice of them the 26. of August before but being at length convinced by the States Manifesto of the truth of the matter he undid in one day all that he had been doing since his first coming to the Crown as dissolving his Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs restoring the City of London to all its Ancient Franchises and Charters as fully as before the Quo Waranto and giving order for the resetling the Expelled Fellows of Maudlin Colledge in their places again He made also great Preparations both by Sea and Land for to defend himself but tho he be naturally still alive and he above knows who knows all things what his end may be yet all these Precautions and windings against the grain were so far from preventing that they did now but concur to precipitate his Civil death which we shall now briefly relate unto you The Prince of Orange having on November the Fifth Landed
and by But before her arrival in Scotland John Forbes a young Gentleman of a great Family was accused of a Design he had many years before to Assassinate the King It was believed to be a malitious prosecution of the Huntley's but Condemned he was and lost his head and a few Days after came on another Tryal which on the account of the Family of the accused Parties the Novelty of it and the heinousness of the punishment was very Lamentable and Tragical and plainly shews the Kings mind was cruel and implacable Joan Dowglass Sister to the Earl of Angus of whom we have said so much and Wife to John Lyons Lord of Glames also her Son and latter Husband Gilespy Campell John Lyons Kinsman to her former Husband and an old Priest were accused for endeavouring to poyson the King All these tho' they lived continually in the Country far from the Court and their Friends and Servants could not be brought to witness any thing against them yet were put on the rack to extort a Confession from them and so were Condemned and shut up in Edenburg Castle Joan Dowglass was burnt alive with great Commiseration of all the Spectators The Nobleness both of her self and Husband did much affect the beholders Besides she was in the vigour of her youth much celebrated for her rare Beauty and in her very punishment she shewed a manlike Fortitude But that which people were more concerned for was that they thought the enmity against her Brother who was banished did her more prejudice then her own objected Crime Her Husband endeavoured to escape out of the Castle of Edenburg but the Rope being too short to let him down to the foot of the Rock brake almost all the bones of his body with the fall and so ended his Days Their Son a young Man and of greater Innocent simplicity then to have the suspicion of such a wickedness justly charged upon him was for all that shut up a Prisoner in the Castle And the accuser of all these William Lyons by name afterwards perceiving that so eminent a Family was like to be utterly ruined by his false Information Repented when it was too late and confessed his offence to the King Yet so bloody was he an instance I think hardly to be parallelled in all the records of time that it did not prevent the Execution of the Condemned or hinder their Estates from being Confiscate and the aforesaid young Gentleman was not discharged from his Imprisonment and Restored to his Inheritance till after the King's Death which is now upon the Wing But as we have given you the Tragical part of his past life in all the Circumstances of them we shall depeint unto you all the concurrent causes of his Tragical and Untimely Death and to that End we are necessitated to recount some few things to you that in order of time precede and you must note That King Henry VIII having upon the account of his Divorce from Queen Katherine Proclaimed himself head of the Church and utterly disclaimed the Pope's Authority in England he thereby contracted great enmity not only from Rome but also from Spain and the Empire Wherefore to strengthen himself against any Combination that he expected to be made against him he was desirous to entertain a strict amity with his Nephew James V. of Scotland and to that End directs Ambassadors to him inviting him to a Conference at York whither Henry offered to come and meet him Alledging That by such an interview matters might be better concerted for the mutual Interest of both Kingdoms K. James after a serious Deliberation returns Answer he would attend his Unkle at the Time and Place appointed who thereupon made very great preparations to Entertain him with utmost solemnity But the Scotch Clergy apprehensive least their King through his Unkles Perswasions and Example might be wrought upon to shake off the Pope's Authority in Scotland as he had done in his own Dominions Resolve to do the utmost of their endeavours to prevent the intended interview and so mustering up all their Forces by themselves and the Kings minions and flatterers acquaint him with the evil Câ—nseâ—uence of his going to England shew how King James I. had been kept Prisoner in England how ill the French their old Confederates and the Emperor would take it at his hands That King Henry was excommunicate that a dangerous Heresy had overspread not only the greatest part of that Kingdom but had infected even the King himself That many of his own Nobility were favourers of the said Heresy which notwithstanding if he took care timously to suppress it would be of mighty advantage to him and he might very much increase his revenue by their Estates a list of whose names they presented to him which he put in his Pocket thinking it a very profitable proposal and therefore with all expedition to be put in Execution The Lord Grang his Treasurer and who secretly favoured the Reformation was then much in his favour and to him the King shews the foresaid List telling him what great advantage he would make of it whereat the Treasurer smiled and withall desired leave to speak his mind freely upon which the King drew his Sword and merily said to him I le kill thee if thou speak against my profit Then the Treasurer began to set before him at large the various troubles of his Reign while in minority and what an hand the Clergy had in all the disorders that he had not been long a free Prince And that though his Majesty had done very much in thâ— time in setling the Highlands and the Borders yet desired him to consider of what a dangerous consequence it might be if his Nobility should get intelligence that some greedy fetches had been insinuated to him under pretence of Heresie to dispoile them of their Lives and Inheritances And thereby endanger his own Estate at the instance of those whose Estates were in danger and who would hazard him and his to save their own I mean continued the Treasurer the Prelates who are afraid least your Majesty according to the Example of the King 's of England and Denmark and other Princes of the Empire should make the like Reformation among them and therefore they are clearly against your having any familiarity with the King of England or to have your Affairs so settled as to give you leisure to look into and reform the abuses of the Church Then he went on and shewed him how the Revenues of the Crown were wasted and the vast Estates of the Clergy their addictedness to the Pope their sly carriage in insinuating themselves into all secrets of State the wisdom of the Venetians in that particular in excluding the whole Levitical Order from their Senate-house the gross abuses of the Church of Rome the scandalous lives of the Scotch Clergy and last of all urged how dishonourable and dangerous it would be to his Majesty not to keep his word with