with his Queen his Son and the remainder of his dispersed friends secured himself by flight into Scotland James Kennedy Bishop of Saint Andrews to whose person the Authority of the State was then reduced received him with Magnificence and Honour and put him in hopes by the Assistance of Scotland to restore his fortune King Henry as well to reserve some Refuge and Sanctuary for himself as to win the heart and insinuate himself in the favour of the People of Scotland caused render the Town of Berwick to them which the English had violently possessed since the days of Edward the First For which favour the Scottish Nobility vowed at all times to come to his supply and defend him to their uttermost and that the friendship begun might continue without all vacillation the Queens of Scotland and England both descended of the French Race began to treat of an Alliance promising Edward Prince of Wales should be married with the Lady Margaret the King of Scotlands Sister none of them then having attained the years of Marriage The miseries of King Henry encreasing suffered not these two Queens to stay long together Margaret with her Son Edward to implore the aid of her Friends maketh a Voyage towards France to her Father Rhene King of Sicily Naples and Jerusalem Duke of Anjou a Prince large of Titles short of Power These who had followed King Henry into Scotland whilest he is left only intentive to devotion in the Cloyster of the Gray-Fryers at Edenburgh return back again to solicite their Friends in England for a second rencounter Upon the arrival of Queen Margaret in France she obtaineth of her cousin Lewis the Eleventh that those who favoured and assisted the Duke of York were prohibited Traffique and commanded to remove out of the French Dominions and that Five hundred Soldiers should come to her aid a number so small and so unworthy the name of an Army that it was but a competent retinue for so great a Princess with these she came to the coast of Scotland and from thence sailed to Tinmouth where being impulsed by the Inhabitants and forced again to put to Sea she was by a furious Tempest driven to Berwick Here leaving the Prince her Son Edward with the encrease and supply of some Scots taking the King her Husband with her she advanced into the Bishoprick of Durham in her march through Northumberland her Army encreased to a great number The Duke of Somerset Sir Ralph Piercy and divers of King Henrys well-wishers having resorted unto her King Edward finding King Henry by the fresh air of the North to have acquired new Spirits prepareth to oppose him and having sent down the Lord Mountague Brother to the Earl of Warwick he himself with greater Forces shortly followed Mountague having through the Shires where he went and the Bishoprick of Durham gathered a convenient Army marched directly against King Henry In the mean time Henry Beaufort Duke of Somerset the Lords Hungerford Ross Moulines Sir Ralph Piercy present themselves to hinder his further progress They are overthrown and King Henry with great difficulty escapeth to Berwick At the news of this overthrow King Edward being in his March towards Durham finding the presence of his Person or Army needless turned towards York and gave the Earl of Warwick command to take in all the Castles and Fortresses which as yet held good for King Henry in the North. Amongst the Garrisons placed in Northumberland by the Queen there was a Garrison of the French in the Castle of Anwick under the Command of Peter Bruce otherwise named le Seigneur de la Varoune Seneschal of Normandy which held long good against the English This Peter Bruce was in great account with Charles the Seventh Father to Lewis the Eleventh and for this was not much liked of Lewis but sent over with Queen Margaret to make wrack upon apparent dangers having escaped Tempests at Sea he took the Castles of Bambrough and Dunstanbrough which he demolished After he essayed to keep the Castle of Anwick but the Earl of Warwick King Edward lying near to Durham there beleagured him Whether this man came from the Race of the Bruces of Scotland or no is uncertain for the vulgar Writers in this detract him naming him Bryce and a Breton or that the Scots would give a proof of their friendship to the Queen of England and of their valour to the French whilst he is every where beset and near past hope of relief the Earl of Anguss then Warden of the Marshes raised a Power of twenty three thousand horse-men remarkable for their Valour These about the midst of the day coming near the Castle of Anwick and by their colours and arms being known a far to Captain Bruce he taketh a resolution to sally out and meet them the strongest of the Scottish Horsemen receiving them convoy them safely to their Borders some of the Besiegers would have fought in the pursuit but the English General gave him fair passage King Edward having taken all the Castles and Forts which in the North held out against him placing Garrisons in them returned to London as King Henry void both of counsel and courage came back to Edenburgh Here he had not long stayed when tired with the tediousness of his exile the prolonging of a wretched life being more grievous to him than death it self and allured by false hopes of his Friends he resolveth to hazard upon a return to his own Kingdom his Crown lost all his Favorers and well-wishers almost slaughtered he cometh into England then disguised and by night journies shifting from place to place at last betrayed by some of his Servants he is found out It is recorded a Son of Sir Edward Talbots apprehended him as he sate at Dinner at Wadding Town-hall and like a Common Malefactor with his Legs under the horse belly guarded him up towards London By the way the Earl of Warwick met him who led him Prisoner to the Tower Margaret his desolate Queen with her Son is driven once again to flie to their Father Rhene into France King Edward his Competitors all dead or suppressed finding a Cessation of Arms expedient and a breathing time from War to settle and make sure his new Government as to other his neighbour Princes for Peace sendeth Embassadors to Scotland to treat for a Truce for some years The Earl of Argile Bishop of Glasgow Abbot of Holy-rood-house Sir Alexander Boyd Sir William Cranstoun being chosen to this effect Commissioners come to York and the English Commissioners there attending them a Truce for fifteen years is agreed upon and solemnly by both Kings after confirmed Mary Queen of Scotland daughter to Arnold Duke of Gilders and mother to King James the projected Marriage of her Daughter with Edward Prince of Wales by the miseries of King Henry and Queen Margaret her kinswoman proving desperate her Son Alexander either as he went to the Low-Countries to see his Grand-father or returned from him
Princes testifying the same by the Letters which contained That Edward the eldest Son of Edward the Fourth who succeeded his Father in the Crown by the Name of Edward the Fifth was Murthered by Richard Duke of Gloucester their unnatural Uncle but Richard the younger Son his Brother by the Man who was employed to execute that Tragedy making report to the Tyrant that he had performed his command for both Brethren was saved and with speed and secrecy convoyed to Tourney there conceal'd and brought up by his Fathers Sister Margarite Dutches of Burgundy That King James should acknowledge this for Truth and friendly assist this young Man who was that very Richard Duke of York to recover his Inheritance now most unjustly Usurped and Possessed by Henry Tuder Earl of Richmond That the right of Kings extended not only to the safe preservation of their own but also to the Aid of all such Allies as change of time and State have often hurled down from Crowns to undergo an exercise of sufference in both fortunes and Kings should repossess Kings wrongfully put from their own As his Predecessors to whose royal vertues he was heir had repossessed Henry the Sixth King of England spoyled of his Kingdom and distressed by which Charity obliging all vertuous Princes unto him he should find ever as his own Maximilian of Bohemia Charles of France and Margarite Dutchess Dowager of Burgundy King James graciously receiving this young man told him That whatsoever he were he should not repent him of putting himself into his hands and from that time forth though many gave Informations against him as a counterfeit entertained him every way as a Prince embraced his quarrel and seiling both his own eyes and the eyes of the World he gave consent that this Duke should take to Wife Lady Katherine Gordoun daughter to the Earl of Huntley which some thought he did to increase the Factions of Perkins in England stir the discontented Subjects against King Henry and to encourage his own Subjects to side on his quarrel Not long after in person with this Duke of York in his Company who assured him of powerful Assistance he entred with an Army into Northumberland but not one Man coming to side with them the King turned his enterprize into a Road and after he had spoiled the Country returned to Scotland It is said that Perkin acting the part of a Prince handsomely where he saw the Scots pillaging and wasting of the Country came to the King and in a deplorable manner requested him to spare his afflicted people that no Crown was so dear to his Mind as that he desired to purchase it with the blood and ruine of his People whereunto King James answered He was ridiculously careful of an interest another man possessed and which perhaps was none of his The King of England who delighted more to draw treasure from his People than to hazard the spilling of their Blood to revenge the predatory war of the Scots and find out Perkin requireth a subsidy of his Subjects and though few believed he would follow so far a flying Hart he was Levying a puissant Army No sooner this Subsidy began to be collected amongst the Cornish-men when they began to grudge and murmur and afterwards rebelled which when it was understood of the King he retained the Forces raised for his own service and use In the mean time dispatching the Earl of Surrey to the North to attend the Scots incursions whilst the Cornish-men are in their March towards London King James again entred the Frontiers of England with an Army and besieged the Castle of Norham in person But understanding the Earl of Surrey was advancing with greater Forces loaden with spoil he returned back again the Earl of Surrey finding no Enemy sat down before the Castle of Aytoun which he took and soon after returned into England the cold season of the year with the unseasonableness of the weather driving away time invited a Treaty of Peace on both sides Amidst these turmoyls and unprofitable Incursions of the two Kingdoms Ferdinando and Isabella of Spain sent one Peter Hialas to treat a Marriage between Katherine one of their Daughters and Arthur Prince of Wales This Allyance being agreed upon and almost brought to perfection King Henry desirous of quietness and to have an end of all Debates especially these with Scotland communicateth his intentions to Hialas a man wise and learned and whom he thought able to be employed in such a Service for it stood not with his Reputation to sue unto his enemy for Peace But Hialas a stranger unto both as having direction from his Master for the Peace of Christian and Neighbour Princes might take upon him this Reconciliation Hialas accepteth the Embassage and coming to King James after he hid brought him to hearken to more safe and quiet Counsels wrote unto King Henry That he hoped that Peace might easily be concluded if he should find some wise and temperate Councellour of his own that might treat of the Conditions Whereupon the King directeth the Bishop of Duresm Richard Fox who at that time was at his Castle of Norham to confer with Hialas and they both to treat with some Commissioners deputed from King James The Commissioners of both sides meet at Jedbrough and dispute many Articles and conditions of Peace Restitution of the spoils taken by the Scottish or dammages for the same is desired but that was passed as a matter impossible to be performed An enterview in person at Newcastle is desired of both Kings which being referred to King James his own arbitrement he is reported to have answered that he meant to treat a Peace and not go a begging for it The breaking of the Peace for Perkin Warbeck is highly aggravated by the Bishop and he demanded to be deliver'd to the King of England That a Prince should not easily believe with the common people that Perkin was a Fiction and such an one that if a Poet had projected the Figure it could not have been done more to admiration than the House of York by the old Dutchess of Burgundy Sister to Edward the Fourth having first raised Lambert Simnel and at last this Perkin to personate Kings and seduce the People His Birth Education not resident in any one place proved him a Pageant King that he was a reproach to all Kings and a person not protected by the Law of Nations The Bishop of Glasgow answered for his Master That the love and Amity grounded upon a Common cause and universal Conclusion amongst Kings to defend one another was the main Foundation upon which King James had adventured to assist Edward Duke of York that he was no competent Judge of his Title he had received him as a Suppliant protected him as a Person fled for refuge espoused him with his Kinswoman and aided him with Arms upon the belief that he was a Prince that the People of Ireland Wales and many in England acknowledged him no less
Hume accepted that charge prosecute them where they might be apprehended till after much misery and night-wandring at home they were constrained with Alexander Drummond of Carnock who had been partaker of their misfortunes by his consanguinity with the Earls Mother who was Daughter to the Lord Drummond to fly into England where they were charitably received and honourably entertained by King Henry the Eight Now are the Offices and Lands of the Dowglasses disposed upon the Archbishop of Glasgow Gavin Dumbar is made Chancellor Robert Bartoun who was in especial favour with the King Treasurer great Customer General of the Artillery and Mines and other Charges are given unto others The King of England intended a War against the Emperor Charles the Fifth sendeth Embassadors to Scotland for a certain time to treat a Peace and if it were possible to reconcile the Dowglasses with the King Five years truce was resolved upon but for the Dowglasses the King would hearken to no offers only Alexander Drummond by the intercession of Robert Bartoun and the Embassadors had liberty to return home When the Earl of Northumberland and the Earl of Murray who had full power to conclude a Truce had met the other Commissioners upon the Borders the Factious great men and rank Ryders there put all in such a confusion by urging difficulties that they parted without agreeing unto any Articles or certain Conclusions which the King took in so evil a part that divining from what head this interruption sprung he committed sundry Noblemen to the Castle of Edenburgh till they gave Hostages and secured the Borders from invasion or being invaded In the month of June following with a great power he visited these bounds executing Justice upon all Oppressours Thieves and Out-Laws In Ewsdale eight and fourty notorious Riders are hung on growing Trees the most famous of which was John Arm-strong others he brought with him to Edenburgh for more publick Execution and Example as William Cockburn of Henderland Adam Scot of Tushelaw named King of Thieves The year 1530. the King instituted the Colledge of Justice before it was ambulatory removing from place to place by Circuits Suits of Law were peremptorily decided by Bayliffs Sheriffs and other Judges when any great and notable cause offered it self it was adjudged Soveraignly by the Kings Council which gave free audience to all the Subjects The power and priviledges of this Colledge was immediately confirmed by Pope Clement the Seventh In this Court are fifteen Judges ordinary eight of them being Spiritual Persons of the which the most antient is President and seven Temporal men The Chancellor of the Realm when he is present is above the President There are also four Councellors extraordinary removeable at the Princes pleasure This Institution is after that Order of Justice which is administred in Paris first instituted by Philip the Fourth the French King the year 1286. The King about this time storeth his Arsenals with all sort of Arms the Castles of Edenburgh Sterlin Dumbartoun and Blackness are repaired and furnisht with Ordnance and Ammunition Whilst no certain Truce is concluded between the Realms of England and Scotland the Earl of Angus worketh in this interim so with the King of England that Sir Edward Darcey is sent to the Borders who when his solicitation for restoring the Earl at the Scottish Court had taken no effect yea had been scorned after he had staied at Berwick with the Garrisoned Soldiers and some selected companies out of Northumberland and Westmerland maketh a Road into Scotland Coldingham Dunglas and adjacent Villages they burn ravage the Countrey towards Dunce Some Scottish Ships and Vessels were also at this time taken by Sea When a reason was sought of this Invasion in a Cessation of Arms and calm of Truce They require the Dowglasses may be restored to their ancient Inheritances and whatsoever had been with-held from them and that Cannabie a poor Abbacy be rendred to the English as appertaining of old to the Crown of England The Earl of Murray being declared Lieutenant maketh head against them but the English daily increasing in number and his Companies not being sufficient to make good against so many and large Incursions the power of Scotland is divided into four Quarters every one of which for the durance of fourty days by turns taketh the defence of the Countrey The English finding by this intercourse of new Soldiers the War to be prolonged would have gladly accepted of Peace but they disdained to sue for it to the Scots it was thought expedient that the French a Friend then to both should be a Mediatour to reconcile them wherupon after an Ambassador had come from France Commissioners first meet at Newcastle and after at London James Colvil of Easter Weyms Adam Otterburn of Redhall William Stuart Bishop of Aberdeen the Abbot of Kinloss These conclude a Peace To continue between the two Realms during the two Princes lives and one year after the decease of him who should first depart this life About this time the secrets of the Ecclesiastical Doctrine and Authority beginning to be laid open to the view of the World the politick Government of Kingdomes began to suffer in the alteration and discovery The Lady Katherine Daughter to Ferdinando and Isabella King and Queen of Spain and Sister to the Mother of Charles the Fifth Emperor had been Married to Arthur Prince of Wales Eldest Son to Henry the Seventh King of England he dying by the dispensation of Pope Julius the Second her Father in Law gave her again in Marriage to Henry his other Son the Brother of Arthur This Queen though fruitful of Children and often a Mother brought none forth that long enjoyed life and came to any perfection of growth except one only Daughter Mary Her Husband either out of spleen against the Emperor Charles or desire of Male Children or other Causes known to himself pretended great scruples in his Conscience would make himself and the World believe that his Marriage was not lawful After deliberation with his Church-men whom he constrained to be of his mind he kept not longer company with his Queen his Church-men used all their eloquence to make the Queen accept of a Divorce which she altogether refused and had her recourse to the Pope who recals the cause to himself At Rome whilst in the consistory the case is made difficult and the matter prolonged King Henry impatient of delays and amorous divorceth from his own Queen and Marrieth Anne Bullen 1533. Then the Pope with his whole Cardinals gave out their Sentence That it was not lawful for him by his own authority to separate himself from his Wife that his Marriage with Katharine was most lawful not to be questioned and that under pain of Excommunication he should adhere unto her King Henry well experienced in the great Affairs of the World considering how the threatnings and thunders of the Bishops of Rome even in these ancient and innocent times when they were
by the encouragement of John Son of Philip the French King some were still making Incursions and an unsuccessful attempt on Berwick By this time John of France was Prisoner to Edward whom the Scots courted as full of Honour and Victory for the delivery of their own who by the Mediation of the Pope for a great sum of Money was redeemed and set free after eleven years Captivity and at his Return punished some of those who had deserted him at Durham and endeavoured to remove the succession of the Crown from Robert Stuart to whom he was some years after reconciled The last five years of his reign were spent in appeasing domestick fewds and are notable for a great inundation and plague but things quieting in the year 1363. he retired into a Monastery and declared in case of his decease Edward or his Son for their King This whether it was caused by some former Oath or from weariness of War or design of quiet to Both Nations which being universally disliked by the Estates it was like to breed a dissention which his wisdome closed up All was now quiet but the Highlanders whom he appeased by their mutual discords when Fate in the 47. year of his Age and 39 of his Reign came to Eternal Rest in the Castle of Edinburgh in the year 1370. By this King and his competitour Baliol who went out in the snuff we may in part measure the interests advantages of Princes the one by the asistance of a Potent Neighbour did unexpected things yet failed in Conduct and Managment the other wanting neither spirit nor vigilancy became a Captive and ineffectual Prince which may give us occasion to observe That tho Travel do best inrich the mind with variety of observation yet it is not so successful in Princes for their Minds not being exempted from humane weakness may draw in tinctures prejudices not consisting with the humors of them they are to govern and by knowing abroad grow strangers at home neglecting to study the humor of the People they are set over the disquisition of which is certainly the greatest Mistery and Chain of Government The People being an unruly Beast easily led impossible to be forc'd and the Magick that so powerfully forces them no other than a peircing discerning flattering or eluding their Humour This was Davids Fundamental fault which like Error in the first concoction multiplied it self through the rest of his Reign he was bred a Stranger knew not the disposition of his people met with troublesome Times and a Formidable Enemy and therefore he may very well be charged with three oversights First after three not unfortunate incursions into England then imployed by France not to rest there with his proportion of glory and prey But secondly By the allurement of the French King and that upon a score of Friendship whereas Friendships of Princes and Private Men are different the one being particular the other diffusive and concerning Millions besides that Princes are to consider the interest of their States not their private inclinations And for the third To make an invasion when he left so high discontents in a turbulent people behind besides those of his own that by force obligation or interest were devoted to a victorious Enemy and assured of his own Country was very imprudential both in going to find out an Enemy whose force he knew not and leaving behind him Subjects whose malice and force he understood not But no more to disturb his ashes Had he had another Country another Enemy another Education and other Circumstances of Time he might have been as glorious as any of his Predecessors it is the more probable though the Change of Time does often heighten and aggravate the Vices of Princes there is nothing either Cruel or Vitious recorded of him So that even in the severest sense we may dismiss him with this Character That he was rather unhappy than sloathful in his Government This mans eyes being for ever closed the Nobility appointed a meeting for the accepting of ROBERT STUART For their King as he was formerly designed who appeased the dissention of the Earl Dowglass by marrying his Daughter to the Earl's Son His first two years were spent in making incursions upon the English the Kings wife dying in the next year he marries Elizabeth Moor his own Concubine the better to legitimate the children he had by her and them he honoured with Titles and declared his Successors two years after an attempt is made on Berwick but in vain and Talbots Expedition frustrated but a Truce for three years was concluded which being expired little quarrels awoke again and occasioned the Duke of Lancaster to be sent thither with a great Army and Navy though not with the same fortune at Sea as at Land which occasioned the return of the Duke who was pursued by some small depredations of William Dowglass though his Son of the same name and some others during the Treaty made an inroad as far as Newcastle Robert having assistance from France is forced to retire especially upon the news of Richards Grand-child and Successor to Edward the third marching with a great Army fac'd the Scots with an unbloody bravery The Scots designing to besiege Roxburgh but quarrelling with the French it came to nothing which occasioned so much dissention that it arrived at this pass That the French should pay for their plunder and be dismist their General remaining as hostage for their satisfaction whilst William Dowglass who had married the Kings Daughter makes an Expedition into Ireland plunders Kerlingford and knowing his Father to be imployed against the English hasten to his assistance The attempt was in affront of Richard then strugling with Domestick difficulties But they of Scotland being unable to live without War and Rapine they were resolved to make a business of it and because the King and his eldest Son were infirm came to choose privately the second for their Leader but this being discovered by the English they altered their Resolution and resolved to divide themselves one by the way of Berwick the other of Carlisle the former Party led by Dowglass gave a defeat to the Lord Percy with the loss of his Life the other not having the like Success who impatiently fighting before the coming up of the Bishop of Durham's Forces lost his own and indangered the others This happened in the year 1388. at Otterburn in Northumberland The King being spent with age makes Robert his second Son his Vice-Roy his eldest being unactive who to affront Percey that seemed to lessen the loss led in an Army but after facing returned with some little depredation Soon after a Peace was mediated between the French and English in which Robert without consent of a Parliament would not be comprised But his doubts were all resolved by death in the year 1390. when he had lived 74. years and reigned 19. being followed to the grave with such acts of Barbarism as have heen
Aberdeen Alexander Cornwall Arch-Dean of Lothian These coming to London were graciously received by the State and severally entertained by King James and so many friends as either his Alliance or Virtues had acquired After some few days stay desiring to have audience in Counsel they were admitted where Bishop Lightoun is said to have spoken to this effect The respect and reverence which the Nation of the Scots carryeth toward all Kings is all where known but most that love and loyalty which they have to the sacred Persons of their own native Princes for as Monarchy is the most ancient form of Government so have they ever esteemed it the best it being more easie to find one instructed and trained up in heroical virtues than to find many And how well soever Governours and Vice-Gerents rule the Commmon-wealth yet is that Government but as the light of the Moon or stars in absence of the Sun and but representations of shadows for real Bodies This hath moved the three estates of that Kingdom to direct us here unto you Our King these many years hath been kept from us upon just or unjust Grounds we will not argue that providence which hath appointed every thing to its own end hath done this for the best both to you and us and we are now to treat with you for his Delivery Beseeching you to remember that his Father of Sacred memory recommended him out of that general duty which one Prince oweth to another to your Kings Protection in hope of Sanctuary and in request of aid and comfort against secret and therefore the more dangerous Enemies And to confess the Truth hitherto he hath heen more assured amongst you than if he had remained in his own Countrey your favours being many ways extended towards him having in all liberal Sciences and vertues brought him up That his abode with you seemeth rather to have been a remaining in an Academy then in any Captivity and thus he had been lost if he had not been lost Besides tho we have the happiness to claim his Birth and Stem ye have the claim of his Succession and Education He being now matched with the Royal Blood of England in Marriage Thus his Liberty which we entreat for is a benefit to your selves and those Princes which shall claim the descent of his off-spring For if it should fall forth as what may not by the variable changes of Kingdomes come to pass that this Prince by Usurpers and Rebels were disgarnished of his own Crown they are your Swords which should brandish to set him on his Royal throne We expect that as ye have many ways rendred him yours ye will not refuse to engage Him yet more by his Liberty which he must acknowledge wholly and freely to receive from you and by benefits and love to overcome a King is more than by force of Arms. And since he was not your Prisoner by chance of War having never raised Arms against you but by way of Protection detained here and entertained so ye will respecting your ancient honour and Generosity send him freely back to his own yet if it be so that ye will have acknowledgment for what ye have bestowed on his education the distress of the present estate of his Subjects and Crown considered We will not stand upon trifles of Money for the Redemption of a Prince above all price The Lords of the Council were diverse ways inclined to this Embassie some thought it not fit to dismiss him For his remaining in England seemed the more to assure the kingdom of Scotland unto them having the King and his children in their custody what dared they not enterprise or not bring to pass Or if Scotland should plot any thing by way of Rebellion the King having his party within the Realm by the assistance of the English would keep under the other Factions and thus the Estate by both being made weak it would be a fair breach for a Conquest and the annexing that Kingdom to the Crown of England That he knew too much of the Estate and affairs of England to be sent away to a Nation ever their enemies That being at liberty and amongst his own he might resent the injury of his long restraint Others of the Council thought it best to dismiss him They had learned by experience that the keeping of the King of the Scots hindered no ways the Scots from assisting the French yea rather that it did exasperate their choler and make them in Revenge addict themselves wholly to the French the Governour no ways keeping to the English and siding the French upon whom to be revenged they could find no surer way than to set at liberty the King whose return of necessity must needs change the face of the State and trouble him As for the conquest of the Crown of Scotland it was not at that time of such moment for England they having the most part of France in their Subjection which was as much if not more as they could hold then it would prove a more harmless and sure purchase to make Scotland theirs by the Succession of Lady Jane of Somerset than by war the event whereof is ever doubtful and beyond any assurance of Man The Liberty of the King of Scots might prevent the encreasing strength of the Kings Enemies in France and secure the Peace and tranquillity of the Common-wealth at home King James being all English by education if he proved not of their Party yet he must prove neutral to both the Kingdoms Henry the sixth then King of England being of under-age was governed by his three Uncles of his Fathers side Humphrey Duke of Glocester who was made Protector of his Person and Realm John Duke of Bedford who was established Regent of France and Thomas Duke of Excester But Henry Beaufoord Cardinal Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England a man eminent in Blood and Riches Uncle to the Lady Jane in effect governed all These gave way rather then approved that the King of Scots should be set at liberty and sent home And though they would have dismissed him freely in respect of the Dowry of his Queen which was not delivered having use of present moneys for the maintenance of the Wars in France and the more to cover the injustice of his Captivity they thought it expedient to set a Ransom upon him The Commissioners having met it was declared that for a sufficient sum of moneys their King might return and enjoy his own Liberty the one half to be paid in hand able Hostages remaining in England till the other half was fully discharged The Ransom agreed upon was four hundred thousand Marks but by the power of the Cardinal the third was discharged for which he was long after accused before the King by the Duke of Glocester The Governour and Estate of Scotland having known the sum laid upon them for the Liberty of the King though the hasty acquiring of it was grievous unto them preferring Glory
and things necessary to matters of money immediatly dispatched so so much as could be gathered together with a great many young Noblemen of the Kingdom to remain Hostages for the rest who after the English Writers were David son to the Earl of Athol Alexander Earl of Crawford the Lord Gordon John de Lyndesay Patrick Son and Heir to Sir John Lyon David de Ogleby Sir William de Ruthen Miles Graham David Mowbray and William Oliphant These were honorably received entertained and kept The Kings Father in Law the Earl of Somerset the Cardinal his Brother accompanied their Niece to the Borders and there taking their leave returned back The King with the rest of their Train received with many Troops of Nobles and Gentlemen who swarmed from all parts of the Kingdom to give him a dutiful welcome into his Native soyl and themselves the contentment of beholding one they had so long desired and expected with loud acclamations and applauses of the Commons as he held his Progress on the Passion Week in Lent came to Edinburgh During his abode there he assembled many of the Estates listened to their Petitions prepared for the approaching Parliament which had been summoned before his coming The Solemnities of Easter finished the King came with his Queen to Perth and from thence in the beginning of the moneth of May to Scone where the year 1424. by Mordock the Governour Duke of Albany and Earl of Fife to whom that charge by custom of the Kingdom did appertain and Henry Bishop of S. Andrews the 27 year of his Age there was a joynt Coronation of himself and his Queen being according to the Computation of the old Scottish History the hundreth and one King of Scotland At which time Sigismond son to Charles the fourth An. Dom. 1424. was Emperour of the West John the seventh the son of Andronicus of the East Amurath the second Great Turk Alphonsus the fifth King of Spain Charles the seventh King of France Henry the sixth King of England and with Martin the fifth many claimed the Chair of St. Peter The ends in calling the Parliament were the Coronation of the King to make the People see a Princes authority was come where they had but lately a Governours the establishing a Peace amongst the Subjects and taking away all Factions the exacting a Subsidie for the relief of the Hostages in England To this last the Nobles held strong hand by reason many of their Sons were engaged Here a a general tax was condescended upon through the whole Realm as twelve pennies of the pound to be paid of all Lands as well Spiritual as Temporal and four pennies of every Cow Ox Horse for the space of two years together When the Commons had taken it grievously that the Subsidie granted by the states of the Kingdom in Parliament was exacted mostly of them after the first Collection the King pitying their poverty remitted what was unpayed and until the Marriage of his Daughter thereafter never exacted any Subsidie of his Subjects For he would gently strain milk and not wring blood from the breast of his Countrey rendring the disposure thereof chaste sincere and pure for expences necessary and profitable not for profusions which neither afford contentment nor reputation for money is both the nerves which give motion and veins which entertain life in a State Amongst others whom the King honoured Alexander second Son to Duke Mordock was dubbed Knight The Parliament dissolving the King came from Perth to Edinburgh where having assembled all the present Officers and such who had born Authority in the State during the time of Duke Robert and Duke Mordock especially those whose charge concerned the Rents of the Crown he understood by their accounts that the most part of all the Rents Revenues and Lands pertaining to the Crown were wasted alienated and put away or then by the Governors bestowed on their freinds and followers the Customs of Towns and Burroughs only excepted This a little incensed his indignation yet did he smother and put a fair countenance on his passion seeming to slight what he most car'd for occasion thereafter no sooner served when he began to countenance and give way to Promoters and Informers necessary though dangerous Instruments of State which many good Princes have been content to maintain and such who were not bad never denied to hear but using them no longer then they were necessary for their ends to rip up secret and hidden crimes wrongs suffered or committed during the time of his detension in England He received the complaints of the Church-men Countrey Gentlemen Merchants against all those who had either wronged them or the State and would have the causes of all Accusers to be heard and examined Here many to obtain the favour of the Prince accused others Upon pregnant accusations Walter Stuart one of the Sons of Duke Mordock was Arrested and sent to the Bass to be close kept so was Malcolm Fleming of Cammernauld and Thomas Boyd of Kilmarnock committed to Ward in Dalkieth Not long after the Nobility interceding Malcolm and Thomas goods being restored which they had taken wrongfully and Fines laid upon them for their Offence promising to satisfie all whom they had wrong'd were pardoned all faults and then set at Liberty The King by listening to Promoters came to the knowledge of many great insolencies committed by sundry of his Nobles which as it bred a hatred in him so fear in them and both appeared to study a Novation They for their own safety He to vindicate Justice and his Authority The Duke had highly resented the committing of his Son as had his Father in Law the Earl of Lennox The Male-contents being many if they could have swayed in one body as they came to be of one mind threatned no small matter The King from the intelligence of close Meetings secret Leagues some Plots of his Nobles began to forecast an apparent storm in the State and danger to his own Person whereupon being both couragious and wise he proclaimeth again a Parliament at Perth where the three Estates being assembled in his throne of Majesty he spoke in this manner I have learned from my tender years that Royalty consisteth not so much in a Chair of State as in such actions which do well become a prince What mine have been since my coming Home and Government among you I take first God and then your selves for witnesses If all of them be not agreeable to you all and if any rigorous dealing be used against some Let him who is touched lay aside his particular and look to the setling of Justice in the State and publick Good of the whole Kingdom and he shall find his sufferings tolerable perhaps necessary and according to the time deserved I have endeavoured to take away all Discords abolish Factions Suppress Oppression as no Forein Power hath attempted ought against you hitherto so that ye should not endeavour ought against another nor any thing against
person of David my Brother and is justly claimed now by me and our Nephew As for an Act of Parliament confirming the right of that other Race and for oaths of Allegiance no Parliamentary Authority can take away Justice and the Law of God neither is an oath to be observed when as it tendeth to the Suppression of truth and right and though for a time such Acts and Oaths have prevailed our designs having good Success we shall have a Parliament approving our right abolishing their pretentions and declaring them Usurpers This one man and a child taken away if we can give the blow the Kingdom must obey the Lawful Successor against whom what Subject will revolt or who dare take armes and here is more fear than danger But think there were the only remedy of eminent dangers is new dangers It was simplicity in him to think by small benefits that old injuries are abolished and forgot and that I should take patiently the title of Earl when I should have been King my self by his tyrannizing justice if he be not hated he is not beloved but become terrible to his people who now through their poverty and grievances affect a novation and obey him not out of any affection but through necessity and fear and now he also feareth that some do that to him which he hath deserved Let us resolve his doubts our ends are honour and revenge our wills against him all alike and one The Heavens seem to conspire with us having brought him to disband his Army and render himself in the wished place of our attempts and let us rather follow them and fortune which favours great actions than vertue that preacheth cowardly Patience Remembring how fair glosses of valour for the most part have been cast on the foulest deeds and the mightiest Families have from them derived their honours shame seldom or never following Victory however it be atchieved and purchased That Soveraignty at the first was but a violent usurpation of the stronger over the weaker How great Enterprizes must begin with danger but end with rewards that death should rather be prevented than expected and that it is more honourable to die than prolong a life in misery wandring in the scorn of other mens pride be resolute in our Plot put the enterprize in execution hast is the spirit of actions of danger the worst that can befal us is since we cannot subsist he being alive that he be taken away whilst we run a hazard of death which happeneth to all men alike with only the difference of Fame or Oblivion with the Posterity which ariseth of an evil action as well of a good if the action and attempt be great but let us not spend the time of execution in deliberation Not long after when they had pondered and digested the Design Graham and Stuart with their accomplices guided by Resolution and guarded by the darkness of the Night came to the Blackfryers of Perth and having the way made open unto them entred the Gallery before the Kings Chamber-door where they attended some of their confederates who should have stoln away the Bar by which means they might enter the Chamber but before their coming Fortune casteth the occasion in their hands For Walter Stratoun one of the Kings Cupbearers came forth of the Chamber and finding armed men rushing rudely to force their entrie terrifyed with the boldness of the Fact with a high voice gave the Alarm of Treason to his Master While they are working his death a Maid of honour of the Name of Dowglass got to the door and essaied to shut it but for that the Bar was now away which should have made it fast she thrust her arm in the place where it would have passed but that easily broken the Conspirators rush into the Chamber and slaying all such of the waiters as made defence amongst which was Patrick Dumbar Brother to George sometime Earl of March they at last stroke down the King whom whilst the Queen by interposing her body sought to save being hardly pulled from him she received two wounds and he with twenty eight most towards the heart was left dead 1436 Thus was King James the first who had so superabundantly deserved well of the Common-wealth Murthered the One and twentieth of February in the end of the year One thousand four hundred thirty and six the forty fourth of his age when he had Reigned thirteen years This King was for the proportion and shape of his body of a middle stature thick and square rather somewhat mean than tall not such as is counted for dainty but for gracefulness and Majesty His hair was abourn a colour between white and red He was of so strong and vigorous a constitution that he was able to endure all extraordinary extremities both of travel and want and surpassed for agility and nimbleness in any exercise his Companions He was of so sharp and pregnant a wit that there was nothing wherein the commendation of wit consisted or any shadow of the liberal Arts did appear that he had not applied his mind unto seeming rather born to Letters than instructed He wrote Verses both Latine and English of which many yet are extant He exercised all Instruments of Musick and equalled the best Professours thereof He had studied all Philosophy but most that which concerns Government in which what a Master he was the order which he established in such a confusion as he found in the State doth witness and many old Laws commodiously renewed and amended others for the publick good established He was a great observer of Religious Forms easie for access fair in speech and countenance in behaviour kind using sleep and meat to live not for voluptuousness He had good command over his Passions his desires never being above his reason nor his hopes inferiour to his desires Though he was much obliged to the gifts of Nature yet was he more to his good education and training in England Scarce had he passed the ninth year of his age when he was committed to the Sea to shun the Treasons of his Uncle and was surprized at Flambrough-head in Holderness Windsor Castle kept him a Prisoner but by Commandment of King Henry he was so carefully instructed that no Prince could have been better bred in the Schools of Europe What his valour was the wars of France bear witness for accompanying the King of England there he layed siege to the Town of Direx and with such violence and valour saith the English History assaulted it for the space of six weeks that with main strength he compelled it to be rendred to his hands and gave it to King Henry That commendation which was given him by that same King of England being recorded by their writers proved prophetically true of him For the King remembring him of his benefits received and promising him greater with free liberty to return to his own Country if he could cause the Scots who were adherent to the
of Fortune the blame of her unlawful Wedlock laid upon the Earl consented to by her out of a certain fear of her life submitted her self to the Kings Clemency The King who denied not mercy to any that sought it of him that the less guilty amongst the seditious might withdraw themselves and the obstinate remain the less powerful and weak receiveth her and giveth her in Marriage to his Brother John Earl of Athol son to the Black Knight of Lorne designing for her Dowry the Lordship of Balveny By her example the Countess of Ross abhorring the fierceness and cruelties as she gave out of her barbarous Husband but rather out of policy to be an Agent for him flyeth to the King and hath Revenues allowed her for the maintenance of her Estate Not long after the Earl of Ross himself the misadventure of his Confederates having taught him now some wisdom having seen the Kings Clemency towards others equal to him in Treason and Rebellion by many humble supplications craved pardon and begged peace The King by his great prudence and the course of the affairs of his Kingdom knew that it was necessary sometimes to condescend to the imperfections and faults of some Subjects and having compassion apply and accomodate himself to that which though according to the strictness of equity was not due yet for the present occasion and reason of State was convenient answered he would neither altogether pardon him nor flatly reject him there being many signs of his wickedness few of his changed mind when honestly without fraud or guile he should crave a Pardon and give satisfaction to those whom by blood and pillage he had wronged and by some noble action deface the remembrance of his former crimes then should it be good time to receive him Notwithstanding this should not discourage him but he should know he had a desire to make him relish the effects of his bounty so he himself would find the means and subject In this interim he wished him to keep the common peace of the Country and not oppress any of his Neighbours About this time the University of Glasgow was founded by William Turnbul Bishop of that See William Hay Earl of Arrol George Creightoun Earl of Caithness William Lord Creightoun died One thousand four hundred fifty five and the Bishop of St. Andrews is made Chancellour The King partly having loosed partly cut in pieces that Gordian knot of the League of his Nobility began to reobtain again the ancient Authority of the Kings his Predecessours giving and imposing Laws to his Subjects according to reason and greatest conveniences Shortly progressing through the Quarters of the kingdom by the sound counsel and instructions of the Bishop of St. Andrews James Kennedy and William Saintclare Earl of Orknay used such clemency that in a short time he reclaimed all his turbulent subjects In the year One thousand four hundred fifty five he held a Parliament where he ratified what was resolved upon to be done for the peace and weal of his People establishing many profitable Laws for the posterity after this time Embassadors came from England and France unto him Henry the sixth King of England a soft facile Prince and more fit to obey than command having restored in blood and allowed the descent of Richard Plantagenet Duke of York the Duke under pretence and countenance of reforming the State and removing of bad Counsellors from the Court the umbrage of all Rebellions by one Jack Cade an Irish a bold man and who had a Spirit which did not correspond with his low condition who feigned himself to be a Cousin of his of the House of Mortimer and other his Instruments raised a Rebellion which began amongst the Kentish-men and was after continued by his Confederacy with the Duke of Norfolk Earls of Warwick Salisbury Devon and others and notwithstanding he had sworn fealty to King Henry at Blackheath again openly took arms gainst him at St. Albans where in pitched field Edmond Duke of Somerset his greatest Competitor and who had been preferred to his place in the Regency of France was killed the King wounded taken and committed to the Tower of London At a Parliament after the Duke is made Protector of the Kingdom at another Parliament he maketh claim for the Crown as in his own Right laying down thus his Title The Son of Ann Mortimer Daughter and Heir to Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son and Heir of Philip the Daughter and sole Heir of Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son of King Edward the Third and elder Brother to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster is to be preferred by very good right in Succession of the Crown before the Children of John of Gaunt the fourth Son of the said Edward the Third but Richard Plantagenet Duke of York is come of Philip the Daughter and sole Heir of Lionel Third Son to King Edward the Third then to be preferred to the Children of the fourth Son who was John of Gaunt and so to Henry the Fourth the Usurper his Son to Henry stiling himself Henry the Fifth his Son and Henry the Sixth now wrongfully calling himself King of England This Parliament chosen to the Duke of Yorks own mind at first various at last unanimously enacted that Henry during his life should retain the Name and Honour of a King but that the Duke of York should be continued Protector of the Country and be declared Heir apparent and Successor of the Crown after the death of Henry Margaret the Queen Daughter to Rheny King of Sicily more couragious than her Husband disclaimeth the Parliamentary Authority and this Agreement of her King with the Duke of York as a matter done to the prejudice of her Son and against the Laws of Nations which admit not of a forced Contract and done by a Prisoner The Crown of England hanging at this point the Queen to her defence imploring the aid and assistance of her best greatest Friends and Allies sendeth Embassadors to King James These remembring the duties one King oweth to another against Rebels and the Usurpers of their Crowns the correspondency and amity of King Henry with King James during his posterity expostulating the cruelty of the Rebels against Edmond the late Duke of Somerset Uncle to King James slain by them in defence of his Prince promise in their Kings Name Queens and their Sons with the approbation of the Noble-men of their Party to restore to the Kings of Scotland the Lands of Northumberland Cumberland and Bishoprick of Durham after the manner the Kings of Scotland in former times had held these Territories of the Kings of England so he would raise an Army and advance to their aid and supply The Duke of York sent hither also his Embassadors giving in many complaints against King Henry he had oppressed the people with taxations and all kinds of exactations he had preferred to places of State and Government new men by whose counsel and his Queen he governed
of James a Churchman proceeded rather from his own stubbornness than any male-talent the King had against him In all Nations it is observed that there are some Families fatal to the ruine of their Common-wealths and some persons fatal to the ruine of the Houses and Race of which they are descended Since in Kingdoms some have no compassion of their Prince nor the loss of his Honour a Prince should not much regret their loss nor the ruine of their persons and Estates His great clemency appeared in this That the heads taken away of that long Rebellion he followed no particular revenge upon their followers not only granting Pardons but forgetting the offences knowing it was better to heal and cure the faulty and sick members of a State than to abolish and cut them away and more valour for a Prince to overcome his own passions and just wrath than to vanquish and subdue his proudest enemies yet was not his clemency a soft weakness it being no less cruelty to forgive all than to spare none but an order and discretion in Justice temperate with severity towards some more than towards others according to their demerits He was very sensible of the afflictions of such as was distressed as witness the Countesses of Dowglass and Ross His life having set in the Orient of his Age and hopes he deserveth in the Records of Memory and Fame a place amongst the best but unfortunate Princes He had Issue of his Queen James who succeeded Alexander Duke of Albany John Earl of Mar Margaret Countess of Arran by the Boyd and after Lady Hamilton-Cecily He was buried with all Funeral-pomp within the Monastery of Holyrood-house at Edenburgh THE HISTORY OF THE Reign of James the Third KING of SCOTLAND THE Queen having tidings of the disaster of her Husband full of griefs and cares with her Son came to the Army at Roxburgh and the publick loss being revealed for till then it was whispered with more than a masculine Courage caused give new and desperate assaults to the Castle many Turrets being shaken some Gates broken parcels of walls beaten down the Mines ready in diverse quarters to Spring the Besieged ignorant of the Assailers misfortune and by the dissention of their Country-men from all hopes of relief treat upon a surrender conditions being obtained peaceably to depart with their lives and goods the Fortress is given up and shortly after that it should not be a Residence of oppression in following times is demolished and equall'd with the ground Iames III. king of Scots Ano. 1460 R. G. fecit The milder parts of the Kingdom reduced to order Some turbulent Chiefs of the Mountainers taking the occasion of the Non-age of the King and of Rumors of Dissentions amongst the Governours essay to trouble the Peace of their far and wild Countries Allan Lord of Lorn throweth his eldest Brother in close Prison with intention to rob him of his Life and Estate but he after is surprized by the Earl of Argile Donald of the Isles taketh the Castle of Innerness and placing there a Garrison proclaimeth himself King of the Isles compelling the neighbour Towns and simpler sort of people to pay him Taxes At the Rumor of this insolency all wicked Out-laws resort unto him by whose power he Invadeth the Castle of Blair in Athol out of which the Earl the Kings Uncle with his Lady once Countess of Dowglass flie and take Sanctuary in the Church of Saint Bride where the Church about them set on fire they were irreligiously taken and transported to the Island Ila Whilst the Governours were raising an Army and advancing such Forces as were in readiness against the Actors of these mischiefs they were ascertained that as these Savages were lanching forth of that Island in their Wherries and small Vessels made of boards and wicker by a violent tempest from Heaven the most part of them were dashed against the Rocks and drowned and those who had escaped were strucken with Pannick fears and deprived of their right judgments and understandings an ordinary accident to men blinded with Superstition and guilty of Murther and Sacriledge amidst which distractions the Earl of Athol with his Lady was safely returned to his own Castle MARGARET Queen of England after the second overthrow and taking of her Husband at Northampton with the Prince her Son and the new Duke of Somerset having fled to the Bishoprick of Durham whilst Richard Duke of York was establishing his Title and Right to the Crown at London raised in the North of Scots and English a strong Army which marched towards York the Duke of York leaving the King in the Custody of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick though he knew himself inferiour in power and number to his enemies by the pride of his former Victories and over-weening of his Souldiers valor with Edmund Earl of Rutland his younger Son the Earl of Salsbury and others rencountreth her at Wakefield-green and here by his own rashness with his Son young Rutland he is killed The Earl of Salisbury is taken and with other Prisoners beheaded at Pomfret Castle their Heads were fixed upon Poles about the Walls of the City of York that of the Dukes was mocked with a Paper Crown and exposed to the barbarous mirth of the beholders The Queen encouraged by this Victory desiring to disannul all Acts made lately in prejudice of her Husband marcheth couragiously towards London In which time Edward Earl of March Son to the late Duke of York overthrew the Earls of Pembrook and Ormond both of the Queens Faction at Mortimer-Cross in her way to London the Queen meeting the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Norfolk at St. Albans who carryed King Henry her Husband along with them overthrew them and recovered the person of her King It is observed that Victory always fled from where this King was present The Citizens of London at the approach of the Queens Army fearing Hostility shut their Gates against her and armed for resistance At this time Edward Earl of March having joyned his Victorious Army with the remainder of the Earl of Warwick's entred in triumph the City of London and with great applause and acclamations of the people was Proclaimed King Queen Margaret and her Faction retiring to the North wan so the hearts of that people that they gathered an Army able to stand for her defence consisting of Threescore thousand fighting men Edward Earl of March choosing rather to provoke than to expect his Enemies advanced towards them the place of their meeting was between Caxton and Tweton In this Fight the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland the Lords Beaumont and Dacres Grey and Wells were slain and above Thirty six thousand English struck down the Dukes of Somerset and Excester flie to York to carry the News to the unfortunate King leaving the Victory to Edward who is again saluted King King Henry after this overthrow perceiving how desperate his hopes were in his own Country
of St. Andrews to his Tomb which in great magnificence he had raised in a Church builded by himself in the City of St. Andrews where also he Founded a Colledge of Philosophy and endowed it with many Priviledges and sufficient Endowments to entertain Professors By the death of this Prelate venerable for his Wisdom singular for his Justice and the tranquillity following his Government and magnificent in all his actions the glory of the Court and Country suffered a great Eclipse For he taken away the Boyds laying Foundations for their power and greatness began to turn all to their own advantage the first mark of their envy was Patrick Graham the Brother of Bishop James Kennedy by the Mother who was Sister to King James the First after this man had been chosen Bishop of St. Andrews as the Custom then was by the Chapter appointed for that Election he was barred from his Place and violently repulsed by the Faction at Court To repair which indignity he made a journey to Rome where being a Man noble by birth above others for his Learning and many Virtues in a little time by Pope Sixtus the Fourth he was re-established and confirmed in his Place During his abode at Rome the old Question concerning the liberty of the Church of Scotland began to be exagitated The Archbishop of York contested that he was Metropolitan of Scotland and that the Twelve Bishops of that Kingdom were subject to his Jurisdiction Patrick Graham remonstrated how the Archbishop of York considering the usual Wars between the two Kingdoms was often unacceptable to the Church-men of Scotland especially in Causes of appellation The Pope after the hearing of both Parties Erected the See of St. Andrews to the dignity of an Archbishops See and Patrick Graham not only was made Primate and Metropolitan of Scotland ordained to have the other Bishops under him but for the space of three years designed Legate for the Pope with full Power to Correct and Restore the Ecclesiastical Discipline and examine the Manners and Conversation of the Clergy Notwithstanding these favours of the Bishop of Rome and the worth and excellencies of the man himself he dared not return home to his own Country before the declining of the Fortunes of the Boyds This Family seemed now in the Zenith and Vertical point of its greatness no imputation could be laid to the Boyds in the time of their Government except that they brought the young King by their private working without the consent and approbation of the other Regents to Edenburgh for the assuming the Government in his Minority In approbation of their innocency and to warrant them from this danger the King in a Parliament declareth publickly that the Boyds were not the Authors and projectors of that business but only the Assisters of him and his followers being not formal but instrumentary causes of his coming to the Helm of the State himself That they were so far from being obnoxious to any blame or reproach for this deed that they deserved immortal thanks and an honourable Cuerdon in all time to come having obeyed him in that which was most just honest and expedient for the well of the Kingdom Upon this Declaration of the King the Lord Boyd required the present action might be registred amongst the Acts of Parliament and he obtained what was desired but not with that success was hoped for In this Parliament the other Regents are rid of their charge the Lord Boyd being made only Governor of the Kingdom and the object of all mens respects having the whole power and authority to minister justice of all kinds to the Subjects during the Kings non-age and till he had fully compleat one and twenty years the defence of the Kings Person of his Brothers the keeping of the two Ladies his Sisters are trusted unto him He hath all the Towns Castles Fortresses Sea-ports Places of Importance at his Command These proceedings of the Parliament seemed to some very strange in advancing Men already great enough and bestowing upon them all Offices of State and adding power to such who wanted only will to do mischief except that they knew well how to abase and pull them down again making their fall the more sudden Robert Lord Boyd having the Reins of Government in his hands and the custody of the Kings Sister dazelld with the Golden Sun of honour to lay more sure the foundation of his greatness joyneth in Marriage Thomas his eldest Son a youth of extraordinary endowments both of mind and body with Margaret the Kings eldest Sister Not long before designed by her Mother to have been given in Marriage to Edward Prince of Wales and he is created Earl of Arran The Father knowing how easily the conversation of young persons breedeth a liking had brought them up together which turning in a love and delight of others company concluded last in Marriage This match though royal great and rich instead of supporting the Fortunes of the Boyds much weakned them turning them the objects of envy The Nobles repined at it and the common people lighter than the wind and more variable than the Rain-bow made it the subject of their foolish discourses Now said they the Boyds aspire to the Crown for the King with his Brothers removed it appertaineth to them a Kingdom being the Dowry often of a Wife of the blood Royal. The Kennedies and such who disliked the present Government take the occasion of the discontentment of the Nobility and the Rumors of the people to shake the Kings mind towards the Governour and change the brawl of State To this end they give way to great and universal oppressions most of which were hatched and occasioned by themselves By these in a short time the Commons turn licentious and dissolute contemning all Government every man doing what seemed best in his own eyes and the Gentry divide in Factions Such who wont to live upon Rapine and Theft returned to their wonted Trades honest men are spoiled of their goods the seditious and wicked are maintained and defended against all Laws and Justice by their Parties The State thus troubled and all order confounded by slie and crafty men who at first pretended great friendship and interest towards the Boyds the Kings affection towards them is assailed and resolutions tryed Many times having been plausibly listened unto at last pulling off their masks they lay imputations against them They remonstrate to him what great disparagement was between the King of Scotlands eldest Sister and the Son of the Lord Boyd that by this match he was robbed of one of the fairest jewels of his Crown the Boyds should not have appropriated that to themselves of which they had only the keeping she should have been reserved for some Neighbour Prince by which Alliance the State of the Kingdom and the Person of the King might have been in great safety For if the King should chance to be infested by some insolent Nobility the name and power of
to the Cannons Gate in Edenburgh the King compassionate of his disease sendeth his Physitians to attend him they to restore his understanding which was molested open some veins of his head and arms in which time whether by his own disorder or misgovernment in his sickness the bands being loosed which tyed the lancing or that they took too great a quantity of blood from him he fainted and after sowning died unawares amongst the hands of his best friends and servants These who hated the King gave out that he was taken away by his command and some Writers have recorded the same but no such faith should be given unto them as to B. W. E. who was living in that time and whose Records we have followed who for his place could not but know and for his possession would not but deliver the very Truth certain Witches and Sorcerers being taken and examined and convicted of Sorcery at this time and being suborned they confessed that the Earl of Marr had dealt with them in prejudice of the King and to have him taken away by incantation For the Kings Image being framed in Wax and with many spels and incantations baptized and set unto a fire they perswaded themselves the Kings person should fall away as that Image consumed by the fire and by the death of the King the brothers should reach the Government of the State with such vanities was the common people amused Alexander Duke of Albany imputing the death of his brother to the favourites of the King and a vouching them to have been the occasioners of his distraction stirred the Nobility and People to revenge so foul a deed but whilst he keeps private meetings with them of his Faction in the Night to facilitate their enterprise betrayed by some of his followers he is surprised and imprisoned in the Castle of Edenburgh Out of which about the appointed time of his tryal by the killing of his keeper he escaped and in a Ship which to that effect was hired sailing to the Castle of Dumbar of which he had the keeping he passed to France After the escape of the Duke of Albany the Lord Evandale Chancellour of the Kingdom raising the power of the nearest Shires beleagured the Castle of Dumbar the besieged unprovided of Victuals as men expecting no such alterations betake themselves in small Boats to the Sea and came safe towards the Coasts of England The Castle having none to defend it is taken some Gentlemen in pursuit of the flying souldiers by their own rashness perished The Kings of Scotland and England tossed along with civil troubles and affecting peace with all their neighbours by an equal and mutual consent of thoughts send at one time Ambassadors to one another who first conclude a Peace between the two Nations and that the Posterity might be partakers of this accord contract afterwards an Alliance between the two Kings It was agreed that the Princess Cicilia youngest daughter to King Edward should marry with James Duke of Rothsay when they came to years of discretion A motion heard with great acceptance but it was thought by some familiar with King Edward and in his most inward Counsels that really he never intended this marriage and that this negotiation aimed only to temporize with Scotland in case that Louys of France should stir up an Invasion of England by the King of Scotland King Louys at this time had sent one Doctor Ireland a Sorbonist to move King James to trouble the Kingdom of England and to give over the projected marriage which when King Edward understood knowing what a distance was between things promised and performed to oblige King James and tye him more strongly to the bargain that this marriage might have more sway he caused for the present maintenance of the Prince and as it were a part of the Dowry of Lady Cicilia deliver certain sums of money to King James Notwithstanding of which benevolence the witty Louys wrought so with the Scottish Nobility that King James sent Embassadors to the King of England entreating him not to assist the Duke of Burgundy his brother in Law against King Lovys which if he refused to do the Nobility of Scotland who were now turned insolent would constrain him by reason of the ancient League between the French and the Scots to assist the French The Duke of Albany during his abode in France had married a Daughter of the Earl of Bulloigne she was his second Wife his first having been a Daughter of the Earl of Orkenay a Lady of great Parentage and many Friends who incessantly importuned King Lovys to aid the Duke for the recovery of his Inheritance and places in the State of Scotland out of which he was kept by the evil Counsellors of his brother Louys minding to make good use of his brother and underhand increasing discords and jealousies between him and the King of England slighting his suits told him he could not justifie his taking of Arms to settle a Subject in his Inheritance That Princes ought to be wrought upon by persuasion not violence and he should not trouble a King otherways then by Prayers and Petitions which he would be earnest to perform Upon this refusal the Duke of Albany having buried his Dutchess troubled with new thoughts came to England King Edward with accustomated courtesies receiving him giveth him hopes of assistance entring of in communication with him how to divert the Kingdom of Scotland from the invasion of his Dominions at the desire of the French the Agents and traffickers of Louys lying still in Scotland and daily bribing and soliciting the Scots Nobility to necessitate the English to stay at home The Duke freely and in the worst sense revealed the weakness of his Kingdom that his King was opinionative and had nothing of a Prince in him but the Name His ungoverned Spirit disdained to listen to the temperate Counsel of sober men obeying only his own judgment Such who govern'd under him were mean persons and of no account great only by his favour and indued with little virtue who ruling as they listed and excluding all others made use of his Authority for their own profit and advantage The Nobility were male-contents and affected a change in the Government which might easily be brought to pass by the assistance of King Edward If he would help to raise some civil broyls and dissention in the Nation it self he needed not to be in fear that they could or would trouble his country by any Invasion The King hearing the Duke manifest what he most affected approving his judgment promised him all necessaries and what he could desire to accomplish the design and he undertaketh by some fair way to traffick with the Nobility of Scotland for an alteration of the present form of Government After a dangerous intelligence the Lords of Scotland who under the shadow of the Publick good but really out of their disdain and particular interests conspired against the King send the
Duke word the golden Age could not be fram'd nor arms taken for the good of the Commonwealth nor the State alter'd without the sequestring of those from the King who misgovern'd him And these could not be remov'd by that power which was amongst themselves without great danger and trouble considering the Kings Faction and the Malignant Party If King Edward would agree to the raising of an Army in England in favour of the Duke of Albany and for restoring him to his Places and Inheritance out of which he was most unjustly ejected and other pretences of which they should afford the occasions which no way should do harm to the Kingdom of Scotland disorder'd already and laid waste more by the licence of a Tyrant in Peace than it could have been by War and at this time bestow upon them favours as they might one day hereafter challenge to receive the like the Nobility of Scotland should be ready with another Army not to fight but to seize upon the Kings Favourites and misgovernors of the State for which the English should have many thanks That this Enterprize could not but prove most successful the hatred of the Commons considered against such violent oppressions The King was fallen into so low esteem that assaulted by the English he would be constrain'd by the submission of his Crown to intreat for safety The King of England understanding this was to touch the finest string of State and Dominion for it is a matter of much consequence and main importance to defend the Subjects of another Prince for under this Mask and pretence of protecting the Liberties of a People of assistance and aid an Usurpation and oppression of all Liberty might be hidden and many have established and setled themselves in those Kingdoms which they came to relieve from Tyranny and the Oppression of their Rulers keeping by Force what was granted to them at first by way of trust and under the colour of helping usurped a Sovereignty agreeth easily to what was demanded and resolved upon The Lords of the Association to play more covertly their Game and mask their intentions the Commons ever suffering and paying for the faults and errors of the great ones give way for the breaking loose of the Borderers Fierce incursions by the English are made upon Scotland and by the Scots upon England some Villages on either side are burnt The secrecy to this business which was inviolably observed was of great importance which is the principal knot and tye of great affairs Rumours are spread that the Dukes of Gloucester and Albany with James late Earl of Dowglass and Alexander Jerdan and Patrick Halyburton men proscrib'd and upon whose heads a price was set were at Anwick with a powerful Army and in their march towards Kelso The King wakned out of his Trances by the Alarms of his Nobility and clamors of the People made Proclamations to all between sixty years and sixteen to meet him at Edenburgh and to be in readiness to oppose their old enemies of England now come upon the Borders After many delayes and much loytering an Army is assembled by the Nobility which consisted of Two and twenty thousand and five hundred and a number of Carts charged with small Ordinance New Incursions being blazed to have been made by the English the King amidst these Troops marched to Lawder The Army was encamped and all things Ordered the best way the occasion could suffer them little or nothing being left to Fortune if the English should Invade whom the Lords knew were not at all yet gathered and though gathered and in a Body and upon the Borders or nearer would never Invade them The King at this time is marvellously perplexed and become suspicious of the intentions of his Nobility in this Army in this confusion of thoughts fell upon two extreames In his demeanor and conversation too familiar and inward with his old Domestick Servants and Favourites which rendred them insolent believing the bare Name of King to be sufficient whilst weakness and simplicity had made him despised and them hated and too retired reserved and estranged from his Nobility which made them malicious This he did as his pensiveness conjectured that his Nobles should not attempt any thing to the prejudice of his royal Authority independant of any Council But what he most feared came to pass he resolved and dispatched all matters by his Cabinet Counsel where the Surveyor of his Buildings was better acquainted with the affairs of the State than the gravest of his Nobility This preposterous course of favour made the great men of the Kingdom to fall headlong upon their rash though long projected attempt After many private conferences in their Pavillions the Chiefs of the Insurrection as the Earls of Anguss Lennox Huntley the Lords Gray Lile and others about Midnight come together in the Church of Lawder with many Barons and Gentlemen Here every of them urging the necessity of the times and the dangers the Commonwealth was like to fall into requireth speedy resolutions and having before premeditated deliberated and concluded what to follow they draw up a League and confederation of mutual adherence in this order Forasmuch as the King suffereth himself to be governed by mean persons and men of no account to the contempt of the Nobility and his best Subjects and to the great loss of the Commons The Confederates considering the imminent dangers of the Kingdom shall endeavour to separate the Kings Majesty from these naughty upstarts who abuse his Name and Authority and despise of all good men and have a care that the Commonwealth receive no dammage And in this quarrel they shall all stand mutually every one to the defence of another The design agreed upon and the Confederacy sworn the Chiefs of them in Arms enter the Kings Pavillion where after they had challenged him of many misorders in his Government contrary to his Honour the Laws and good of his Kingdom they took Sir William Roger a man from a Musitian promoted to be a Knight James Homill Robert Cochran who of a Surveyor of his works was made Earl of Mar or as some mitigate that Title Intromittor and taker up of the Rents of that Earldom by whose device some Authors have alledged copper moneys had been coyned by which a dearth was brought amongst the Commons which as others have recorded was an unjust imputation for that copper money was coined in the Minority of the King in the time of the Government of the Boyds with others All these being convicted by the clamours of the Army were immediately hanged upon the Lidder John Ramsey a youth of eighteen years of age by the intreaties prayers embraces of the King was preserved Thus they the late objects of envy were turn'd and become the objects of pity and compassion The body of the Commons and the Gentry of the Kingdom by this notorious act at Lawder being engaged and being made partakers of the Quarrel of the discontented Noblemen
and for their own safety tyed to second and assist all their intentions and to advance their ends The King is conveyed to Edenburgh and shortly after he either enclosed himself in the Maiden Castle as his Lodging or which is more probable was there by the contrary Faction committed as his Prison the Earl of Athol and some other Lords being appointed to attend him During this time the general humours of the Kingdom being ripe for mischief Alexander Duke of Albany every thing falling right as it was plotted prevailed so with King Edward that the Duke of Gloucester the King of Englands brother with the Title of Lieutenant General for him set forwards toward Scotland The Army consisted of Two and twenty thousand and five hundred In his retinue went of the Nobility Henry Earl of Northumberland Thomas Lord Stanley with them was the Duke of Albany The Earl of Dowglass came not being reserved for an after-game The Duke of Albany having been before Commander of Berwick and a Man who was still in his absence beloved of that Garrison diverted the Duke of Gloucester from Anwick where he had incamped in June to assail the Town of Berwick By his intelligence they enter the Town without great opposition and it is given up to their discretion The Castle by the Lord Hails the Captain was made good against their assaults The Duke of Gloucester fore-seeing that this Siege would spend much time considering the uncertainty of events and being invited to march forward by the Lords of the association of Scotland committing the charge of assailing the Castle to the Lord Stanley Sir John Elrington and Sir William Parr with the body of the Army marched directly to Edenburgh The Country lay open to their Invasion no Army taking the Field to oppose them they came in Scotland the twentieth day of August One thousand four hundred eighty two 1482. The Army encamped at Restlerig the Duke himself entred the Town of Edenburgh which at the intreaty of the Duke of Albany who was his Harbinger he spar'd receiving such presents as the Citizens offered unto him His entry seeming rather a Triumph than Hostile Invasion The King being shut up from him and immured in the Castle the Duke by a publick writing at the Market Places gave out high Demands That King James should perform what he had Covenanted with his Brother King Edward That he should give satisfaction for the Damage done the English during the last Inroads of the Borders which if he refused to accomplish he as Lieutenant to his Brother was to exact of him and take satisfaction of his Country denouncing him open War and proclaiming him all Hostility King James forsaken of his People and wronged by his Lords laying aside his Passions and taking to him more moderate and discreet thoughts as a Man in Prison answered nothing to his Demands The Lords who by their Kings misfortune had reckon'd their felicity having obtain'd what they chiefly desir'd to obviate the common and last danger the thraldom of their Kingdom by these strangers whom they had drawn into the Country for the recovery of their liberties assemble themselves together at Hadington with some Companies not to Fight but to Supplicate They sent the Lord Darnley and the Elected Bishop of Murray to entreat a suspension of Arms and require a firm and lasting Peace for time to come The beginning of the War and taking of Arms was for the safety of this the neighbour Country of England miserably thral'd by a licentious Prince there was nothing more unworthy of a King or Republick than not to keep their promis'd Faith The English could have no colour for executing their indignation further upon this Country which already by the rapine of their own Men was impoverish'd and unmanur'd Only now to be recover'd by entertaining Peace with their Neighbours and amongst themselves They require that the Marriage contracted between the Prince of Rothesay and Lady Cicily King Edwards Daughter might be accomplish'd when it should please the King of England and the age of the two Princes might suffer it For any spoil taken in these last incursions the interest considered upon both sides satisfaction should be given out of the publick contributions The Duke of Gloucester as forgetting and seeming not to know the grounds of their coming into the Country and looking to nothing more than his own Fame and Glory Answer'd his coming into Scotland was to right the honour of his Country so often violated and to restore the Duke of Albanie unjustly commanded to Exile to his own native soyl and the dignity of his Birth as concerning the Marriage of the Prince of Scotland with the Daughter of England He knew not how his Brothers resolution stood at the present whereupon he requir'd repayment of the monys lent to their King upon their first agreement and withal a delivery of the Castle of Berwick up into his hands or if they could not make the Castle to be render'd they should give their oaths upon the holy Evangelists that they should neither assist the Besieged or harm the Besiegers till the Castle were either by Force taken or upon fair conditions rendred The Lords having received this Answer yielded freely to all the Conditions except they found themselves perplexed in the rendring of Berwick it being a Town of old appertaining to the Crown of Scotland though by force and Violence the English had a long time kept it That did not take away their right and Title After much contesting agreeing to the surrender of Berwick they desired that the Walls of the Town should be demolished that it might not be a place of Tyranny and Incursion over their bordering Countries No arguments could prevail against the Duke of Gloucesters Resolutions and being stronger in Power he persever'd in his demands and in all likelihood this was agreed upon between the Duke of Albany and the Confederate Lords and the English before their entring Scotland Thus the Castle and Town of Berwick returned to the English the Twenty fourth of August One thousand four hundred eighty two after it had been delivered by Queen Margarite to gain Sanctuary for her Husband King Henry when expelled England and remained in the Possession of the Scots twenty and one years They likewise appointed a day for restitution of all the Monys lent by King Edward and promised upon a full discussion to make satisfaction for all dammages done the English by any Inroad of the Scottish Borders For the Duke of Albanies provision whose safety was principally pretended in this Expedition a general Pardon was promised for him and all his followers Together with an abolition of all discontents whereby he had given unto him the Castle of Dumbar with the Earldoms of Mar and March he should be reinvested in all his former Dignities and Places and by consent of the Nobility of Scotland he was Proclaimed Lieutenant of the Kingdom The Peace Proclaimed the Duke of Gloucester in
Queen in the Abby Church of Cambuskynneth buried his body This King concerning his personage was of a Stature higher than ordinary well proportioned his hair was black his visage was rather long than round approaching in colour more to those in the Southern than Northern Climates Concerning his conditions He was a Prince of an haughty and towring Spirit loved to govern alone affecting an absolute Power and Royal Perogative over his People He knew that Noblemen were of his Predecessours making as the coyn and why he might not put his stamp upon the same mettal or when these old Medals were defaced that he might not refound them and give them a new Print he thought no sufficient reason could be given His Reign seemeth a Theater spread over with mourning and stain'd with Blood where in a Revolution many Tragedies were acted Neither were the neighbour Kingdoms about in a calmer estate during his Reign France under Louys the Eleventh England under Henry the Sixth Edward the Fourth and Richard the Usurper Flanders and Holland under Charles the War-like Arnold Duke of Guilders was imprisoned by his own Son As if the heavenly Influences were sometimes all together set to produce upon this Ball of the Earth nothing but Conspiracies Treasons Troubles and for the wickedness of the Inhabitants to deprive them of all rest and contentment This King is by the most condemned as a rash imprudent dangerous Prince good People make good Kings when a People run directly to oppose the Authority of their Soveraign and assume Rebellion and arrogancy for obedience resisting his fairest motions and most profitable commandments if a King be Martial in a short time they are beaten and brought under If he be politick prudent and foreseeing in a longer time as wild Dear they are surprized and either brought back to their first order and condition or thrall'd to greater miseries If he be weak and suffer in his Reputation or State or Person by them the Prince who succeedeth is ordinarily the Revenger of his wrongs And all Conspiracies of Subjects if they prosper not in a high degree advance the Soveraignty This Prince seemeth not to have been naturally evil inclined but to have been constrained to leave his natural inclination and necessitate to run upon Precipices and dangers his turbulent Subjects never suffering him to have rest Many Princes who in the beginning of their Reigns have been admired for their fair Actions by the ingratitude of their Subjects have turn'd from one extremity to another and become their rebellious Subjects executioners He was provoked to do many things by the insolency of private men and what some call Tyranny and fierceness in a Prince is but just severity He sought to be feared believing it to be the only way to obedience It is true injuries took such deep impression in his mind that no after service could blot them away The taking away of his Favourites made him study revenge which if he had not done he had to much of the Stoical vertues little of the Heroical These who blame Princes under a pure and absolute Monarchy for having Favourites would have them inhumane base and contemptible and would deprive them of Power to confer favours according to the distinguishing power of their understanding and conceptions The choice a Prince maketh of men whom he advanceth to great imployments is not subject to any mans censure And were it bad yet ought it to be pass'd over if not approv'd least the discretion and judgment of the Prince be questioned and his Reputation wounded Favourites are shrines to shaddow Princes from their People Why should a people not allow a Prince some to whom he may unmask himself and discover the secrets of his Heart If his secrets should be imparted to many they would be no longer secrets Why should it be imposed on a Prince to love all his Subjects alike since he is not beloved of them all alike This is a desire to tyrannize over the affections of Princes whom men should reverence He seemeth too much to have delighted in retiredness and to have been a hater of business nor that he troubled himself with any but for formalities sake more desirous of quietness than Honour This was the fault of the Governours of his youth who put him off business of State that they might the more easily reach their own ends and by making him their shadow govern after their pleasure Of this delight in solitariness his Brothers took their advantage and wan the people to their observance He was much given to Buildings and trimming up of Chappels Halls and Gardens as usually are the lovers of Idleness and the rarest frames of Churches and Pallaces in Scotland were mostly raised about his time An humour which though it be allowable in men which have not much to do yet it is harmful in Princes As to be taken with admiration of Watches Clocks Dyals Automates Pictures Statues For the Art of Princes is to give Laws and govern their people with wisdom in peace and glory in war to spare the humble and prostrate the proud He is blam'd of Avarice yet there is no great matters Recorded of it save the encroaching upon the dealing and taking the giving to whom he pleased of Church Benefices which if he had liv'd in our times would have been held a vertue He was of a credulous Disposition and therefore easie to be abused which hath moved some to Record he was given to Divination and to inquire of future accidents which if it be credible was the fault of those times Edward the Fourth of England is said to have had that same fault and that by the misinterpretation of a Prophecy of a Necromancer which foretold that one the first Letter of whose name was G. should Usurp the Kingdom and dispossess the Children of King Edward he took away his Brother George Duke of Clarence which being really practised in England some Scottish Writers that a King of Scotland should not be inferiour to any of his Neighbour Princes in wickedness without grounds have recorded the same to have been done by this King his love was great to learned men he used as Counsellors in his important affairs John Ireland a Doctour of Divinity and one of the Sorbon in Paris made Archdeacon of St. Andrews Mr. Robert Blackadore whom he promoted to be Bishop of Glasgow Mr. William Elphinstoun whom of an Official or Commissary of Lothian he surrogated in the place of Mr. Robert Blackadore and made Bishop of Aberdeen and his faults either in Religion or Policy may be attributed to these and his other Counsellours Many have thought that the fatal Chariot of his Precipice was that he had equally offended Kindred Clergy Nobility and People But suppose this had been true why should such an horrible mischief have been devised as to arm his own Son against him and that neither the fear of Divine Justice the respect of Infamy with the present or after times
for the faults of those who brought him to the Field against him he girded himself with a chain of Iron to which every third year of his Life thereafter he added some rings and weight Though this might have proved terrible to the Complices of the Crime yet either out of Conscience of his gentle disposition and mild nature and confidence in his generosity or of the trust they had in their own Power and Faction they bewrayed no signs of fear nor attempted ought against the common peace and tranquillity some Records bear that they forewarned him by the example of his Father not to take any violent course against them or which might irritate the people against him and every thing to embrace their counsels and that finding him repining and stubborn beyond mediocrity giving himself over to Sorrow and pensiveness they threatned him with a Coronation of one of his Brothers telling him it was in their power to make any of the Race of his Predecessors their King if he were head-strong and refractory to oppose to their wholsom directions and grave Counsels Amidst this grief of the King and overweaning of his supercilious Governours Andrew Forman Secretary to Alexander the Sixth Bishop of Rome arrived in Scotland with instructions for the Clergy and Letters from his Master to the King and the Nobles The King 's were full of ordinary consolations to asswage his Passions and reduce his mind to a more calm temper for the accident of his Fathers Death The most glorious victory a Prince could acquire was sometimes to overcome himself and triumph over his disordered passions In all perturbations to which we are subject we should endeavour to practise that precept No thing too much but chiefly in our passions of sorrow and wrath which not being restrained over-whelm the greatest and most generous Minds that by passion the fewest actions and by reason the most do prosper Though a King he must not imagine himself exempt from things casual to all mankind especially in Seditions and civil tumults from which no kingdom nor State hath been free There being no City which hath not sometimes wicked Citizens and always and ever an headstrong and mad multitude he should take what had befaln him from the hand of his Maker who chastiseth those he loveth What comes from heaven he should bear necessarily what proceedeth from Men couragiously there was no man so safe excellent and transcendent who by an insolent Nobility and ravaging Populacy might not be compell'd to perpetrate many things against his heart and intentions The will being both the beginning and subject of all sin and the consenting to and allowing the action being the only and main point to be considered and lookt into of which he was free the sin committed was not his nor could the punishment which by the Divine Justice might follow belong unto him Sith he had done nothing of himself but as a bound man had been carryed away by mutinous Subjects these that lead transgress not always they that follow To these men remorse and torture of conscience belong'd it was they should lament and mourn who under false pretences had abused the people maskt their ambition and Malice with a Reformation of errours in the State whose Rage could not be quench't but by the Bloud of their Soveraign It was these should bewail their injustice and cruelty the sin shame and judgment for so hainous a Fact followed these men He should not impute the wrongs and wickedness of others by which he had been a sufferer with his disastered Father to himself Revenge belonged to the Almighty to whose Tribunal he should submit his quarrel He should not decree the worst against his mutinous Subjects nor turn them desperate as if there were no place to Repent Great offences ordinarily were seldom punisht in a State that it was profitable for a Prince sometimes to put up voluntarily an injury the way to be invincible was never to contend and to stand out of danger was the benefit of Peace that he should apply soft Medicine where it was dangerous to use violent That following his Maker he should endeavour to draw good out of evil As he was for that disaster of his Father pittied by Men upon Earth so assuredly he would be pardon'd in Heaven If his Subjects returned to their crooked Byas and did revolt again he would make the danger his own use his Ecclesiastical Censures and Spiritual Power against them till they became obedient and submitted themselves to the sway of his Scepter In the Letters to the Nobles he exhorteth them to obedience Ambition was the cause of Sedition which had no limits and which was the bane and wrack of State and Kingdoms of which they should beware of Kingdoms subsisting upon the reputation of a Prince and that respect his Subjects carryed towards him He was the Eye and Sun of Justice the Prince weakned or taken away or his Authority contemned the Commonwealth would not only fall into a Decadence but suffer an Earthquake and perish Either after by Forrainers be invaded or by intestine dissentions rent asunder Confusions followed where obedience ceased and left Contempt deposed Kings as well as death and Kings are no longer Kings when their Subjects refuse to obey them That good people made good Kings which he requested them to endeavour to be as they would answer to God whose Lieutenants Princes were and by whose power they ruled After this time the Lord Evaindale being dead the Earl of Anguss was made Chancellour and the Lord Hume obtained the place of great Chamberlain of Scotland the Country enjoyed a great calm of Peace the grounds of Dissention seeming to be taken away The King in the strength and vigour of his Youth remembring that to live in Idleness was to live to be contemned by the World by change of Objects to expel his present sadness and to enable himself for Wars when they should burst forth gave himself to recreations by Games and with a decent Pomp entertained all Knightly exercises keeping an open and Magnificent Court When time and Exercise had enabled him and he thought he had attained to some perfection in Martial sports Tilting and Barriers proclaimed Rewards propounded and promised to the Victors Challenges are sent abroad unto Strangers either to be Umpires or Actors of Feats of Arms. Charles the Eight the French King having an Ambition to reannex the Dutchy of French Bretaign to the Crown of France either by Arms or the Marriage of Ann the apparent heir under the pretext and shadow of those painted Justings sendeth to Scotland some of the bravest Gentlemen of his Court desiring privily the assistance of King James against the English if it should fall forth that the King of England troubled his Designs Not long after well and honourably accompanied arriveth in Scotland a young man naming himself Richard Duke of York Son to Edward the Fourth true Inheritor of the Crown of England divers Neighbour
in the Reign of King James the Third had purchased Letters of Reprisal against the Portugals by Thomas Howard the English Admiral is slain and his Ships taken To this last grievance when it was expostulated King Henry is said to have answered That Truce amongst Princes was never broken for taking or Killing of Pyrates Alexander Lord Hume Warden of the East Marches in Revenge of accumulated injuries with three thousand men Invadeth the English Borders burneth some Villages and Forrageth the Fields about But having divided his Forces and sent a part of them loaden with spoils towards Scotland he falleth in an Ambush of the English where Sir William Bulmure with a thousand Archers put him to flight and took his Brother George During these Border Incursions the Lord Dacres and Doctor West came as in an Embassie from England not so much for the Establishing a Peace and setling those Tumults begun by the meeting of Commissioners who Assembled and concluded nothing as to give their Master certain and true Intelligence of the Proceedings of the Scots with the French and what they attempted Monsieur de la Motte was come with Letters from the French to stir King James to take Arms against the English and had in his Voyage drowned three English Ships bringing seven with him as Prizes to the Harbour of Leyth Robert Bartoun in revenge of Andrew Bartouns death at that same time returned with thirteen Vessels all Prizes King Lovys had sent a great Ship loaden with Artillery Powder and Wines in which Mr. James Oguylbuy Abbot of Drybrough arrived with earnest request for the renewing of the ancient League between France and Scotland and Letters from Queen Ann for the Invasion of England In which she regretted he had not one Friend nor maintainer of his Honour at the Court of France after the late delay of the sending his Ships except her self and her Ladies that her request was He would for her sake whom he had honoured with the name of his Mistriss in his Martial sports in time of Peace March but one mile upon the English bounds now in time of an appearing War against her Lord and Country The King thinking himself already engaged and interested in his Fame drawn away by the Promises Eloquence and other persuasions of the French assembleth the three Estates of his Kingdom to deliberate about a War with England Many oppose it but in vain for at last for fear of the King's displeasure it is concluded uncertain whether by a worse Counsel or event But before any hostility against the English they determine and Decree That King Henry shall by an Herauld be fairly advertised and desired to desist from any further Invasion of the Territories of the French King or Duke of Guilders who was General of the French Army the King of Scotland's Confederates and Kinsmen which not being yielded unto the War as lawful and just shall be denounced Henry the Eight then Besieging Therovenne answered the Herauld who delivered his Commission That he heard nothing from him but what he had expected from a King a Despiser of God's and Man's Law for himself he would not give over a War so happily begun for any threats Neither did he care much for that Man's friendship of whose unconstancy he had so often had experience nor for the power of his Kingdom and ambitious Poverty After this answer of the King of England A Declaration by the King of Scotland was published almost to this sense Though Princes should direct their Actions more to conscience than Fame and are not bound to give an account of them to any but to God alone and when Armies are prepared for Battel they look not so much to what may be said as to what ought to be done the Victors being ever thought to have had Reason upon their side and the justest Cause yet to manifest our sincerity and the uprightness of our proceedings as well to these present times as to posterity who may hereafter enquire after our deportments that all may take a full view of our intentions and courses we have been mov'd to lay down the justness and equity of our Arms before the Tribunal of the World The Laws of Nations and of Nature which are grounded upon the Reason by which Man is distinguished from other Creatures oblige every one to defend himself and to seek means for ones own preservation is a thing unblamable but the Laws of Soveraignty lay greater obligations upon us and above all men Monarchs and they to whom God hath given the Governments of States and Kingdoms are not only bound to maintain and defend their own Kingdoms Estates and Persons but to relieve from unjust Oppression so far as is in their power being required their Friends Neighbours and Confederates and not to suffer the weak to be overthrown by the stronger The many Innovations and troubles raised upon all sides about us the wrongs our Subjects have suffered by the Insolencies and Arrogancy of the Counsellors of Henry King of England our Brother-in-Law are not only known to our Neighbour but blazed amongst remotest Countries Roads and Incursions have been made upon our Borders Sundry of our Lieges have been taken and as in a just War turned Prisoners the Warden of our Marches under Assurance hath been miserably killed our Merchants at Sea Invaded spoiled of their Goods Liberties Lives above others the chief Captain of our Ships put to death and all by the King 's own Commission upon which breaches between the two Kingdoms disorders and manifest wrongs committed upon our Subjects when by our Embassadours we had divers times required satisfaction and reparation we received no Justice or answer worthy of him or us our Complaints being rejected and we disdainfully contemned that longer to suffer such insolencies and not by just Force to resist unjust violence and by dangers to seek a remedy against greater or more imminent dangers Not to stand to the defence of our Lieges and take upon us their Protection were to invite others to offer the like affronts and injuries to us hereafter Besides these Breaches of Duty Outrages Wrongs done unto us his Brother Henry King of England without any just cause or violence offered to him or any of his by the King of France hath Levyed a mighty Army against him Invaded his Territories using all Hostility Continuing to assault and force his Towns make his Subjects Prisoners Kill and Ransom them impose Subsidies and lift moneys from the quiet sort which wrongs dammage and injustice we cannot but repute done unto us in respect of our earnest intercessions unto him and many requests rejected and that ancient League between the two Kingdoms of France and Scotland in which these two Nations are obliged respectively and mutually bound to assist others against all Invaders whatsoever that the Enemy of the one shall be the Enemy of the other and the Friends of the one the Friends of the other As all Motions tend unto rest
the end of a just War being Peace that our Brother who hath no such Enemy as the too great Riches and abundance in which he swimmeth may entertain Peace with his Brother Princes and moderate that boundless Ambition which maketh him Usurp Domination over his equals we have been Compelled to take us to defensive Arms for our Brother hath now declared himself and vaunteth that he is sole Judge and Umpire of the Peace of Europe and that from his will the differences of Successions and Titles of Principalities wrongs and other interests depend as that all should be obsequious to his Authority and what particular Authority can be more intolerable than that he should hinder so great and just a Prince as the King of France to claim his own and defend his Subjects If our Brother the King of England by the supply and assistance of many Neighbour Countrys now by the Provocation of the Bishop of Rome arising upon all sides against the French should extend his Power and Victory over France under what colour and pretence of Justice soever to what an extremity shall the Kingdom of Scotland be reduced having so powerful and ambitious a Neighbour Fear of any Neighbour Princes Greatness when it extendeth it self over adjacent Territories is a good cause of Defence and taking of Arms which cannot be but just sith most necessary We are not ignorant that here will be objected against us the breach of a League contracted between our Brother and Us We have not broken that League but for great Causes and Reasons separate our selves from it our Brother having taken away the means occasions reasons were had to observe it In all Leagues Confederations Alliances and Promises amongst Princes the last Confederation is ever understood to be contracted without prejudice to the Rights of any former Alliances and when our Embassadours made that League with our Brother it was to be understood that it should hold no longer nor we longer be bound unto it than he should keep to our first Allies and ancient Confederates not breaking their Peace nor troubling the Government and Estates of their Countries A National League is ever to be preferred before any personal an ancient to a new the Leagues between the Kingdoms of France and Scotland having continued many ages should justly be preferr'd to that which we as a new Ally of the House of England did contract which yet we are most willing to keep but the love of our Country passing all private respects hath moved us to separate our selves for a time from it All Leagues Confederations Alliances Promises amongst Princes are respectively and mutually understood with this condition and Law providing both keep upon either side the one party breaking or departing from the League Alliance or promise the other is no longer bound to keep or adhere unto it So long as the King of England kept unto us we kept unto him He now having many ways broken to us we are no longer obliged to keep to him That same Oath which obliged and tyed us after his breach absolving and making us free and of this we divers times advertised him giving him assurance except we would betray that Trust and confidence our Subjects and Confederates had in us for the maintenance of their Peace and safety we could not but assist them in their just cause howsoever the justest actions have not ever the most profitable events and be constrained to have a recourse to Arms for a remedy of their present misery And now notwithstanding of our advanced expedition and preparations for War that the world may judge rightly of our intentions We declare and manifest that if our Brother shall leave off the Invasion of our Confederates use no more Hostility against them and give satisfaction for the wrongs done unto our Subjects that we shall disband our Forces and are content that all matters of difference aswel between the King of France and our Brother as our Brother and us be amicably judged decided and taken away As that not only a Truce and Cessation of their misery for a time but a perfect and lasting Peace be concluded and established to the full contentment and lasting happiness of the three Kingdoms and our Posterity Whilest the King stayed at Linlithgow attending the gathering of his Army now ready to set forward and full of cares and perplexity in the Church of St. Michael heard Evensong as then it was called while he was at his Devotion an ancient Man came in his Amber coloured locks hanging down upon his shoulders his forehead high and enclining to baldness his Garment of Azure colour somewhat long girded about him with a Towel or Table Napkin of a comely and reverent Aspect Having enquired for the King he intruded himself into the Prease passing thorow till he came to him with a clownish simplicity leaning over the Canons Seat where the King sate Sir said he I am sent hither to intreat you for this time to delay your expedition and to proceed no farther in your intended journey for if you do ye shall not prosper in your enterprize nor any of your followers I am farther charged to warn you if ye be so refractory as to go forward not to use the acquaintance company or counsel of Women as ye tender your Honour Life and Estate After this warning he withdrew himself back again into the Prease when Service was ended the King enquired earnestly for him but he could no where be found neither could any of the standers by of whom diverse did narrowly observe him meaning afterwards to have discoursed further with him feel or perceive how when or where he passed from them having as it were vanished in their hands After this Army had mustered in the Borrow-moor of Edenburgh a field then spacious and delightful by the shades of many stately and aged Oaks about the midst of the Night there is a Proclamation heard at the Market Cross of the Town summoning a great many Burgesses Gentlemen Barons Noblemen to appear within fourty days before the Tribunal of one Plot-Cock the Provost of the Town in his Timber Gallery having heard his own Name cited cried out that he declined that Judicatory and appeal'd to the mercy of God Almighty Nothing was the King moved with those advertisements thinking them Scenick pieces acted by those who hated the French and favoured the English Faction being so boldly and to the Life personated that they appalled and stroke with fear ordinary and vulgar judgments as Trage-Comedies of Spirits The Earl of Anguss dissuaded him from that expedition and many of the most reverend Church-men but the Angel which most conjured him was Margarite his Queen who at that time was with child her tears and prayers shook the strongest beams of his Resolutions She had acquainted him with the Visions and affrightments of her sleep that her Chains and Armelets appeared to be turned into Pearls She had seen him fall from a great Precipice She
Dunkell his Uncle to offer them what honourable satisfaction they could require All that he propounded being rejected by implacable men and finding the only way to be freed of violence to be violent and that danger could not be avoyded but by a greater danger with an hundred hardy resolute men armed with long Spears and Pikes which the Citizens as he traversed the Streats out of Windows furnished him he invested a part of the Town and barricadoed some Lanes with Carts and other impediments which the time did affrad The adverse party trusting to their number and the supply of the Citizens who calling to mind the slaughter of their Deacon shew them small favour disdaining the Earl should thus muster on the Streats in great fury invade him Whilst the bickering continued and the Town is in a Tumult William Dowglass brother to the Earl of Anguss Sir David Hume of Wedderburn George Hume brother to the late Lord with many others by blood and Friendship tyed together enter by violence the East Gate of the Town the Citizens making small resistance force their passage through the throngs seek the Earls enemies find them scoure the streets of them The Master of Montgomery eldest Son to the Earl of Eglintoun Sir Patrick Hamiltoun Brother to the Earl of Arran with almost fourscore more are left dead upon the place The Earl himself findeth an escape and place of retreat through a Marsh upon the North side of the Town The Chancellour and his retinue took Sanctuary in the Dominican Fryers the tumult by the slaughter of some and flight of others appeased the Earl of Anguss now freed of danger licensed all who pleased without further pursuit peaceably to leave the Town of Edenburgh and return to their own Houses Some daies after the Humes well banded and backed with many Nobles and Gentlemen of their linage by the Earl of Anguss consent took the Lord Humes and his brothers heads from the place where they had been fixt and with the funeral Rites of those times interr'd them in the Black-Fryers The Earl of Anguss having angled the Peoples hearts by his Magnificence Wisdom Courage and Liberality his Faction began to bear greatest sway in the Kingdom For the continuance of which the King of England dealt most earnestly with the French King to keep the Duke of Albany still in France with him But the French had contrary designâ— And when the Duke understood the great discords of the Nobility of Scotland persons of Faction being advanced to places dangerous immunities being granted to the Commons France and England beginning to be tyred of their Peace and preparing for a new War to curb the Scottish Factions keep the Nation in quietness in it self by giving the Subjects other Work abroad whilst common danger should break off particular Discords Notwithstanding of the English Ships which lay in wait to take him after he had been about five years in France in November he arrived on the West Coasts of Scotland at a place named Garloch The Governour coming to Edenburgh set himself to amend the enormities committed in his absence the Magistrates of the Town are deposed because in the late uproar they had been evil seconds to the Lords of the West when they went to surprise the Earl of Anguss A Parliament is called to which many Noblemen and Gentlemen are cited to make appearance in February to be tryed and to answer for offences committed by them in the Governours absence The appointed time being come these who appeared not were Indicted and fled into England Amongst which and the chief were the Humes and Cockburns men Authors and accessory to the death of Sir Anthony Darcy The tyde now turning and mens affections changed the Earl of Anguss with his Brother Sir George Dowglass by the Intercession of the Queen are constrained to seek a Pardon which was obtained for them but with the condition that they should leave the Country and stay in France one whole year which they obeyed Others have Recorded they were surprized in the Night and in French Ships conveyed privately away Mr. Gavin Dowglass Bishop of Dunkell in the absence of his Nephew finding the Governour violent in the Chase of the Faction of the Dowglasses fled privately to the Court of England where he gave informations to King Henry against him He alone had taken to him the custody of the young King the sequel whereof he much feared he was an irreconcilable Enemy to the whole Family of the Dowglasses The principal cause of his coming to Scotland was to engage the Nation in a War against England that the English should not assist the Emperour against the French King and make his Nation slaves to France This Bishop shortly after dyed at London and was buried in the Savoy Church having been a man Noble Valiant Learned and an excellent Poet as his Works yet extant testifie The King of England upon such informations sent Clarencieux King of Arms to Scotland to require the Duke to avoid the Country according to the Articles agreed upon between the French King and him in their last Truce It belonged said Clarencieux to his Master to tender the life wellfare honour fortunes of his Nephew of none of which he could be assured so long as the Duke ruled and stayed in Scotland It was against all reason and unbeseeming the man should be sole Guardian to a King who was the next heir to the Crown how easily might he be tempted by opportunity to commit the like unnatural cruelty which some have done in the like case both in England and other parts of Europe if he loved his Nation and Prince as he gave out he required him to leave the Country which if he yield not unto but obstinately continued in a resolution to stay he denounced from his Master present war He farther complained That the Earl of Anguss who was King Henries Brother-in-Law was by him banisht and detained in France That during the banishment of the Earl which had been near a whole year the Duke had importuned his Sister the Queen with dishonest love The Governour answered Clarencieux That what the Kings of France and England agreed upon in their Treaties of Peace was to him uncertain but of this he was most certain That neither the King of England nor France had power to banisht him a Foreiner over whom their authority did not reach his native Country like over like having no jurisdiction As concerning the King of Scotland who was yet young in years he reverenced him as his Soveraign Lord and would keep and defend both him and his Kingdom according to his Conscience honour and bound duty that there were ever more men in the world who desired to be Kings than there were Kingdoms to be bestowed upon them of which number he was none having ever preferred a mean estate justly enjoyed before a Kingdom evil acquired For the Earl of Anguss he had used all Courtesies towards him notwithstanding of
which now for fear of their Lives they would be forced to forsake or to proceed with great timorousness and neglect if by any secular power they might be called in Judgment and embrue Scaffolds with their blood The Pope though highly provokt parted not from his Resolution yet used a sort of moderation he threatneth still to let fall the blow in the mean time holding his hand Thus to give satisfaction to his Court he formed a Process against King Henry and a most severe Sentence but abstained from the publication of it during his pleasure Secretly sending many Copies of it to those Princes he thought could be useful to his Designs when occasion should serve and he proceed with a constant rumor of the Bull shortly to be put in execution and publisht Amongst many interested in wrongs by the King of England considering there was none comparable to the Nation and King of Scotland he directeth hither John Antonio Compeggio This Legate findeth King James at Faulkland 22. February 1535. and here with many Ceremonies and Apostolical Benedictions delivereth him a Cap and a Sword Consecrated the Night of the Nativity of our Saviour which the fame of his valour and many Christian virtues had moved his Master to remunerate him with Also saith the Original that it might breed a terror in the heart of a wicked neighbouring Prince against whom the Sword was sharpned The Popes Letter in most submissive stile contained A Complaint for the death of John Bishop and Cardinal of Rochester miserably taken away by the hand of an Hang-man The Calamities of England occasioned by the Kings Divorce from Katherine of Spain and his Marriage with Ann Bullen That since the Roman Church had received great disgrace and a deadly wound and by patience procured more and more wrongs from the King of England She was constrained to use a searing Iron For the application of which She had recourse to his Majesty a Prince for his Ancestors piety and his own renowned His aid maintenance protection she implored Since King Henry was a Despiser a Scorner One who set at naught the censures of the Church an Heretick Schismatick a shameful and shameless Adulterer a publick and profest homicide Murtherer a Sacrilegious Person a Church-Robber a Rebel guilty of lese-Majesty Divine outragious many and innumerable ways a Felon a Criminal By all Laws herefore justly to be turned out of his Throne The King of Scotland for the Defence of the Church would undertake something worthy a Christian King and himself he would endeavour to suppress Heresie defend the Catholick faith against those whom the justice of Almighty God and judgments were now prepared and already ready to be denounced The King kindly entertained the Legate answered the Pope with much regret for the estate and stubborness of the King of England Who would not be struck with Pitty that a King who late amongst Christian Princes was honoured with the Title of Defender of the Faith should be obnoxious to so many Crimes that now amongst Princes he could scarce be reputed a Christian This Compassion was common to him with others but he by a necessity of Nature and nearness of Blood felt a more piercing sorrow he should leave no means untried to recal his Uncle to the obedience of the Church and though by his Embassadors he had once or twice went about the same but in vain he would study a way how face to face he might give him his best Counsel and remonstrate how much good he would do the Christian World and himself by returning again to the Church Mean while he requested him not to be heady forward nor rash in executing the Sentence against his Uncle which would but obdure him in his separation King James not having lost all hopes of his Uncle directeth the Lord Areskin to England to acquaint him with the Emperors and Popes Embassages and to take his Counsel about a Marriage with the Duke of Vandosons Daughter whom the French King had offered to him his own Daughter being weak and sickly In this Embassage there was a complaint against the Londoners who in their passage to the Island fishing spoiled the Coasts of Orknay and the adjacent Islands with a Roquest that King Henry would not succour the Lubeckers against the Duke of Hulstein The King of England not to prove inferior to the Emperour and Pope in conferring honours upon his Nephew admitteth him to the Fraternity of the Garter which he delivered to the Lord Areskin his Embassador And thereafter dispatched William Lord Howard Brother to the Earl of Norfolk as if that name were a sufficient Scar-crow to the Popes Sword and the Emperours Golden-fleece to Scotland who made such hasty Journeys that he prevented the News of his coming and at unawares found the King at Sterlin The Substance of his Embassage was That the King of England and Scotland might have an interview at York at which meeting the King of Scotland should be declared Duke of York and General Lieutenant of the Kingdom of England That his Master having Instructions of the Alliance offered him by neighbouring Princes did offer to his own and his Counsels judgments if they could find a more fit than to contract a Marriage with his Daughter which might be easily perfected if his Master and King James could condescend upon some few points When the King had taken these Propositions into deliberation the Church-men suspecting if this meeting and match had way the King would embrace the Opinions of the new Reformers set all their wits to overthrow it The nearest Successors to the Crown covering their claim and interest argued That to Marry the Lady Mary of England who for many years would not he marriagable was not a right way to continue his Race by procreation of Children and that his impatience of living alone would not be much abated by marrying a Child That King Henry projected this Marriage to no other end than to hinder him from better Alliances or to facilitate an entry to the Kingdom That when a Prince would take advantage of any neighbour Prince it was more safely done by Alliance than open force That it was more safely King Henry being a wary Prince never meant to marry his Daughter at all as long as himself lived but to keep her at Home with him bearing many Princes in hand to save him from Dangers both at home and abroad which counsel was practised lately by the Duke of Burgundy Most oppose neither to the meeting of the two Kings nor to the Alliance but to the place of their meeting which seemed unto them of no small importance being in the heart of England and amidst the most martial people of that Nation They require the two Kings might have their interview at Newcastle this place when they meet being most commodious for furnishing all necessaries by Ships That the number of their Train should be agreed upon as one thousand which none of the two Kings should
and surpass the affection of their hearts So in this Nation the affection of their hearts is far above all they can express by words Daign then Sir from the highest of Majesty to look down on their lowness and embrace it accept the homage of their humble minds accept their grateful zeal and for deeds accept that great good will which they have ever carried to the high deserts of your Ancestors And shall ever to your own and your Royal Race whilst those rocks shall be overshadowed with buildings buildings inhabited by men and while men be induced either with Counsel or Courage or enjoy any piece of Reason Sense or Life An Apologetical Letter March 2. 1635. My Lord IN a time when men for reading of Papers concerning State are challenged it must be a great hazard to write them and a greater to send them from home and the most to send them to one so near the Helm as is your Lordship who the next day perhaps may put in the Princes hands what is sent him And then though what is set down may be free of great faults yet must it pass and be understood as it pleaseth the Prince to construe it But what Marius Geminus said to Julius Caesar may be said to King Charles Caesar qui apud te audent dicere magnitudinem tuam ignorant qui non audent humanitatem And writing to your Lordship I know to whom I write Thus the way of glory lying near the Gates of danger I have adventured this sheet of Paper of which I beseech your Lordship to be both Judge and Patron What a noise hath been raised in this Countrey by prosecuting a piece of writing supposed to be derogatory to the Honour of the Kings Majesty No times have been without such men Wise men keep their thoughts locked up in the Cabinets of their Breasts and suffer the faults of times patiently Fools rail cry out but amend nothing What ever advice hath been given for the putting of Libellers to the extremity of Law I would say with all humble respect to grave Statesmen that in a matter of a Calumny and reproach with Subjects a Prince can do nothing more fitting his own fame and reputation than to slight and contemn them as belonging nothing to him and that 't were better to neglect than be too curious in searching after the Authors So Theodosius Honorius Arcadius were wont to say If any man speak ill of the Emperour if he do it of lightness it is to be contemned if of madness to be pittied if of injury to be remitted And Alexander the Great used to say Regium est benefacere male audire or as Plutarch reporteth it Regium est a quibus male audias magis esse iis beneficum Nero otherwise a terrible Prince when that Pasquil was given out against him Quis neget Aencae magna de stirpe Neronem Sustulit hic Matrem sustulit ille Patrem Or as DION citeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nero Orestes Alcmaeon Matricidae He took no notice of it followed not the Writers with any punishment sought them not as ye find in Suetonius Et quosdam ad Judicem delatos ad Senatum affici graviore poena prohibuit Writings which we scorn and make none account or themselves vanish and turn into nought If we chafe and fret it would appear that we have been therein touched and vively see in them our own faults and misdemeanor taxed and laid open If these Papers for the Kings honour were not to be seen and read or if they did derogate to the fame of the Nobles why were they not suppressed and hidden But is this the way to suppress and hide them To imprison arraign banish execute the persons near whom they are found Or is it not rather to turn them a piece of the Story of the Time to make such a noise about them and by seeking to avoid the smoak to fall into the fire What we would most evite and shun to be the Authors to bring upon our own heads What gained Queen Elizabeth the twenty three of her Reign by cutting off the hands of Stubbes and Page on a Scaffold for writing that Book against her Marriage with the Duke of Anjou save that out of horror of that new and unpractised punishment the People acknowledged her to be the right and not uncertain Daughter of King Henry the Eight and she began to be feared where before she was beloved of her Subjects Whom a People fear they hate and whom they hate they wish taken away A Prince should be more violent in revenging other mens quarrels than his own That unfortunate Duke of Buckingham in the time of Richard the Third could make good use against the Succession of the Race of Edward the Fourth in his Speech to the Commons of London by remembring them of the strange proceedings of King Edward against a Merchant named Burdet who dwelling at the Sign of the Crown and having said to his Son that after his death he would make him Heritor of the Crown meaning his own House was for this Tale in four hours after quartered which blot is eternally fixed to that Prince In the Reign of King Richard the Third who had ever known that Pasquil against three of his Courtiers Louell Ratcliff and Catsby The Rat the Cat and Louel that Dog Rule all England under the Hog If his Tyranny had not been mightily extended against that poor Gentleman Collingburn the Maker of it Ye will say it is in a Princes power to suppress such Papers by Authority That is the only way to make all men seek them and being found highly prize them Tacitus telleth us of certain Verses of Fabricius Viento against Church-men and Senators which were condemned to be burnt as long as the reading and finding of them was dangerous they were much sought for and with danger read but being afterwards licentiate to be read and the liberty of having them obtained they were forgotten and no man cared for them No Prince how great soever can abolish Pens nor will Memorials of ages be extinguished by present power the posterity rendring to every one his due honour and blame It is true that great men should direct their great care to Fame and hold nothing more dear unto them and he who contemneth it neglecteth those actions by which it is acquired But it is pitty men should be more careful and studious of fame for times to come in which they are not than of honesty in the present times in which they live Sometimes it is great wisdom in a Prince not to reject and disdain them who freely tell him his duty and open to him his misdemeanours to the Common-wealth and the surmises and umbrages of his People and Council for the amending disorders and bettering the form of his Government As if a man should tell King Charles That there is none in all his Kingdoms here can reckon himself Lord of his own Goods
than their King whether he was so or not sith for a Prince he had hitherto defended him he could not leave him upon the Relation of his most terrible enemy and the present Possessour of his Crown That no Prince was bound to render a Subject to another who had come to him for Sanctuary less a Prince who had recourse unto him for Aid and Supply and was now allayed with the ancient blood of the Countrey Much being said at last they conclude upon a truce for some months following After this treaty of Peace the Counterfeit Duke of York with his Lady and such Followers as would not leave him sailed over into Ireland This Truce happily concluded and continued by a trifling and untoward accident went near to have been given up and broken There were certain Scottish young men came into Norham Town and having little to do went sometimes forth and would stand looking upon the Castle Some of the Garrison of the Castle observing them and having not their minds purged of the late ill-humour of Hostility either suspected them or quarrel'd with them as spes whereupon they fell at ill words and from words to blows so that many were wounded of either side and the Scots being strangers in the Town had the worst Insomuch that some of them were slain and the rest made haste home The matter being complained on and often debated before the Wardens of the Marshes of both sides and no good order taken King James took it to himself and sent Marchmond Herauld to the King of England to make protestation That if reparation were not done according to the Conditions of the Truce his King did denounce War The King of England who had often tryed fortune and was enclined to Peace made answer That what had been done was utterly against his will and without his privity But if the Garrison Souldiers had been in fault he would see them punished and the Truce in all points to be preserved This answer pleased not King James Bishop Fox understanding his discontent being troubled that the occasion of breaking the Truce should grow from his men sent many humble and deprecatory Letters to the King of Scotland to appease him Whereupon King James mollified by the Bishops submiss and discreet Letters wrote back again unto him That though he were in part moved by his Letters yet he should not be fully satisfied except he spake with himself as well about the compounding of the present differences as about other matters that might concern the good of both Kingdoms The Bishop advising with his Master took his journey to Scotland the meeting was at the Abby of Melrose where the King then abode The King first roundly uttered unto the Bishop his offence received for the breach of the Truce by his Men at Norham Castle after speaking with him apart he told him That these temporary Truces and Peace were soon made and soon broken but that he desired a straiter Amity with the King of England discovering his Mind that if the King would give him in Marriage the Lady Margaret his eldest Daughter That indeed might be a knot indissolvable That he knew well what Place and Power the Bishop deservedly had with his Master therefore if he would take the business to heart and deal in it effectually he doubted not but it would well succeed The Bishop answered soberly That he thought himself rather happy than worthy to be an instrument in such a matter but would do his best endeavour Wherefore the Bishop of Durham returning from Scotland to his King at London and giving account what had passed and finding his King more than well disposed in it gave the King first advice to proceed to a conclusion of Peace and then go on with the Treaty of Marriage by degrees hereupon a Peace was concluded to continue for both the Kings lives and to the overliver of them one year after In this Peace there was an Article contained That no English-man should enter into Scotland nor no Scotch-man into England without Letters Commendatory from the King of either Nations During this Treaty of the Marriage it is reported that the King of England referred this matter to his Council and that some of the Table in freedom of Councellours the King being present had put the case That Issues Males and Females falling of the Race of his two Sons that then the Kingdom of England would fall to the King of Scotland which might prejudice the Monarchy of England Whereunto the King replyed That if any such event should be Scotland would be but an accession to England and not England to Scotland for that the greater would draw the less and that it was a safer Union for England than that of France Shortly after the espousals of James King of Scotland with Lady Margarite the King of Englands eldest Daughter followed which were done by Proxie and in all solemn manner The Assurance and contract was Published at Pauls Cross the Twenty Fifth of January at London in applause of which Hymns were publickly sung in the Churches and Bonfires with great Feasting and Banqueting set throughout all the City Julius the Second in the beginning of this Treaty did gratifie King James with a Sword and Diadem wrought with flowers of Gold which the Popes on Christmas even used to Consecrate a custom first brought in by Sixtus Quartus which were presented to him at Holy-Rood-House the Marriage was in August following consummate at Edenburgh King Henry bringing his Daughter as far as Colliveston on the way where his Mother the Countess of Richmond abode and then resigning her to the attendance of the Earl of Northumberland who with a great Train of Lords and Ladies of Honour brought her into Scotland to the King her Husband Solemn days were kept at Court for Banqueting Masks and Revelling Barriers and Tilting Proclaimed Challenges were given out in the Name of the Savage Knight who was the King himself Rewards designed to the Victors Old King Arthur with his Knight of the Round-Table were here brought upon the Lists The Fame of this Marriage hath drawn many Forreign Gentlemen to the Court. Amongst others came Monsieur Darcie naming himself Le Sieur de la Beautle who tryed Barriers with the Lord Hamilton after they had Tilted with grinding Spears Some of the Savage Knights Company who were robust High-land men he giving way unto them smarted really in these feigned Conflicts with Targets and Two-handed Swords to the Musick of their Bagpipes fighting as in a true Battel to the admiration of the English and French who had never seen men so ambitious of Wounds and prodigal of Blood in sport All were magnificently entertained by the King and with honourable Largesses and Rewards of their Valour licensed to return Home During the Treaty of this Marriage with England a Monster of new and strange shape was born in Scotland near the City of Glasgow the body of which under the waste or middle varied