couch their own temerity for what could have been more honourable for the King than to have rased so many strong Holds wasted all with Fire and Sword and to carry away so great Booty that several Years Peace will not be able to reduce the Country to its former state And what greater benefit can we expect from the War than that amidst such clashing of Armor and noise of War we should enjoy Rest with Wealth and Glory to our greatest Praise and Commendation by refreshing our own Souldiers and to the ignominy and shame of the Enemy For that sort of Victory which is won more by Counsel than by Arms is a property of Man but more peculiarly agreeable to the Conduct of a great Captain in regard that the Soldiers can claim no manner of share therein Tho' all that were present discovered by their Faces their Consent hereunto Yet it made no impressions upon the King who had solemnly Swore and was now fully bent to Fight and so he Command Dowglass if he was afraid of his life to return home The Earl finding things thus precipitated through the Kings temerity and foreseeing the dreadful Event burst forth into Tears and as soon as he was able to Speak said If the former course of my Life did not sufficiently Vindicate my Reputation from the opinion of Cowardice I know of no other reasons whereby to purge my self I am sure while this Body was able to endure the Toils of War and other Fatigues I have never been sparing to imploy the same for the Honour of my King and Good of my Country But seeing my Counsells wherein alone I can now be useful are despised I 'll leave my two Sons who next my Country are dearest to me and the rest of my Friends and Kindred as a certain pledge of my good Will towards you and the publick good and I pray unto God these my fears may prove False and Abortive and that I may rather be accounted a false Prophet than that what I fear and seem to behold should come to pass When he had thus spoken he packs up his Baggage and Departs the rest of the Nobles seeing they could not draw the King to be of their mind Judged it ought to be their next care seeing they were inferiour in number to the Enemy for they had learned by their Scouts that the English Army was six and twenty Thousand strong was to fortify themselves by taking advantage of the ground and so to pitch their Camp on the adjacent Hill which was hard of access and which they Fortifyed almost round with Cannon in the Rear they had Hills from the Foot of which to the East was a Marsh that secured their Left Wing and on their Right they had the River Till with high Banks over which was a Bridge not far from the Camp The English when they found by their spies that there was no approaching of the Scotch Camp without manifest danger wheeled off from the River and made as if they marched toward Berwick and from thence streight to the adjacent part of Scotland to Ravage the Country and a Rumour of such a design increased the suspicion thereof Which Rumour was some Days before spread abroad whether rashly or purposely feigned by the the English that they might decoy the Scots from their strong Holds down into the Plains King James thinking that not to be endured sets Fire to his Camp and Marched The smoak blinded the English so as that they could not discern the Enemy Marching but at last both Armies came to Flodden Hills almost unknown to one another There the English March their Artillery over the Bridge and their Army past the Ford at Milsord and so draw up their Army in Battalia as the situation of the ground would admit but in two Bodies seeming to have a design to cuff off the Scots Provision In the first Army the main Body was Commanded by the Lord Thomas Howard Admiral who not long before was come with a strong Re-inforcement to the Army the Right Wing by Edmund Howard and the Left by Marmaduke Constable The other body was so posted as if they had been for reserves and also drawn up in a tripartite division the Right being Commanded by Dacres the Left by Stanley and the Main Body by the Earl of Surrey who was General of the whole Army The Scots made a forefold distribution of their Army whereof the King himself Commanded the Main Body Alexander Gordon and Alexander Humes the Right Wing Mathew Stuart Earl of Lennox Campell Earl of Argile the Left And Hepborn with the rest of the Nobility of Lowthian Commanded the reserves Gordon begins the Battle and quickly routed the Left Wing of the English Army but returning from the Chase he found the remainder of his Wing almost cut to pieces For the left Wing Commanded by Lennox and Argile being elated at their Success fell on Pell-Mell without keeping their Ranks upon the Enemy leaving their Ensigns behind-them The French Ambassador doing all that ever he could to keep them back as foreseeing they rushed on headlong to their inevitable ruin But the English stood the shock with undaunted Bravery and adding cunning to their Valour wheeled a body of their Men about which fell upon the Rear of this disorderly Rout and almost kill'd every Man of them In the mean time the Main Body where the King was with the reserves Commanded by Hepborn sought with great obstinacy but at last were Routed but night coming on hindred the pursuit Next morning the Earl of Surrey sent out Dacres with a Party of Horse to learn Intelligence who coming to the field of Battle and finding the Scotch Artillery without any Guard upon them and the greatest part of the slain unstripped he acquaints the General therewith who sets his Army loose to ransack the Camp and afterwards Celebrated the Victory with utmost Joy And now we come to tell you of the Kings Fate himself Our English Historians generally agree that he was slain in this Battle the Scots for the most part oppose it Urging that the Body which was rifled in the field and taken to be his was not so but the Body of one Alexander Elsinstone a young Gentleman resembling the King both in Visage and Stature whom the King that he might delude those that pursued him and at the same time also with his own presence animate those that fought elsewhere had caused with all Tokens of Royality to be Armed and Apparelled like himself But says my English Author Bishop Goodin not to make use for an Argument the great number of Nobility that Guarded their true King and consequently that their Counterfeit ones fought elsewhere It s manifest that his Body was known by many of the Prisoners who certainly affirmed that it could be no other than the King 's tho' by the Multitude of his Wounds it were very much disfigured for his Neck was laid open in the midst thereof with a
and taking occasion to send her other Companions about frivolous Errands was secretly by him conveyed out of the Lough where she was kept Her escape being told those who were then at Dinner in the Castle they made a great stir but to little purpose for all the Boats were haled ashore and their loop holes to put out their Oars were all stopped up that so no speedy pursuit might be made She was no sooner got out of the Lough but that there were Horsemen ready on the other side to receive her who carried her to the several Houses of the Partisans in the Design and the day after to Hamilton a Town 8 miles distant from Glasgow and and at the noise thereof many resorted to her and in a short time she gathered an Army of about 6500 men In the mean time the Regent was not idle but got together what force he could at Glasgow yet not enough to equal their number however understanding that the Enemy designed to march by Glasgow and to leave the Queen in Dunbarton Castle and so either to fight or lengthen out the War as they pleased or if they found him to be so bold as to stop their passage which they believed he durst not do they resolved then to Fight and were confident they should beat him and the Regent I say understanding this resolved to be before hand with them and to urge them to Fight as soon as ever he could and to that end drew out his Men into the open Field before the Town the way that he thought the Enemy would march and there for some hours waited for them in Battle Array but when he saw their Troops pass by on the other side of the River he presently understood their design and commanded his Foot to pass over the Bridge and his Horse to Ford over the River which they might do it being low Water and so to march to Langside which was a Village by the River Carth where the Enemy were to pass situated at the foot of a Hill to the South-West the passage on the East and North was steep but on the other side there was a gentle descent into a plain thither the Regent and his Army hasted with such speeed that they had near possest the Hill before the Enemy who aimed at the same place understood their design tho' they marched thither by a nearer cut but there were two things that did very much contribute to the advantage of the Regent and his Party as they were no less a disadvantage to the Queen and her Followers for the Earl of Argyle who on the Queen's part commanded in chief fell suddenly down from his Horse sick and by his fall much retarded the march of his Party the other was that their Forces being placed here and there in little Vallies could never see all their Enemies at once whose paucity as indeed they were not many made the other despise them and the disadvantage of the place to At last when the Queen's Forces drew nigh and saw the Ground they aimed at taken up by the Enemy they advanced to another little Hill over against them and there divided their Party into two Bodies so did the other Party into two Wings placing their Musketeers in the Village and Gardens below near the Highway Both Armies being thus Marshalled in Battle Array the Queen 's Cannoneers and Foot were driven from their Posts by the Regents Forces on the other hand the Regents Horse being fewer in number were beat back by the Enemy and when they had performed that Service they endeavoured also to break the Battalions of Foot in order whereunto they charged directly up the Hill but were beat back by the Archers placed there and by some of those who after their rout had rallied again and joyned with the rest of their Body In the mean time the Left Wing of the Enemy marched by the Highway where there was a rising Ground lower down into the Valley where tho' they were gall'd by the Regents Musketeers yet passing by those straits they opened and rang'd their Body There it was the two Battalions held out a thick stand of Pikes as a Breast-work before them and fought desperately for half an hour without giving ground on either side insomuch that they whose long Pikes were broke threw Daggers Stands pieces of Pikes or Launces yea whatever they could come at into their Enemies Faces but some of the hindermost Ranks of the Regents Forces beginning to fly away whither for fear or treachery is uncertain no doubt their flight had much disordered those who stood to it unless the Ranks had been so thick that the foremost did not well know what the hindmost did then they which were in the second Battalion taking notice of the danger and perceiving no Enemy coming to Charge them sent some whole Troops to wheel to the Right and to joyn with the first whereupon the adverse Party could not bear their Charge but were wholly routed and put to flight but the Regent upon the pursuit forbid the Execution The Queen stood about a mile from the place to behold the Battle and after the discomfiture fled with some Horsemen of her Party who had escaped out of the Battle towards England from whence she shall never return to see her Native Country more being arrived at a place called Workinton in the County of Cumberland she dispatched away a Letter to Queen Elizabeth full of Complaints of hard usage in Scotland and craving her Assistance and Protection and leave to come to her but the Queen denied her access and ordered her to be conveyed to Carlisle from whence she wrote again to the Queen which brought her case under the Deliberation of the English Council who at last resolved to detain her in England till such time as she should give satisfaction for Usurping the English Arms and answered for the Death of the Lord Darnley her Husband for Darnley's Mother the Countess of Lennox had of late grievously complained to Queen Elizabeth about it and earnestly besought her to call her to a Tryal for the Murder of her Son as Mr. Cambdâ—n in his History of Queen Elizabeth has it But because her Detention in England might appear to be just in all Foreign Courts Secretary Cecil and others of the Council prevailed with Murray the Scots Regent to come into England to accuse her before such Commissioners as Queen Elizabeth should appoint and the place of meeting was to be York and to that end the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Sussex with several other Councellors went to York to hear the Regents accusation It was observed the Duke delay'd to receive the Accusation but at last speaks to Secretary Lidington that before that time he had ever esteemed him a Wise Man until that time he came before Strangers to accuse the Queen his Mistress as if England were Judge over the Princes of Scotland but continued the Duke how could you find in our
severe Account by an Armed Power from the King they chose one Mackdonald for their Captain who readily enough embraced the Command and shortly after routed some Troops sent against them under the Conduct of a Nobleman whom they took Prisoner and afterwards slew with which Success they were not a little elated and flushed Hereupon the King call'd a Council to consult what to do among whom Mackbeth so famed upon the Stage was one who exclaiming much against the Precariousness of the Government and the mistaken Lenity of the King towards notorious Offenders did notwithstanding promise that if they were pleased to leave that Affair to his and Bancho's Management he did not doubt but in a very short time to give a good account of the Rebels Hereupon he and Bancho were joyn'd in Commission to go against them and in some time set out with a Body of Men towards Lochquaber The fame of whose Approach struck the Enemy with such a panick Fear that they dispersed in great Numbers leaving their Captain Mackdonald almost destitute who notwithstanding with the small Remains he had left with him adventurously gave them Battle but being routed he fled for Refuge to an adjacent Castle and finding himself environn'd by his Enemies on all sides and no way left for his Escape he first slew his Wife and Children and then laid violent Hands upon himself to prevent as he dreaded a severer Punishment This Rebellion being thus happily supprest by the good Conduct and Managment of Mackbeth and Bancho another more dangerous Storm did upon the Neck of it threaten Scotland for Sweno King of Norway landed at Fife with a puissant Army designing no less than to make an entire Conquest of the Kingdom of Scotland Duncane to obviate as much as might be the Intentions of the Enemy raises Forces with utmost Diligence and next to himself entrusted the Command of them with the two aforesaid Chieftains Mackbeth and Bancho who had but a little while before done him signal Service against his Rebellious Subjects Near Calrose the two Armies engaged and fought for a considerable time with incredible obstinacy but at last the Danes prevailed and the Scots were totally routed and Duncane fled to the Castle of Bertha which Sweno laid close siege to forthwith Mackbeth in the mean time rallies and raises more Forces to whom the King by the Advice of Bancho sent word that he should not march to his Relief till he had further Orders The King in the interim entertains a feigned Treaty of Surrender with Sweno and to elude the Matter yet further sent his Army as a Donative some Provisions of Ale and Bread out of the Castle but had first mixt both with the Juice of Banewort a noxious Herb which did so intoxicate the Danish Soldiers who feasted greedily thereon that they generally fell all fast asleep upon which Mackbeth had Orders sent him to march up without delay and fall upon them which he did with that success that the whole Army was slain save the King and about ten Men more who with great difficulty fled to their Ships But the Rejoycings made for this Victory were scarce cold when another Danish Army sent by Canutus to the assistance of Sweno landed at Kingcorn which were also encountred by Mackbeth and Bancho and utterly routed Some time after this as Buchanan Boethius and other Scotch Writers relate tho' in a different manner As Mackbeth and Bancho without any other Company were agoing to a place called Fores where the King then resided it fortuned that they met three Women upon the Road of a very strange Aspect and Habit one of them saluted Mackbeth Thane of Angus another of Murrey and the third King of Scotland with which kind of Salutation they were both very much surpriz'd and Bancho said to the Women why so unkind to me as to bestow nothing upon me when you have assigned to my Companion not only high Preferments but even the Kingdom of Scotland Nay but reply'd the first of them we have greater Favours in store for thee he shall reign indeed but with an unhappy end and leave none of his Posterity to inherit the Crown but of thee shall those be born who shall govern the Scotch Nation by a long Succession of continued descent And this I take to be the Ground of Dr. Heylin's saying in his Scotia that it was strangely foretold this Bancho above three hundred Years before it began to be fulfill'd that he indeed should not be King but that out of his Loyns should come a Race of Kings that should for ever rule Scotland This Apparition for so it was afterwards interpreted made at first no great Impressions on the Spirits either of the one or the other so as that they made no other use of it than to jear one another ever and anon therewith Bancho frequently calling Mackbeth by way of ridicule King of Scotland and the other as often entertaining him with the Appellation of Father of many Kings till such time which happened not long after that the Thane of one of the foresaid places being condemned and executed for Treason Mackbeth was bountifully invested by the King in all his Lands Livings and Offices which being interpreted by him as a favourable Presage and as it were a Praeludium towards the Accomplishment of the foresaid Prediction concerning him it raised his Hopes mightily and he begins to set all his Wits on work and to imploy all his Engines among whom Bancho was chief who gave him all the Assistance he could in his bloody Designs for to attain to the Crown which not long after by a barbarous Parricide for a good King is Father of his Country he accomplish'd having slain the King at Inverness or as others write at Botgosvane in the sixth Year of his Reign and so was forthwith crowned at Scone Mackbeth to ingratiate himself with the People without which no Government tho' never so just can long subsist gets several good and wholsome Laws enacted for the publick Weal But this was an effect rather of Policy than any natural Disposition and good Genius in him as did afterwards appear and as Tyrants are always uneasie he was never without dreadful Apprehensions that he should be served the same sawce himself as he had done by his Predecessor and the Prediction foremention'd did not a little contribute thereunto especially that part of it that referr'd to the posterity of Bancho's attaining in time to the possession of the Diadem And as nothing is more terrible to a wicked Usurper than the Thoughts of a Successor especially without his own Line former Confederacies for the attainment of the Supream Power being now disregarded and quite effaced with the Cares to secure it for indeed there is but little Faithfulness to be expected from Associates in Villany be their mutual Engagements never so solemn he makes it his whole business to cut off Bancho who had been so instrumental to advance him
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
every part of it Some time elapsed before this dreadful news of the Prince's death came to the Ears of the King none adventuring to be the sad Messenger unto him of that which almost all knew off but when he was advertised of it and had also some secret intimations given him his Brother had had a deep if not the sole hand in it for none durst accuse so great a Man openly he grew very sad and melancholy thereupon and the rather in that he had not power to take Vengeance upon him for the perpetrating of so barbarous a deed and for doing him so unretrievable an injury However to make some semblance of Kingly Authority he sends for the Duke his Brother to come to him at leastwise to expostulate with him about the fact The Duke who knew the purport of the message as well as himself frames a fair and specious story to excuse himself as tho he were as innocent of the fact as the Child Unborn And for a farther proof of it urges his care to seek out the Perpetrators of that horrid deed and that he had now at length made so far a progress in the matter that he did not doubt but if the King would be pleased to come to Edenburgh he should be able to bring in all the Offenders The King who was then at a place called Bute where for the most part he ever resided tho he was very unfit to travel upon many accounts and especially by reason of a tedious fit of sickness he had laboured under yet so great and eager a desire he had to see his Son's death punished that he made a hard shift to get in a Chariot into Edenburgh When he was come thither the Governour convenes the Council and orders the parties accused to be brought before them the King himself being also present The Accusers as the Duke who was rather the guilty person had before contrived it stoutly charge them with the fact The King after he had imprecated Vengeance from Heaven and the most dreadful Curses upon them and their Posterity who had perpetrated so horrid an act being over-prest with sorrow and infirfirmity of Body returns to Bute from whence he came The Duke that he might colour the matter as much as might be brings the supposed Criminals to their Tryals and by corrupt Judges such as the Duke had provided for that purpose were Condemned as guilty of his Murder whom in all their life time they had never seen Tho this matter waâ— managed on the part of the Governor with all the Fineness and Address imaginable yet the King was not so satisfied in his Mind but that he retain'd still a great suspition of the Duke's having an Hand in his Sonâ—s Death But forasmuch as he well knew that the Duke had all the Kingdom of Scotland under his Obeisance partly by Policy and partly by virtue of his Office of Governour he durst not shew his resentment nor attempt to call him to an account for it but was rather afraid on the other hand lest having ambitious Desires to possess himself of the Crown he would also make it his Business to procure the death of his second Son James and by that means take off the only Rub in his way The King I say being thus sollicitous in Mind about securing that to his Posterity which his unnatural Brother was intent to deprive them of consults with Walter Wardlaw Arch-bishop of St. Andrews about his Son's Security After serious deliberation they at last conclude it was no ways safe for Prince James to remain in Scotland and therefore he resolved to send him over into France to Charles the VI. an old Allie and real Friend to the Scotish Nation knowing he could no where be more safely and liberally educated than there But considering the uncertain vicissitude of Humane things and that no Precautions for his future Security might be wanting the King delivers his Son a Letter written to the King of England in his Behalf if it should be his hard Fortune to fall into the Hands of the English The King in pursuance to the said Resolution orders all things to be got in a readiness for his Passage and appointed Henry Sinclear Earl of Orkney to take care for the safe Conveyance of him They took Shipping at the Bass and so shear'd their Course for the French Shoar but when they were got as far as Flamborough-Head they were as some say taken by the English who had heard of their sailing and laid in wait to intercept them But others write that the Prince finding himself extreamly Sea-sick and not able to endure it desired he might be put on Shoar there and so was taken into Custody and carry'd up to the English Court but however it happened taken he was in the ninth Year of his Age Anno 1406. Henry IV. was then King of England to whose Presence when the Prince was come he deliver'd him his Father's Letter which because of the rarity of it as being written in the Scotish Dialect of those times we have thought fit to insert and is as followeth Robert King of Scots to Henry King of England Greeting THY great Magnificence Humility and Justice are right patent to us by thy Governance of thy last Army in Scotland howbeit sike things had been uncertein to us afore for tho' thou seemed as Enemie with most awful Incursions in our Realme Èœit we found mair Humanities and Plaisures than Damage by thy cumming to our Subdities speciallie to yame that receivit thy noble Fader the Duke of Longcastle the time of his Exile in Scotland we may not câ—is your fare while we are on life but I yl layf and loif thee us maist noble and woarthy Prince to joys thy Realme for yocht Realmes and Nations contend among themself for Conâ—uests of Glory and Launds Èœit na accasioun is amang us to invade other Realmes or Lieges with Injuries but erar to contend amang our self â—uhay shall perseue other with maist humanitee and kindness As to us we will meis all occasion of battell quare any occurres at thy pleasure Farther bycause we have no lesse sollicitude in preserving our Children fra certein deidley Enemies than had some time thy noble Fader we are constreined 〈◊〉 seek Support at uncowth Princes Handâ— Howbeit the invasioun of Enemies is sa great that small defense oâ—urres against yame â—ithaut they be preserved by Amitie of nobill Men. For the World is sa full of perversit malice that na crueltie nor offence may be devisit in erd bot the samme may be wroucht be motion of gold or silver Heirfore because we knaw thy Hyness full of Monie nobill Vertueâ— with sike Puissance and Riches that na Prince in our daies may be compared thairto we desire thy Humanity and Support at this time We traist it is not unknowen to thy Majesty how our eldest Son David is slain miserablie in Prisoun by our Brother the Duke of Albanie quhome we
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
they might acquit the Scottish Name from the Infamy under which it lay among Foreign Nations and therefore supposing the Common People would follow their motions they privily levyed about Two thousand Horse so that the Queen knew nothing of what was acted till they came to Borthwick Castle with part of the Army and Besieged her and Bothwell therein but the other part of the Conspirators not coming at the time appointed and she having not force enough to stop all passage and was not so active neither as he might have been because the rest had neglected their Parts First Bothwell made his escape and after him the Queen and went directly to Dumbar hereupon the Associators proceeded to lay Siege to Edenburgh Castle with whom the Citizens joyned but the Governor James Balfour tho' he seem'd to have a disposition to come over to their Party and by Surrendring the Castle to make atonement for his former miscarriages yet he did not so readily do it but that some elasted first which gave the Queen and her Party opportunity to grow strong so that they who were but a little before in despair grew now bold and thought to cope with their Adversaries and to that purpose marched to Leith with a flow pace and taking time to distribute Arms to the Country People that came in to her by the way at length a little before night they came to Seaton and because they could not be quartered there they divided their numbers into two Neighbouring Villages both called Preston from whence a fearful alarm was brought to Edenburg before midnight and presently the word was given To your Arms upon this they rose out of their Beds and made all the haste they could into the adjoyning Fields and there having gathered a good Body together by Sun-rising they set themselves in Battle Array thence they marched to Musselborough to pass the River Eske before the Bridge and Ford were possessed by the Enemy but meeting no body and perceiving no noise at all they placed Guards and Sentinels there and went to refresh themselves with Food In the mean time the Scouts seeing a few Horsemen draw them into the Village but durst not follow them further for fear of an Ambuscade so that they brought back no certain news of the Army only that the Enemy was a marching whereupon the Vindicators of Liberty marching out of Musselburg saw the Enemy standing in Battle Array upon the Brow of a Hill over against them and that they kept their Ground the Hill being so steep that they could not come at them without prejudice they drew a little off to the Right both to have the Sun on their Backs and also to gain an easier ascent that they might Fight upon more advantageous Terms and this design of theirs deceived the Queen who thought they had fled and were marching to Dalkeith a Neighbouring Town of the Earl of Morton's and that the terrour of her Royal Name was so great that they durst not withstand but she quickly found That Authority as 't is acquired by good Arts so may be quickly lost by bad and that Majesty destitute of Virtue is soon brought to nothing When they had refresht themselves and quenched their Thirst which much annoy'd them before as soon as ever they got a fit place they divided their Army into two Bodies The Earl of Morton commanded the first with Alexander Hume and his Vassals The second was conducted by the Earls of Glencarne Marr and Athol and when they were thus ready to give the onset the French Ambassador came to them and by his Interpreter told them How he had always studied the Good and Tranquillity of Scotland and that he was still of the same Mind and therefore earnestly desired if possible the matter might be decided to the satisfaction of both Parties without Arms or Bloodshed wherein he offerred his Service alledging that the Queen also was not averse from Peace and to induce them the more to believe it he told them she would grant a present Pardon and Oblivion of what was done and faithfully promised that they should all be Indemnified for taking up Arms against the Supream Magistrate to which the Earl of Morton answered That they had not taken up Arms against the Queen but against the late King's Murderers who if she would deliver up to punishment or sever her self from him then she should understand that they and their Fellow Subjects desired nothing more than to persist in their Duty to her otherwise no agreement could be made and to this Glencarne added That they came not thither to receive Pardon for taking up Arms but to give and so the Ambassador seeing no good was to be done craved leave to depart and returned to Edenburg re infecta In the mean time the Queen's Army kept it self within the antient Camp-Bounds of the English and it was a place naturally higher than the rest and besides fortified with a Work and a Ditch from whence Bothwell shewed himself mounted on a brave Steed and proclaimed by an Herauld that he was ready to engage in a single Combat with any of the adverse Party Hereupon James Murray a young Nobleman offerred himself from the other Army being the same Person that had done so before by a Cartel but supprest his Name as has been already said but Bothwell refused him alledging he was not a fit Match for him neither in Dignity nor Estate then came forth his Elder Brother William affirming that if Money matters were subduced he was as powerful as Bothwell but his Superiour both in Antiquity of Family and Integrity of Repute but Bothwell rejected him also as being lately but made a Knight and so forth At last Patrick Lindsey a Person of the first Rank desired as the only reward of all his Labours which he had undergone to maintain the Honour of his Country that he might be permitted to Fight with Bothwell but Bothwell who in the main had no Stomach to Fight excepted against him too and not knowing how creditably to come off the Queen interposed her Authority and forbidding the Fight ended the Controversie then marching through the Army on Horseback she tryed how they all stood affected but to her great disappointment and sorrow she found no great disposition in the Men to fight They said there were a great many brave Soldiers in the adverse Army and that it was sitter for Bothwell whose chief Quarrel it was to try it out in a single Duel than that heâ— Majesty's Person and so many Men's Lives should be hazarded upon the account but that if she were fully resolved to Fight it was best to defer it till too morrow for it was said the Hamiltons were coming with a Body of 500 Horse and were not far off with the conjunction of whose Forces they might then the more safely advise about the main concern for at that time the Earl of Huntley and John Hamilton Archbishop of St. Andrews had gathered their
Clans to Hamilton and the day after were coming to the Queen whereupon she gnashed her Teeth and fell to Weeping uttering many reproachful Words against her Nobles and by a Messenger desired of the contrary Army that they would send William Kireadie of Grange to her that she would Discourse with him about Conditions of Peace in the interim the Army should not advance neâ—ther did the adverse Army proceed but stood near and in a low place so as that the Enemies Ordinance might not annoy them Whilst the Queen was conferring with Kircadie Bothwell was bid to shift for himself for that was it she aim'd aâ— by pretending a Conference who made such fearful haste to Dunbar that he commanded two Horsemen that accompanied him to return back again such a load of Guilt lay upon his Mind that he could hardly trust his own Friends From whence he went to the Orcades and for a time exercised Piracy thereabouts but being at last pursued by some Scotch Ships fitted out for that purpose he with much ado made his escape and sailed for Denmark where giving no good account of himself whence he came or whither he was bound and afterward being known of some Merchants he was clapt up a close Prisoner where after ten years nasty Confinement and other Miseries he at last grew Mad and came to a Death suitable to his base and wicked Life The Queen when she thought he was out of danger though she shall ne'er see his Face more articled with Kircade That the rest of the Army should march quietly home and so she came with him to the Nobles Clothed only with a Tunicle and that a mean and threadbare one too reaching but a little below her Knees a sad spectacle Of the Van of the Army she was received not without Demonstration of their former Reverence but when she desired that they would dismiss her to meet the Hamiltons who were said to be coming on promising to return again and commanding Morâ—on to undertake for her for she hoped by fair promises to do what she would and finding she could not obtain her Request she burst forth into bitter Language and upbraided also the Commanders with what she had done for them which they heard also with silence but when she came to the second Body they all unanimously cried out Burn the Whore burn the Parricide and had withall a sad spectacle presented before her Eyes for the late King her Husband was painted in one of the Banners Dead and his little Son by him craving vengeance of God for the Murder and this Banner was carried before her whithersoever she went She Swooned at the first sight of it and could scarce be kept upon her Horse but recovering her self she remitted nothing of her former fierceness uttering Threats and Reproaches shedding Tears and manifesting other concomitant Signs of Womens Grief In her march she made all the delay she could expecting if any Aid did come from elsewhere but none appear'd At last she came to Edenburg a little before Night her Face being covered with Dust and Tears as if dirt had been cast upon it all the People running to see the spectacle She past through a great part of the City in great silence the multitude leaving her so narrow a passage that scarce one could go a Breast when she was going up to her Lodging one Woman of the Company prayed for her but she turning to the People told them besides other Menaces that she would Burn the City and quench the Fire with the Blood of the persidious Citizens having got into her Apartment she shewed her self Weeping out of the Window and there was a great concourse of People without some of whom did Commiserate the sudden change of her Fortune but it was not long e'er the former Banner was held out to her whereupon she shut the Window and flung in After she had been there two days she was sent Prisoner by the Nobles Order to a Castle situated in Laugh-Leâ—in But now the whole Conspiracy against the late King comes out for while these matters were thus agitated Bothwell had sent one of his faithfullest Servants into Edenburg Castle to bring him a silver Cabinet which had been sometimes Franâ—is's King of France as appear'd by the Cyphers on the out side of it wherein were Letters Writ almost all with the Queen 's own Hand in which the King's Murder and the things that followed were clearly discovered and it was written in almost all of them that as soon as he had read them he should burn them but Bothwell knowing the Queen's Inconstancy aâ— having had many evident Examples of it in a few years had preserved the Letters that so if any difference should happen to arise between them he might use them as a testimony for himself and thereby declare that he was not the Author but only a Party in the King's Murder Balfour the Governor did deliver the Cabinet to Bothwell's Servant but withall informed the Chief of the Adverse Party what he had sent whither and by whom whereupon they took him and found in the Letters great and mighty matters contained which though before shrewdly suspected yet could never so clearly be made forth but nothing could induce the Queen to separate her Interest from him and when she was urged to it with Reasons to her advantage she fiercely answered That she would rather live with him in the utmost Adversity than without him in the Royallest Condition The Hamilton's who were very powerful made some stir yet on her behalf in opposition to the Adverse Party who were now going to advance her Son though an Infant into her Throne which she was forced to submit to and to name him Governor whereof the Earl of Murray though absent then beyond Sea was one who returning soon after was chosen sole Regent of the Kingdom and confirmed in the same by the Authority of the Parliament that succeeded but about the Queen they differed in their Opinions for it appearing by many testimonies and proofs especially by her own Letters to Bothwell that the whole Plot of the Bloody Fact was laid by her some being moved with the Heinousness of the thing and others being afterwards made acquainted therewith by her lest they themselves should be punished as accessary to so odious a Crime to remove her testimony out of the way voted That she should suffer the utmost extremity of the Law but the major part only sentenced her to be kept a Prisoner but though she escaped now the time came wherein she lost her Head for but attempting a Fact of the like Nature with this she was now charged with In the mean time the Hamiltons with whom the Earls of Argyle and Huntley joyned themselves with some others were sollicitous about the Queen's Restoration and Liberty and the Queen not to be wanting on her part to promote their Endeavours having won some of the Regents Relations and bribed the Master of a Vessel