the frankest Fellow among them all none of them will make thy leap good meaning his former leaping out of the Lord Grang's Ship to save himself but Lidingtown seeing the Regents unconstancy rounds him in the Ear that he had disgraced himself and put his Life in danger by the loss of so good a Friend as the Duke of Norfolk and that he had lost his Reputation for ever The Regent soon repents his Folly and desires to have the Accusation again alledging he had some more to add thereto but was answered That they would keep what they had and were ready to receive any addition he should please to give in The Duke of Norfolk had much ado to keep his Countenance Wood tip'd the wink upon Cecil who smiled upon him again the Regents company were Laughing only Lidingtown had a sorrowful Heart and the Regent himself left the Council with Tears in his Eyes and retired to his Lodgings at Kingstown and continued there for a long time in great displeasure and fear without Money to spend or hopes to get any from the Queen In the mean time the Agreement between the Duke and Regent was told the Queen for Morton caused one John Willock to declare what had past between them to the Earl of Huntingdon who caused the Lord Leicester to acquaint the Queen therewith The Duke finding how all things stood thought to out-brave it and stuck not to tell the Queen her self While he lived he would ne'er Offend her but Serve and Honour her and after her the Queen of Scots as in his Opinion truest Heir and the only means for saving of Civil Wars and much Bloodshed that might fall out which Words were as a Dagger to the Queen's Heart though for the time she dissembled her Displeasure but to further this great Man's Fall though Sir Nicholas Throgmorton seemed to mean honestly he got the Duke and Regent reconciled again and then the Duke declared to him that he was resolved to marry the Queen of Scots his Mistress and that he would never permit her to come into Scotland nor yet that she should ever Rebel against the Queen of England during her time and also that he had a Daughter who would be a fitter Match for King James than any other for many Reasons and so procured the Sum of Two Thousand Pounds from the Queen for the Regent for which himself became security and was forced afterward to pay the same When the Regent had got the Money he was easily induced by some about him to acquaint the Queen with all that had past between the Duke and himself and withall engaged to transmit back unto her all the Letters which the Duke should write to him when he came into Scotland which was done accordingly The Duke was then the greatest Subject in Europe he Ruled the Queen and all those that were familiar with her and was Courted by all Factions both Protestants and Papists both paying him a very great Deference and at that time commanded all the North of England and it was in his Power to have set the Queen of Scots at liberty if he had pleased but when the Queen had had his Letters from Scotland she sent for the Duke to come to Court whereupon he first posted in haste to Secretary Cecil on whose Advice and Friendship he much relied who told him there was no danger he might come and go at his Pleasure no man would or durst offend him and so the Duke only with his own Train came to Court Cecil in the mean time informed the Queen that the necessity of the time obliged her not to omit this occasion but to take the matter stoutly upon her self and forthwith command her Guards to lay hands upon the Duke or else no other durst do it which if she did not at this time she would endanger the safety of her Crown The Queen embraced the Advice and so orders the Duke to be secured when he thought all England was at his Devotion who after a long Imprisonment was Executed ending his Life as Sir James Melvill says devoutly in the Reformed Religion From Carlisle this forlorne Queen was removed to Bolton under the custody of Sir Francis Knowles and from thence to Tutbury under the Care of the Earl of Shrewsbury and in whose custody she remained for the space of Fifteen years but the many Attempts made for her Liberty and other more dangerous suspicions increasing against her caused her to be committed to the keeping of Sir Anias Pawlet and Sir Drue Druery where she sollicited with more greater importunity than ever the Bishop of Rome and the Spaniard by Sir Francis Inglefield to hasten what they had in hand with all speed against the Queen of England whatever became of her and at length holding correspondence with Babington and the rest of the Conspirators against Queen Elisabeth's Life which you may read in Cambden's Elizabeth at large this drew on the fatal Day whereon she was to be called to an account for what she had done and to this end it was agreed to have her Tryed upon the late Statute made against such as should attempt any violence against the Queen's Person c. and 24 Lords and others of inferior Degree were Commissionated by the Queen's Patent for her Tryal who met Octob. 11. 1586. in Fothringham Castle in the County of Northampton where the Queen of Scots was then in custody and next day sent Sir Walter Mildmay and others to her with the Queen's Letter about her Crimes and Tryal which when she had read she complained of her ill usage excused her carriage and seemed to question the Commissioners Authority but they justify their Authority and advise her to appear to her Tryal but she excepted against the new Law and required to have her Protestation admitted which was denied at length she is brought on the 14 th Day to appear to whom Bromley the Chancellor made a Speech how Queen Elizabeth their Sovereign being informed of her Conspiracies against her Life she was now called upon to Answer for the same and to clear her self if she could and make her Innocency appear to the World here she would have urged her Protestation again of being no Subject of England but a Crowned Head but that being again rejected she submitted her self to a Trial and after a long Hearing and several proofs made of her being privy to the Design against the Queen's Life and of her intention to convey her Title and Claim to the Kingdom of England to the Spaniard c. The Court Adjourned till the 25 th of October to the Star-Chamber at Westminster at what time Wacee and Curle her Secretaries did viva voce voluntarily and without hope of Reward avow all and every the Letters and Copâ—es of Letters produced at the Trial to be True and Real upon which Sentence was pronounced against her and Ratified by the Seals and Subscriptions of the Commissioners in these words By their unanimous
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
seconded by Ramsey struck him to the Heart yet not so readily but that the Earl thrust him into the Thigh assisted by Cranston who wounded Erskin and Herres in the Hand and they him through the Body and lived only long enough to be hanged and quartered Then came in the Lords and the rest of the Company and after having surveyed the Earl's Body they found it did not Bleed till a Parchment was taken out of his Bosom with Characters in it and these Letters which put together made Tetragrammaton having been told as the Story went his Blood should not be spilt as long as he had that spell This is the substance of the Conspiracy I will not descant upon the many Absurdities and incoherent Circumstances couched under this Relation but will leave it to the Readers Censure and tell you only that most Authors that have mentioned it seem to turn the Tables to lay the Assassination at the King's door and one I find Sir J. H. saying he Blasphemed God for his pretended Deliverance once a year all his life after but Mr. Wilson is a little more modest who expresses himself hereupon to this purpose This year August 5. being the first of the King's Reign in England had a new Title given to it the King's Delivery in the North must resound here whether the Gowries attempted upon the King's Person or the King upon theirs is variously reported It may be he retained something of his Predecessor and great Parent Henry VII that made Religion give way to Policy oftentimes Cursing and Thundring out the Churches Fulminations against his own Ministers that they might be received with the more intimate Familiarity with his Foreign Enemies for the better discovery of their Designs I will not say the Celebration of this Holy-Day had so much Profaneness for Fame may be a Slanderer but where there is a strength of Policy there is always a power of wordly Wisdom that manages and sways it Now we are to transplant the Scene into the Southern part of the British Isle for our bright Occidental Star Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory having for the space of above forty four years shined in our British Horizon and darted out the Rays of her Renown to the remotest parts of the habitable Globe and now exchanged an Earthly for an Heavenly Diadem King James succeeded her in all her Dominions who being both a Protestant and a Pacifick King diverted the Fears of the English and made some Allay of Grief in their Hearts for the lost of their Nursing Mother and Sovereign Lady who though she were glorious and happy almost in all her Affairs during the course of her long Reign yet she may be truly said to have been much more celebrated after her Death for the Vices of others and Male-Administration of this and the succeeding Reigns erected a more lasting Monument of Renown and contributed a more indelible lustre to her Fame than any of the worthiest Atcheivements of her Life so that it may be as truly said of her as it was of old by Suetonius concerning that brave Roman Germanicus Auxit gloriam desideriumque defunctae insequentium tempâ—rum atrocitas Here for a time we are to expect nothing but Shows Pageants Creations of Honours of which King James was never no niggard and all manner of Jollity but the advancement of some so far disgusted others who thought themselves neglected that it produced him a Conspiracy as the Authors of that Age know not what to make off it was apparent the muddy Waters were stirred but it was with such a mixture that little could be visible in it For Sir Walter Rawleigh the Lords Cobham and Grey were Protestants Markham Baynam and the two Priests were Popish the Charge was that they had endeavoured all in Conjunction to introduce Popery to seize the King and Prince and to set the Crown up-the Head of the Lady Arabella Steward younger Brother to Henry Lord Darnley both Sons to Matthew Earl of Lennox by his Wife Margaret Daughter by the Earl of Angus to Margaret the Mother of James V. and Daughter of Henry VII But this was a sorry foundation to go upon and so the superstructure thus huddled together could not last long wherefore the execution of some and Imprisonment of the rest quickly dissipated this Cloud and all was Serene again and Halcion days But here give me leave to say somewhat as well in Vindication of the Memory of that true Englishman and Noble Gentleman Sir Walter Rawleigh who was Condemned for this Conspiracy and Beheaded many years after when he had been General by the King's Commission and had by that Power over the Lives of many others contrary to the Civil Law which says He that hath Power over the Lives of others ought to be Master of his own as to shew the perversion of Justice in that Reign and the poorness of the King's Spirit to be gull'd at that rate by his Ministers in this as well as other Particulars Sir Walter was Tryed at Winchester and made a brave Defence All the material Evidence brought against him was the Lord Cobham's Accusation which he only desired might appear viva voce and he would yield without any further Defence but that would not be granted for they knew full well Cobham would not or could not accuse him you must know Wade then Lieutenant of the Tower and a great Creature of the Earl of Salisbury's had tampered with Cobham about the aforesaid Accusation of Rawleigh knowing Cobham's weakness but that would not do and therefore he circumvented him one day by getting of him to set his Name in a blank piece of Paper and so filled up the Accusation himself Salisbury Rawleigh's great Enemy being thus armed against him urgâ—d Sir Walter several times to yield upon the producing of his Accusation under Cobham's own Hand Sir Walter answered he knew Cobham's weak Judgment and did not know how far he might be imposed upon but was confident he would not accuse him to his Face and therefore would not put his Life upon that hazard and thus the Trial held till nine at night at last his Fate carried him against his Reason and he yielded upon the producing his Hand which was immediately done and it was in truth his Hand but none of his Act. It happened some years after this that Queen Anne fell into a desperate and 't was believed incureable fit of Sickness and â—hen the Skill of all her Physicions had failed Sir Walter by his long Studies having arrived to an admirable Perfection in Chymistry was sent to who undertook and performed the Cure for which he would receive no other Reward but that her Majesty would procure certain Lords to be sent to Cobham to examine him Whether he had accused Sir Walter Rawleigh of Treason at any time under his Hand The King at the Queen's Request as in Justice he could do no less sent six Lords viz. the Duke of Lennox the Earls of
Salisbury Worcester Suffolk Sir George Carew and Sir Julius Caesar to Interrogate with Cobham upon the said Head Cobham protested he never did nor could accuse Sir Walter but said That Villain Wade after a long Sollicitation so to do but not prevailing got him by a trick to write his Name upon a piece of Paper which he dreaming of no harm did so that if any Charge came under his Hand it must have been forged by Wade by Writing something above his Name without his Consent or Privity The Lords returning to the King made Salisbury their Spokesman who elusively said Sir My Lord Cobham hath made good all that ever he said and so the matter rested Sir Walter being no ways relieved hereby but the King further possest with his guilt but surely the baseness of those Lords and the King's credulity were unpardonable Crimes Soon after this Hodge-podge of a Plot the King and Queen were Crowned in great Pomp at Westminster And the same year a Conference was managed at Hampton-Court between the Prelatical and Puritan Party the latter conceiving great hopes that because of the King's Education in the Scots Discipline he would be of their side but they mistook quite their mark for he was by that time become Heart and Soul Episcopal and to give evident Demonstration of his entire Conversion issues out a Proclamation of which no Prince was ever so prodigal and which at last as naturally happens were as little regarded for Uniformity in Religion according to Law Established then at length comes a Parliament between whom and the King notwithstanding some mutual Caresses for a time arose several Jars and Jealousies but the discovery of the Gun-Powder Treason attributed to the King's Wisdom and Foresight seemed for a time to heal all the Breaches which hellish Contrivance against the King and Kingdom will fall pertinently enough to be noted in this place The Popish Party finding their Petition for a Toleration of Religion rejected grew enraged thereat and now nothing would serve but the Destruction of King Prince and the Representative Body of the whole Nation in Parliament and to that end they hid 36 Barrels of Gun-Powder under the Parliament House the principal Contriver whereof was Robert Catesby a Gentleman of a plentiful Estate who made choice of Thomas Piercy Winter Grant Ambrose Rookwood I am told the Ancestor of the late Ambrose Rookwood executed for Conspiring the Death of our Renowned Sovereign King William Wright Tresham Sir Everard Digby and others who are all bound to Secresie by those Sacraments which are the greatest Ties upon the Soul and St. Garnet the Jesuit was their Confessor Piercy was to hire the Cellars under the Parliament House to lay Wood and Coals in for his Winters Store and Guido Faux a desperate Ruffian who was to give Fire to the Train was appointed to be his Man to bring in Wood and Coals The Gun-Powder bought in Flanders was brought in the Night from Lambeth and covertly laid under the Wood and every thing made ready against the 7th of February whereon the Parliament was to meet but the Parliament being providentially Prorogued to the 5th of November following this dispersed the Conspirators for the present and made them almost at their Wits end but reassuming again their former Courage they resolve to carry on their Villany and to bear up with Patience till the day came They were sure the King and Prince must perish with the blow as for the Duke of York Piercy undertook to dispatch him but the Lady Elizabeth they resolved to save that under her Minority and Innocency they might the better establish their Bloody Principles of Piety and Policy and to that end they appointed a great Hunting Match to be at Dunsemore-Heath in Warwickshire to be nearer the Lord Harrington's House where the Lady Elizabeth then was on the 5th of November aforesaid Thus Solacing themselves in this Bloody Expectation and thinking all Cock-sure one tender-hearted Murderer among the rest writ a Letter to the Lord Monteagle wishing him to have a care of himself and to forbear his Attendance at that Parliament for God and Man had concurred to punish the Wickedness of the time and they should receive a terrible blow and yet not see who hurt them The Lord Monteagle thinking there might be something in the Letter oâ— dangerous Consequence though he understood it not carried the same to the Earl of Salisbury who also could not tell what to make of it but upon the King 's coming to Whitehall from Royston where he had been Hunting of a Hare he shewed him the Letter who being naturally of a fearful Temper and suspicious Mind ordered the Earl of Suffolk and Lord Monteagle to make a search about the Parliament House who entring into the Cellar and observing the Stores as aforesaid enquired of the Wardrobe Keeper Mr. Winyard who was also House-keeper whose they were Winyard replied he had let the Cellar to one Thomas Percy and close in a Corner there stood Faux who being asked who he was said Percy 's Servant The Lords for the present left all things as they found them but departed full of Suspicion the Lord Monteagle assuring himself the forementioned Letter must come from Percy for there were some little intimacy between them and gave the King and Council a Relation of their Proceedings who resolved that night to make a further search and committed it to the management of Sir Thomas Knevet a Gentleman of approved Fidelity and who with a suitable Assistance coming to the Cellar about midnight met Faux at the Door on whom he presently seized and proceeding in his search pulled out the Core of all that Horrid Contrivance whereupon Faux confessed all being only sorry it came not to perfection and saying God would have concealed it and the Devil only discovered it In his Pockets they found a Watch which were not common then and a Tinder-Box Engines to minute out his time to strike the fatal blow The Conspirators finding all detected hastened for all that to the Hunting Match aforesaid furnishing themselves with Horses by breaking open several Stables and taking their choice but the Sherriffs of Warwickshire and Worcestershire pursued them so hard that at last they were forced to earth themselves at Littleton's House at Halbech where Percy and Catesby were slain with a few more and the rest taken Prisoners and afterwards Hanged This happy Deliverance was Celebrated with great Joy and Foreign Princes though Popish would Congratulate the Discovery and the Parliament made an Act for the perpetual Solemnizing of the day of Deliverance with publick Thanksgivings So things continued for a time and the King of Denmark the Queen's Brother coming over to visit the King and his Sister the Summer following added a greater gust to the Recreations and Pastimes of the Court now wallowing in all sensual Pleasures as if the Devil was quite laid and ne'er more Storms to be feared from any Quarter but the
King William for Lawful and Rightful King of England c. upon Condition he shall allow to the late King James and his Consort a handsom and competent Subsistence during each of their Lives and the Survivor of them Secondly That towards promoting effectually so good a Work he is willing to restore to His Catholick Majesty of Spain the City of Mons and other Places he has taken from him c. Thirdly That the City and Fortress of Philipsburg shall be restored by him to the Bishop of Spire in the Condition it is now in without any Alteration whatsoever Fourthly That he will entirely quit Strasburg and restore it to its ancient Privileges of a Free and Imperial City Fifthly That he will demolish all the Fortresses he has built along the Rhine for several Years past Sixthly and Lastly That the Duke of Savoy shall be restored to all the Territories he has lost since the War and also receive full Satisfaction for all the Losses sustained therein But my Lord whether any such Offers have been or are like shortly to be offered to the Confederates by this Court I am not fully satisfied but of this I am and desire your Honour to be so too that Things are not yet brought to that Extremity with France whatever some Men may be apt to flatter themselves with as for her to be truly real and sincere in such like Offers Neither indeed do I find it believed here at all and they are much more concerned to break off the Negotiation which is on foot between the Emperor and the Grand Seignior than they have present real Intentions to accommodate their own immediate Affairs and be at Peace with their Neighbours But what Progress they have made to keep their Mahometan Friend in their Alliance I will not take upon me to inform your Lordship with any Certainty I only note that they begin to talk of it here already with very great Assurance as a thing at least three quarters done I am afraid I have been both tedious and impertinent too for which I heartily beg your Lordship to pardon me and to construe all as proceeding from the unfeigned Intentions I have to serve you to the farthest Extent of my Power who am and ever shall remain My Lord Your most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris July 27. 1691. N. S. LETTER XXII Of a Couple of Pamphlets spread up and down Paris One Intituled A Letter from a Burgher of Norinburg to a Deputy of the Dyet at Ratisbonne And the other From my Lord an English Privy-Counsellor to the Earl of P with an Intent to foment Divisions amongst us My Lord TO trouble your Lordship with an Account of the many Forgeries daily published here to the intended Dis-service of the Confederates I hold it none of my Business But there has very lately appeared up and down this City a pair of such singular Pamphlets levelled to the forementioned Purpose that since I cannot possibly inclose them herein without manifestly incurring the Hazard of my Life and your Lordship's Reputation yet I hold my self obliged to give you the Import of them The one is intituled A Letter from a Burgher-master of Norinberg to a nameless Deputy of the Dyet of Ratisbonne and contains in Substance That Germany has no Reason to rejoice at the Progress of the Imperial Arms against the Infidels under a Pretence of Fear lest the Emperor's Power should increase to the prejudice of the Liberty of the German Potentates and other Dependants upon the Empire It does insinuate That as soon as he has Peace with the Turk he will have at least an Army of Fourscore Thousand Men all composed of his own Soldiers which he will not fail to quarter by fair or foul Means upon the Territories of the Electors other Princes of the Empire and the Free Cities And then would slily infuse in the Close a Terrour into the Germans of their being reduced to the same deplorable Condition as they were in the Year 1628. when they had none but the City of Stralsburg c. which yet by the help of the Swede withstood the whole Force of the Emperor Ferdinand II. Your Lordship knows the Story full well I need not relate it as you do how to make a solid Judgment of the Invalidity of these Whimwham Pretensions as well as to refute such Cobweb-Arguments The Second is much of the same Stamp only the Text is taken from the Progress of King William's Arms in Ireland From whence they would foolishly infer as in the former That his growing thus formidable foreboded no Good to the Nations round him to France I believe it does not and that not only England Scotland and Ireland but Holland too and even the Catholick Spanish Low-Countries ought to look about them since it was very manifest he had now formed a Design to reign with an Arbitrary and Despotick Power over all those Countries and more particularly the former of them notwithstanding all Pretensions of vindicating their Rights and restoring to them their lost Liberties and his present allowing to the Parliament seemingly a greater Extent of Authority than they enjoyed in former Times 'T is too impertinent to run through all the vain Repetitions used by them upon this Subject I shall therefore content my self to say in a Word there is a great deal more of the Ribaldry behind to the same purpose and that I 'll trouble your Lordship no longer with it Though I confess I could meet at this time with no better Entertainment for you who am yet proud of the Opportunity to caution my Country against any Snares laid for its Liberty from hence and overturning its Settlement by groundless and unseasonable Jealousies as I am always to acknowledge how much I am My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Devoted Servant Paris Octob. 12. 1691. N. S. LETTER XXIII Of the great Preparations made in France for the Carrying on the War against the Confederates in the Year 1692. My Lord 'T IS more the profound Respect I have always had and ever shall retain for your Lordship that makes me thus continue my Correspondence than the Weight of any Informations I am able to transmit from hence where things are managed with as much Application as the Contrivances are secret and mysterious I have in a former Letter hinted to your Honour That whatever Appearances there might be made for to dazzle the Eyes of the Confederates yet that Things were not really brought to that pass in France Which appears confirmed to me now Day by Day by the formidable Preparations that are even already made for the approaching Campaign of which let your Lordship be pleased to take such Particulars as I have been able to learn and whose Effects I wish the Confederates may seasonably obviate Our great Engineer here Mon. Vauban is lately gone by a secret Order to view Dinant Rocroy and other Frontier Places on that side where he has Orders to add as many
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
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
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
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
during the others Life and some time after an interview between both Queens was appointed to be at York but some accidents fell out that prevented it and though the Queen of Scots was afterwards detained in England for so many years together the causes whereof we are now a going to shew you yet they never saw one another all their days and because the Story of David Rizzio has so great a Connection with the Misfortunes of this Queen it will be necessary in this place to give you the Particulars of it This David Rizzio was born at Turin in Savoy his Father an honest poor Man that got a mean livelihood for himself and his Family by Teaching the Elements of Musick and having no other Patrimony to leave his Children he made them all of both Sexes skillful Musicians David was one of the number who being in the Prime of his Youth and having an excellent Voice was by his Skill in Musick raised up to the hopes of a better Fortune he went first to Nice where the Duke of Savoy then kept his Court but meeting with no entertainment there conformable to his hopes and contriving every way how to relieve him in his Penury he light upon one Morretius who by the Dukes Command was then preparing to go for the Kingdom of Scotland whom he followed thither but Morretius being himself a Man of no great Fortune and looking upon his Service as useless and unnecessary David resolved to stay in Scotland and try his Fortune there especially because he understood the Queen delighted in Musick and was not ignorant of the Rudiments thereof her self whereupon to make way into her Presence he first dealt with her Musicians of whom many were French to admit him to be one of their Society which they did and having plaid his part once or twice was liked very well whereupon he was introduced to be one of their Set or Company and he so complied with the Queen's Humour that what by flattering of her and what by undermining of others he grew into high Favour with her and into the extream Hatred of his Fellows neither did he Content himself with this favourable blast of Fortune but he held his equals in Contempt and by sundry Accusations wormed them out of their places and began to Treat about Matters of State and at last was made Secretary and by that means had private Converse with the Queen apart from others The sudden advance of this Man from a low and almost beggerly State to such Power Wealth and Grandeur afforded matter of Discourse to the People his Fortune was far above his Virtue and his Arrogance and Contempt of his Equals and Contention with Superiours did far exceed his Fortune and this Vanity and Madness of the Man was much augmented by the flattery of the Nobility who sought his Friendship Courted him and admired his Judgment walked before his Lodgings observing his Egress and Regress but the Earl of Murray alone the Queen 's base Brother but a Man of Virtue and Sobriety and such as had no Dissimulation in his Heart was so far from fawning on David that he gave him many a soure look which troubled the Queen as much as David himself Now about this time did Matthew Steward Earl of Lennox get leave of the Queen to return to Scotland with his Son Henry Lord Darnley a young Nobleman of an high Lineage and most goodly Personage being Cousin German to the Queen who received him very Courteously and delighting daily in his Society did at last resolve to Marry him David therefore to make his Party good against Murray applies himself with great Adulation to this young Gentleman who was to be the Queen's Husband so that he came to be so familiar with him as to be admitted to his Chamber and Bed side and to secret Conference with him where he perswaded him out of his unwary Credulity and forwardness to compass his desires that he was the chief occasion to make the Queen cast her Eye upon him besides he cast in Seeds of Discord between him and Murray every day as knowing that if he were removed he should pass the remainder of his Life without Affront or Disturbance and there being now much talk abroad not only of the Queen's Marriage with Darnley and his secret Recourse to her but also of the too great familiarity between her and David Rizzio Murray by his down-right dealing with her upon these accounts got nothing but her Hatred and so leaves the Court that he might not be thought the Author of what was acted there but the Queen finding that Murray was highly favoured of the People was so incensed against him that she hastened his long before designed end and the manner to accomplish it was thus Murray was to be sent for to Perth where the Queen was with a few Attendants there Darnley was to Discourse him and in the Conference they all knew he would speak his Mind freely and then a Quarrel would arise upon which David Rizzio was to give the first blow and then the rest were to wound him to Death Murray was made acquainted with this Conspiracy by his Friends at Court yet come what would he resolved to go but as he was on his Journey being again advertised of the design by Patrick Ruuen he turned aside to his Mother's House near Loch-Levin and being troubled with a Lask excused himself and staid there Thither some of his Friends came to visit him whereupon a Report was presently spread about that he staid there to intercept the Queen and Darnley in their return to Edenburgâ— upon this Horsemen were sent out but they discover'd no Men in Arms or sign of any force yet the Queen made such haste and was so fearful in this Journey as if some great danger had been at hand This hopeful Plot was the Preludium to the unhappy Marriage that soon after succeeded to which end a great part of the Nobility were called together at Sterlin that so the Queen might countenance her Will and Pâ—easure with some pretence of publick Consent most of those they sent for were such as they knew would easily give their Assent or else that durst not oppose 〈◊〉 many of those so Congregated assented to the motion provided always â—â—at no alteration should be made in the 〈◊〉 established Religion As for Murray he was not averse from the Marriage for he was the first Adviser that the young man should be called out of England but he foresaw what Tumult it would occasion if it were Celebrated without the Queen of England's Consent besides he promised to procure her Consent that so all things might go on favourably but perceiving there would be no freedom of Debate in that Convention he chose rather to be absent than to declare his Opinion which might prove destructive to himself and no way advantageous to the Commonwealth The Vulgar also were very free in their Debates about the freedom or not freedom of
severed her Head from her Body leaving only a little Gristle uncut without the least stir or motion of the Body and lifting up her Head said God Save our Queen her Lips moved for about a Quarter of an Hour after and her Head-Cloaths falling off her Head appeared as Grey as if shee had been Seventy years old whereas she was but Forty six Having thus brought this unhappy Queen to her fatal Catastrophe we now return to her Son James VI. who notwithstanding afterward his vain â—oast of his inherent Birth-right when he came to be King of England during her long Captivity in England being above 18 years possest her Throne in Scotland he was Born on the 19 th of June in the year 1566 and about Fourteen Months after Crowned King in his Mother's stead she being forced by the Nobles to resign to him The Kingdom during some part of his Minority was Governed by the Earl of Murray as Regent but he being murthered basely by one Hamilton at Lithgow Matthew Stuart Earl of Lenox the King's Grandfather was advanced into his room during whose Regency two Factions continued as before the one for the young King and the other for the Deposed Queen but by the means of Sir James Melvill and others the Queen was brought upon the point of Agreement with the Regent but the Earl of Morton returning to Court he and Randolph the English Ambassador suspecting the probability of such an apparent agreement which had been kept secret from them they fell a plotting which way to obstruct the same and resolved as the most probale means to have a Parliament convened and therein got all the Queens Lords forefaulted whereby the Regent should utterly ruin the ancient Families of the Hamiltons and this would afford a bait to every one of the King's Lords seeing they should be made sharers of the spoil and every one of them get wealth enough Mr. Randolph for their incouragement gave them assurance from England so as they needed not fear any resistance from their Adversaries and Morton to clench the Nail First represented in Council that the Queen's Lords had an intention to re-establish Popery upon which Allegation he knew he would make them odious to the generality of the People and upon their being Forefaulted that each of them should have a share of the said Lord's Estates which brought the Council readily to consent to a Parliament to be held at Sterling to the same purpose The Queen's Lords to be even with them held another Parliament at Edenburgh at the same time and with the same Design of Forefaulting as the King's Lords in the mean time the Laird of Grainge was highly concerned at those violent proceedings wherefore he sent for the Laird of Fer in haste and Buccleugh to come to him one Evening to Edenburg with a good Guard along with them and tell them according to the projection had already devised that that same Night after they had Supped and fed heir Horses they should ride with them to Sterling so as to be there early in the Morning before any of the Lords who held the Parliament were out of their Beds hoping by the Intelligence he had received assuredly to surprize them before they could be advertised thereof the Project they all readily agreed to but they would not allow Grange to go along with them for fear any disaster should befall him who was the Life of them all and so on they march under the Leading of the Earl of Huntley and some others and were got to Sterling by Four next Morning whereinto they entred by a little passage being conducted by a Townsman one George Bell which entry of theirs was immediately after their Night watches had retired to their Rest they divided their Men into several Partys and appointed such as they thought meetest at every Lord's Lodgings leaving one body under Capt. Hackerston at the Market-Cross to see good Order kept and to prevent any spoil to be committed only they ordered the Stables to be searched and all the Horses in the Town to be carried away which was punctually executed but because Captain Hackerstown did not come in due time with his Company to attend at the Market-Cross according to appointment a Company of unruly Servants broke open the Shops and run up and down to take what spoil they could get in the mean while after they had taken out all the Lords from their Lodgings and were leading of them prisoners down the steep Causey of Sterling on foot intending to take them Horses at the Nether-Gate and to ride to Edenburg with their Captives those within the Castle hearing the noise of the Townsmen crying out because of the plundering of their Houses and considering what a disgrace it would be to them if they did not shew themselves Men upon such an occasion they Sallied out boldly and perceiving the disorder of the Enemy rescued all the Prisoners saving the Regent whom one shot in the Back at the Command as was alleged of the Lord Pachey he died of the Wound some days after The next Regent was the Earl of Mar the Discord still continued His Government held not long for being one day invited to Dinner by the Earl of Morton he returned home and sickned died soon after not without vehement suspicion of having been poisoned at his Banquet Morton came in after him Regent the Division between the Lords not yet made up some Overtures of an Accommodation were made but the Queen's Lords finding the Regent not sincere in all Respects refused the Agreement and were at last Besieged in Edinburgh Castle by an English Army which they surrendred upon Articles that were basely broke and most of them executed The King now growing up began to hate the Regent he being aware of it â—ed those about him to infuse in him a good Opinion of him but in vain and so a Council was appointed at Edenburg wherein it was agreed to Depose him Morton thereupon retires to the House of Lochleven within the Lough for his greater security but while he was there his Head was continually a plodding how he might again become Master of the Court then at Sterling which he accomplished in the dead of one night in this manner When he came to the Gates of the Castle they were opened to him by the two Abbots and a Faction they had drawn in there with them though the Master of Mar and Earl of Argyle made what resistance they could yet Morton prevailed but handled the matter so discreetly and moderately as possible he could that the alteration might not appear to be over sharp or violent but the Lord Aubonie about that same time coming into Scotland from France which Lord was afterward Created Duke of Lennox and was Brothers Son to the late Earl of Lennox He and James Steward of Oghiltrie did in a short time gain the ascendency over the King's Affections who was like a Tennis-Ball tossed from one Favourite to another
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
contrived that the Earl of March should give him an invitation to be at the place two or three days before the time under pretence that the preparations he had made of Wild Meats and other things for his Reception would be spoiled if he came not somewhat sooner than the appointed day a silly excuse but on he goes contrary to the advice of some about him who were sensible of the inconveniencies that might attend it especially since the Lords whom he had summoned could not be there so soon and when he arrived at St. Andrews he took up his Lodgings at an old Inn whose greatest security was the Yard Dykes of little consideration Melvil who saw the vanity of such doings goes to the Provost to see what force he could make for the Kings security in case he were exposed to any danger who answered very few and those not to be relied upon but returning to the King and believing that the Proclamation had been made that no Man should come to the Convention unsent for he found the Abbot of Dumfermling and the Earl of Marshal there the Abbot who was of the contrary Faction yet did by his Wit and Dissembling Practices so manage the King that the Proclamation was not only stopped but Missive Letters sent to the rest of the Nobility to come but under the Restriction that each Nobleman should come attended with no more than two Persons Some of his Adherents who foresaw this would unravel the whole design reminded him of the danger and advised him to retire into the Castle which they could not persuade him to do till after Supper Next day all the Lords as well written as unwritten for came to St. Andrews the latter strongly armed and the others not The Abbot who was with the King in the Castle pretending all manner of Zeal for his Service advised him to let none of the Lords come within the Castle accompanied with any more than twelve Persons which tho' he were now in a place of security if well managed had like to have brought him again into a State of Captivity for the next morning the Castle was full of Men and the contrary Party being well Armed had already possest themselves of the Stair-Head and Galleries resolving a second time to be Masters of the King and all his Followers but the Earl of March his Gentlemen with the Provosts Men and some others got thither with such diligence that the design was rendered Abortive for that time so that next day the King for fear of a further surprise gave them fair Words promising all alike there of his Favour and Protection which for the time seemed to give Contentment to all the parties In the mean while the Earl of Arran got the Favour to be confined in his own House at Kinneall from whence he sends to Congratulate his Majesty's safe deliverance begging leave to come to Court to kiss the King's Hand which for the time was deninied but he still persisting in his Sollicitation by the help of some Friends and promising to make no manner of stay but to withdraw again to his Habitation the King whose Affections were still towards him and Born it seems to be ruled by others tho' he could not chuse but know he was obnoxious to the whole Kingdom and had been a principal Cause of the King 's former confinement grants him leave the Earl had no sooner access no more thought of his Promise but staid not only at Court but in a short time altered all the ways of procedure with a design to draw the management of all publick Affairs to himself as before this was a great mortification to many about the King and Colonel Steward resented it highly saying That if his Majesty suffered that Villain to remain at Court he would yet again undo all but at last they were reconciled and became great Friends and from henceforward the Earl managed the King Council and all other Affairs of the Kingdom as despotically as if he had been Grand Signior or Mayor of the Palace in France the King was easily induced by him to spend most of his time a Hunting and to be content with whatever Relation he gave him of the Publick Affairs and when he had gained this point he bent his whole force for to ruin the Ruthwen Road Lords notwithstanding the Publick Faith given them for their Indemnity Queen Elizabeth about this time sent to King James a sharp Letter concerning his mismanagement of his Affairs and promised to send Sir Francis Walsingham into Scotland by whom she said she intended to deal with him as an Affectionate Sister and one from whom he might see he should receive Honour and Contentment with more safety to himself and Kingdom than by following the pernicious Councils of those crafty dissembling Advisers about him but there was nothing could stop the career of this mighty Favourite Arran who obtains the Government of Sterling-Castle to the rest and banished several Noblemen as the Earls of Mar Angus c. and by his insolent behaviour drove the Noble Earl of Gawry and almost all other honest Men from Court at length Walsingham arrived who after he had been with the King and pursued his Instructions prepared to return home Arran would fain have entred into a familiar Conference with him but Sir Francis disdained to speak with him the other enraged with the conceived affront and finding no other way of Revenge but what must bring great dishonour upon the King a poor tool to suffer it gave Orders that the Captains of Berwick and several worthy Gentlemen who came to convoy Secretary Walsingham should not be suffered to enter into the King's Presence-Chamber and not content herein when the King had ordered a rich Diamond to the value of 700 Crowns to be given to the Secretary instead thereof the Earl puts a scornful Present upon him of a Ring with a Chrystal stone sett therein only a Presumption undoubtedly that Harry 8. would have punisheed with the loss of his Head had the Earl been his Subject but this way of procedure was so far from exciting the King to vindicate his own Honour which was abominably blemish'd hereby that when he was determined to go to Edenburg to call a Convention of the Estates more Honours must be put upon the Earl for to that of the Government of Sterling-Castle already in his Hands was added that of Edenburg Castle the two most important Fortresses in the Kingdom and least a Military Power was not yet sufficient both for his Greatness and Security he gets himself Declared Lord Chancellor and so Head of the Civil Power in the Kingdom and now he Triumphs making the whole Subjects tremble under him and by daily seeking out and inventing new crimes against others to get their Lands and Possessions several of the Nobility he banished but more especially shot directly at the Earl of Gawrey's Life and Estate but the Earl could not be content to Domineer as he
pleased over the King 's Natural Subjects but he must mock and deride with the ignorant multitude the Danish Ambassadors also and use them with all the despight imaginable for it seems they knowing his former meanness in Swedeland made no great Court to him which raised his Fury this was quickly perceived by some about the King whom the Earls Practices and Insolence had disobliged and who failed not to let the King know it and for all the Earls Ascendency made him somewhat to decline in Favour which another accident gave a helping hand to for Sir Francis Russell upon some disorders that fell out upon the Borders happening to be slain of the English side Mr. Woton the English Ambassador who stood in competition with the Earl for the King's Favour took occasion to lay the blame upon him alledging that the Laird of Fernihast who was Warden of the Scots Borders had Married the Earl of Arran's Brothers Daughter and that the said Earl had caused the slaughter to be committed that the Borders might break loose Wotton was seconded by others in this complaint so effectually that the Earl was committed prisoner to the Castle of St. Andrews where having remained for a few days he got by the intercession of the Master of Gray whom he won with fair promises to be his Friend It 's strange he should find any who had disobliged every Body leave to retire to his own House and here the King played a Noble prank but whether he used it as Lex talionis for the sham-Ring Arran had put upon Walsingham as aforesaid and which he durst not otherwise punish I am not certain but it looks like his little tricks which notwithstanding he dignified with the name of Kingcraft for when the Earl was upon his journey homeward he sends to him with all possible diligence for to lend him a great Gold Chain which he knew he had got from Sir James Belfour which weighed 57 Crowns to be given to the Danish Ambassadors which if the Earl had refused to do he would it's likely have lost the King and in delivering of it he lost his Chain Arran being thus retired makes several attempts to recover his former station and the King it was observed retained a Favour for him and would have been content to have Himself and Kingdom still Governed by him he was once again admitted to Court but others had stepped in and the King had not power to remove them so that the Earl after long retirement and discontent was surprized at last by James Douglass at Parkhead and slain by him in revenge of the death of the Earl of Morton his Unkle and but little care taken to punish the same many thinking it indeed strange that he should be permitted so long to live who had carried it so arrogantly and insolently towards all Men in the time of his Ascendency at Court but several other Accidents intervened before the Earls Exit The next Man that had the chief Credit and Management of Affairs was Mr. Wotton the English Ambassador but tho' the King begun now to be Governed by a Favourite and a Forreiner under this Character yet it did not end here as you shall hear by and by when the Scene is transplanted into England Wotton knew as well as any Man alive how to humour him in his pleasures and such familiar access had he at all times to his Person that he attempted to have brought in the banished Lords whose Interest he had espoused not without the direction to be sure of the English Court secretly into his presence in the Parish of Sterling at such a time as they should have so many Friends at Court that he must have remained once more at their Devotion but all things did not so concur as to put this Enterprize in practice so it was laid aside and Mr. Wotton essayed a Second but more desperate attempt which was to Kidnap Jemmy out of the foresaid Park into England see Sir James Melvill but Sir Robert Melvill coming to a timeous Knowledge hereof took measures to prevent it which made the English Ambassador withdraw home without bidding of them once a good night the Lords for all this enter the Borders being assisted by the Lords Hamilton Maxwel Hume and several others and advance to the number of Three thousand Men towards Sterling entring the Town without any opposition where they were no sooner arrived but there appear'd two Factions with the King in the Castle the one favouring the Lords whose part the King took as if he had really desired the Lords should have come thither in this manner to tear his Minions from his Heart and so once more the King is in their Power which they exercised with great moderation only a few were committed for the present to the custody of some Noblemen and so a Parliament was called as the best expedient to heal all their breaches Things continued in some sort of Concord for a little while and the Convicting and Beheading of the Queen his Mother in England seemed to possess all their Minds with amazement at the Fact for the present tho' I do not find he did at all resent it but this was no sooner over but there appears a new Faction at Court headed by the Earl of Huntley whose aim was at the removing of the Master of Gray and Maitland the Chancellor with their Adherents but finding it was not so easily to be effected Huntley Bothwell and others contrived to seize the King's Person and to keep him in their custody but this proving Abortive the noise of the Spanish Invasion which was dreaded in Scotland as well as in England seemed to lay all Animosâ—tâ—es aside for the present but this blowing over the King's Thoughts seemed to be taken all up about Marrying the Sister of the King of Denmark was the Lady proposed and Queen Elizabeth consulted with thereupon who disswaded him therefrom and said she had Interest with the King and Princess of Navarr and that she would imploy the same for effectuating of a Marriage between him and the said Princess but the King was bent upon the former and because he found the Chancellor and some others oppose it he could not or would not be seen openly to controul them but dealt secretly with some of the Deacons of the Craftsmen of Edenburg to form a Mutiny against the Chancellor and some of the Council threat'ning to kill them in case the Marriage with the Daughter of Denmark were hindred or any longer delayed whereupon the Earl of Marshal was sent thither with Power to Treat about the said Marriage but withal in so stinted and limited a degree contrived by the Craft of the Chancellor and his Faction that he was necessitated to send the Lord Dinguall back from thence to desire either liberty to return hence or to have sufficient Power to conclude the Treaty when he came he hapned to find the King at Aberdeen without the Chancellor c so
length makes his escape over the Castle-Wall and retired to Cathness where being strengthned by other Male-contents who were desirous to fish in troubled Waters he attempts to surprize the King and to kill the Chancellor his inveterate Enemy and to that end enters the King's Palace one Night late about Supper time by the passage of an old Stable not without secret intelligence of some about the King's Person assoon as they had got within the close of the Palace they cried Justice Justice a Bothwell a Bothwell and had infallibly been Masters of the whole had it not been that James Douglass who was one of them after he had taken the Keys from the Porters entred into the Pastery Lodge to relieve some of his Servants who were detained there upon suspicion of having an hand in the slaughter of his Father the old Laird of Spot where the Porters made some resistance which occasioned a noise and tumult sooner than the Enterprizers had designed the King Chancellor and others were horribly allarmed at this and knew not what to do Bothwell with Mr. John Colvill and others made directly to the Queen's Chamber door where they supposed the King to be but the Door was valiantly defended by Harry Linsâ—y Of Kilfans Master of the Queens Houshold but the Earl prevailing at last broke open the Doors with Hammers and Colvill brought Fire to burn it the King in the mean time was conveyed to the Tower above the said Chamber the Chancellor who was in his Hall at Supper when he heard the first noise sled unto his Chamber and made the door fast upon him shutting out Sir Robert Melvill who supped along with him and who was forced to retire to another empty House where he continued all the while out of harms way and the Chancellor with his Servants that continually shot out of the Windows made such a resistance as that the Assailants were forced to retire Melvill says that when they first entred into the Palace he was at Supper with the Duke of Lennox who immediately took his Sword in hand and would have rushed upon the Enemy but having no company and finding the place already full of the Enterprizers they were forced to fortify their Doors and Stairs with Tables Forms and Stools and be spectators of all that hurly-burly for the space of an Hour together hearing and beholding by Torch-light out of the Duke's Gallery their reeling and rumbling with Halberts clashing their Culverins and Pistols the blows of their Malls and Hammers and crying continually for Justice now there was a passage between the Chancellor's Chamber and the Duke of Lennox's by a pair of Stairs by which the Chancellor came up and desired admittance in to the Duke the Duke by Sir James Melvill's advice told the Chancellor that for himself he was welcome to enter in but desir'd he would cause his Men to stay at the nether Door and resist as long as they could this the Chancellor took in ill part and so retired again to his own Chamber but in the mean time while all these things were in agitation word was brought to Sir Andrew Melvill Master of the King's Houshold of the enterprize and danger the King and Chancellor was in without speedy relief who procuring all the succor that the time would permit from the Cannon Gate and knowing there was a secret passage through the Abby into the Palace entred with his Men by the same in Armour whereof when the Earl of Bothwell and his followers had notice they stole silently through the Galleries unto that part where they first entred the Palace and chancing in their retreat to meet with John Shaw the King 's Master-Stabler they slew him and his Brother being in a rage that their enterprize had met with such bad success however some of them were taken by Sir Andrew and executed the day following The King almost dead with fear would stay no longer at Dalkeith but in all haste gets to Edinburgh where continual Plots were laid to surprize him and such enmity arose among the Courtiers and more especially among the Duke of Lennox and the Chancellor that it must have a King of other guess courage than King James for to reconcile and compose them the Chancellor one while being forced to retire but brought in again and ruled the roast afresh but it was not long before private Animosities engendring publick Calamities had like to have brought the King into greater danger than any wherewith he had been hitherto menaced for the Earl of Huntley was at variance with the Earl of Murray the Earls of Caâ—â—huâ—st and Sunderland together by the Ears and the Lords Hamilton and Angus at great strife which discord was chiefly occasioned because most of them had obtained Commissions with large Priviledges over other Lands as well as over their own and this at last terminated in an open hostility when the Council was advertised hereof they set a day wherein first the Earls of Murray and Huntley should appear there being a Gentleman of the Name of Gourdon shot by the Earl of Murray out of the House of Farnue both parties came strongly attended and for fear of mischief were ordered to keep their Lodgings lest any tumult should arise the Chancellor who now managed all Affairs advised the King to require Security from both the Earls for their good behaviour for the future to keep them both asunder by detaining the one at Court for a time and sending the other home but Sir James Melvill was for a present Agreement between both Parties and judged the King might easily effect it but the Chancellor taunted so at Sir James for his advice that he was forced to give way and so Huntley according to the Chancellor's project was sent home who now wanting his Competitor so triumphed and took so many advantages over the Earl of Murray's Land as gave him just occasion of complaint but meeting with no redress to his grievance he retired from Court and grew so discontented that he fell in with the designs of the Earl of Bothwell who was still a hatching of mischief Huntley came no sooner to know that his Adversary was an Outlaw with the Earl of Bothwell but he returned again to Court with a design to gain some further advantage over him but the Lord Ochiltrie with the King's consent endeavoured to accommodate Matters between them and make them Friends and so Murray was brought to a place called Dunibirsil as being near at hand for the better effectuating of an agreement Huntley hearing of his arrival applys himself to the King for a Commission to pursue the Earl of Bothwell and all his Adherents with Fire and Sword which the King grants him and being armed with this Power the first thing he does was to Murder the Earl of Murrey his Adversary at the foresaid place which it seems was his own House this horrid Fact was generally regretted and the granting of such a Commission was justly interpreted
to be a breach of Faith in the King and himself to be charged with being Author of the said Murder but none resented it so highly as the Lord Ochiltrie who took such despight that his Friend should be slain during a time of Treaty that he solemnly Declared he took part with the Earl of Bothwell and divers others in revenge of his Quarrel encouraging the said Earl to assassinate the King within his Palace of Falkland having several at Court familiar enough with the King who guided him at pleasure to favour the said Conspiracy but things could not be carried with that Secrecy but that some about him got intelligence of the Design and advised him for his own safety to pass over to Coupar and with all expedition to Assemble the Barons of Fife for his own safety but such as had contrived his Ruin perswaded him to stay alledging that the Earl of Louthian would not come from Louthian till such a day tho he kept to his time and came to Falkland two days sooner according to appointment and this they did with a design to have surprized the King before he could either have entred within the Tower of Falkland or making any tolerable Provision for his own Defence and because they knew Sir James Melvill and his Brother Sir Robert might be some obstruction to the Design they advised the King to send them home to their Houses the very same night that they uuderstood the Earl of Bothwell purposed to be there but before the Brothers departed they advised the King to ride quietly to Bambrigh that from thence he might when he pleased take Boat and go over to Angus where he would have leisure to Assemble Forces out of Perth and Dundee with the adjacent Countrys but this advice was also rejected Sir Roberâ— upon the Road homewards had notice given given him by one of Bothwell's gang that he was already got as far as Fife and would be in Falkland about Supper time who forthwith dispatched his Gentleman whose Name was Robert Aufleck to acquaint his Majesty therewith and to desire him to go into the Tower with all expedition but they called him Fool and laughed him to scorn for his pains and so he left them in great discontent but upon his return he met Bothwell and his followers upon the height of Lammonds it being by this time dark night and so struck in with them as if he had been one of the gang and used great diligence to get first to the King shutting the Court Gate after him upon his entrance he urged the King to get into the Tower with utmost expedition which at length he did and so for this time escaped also for tho Bothwell came well provided of all things for forcing the Palace where he thought to surprize the King and tho' it was alledged some shot Paper only out of the Culverins in the Tower upon Bothwell's Men yet others shot Bullets which together with the fear he was in lest the Country might come caused him to retire and flee none pursuing them The Assassination failing this terminated in open Rebellion Bothwell associating himself with the Popish Lords the more to strengthen his Party who for a time prevailed but at last were necessitated to go beyond Sea and Bothwell several years after died at Naples but no sooner was one fear over but comes on another but of a different nature the King you have heard before plaid the Knight-Errant rather than be without a Wife who was Anne Sister to the King of Denmark a Lady that bears a fair Character in the Annals of Time tho' I find one say of her that she was a Person he heard little of saving that Character which Salust gives Sempronia that she could Saltare elegantius quam necesse est probae See had about two years before bore him a Son Prince Henry to whom the King assigned the Earl of Marr Governor now the Queen 't is not known upon what design nor well by whose agency and Promotion laid a project in the King's absence to surprize the Prince and take him out of the Earl's hands but the King 's suddain arrival from Faulkland to Edenburg and taking the Queen away along with him to Sterlin rendred the Project abortive Hower it were the very projection put King James into no small Bodily fear as appears by the following Letter he writ to the Earl of Marr upon that occasion which is recited by Sanderson in his Life of King James My Lord of Mar BEcause in the security of my Son mine is Conserved and my Concredit of his Charge to you upon Trust of your Honour and Honesty This I Command as singly and solely of my self being in Company of those I like not that upon any Charge or Necessity that possibly come from me you shall not deliver him and in case that God call me at any time see you that neither for the Queen nor for the Estates Pleasure you deliver him out of your hands till he be 18 years of Age and that then he Command you himself James Rex This Court juggle and jealousie was followed by a more dangerous one from the Presbytery who met at Edinburg to treat of their Ecclesiastical Affairs and some other matters that came under their Consideration but the Kings Sentiments and theirs were as remote as East and West which produced such Heats and Factions that the King dissolves the Convention they stand stifly to it and meet for all that several Lords espouse their Cause at last the King truckles and was willing to come to an Accommodation but to shew the Image of Authority first asked Who they were that durst Convene against his Proclamation but his Mouth was quickly stopped by the Lord Linsay's reply saying That they durst do more than so and would not endure Destruction of Religion and by the Nobles crying out Arm others Bring forth Haman and some the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon it made the King and his Council flee from Edenburg to Linlithgo but futy by degrees began to cool and some Concessions of all sides introduced a little Tranquillity in the State and some Remissions of the Kings Fears but the Revolution of about two years ushered in that memorable Conspiracy of the Earl of Gowry which because not foreign from the scope of the present Treatise and by reason of the Barbarity and Tragical circumstances thereof as well as it has been the subject of the discourse of many but hardly a Man to be met with that can give the true state of it I shall endeavour to oblige the Reader with a distinct and impartial Narrative of the same even according to what the Court Party and King's Favourites have related concerning it Sanderson in his Life and Death of King James says the Surname of the Earls of Gowry was Ruthven and a Family of small account till Anno 1568. when the chief of them among other Confederates endeavoured to Imprison Mary
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
rising in Wales were soon beaten so were the Surry Essex and Kentish Forces without any reinforcements from him as was designed and when he Landed some forces for the relief of Deal-Castle they were vanquished almost as soon as Landed This with the taking of Colchester by Sir Thomas Fairfax sent him back again to his Sister the Princess of Orange to the Hague Here it was that he was first Entertained with the horrible news of his Father's Tragical death and then saluted by the name of King but a forlorn Man and without any Subjects to govern for now the Rump Parliament ruled the Roast in England and had assumed to themselves the Supream power of the Nation by the name and title of the Commonwealth of England but this procedure of theirs did not relish well with the Scotch Covenanters and especially now they found that those Persons in the English Parliament that had been most forward in establishing the Solemn League and Covenant between both Nations were not only laid aside but clapt up into nasty PRISONS Wherefore being willing to lay hold on any Twig the Scots resolve not to put up the supposed injury tamely but to try their Fortune with the Rump by Arms and to that end agree to invite the King over to take Possession of his ancient Kingdom of Scotland but yet tye him so by vertue of the Treaty with him to take their Solemn League and Covenant as a Testimony of his sorrow for his Father's Sins and to banish all those out of his Court who would not take the Covenant or bare Arms for his Father But they could not have found a Plant as Mr. Coke observes more unlikely to produce the Fruit of Repentance or to establish Presbytery than himself however over Shooes over Boots prepare he does to waft himself over for Scotland To be a King in fact he desired above all other things and in June 165O landed at the Spey in the North having scaped a scouring for some of the Rump Ships lay in wait for him as he passed the Sea and narrowly mist him In some time after he was solemnly Crowned at Scone but alass it was no long-liv'd Dignity and he had but little Joy of his Crown for Cromwel had entred Scotland with the English Army and having beaten the Scots in several smaller Rencounters did at last upon the 8 of September utterly overthrow the much more numerous Kirk Army at Dunbar commanded by old General Lesley killing 3000 of them in the Battle and pursuit and taking 9000 Prisoners with all their Baggage and Ammunition with above 200 Colours To augment these Miseries the King who was very squeamish in Religion and could not submit to the rigid discipline of the Kirk runs from Scone towards the High-lands after whom ran Montgomery promising if he would return the Kirk would remit part of the Discipline and so he came to St. John's Town But here was no lasting Tranquillity for him for tho' in this time he raised a very numerous Army yet the Kirkmen being beaten at Dunbar as aforesaid by the English began to rail bitterly against those who had called the King in too hastily before he had given true signs of Repentance and they assumed the Kingly Authority so far as to make such Generals of the Kirk Army as they thought sit But Cromwel in the mean time prevails in his Conquests and tho' Scotland were a cold Climate yet he made it too hot for the King and his Army to hold long there and therefore he slips with them to England by the way of Carlile but was followed close at the heels by Lambert and Harrison and soon after by Cromwel himself with the main Army But he arrived at Worcester City with little opposition and there Cromwel came up with him where they joyned Battle but as all his attempts before in his Fathers Cause had proved succesless he met with no better Fortune now he fought in his own Cause nor indeed hardly ever did in all his Life-time by Arms for here his Army was utterly Routed by Cromwel that very day twelve Month he had beaten the Scots at Dunbar 3550 whereof were killed with Duke Hamilton and General Forbes and 5000 taken Prisoners of which number were the Earls of Rothes Kanworth and Kelly the Lords Sinclaer and Monâ—gomery General of the Ordinance and soon after David Lesley who fought not or but little in the Battle was Routed by Colonel Lilburn and together with Lauderdale the Lords Kenmoure and Middleton taken Prisoners The poor King seeing all now irrecoverably lost about six in the Evening marched out at St Martin's Gate leaving all that was valuable but his Life behind him as a prey to the Enemy and being come to a place called Barbon-Bridge he consults with the few followers he had with him what to do among whom it was resolved he should endeavour to get back into Scotland and one Walker who belonged to the Lord Talbots Troop was made choise of to be his Guide Northward But Walker being at a loss when he came to Kinver-Heath and not knowing which way to go the King consulted with the Lords yet about him whither he might repair with most safety to take a few hours rest in regard he found himself quite worn out and spent whereupon the Earl of Derby advised him to go to Bosoobel where in his Flight from Wiggan to Worcester he met with a trusty Person and where there was great conveniency of Concealment This being agreed to Mr. Gifford who knew the way best was appointed to conduct him thither but he proposing to carry him first to White-Ladies a house about half a mile from Boscobel where he might repose himself a while and then take farther Resolutions this was consented to and thither they immediately repaired and were readily entertained by George Pendrel the youngest of the five Brethren By this time the King found himself extream hungry and very much tired with his long and hasty march and here it was that he rubbed his hands and face with the foot of the Chimney had the locks of his hair disorderly cut off and was stripped of his blew Ribbon buff Câ—at and other Princely Ornaments which to prevent a discovery were buryed under Ground and his Case now was not imparallell to his Great Ancestor Robert Bruce King of Scotland who for fear of Edward I. King of England was forced to sculk in the High-Lands and there to live for a time more like a Brute Beast then a Man much less a Prince as we have noted towards the beginning of this History The Kings fine Shirt was also exchanged for a course Canvass one borrowed of one Martin and a suit of Cloaths answerable to it of Richard Pendrells put on by him and then he assumes the name and imployment of a Woodman and so with Richard with a Bill in his hand he went into the Wood while the other Brothers went out to scout It was not above
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
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