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 I History of the Church of 
 
 V.3 
 
HISTORY 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 BEGINNING THE YEAR O^' OUR LORD 203, AND CONTINUED 
 TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF KING JA3IES VI. 
 
 KIGHT KEV. JOHN'^POTTISWOODE, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OP ST ANDREWS, AND LORD CHANCELLOR 
 OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND NOTES, 
 
 BV THE 
 
 RIGHT REV. M. RUSSELL, LL.D., D.C.L. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOLUME III. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT. 
 
 LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO. 
 M.DCCCLI. 
 

 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 THE SIXTH BOOK CONTINUED. 
 
 J HE next year began with a trouble in the 
 borders, which was hke to have disturbed the 
 peace betwixt the two realms, and arose upon 
 this occasion. The Lord Scroope being then 
 warden of the west marches of England, and 
 the laird of Buccleuch having the charge of Liddisdale, they 
 sent their deputies to keep a day of truce for redress of some 
 ordinary matters. The place of meeting was at the Day holme 
 of Kershop, where a small brook divideth England from Scot- 
 land, and Liddisdale from Bow Castle. There met as dep- 
 uty for the laird of Buccleuch Robert Scott of Haining ; and 
 for the Lord Scroope, a gentleman within the west wardenry, 
 called Mr Salkeld. These two, after truce taken and pro- 
 claimed, as the custom was, by sound of trumpet, met friend- 
 ly, and, upon mutual redress of such wrongs as were then 
 complained of, parted in good terms, each of them taking his 
 way homewards. Meanwhile it happened one William Arm- 
 strong, commonly called Will of Kinmouth, to be in company 
 with the Scottish deputy, against whom the Enghsli had a 
 quarrel for many wrongs he had committed, as he was indeed 
 a notorious thief. This man having taken his leave of the 
 
 VOL, III. 1 
 
2 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 Scots deputy, and riding down the river of Liddle on the 
 Scottish side towards his own house, was pursued by the 
 Enghsh that espied him from the other side of the river, and 
 after a chase of three or four miles taken prisoner, and 
 brought back to the English deputy, who carried him away 
 to the castle of Carlisle. 
 
 The laird of Buccleuch complaining of the breach of truce 
 (which was always taken from the time of meeting unto the 
 next day at sunrising), wrote to Mr Salkeld, and craved re- 
 dress. He excused himself by the absence of the Lord 
 Scroope. Whereupon Buccleuch sent to the Lord Scroope, 
 and desired the prisoner might be set at liberty without any 
 bond or condition, seeing he was unlawfully taken. Scroope 
 answered, " that he could do nothing in the matter, it having 
 so happened, without a direction from the queen and council 
 of England, considering the man was such a malefactor. 
 Buccleuch loath to inform the king of what was done, lest it 
 might have bred some misliking betwixt the princes, dealt 
 with Mr Bowes, the resident ambassador of England, for the 
 prisoner's liberty ; who wrote very seriously to the Lord 
 Scroope in that business, advising him to set the man free, 
 and not to bring the matter to a farther hearing. But no 
 answer was returned. The matter thereupon was imparted 
 to the king, and the queen of England solicited by letters to 
 give direction for his liberty ; yet nothing was obtained. 
 Which Buccleuch perceiving, and apprehending both the 
 king, and himself as the king's officer, to be touched in 
 honour, he resolved to work the prisoner's relief by the best 
 means he could. 
 
 And upon intelligence that the castle of Carlisle, wherein 
 the prisoner was kept, was surprisable, he employed some 
 trusty persons to take a view of the postern-gate, and measure 
 the height of the wall, which he meant to scale by ladders ; 
 and if those failed, to break through the wall with some iron 
 instruments, and force the gates. This done so closely as he 
 could, he drew together some two hundred horse, assigning 
 the place of meeting at the tower of Morton, some ten miles 
 from Carlisle, an hour before sunset. With this company 
 passing the water of Esk about the falling, two hours before 
 day he crossed Eden beneath Carlisle bridge (the water 
 through the rain that had fallen being well thick), and came to 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 3 
 
 the Sacery, a plain under the castle. There making a little 
 halt at the side of a small burn which they call Cadaye, he 
 caused eighty of the company to hglit from their horses, and 
 take the ladders and other instruments which he had pre- 
 pared with them. He himself accompanying them to the 
 foot of the wall, caused the ladders to be set to it ; which 
 proving too short, he gave order to use the other instruments 
 for opening the wall nigh the postern, and finding the busi- 
 ness like to succeed, retired to the rest whom he had left on 
 horseback, for assuring those that entered upon the castle 
 against any eruption from the town. With some little labour 
 a breach was made for single men to enter, and they who 
 first wont in brake open the postern for the rest. The 
 watchmen and some few the noise awaked made a little re- 
 sistance, but they were quickly repressed and taken captive. 
 After which they passed to the chamber wherein the pri- 
 soner was kept, and having brought him forth, sounded a 
 trumpet, which was a signal to them without that the enter- 
 prise was performed. The Lord Scroope and Mr Salkeld 
 were both within the house, and to them the prisoner cried 
 a good night. The captives taken in the first encounter 
 were brought to Buccleuch, who presently returned them to 
 their master, and would not suffer any spoil or booting, as 
 they term it, to be carried away : he had straitly forbidden 
 to break open any door but that where the prisoner was 
 kept, though he might have made prey of all the goods 
 within the castle, and taken the warden himself captive ; for 
 he would have it seen that he did intend nothing but the re- 
 paration of his majesty's honour. By the time that the prisoner 
 was brought forth, the town had taken the alarm, the drums 
 were beating, the bells ringing, and a beacon put on the top 
 of the castle to give warning to the country. Whereupon 
 Buccleuch commanded those that entered the castle and the 
 prisoner to horse, and marching again by the Sacery, made 
 to the river at the Stonybank ; on the other side whereof 
 certain were assembled to stop his passage : but he causing 
 sound the trumpet took the river, day being then broken ; 
 and they choosing to give him way, he retired in order 
 through the Grahams of Esk (men at that time of great 
 power and his unfriends), and came back into Scottish ground 
 two hours after sunrising, and so homewards. 
 
4 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 This fell out the thirteenth of April 1596. The queen of 
 England having notice sent her of what was done stormed 
 not a little. One of her chief castles surprised, a prisoner 
 taken forth of the hands of the warden and carried away, so 
 far within England, she esteemed a great affront. The 
 lieger, Mr Bowes, in a frequent convention kept at Edin- 
 burgh the twenty-second of May, did, as he was charged, in 
 a long oration aggravate the heinousness of the fact, conclud- 
 ing that peace could not longer continue betwixt the two 
 realms, unless Buccleuch were delivered in England to be 
 punished at the queen's pleasure. Buccleuch compearing, 
 and charged with the fact, made answer, that he went not 
 into England with intention to assault any of the queen's 
 houses, or to do wrong to any of her subjects, but only to re- 
 lieve a subject of Scotland unlawfully taken, and more un- 
 lawfully detained; that in the time of a general assurance, in 
 a day of truce, he was taken prisoner against all order, 
 neither did he attempt his relief till redress was refused; and 
 that he had carried the business in such a moderate fashion, 
 as no hostility was committed, nor the least wrong offered to 
 any within the castle. Yet was he content, according to the 
 ancient treaties observed betwixt the two realms, whenas 
 mutual injuries were alleged, to be tried by the commissioners 
 that it should please their majesties to appoint, and submit 
 himself to that which they should decern. The convention 
 esteeming the answer reasonable did acquaint the ambas- 
 sador therewith, and oft'ered to send commissioners to the 
 borders with all diligence, to treat with such as the queen 
 should be pleased to appoint for her part. 
 
 But she, not satisfied with the answer, refused to appoint 
 any commissioners ; whereupon the council of England did 
 renew the complaint in July thereafter, and the business 
 being of new agitated, it was resolved as of before that the 
 same should be remitted to the trial of commissioners ; the 
 king protestmg, that albeit he might with greater reason 
 crave the delivery of the Lord Scroope for the injury com- 
 mitted by his deputy, it being less favourable to take a 
 prisoner than to relieve him that is unlawfully taken, yet 
 for the continuing of peace he would forbear to do it, and 
 omit nothing on his part that could be desired either in equity 
 or by the laws of friendship. The borderers in the mean- 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 5 
 
 time making daily incursions one upon another filled all those 
 parts with trouble, the Enghsh being continually put to the 
 worse ; neither were they made quiet till, for satisfying the 
 queen, the laird of Buccleuch was first committed in St 
 Andrews, and afterwards entered in England, where he re- 
 mained not long.' 
 
 At the same time, for bringing the isles to obedience. 
 Colonel Stewart was employed to levy a thousand men, 
 every shire furnishing twenty horsemen and thirty foot, or 
 so much money as would sustain them, allowing the horse- 
 men twenty-four pounds monthly, and the foot twelve pounds, 
 besides the supply of the free burghs. These companies 
 were appointed to meet at Dumbarton the twentieth of Au- 
 gust, for attending the king or his lieutenant by the space of 
 forty days, according to the custom, and when the day was 
 come were commanded to follow the colonel, as designed 
 lieutenant by the king. But upon the bruit of this ex- 
 pedition the principals of the isles did all submit themselves, 
 offering obedience, and to appear before the king at the time 
 his majesty should appoint. So that expedition ceased, the 
 colonel going no farther than Islay, where he remained a few 
 days, and took assurance for their compearing. 
 
 In the March preceding, the Assembly of the Church con- 
 vened at Edinburgh, for consulting upon the dangers threat- 
 ened to religion by the invasion of the Spaniard, which was 
 then generally noised. Some brethren directed to lay open 
 the perils to his majesty, returned with this answer, " That 
 albeit there was no great cause to fear any such invasion at 
 that time, yet they should do well to give their advice as if 
 the danger were at hand, which would serve when necessity 
 did require." The Assembly upon this thought meet to 
 enter into consideration both of the dangers and remedies ; 
 and first to inquire upon the causes that had provoked God 
 to threaten the realm with that tyrannous nation, to the end 
 the same might be removed ; then to deliberate how by 
 ordinary lawful means the enemy should be resisted. The 
 causes they condescended to be the sins of all estates, and 
 especially the sins of the ministry; which they held best 
 should be penned and drawn to certain heads, that the cor- 
 ruptions being laid open, the remedies might be the better 
 ' [See note to this Book E.] 
 
6 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 provided. For tliis work some of the brethren were named 
 and set apart, who, after a day or two, presented in writing a 
 number of articles touching the corruption of ministers, as 
 well in their offices as in their lives and manners ; the 
 offences in the king's house, in the court, and in the judg- 
 ment-seats ; the defection and faults common to all estates ; 
 and the remedies which in their opinion were fit to be used. 
 The Assembly allowing their labours, and acknowledging 
 their own guiltiness in that which concerned themselves, 
 ordained a day of humiHation to be kept on Tuesday the 
 week following by the ministers that were present, for re- 
 conciling themselves to God, and making up a new covenant 
 with him for the better discharge of their duties. This is 
 the covenant that by some is so often objected, and said to be 
 violated by those that gave obedience to the canons of the 
 Church; albeit in it there is not a word or syllable that sounds 
 either to the confirming of the Church government then in 
 use, or to the rejecting of that which since hath been estab- 
 lished. But when other arguments fail them, somewhat must 
 be said to entertain the conceits of the popular. By this cov- 
 enant all did bind themselves to abide in the profession of the 
 truth, and to walk according to the same, as God should enable 
 them. But for the rules of policy, or ceremonies serving to 
 good order or decency, let inspection be taken of the register 
 which is extant, and it shall clearly appear, that at the time 
 there was not so much as any mention thereof made. 
 
 But to proceed : the advice they gave for resisting the 
 practices of the enemy was, " That all who had kithed in 
 action with the popish lords should enter their persons in 
 ward, till assurance was given that they should neither keep 
 intelligence with the rebels, nor join with them in case they 
 did return into the country, that the rents and livings of 
 the rebels should be uplifted for entertainment of soldiers, 
 and supporting other necessary affairs, that, in every parish, 
 captains should be chosen for the mustering and training of 
 men in arms, and some commanders in every shire appointed 
 for convening the county at needful occasions, lastly, that they 
 who were sureties for the good behaviour of the rebels with- 
 out the realm should be called, and decerned to pay the sums 
 contained in their bonds." 
 
 This advice presented to the king went much against his 
 
A. D, 1596.] CHURCH of Scotland. 7 
 
 mind ; for his desire was to have the banished lords reclaimed 
 and brought to obedience, which he esteemed to be the 
 greatest assurance both of his own peace and the country's 
 quiet : therefore did he only answer, " That if it could be 
 proved that the lords since their departing from Scotland 
 had trafficked with strangers to the prejudice of religion or 
 state, they should be used with all extremity ; but otherwise 
 neither could their cautioners be convicted, nor would he 
 change the course which he had kept with their wives and 
 children." Not long before this Assembly the king had 
 communicated his mind to Mr Robert Bruce touching that 
 business, hoping that by the sway he carried in those meet- 
 ings some such propositions as tended to the reclaiming of 
 the banished lords should have been made by the Assembly ; 
 but finding his expectation not answered, he brake to him the 
 matter of new, and showed " how greatly it concerned his 
 estate to have them reduced and called home ; that the 
 queen of England was grown old, and if any should after 
 her death Avithstand his title, he would have need of his sub- 
 jects' assistance ; and that having so many nobles exiled, he 
 would be less respected of strangers, and be a great deal 
 weaker at home. If he could therefore win them to acknow- 
 ledge their offence, and to embrace the true rehgion (without 
 which they should never get any favour from him), he be- 
 lieved the course would not be disallowed of wise men and 
 those that loved him. Always he desired to know his judg- 
 ment, for as yet he had not showed his mind in that matter 
 to any person." 
 
 Mr Robert, being as then in great favour and credit with 
 the king, said, " that he did think well of his majesty's reasons ; 
 and that he should not do amiss to bring home Angus and 
 Erroll, so as they would conform themselves in religion. But 
 that Huntly could not be pardoned, being so hated as he was 
 of the subjects." The king reasoning to the contrary, " That 
 if Huntly should be willing to satisfy the Church and fulfil 
 the conditions which he would require of him, he saw no 
 reason why he should not be received as well as the other 
 two ; and as he could not but know that his care of that man 
 was great, and he having married his cousin, whom he ac- 
 counted his own daughter, so was he the man of greatest 
 power, and one that could stand him in most stead. There- 
 
8 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 fore desired Mr Robert to think of that matter, and after a 
 day or two give him his advice in it." At the next meeting 
 being inquired what he had thought of the business, he 
 answered as before, saying, " That Huntly's return would 
 be ill interpreted, and offend all good men." The king re- 
 peating the former reasons, and adding, " That if he brought 
 one home he would bring them all ;" he replied, " I see, sire, 
 that your resolution is to take Huntly in favour ; which if 
 you do, I will oppose, and you shall choose whether you will 
 lose Huntly or me ; for us both you cannot keep." This 
 saucy reply the king did never forget, and it was this which 
 lost him the favour which formerly he carried with the king. 
 
 Shortly after, the exiled lords not finding that respect 
 given unto them in foreign parts which they expected, took 
 a resolution to return, and to use all means for reconciling 
 themselves to the king and church. And that their return 
 might be the more secret, they separated one from another. 
 Erroll taking his journey homewards through the United 
 Provinces was intercepted, and delivered into the hands of 
 Mr llobert Danielston, conservator of the Scottish privileges, 
 to be kept by him till the king should be advertised. But, 
 whether by the conservator's knowledge or otherwise, he 
 made an escape and came into the country. Huntly came 
 some months before, and lurking quietly in the north, sent a 
 supplication to his majesty and the convention which met at 
 Falkland the twelfth of August, the effect whereof was, that 
 he might be permitted to return, and remain within any part 
 of the country his majesty should appoint, he giving sufiicient 
 surety for his quiet and peaceable behaviour. 
 
 The king having heard the supplication, took occasion to 
 say, " That one of two courses was needful to be followed 
 with him and the rest that were in his condition ; that is, 
 either utterly to exterminate them, their race, and posterity, 
 or then, upon their humble acknowledgment of their offence, 
 and surety made for the state of religion, to receive them in 
 favour ; for to continue in the condition wherein they presently 
 were, could not stand either with the safety of religion, or 
 with his own honour and estate. The first course," said he, 
 " hath its own difiiculties, and will not be performed without 
 great trouble ; and for myself, so long as there is any hope 
 that they may be reduced to the profession of the truth, I 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 9 
 
 desire not their destruction, but like rather to extend my 
 clemency towards them ; which I believe is the mind of all 
 good and peaceable men. As to the present offer made by 
 Huntly, I do think it welP general, and to no purpose; 
 therefore by your advice I would have particular conditions 
 condescended upon, such as may serve for the security of re- 
 ligion, mine own honour, and the tranquillity of the country. 
 Such conditions being offered, and security found for per- 
 formance, I should then think that license might be granted 
 him to return, he being confined in such a part of the country 
 as should be thought most convenient." The convention, 
 approving his majesty's judgment, resolved upon this as the 
 fittest course, remitting the conditions to be formed by his 
 highness and the lords of council. 
 
 In another convention of the Estates at Dunfermline, the 
 penult of September, the same conclusion was ratified, and 
 the baptism of the princess, who was born the nineteenth of 
 August, appointed to be at Halyrudhouse the twenty -eighth 
 of November next. 
 
 How soon this their return into the country was known, 
 and that such an act was passed in their favours, the commis- 
 sioners of the Church assembled at Edinburgh, where falling to 
 consider the dangers threatened to religion by their return, it 
 was thought necessary to acquaint all the presbyteries with the 
 present state of things ; particularly that the forfeited earls 
 were returned into the country without his majesty's warrant 
 and approbation ; that they remained peaceably in the same, 
 using all means to be restored to their livings, albeit they had 
 neither acknowledged their offence in that treasonable dealing 
 with the king of Spain, nor their defection and apostasy from 
 the truth ; and that they had obtained an act of council in 
 their favours at the convention of Falkland, which was rati- 
 fied thereafter at Dunfermline, whereby they were licensed 
 to remain upon certain conditions to be prescribed unto them 
 by his majesty and council, to the manifest hazard both of 
 Church and state, considering their continuance in the same 
 disposition to work mischief as before. Of these things they 
 were desired to inform their flocks ; and both in public doc- 
 trine and private conference to stir up the people to appre- 
 hend the danger, and to be in readiness for resisting the same 
 
 ' Very. 
 
10 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 SO far as lawfully they might. It was farther thought meet, 
 that a public humiliation should be indicted through the whole 
 country the first Sunday of December, and the cause thereof 
 declared to be the return of the excommunicated lords, and 
 dangers thereby threatened to religion, which the ministers 
 should enlarge according to their discretions ; as also that 
 the presbyteries should call before them their entertainers, 
 resetters, and such as kept company with them, and proceed 
 summarily with the censures of the Church, una citatione, 
 quia periclitatur salus Ecclesice. et Reipublicce. Lastly, they 
 concluded that a number of commissioners selected out of all 
 the quarters of the country should reside at Edinburgh, and 
 convene every day with some of the presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, to receive such advertisements as should be sent 
 from other places, and take counsel upon the most expe- 
 dient in every case. The brethren nominated to this pur- 
 pose were Mr Alexander Douglas, Mr Peter Blackburn, 
 Mr George Gladstanes, and Mr James Nicholson for the 
 north parts ; Mr James Melvill, Mr Thomas Buchanan, 
 Mr Alexander Lindsay, and Mr William Stirling for the 
 middle part of the country ; Mr John Clapperton, Mr John 
 Knox, Mr George Ramsay, and Mr James Carmichael for 
 the south ; and for the west Mr John Howson, Mr Andrew 
 Knox, John Porterfield, and Mr Robert Wilkie. Their at- 
 tendance was ordained to be monthly, and to begin in No- 
 vember ; at which time Mr James Nicholson, Mr James 
 Melvill, Mr Andrew Knox, Mr John Howson, and Mr 
 George Ramsay were appointed to wait : Mr Robert Bruce, 
 Mr Robert Pont, Mr David Lindsay, Mr James Balfour, 
 Mr Patrick Galloway, and Mr Walter Balcanqucl observ- 
 ing ordinarily all the meetings. 
 
 These conventions were by a new name called the council 
 of the Church, and appointed to be kept once every day at 
 least, for taking advice in every business that occurred. 
 By direction of this council Lord Alexander Seaton, pre- 
 sident of the session, was called before the synod of Lothian, 
 for keeping intelligence with the earl of Huntly, and by 
 them remitted back to that council ; before whom, with many 
 attestations, he purged himself of any dealing with Huntly, 
 or any of the papist lords, and, upon promise not to employ 
 his credit that way, was dimitted. 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 11 
 
 The king suspecting these beginnings should end in some 
 trouble, but not liking to fall in contrary terms with the 
 Church, if by any means the same could be eschewed, com- 
 manded the president, secretary, advocate, and laird of 
 Colluthie, to confer with the most moderate of the ministry, 
 and use their best means for satisfying them touching the 
 return of the forfeited lords. Mr David Lindsay, Mr 
 Patrick Galloway, Mr James Nicholson, and Mr James 
 Melvill being sent for to this conference, were desired to give 
 their opinions, " Whether or not, due satisfaction being 
 made to the Church by these lords (for otherwise the king 
 did not mean to show them any favour), they might be 
 pardoned and restored to their estates." The ministers 
 answering, " They came only to hear what was proponed, 
 and in a matter of that importance could say nothing unac- 
 quainting their brethren," the conference was delayed till 
 afternoon ; at which time returning they said, " That the 
 brethren were glad of the respect carried by his majesty to 
 the Church, and that his resolution was to give no favour to 
 those rebels till the Church was first satisfied. But in their 
 judgments, they having by God's law deserved death, and 
 being by the most sovereign court of the kingdom sentenced 
 to have lost tlieir estates, they could not be lawfully pardoned 
 nor restored. And if the king and his council would take 
 on them to do it, they had God and the country to answer 
 unto ; but for them they would give no assent, but protest 
 to the contrary that they were free thereof before God and 
 man." 
 
 This answer seeming rather to proceed of passion than 
 any good zeal, it was next urged, " Whether upon their 
 humble and submissive suit to be reconciled, the Church 
 could deny to receive them, it being commonly held, that 
 the bosom of the Church should ever be patent to repenting 
 sinners." They answered, " That the Churcli indeed 
 could not refuse their satisfaction, if it were truly offered ; 
 nevertheless the king stood obliged to do justice." When 
 by no reasoning they could be wrought from these extrem- 
 ities, the conference brake oif, and the eifccts thereof being 
 reported to the king, he was greatly commoved, inveighing 
 against the ministers at his table, in council, and everywhere. 
 The wiser sort, that foresaw the ill effects this rancour 
 
12 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 would breed, advised the ministers to send some of their 
 number, to understand what it was that did so offend the 
 king, and offer all satisfaction on their parts ; withal to lay- 
 open their grievances, and in humble manner entreat a 
 redress of things which they esteemed hurtful. 
 
 Herein the same brethren being employed, they found 
 the king's answers more biting and peremptory than they 
 expected ; for being desired to show what it was that made 
 his majesty so offended with the Church, and professing to 
 amend it so far as lay in them, he said, there could be no 
 agreement so long as the marches of the two jurisdictions 
 were not distinguished ; that in their preachings they did 
 censure the affairs of the estate and council, convocated 
 general assemblies without his license, concluded what they 
 thought good, not once desiring his allowance and approba- 
 tion, and in their synods, presbyteries, and particular sessions, 
 meddle with everything upon colour of scandal ; besides 
 divers other disorders, which at another time he would 
 propound and have reformed, otherwise it was vain to think 
 of any agreement, or that the same being made, could stand 
 and continue any while. 
 
 The ministers not wilhng to dip in these matters, after 
 they had in sober manner replied to each of these points, 
 fell to speak of their own grievances. As first, the favour 
 granted to the popish lords in the late conventions at 
 Falkland and Dunfermline ; the countenance given to the 
 Lady Huntly, and her invitation to the baptism of the 
 princess ; the putting of her in the hands of the Lady Living- 
 stone, an avowed and obstinate papist ; and, which grieved 
 them more than anything else, the alienation of his majesty's 
 heart from the ministers, as appeared by all his speeches 
 pubUc and private. To this last the king did first reply, 
 saying, " That they had given him too just cause by their 
 raihng against him, and his proceedings, in their sermons." 
 For the popish lords, he had granted nothing to them but 
 what the estate had found needful for the peace and quiet 
 of the realm. As to the Lady Huntly, he esteemed her a good 
 discreet lady, and worthy of his countenance ; and that she 
 was a papist they might blame themselves, who had never 
 taken care to inform her of the truth. Lastly, for his 
 daughter the princess, he had trusted her to the Lord Living- 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 13 
 
 stone, a Dobleman known to be of good religion, and not to 
 his lady, who should not be suffered to take any care of her, 
 unless she conformed in point of religion. 
 
 Whilst things thus passed betwixt the king and the Church, 
 a new occasion of trouble was presented by Mr David 
 Blake, one of the ministers of St Andrews, who had in one 
 of his sermons cast forth divers speeches full of spite against 
 the king, the queen, the lords of council and session, and 
 amongst the rest had called the queen of England an atheist, 
 a woman of no rehgion. This being delated to the English 
 ambassador, he complained to the king, and thereupon 
 was Mr David Blake cited to appear before the council 
 the eighteenth of November. Mr Andrew Melvill accom- 
 panying him to Edinburgh, did labour to make this a com- 
 mon cause, giving out that the same was done only for a 
 preparative against the ministers, to bring their doctrine 
 under the censure and controlment of the king and council ; 
 and so far he prevailed with the commissioners of the 
 Church, as they sent certain of their number to entreat the 
 deserting of the diet, saying, " It would be ill taken to draw 
 ministers in question upon trifling delations, whenas the 
 enemies of the truth were spared and overseen." The king, 
 some days before, had pubhshed the conditions upon which 
 he was to grant a protection to Huntly ; and asking these 
 commissioners if they had seen the conditions, said, " That 
 both he and the rest should either satisfy the Church in 
 every point, or be pursued with all extremity, so as they 
 should have no reason to complain of the oversight of 
 papists." For Mr Blake, he said he did not think much of 
 that matter, only they should cause him appear and take 
 some course for pacifying the English ambassador. " But 
 take heed," said the king, " that you do not decline the 
 judicatory ; for if you do, it will be worse than anything 
 yet fallen out." 
 
 Now the conditions proponed to Huntly were as foUoweth : 
 That he should give sufficient and reasonable caution of 
 inland-men and landed barons, to the number of sixteen at 
 least, who should be acted in the books of council under the 
 pain of forty thousand pounds (each two of the cautioners 
 conjunctly and severally for five thousand pounds of the said 
 
14 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 sum), that he should faithfully observe and fulfil the whole 
 articles undermentioned, and every one of them. As first, 
 that betwixt that and the first day of April next to come, he 
 should either satisfy the Church for his apostasy, and return 
 to the bosom thereof in uniformity of rehgion, or before the 
 expiring of the said time depart again forth of the country, 
 and not return without his majesty's license. 
 
 2. Next, that during the said space, he should not receive 
 in his company any Jesuit, mass-priests, or excommunicate 
 papists, nor have any dealing, communication, or intelligence 
 with them, especially with his uncle Mr James Gordon ; nor 
 suffer his children, in case any be brought forth in the mean 
 time, to be baptized by another than a minister. 
 
 3. That so long as he remained in the country, as likewise 
 in case of his departing at the time aforesaid, he should not 
 traffic with any stranger or others whomsoever for alteration 
 of the true religion, or disquieting the state of the country 
 in any sort. 
 
 4. That his former cautioners should remain obliged, in 
 case after lawful trial it should be found that since his last 
 departing he had trafficked with strangers for subversion of 
 religion or the alteration of the state, in the sums for which 
 they were bound. 
 
 5. That he should presently enter his person in ward 
 within such a place as his majesty should appoint. 
 
 6. That, within fifteen days next, he should enter his 
 eldest son and apparent heir as a hostage to his majesty for 
 observing the articles before and after mentioned ; and that 
 his said son should abide in such company, ward, or castle, 
 as his majesty should appoint, where most conveniently he 
 might be instructed in the true religion, and not escape by 
 his father's knowledge or assistance. 
 
 Lastly, That he should compear personally before the 
 council whensoever he should be called, upon fifteen days' 
 warning, for trying the contravention of any of the articles 
 above expressed ; providing the cause for which he should 
 be charged were expressed in the letters, and warrant given 
 him that he should not be challenged for any other fact done 
 before his last passing forth of Scotland. 
 
 These articles the king caused to be imprinted, that all 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 15 
 
 men might see he meant not to bestow any favour either 
 upon him or the rest, unless they joined themselves to the 
 religion publicly professed. Yet this served not to stop the 
 mouths of people, nor did it remove the jealousy of the 
 preachers, who were daily complaining " That papists were 
 favoured, the ministers troubled for the free rebuke of sin, 
 and the sceptre of Christ's kingdom sought to be overthrown. 
 The process, they said, intended against Mr Blake was but 
 a policy to divert the ministers from prosecuting their suit 
 against the popish earls ; and if he should submit his doctrine 
 to the trial of the council, the liberties of the Church and 
 spiritual government of the house of God would be quite 
 subverted. In any case therefore they concluded that a de- 
 clinator should be used, and protestation made against these 
 proceedings." This was held a dangerous course, and earnest- 
 ly dissuaded by some few ; but they were cried down by the 
 greater number, that said " it was the cause of God, whereunto 
 it concerned them to stand at all hazard." So a declinator 
 was formed and given Mr Blake to present, bearing this in 
 substance : 
 
 " That howbeit the conscience of his innocency did uphold 
 him sufficiently against the calumnies of whomsoever, and 
 that he was ready to defend the doctrine uttered by him, 
 whether in opening the words or in application ; yet seeing 
 he was brought thither to be judged by his majesty and 
 council for his doctrine, and that his answering to the pre- 
 tended accusation might import a prejudice to the liberties of 
 the Church, and be taken for an acknowledgment of his 
 majesty's jurisdiction in matters merely spiritual, he was 
 constrained in all humility to decline that judicatory for the 
 reasons following : First, Because the Lord Jesus, of whom 
 he had the grace of his caUing, had given him (albeit un- 
 worthy of the honour to bear his name) his word for a rule 
 of his preaching, and that he could not fall in the reverence 
 of any civil law, but in so far as he should be tried to have 
 passed his instructions, which trial belonged only to the 
 prophets and pastors, the spirits of the prophets being sub- 
 ject to them alone ; for as first it must be declared whether 
 he had kept his instructions or not. 2. In regard the liberty 
 of the Church and disciphne presently exercised was con- 
 firmed by divers acts of parliament, and the office-bearers 
 
16 THE HISTORY OF THE [a D. 1596, 
 
 thereof peaceably possessed therein, particularly in the judi- 
 catory of the word preached (as was clear by divers late 
 examples), he ought to be remitted for his preaching to the 
 ecclesiastic senate, as his competent judge in the first instance. 
 For which and for other weighty considerations, and namely 
 for eschewing the inconveniences that might fall to religion 
 and his majesty's own estate, by the appearance of distrac- 
 tion and alienation of his majesty's mind from the ministry 
 and the cause of God in their hands, he for himself, and in 
 name of the commissioners of the General Assembly, who 
 had subscribed the same declinator, did humbly beseech his 
 majesty not to infringe the liberties of the Church, but rather 
 manifest his care in maintaining the same." 
 
 When the diet came, and the summons was read, being 
 desired to answer, he said, " That albeit he might object 
 against the citation, the same being directed super inquirendis, 
 contrary to the form prescribed by parliament, and no par- 
 ticular specified therein, yet he would take him to the usual 
 remedy of law, and desire to be remitted to his own ordinary." 
 It was asked what ordinary he meant ? He answered, " The 
 presbytery where the doctrine was taught." The king then 
 replying that the matter laid to his charge was civil, and 
 that the generality of the summons was restricted to the 
 particular letter produced by the English ambassador, he 
 said, " That the speeches wherewith he was charged being 
 uttered in pulpit must be judged by the Church, in prima 
 instantia." Again being inquired whether the king might 
 not judge matters of treason, as well as the Church did 
 judge points of heresy, he said, " That speeches delivered in 
 pulpit, albeit alleged to be treasonable, could not be judged 
 by the king till the Church took first cognition thereof ; but 
 that he was not come thither to solve questions, and so pre- 
 sented the declinator." The king, notwithstanding that he 
 was greatly offended (because the day appointed for the 
 baptism of the princess was approaching), continued all 
 farther proceeding to the last of November. 
 
 Meanwhile had the commissioners for the Church sent a 
 copy of Mr Blake's declinator with a letter to all the presby- 
 teries, requiring them for the greater corroboration of their 
 doings to subscribe the same, and to commend the cause in 
 hand in their private and public prayers to God, using their 
 
A. D. 1590.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 17 
 
 best credit with their flocks, and employing all their labours 
 for the maintenance thereof. The king being mightily in- 
 censed with this doing, as tending to a direct mutiny, and 
 the stirring up of the subjects to rebellion, gave forth a pro- 
 clamation, wherein he said : 
 
 " That certain persons of the ministry abiding in the town 
 of Edinburgh had of long time continued together devising 
 plots prejudicial to his majesty's authority, and, usurping a 
 power over their brethren, had directed letters for subscrib- 
 ing a declinator formed and already subscribed by themselves, 
 requiring them with the return of their subscriptions to send 
 some of their number to assist their proceedings, as though 
 they were not subjects, and that the king had no power nor 
 authority over them, intending, as appeared, by convocations 
 and the like tumultuous forms, to break the peace and make 
 an insurrection in the country ; whereas no care in the mean- 
 time was taken of their flocks, but the same left comfortless 
 and destitute of the preaching of the word ; all which they 
 coloured with a general commission alleged to be given by 
 the last General Assembly; albeit there was no such com- 
 mission, that which they produced containing only a power 
 to consult and report, and not to set down acts, or exercise 
 any jurisdiction : and granting that any such a commission 
 had been given, the same could not be lawful, as given with- 
 out the consent and approbation of his majesty's commis- 
 sioners, who were present at the time. Therefore to prevent 
 the disorders and confusion which therethrough mio-ht arise, 
 his highness, with the advice of the council, discharged the 
 said commission as unlawful in itself, and more unlawfully 
 executed by the said commissioners ; commanding the per- 
 sons underwritten, namely, Mr Andrew Melvill, Mr James 
 Melvill, Mr John Davidson, Mr Nicoll Dalgloish, Mr James 
 Nicholson, Mr James Carmichael, and John Clapperton, to 
 depart home to their several flocks within twenty-four hours 
 after the charge, and to attend upon the lawful discharge of 
 their calhngs, and noways to return for keeping such unlaw- 
 ful convocations, either within the said burgh or without, 
 under the pain of rebellion." 
 
 The commissioners, upon information that such a charge 
 was directed, fell to consult what course they should take ; 
 and first they resolved, " That since they were convened by 
 
 VOL. m. 2 
 
18 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 the warrant of Christ, in a most needful and dangerous time, 
 to see unto the good of the Church, Et ne quid Ecclesia de- 
 trimenti caperet, they should obey God rather than man ; 
 and, notwithstanding of any charge that should be given, 
 continue together so long as conveniently they might, and in 
 the mean time send some of the number to the Octavians 
 (this was the title commonly given to those eight councillors 
 that were trusted with all affairs), to advertise them, that 
 seeing the Church at their entry to their places enjoyed a 
 full peace and liberty, and that now it was cast into great 
 troubles, and the enemies of the truth spared and overlooked, 
 they could not but think that all this proceeded from their 
 counsels ; and therefore whatsoever the event should be, the 
 Church would take herself to them, and they only should bear 
 the blame." The president answering in choler said, " That 
 these controversies were begun without their advice, and so 
 they should end ; that for their good service they had reaped 
 small thanks, and drawn upon themselves much envy, and 
 therefore would have no meddling in that business betwixt the 
 king and them, but leave it to him and his nobility." 
 
 This answer put them to a second advice, and thinking 
 they were mistaken, and that these councillors were not in 
 the fault, but that all proceeded from the king himself, they 
 sent Mr David Lindsay, Mr Robert Rollock, Mr James 
 Nicholson, and James Melvill, to declare unto his majesty the 
 great inconveniences that were like to arise upon this hard 
 dealing with the Church, and humbly entreat a surcease of 
 the process intended against Mr David Blake, and that all 
 other controversies might be left off till some order was taken 
 with the papists, and an assembly convocated for deciding 
 these questions to his highness's content. The king answer- 
 ed, " That it was not his fault, and that he was no less dis- 
 pleased than they were with the controversies arisen ; and 
 that yet if they would pass from the declinator, or declare 
 at least that it was not a general, but only a particular de- 
 clinator, used in the cause of Mr David Blake, as being a 
 cause of slander, and pertaining to the judgment of the 
 Church, he should also pass from the summons and cease his 
 pursuit." 
 
 This yielding offer of the king was by the advice of the 
 wiser sort thought good to be accepted, that there might be 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 19 
 
 an end of contention ; " for if," said they, " we go to try our 
 strength with the king, we shall be found too weak. As 
 yet the court stands in some awe of the Church, and whilst 
 they are in this conceit, it shall be meet to take the best 
 conditions we can have ; for if by our strictness matters go 
 to the worst, our weakness shall soon appear, and thereafter 
 shall the Church be no more feared nor regarded ; too great 
 stiffness doth seldom succeed well, and it is often seen, that 
 they who will have all their wills, do lose all in the end." 
 This was the reasoning of the wise and more moderate sort. 
 Others flattering themselves in their preciseness held, " that 
 the only way to prevail was to stand by their grounds ; the 
 cause was God's, which he would maintain; that worldly 
 powers were not to be feared ; and that God had in his hand 
 the hearts of princes to turn them whither he pleased, where- 
 of in the present business they had seen a proof." The debate 
 held long, and, in end, by most voices it was concluded that 
 they sliould stand to the declinator, unless the king would 
 pass from the summons, and, remitting the pursuit to the ec- 
 clesiastical judge, make an act of council, that no minister 
 should be charged for his preaching, at least before the 
 meeting of the General Assembly. The king, perceiving his 
 offer neglected, was in great wrath, and told them who were 
 sent unto him, that he would hearken to no agreement unless 
 they should pass simply from the declinator, and cause Mr 
 Blake compear, and acknowledge the judicatory. Which 
 being refused, the proclamation was published, the comrais- ; 
 sioners charged to depart forth of the town, and Mr Blake 
 by a new summons cited to the last of November. 
 
 The next day being Sunday, and the day of the princess's 
 christening, the same was kept in the palace of Halyrudhouse 
 with great joy and feasting. The English ambassador did 
 name the Princess Elizabeth after the queen his mistress, the 
 town of Edinburgh by the magistrates assisting as witnesses, 
 such honour did the king unto them. But all that day in 
 the town churches were bitter invectives made against the 
 two proclamations ; for besides the charge given the commis- 
 sioners to leave the town, by another proclamation the barons, 
 gentlemen, and all other subjects were discharged to convene 
 with the ministry, either in presbyteries or synods, or any 
 other ecclesiastical meetings, under whatsoever colour or pre- 
 
20 THE HISTORY OF THE [a, D. 1596. 
 
 tence.. without his majesty's license. These things were 
 mightily aggravated by the preachers, and the people ex- 
 ceedingly stirred ; at which the king more and more offending, 
 he resolved to keep the diet assigned for Mr Blake's appear- 
 ing in the council-house of Edinburgh, accompanied with his 
 nobles that were present at the baptism. 
 
 The commissioners advertised of this (for all that time 
 some gentlemen of the chamber, in hatred of the Octavians, 
 gave inteUigence of every thing that was intended), did form 
 a petition to be presented to his majesty and the noblemen, 
 consisting of three heads. " First, they entreated the king, 
 that seeing the decision of such thorny and intricate questions 
 as were moved at that time to the trouble of the Church 
 could work no good, and was subtilcly urged only to engender 
 a dissension between his majesty and the ministers, he would 
 be pleased to remit the determination thereof to a lawful as- 
 sembly, and not to encroach upon the limits of Christ's 
 kingdom upon any pretence, bending his actions, according 
 to the present necessity, against the common enemies of re- 
 ligion and state. Next, they exhorted the noblemen to give 
 his majesty a free and faithful counsel in that business ; and 
 as to the honour of God and their own just praise, they had 
 kept themselves free both in counsel and action from work- 
 ing any prejudice to the liberty of the gospel, so they would 
 not suffer themselves to be drawn at that time under the 
 guiltiness of so great a sin by the craft of those who were 
 subtilely seeking the thraldom of the gospel, and thought to 
 make their honours the executors of their malicious devices. 
 And, thirdly, that by their credit they would procure a 
 continuation of all controversies unto a free and lawful as- 
 sembly, where the same might be gravely reasoned and 
 concluded." This petition was given to Mr David Lindsay, 
 Mr Robert Bruce, and Mr Robert Rollock, to be presented ; 
 and if the same was refused, tliey were enjoined to protest 
 against the proceeding of the council. 
 
 The king receiving the petition, after he had overviewed 
 it, did reject the same as not worthy of answer, commanding 
 to call Mr Blake, and read the summons. Therein he was 
 charged. First, to have affirmed in pulpit that the popish 
 lords were returned into the country with his majesty's 
 knowledge, and upon his assurance, and said that in so 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 21 
 
 doing he had " detected the treachery of his heart." Secondly, 
 that he had called all kings " the devil's bairns," adding that 
 " the devil was in the court and in the guiders of it." Thirdly, 
 that in his prayer for the queen he had used these words, 
 " We must pray for her for the fashion, but we have no cause, 
 she will never do us good." Fourthly, that he had called 
 the queen of England an atheist. Fifthly, that he had 
 discussed a suspension granted by the lords of session in 
 pulpit, and called them miscreants and bribers. Sixthly, that, 
 speaking of the nobility, he said they were " degenerated, 
 godless, dissemblers, and enemies to the Church." Likewise 
 speaking of the council, that he had called them " holiglasses, 
 cormorants, and men of no religion." Lastly, that he had 
 convoca,ted divers noblemen, barons, and others within St 
 Andrews in the month of June 1594, caused them take arms, 
 and divide themselves in troops of horse and foot, and had 
 thereby usurped the power of the king and civil magistrate. 
 After reading of the summons Mr Robert Pont pro- 
 tested, that the process in hand and whatsoever followed 
 thereof should not prejudge the liberty of the Church in 
 matters of doctrine. The king answered, " That he was 
 not to meddle with any matter of doctrine, but to censure 
 the treasonable speeches of a minister in sermon, which he 
 and his council would judge, except by clear scripture it 
 should be proved that ministers were not subject in these 
 cases to his judicatory." Thereafter Mr Blake being com- 
 manded to answer, said, that all these accusations were false, 
 and untrue calumnies, producing two testimonials, one of the 
 provost, baiUes and council of St Andrews, the other of the 
 rector, dean of faculty, professors, and regents of the uni- 
 versity, which he alleged should be preferred to any report 
 whatsoever. Next he said that, for the first six points, the 
 lords of council were not competent judges, the speeches 
 alleged being uttered in pulpit, but the 'same ought to be 
 censured by the presbytery where the sermon was de- 
 livered. And then repeating his former declinator, presented 
 a new one, in substance the same with the first. For the 
 last point he made offer to submit himself to the trial of the 
 king and council. Being removed, and the dechnator put to 
 voices, it was found, " That the crimes and accusations con- 
 tained in the summons were seditious and treasonable ; and 
 
22 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 that his majesty, his council, and other judges substitute by 
 his authority, were competent judges in all matters either 
 criminal or civil, as well to ministers as to other subjects." 
 This pronounced, the witnesses were called and admitted, 
 but their examination was delayed to the next day. 
 
 After the council dissolved, the prior of Blantyre, treasurer, 
 and Alexander Home, provost of Edinburgh, were sent from 
 the king to show the ministers, that notwithstanding of that 
 his proceeding against Mr Blake, he did not mean to use him 
 with rigour, but if they should move him to come and resolve 
 his majesty touching the truth of the points libelled, he would 
 rest upon his own declaration, and send him back to his 
 charge ; so careful was the king of peace, and so desirous 
 to be in good terms with the Church. Night was then 
 fallen, and the commissioners gone to their lodgings ; yet 
 finding Mr Robert Bruce, Mr Robert Rollock, Mr James 
 Nicholson, and Mr James Melvill together, they declared what 
 they had in commission to declare to the whole number. 
 Mr Robert Bruce answering in the name of the rest, said, 
 " That if the matter did touch Mr Blake alone the offer 
 might be accepted, but the liberty of Christ's kingdom had 
 received such a wound, by the proclamations published the 
 Saturday preceding, and that day by the usurpation of the 
 spiritual judicatory, as if Mr Blake's life and the lives of 
 twenty others had been taken it would not have grieved the 
 hearts of good brethren so much as these injurious proceed- 
 ings had done ; and that either these things behoved to 
 be retreated, or they would oppose so long as they had 
 breath." 
 
 This answer reported, the king the next morning calling 
 some two or three of the ministers unto him, did confer with 
 them a long space, showing that he was so far from impair- 
 ing the spiritual jurisdiction or abridging any of the Church 
 liberties, as he would not only maintain them in what they en- 
 joyed, but would enlarge and amplify the same, when he saw 
 it to be for their good ; " but this hcentious discoursing," said 
 he, " of affairs of state in pulpit cannot be tolerated. My claim 
 is only to judge in matters of sedition and other civil and 
 criminal causes, and of speeches that may import such crimes, 
 wheresoever they be uttered ; for that the pulpit should be 
 a place privileged, and, under colour of doctrine, people 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 23 
 
 stirred to sedition, no good nian I think will allow. If 
 treason and sedition be crimes punishable when they are 
 committed, much more if they be committed in the pulpit, 
 where the word of truth should only be taught and heard." 
 One of the ministers answering, that they did not plead for 
 the privilege of the place, but for the respect that was due 
 to the message and commission they carried, which having 
 received of God, the same ought not to be controlled in any 
 civil judicature. " Would you keep you to your message 
 (said the king), there would be no strife ; but I trust your 
 message is not to rule estates, and, when courses dislike you, 
 to stir the people to sedition, and make your king and those 
 that rule under him odious by your railings and outcries." 
 " If any do so," said the minister, " and be tried to have passed 
 the bounds, it is reason he be punished with all extremity ; 
 but this must be cognosced by the Church." " And shall 
 not I (said the king) have power to call and punish a 
 minister that breaketh out in treasonable speeches, but must 
 come to your presbytery and be a coraplainer ? I have 
 good proof in the process with Gibson and Ross, what 
 justice you will do me : and were it in a doubtful and am- 
 biguous case, where by any colour the speeches might be 
 justified, it were some way favourable to say that the minister 
 should be called and convict by his brethren ; but as in the 
 present action with Mr Blake, who hath said, ' The treachery 
 of the king's heart is discovered ; all kings are the devil's 
 bairns, &c.,' who sees not that the man hath passed his 
 bounds, and not kept him to his message ? I am not ignor- 
 ant what agitations France of late, and England in former 
 times, hath suffered by the violence of such spirits, and I have 
 been in my time reasonably exercised with them, and ye 
 must not think that I will tolerate such licentiousness. As 
 for any lawful power or liberty ye or your assemblies have 
 granted either by the word of God or by the laws of the 
 kingdom, I mean not to diminish the same ; and if ye think 
 meet, I will publish so much by a declaration for satisfying 
 you and all other my subjects." 
 
 With this the ministers were diraitted, who having related 
 the conference they had with his majesty to the rest of their 
 brethren, it was agreed, in regard of the many inconveniences 
 which might ensue upon these distractions betwixt his majesty 
 
24 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 and the Church, that if they could obtain a declaration in 
 council that by the acts and proclamations published his 
 majesty did not intend to discharge any church-assembly, nor 
 to annul any conclusion thereof, but that the same should 
 stand in force as they had been in use by the warrant of the 
 word and approbation of his highness's laws, and that the 
 discharge of barons and gentlemen to convene with the min- 
 isters was not extended to any ecclesiastical conventions, but 
 only meant of their convening in arms, matters should be 
 passed over for the present ; the interlocutor in Mr Blake's 
 business not being used against him nor any other minister, 
 until a lawful General Assembly, wherein the question con- 
 cerning the limits of the civil and the spiritual jurisdiction 
 might be reasoned and defined. 
 
 This being proponed, the king assented to the declaration 
 craved, offering farther to delete the acts whereupon the 
 proclamations were founded. And for Mr Blake, he was 
 content that he should be brought to his presence, and de- 
 claring upon his conscience the truth of the points libelled, 
 in the hearing of Mr David Lindsay, Mr James Nicholson, 
 and Mr Thomas Buchanan, they three should have power 
 to determine what they thought meet. The business was 
 now thought to be at an end, but in the afternoon, by the 
 suggestion, as it was supposed, of the president, the king- 
 would have Mr Blake to come before the council, and ac- 
 knowledge his offence to the queen ; which done he should 
 be pardoned of all. This Mr Blake refused, saying, " he 
 would neither condemn himself, nor approve the proceedings 
 of the council, who, having taken upon them to judge of his 
 sermons, had admitted a sort of ignorant and partially affected 
 people to be witnesses against him, rejecting the testimonies 
 of the town and university." When by no persuasion he 
 could be moved unto it, the king went to council, and the 
 same day, it being the second of December, caused read the 
 deposition of the witnesses, who did clearly testify that all 
 the speeches hbelled were uttered by Mr Blake in pulpit. 
 Thereupon sentence was given, that he had falsely slandered 
 and treasonably calumniated the king's majesty, his bed-fel- 
 low the queen, his neighbour princess the queen of England, 
 the lords of his highness's council and session, and therefore 
 (his punishment being remitted to the king) it was ordained. 
 
A. P. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 25 
 
 that till his majesty's pleasure should be declared, he should 
 be confined beyond the north water, and enter to his ward 
 within six days. 
 
 Notwithstanding of this sentence the day following a new 
 treaty began, w-liich continued some ten days, and was like 
 to have produced an agreement ; for the king was content, 
 as before, to delete the acts of council at which the ministers 
 took offence, by writing on the margin of the book accord- 
 ing to the custom of deleting acts, " This matter is agreed, and 
 the act delete." He was likewise pleased to amend the nar- 
 rative of the proclamation, turning that upon the papists and 
 enemies of religion that was said of ministers ; and for Mr 
 Blake's business, was content that the interlocutor pronounced 
 should not be made a preparative against any other minister, 
 and that none should be called upon their preiiching before 
 the council, till it was found in a lawful Assembly that the 
 king might judge of those that passed their bounds in doc- 
 trine ; providing he might in the mean time be assured of the 
 good behaviour of the ministers, and that they should not 
 speak unreverently of him or of his council, which assui'ance 
 he would have in writing. Some punishment also he would 
 have afflicted on Mr Blake, as either to transport him from 
 St Andrews to another congregation, or suspend him for a 
 time from his charge : punishments not very rigorous, nor 
 answerable to the quality of the offence. 
 
 The commissioners being herewith advised, liked well of all, 
 the last excepted. " A punishment," they said, " could not 
 be inflicted where no cognition had proceeded : for as to the 
 trial taken, neither was it done by the proper judge, nor was 
 that equity observed w^hich ought to have been ; witnesses 
 that were under the censures of the Church, and ill-affected 
 to Mr Blake, being admitted to depone against him." This 
 reported to the king, he made offer to name twenty persons 
 against whom no exception could be alleged, and to give Mr 
 Blake his choice of seven or eight of that number, who should 
 be of new examined touching the verity of the speeches 
 Avhereof he was accused : if they upon their consciences 
 did absolve him, he should rest satisfied ; if otherwise, he 
 would crave him to be deposed. But this came to no effect, 
 nor could any overture, albeit divers were proponed, serve 
 to work an accord, so as the communing brake off, and 
 
26 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 greater displeasures arose on both hands than before. For 
 the commissioners having directed two of the brethren to 
 show the king, " That since they could obtain no redress for 
 the wrongs done unto Christ's kingdom, and saw nothing 
 but that the enemies of the truth were favoured, and the 
 faithful pastors of the Church reviled and pursued, they 
 could not abstain from opposing these proceedings with the 
 spiritual armour given them by God ;" and did therefore in- 
 dict a fast to be kept the Sunday following, being the twelfth 
 day of December, with solemn prayers for averting the judg- 
 ments which the present courses did threaten. 
 
 The king, on the other side, made his displeasure and the 
 scorn he took of these proceedings known by a declaration 
 published on the fifteenth day, wherein he showed, '•' That 
 out of a desire he had to keep peace with the ministers he 
 did condescend to abstain from troubling them in any case 
 bygone, until by a convention of the Estates, and a General 
 Assembly of the ministry, the difference between the civil 
 and ecclesiastical judgments might be removed; providing 
 they should promise not to disgrace him and his proceedings 
 in their sermons, which he was in hope to obtain by sundry 
 conferences and meetings that he had kept with some of them, 
 till at last publicly they had opposed themselves in pulpit by 
 approving the doings of Mr David Blake, accusing himself 
 of persecution, and falsely suggesting to the people that all 
 church assemblies were discharged ; whereas his resolution 
 was and is to maintain religion and the Church discipline es- 
 tabhshedby law, and to suffer nothing to be done in prejudice 
 thereof by whomsoever. Which his highness thought good 
 to make known to all his subjects, ordaining all ministers 
 to subscribe their obedience to his majesty, and set their 
 hands to the bonds which should be presented to them for 
 that effect, under the pain of sequestering their rents and 
 stipends, aye and while they gave the obedience required." 
 The same day was Mr Blake charged to go unto his ward, 
 and the commissioners of new commanded to remove them- 
 selves forth of the town. 
 
 How soon they were gone, the secretary Mr John Lindsay, 
 thinking the ministers of Edinburgh would be more tractable 
 being left to themselves, did move the king to send for them, 
 and make a fresh proposition for settling these divisions. 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 27 
 
 But they refusing to enter in any communing, except the 
 commissioners were recalled by as public a proclamation as 
 that whereby they were discharged, hope was given that 
 the next day the same should be done, and all questions laid 
 over unto their return ; which some of the king's chamber 
 having understood, and fearing if matters were once accorded 
 the Octavians (against whom they were chiefly set) should 
 continue in their employment, among other reports they in- 
 formed the king that a nightly watch was kept in Edinburgh 
 about the ministers' houses for fear of some violence to be 
 offered unto them, which laid a heavy imputation upon his 
 majesty, and that the ministers would never be quiet till 
 these factious people were put forth of the town. The ad- 
 vice, as truly meant, was hearkened unto, and direction given 
 to some twenty-four of the burgesses that were best affected 
 to the ministers to depart the town within the space of six 
 hours. This they knew would be ill taken by the ministers ; 
 and, to put them in a greater fear, they did advertise them 
 by a counterfeit letter to look unto themselves, because 
 Huntly had been with the king that night late, and caused 
 that charge to be given. This letter sent to Mr Robert 
 Bruce was by him communicated to Mr Walter Balcanquel, 
 whose course it was to preach that morning ; and they both, 
 apprehending the information to be true, did think it the 
 safest way for themselves to make the people advertised of 
 the danger. So when the hour of sermon came, the preacher 
 reading his text out of the book of Canticles, which was his 
 ordinary at the time, and taking occasion to speak of the 
 present troubles of the Church, he made a particular relation 
 of the proceedings and treacherous forms (so he called them) 
 wherewith they were used by the court, laying the whole 
 blame upon the president, controller, and advocate, whom he 
 particularly named, and used with most reproachful terms. 
 Then turning to the noblemen and barons, he put them in 
 mind of the zeal which their predecessors had showed in 
 planting religion, and exhorted them with the like courage 
 and constancy to maintain the same. Having closed the 
 sermon with a prayer, as use is, he requested the noblemen 
 and barons to meet in the Little Church for assisting the min- 
 istry with their best advice. 
 
28 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 There assembled in the place many people besides those 
 that were desired, and so great was the throng as the minis- 
 ters could hardly find entrance. Mr Robert Bruce at last 
 having made way unto himself, went to the table where the 
 noblemen and barons were placed, and after a short prayer 
 declared in what danger the Church was brought by the re- 
 turn of the popish lords ; how they had regrated the case 
 to the king, and when they expected that order should have 
 been taken therewith, a new business was moved, and one 
 of their brethren called in question for his preaching, about 
 which they had been in a long conference, but could come to 
 no end ; and that now at last the best affected of their people 
 were charged to leave the town, whereby they were brought 
 to suspect some worse practices. They did therefore request 
 them humbly to intercede and entreat his majesty that they 
 might be permitted to serve God in their callings without 
 molestation. The desire seeming reasonable, the Lords 
 Lindsay and Forbes, with the lairds of Bargenny and 
 Buchan, Mr Robert Bruce, and Mr William Watson were 
 chosen to prefer the petition. 
 
 By some occasion the king was that day come to the ses- 
 sion, and being in the upper house, the lords with these 
 others were admitted ; where Mr Robert Bruce taking the 
 speech said, " That they were sent by the noblemen and 
 barons convened in the Little Church, to bemoan the dangers 
 threatened to religion by the dealing that was against the 
 ministers and true professors." " What dangers see you?" 
 said the king. " Under communing," said he ; " our best af- 
 fected people, that tender religion, are charged off the town ; 
 the Lady Huntly, a professed papist, entertained at court, 
 and it is suspected that her husband is not far off." The 
 king leaving that purpose, asked " who they were that durst 
 convene against his proclamations?" The Lord Lindsay in 
 passion replied, " That they durst do more than so, and that 
 they would not suffer religion to be overthrown." Numbers 
 of people were at this time thronging unmannerly into the 
 room ; whereupon the king not making any answer arose, 
 and went down to the lower house where the judges do sit, 
 commanding the doors to be shut. They that were sent re- 
 turning to the church show that they were not heard, nor 
 was there any hope, so long as the counsellors remained 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 29 
 
 about the king, that they should receive any favourable 
 answer, and were therefore to think of some other course. 
 
 " No course," said the Lord Lindsay, " but one; let us stay 
 together that are here, and promise to take one part, and 
 advertise our friends and the favourers of religion to come 
 unto us ; so it shall be either theirs or ours." Upon these 
 speeches followed such a clamour and lifting up of hands, as 
 none could hear what another spake. The sedition increas- 
 ing, some cried to arm, others to bring out Hamau (for 
 whilst the lords were with the king, Mr Michael Cranston, 
 minister of Cramond, had been reading to the people that 
 story) ; others cried, " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon :" 
 and so great was the fury of the people, as if one of the 
 deacons of crafts, called John Watt, had not kept them back 
 with a guard of craftsmen that followed hira, they had un- 
 doubtedly forced the doors, and wrought some mischief. 
 Sir Alexander Home, provost of the town, was then lying 
 sick ; yet being told Avhat a tumult was raised, he came to 
 the street, and, as he was wise and skilful in the handling of 
 people, with his fair speeches brought them after a little time 
 to lay down their weapons and retire to their lodgings. 
 
 The commotion thus raised, the king directed the earl of 
 Mar, the Lord Pittenweem, and the lau'd of Traquair to 
 confer with the ministers, and ask the cause of the tumult. 
 They were then walking at the back of the church (for the 
 tumult had scattered the meeting) ; and professing a great 
 dislike of that which had happened, besought the noblemen 
 to show the king that they were not in fault, and had done 
 their best to appease the multitude. The cause, they said, 
 to their conjecture was, that his majesty refused to hear 
 their petition, which they knew came not of himself, but of 
 others. The earl of Mar replied, that any reasonable 
 petition would be heard and ansAvered, being preferred in a 
 dutiful manner ; wherefore they should do wisely to go 
 together and supplicate his majesty for remedy of these 
 things Avherein they were grieved. Whereupon they re- 
 turned to the Little Church, and after a short deliberation 
 sent the Lord Forbes, the laird of Bargenny, and Mr Robert 
 RoUock with these petitions. " First, That all which had 
 been done in prejudice of the Church the last four or five 
 weeks might be rescinded. Next, That in the things which 
 
30 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 concerned the Church, the president, controller, and advocate 
 should have no voice, as being suspected in rehgion, and 
 opposite enemies to the Church. Thirdly, That the citizens 
 of Edinburgh who were charged to leave the town might 
 be permitted to stay at home, upon surety to appear when- 
 soever they were called." The king answering very calmly, 
 said, " That his doings had been greatly mistaken by the 
 ministers ; and that as these controversies were moved 
 against his will, so he wished nothing more than to have 
 them quietly settled. But that it could not stand with his 
 honour to rescind so hastily the conclusions taken in council, 
 nor to remove councillors from their places upon naked 
 suspicions, except somewhat could be verified that might 
 disable them. At afternoon he should call the council, and sat- 
 isfy them in every thing which with reason they could desire. 
 For the citizens, he said, that the supplication made in their 
 behalf would come better from the provost and bailies of the 
 town, and the same upon their petition should be granted." 
 With these answers the Lord Forbes and the rest returned ; 
 and with them the Lord Ochiltrie and laird of Cessford were 
 sent by the king to desire them to put their petitions in 
 reasonable terms, and await on the council at two of the 
 clock. Matters thus quieted, the king with the lords went 
 down the street peaceably to his palace. 
 
 At afternoon the noblemen and barons assembling with the 
 ministry, after long reasoning, did condescend upon the sup- 
 plication and articles following : 
 
 " In most humble manner, we, the noblemen, barons, 
 gentlemen, burgesses, and ministers, this day by the mercy 
 of God convened, do beseech your majesty to apprehend the 
 great danger wherein the state of religion, commonwealth, 
 and your majesty's own honour and person are brought by 
 the means of crafty and deceitful councillors, who respecting 
 only their own preferment and standing, labour to sile your 
 majesty's eyes, that you should not perceive their courses : 
 for albeit it hath pleased God to endue your majesty with 
 knowledge, wisdom, and graces, beyond all the princes that 
 have ruled this kingdom at any time, yet it is no strange 
 thing to behold good kings brought upon ill courses by the 
 devices of such as pretend love, but in very deed hate them 
 mahciously. That such courses are now in hand ; please 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 31 
 
 your majesty to consider what a division is made and enter- 
 tained between your majesty and the Church, who were 
 ever to this time inseparably joined ; and how under 
 coloured pretexts the liberty of preaching, and faithful apply- 
 ing of the word, is sought to be restrained and taken away, 
 which cannot but bring many evils and inconveniences with 
 it, as this day's tumult may partly teach. And now seeing, 
 blessed be God, the same is settled without the harm of any 
 person, for preventing the like, or worse, we humbly desire 
 the articles following to be weighed and considered by your 
 majesty : 
 
 "1. That professed papists, processed by the Church, be 
 not suffered to reside at court ; and that the Lady Huntly 
 and Lord Sanquhar be removed and sent home. 
 
 " 2. That Alexander Seaton, president, Mr Thomas 
 Hamilton, advocate, and Mr James Elphingston, be not 
 admitted to sit in council, at least when the cause of religion 
 and matters of the Church are treated ; seeing they are 
 enemies to the quietness thereof, and have by their devices 
 raised the troubles that presently do vex the same. 
 
 " 3. That the acts of council, proclamations, decreets, and 
 interlocutors passed in prejudice of the Church and ministers 
 these last five weeks, be rescinded and annulled. 
 
 " 4. That the commissioners of the Church be recalled by 
 proclamation, and the burgesses of the town permitted to re- 
 main and attend their callings. 
 
 " 5. That the bond advised by the foresaid enemies to be 
 subscribed by all the ministers, under the pain of losing their 
 benefices and stipends, be discharged, seeing the same is pre- 
 judicial to the liberties of the gospel, and that commission be 
 given, as use is, to modify stipends, for the present year. 
 
 " Lastly, That an act of council be made, allowing the pro- 
 ceedings of the Church, and the concurrency given them by 
 the noblemen, barons, and others in the present action." 
 
 It was late and the night fallen before these articles were 
 put in form, the day being then at the shortest ; the persons 
 chosen to present them were the lairds of Bargenny, Pitt- 
 arrow, Faldonside, Mr David Lindsay, and Mr Robert 
 Rollock. Before their coming the council had concluded not 
 to receive the petitions, as was promised, and to commit those 
 that did present them ; yet doubtful what might be the event 
 
32 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 thereof, it was thought fitter to terrify them from presenting 
 the same. For this effect the Lord Ochiltrie was appointed 
 to meet them at the outer gate, who drawing Bargenny aside 
 advised him to go back, because of the anger which the king 
 had conceived, and to meddle no more in that business ; for 
 the king, he said, knew he was brought upon it unwilUngly, 
 and would excuse his part, if he went no farther. Bargenny, 
 forethinking his employment, and not knowing how to colour 
 it to his associates, the Lord Ochiltrie drew them aside, and 
 said that he had brought the laird of Bargenny to the town 
 for affairs that did nearly touch him, and that ho did not 
 think to meet with such business at his coming, therefore de- 
 sired them to have his friend excused for that time ; and 
 seeing they were a number sufficient to do the err-and, they 
 might go to it, or, if they pleased to delay the same to the 
 next morrow, he should be with them. They answered, 
 that they were also little foreseen at their coming of those 
 matters as he was, and seeing they were all joined in one 
 commission, if he who was the principal did decline it, they 
 could do nothing by themselves ; and so the business was left 
 for that night. 
 
 In the morning early the king and council departed to 
 Linlithgow, leaving a proclamation, which was presently 
 published at the market-cross of Edinburgh, of this tenor : 
 " That the king, considering the late treasonable uproar 
 moved by certain factious persons of the ministry of Edin- 
 burgh, (who after they had uttered most seditious speeches in 
 pulpit, did convene a number of noblemen, barons, and others 
 in the Little Ciiurch, and sent some of their number to his 
 majesty, being then in the upper house of session, using him 
 in a most irreverent manner, and with speeches ill-beseeming 
 any subject ; and that a multitude of the townsmen by per- 
 suasion of the said ministry had treasonably put themselves 
 in arms, intending to bereave his majesty and his council of 
 their lives), did think the said town an unfit place for the mi- 
 nistration of justice, and had therefore ordained the lords of 
 session, the sheriffs, commissars, and justice, with their several 
 members and deputies, to remove themselves forth of the 
 town of Edinburgh, and be in readiness to repair unto such 
 places as should be appointed ; commanding in like sort all 
 noblemen and barons to despatch unto their houses, and not 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 33 
 
 to presume to convene cither in that or any other place 
 without his majesty's hcense, under the pain of his highest 
 displeasure." 
 
 This proclamation, with the king his sudden departing, 
 wrought a great alteration in the minds of the people. They 
 began then to see their error, and looked heavy one upon 
 another. The better sort being in a great perplexity what 
 they should do, called their council together, but could not 
 resolve what course to take. To follow the king and plead 
 for the town, they could not think any of them would be ac- 
 cepted (and it being the last day of the week, hardly would 
 any others undertake the employment) ; so as they saw no 
 way but to be quiet till they heard what the king and 
 council concluded to do. But the ministers persisting in their 
 first resolution laboured to have the noblemen and barons 
 remain together, and to send for others Avell affected in re- 
 ligion, who, as they thought, would join in the cause. A 
 bond to this effect was drawn up, and subscribed by some 
 few. The council of the town excused themselves, saying, 
 " Their good will was known, and that they were not to 
 leave their dwellings ;" which made divers keep back their 
 hands. Always it was thought meet that the ministers should 
 write to the Lord Hamilton and the laird of Buccleuch, of 
 whose assistance they held themselves assured, entreating 
 them to repair to the town and countenance the cause ; as 
 likewise that the rest of the ministers in the country should 
 be convened as unto a General Assembly, and desired to bring 
 with them the best affected gentlemen within their parishes. 
 They were at the same time in a long deliberation, 
 whether or not they should excommunicate the Lord Presi- 
 dent and Advocate, which divers urged. The Controller was 
 in some better opinion with them, by reason of a message 
 sent quietly to Mr Robert Bruce. But in end they resolved 
 to continue that business to the meeting of the Assembly, 
 when the sentence might be pronounced with greater au- 
 thority. Meanwhile, to keep the people in a good disposition, 
 a fast was proclaimed through the city, and sermons of pre- 
 paration ordained to be made that afternoon in all the 
 churches. 
 
 A minister named Mr John Welch, making offer to supply 
 the place in the High Church, was allowed to preach, who 
 
 VOL. III. 3 
 
34 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 taking for his theme the epistle sent to the angel of the 
 church of Ephesus, did rail pitifully against the king, saying, 
 " He was possessed with a devil ; that one devil being put 
 out seven worse were entered in place ; and that the subjects 
 might lawfully rise, and take the sword out of his hand :" 
 which he confirmed by the example of a father that falling in 
 a frenzy might be taken by the children and servants of the 
 family, and tied hand and foot from doing violence. A most 
 execrable doctrine and directly repugnant to holy scriptures ; 
 which yet was taken by many of the hearers as a sound and 
 free application. So ready are men to flatter themselves in 
 wickedness, and even to justify impiety itself. A rumour 
 was then also dispersed throughout the town, that in the day 
 of tumult the earl of Erroll did come to the Queensferry 
 with five hundred horse, and was gone back upon report of 
 the stir. This upon the Sunday took up a great part of the 
 ministers' sermons, and was brought to justify the multitude's 
 proceedings, as though they had been directed by a secret 
 providence to disappoint the wicked practices that were in 
 hand. A manifest forgery it was, yet believed at the time 
 by foolish and credulous people. 
 
 The messenger sent to the Lord Hamilton was at his 
 coming well received. At first the nobleman made a show 
 that he would go for Edinburgh ; but upon better advice he 
 turned to Linlithgow, and taking the copy of the letter that 
 was sent unto him (for he rendered the principal to the 
 bearer), he showed the king what an invitation he had from 
 those at Edinburgh. The king at sight of the letter grew 
 exceeding angry, for therein, after a short narrative of the 
 injuries the Church had received by the malice of some 
 counsellors, it was said, " That the people animated by the 
 word and motion of God's Spirit had gone to arms, and that 
 the godly barons and other gentlemen that were in town had 
 convened themselves, and taken on them the patrociny of the 
 Church and her cause, only they lacked a head and special 
 noblemen to countenance the matter ; and since with one 
 consent they had made choice of his lordship, their desire 
 was that he should come to Edinburgh with all convenient 
 diligence, and utter his affection to the good cause, accepting 
 the honour which was offered unto him," 
 
 This letter, indited by Mr Robert Bruce, and subscribed 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 35 
 
 by him and Mr Walter Balcanquel, was of all that yet had 
 happened the worst, nor could it receive any good construc- 
 tion ; for albeit in an apology afterwards set forth it was said 
 to be penned only to please the nobleman, who was of an 
 ambitious humour, yet put the case he had accepted, and 
 taken upon him to be their head, as he was desired, who can 
 tell what mischief might have ensued, and if it might not 
 have turned to the wreck and ruin of many innocents ? But 
 faults follow one upon another, and when men have once 
 passed bounds they run easily into error. 
 
 On Monday early a charge was directed to the provost 
 and baiUes for imprisoning the ministers ; but they upon 
 some advertisement fled, and went to Newcastle in England. 
 The town the same day sent John Arnot, Hugh Brown, 
 George Heriot, and John Watt, to purge themselves of the 
 tumult, and offer their obedience in every thing his majesty 
 and council should bo pleased to enjoin for repairing the in- 
 dignity and dishonour done to his highness ; providing they 
 should not be thought guilty of the crime, which from their 
 hearts they detested. But the king would receive no pur- 
 gation, saying, " That fair and humble words could not ex- 
 cuse such a fault, and that he should come ere it were long, 
 and let them know he was their king." The next day in 
 council the tumult was declared to be treason, and the coun- 
 cillors, executors, and partakers to be traitors, as likewise 
 all that should thereafter partake and assist the committers 
 thereof. 
 
 This put the town in a great fear, neither did they expect 
 any other than an utter ruin. All the judicatories were re- 
 moved to Leith ; the Session ordained to sit at Perth after 
 the first of February ; their ministers were fled, the magis- 
 trates not regarded, and those of greatest power about the 
 king, their enemies ; what they should do they were doubtful. 
 After divers opinions given, they are resolved that some 
 should be sent who would be more acceptable, to supplicate 
 the king, and excuse the town's part, for that perhaps would 
 be taken better at other men's hands than any of their own. 
 To this errand none was held so fit as Mr David Lindsay, 
 Mr John Preston, and Mr John Sharp, men in favour with 
 the king, and free of all faction. 
 
 These coming to the king at Linlithgow, after they had 
 
36 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 showed the miserable estate of the town, and how grieved all 
 honest men were for the displeasure he had conceived against 
 them, did beseech him not to use the extremity of rigour, but 
 to put a diiference between the innocent and guilty. " In 
 great towns, such as that was (they said), there would ever 
 be some bad spirits ; and if the insolencies of a rascal multi- 
 tude should be imputed to the town, it would be thought hard, 
 specially since the magistrates had done their duties and re- 
 pressed the tumult. If on their part there had been any 
 connivance, or the smallest appearance that they did favour 
 the sedition, they protested that they would not once have 
 opened their mouths in their favour ; but since it was known 
 that none were more offended with the tumult than they, 
 and that they were careful to find out the authors and pre- 
 sent them to punishment, they could not but humbly entreat 
 his majesty to relent his wrath, and to be mitigated towards 
 the town." 
 
 The king after a little pause answered, " That he could 
 not think the town to be free ; for, if some of the principals 
 had not approved the multitude in their doings, the tumult 
 could not have been so great ; but howsoever the magistrates' 
 negligence could not be excused, in so far as they did not 
 prevent the disorder, always his resolution was to proceed 
 by form of law, and not to use any violent course; he had 
 appointed the Estates to meet in the same place where the 
 dishonour was done unto him, and would follow their advice 
 both in the trial and punishment." With this answer they 
 were dimitted. 
 
 The last of December, which was the day preceding the 
 convention, the king came to Leith, and stayed there all 
 night, giving order for his entry into the town the next 
 morning, which was in this manner. The keys of the town 
 being delivered to one of the king's officers, a guard of armed 
 men was placed in the streets, the citizens being commanded 
 to stay within their houses, and forbidden to carry any wea- 
 pon. The earl of Mar with the Lords Seaton and Ochiltrie 
 had the charge of the town given them, without the admis- 
 sion of the magistrates ; and they having disposed all things 
 in the best fashion, the king accompanied with a great train 
 of nobles entered the town, and riding up the street lighted 
 at the Tolbooth, where the Estates were appointed to meet. 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 37 
 
 After some general discourses of the tumult, the king was 
 advised to call the magistrates, and hear what they could 
 say in behalf of the town. 
 
 Sir Alexander Home of North Berwick, provost, Roger 
 Macnaught, George Todrick, Patrick Cochran, and Alex- 
 ander Hunter, bailies, with a number of the town council, 
 compearing and falling on their knees, after some few words 
 delivered by the provost, did present in writing the offers 
 folloAvino; : — 
 
 " That for pacifying his majesty's wrath, and satisfying 
 the lords of council, they should upon their great oath purge 
 themselves of all foreknowledge and partaking in that sedi- 
 tious tumult. And as already they had made a diligent 
 search to find out the authors, so they should not cease till 
 they had brought the trial unto the uttermost point ; or if his 
 majesty and council did think any others more fit to take the 
 examination, they should willingly resign their places to 
 such as his highness would appoint, and assist them at their 
 power. And because his majesty had taken that tumult to 
 proceed from certain sermons preached by their ministers, 
 who were now denounced rebels, they should proinise never 
 to readmit any of those ministers, unless his majesty did 
 command otherwise. As also, that the like should not fall 
 out thereafter, the town should be obliged never to receive 
 any minister in time coming but by his majesty's advice and 
 approbation. And in the election of their magistrates they 
 should yearly present their lites to his majesty and the lords 
 of session, to be allowed or disallowed at their pleasure, and 
 propone such others as his majesty should think more apt 
 and sufficient for the charge, and to that effect should alter 
 the time of their election, and make the same on some day of 
 November, when the lords of session were convened and 
 might give their advice thereto. They did lastly offer to 
 fulfil whatsoever his majesty and council should think fit to 
 be done in the premises, under protestation that they did not 
 take upon them the crime, and that it should not be thought 
 to have been committed of their foreknowlcdo'o." 
 
 Thus it proved true which Tacitus saith, " that all con- 
 spiracies of the subjects, if they succeed not, advance the 
 sovereignty ;" for by this tumult was the king's authority in 
 
38 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 matters ecclesiastical so far advanced, as he received little or 
 no opposition thereafter. 
 
 The offers of the town, howbeit made in great submission, 
 were not accepted, and counsel given by some noblemen to 
 raze the town, and erect a pillar in place thereof, for a monu- 
 ment of the insolency committed, and the just punishment 
 taken thereof. Others were more mild in their opinions ; 
 but for that time nothing was concluded. 
 
 The queen of England upon notice sent to her of these 
 broils did write to the king a letter, which (for the wise and 
 loving advice it contained) I thought meet here to insert. 
 
 " My dear Brother, — If a rare accident and ill-welcomed 
 news had not broken my long silence, I had not used now my 
 pen-speech, as being [too ?] careful of your quiet, and mindful 
 of your safety, to omit the expressing of both, by letting you 
 know how untimely I take this new begun frenzy, that 
 may urge you to take such a course, as may bring into 
 opinion the verifying of such a scandal as ye avowed to me 
 to be far from your thought. In this sort I mean it ; some 
 members of the Church with their companies have over auda- 
 ciously emboldened themselves to redress some injurious acts 
 that they feared might overthrow their profession, which 
 though I grant no king for the manner ought to bear with, 
 yet at the instant when the new banished lords returned, and 
 they seen to be winked at without restraint, and the spring- 
 time going on, when promised succour is attended, together 
 with many letters from Rome and elsewhere sent abroad, to 
 tell the names of men authorized by you, as they say (though 
 I hope falsely), to assure your conformity, as time may serve 
 you, to establish the dangerous party, and fail your own. I 
 wail in unfeigned sort, that any just cause should be given 
 you to call in doubt so disguised acts, and hope that you will 
 so try this cause as that it harm not you, though it ruin 
 them. 
 
 " Of this you may be sure, that if you make your strength 
 of so sandy a foundation, as to call to your aid such as be not 
 of your flock, whenas the one side be foolish, rash, head- 
 strong, and brainsick, yet such as may defend you, having no 
 sure anchorage for themselves, if you fail them ; and the 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 39 
 
 others, who have other props to sustain them, though thej 
 lack you, yea such as though your private love to their per- 
 sons may inveigle your eyes, not to pierce in the depth of 
 their treason, yet it is well known that their many petitions 
 for foreign aid might have tended to your peril, and your 
 country's wreck ; for seldom comes a stranger to a weaker 
 soil that thralleth not the possessor, or endangereth him at 
 least. I trust you think no less, or else they must justify 
 themselves to condemn you, for without your displeasure, not 
 feared for such a fact, no answer can shield them from blame. 
 Now to utter my folly in seeming busy in another's affairs, I 
 suppose you will not mishke, since the source of all is care of 
 your good, to desire that nought be done that may embolden 
 the enemy, decrease your love, and endanger your suretv. 
 This is in sum the line whereto I tend, and God I beseech to 
 direct your heart in such sort, as ye please not your worst 
 subjects, but make all know in a measure what is fit for 
 them, and make difference between error and malice. So 
 God bless you with a true thought of her that means you 
 best, 
 
 " Your most affectionate sister, 
 
 " Elizabeth R," 
 
 This letter was to the king's mind ; for albeit he judged 
 the offence great, yet it was not his purpose to use rigour, 
 but to assure the obedience of the subjects in time coming, 
 and make his own advantage of their disorders. Therefore 
 in the next meeting which was kept at Halyrudhouso, the 
 tumult being of new declared to be treason by the Estates, 
 no farther was done, but a conclusion taken to pursue the 
 town criminally before the justice ; and to charge the pro- 
 vost, bailies, council, and deacons of crafts, as representing 
 the whole body of the town, to enter their persons within the 
 town of Perth before the first of February, and there to keep 
 ward till they should be cleared, or found guilty of the 
 uproar. 
 
 In this convention the Octavians not according well 
 amongst themselves (for the prior of Blantyre did keep a 
 course with the gentlemen of the chamber, and underhand 
 informed the ministry of the ill affection that the President 
 and Advocate carried unto them), gave over their commission 
 
40 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 of exchequer in his majesty's hands. They pretended the 
 many burdens which they sustained otherwise, their services 
 in council and session, with the charge of the queen's rent 
 and Hving ; but the true cause was, the mahce and envy car- 
 ried unto them for the credit and pkice they had with the 
 king, which their service had well deserved ; for never were 
 the rents of the crown so thriftily and so rightly used as in 
 that short time of their employment. But the king loved to 
 have peace though with his own loss, neither did they like 
 to be the instruments of his trouble. 
 
 A little before these stirs with the Church, Captain James 
 Stewart (who had been sometimes chancellor, and carried the 
 title of the earl of Arran) was killed by James Douglas of 
 Torthorwald. This man after he was put from court had 
 lived obscure in the north parts, and was entertained by the 
 Lady Salton his sister-in-law. Being in some hope to come 
 again by the office of chancellary, as yet void by the death 
 of the Lord Thirlstane, he came south, and had a long con- 
 ference with the king, which did greatly encourage him ; but 
 till matters might be better prepared, he took purpose to 
 visit his friends in Kyle, Taking his journey by Symington 
 nigh unto Douglas, he was advised by his friends in those 
 parts to look to himself, and not ride so openly, because of 
 Torthorwald that lived not far off, whose uncle he had fol- 
 lowed (as they spake) to the death. His reply (as he was a 
 man proud and disdainful) that he would not leave his way 
 for him, nor for all the name of Douglas, being overheard by 
 a fellow, and reported to Torthorwald, did so inflame him, the 
 old ulcer remaining uncured, as he avouched to have his life 
 at all hazards. So getting intelligence that he had taken 
 horse, he made after him with three of his servants, and 
 overtaking him in a valley called Catslack, after he had 
 stricken him from his horse, did kill him without any re- 
 sistance. It is said that when Captain James saw the horse- 
 men following, he did ask how they called the piece of ground 
 on which they were, and when he heard the name of it, he 
 commanded the company to ride more quickly, as having 
 gotten a response to beware of such a part. He was a man 
 full of violence, and when he was in place of rule executed it 
 with much cruelty, which was now paid home in the end. 
 
 The king, who had longed to see a decent order established 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 41 
 
 in the Church, such as agreed with the word of God, the 
 allowable custom of the primitive times, and with the laws of 
 the country, did think this a fit time to effectuate his purpose, 
 and thereupon resolved to call a national Assembly to meet at 
 Perth the last of February, for treating and determining the 
 bounds and exercise of the spiritual jurisdiction ; and to the 
 end that all might come the better prepared, and be duly ad- 
 vised with the matters then to be entreated, he caused some 
 articles to be drawn up and imprinted with a preface, where- 
 in he took God the searcher of all hearts to record, that his 
 intention was not to trouble the peace of the Church by 
 thorny questions, nor yet to claim to himself any tyrannical 
 or unlawful government over the same, but only to have these 
 doubts solved, which might either in his time or in the time 
 of his successors engender debate ; and to have the policy of 
 the Church so cleared, as all corruptions being removed, a 
 pleasant harmony might be settled betwixt him and the 
 ministry, to the glory of Almighty God, the content of all 
 good men, and terror of the wicked. 
 
 The articles were fifty-five in number, and drawn up in 
 form of questions, as followeth : — 
 
 1. May not the matters of external gubernation of the 
 Church be disputed, salvafide et religione? 
 
 2. Is it the king severally, or the pastors severally, or both 
 conjunctly, that should establish the acts concerning the 
 gubernation of the Church ? or what is the form of their 
 conjunction in the making of laws ? 
 
 3. Is not the consent of the most part of the flock, and also 
 of the patron, necessary in the election of pastors. 
 
 4. Is it lawful for the pastor to leave his flock against their 
 wills, albeit he have the consent of the presbytery ? and 
 for what cause should the presbytery consent thereto ? 
 
 5. Is it lawful for a minister to use farther application than 
 that which may edify his own flock ? or is the whole world 
 the flock of every particular pastor ? 
 
 6. Is he a lawful pastor who wants impositionem mammm ? 
 
 7. Is it lawful to pastors to express in particular the names 
 of councillors, magistrates, or others whatsoever in pulpit, 
 or so lively to describe them that the people may under- 
 
42 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 stand whom they mean, without notorious declared vices, 
 and private admonitions, preceding ? 
 
 8. For what vices should admonitions and reproving of 
 magistrates pass publicly from pulpits, in their absence or 
 presence, respective ? 
 
 9. Is the application of doctrine in pulpits lawful which is 
 founded upon informations, bruits, and rumours, suspicions 
 and conditions, if this be or that be, probabihties, likeli- 
 ness or unlikeliness of things to come in civil matters, 
 which all may be false, and consequently the doctrine 
 following thereupon ; or should all applications be grounded 
 upon the verity of known and notorious vices ? 
 
 10. Is the text which is read in pulpit the ground where- 
 upon all the doctrine should be built ? or may all things 
 be spoken upon all texts, so that the reading thereof is 
 but a ceremony ? 
 
 11. May a simple pastor exercise any jurisdiction, without 
 consent of the most part of his particular session ? 
 
 12. Is his session judge to his doctrine ? 
 
 13. Should not the moderator of the session be chosen yearly 
 of any who hath voice therein ? 
 
 14. May the session be elected lawfully by ministers only, 
 without the consent of the whole congregation ? 
 
 15. Why should not elders and deacons of particular sessions 
 be elected ad vitam ? 
 
 16. How. many presbyteries are meet to be in the whole 
 country, in what places, and how many pastors of churches 
 in every presbytery ? 
 
 17. Should not the elders and deacons of every particular 
 session have voice in presbyteries, or the pastors only ? 
 
 18. What are the matters belonging to the jurisdiction of 
 the presbytery, which may not be entreated in particular 
 sessions ? 
 
 19. What form of process in libelling and citation, what 
 terms and diets, and what probations should be used 
 before the said particular sessions and presbyteries re- 
 spective ? 
 
 20. What matters should the synodal assemblies treat upon, 
 which may not be decided in presbyteries ? 
 
 21. Should not all who have voice in presbyteries and 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 in the particular sessions, have voice in the synodal 
 assemblies ? 
 
 22. Should each university or college, or every master or 
 regent within colleges, have voice in presbyteries and 
 synods, in the towns and countries where they are ? as 
 likewise what form of voice should they have in General 
 Assemblies ? 
 
 23. Is it lawful to convocate the General Assembly without 
 his majesty's license, he being pius et Christianus magis- 
 tratus ? 
 
 24. Is it necessary that the General Assembly should be 
 ordinarily or extraordinarily convened for weighty causes 
 concerning the whole Church ? 
 
 25. Have not all men of good rehgion and learning voice in 
 the General Assembly ? 
 
 26. Is every particular pastor obliged to repair to the Gene- 
 ral Assembly ? or is it sufficient that only commissioners 
 come from every particular session, presbytery, or synod ? 
 
 27. Who should choose the commissioners to come from 
 every shire to give voice in the General Assembly ? 
 
 28. What is the number of those that give voices, which is 
 necessary to the lawfulness of a General Assembly ? and 
 how many of the number should be pastors, and how many 
 other men ? 
 
 29. May any thing be enacted in the Assembly to which his 
 majesty consents not ? 
 
 30. Is it expedient that the two part of them who have jxts 
 suffragii should consent to any things decerned in ecclesi- 
 astic judgments, that matters pass not by one voice more 
 or less ? 
 
 31. Hath not every judgment, inferior to the General 
 Assembly, a territory limited, without the which they 
 have no power of citation or jurisdiction 1 
 
 32. What is the ordinary ecclesiastic judgment for his 
 majesty's household and council, removable with his 
 majesty to any part of the realm ? 
 
 33. Should there be hbelled precepts containing the cause 
 of the citation and certification of the censures before all 
 ecclesiastic judgments ? or should they answer super 
 inqiiirendis ? 
 
 34. Have the inferior judgments power to summon any to 
 
44 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 compear before the superior ? or should men be summoned 
 only by the authority of that judgment before which they 
 ought to compear ? 
 
 35. Is it not necessary that private admonitions, with reason- 
 able intervals of time, pass before all manner of citations ? 
 
 36. What interval of time is necessary between every pri- 
 vate admonition and between the first citation, and the day 
 of compearance, and betwixt the citation and the last ad- 
 monition, in every one of the said judgments ? 
 
 37. How many citations should infer contumacy ? 
 
 38. Is simj)le contumacy without probation of a crime, or is 
 any crime without contumacy, a sufiicient cause of ex- 
 communication ? 
 
 39. Are there not divers kinds of censures, such as prohibitio 
 privati convictus, mterdictio a cosna, not published to the 
 people ; and last of all, publica traditio satance ? 
 
 40. Should the presbyteries be judges of all things that im- 
 port slander 1 and if so be, whereof are they not judges ? 
 
 41. Can excommunication be used against thieves, murderers, 
 usurers, and not payers of their debts ? and if so it may 
 be, why are not the highland and border thieves cursed, 
 as also all the forswearing merchants and usurers amongst 
 the burghs ? 
 
 42. Is there any appellation from the inferior to the superior 
 judgment? and is not the sentence suspended during the 
 appellation ? 
 
 43. Should not all processes and acts be extracted to parties 
 having interests ? 
 
 44. Is summary excommunication lawful in any case without 
 admonition and citation preceding ? 
 
 45. Have any others but pastors voice in excommunication ? 
 
 46. Hath every ecclesiastical judgment a like power to 
 excommunicate ? 
 
 47. Is it lawful to excommunicate such papists as never pro- 
 fessed our religion ? 
 
 48. A woman being excommunicated, having a faithful hus- 
 band, should he thereafter abstain from her company ? 
 
 49. Is it not reasonable that before any letters of horning be 
 granted by the session upon the process of excom- 
 munication, that the party should be cited to hoar them 
 granted ? 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 45 
 
 50. Hatli not a Christian king power to annul a notorious 
 unjust sentence of excommunication ? 
 
 51. May any council or university be excommunicated? for 
 wliat cause, by whom, and the manner thereof? 
 
 52. When the pastors do not their duties, or when one 
 jurisdiction usurpeth upon another, or any other schism 
 falleth out, should not a Christian king amend such 
 disorders ? 
 
 53. May fasts, for general causes, be proclaimed without a 
 Christian king's command ? 
 
 54. May any ecclesiastical judgment compel a man to swear 
 in suam turpitudinetn ? 
 
 55. Should there any thing be entreated in the ecclesiastical 
 judgment prejudicial to the civil jurisdiction or private 
 men's rights ? and may not the civil magistrates stay all 
 such proceedings ? 
 
 How soon these questions were divulged, and that it was 
 seen thc}^ all touched upon the abuses crept into tlie disci- 
 pline, the ministers that stood affected to the present order 
 were much perplexed; neither did any thing more oifend 
 them, than that the government should be brought in dispute 
 which they had given out always to be a part of the gospel. 
 This at any hand they thought was to be prevented ; and 
 many private conferences were kept to this purpose. Neither 
 did the king neglect to provide himself of a party against 
 that meeting ; and thinking he should gain most easily the 
 ministers in the north parts, he employed Sir Patrick 
 Murray, gentleman of his chamber, to deal with them, o-iv- 
 ing him direction first to show what a slander the ministers 
 of Edinburgh had brought upon religion by the stirrino- up 
 of the late uproar, and the inciting of the Lord Hamilton 
 and others of the nobihty to open rebellion against him ; 
 how for the same they were become fugitives, and denounced 
 his majesty's rebels ; and thereupon to desire them by some 
 public act or declaration to utter their dislike of those sedi- 
 tious and treasonable courses. 
 
 He was next desired to urge their subscription to the 
 bond, which was appointed to be subscribed by the ministers 
 for acknowledging his majesty's royal power above them in 
 all causes of sedition, treason, and other civil and criminal 
 
46 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 matters, and in all speeches uttered by them in pulpits, 
 schools, or otherwise, which might import the said crimes, or 
 any of them. 
 
 Thirdly, to require them to accept the earl of Huntly 
 his offers for satisfying the Church, and to absolve him from 
 his excommunication, they finding his offers reasonable ; 
 seeing the bosom of the Church ought always to be open to 
 penitents, and that they should be more ready to receive 
 than to cast out : wherefore as the presbytery of St Andrews, 
 to the which he was not subject, had pronounced him ex- 
 communicate, they, under whose jurisdiction he lived, might 
 and ought with better reason declare him absolved. Neither 
 should the pretext of the General Assembly's ratification of 
 the sentence be a stay unto them, considering it was done 
 many months after the pronouncing of the sentence, and that 
 the absolution they should give might in the like manner be 
 ratified at the next Assembly ; much less ought the prohibi- 
 tion of the presbytery of Edinburgh (whereof his majesty 
 was informed) be any hindrance to them, seeing they were 
 neither subject nor subordinate to them, but as free in all 
 respects as themselves. 
 
 And if any doubt should arise upon the form of the earl's 
 satisfaction, he was to remember them that the same is 
 expressly defined in the act of parliament, anno 1572, made 
 against apostates and other adversaries of the true religion, 
 where it is said, " That they which have made defection 
 from the truth should not be received to our sovereign lord's 
 mercy and favour, till they have given of new the confession 
 of their faith, and promised to continue in the profession 
 thereof, in all time coming, and to fortify the preachers of 
 the same against whatsoever enemies." 
 
 Last of all, he was appointed to deliver them a copy of 
 the imprinted questions, and to desire the most discreet of 
 their number to be sent commissioners to the Assembly ap- 
 pointed at Perth, with promise of special favour to them in 
 all their businesses, his good will towards the ministry being 
 no way altered by the wrong he had received from those 
 insolent ministers of Edinburgh. This was the substance of 
 his instructions. 
 
 The ministers with the reverence that was due made 
 answer. That for the tumult of Edinburgh they were igno- 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 47 
 
 rant of the ministers' behaviour therein, as hkewise of the 
 reason of their flight, and having no jurisdiction over them, 
 they could give forth no judgment or censure ; only in the 
 general they would say, that whosoever by just trial should 
 be found authors of that insurrection deserved to be punished 
 as traitors, and if they were ministers, to be doubly punished. 
 
 For their subscription to the bonds, they answered, That 
 at their acceptation of the ministry they had taken oath for 
 acknowledging his majesty's power and authority, and would 
 not decline the same ; but where the bond did mention 
 speeches uttered in pulpit, because the same concerned ap- 
 plication of doctrine, which his majesty had proponed as a 
 question to be decided in the approaching Assembly, they did 
 humbly entreat his majesty to spare them in that point unto 
 that time, which they promised precisely to keep. 
 
 For the earl of Huntly, they said, his repentance should 
 be most acceptable to them ; that they were content to give 
 him conference, and use all means for his resolution ; but 
 they did not find him so willing to conform as they wished, 
 nor very earnest for his absolution. 
 
 This was the sum of their ansAver, which the king did 
 accept the better, because of the hopes given to his servant 
 of all satisfaction on their parts at the meeting of Perth, 
 which they also performed ; for both then and afterwards 
 in all assemblies and conventions they did stick fast unto 
 him. But the king being made to understand that Huntly 
 did linger and delay to make offers for satisfying the Church, 
 he sent him the letter following written all with his own 
 hand : — 
 
 " My Lord, — I am sure ye consider and do remember how 
 often I have incurred skaith and hazard for your cause ; 
 therefore, to be short, resolve you either to satisfy the 
 Church betwixt and the day that is appointed without any 
 more delay, or else if your conscience be so kittle as it cannot 
 permit you, make for another land betwixt and that day, 
 where ye may use freely your own conscience ; your wife 
 and bairns shall in that case enjoy your living ; but for j'our- 
 sclf look never to be a Scottishman again. Deceive not 
 yourself to think that, by lingei'ing of time, your wife and 
 
48 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 your allies shall ever get you better conditions. And think 
 not that I will suffer any professing a contrary religion to 
 dwell in this land. If you obey me in this, you may once 
 again be settled in a good estate, and made able to do me 
 service, which from my heart I would wish. The rest I 
 remit to the bearer, whose directions ye shall follow if you 
 wish your own weal. Farewell, 
 
 " From Dunfermline. James R." 
 
 Such was the king's care for reclaiming the nobleman to 
 the profession of the truth, whilst people suffered themselves 
 to be abused with rumours that he himself was declining. 
 Letters in the meantime were directed to all the presbyteries, 
 advertising them of the meeting at Perth, and desiring they 
 should send their commissioners thither instructed with 
 power to treat and conclude in all matters to be pro- 
 poned. When the day came, the Assembly was frequent 
 enough ; but divers commissioners bearing a power only to 
 convene, hear, and report, and not to question anything 
 concluded in former Assemblies, the king sent Sir John 
 Cockburnc of Ormiston, Mr John Preston, and Mr Edward 
 Bruce, to ask those that were convened, " Whether they did 
 account that meeting a lawful General Assembly, having 
 power sufficient to treat and conclude in the articles that 
 should be proponed, according to his majesty's missive letters 
 directed to the several presbyteries ?" After long reasoning, 
 answer was made, " That they did esteem the meeting to 
 be a lawful General Assembly, called extraordinarily by his 
 majesty's letters, and that they would hear, treat, and con- 
 clude of things that should be moved unto them, according to 
 the commissions wherewith they were authorized." 
 
 This answer given, they presented the articles following : — 
 " Seeing the quietness of the Church and the freeing of the same 
 from slander, which upon the contrary effects would necessarily 
 follow, is the principal scope and end at which his majesty 
 aimeth in this present Assembly, for eschewing fashions and 
 long disputes whereupon controversies and debates might 
 arise, his majesty hath thought good to remit the decision of 
 a great number of the questions imprinted to better oppor- 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 tunity, and will content himself with the determination of a 
 few that he hath made choice of, which without a greater harm 
 could not be longer delayed. 
 
 As first. That it bo not thought unlawful either to the 
 prince or any of the pastoi's at any time hereafter to move 
 doubts, and crave reformation of any points in the external 
 policy and disciphne of the Church, which are not essential 
 concerning salvation, nor expressly defined in scripture ; pro- 
 viding it be done clecenter in right time and place, animo 
 cedijicandi, non tentandi. 
 
 2. That, seeing the civil and politic government of the 
 country belongs properly to the king's oflice and his coun- 
 cillors, and is no way pertinent to the spiritual ministry 
 of the Avord, no minister should thereafter meddle with 
 matters of estate in pulpit, or with any of his majesty's laws, 
 statutes, or ordinances ; but if any of them seem hurtful to 
 religion, they should complain to the king and council thereof. 
 
 3. That it should not be lawful to ministers to name any 
 particular men's names in pulpit, or so vively to describe them 
 as may be equivalent to their naming, except upon the no- 
 toriety of a crime, which notoriety must only be defined by 
 the guilty persons being fugitive for the crimes, or the de- 
 claration of an assize, or their excommunication for the same. 
 
 4. That every minister in his particular application have 
 only respect to the edification of his own flock and present 
 auditory, without expatiating in other discourses no way 
 pertinent to their congregation. 
 
 5. That every particular presbytery be commanded to 
 take a diligent account of the doctrine of their ministers, and 
 see that they keep themselves within bounds in the premises. 
 
 G. That summary excommunication be utterly discharged, 
 and that three lawful citations, at least of eight days' interval 
 betwixt every one of them, precede the sentence. 
 
 7. That no session, presbytery, or synod use censures 
 upon any but those that arc within their bounds ; otherwise 
 their decrees and sentences to be null. 
 
 8. That all summons contain a special cause and crime, and 
 none be used super inquirendis, quod est mere tyrannicum. 
 
 9. That no meeting or convention be amongst the ministers 
 without his majesty's knowledge and consent, except the 
 ordinary sessions, presbyteries, and synods. 
 
 VOL. in. 4 
 
50 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 10. That in the principal burghs no ministers be placed 
 without the consent of his majesty and the flock ; and this 
 order to begin presently in Edinburgh. 
 
 11. That all matters concerning the rest of his majesty's 
 questions be suspended, and neither condemned nor rebuked, 
 either in pulpit, or any other judicatory, till the same be 
 decided in the next General Assembly ; especially that no 
 matters be called before the ecclesiastical judicatories as im- 
 porting slander, wherein his majesty's authority may be pre- 
 judged; but that they meddle onlj'- with causes merely 
 ecclesiastical. 
 
 12. That some wise and discreet ministers, to the number 
 of seven or eight, be authorized by commission to reason 
 upon the rest of the questions, when opportunity of time shall 
 serve. 
 
 Lastly, That the present Assembly grant commission to the 
 ministers of the north country to absolve the earl of Huntly 
 from his excommunication, if he satisfy the Church." 
 
 For the better determining of the said articles, it was 
 thought meet that some brethren should be desired to confer 
 of them apart, and report their opinions to the Assembly, 
 which they did the next morning. Touching the first article, 
 they said, That they held it not expedient to make any law 
 or act concerning that matter, lest a door should be opened 
 thereby to turbulent spirits ; otherwise they did think it 
 lawful to his majesty, by himself or by his commissioners, to 
 propone in a General Assembly whatsoever point his majesty 
 desired to be resolved in, or to be reformed in specie externi 
 ordims, seeing substantia externce administrationis ecclasias- 
 ticcB est plenissime prodita in sacris Uteris. And as the Gen- 
 eral Assembly hath accepted well of this manner of doing in 
 all times past, so in their opinion they would do the hke in 
 time coming. 
 
 For the second their advice was, That the acts already 
 made which are hurtful to rehgion, and prejudicial to the 
 liberty of the word, should be discharged, and no act there- 
 after passed concerning religion without the advice and con- 
 sent of the Church. As for matters of estate mentioned in 
 the article, they craved a farther explanation of that point. 
 
 The third they esteemed reasonable, that no man's name 
 should be expressed to his rebuke in pulpit, unless the fault 
 
A. D. 1590.] CHUKCII OF SCOTLAND. 51 
 
 was notorious and public ; but they esteemed notoriety must 
 be defined otherwise than by the three ways set down in the 
 article : for contumacy after citation, the public commission 
 of a crime, such as was Bothwell's treasonable attempt at 
 Leith, the burning of Donibristle, and the like, make also a 
 notoriety. As to the vive description, said to be equivalent, 
 they thought it hard to set any law to that, seeing every 
 guilty person will think himself described when his fault is 
 rebuked, albeit the minister doth not once think of him. 
 
 The fourth and fifth articles they judged lawful ; but for 
 the sixth, which craves a simple charge of summary excom- 
 munication, they advised to remit the same to the next 
 Assembly, suspending the practice thereof in the meantime. 
 The seventh, they thought, was likewise to be remitted. To 
 the eighth they agreed ; and for the ninth, that concerned 
 the meeting of pastors, they said that besides sessions, pres- 
 byteries, and synods, pastors are accustomed to meet for 
 visitation of churches, admission of ministers, taking up of 
 feuds, resolving of questions, and the like. 
 
 The tenth they esteemed reasonable. The eleventh article 
 seeming to import a discharge of many points of disciphne, 
 they said was so large that it could not be presently answered. 
 And the last two they remitted to the full Assembly, judging 
 that they ought to be granted. 
 
 These answers showed to the king were not liked, and 
 held insufficient ; whereupon the Assembly was desired to 
 repair to the place where his majesty and the Estates were 
 convened, for treating upon the foresaid articles. At their 
 coming the king had a speech much to this purpose : " That 
 they could not be ignorant either of the occasion, or of his 
 purpose in calhng the present Assembly ; and for the occasion, 
 that it grieved him to remember it, not for any injury or 
 displeasure done to himself, but for the shame and slander 
 cast upon religion ; for have not the adversaries, said he, now 
 too just a ground against us, who say that our profession 
 teacheth the contempt of princes, and maintains insurrections 
 against them ? I know it is the fault of men, and not of the 
 profession, and none of you that are met here I take to bo 
 guilty of the late attempt ; but it is in your hands to clear 
 yourselves, if any think otherwise, and so to free your pro- 
 fession of that scandal. As to the purpose fur which I have 
 
52 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 called you together at this time, it is to mend such things as 
 are amiss, and to take away the questions that may move 
 trouble afterwards. If you for your parts be willing to have 
 matters righted, things may yet go well. I claim nothing 
 but what is due to every Christian king within his dominion, 
 that is to be ciistos and vindex disciplince. Corruptions are 
 crept in, and more daily growing by this liberty that preachers 
 take in the application of their doctrine, and censuring every 
 thing that is not to their mind. This I must have mended ; 
 for such discourses serve only to move sedition and raise 
 tumults. Let the truth of God be taught in the chair of 
 truth, and wickedness be reproved ; but in such sort as the 
 offender may be bettered, and vice made more odious. To 
 rail against men in pulpit, and express their names, as we 
 know was done of late, there being no just cause, and make 
 the word of God, which is ordained to guide men in the way 
 of salvation, an instrument of sedition, is a sin, I am sure, 
 beyond all other tbat can be committed on earth. Hold you 
 within your limits, and I will never blame you, nor suffer 
 others to work yx)u any vexation. The civil government is 
 committed to me, it is not your subject, nor are ye to meddle 
 with it." After such words as these, he began to speak of 
 the articles proponed, desiring to hear what reasons they had 
 to the contrary. 
 
 Mr Thomas Buchanan, as he was appointed, did first 
 protest in the name of the Assembly, " That their coming to 
 that place was only to testify their obedience to his majesty, 
 and to Lear what should be proponed ; but not to submit 
 matters ecclesiastic, either concerning doctrine or discipline, 
 to their judicatory, or yet to make themselves one Assembly 
 with the Estates : and that therefore they should be per- 
 mitted to return to the place of their Assembly to treat, rea- 
 son, and conclude in the points moved unto them according 
 to the word of God and good conscience." Which protes- 
 tation was admitted. Then he did humbly thank his majes- 
 ty for his good affection to the Church, and the care he had 
 to redress things that were amiss in so peaceable a manner. 
 And for the particulars proponed, he showed what was the 
 mind of the Assembly, and the reasons that led them unto it, 
 saying, they were willing to hear and give place to better in- 
 formation. Hereupon ensued a reasoning, which kept a long 
 
A. D. 15!}<).] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 53 
 
 time, and ended in a good agreement : so the ministers were 
 dimitted, and assembling again in the ordinary place, they 
 corrected their first answers in this sort. 
 
 1. That it is lawful to his majesty by himself or his com- 
 missioners, or to the pastors, to propone in a General As- 
 sembly whatsoever point his majesty or they desire to be 
 resolved or reformed in matters of external government, 
 alterable according to circumstances ; providing it be done 
 in right time and place, animo ccdificandi, non tentandi. 
 
 2. That no minister should reprove his majesty's laws, 
 acts, statutes, and ordinances, unto such time as first he hath 
 by the advice of his presbytery, synodal or general assem- 
 blies, complained and sought remedy of the same from his 
 majesty, and made report of his majesty's answer, before any 
 farther proceeding. 
 
 3. That no man's name should be expressed in pulpit to 
 his rebuke, except the fault be notorious and public ; Avhich 
 notoriety is thus defined, If the person be fugitive, convict 
 by assize, excommunicate, contumax after citation or lawful 
 admonition ; nor yet should an}^ man be described vively by 
 any other circumstances than public vices always damnable. 
 
 4. That no minister should use application, wherein he 
 hath not a principal respect to the edifying of his own flock 
 and present auditory. 
 
 5. That every presbytery take diligent account of the 
 pastor's doctrine, and that he keep himself within the bounds 
 of the word. 
 
 6. That the answer of the sixth article shall be superseded 
 unto the next General Assembly, suspending in the mean time 
 all summary excommunication unto the said Assembly. 
 
 7. That the seventh article be remitted to the next 
 Assembly. 
 
 8. That all summons contain the special cause and crime, 
 and none to be given out super inquirendis. 
 
 9. That no conventions shall be amongst the pastors with- 
 out his majesty's knowledge and consent, except their sessions, 
 presbyteries, and synods, the meetings of the visitations of 
 churches, admission or deprivation of ministers, taking up of 
 deadly feuds, and the like, which have not been found fault 
 with by his majesty. 
 
 10. That in all principal towns the ministers shall not be 
 
54 THE HISTORY OF THE [a, D. 1596. 
 
 chosen without his inajesty's consent and the consent of the 
 flock. 
 
 1 1 , That all matters concerning remanent questions shall be 
 suspended, and neither damned nor rebuked in pulpit or 
 other judicatories, till they be decided in the General Assem- 
 bly ; and that no matters importing slander shall be called 
 before them in the mean time, wherein his majesty's au- 
 thority is prejudged, causes ecclesiastical only excepted. 
 
 Lastly, for reasoning the said questions, according to his 
 majesty's desire, the Assembly did ordain Mr James Nichol- 
 son, Mr John Coldcleuch, Mr Andrew Clayhills, Mr Thomas 
 Buchanan, Mr David Lindsay, Mr James Melvill, Mr 
 Robert Wilkie, Mr William Cowper, Mr John Cowper, Mr 
 Robert Rollock, Mr Patrick Galloway, Mr Robert Howy, 
 John Duncanson, and Mr James Bryson, to convene at such 
 time and place as his majesty should be pleased to appoint, 
 and to report their opinion and advice to the next General 
 Assembly. 
 
 These conclusions taken, which for a beginning did satisfy 
 the king, a commission was also given at his majesty's desire 
 to the ministers of Aberdeen and Murray, with some otliers 
 of Mearns and Angus, for reconciling the popish lords. The 
 conditions required of Huntly to be fulfilled before his ab- 
 solution Avere, 
 
 1. That he should appear before the commissioners ap- 
 pointed by the Assembly the twenty-second of March at 
 Aberdeen, and remain in that city during the time of their 
 conference with him, to the effect he might be instructed in 
 the truth, and brought to condescend with knowledge unto 
 the religion professed, and to the detestation of the contrary. 
 
 2. That he should acknowledge the Church of Scotland to be a 
 true church, and adjoin himself thereto, hear the word, receive 
 the sacraments, and be obedient to the discipline thereof. 
 
 3. That he should solemnly promise to remove forth of his 
 company, and from the bounds that were under his power, 
 all Jesuits, priests, and excommunicate persons. 4. That he 
 swear and subscribe the confession of the faith in presence of 
 the whole commissioners. 5. That he acknowledge the sen- 
 tence of excommunication to have been justly pronounced 
 against him for his apostasy from the truth, the slaughter of 
 the earl of ]Murray, and burning of Donibristle, and that he 
 
A. D. 1596.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 55 
 
 declare himself penitent therefor, promising assythment to 
 the party whensoever he should be moved to accept the same. 
 6. That he provide sufficient maintenance to the churches 
 within his bounds by the advice of his best disposed friends, 
 and have an ordinary minister to reside with him in his 
 family. And lastly. That he be content to reconcile with all 
 that he is esteemed to carry any grudge unto, and profess 
 no quarrel to any of those that assisted the king in his pur- 
 suit. 
 
 The like conditions were required of Angus and Erroll 
 (that which concerned the earl of Murray only excepted). 
 All matters being thus peaceably accorded, the king caused 
 publish the good agreement he had made with the Church, 
 taking in his protection the ministers with their families, 
 goods, and possessions, and charging all papists (those ex- 
 cepted that were in terms of satisfaction) to depart forth of 
 the country before the first of June. 
 
 The Assembly finding the king so well pleased, made bold 
 to intercede for the ministers, the town of Edinburgh, and 
 the gentlemen that were challenged for the tumult. For the 
 town his majesty answered, that he was not minded to 
 trouble innocent men, and should shortly settle with them. 
 Touching the gentlemen, he said, they should do well to pre- 
 sent their supplications by their friends. But for the minis- 
 ters, he esteemed them most guilty, and knew not what course 
 to take with them. It being replied, that by the examina- 
 tions taken it appeared that they all, especially Mr Robert 
 Bruce, was a chief instrument in the staying of the tumult, 
 and that they should therefore be rather rewarded than 
 punished ; he answered, *' That granting they did stay the 
 tumult, yet they were the cause of it ; and if they for that 
 fault were first corrected, ho would not be much troubled 
 with their reward. Not the less, at the Assembly's request, he 
 would be content they should be relaxed, upon caution to 
 underlie the trial of law." Thus an end was put to that 
 meeting, and the next Assembly by his majesty's consent 
 appointed to be at Dundee the tenth of May following. 
 
 This year Mr John Lesley, bishop of Ross, departed this 
 life at Brussels in Flanders, where for the most part he abode 
 after the queen of Scotland's execution. A man (though dif- 
 fering from us in religion) worthy to be remembered for his 
 
56 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1596. 
 
 fidelity to the queen his mistress, and the extraordinary- 
 pains he took to procure her liberty, travailing with all the 
 neighbour princes to interpose their credit with the queen 
 of England for her relief : neither was he deficient otherwise 
 in ministering the best consolations he could furnish for bear- 
 ing patiently her cross, whereof one treatise he afterwards 
 published full of piety and learning. How heavily he took 
 her death it cannot well be expressed ; yet comforting him- 
 self in the best sort he could, he put off to this time, and 
 being much weakened by a languishing sickness that held 
 him some months, he ended quietly his days. The history 
 of his country from the beginning of the nation unto these 
 last times, written by him in the Latin tongue, doth witness 
 both his learning and judgment. It being just to give unto 
 every man (albeit an enemy) his due commendation, I could 
 not pass him unremembered. Mr David Lindsay, minister 
 at Leith, was in the year following provided to that see. 
 
 The diet assigned for the appearing of the town of Edin- 
 burgh at Perth, was upon their petition continued first to the 
 fifteenth day of February, and from the fifteenth again put 
 off to the first day of March, with a declaration, " That if 
 two of the bailies, with the dean of guild, treasurer, four of 
 the principal deacons, four of the council, and their clerk, mak- 
 ing thirteen in all, did enter themselves the said day, and 
 bring a sufficient commission from the provost, bailies, coun- 
 cil, and community of the town for underlying the order that 
 should be taken with them, as representing the whole body, 
 their compearance by so many should serve for all the rest." 
 
 It was the fifth of March before they were called, at which 
 time tliere compeared a number of persons, and presented a 
 procuratory under the seal of the town, and the subscription 
 of the clerks thereof, which his majesty caused to be read ; 
 then asking if all contained in the commission were present, 
 it was answered that they were all there, William Mauld 
 excepted, who had his majesty's letter of dispensation, which 
 they produced. But the same being granted the eleventh of 
 January, long before the deliverance upon their petition, 
 which expressly ordained that they should have thirteen 
 persons present for undergoing the trial, it was declared to 
 be no warrant ; and so for not fulfilling the ordinance of the 
 council, the town was denounced, the burgesses declared 
 
A. D. 1597.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 57 
 
 rebels, and their common goods (so they called the rents be- 
 longing to the town) arrested to the king's use. 
 
 It was pitiful to behold the desolation wherein the town 
 was then cast. The magistrates renounced their offices, and 
 would carry no more charge ; the people were left without 
 direction, wanting both magistrates and ministers ; and in 
 this state did they continue for the space of fifteen days. At 
 last, by the intercession of some noblemen, the king was 
 pleased to receive the town in favour ; and the provost, 
 bailies, council, and deacons of crafts, being brought unto his 
 presence at Halyrudhouso the twenty-first of IMarch, and 
 falhng upon their knees, did with tears beg pardon for their 
 negligence in not timely preventing that tumult, raised (as 
 they said) by a number of ill-disposed people, beseeching his 
 majesty to take pity of the town, which did submit itself 
 simply to his highness's mercy. The king, after he had sharply 
 rebuked them, and showed in many words the greatness of 
 their oftence, commanded them to remove, that ho might 
 think what was fittest to be done. Then calling for the 
 ofl:ers they had formerly made, he caused eke unto them the 
 articles following. " That the lodgings in the churchyard 
 wherein the ministers dwelt and kept their consultations 
 should be given to his majesty, and used at his pleasure. 
 That the ministers who should thereafter serve in the town 
 should dwell in their own quarters and live dispersed. That 
 the town should be obliged for the indemnity of the lords of 
 session during tlieir sitting, under the penalty of forty thou- 
 sand marks. That the nether council-house, wherein the 
 provost and bailies did keep their meetings, should be ap- 
 pointed for the exchequer ; and that for the oifence committed 
 the town should be fined in twenty thousand marks, to be paid 
 in four months." These conditions accepted, the king did 
 pardon the town, giving order to receive them to his peace, 
 and by proclamation recalled the session to sit in their former 
 place. Never did any king, considering the offence, temper 
 his authority with more grace and clemency than did his 
 majesty at this time ; which the people did all acknowledge, 
 ascribing their life and safety only to his favour. 
 
 Shortly after the ministers were also permitted to return, 
 and had their peace granted, but were not suffered to preach 
 in their places ; the king taking now the occasion of finishing 
 
58 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1597. 
 
 that -work which some two years before had been moved, for 
 distinbuting the people in several parishes, and planting more 
 ministers among them. The let he knew was in the town, 
 that still put off the business because of the burthen it would 
 draAv upon them ; and knowing that the desire they had to 
 have their old ministers reponed would make them the more 
 forward that way, he refuses to readmit them until the dis- 
 tribution intended was perfected, and other four ministers ad- 
 joined to them, for the better instruction and more orderly 
 government of the people. The ministers themselves did 
 also profess that they were wearied of that confused ministry, 
 as they called it ; and compearing in the Assembly, which held 
 at the time appointed in Dundee, they resigned their offices, 
 denying to serve any longer, unless they had a particular 
 flock designed. But because that work required a longer time 
 than the Assembly could well abide together, the same was 
 committed to certain delegates, and the ministers dwelling 
 near unto Edinburgh ordained to furnish the pulpits for the 
 interim. 
 
 In the Assembly Mr Robert Rollock was elected to pre- 
 side, though he was not as yet in orders ; in so great esteem 
 he was with all good men for his learning, holiness, and mod- 
 eration. The first thing done was the taking of an account 
 of the ministers' travails with the earls of Angus, Huntly, and 
 Erroll, and of their obedience to the injunctions given in the 
 former Assembly. This was testified, by the ministers that 
 had the charge, to have been in all points so well performed, 
 as no more could be required of them. For verifying thereof 
 their several subscriptions were produced, together with an 
 humble supplication to the Assembly for accepting their sat- 
 isfaction, and receiving them in the bosom of the Church ; 
 which accordingly was decerned, and order given that they 
 should be received by the same commissioners who were ap- 
 pointed to meet at a certain time, and pronounce their absolu- 
 tion. 
 
 The next thing proponed was touching the questions left 
 unresolved in the last Assembly ; and because exception was 
 taken, by some brethren that were absent, at the articles con- 
 cluded at Perth, especially that it should have been acknow- 
 ledged for a lawful General Assembly, it was of new declared 
 to be a lawful Assembly, and certain explanations added to 
 
A. D. 1597.] CHURCH ok Scotland. 59 
 
 the rest of the acts : As, in the point of notoriety, the crime 
 should be reputed notorious, that was so manifest and known 
 ut nulla tergiversatione celari possit ; and for the convening 
 of pastors with his majesty's consent, the same was declared 
 to be extended to all assemblies either general or particular, 
 authorized by his highness's laws, and having warrant in the 
 word of God. His majesty did hkewise express his meaning, 
 touching the provision of burghs with ministers, in this sort, 
 that when the Assembly should find it necessary to place a 
 minister in any town, he should either yield his consent or 
 give a sufficient reason of his refusal. With these declarations 
 the whole number were so well pleased, as, proceeding in the 
 rest of the questions, they determined as followeth : — 
 First, Where his majesty doth crave that, before the conclu- 
 sion of any weighty matter, his highness's advice and ap- 
 probation should be had thereto; the Assembly will be 
 very glad to have his majesty's authority interponed to 
 all acts of any importance made by the Church, so as 
 matters formerly treated and concluded be not drawn in 
 question. 
 
 2. That there should be an uniform order kept in the ordi- 
 nation of ministers, and none admitted but by imposition of 
 hands, and to a certain flock on which they shall be astricted 
 to attend. As also such as have not received ordination 
 should not be permitted to teach in great rooms, except 
 upon urgent necessity and in the defect of actual ministers ; 
 and that good heed shall be taken that they did not pass 
 their bounds, especially in application. 
 
 3. That no minister should exercise any jurisdiction, either 
 by making of constitutions or leading of processes, without 
 advice and concurrence of his session, presbytery, synod, 
 or General Assembly. 
 
 4. That all sessions should be elected with consent of their 
 own congregations. 
 
 5. That sessions, presbyteries, and synods should labour 
 to be formal in their proceedings, and that the inferior judi- 
 catories should be tried in this point by their superiors. 
 
 G. That in the exercises of the word whereunto ministers 
 convene, there should no application be used. 
 
 7. That in matters of importance, if the voices be difi'crent 
 only by two or three, notliing should be concluded until a 
 
60 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D, 1597. 
 
 better resolution was taken, and he who holdeth the nega- 
 tive give rationem negandi. 
 
 8. That presbyteries should not meddle with any thing that 
 is not known, without all controversy, to belong to the eccle- 
 siastical judicatory ; and that therein uniformity should be 
 observed throughout the country, 
 
 9. That no processes and acts should be extracted at the de- 
 sire of parties having interest. 
 
 10. Summary excommunication should be suspended as be- 
 fore, and in great crimes after public intimation, the com- 
 mitter debarred a sacris et a privato convictu. 
 
 11. That where any presbytery should be desired by his 
 majesty's missive to stay their proceedings, as being pre- 
 judicial to the civil jurisdiction or private men's rights, 
 they should desist until his majesty did receive satisfaction. 
 The principal questions being thus decided, it was thought 
 
 meet to supersede the treating of the rest, and to give a gen- 
 eral commission to certain of the most wise and discreet 
 brethren, for all affairs that might concern the good of the 
 Church. For this effect choice was made of Mr David 
 Lindsay, Mr Thomas Nicholson, Mr Thomas Buchanan, 
 Mr Robert Pont, Mr Robert Rollock, Mr Alexander 
 Douglas, Mr George Gladstanes, Mr Patrick Galloway, 
 John Duncanson, Mr Patrick Sharpe, Mr James Melvill, 
 Mr William Cowper, and John Clapperton, to whom, or to 
 any seven of them, power was given to convene with his 
 majesty at such times as they should be required, for taking 
 order touching the provision of ministers to the towns of 
 Edinburgh, Dundee, and St Andrews, the houses of the 
 king and prince, and to any other churches within the realm 
 that should stand in need to be planted ; as likewise to pre- 
 sent the petitions and grievances of the Church to his maj- 
 esty, either general or particular, and to give their advice to 
 his highness in all matters that might serve to the weal and 
 peace of the Church. 
 
 How soon the Assembly dissolved. Sir Patrick Murray 
 was sent by the king unto the north, to see the conditions 
 made by the three earls to the Church performed, and to as- 
 sist the commissioners appointed for their absolution. He 
 had farther in charge to cause them to subscribe the general 
 bonds for the peace and quietness of the country, and to find 
 
A. D. 1597.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, Gl 
 
 caution each of thein, under the pain of twenty thousand 
 pounds, not to traffic nor keep intelhgeuce with any foreii>-ners 
 without his majesty's hcensc by word or writing ; particularly 
 for the earl of Huntly it is enjoined, that he should follow 
 the counsel of certain barons and ministers that the king did 
 nominate unto him, and proceed by their advice in all weighty 
 affairs, especially in matters that concerned his majesty's 
 service. The barons nominated to him were, the laird of 
 Findlater, the laird of Inncs, the laird of Phillorth, the tutor 
 of Cromarty, the laird of Pitlurg, and laird of Cluny, or 
 any three of them ; the ministers were, the bishop of Aber- 
 deen, Mr Peter Blackburn, Mr John Forbes, Mr Robert 
 Howy, the parson of Turriff, and Mr Alexander Douglas, or 
 any three of them. 
 
 Whilst the king was thus busied to reconcile Huntly to 
 the Church, INIr James Gordon, Jesuit, came into the country 
 of intention to divert him from giving obedience ; against 
 whom a strict proclamation was made, inhibiting the subjects 
 to reset, supply, or entertain any inteUigence with him, under 
 pain of treason, and a thousand crowns promised to any that 
 should apprehend and bring him to the king. And at the 
 same time was discovered a practice of fortifying the isle of 
 Ailsa, in the west seas, for receiving certain forces that 
 the Spanish king had promised to send thither. The con- 
 triver of this plot was one Hugh Barclay of Ladyland, who 
 being committed the year before in the castle of Glasgow, 
 had made an escape and gone to Spain. This year returning 
 to make good what he had undertaken, with some few as- 
 sisters, he entered into the isle (a huge rock it is, four miles 
 in compass, wherein is an old ruinous tower built on the 
 ascent of the rock, of difficult access), meaning to have vic- 
 tualled the same. Mr John Knox (the same who took Mr 
 George Kerr with the blanks some five years before) getting 
 intelligence of the purpose, came upon him unlocked, and 
 landing in the isle did encounter him in the very shore ; 
 for most of his company being gone to seek their sport, he 
 had stayed to see who those were that he espied coming to the 
 isle, not thinking that his purpose was known, or that any 
 would pursue him ; but when he perceived them to be un- 
 friends, and to be set for his apprehension, he ran into the sea 
 and drowned himself. The king did esteem this, as it was 
 
62 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1597. 
 
 indeed, a piece of good service ; and the news thereof going 
 to the popish lords made them more wilhng to fulfil that which 
 they had promised ; so that, on the twenty-sixth of June, the 
 earls of Huntly and Erroll, upon their solemn repentance, 
 oaths, and subscriptions to the articles of faith, were absolved 
 in the church of Aberdeen. The earl of Angus in the same 
 manner was received by the ministers of Mearns and Angus. 
 
 This business ended, ibe king, for repressing the barbarous 
 feuds which abounded at that time in the north parts, sent a 
 commission to the bishop of Aberdeen, with concurrence of 
 Sir Patrick Murray and some ministers, for taking up their 
 quarrels, and with charges to cause the parties give assurance 
 one to another, which should endure to the first of April in 
 the year 1598. The feuds mentioned in the instructions 
 sent to Sir Patrick Murray, were the feuds betwixt the earl 
 of Huntly and Lord Forbes, the carl of Erroll and the laird 
 of Ludqharne, the laird of Drum and young Frendraught, 
 with a number more. But the most deadly and dangerous, 
 betwixt the famihes of Huntly and Murray, the king reserved 
 to be his own work, and ceased not till the same was removed, 
 and a friendship made up by marriage, which should in all 
 reason be most lasting. Those others were by the dihgence 
 of the bishop and ministers settled, and so the north parts 
 reduced unto quietness. 
 
 In the end of June the king called the commissioners of 
 the Assembly to a meeting at Falkland ; where amongst other 
 business a complaint was preferred by Mr John Lindsay of 
 Balcarres, secretary, against Mr Robert Wallace, minister 
 at St Andrews, for certain injurious speeches uttered in his 
 sermons, having called him a briber, and said, " That albeit 
 he had made conquest of fifty chalders victual in Fife, and 
 built a house to the skies, yet his posterity should beg their 
 bread, which some of his auditors should see ; and that it was 
 doubtful if ever God should grant him repentance." The secre- 
 tary had complained of this to the presbytery, but they refused 
 to admit his accusation, unless the same was assisted by two 
 witnesses, who could aflirm that the accuser had just cause to 
 pursue the complaint, which they alleged to be the apostle's 
 canon in the First Epistle to Timothy, ch. 5, v. 19, and 
 showed themselves so partially affected, as he was forced to 
 pursue the complaint before his majesty and the commissioners. 
 
A. D. 1597.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 63 
 
 Mr Wallace being summoned to that diet, and desired to 
 answer to the complaint, refused to acknowledge the judg- 
 ment, alleging, " That the General Assembly had given them 
 no commission in that particular, and that the accusation once 
 intended before the presbytery of St Andrews ought to have 
 been orderly taken out of their hands, which was not done. 
 This declinator being proponed, compeared Mr NicoU Dal- 
 gleish, moderator of the presbytery, and in their name pro- 
 tested against the proceedings of the commissioners in that 
 cause, as being once intended before them, seeing, by that 
 form of doing, all the presbyteries of Scotland should be pre- 
 judged, and that the General Assembly, of whom they had 
 their commission, would not take unto them the trial of any 
 cause, with a neglect of the inferior judicatories." " Then," 
 said the king, '•' I will likewise protest, that seeing one of the 
 principal motives which induced me to crave, and the General 
 Assembly to yield unto this commission, was to have the like 
 of these offences, when they did arise, removed, and justice 
 done by the ministers themselves, rather than to be brought 
 before the council, ye will either proceed in examining the 
 complaint, and do that which is right, or hold me excused if 
 1 take order with it by another form that will not please you 
 so well." 
 
 The commissioners having advised the reasons of the de- 
 clinator and protestation, did find them all invalid and of no 
 force, and that they had warrant sufficient to proceed and 
 minister justice in that action, as well in respect of the general 
 power contained in their commission, as of the particular com- 
 mended to their care in the planting of the church of St 
 Andrews. So the complaint was admitted, and the fifth of 
 July appointed at St Andrews for trying the same. 
 
 At the day the secretary compearing, accompanied with 
 Mr Robert Mauld, commissar of St Andrews, and John 
 Arnot, clerk to the commissariat, (whom he produced as 
 assisting witnesses to take away the presbytery's exception,) 
 did insist in his complaint. jNlr \Yallace being asked if he 
 had any thing to oppose against the witnesses, refused to 
 answer in respect of his declinator ; whereupon they were 
 admitted, and upon oath deciared that they knew the accu- 
 sation to be just, and that the secretary had not intended the 
 same of any purpose to calumniate or slander the said Mr 
 
64 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1597. 
 
 Robert, but only to be repaired to his credit and honour, 
 as one who had been greatly wronged by him. The wit- 
 nesses for probation being then called, and Mr Wallace in- 
 quired if he had any exception against them, refused, as be- 
 fore, to answer. So they likewise were received, and being- 
 sworn, deponed, that they heard the said Mr Wallace utter 
 the words complained of in his sermon. Not the less the 
 commissioners for their better information did think it meet 
 to call his auditors of the university, who were of better 
 judgment, and could truly relate what they heard. The 
 masters of the new college refusing to give any testimony, in 
 respect of the presbytery's protestation at Falkland, all the 
 rest affirmed what the witnesses had deponed. After which, 
 Mr Wallace being again called, and desired to show what 
 reason or warrant he had for uttering such speeches, refused 
 still to make answer ; nor could any persuasion break his 
 obstinacy, though he was earnestly laboured by Mr Robert 
 Rollock and Mr James Melvill apart, who did offer, upon 
 the confession of the fault, that the process should cease. 
 
 The commissioners seeing no way to eschew the pronoun- 
 cing of sentence, in regard of his obstinacy, did yet take 
 counsel to visit the church, and inquire both of his and Mr 
 Blake's behaviour in that ministry, before they went farther. 
 A visitation for this effect being appointed the eleventh of 
 July, and Mr Blake summoned to the same day, the elders 
 and deacons of the Church were inquired touching the be- 
 haviour of them both, and the verity of the accusations laid 
 against them ; who all upon oath deponed that the accusa- 
 tions were true, and that Blake had spoken all that whereof 
 he was convicted before the council ; as also that the secre- 
 tary's complaint of Mr Wallace was most just. And being 
 asked touching their behaviour otherwise, they declared that 
 both the one and the other were given to factions, and that 
 they did not carry themselves with that indifferency which 
 became preachers. 
 
 This declaration made clear way to the commissioners for 
 ending that business, and providing St Andrews with a more 
 peaceable ministry ; whereupon sentence was given that both 
 the ministers should be removed, and Mr G eorge Gladstanes 
 (a man sufficiently quahfied, serving then at Arbirlot in 
 Angus) translated and placed in their room, till another 
 
A. D. 1597.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 65 
 
 helper might be found out to be joined with him. This done, 
 the Sunday following he was accepted of the people with a 
 great applause, Mr Thomas Buchanan, Mr James Nicholson, 
 and INIr James Melvill entering him to the charge. 
 
 And because it concerned the peace of the Church no less 
 to have the abuses of the university reformed, the king call- 
 ing the governors thereof, and inquiring what order they 
 kept ; when he understood that, against the accustomed form, 
 Mr Andrew Melvill had continued rector a number of years 
 together, he commanded a new election to be made, and 
 honouring the election with his own presence in the schools 
 of St Salvator, Mr Robert Wilkie, principal of St Leonards, 
 was chosen rector, and appointed to bear that charge unto 
 the ordinary time of election. As also, for preventing the 
 like disorders, a statute was made, " That none should be 
 continued rector above a year, nor admitted to the said office 
 but after the space of three years." It was likewise declared, 
 " That any suppost, having received the degree of a Master 
 of Arts, might be chosen rector, he residing in the university 
 during his office, or at least the most part of the time." 
 
 In the new college, whereof the said Mr Andrew had the 
 charge, all things were found out of order ; the rents ill 
 husbanded, the professions neglected, and, in place of divinity 
 lectures, politic questions oftentimes agitated : as, " Whether 
 the election or succession of kings were the better form of 
 government ? How far the royal power extended ? and. If 
 kings might be censured for abusing the same, and deposed 
 by the Estates of the kingdom ?" The king, to correct these 
 abuses, did prescribe to every professor his subject of teach- 
 ing, appointing the first master to read the common places 
 to the students, with the law and history of the Bible ; the 
 second to read the New Testament ; the third the Prophets, 
 with the Books of Ecclesiastes and Canticles ; and the fourth 
 the Hebrew Grammar, with the Psalms, the Proverbs, and 
 the Book of Job. 
 
 For the better husbanding of the rents, as well in that as 
 in the other colleges, it was ordained, " That there should 
 be a council chosen to the university, which should have 
 power to elect an oeconomus in every college for uplifting the 
 rents, and take care to see all things rightly administrated." 
 Of this council were named the chancellor of the university, 
 
 VOL. III. 5 
 
66 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1597. 
 
 the conservator of the privileges, the laird of Colluthie, 
 Mr David Lindsay, Mr Robert RoUock, and Mr Thomas 
 Buchanan ; without whose consent and subscriptions it 
 should not be lawful to set any lease, or make other dispo- 
 sition whatsoever of any part of their rents. 
 
 And, lest they should be distracted by any other employ- 
 ment, it was concluded, " That all the doctors, professors, 
 and regents, not being pastors in the Church, should be ex- 
 empted from the keeping of sessions, presbyteries, synodical 
 or general assemblies, and from all teaching in churches and 
 congregations, exercises excepted ; with a discharge to all 
 and every one of them, to accept any commission prejudicial 
 to the said exemption, under the pain of deprivation and 
 rebellion, at the conserA^ator's instance, the one execution 
 not prejudging the other." Yet, that they should not be 
 thought excluded from the General Assembly, it was ap- 
 pointed, " That the masters and regents of the university 
 should meet when any such occasion did offer, and condescend 
 upon some three persons, of whom one should be elected by 
 the foresaid council, to be present at the General Assembly 
 for that year ; which person so chosen should not for the 
 space of three years thereafter be employed in that commis- 
 sion." These articles being openly recited in presence of 
 his majesty, and of the whole members of the university, 
 were accepted by the masters and regents, with solemn pro- 
 mise of obedience. 
 
 This summer there was a great business for the trial of 
 witches. Amongst others one Margaret Atkin, being appre- 
 hended upon suspicion, and threatened with torture, did con- 
 fess herself guilty. Being examined touching her associates 
 in that trade, she named a few, and perceiving her delations 
 find credit, made offer to detect all of that sort, and to purge 
 the country of them, so she might have her life granted. For 
 the reason of her knowledge, she said, " That they had a 
 secret mark all of that sort, in their eyes, whereby she could 
 surely tell, how soon she looked upon any, whether they 
 were witches or not : " and in this she was so readily believed, 
 that for the space of three or four months she was carried 
 from town to town to make discoveries in that kind. Many 
 were brought in question by her delations, especially at Glas- 
 gow, where divers innocent women, through the credulity of 
 
A, D. 1597.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 67 
 
 the minister, Mr John Cowper, were condemned and put to 
 death. In end she was found to be a mere deceiver (for the 
 same persons that the one day she had declared guilty, the 
 next day being presented in another habit she cleansed), and 
 sent back to Fife, where first she was apprehended. At her 
 trial she afiirmed all to be false that she had confessed, either 
 of herself or others, and persisted in this to her death ; which 
 made many forthink their too great forwardness that way, 
 and moved the king to recall the commissions given out against 
 such persons, discharging all proceedings against them, except 
 in case of voluntary confession, till a solid order should be 
 taken by the Estates touching the form that should be kept 
 in their trial. 
 
 In the borders, at the same time, great troubles were 
 raised by the broken men of Tindale and Readsdale, who 
 made incursions on the Scots side, and wasted all the country 
 of Liddisdale. The laird of Buccleuch, that had the keeping 
 of those parts, to be repaired of that wrong, made a roade 
 into England, and apprehending thirty -six of the doers, put 
 them all to death, and brought away a great spoil. Sir 
 William Bowes being sent to complain of this, after much 
 debating it was agreed, that for keeping peace in the borders, 
 hostages should be delivered of either side, Englishmen into 
 Scotland, and as many Scots into England. But Buccleuch, 
 failing to deliver his in due time, was commanded, for satis- 
 fying the queen, to enter himself into England, as he did, 
 remaining there from October to February next. 
 
 In the month of December a parliament was held at Edin- 
 burgh, for restoring the forfeited lords to their lands and 
 honours. Amongst the articles presented to this meeting 
 by the commissioners of the Church, one was, " That the 
 ministers, as representing the Church and Third Estate of 
 the kingdom, might be admitted to give voice in parliament, 
 according to the acts made in favours of the Church, and the 
 hberty and freedom thereof." The king was earnest to have 
 the article granted, and at last obtained an act to be made, 
 whereby it was declared, " That such pastors and ministers 
 as his majesty should please to provide to the place, title, and 
 dignity of a bishop, abbot, or other prelate, at any time, 
 should have voice in parliament as freely as any other eccle- 
 siastical prelate had at any time bypast. And that all 
 
68 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1598. 
 
 bishoprics then in his majesty's hands, and undisponed to any 
 person, or which should happen to fall void thereafter, should 
 be only disponed to actual preachers and ministers in the 
 Church, or to such other persons as should be found apt and 
 qualified to use and exerce the office of a preacher or minister, 
 and who, in their provisions to the said bishoprics, should 
 accept in and upon them to be actual pastors and ministers, 
 and according thereto should practise and exerce the same." 
 
 As concerning the ofiice of the said persons in the spiritual 
 policy and government of the Church, the same was remitted 
 to his majesty to be advised and agreed upon with the Gene- 
 ral Assembly, at such time as his highness should think ex- 
 pedient to treat with them thereupon ; without prejudice in 
 the meantime of the jurisdiction and discipline of the Church, 
 established by acts of parliament, and permitted to general 
 and provincial assemblies, and other presbyteries and sessions 
 of the Church. 
 
 This act gave occasion to the indicting of a General As- 
 sembly, which convened at Dundee in March next ; where 
 the king being present, did show, " That he had anticipated 
 the time of the Assembly (for the appointment was at Stir- 
 ling, the first Tuesday of May), that he might be resolved 
 touching their acceptation of the place in parliament, with 
 the form, manner, and number of persons that should be 
 admitted to have voice ; and thereupon desired them to enter 
 into a particular consideration of the whole points of the act ; 
 and first to reason whether it was lawful and expedient that 
 the ministers, as representing the whole Church within the 
 realm, should have voice in parliament or not. 
 
 This question being long debated, first in private by some 
 brethren selected to that purpose, then in the hearing of the 
 whole Assembly, it was concluded, " That ministers might 
 lawfully give voice in parliament, and other public meetings 
 of the Estate, and that it was expedient to have some always 
 of that number present, to give voice in name of the Church." 
 
 A second question being moved, touching the number of 
 those that should have voice, it was agreed, " That so many 
 should be appointed to give voice as of old had place in the 
 papistical church, to wit, fifty-one persons, or thereby." 
 
 Thirdly, touching the election of those that should have 
 voice, it was resolved, " That the same did appertain partly to 
 
A. D. 1598.] CHURCH of Scotland. 69 
 
 his majesty, and partly to the Church." And, because time 
 could not permit the discussing of the rest of the points, as 
 de modo eligendi, what rent those ministers should have, 
 whether they should continue in that office ad vitam or not, 
 what their title should be, and the cautions to preserve them 
 from corruption, with other the like circumstances, the pres- 
 byteries were desired to consider the same throughly, and 
 thereafter to meet in their synods all upon one day, to wit, 
 the first Tuesday of June ; and having reasoned upon these 
 heads, to direct three of their number to convene with his 
 majesty (the advertisement being upon a month at least), and 
 with the doctors of the universities, namely, Mr Andrew 
 Melvill, Mr John Johnstone, Mr Robert Wifkie, Mr Robert 
 Rollock, Mr Robert Howie, Mr Patrick Sharpe, and Mr 
 James Martin, at such time and place as his majesty should 
 think most convenient ; with power to them being so con- 
 vened to treat, reason, and confer upon the said heads, and 
 others appertaining thereto ; and in case of agreement and 
 uniformity of opinions, to conclude the whole question touch- 
 ing voice in parliament ; otherwise in case of discrepance, to 
 remit the conclusion to the next General Assembly. 
 
 The commissioners' proceedings in the planting of the 
 church of St Andrews were at the same time ratified ; but 
 the provision of Edinburgh, which they had likewise con- 
 cluded, made greater business. The king had been induced 
 by the humble entreaty of Mr David Lindsay, Mr Robert 
 Rollock, and Mr Patrick Galloway, to suffer the old ministers 
 to preach again in their places, upon their faithful promises 
 to observe the conditions following : — 
 
 1. That they should not in pulpit make any apology for 
 themselves farther than to say, that they had satisfied his 
 majesty touching their intentions in the day of the tumult, 
 and that they condemned the raisers thereof, and all that 
 took arms, or gave command or allowance thereunto, praising 
 the calm and clement course his majesty hath taken in cen- 
 suring the same. 
 
 2. That they should at no time thereafter tax, quarrel, or 
 reproach, directly or indirectly, privately or publicly, any 
 inhabitant of Edinburgh that did show themselves affectionate 
 to his majesty ; and if any of them should happen to fall in 
 
70 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1598. 
 
 any offence meriting the censure of the church disciphne, they 
 should in the trial and censuring thereof use them indiffer- 
 ently, as if they had never kithed contrary to the said 
 ministers. 
 
 3. That they should not in pulpit speak otherwise than 
 reverently of his majesty's council and their proceedings, and 
 in their sermons labour to imprint in the people's hearts a 
 reverent conceit of his majesty and his actions, so far as in 
 them lies ; and wheuas they should hear any slanderous or 
 offensive reports of his majesty or of any of his councillors, his 
 or their intentions or proceedings, they should address them 
 in all humility to his majesty, and with due reverence make 
 him acquainted with the reports, receiving his majesty's own 
 declaration therein, whereunto they should give credit, and 
 generally should conform themselves to the order set down 
 in the late General Assembly thereanent. 
 
 4. That they should never hereafter refuse to give account 
 of any of their speeches in pulpit, or of their proceedings 
 elsewhere ; but when his majesty should require the same, 
 they should plainly declare the truth of that they should be 
 asked, in all humbleness and simplicity, without claiming to 
 the general warrant of conscience not founded upon reason. 
 
 The ministers upon these conditions being licensed to 
 preach, and the town going on in dividing themselves in 
 parishes, as they had promised, a leet was presented of some 
 twelve persons, out of which number the commissioners of 
 the Church were to elect four, besides the old ministers, to 
 bear charge in that ministry, having his majesty's approba- 
 tion. The four on whom the choice fell, were Mr Robert 
 Rollock, principal of the College of Edinburgh ; Mr John 
 Hall, minister at Leith ; Mr Peter Hewat, and Mr George 
 E/obertson. Against the two last exception was taken be- 
 cause of their youth, and that they were not men of that 
 gravity which was required in ministers of such a place. Yet 
 the commissioners, after trial taken of their qualification, 
 proceeded, and decerned all the four to be admitted. 
 
 Hereof the old ministers complained, with whom the Synod 
 of Lothian joined, who repaired in great numbers to the 
 Assembly, thinking to carry the matter by voices ; but when 
 after a long contestation it came to be judged, the decreet of 
 
A. ». 1598.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 71 
 
 the commissioners was approved, and a new commission given 
 to Mr David Lindsay, Mr Robert Pont, Mr Robert Rol- 
 lock, Mr George Gladstanes, Mr Patrick Galloway, Mr 
 James Nicholson, Mr Thomas Buchanan, and Mr John 
 Duncanson, to place the ministers in their several parishes ; 
 or if any should refuse to accept, to depose them from the 
 function of the ministry, and plant the Church with such 
 others as they should think meet. 
 
 Meanwhile, because of the numbers that came from Lothian, 
 an act was made, " That no presbytery should thereafter 
 send above two or three ministers at most in commission to 
 the Assembly, with one baron of the bounds, and one com- 
 missioner from every burgh, Edinburgh excepted, who in all 
 public meetings were allowed to have two." 
 
 About the end of the Assembly, a motion was made for 
 removing all oifences conceived by his majesty against any of 
 the ministers, and particularly against the ministers of Edin- 
 burgh ; whereupon the king was pleased to declare, " That 
 for any offences past he did freely remit them, and should 
 never at any time call the same to mind, in hope they would 
 so behave themselves in time coming, as they should still 
 deserve his good opinion." And so did this meeting close 
 with the great content of all ; Mr John Davidson only, a 
 man given to contention, finding that things went not to his 
 mind, especially in the planting of Edinburgh, to the ministry 
 whereof he was always aspiring, did protest in his own name 
 and in the name of certain other brethren, " That none of the 
 conclusions taken in that Assembly should be of any force, in 
 regard the same was not a free Assembly, but overawed by 
 the king." The moderator inquiring if any of the brethren 
 would adhere to his protestation, none was found, all con- 
 demning it, and the uncivil form he used in making the same. 
 He himself, as his custom was when he made any such 
 trouble, fled away, and lurked a while, till his peace was again 
 made. 
 
 It was now thought that the planting of Edinburgh should 
 receive no more delay, yet a new impediment cast in made 
 no less ado than the former. Mr Robert Bruce had preached 
 ordinarily in the town some ten years, but had not received 
 ordination to the ministry ; and being urged therewith, re- 
 fused, pretending the approbation of the General Assembly 
 
72 • THE HISTORY OF THE [a, D. 1598. 
 
 to be equivalent to an ordination. It was replied, " That 
 the approbation he had of the Church was a license only to 
 preach ; but being now to receive an office, it concerned them 
 to observe the form prescribed by divers acts." But this not 
 satisfying, he denied to yield in an iota to that which might 
 question his former calling. And albeit it was offered to be 
 declared at his entry, " That the ordination they used was 
 not to question his former calling, but rather to allow and 
 confirm the same ;" he would not be content, except the 
 declaration was given him in writing. This also yielded unto, 
 a new difference arose among them upon the form of the 
 declaration ; the commissioners offering to declare the law- 
 fulness of his calling, and that the imposition of hands they 
 were to use was not given him as a new entrance to the 
 ministry, but as one that was taken to be entered to the charge 
 of a particular flock ; he requiring to have it expressly said, 
 " That they did acknowledge him a lawful pastor of Edin- 
 burgh, as being called by the general Church thereto." 
 
 Ten days and more were spent in the setting down of this 
 form ; and after many alterations at last they came to agree 
 on this, " That the commissioners did acknowledge his calling 
 to be a pastor in Edinburgh lawful, and that the imposition 
 of hands was not used as a ceremony of his ordination to the 
 ministry, but of his ordination to a particular flock." The 
 declaration thus formed, a day was appointed for his admis- 
 sion, and Mr Robert Pont, Mr Thomas Buchanan, and Mr 
 James Nicholson, chosen to perform the same. Mr Robert 
 Pont having preached, and beginning to show what was the 
 business they met for, Mr Robert Bruce arose, and stepping 
 into the pulpit, fell a-complaining of the strict forms where- 
 with the commissioners had used him ; which the people 
 hearing, such a tumult was raised, as to all appearance the 
 ministry that was to use the imposition of hands had been in 
 danger, if the commissioner Mr John Nicholson, a man well 
 respected (being there as one of the elders, to testify the 
 Church's consent to his admission), had not by his wise and 
 grave speeches reduced them to quietness. Always the 
 business was put off for that time. 
 
 The king advertised of this was greatly offended, and com- 
 manded the commissioners to cite Mr Robert Bruce, and 
 censure him for the trouble he had made. He compearing 
 
A. D. 1598.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 73 
 
 excused himself, laying the blame on the people ; and being 
 charged under pain of deprivation to give obedience, and 
 accept the charge after the form prescribed, was upon the 
 ninth of May, the day assigned for his acceptation, admitted 
 by Mr David Lindsay and Mr Alexander Douglas with im- 
 position of hands. Thus ended that business, which made 
 more noise than was needful, and was judged to proceed 
 rather of wilfulness on his part than of any good zeal. 
 
 The day appointed for the synod drawing near, the king 
 sent William Melvill, commendator of Tongland, and Sir 
 Patrick Murray to attend the Assembly of Fife, where it 
 was supposed some new stirs should be made. The com- 
 mission given them was, not to suffer any of the conclusions 
 taken in the last General Assembly to be drawn in question, 
 and to see that, in the other heads left undecided, nothing 
 should be concluded definitive. But they found the synod 
 more peaceable than was expected, and all things carried 
 therein to the king's mind, Mr Thomas Buchanan, Mr 
 George Gladstanes, and Mr John Fairfoul being chosen 
 commissioners for meeting with those that should be sent 
 from the other synods. 
 
 The report of this gave the king hopes of a good issue to 
 the conference intended ; whereupon letters were sent, 
 desiring the doctors of the universities and commissioners 
 of the synod to be at Falkland the twenty-ninth of July. 
 There, after a long deliberation, it was with an unanime 
 consent agreed, — 
 
 1. Touching the manner of his election who should have 
 voice in parliament, that the Church should name for each 
 prelacy that was void six of their number, of whom the king 
 should take one ; or if his majesty did not like any of those 
 six, that as many others should be recommended by the 
 Church, of which number he should accept one, without any 
 more refusal. 
 
 2. That the nomination should be made by the General 
 Assembly, with advice of the synods and presbyteries, who 
 should present to the General Assembly in writing the 
 names of the persons they esteemed fit, and have liberty to 
 name persons, as well without as within the bounds of their 
 jurisdiction : providing if there was any person within the 
 
74 THE HISTORY OF THE [a, D. 1598. 
 
 bounds meet and qualified, he should be preferred, coeteris 
 paribus. 
 
 3. Concerning his rent, that the churches being sufficiently 
 planted, and no prejudice done to schools, colleges, and uni- 
 versities already erected, he should be provided to all the 
 rest of the prelacy whereunto he is preferred. 
 
 4. The cautions to preserve him from corruption should 
 be these : 
 
 1st, That he should not propone to council, convention, or 
 parliament, in name of the Church, any thing without 
 express warrant and direction from the Church ; neither 
 should he consent nor keep silence in the said conventions, 
 if any thing was moved prejudicial to the weal and liberty 
 thereof, under pain of deposition from his office. 
 
 2d, Next, he should be bound to give an account of his 
 proceedings in the discharge of his commission to every 
 General Assembly, and obtain their ratification of the same ; 
 submitting himself to their judgment, without making any 
 appeal, under the pain of infamy and excommunication. 
 
 dd, He should content himself with that part of his bene- 
 fice which should be given him for his living, and not hurt 
 nor prejudice the rest of the ministers within his benefice, 
 planted or to be planted, nor any other minister in the 
 country whatsoever ; and this clause to be inserted in his 
 provision. 
 
 4:th, He should not dilapidate his benefice in any sort, nor 
 make any set or disposition thereof, without the special advice 
 or consent of his majesty and the General Assembly : and, 
 for the greater warrant, should interdict himself and be con- 
 tent that inhibition be raised against him to that effect. 
 
 bth. He should be bound to attend the congregation faith- 
 fully at which he should be appointed minister, in all the 
 points of a pastor, and be subject to the trial and censure of 
 his own presbytery, or provincial assembly, as any other of 
 the ministers that bear no commission. 
 
 Qth, In the administration of discipline, collation of benefices, 
 visitation, and other points of ecclesiastical government, he 
 should neither usurp nor claim to himself any more power 
 or jurisdiction than any of his brethren, except he be em- 
 ployed, under pain of deprivation ; and in case he do usurp 
 any part of the ecclesiastical government, the presbytery, 
 
A. D. 1598.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 75 
 
 sjnod, or General Assembly opposing and making impedi- 
 ment thereto, whatsoever he should do thereafter should be 
 null ipso facto, without any declarator. 
 
 1th, In presbyteries, provincial and general assemblies, he 
 should behave himself in all things as one of the brethren, 
 and be subject to their censure. 
 
 Sth, At his admission to the office of commissionary, he 
 should swear and subscribe all these and other points neces- 
 sary, otherwise he should not be admitted. 
 
 ^th, If it should happen him to be deposed from the ministry 
 by the presbytery, synod, or General Assembly, he should 
 loose his place in parliament, and the benefice be void ipso 
 facto. 
 
 10th, That he should be called commissioner of such or such 
 a place, if so the parliament may be induced by his majesty 
 to accept that title, otherwise the General Assembly should 
 consider and determine the same ; as also how long he should 
 continue in office, whether ad vitam, except some offence 
 make him unworthy, or for a shorter space, at pleasure of 
 the Church. 
 
 It was neither the king's intention nor the minds of the 
 wiser sort to have these cautions stand in force, (for to sub- 
 ject the decrees of parliament to the Assembly, as in the 
 second caution, or to interdict churchmen, as in the fourth, 
 and serve inhibitions upon them, were things absurd ;) but to 
 have matters peaceably ended, and the reformation of the 
 pohcy made without any noise, the king gave way to these 
 conceits, knowing that with time the utility of the govern- 
 ment which he purposed to have established would appear, 
 and trusting that they whom he should place in these rooms 
 would by their care for the Church, and their wise and good 
 behaviour, purchase to themselves the authority which 
 appertained. 
 
 He had also matters of greater importance in hand, which 
 made him desire to be settled in some sort with the Church ; 
 for in June preceding he had directed an ambassage to the 
 princes of Germany, wherein David bishop of Aberdeen 
 and Sir Peter Young his eleemosynar, men of good abilities 
 and learning, were employed. Their commission was, to 
 inform the princes of his right and title to the crown of Eng- 
 
76 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1598. 
 
 land after the death of the queen Ehzabeth, and to request 
 their assistance, if he should stand in need thereof. The 
 queen was then stricken in years, and divers libels and 
 pamphlets divulged against his title to that crown, which 
 made him careful to have his friends rightly informed, and 
 to understand what aid he might expect if opposition should 
 be made. " Not that he minded (this they were willed to 
 declare) to wrong or offend the queen in any sort, whom he 
 loved and honoured as his mother, wishing her many good 
 and happy days, but only to strengthen himself against un- 
 just pretenders ; and if in the mean time they should be 
 pleased by a common ambassage to entreat the queen to 
 declare in her own time the right successor, for preventing 
 the plots and practices of enemies, he would take it for a 
 singular friendship at their hands." 
 
 It was a painful ambassage, and by them faithfully dis- 
 charged ; for taking their journey by Denmark, as they 
 were directed, and receiving letters commendatory from 
 that king to the princes, they travelled to Udalrick duke 
 of Mecklenburg, Maurice landgrave of Hesse, Frederick 
 duke of Saxony and administrator of the electorate, Henry 
 duke of Brunswick, John Adolphe duke of Sleswick, and 
 Joachim marquis of Brandenburg; and having communicated 
 their message to them all severally, returned not before 
 the end of the year. Of all the princes they obtained 
 one answer in substance, which was, " That albeit his 
 majesty's right was not unknown unto them, they did esteem 
 it an act of great wisdom in him to make his friends 
 acquainted with the exceptions taken against his title, that 
 when occasion required nothing might be wanting that lay in 
 their power. But to move the queen for declaring her suc- 
 cessor, they held it dangerous, and feared it should not so 
 much promove the business as offend her. Always they 
 should advise, and take counsel with their confederates and 
 allies, and follow the course which was most likely for his 
 benefit." This was the sum of the answer they returned. 
 
 The twenty-fourth of December the queen was brought 
 to the bed of another daughter, who was christened in the 
 chapel of Halyrudhouse the fifteenth of April, by Mr David 
 Lindsay, minister of Leith, and named Margaret. The earl 
 of Montrose (created chancellor in January preceding), with 
 
A. D. 1598.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 77 
 
 the Lord Hamilton and earl of Huntly, assisted as witnesses. 
 These last two were at the same time preferred to the 
 honour and dignity of marquises. 
 
 There died within the compass of this year divers worthy 
 men, amongst whom Mr John Lindsay of Balcarres, secre- 
 tary to the king, shall first be named ; a man honourably 
 descended, of exquisite learning, and a sound judgment, held 
 worthy by all men of the place he had in the senate, both 
 for his wisdom and integrity : he died of the stone, where- 
 with he had been pained many years. 
 
 Next to him Mr David Carnegy of Colluthie, a wise, 
 peaceable, and sober man, in good credit and estimation with 
 the king, and taken into his privy council for his skill and 
 knowledge in civil affairs. 
 
 And in the Church, Mr Thomas Buchanan, provost of 
 Kirkheuch and minister of Ceres ; a man learned, wise, and 
 a strong defender of the Church's rights : having attained 
 to a good age, he died of a bruise which he received of a fall 
 from his horse. 
 
 David Ferguson, minister of Dunfermhne, of the age of 
 sixty-five, departed also this life the same year ; a good 
 preacher, wise, and of a jocund and pleasant disposition, 
 which made him well regarded both in the court and country. 
 
 But the death of Mr Robert Rollock, taken away in the 
 forty-third year of his age, and in the time when the Church 
 had greatest need of his service, was beyond all the rest 
 lamented. This man was born not far from Stirling, and 
 trained up in letters under Mr Thomas Buchanan, who did 
 then keep a famous school in that town. He passed his 
 course in philosophy at St Andrews, and no sooner received 
 the degree of a Master in Arts, than he was chosen regent 
 of the college of St Salvator, where he had studied. In 
 the year 1583, he was removed to Edinburgh, and made 
 principal of a college which the town had there erected ; 
 where by his lectures of divinity in the schools, and his ser- 
 mons to the people (in both which he was assiduous), he came 
 to be greatly esteemed. But the seventeen days' tumult and 
 troubles that followed thereupon withdrawing him against 
 his mind to the keeping of assemblies and other commissions 
 of the Church, he was thereby much weakened ; for he was 
 of an infirm body, and grievously pained with the stone, 
 
78 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1599. 
 
 whereof at last he died. In his sickness, being visited by his 
 brethren of the ministry, amongst other pious exhortations, 
 he did earnestly beseech them to carry themselves more 
 dutifully towards the king, lamenting he should be so ill used 
 by some of their number ; and gave them a most comfortable 
 farewell. His torments were extreme, yet was he not heard 
 to use an impatient word, but was still calling on God, with 
 these and the like sayings, " Haste, Lord Jesus, and tarry 
 not, put in thy hand and take this soul away to thyself." 
 At other times, "Go out, silly life, that the better life of 
 God may enter in." Drawing near his end, he repeated a 
 part of the sixth psalm, and framing a most pithy prayer out 
 of the same, as one exulting after victory, he cried aloud, 
 " Christ hath taken my yoke to bear, and now strengthened 
 by his grace I will follow ;" with which words he yielded up 
 his spirit. A rare example of holiness he was both in his 
 life and death ; albeit, now dead, still preacheth by his learned 
 works, which it is pity should not be collected in one volume, 
 and preserved to posterity. He deceased the last of Feb- 
 ruary, and had his corpse honourably interred in the burial- 
 place, an innumerable multitude of people accompanying the 
 same to the grave. 
 
 To return to the Estate : The necessities of the king by 
 foreign ambassages and other extraordinary employments 
 daily increasing, he was forced to look the more nar- 
 rowly to the administration of his rents ; for the ill managing 
 whereof the laird of Wedderburn was put from his place, and 
 the office of controUery given to Sir David Murray, who was 
 afterwards preferred to the lordship of Scone. The prior 
 of Blantyre, who was treasurer, for that he had offended the 
 king by his partial behaviour in an action betwixt Mr Robert 
 Bruce and the ministers of Angus, was committed in the 
 castle, and forced to resign his office, which was conferred 
 upon the earl of Cassils by his lady's procurement. She 
 was the widow of the Lord Thirlstane, and said to be wealthy, 
 which induced him to take her to wife, against the counsel of 
 all his friends, who could not away with the imparity of their 
 age, he being a young nobleman never matched to any, and 
 she a woman past childbirth. But the desire he had to keep 
 his estate made him take that course ; and she loving to stay 
 at court and have her husband a ruler of affairs, made offer 
 
A. D. 1599.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 79 
 
 to advance some moneys, so as he might carry the place, 
 which was readily accepted. Yet was it not long before they 
 did both forthink the bargain, being pressed with a multitude 
 of precepts for the laying forth of money, and so were glad 
 to quit the office, with the loss, as was said, of forty thousand 
 marks, which he did advance at his entry. In his place was 
 the Lord Elphingston chosen, by the recommendation of his 
 brother, then secretary. 
 
 Whilst these things were adoing in court, Sir William 
 Bowes came ambassador from England, upon some rumours 
 that the king was declining to popery, and had offered his 
 obedience to the bishop of Rome by a letter, the copy whereof 
 was brought by the master of Gray from Rome, and showed 
 to the queen, of purpose to divide the two princes, and dis- 
 solve the amity which was amongst them. 
 
 The queen, though she did take the letter to be feigned, 
 and that the same was devised to breed a jealousy between 
 her and the king, thought meet to advertise what was ru- 
 moured, and to advise him not to build upon the friendship of 
 Rome. The king did take the advertisement well, and made 
 the ambassador very welcome, assuring him that these were 
 false and feigned calumnies, neither did the king think any 
 other at that time. Such a letter indeed was sent to the 
 pope, and the king's hand surreptitiously gotten thereto, for 
 which the secretary, Mr James Elphingston, was some years 
 after, upon his own confession, convicted, as we shall hear. 
 
 Whilst this ambassador remained in the country, there 
 fell out an accident which had almost wrought great trouble. 
 An Englishman called Ashfield, who had brought some hunt- 
 ing-horses to the king, and cunningly abused the English 
 warden, did make his abode at court, and was there well 
 entertained. The ambassador, whether desired by the queen 
 or the warden it is uncertain, caused some of his servants 
 keep company with the man, and allure him one day to Leith, 
 where having drunk liberally, he was by coach, instead of 
 returning to court, carried to Berwick. This being told the 
 king, he was greatly offended, and giving order to watch the 
 ambassador's lodging, sent to Berwick to bring back the man. 
 The governor prayed the king to have him excused, for that 
 the man being come within his charge, he could not dimit 
 him without the queen's knowledge. 
 
80 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1599. 
 
 The king receiving this answer, did challenge the ambas- 
 sador, as not having carried himself dutifully, and wronged 
 both him and the country : but he denying the fact, affirmed 
 the same to have been contrived by two of his servants with- 
 out his knowledge and direction. This none did believe, 
 neither did the king vouchsafe him any more countenance. 
 Whereupon he parted in a great discontent. 
 
 Soon after the king went to St Andrews for a new visit of 
 the university, where it was ordained, " That there should 
 be yearly, upon the third of March, a dean of faculty of 
 theology elected by the doctors, the ministers resident within 
 the city, and the principal masters of the colleges ; which 
 dean so chosen should have the like privilege and jurisdiction 
 upon the students and professors of theology, that the deans 
 of philosophy had by the foundation over the professors 
 thereof: with express provision, that he who was elected 
 dean, should not till after three years space be received again 
 into the office." 
 
 Other conclusions were also taken for distributing- the stu- 
 dents of theology in classes, and their yearly examination ; 
 but were ill observed. 
 
 At this time came forth sundry discourses touching the 
 succession of the crown of England, some oppugning, some 
 maintaining the king's title. Amongst others Mr John Col- 
 vill, taking upon him one of the opposite treatises, did publish 
 a recantation, wherein having confuted all the contrary rea- 
 sons, he professed, that of malice in time of his exile he had 
 penned the treatise, which then out of conscience he refuted. 
 This was believed of many, and helped greatly to discredit 
 the adversary writings ; yet was he not the author of that 
 which he oppugned; only to merit favour at the king's 
 hands he did profess the work that came forth without a name 
 to be his : and indeed a more pithy and persuasive discourse 
 was not penned all that time in that subject. 
 
 The same year did the king publish his Doron Basilicon 
 upon this occasion. Sir James Semple, one of his majesty's 
 servants (whose hand was used in transcribing that treatise), 
 upon an old familiarity with Mr Andrew Melvill, did give it 
 him to read ; who offending with some passages that touched 
 the ministry and present discipline, took copies thereof, and 
 dispersed the same amongst the ministers. Thereupon a 
 
A. D. 1599.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 81 
 
 libel was formed, and cast in before the synod of St Andrews, 
 wherein the passages at which they excepted being first set 
 down, it was asked, " What censure should be inflicted upon 
 him that had given such instructions to the prince (for the 
 treatise was directed to Prince Henry), and if he could be 
 thought well affected to religion, that had delivered such 
 precepts of government." Sir Patrick Murray and Mr 
 James Nicholson being present in the synod as commissioners 
 for the king, and apprehending the libel to concern his ma- 
 jesty, made diligent inquiry to find out the presenters. The 
 whole number pretending ignorance, the commissioners com- 
 manded the doors to be shut, and the roll of the ministers' 
 names to be called, who being put to their oath one by one 
 did purge themselves ; yet was it tried the very next day to 
 be laid on the table by Mr John Dikes, minister at Anstruther, 
 who being therefore cited before the council, was fugitive and 
 denounced rebel. The rumour by this occasion dispersed, 
 that the king had left certain directions to his son prejudicial 
 to the Church and religion, he took purpose to publish the 
 work ; which being come abroad, and carried to England, it 
 cannot be said how well the same was accepted, and what an 
 admiration it raised in all men's hearts of him, and of his 
 piety and wisdom. Certain it is, that all the discourses that 
 came forth at that time (and those were not a few), for main- 
 taining his right to the crown of England, prevailed nothing 
 so much as did this ti'catise against which such exceptions 
 had been taken. 
 
 In the end of the year happened some new jars betwixt 
 the king and the ministers of Edinburgh, because of a com- 
 pany of English comedians whom the king had licensed to 
 play within the burgh. The ministers offending with the 
 liberty given them, did exclaim in their sermons against 
 stage-players, their unruliness and immodest behaviour ; and 
 in their session made an act prohibiting people to resort unto 
 their plays under pain of the Church censures. The king 
 taking this to be a discharge of his license, called the session 
 before the council, and ordained them to annul their act, and 
 not to restrain the people from going to these comedies, which 
 they promised, and accordingly performed ; whereof publica- 
 tion was made the day after, and all that pleased permitted 
 to repair unto the same., to the great offence of the ministers. 
 
 VOL. III. 6 
 
82 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1600. 
 
 The next year, which by pubUc ordinance was appointed 
 to have the beginning at the calends of January, and from 
 thenceforth so to continue (for before that time, the year with 
 us was reckoned from the twenty-fifth of March), there was 
 an Assembly kept at Montrose, the twenty-eighth of March, 
 where the king himself was present. Therein that great 
 business of the Church's voice in parliament was determined; 
 and first, the conclusions taken at Falkland in July 1598 
 were ratified. Then touching the continuance of those that 
 should be chosen to give voice for the Church, it was, after 
 much debating, concluded, " That he who was admitted 
 should yearly render an account of his commission to the 
 General Assembly, and laying the same down at their feet, 
 should be therein continued ; or if his majesty and the As- 
 sembly did think it fit to employ another, he should give 
 place to him that was appointed." Two caveats more were 
 adjoined to the former. One was, " That they who had 
 voice in parliament should not have place in the General 
 Assembly, unless they were authorized by a commission from 
 the presbyteries whereof they were members." The other 
 caveat was, " That crimen ambitAs should be a sufiicient 
 reason to deprive him both of his place and office." And 
 now there rested no more but to nominate persons to the 
 bishoprics that were void. Aberdeen and Argyle had their 
 own incumbents at the time, both actual preachers; St 
 Andrews and Glasgow were in the hands of the duke of 
 Lennox ; Murray possessed by the Lord Spynie ; Orkney 
 by the earl of Orkney ; Dunkeld, Brechin, and Dunblane 
 had their own titulars, but these were not ordinary preachers; 
 Galloway and the Isles were so dilapidated as scarce they 
 were remembered to have been. Only in Ross and Caith- 
 ness some provision was left, whereunto, by consent of the 
 Church, Mr David Lindsay and Mr George Gladstanes 
 were presented ; the first to the bishopric of Ross, the other 
 to Caithness; who, not the less, continued still serving in 
 their churches at Leith and St Andrews, for as yet they 
 could not find any settling in their dioceses. Besides the 
 conclusion taken in this business, divers other good acts were 
 concluded at that time, as may be seen in the Book of 
 Records. 
 
 Some three weeks before this convention, John Durv, 
 
A. D. 1600.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 83 
 
 minister at Montrose, departed this life. He was born at 
 Maucliline, a little village in the country of Kyle, and trained 
 up a while in letters in the town of Ayr ; after which he was 
 sent to George Dury, his cousin, abbot of Dunfermline, and 
 placed by him among the monks of that abbey, where he 
 lived three years. Then falling in some suspicion of that 
 which they called heresy, and delated thereof to the abbot, 
 after trial taken he was condemned to be immured, that is, 
 to be shut up between two walls till he died. Yet by the 
 means his friends made with that worthy nobleman, the earl 
 of Arran, he was delivered, and shortly after the Reforma- 
 tion admitted to the ministry ; in which he served first at 
 Hailes, near to Edinburgh, then at Leith, and when the civil 
 troubles ceased, translated to Edinburgh, where he continued 
 minister the space of ten years. A man earnest and zealous 
 in every thing he gave himself unto, but too credulous (a fault 
 incident to the best natures), and easily abused by those he 
 trusted ; which bred him great trouble whilst he remained 
 at Edinburgh. In Montrose, where he was at first confined, 
 and whereof soon after he became minister, he lived well 
 respected, and in great quietness, making it appear that the 
 many contests and strifes he had in former times proceeded 
 not from his own disposition so much as from the suggestion 
 of others ; for all the sixteen years he lived there, no man 
 did carry himself with greater modesty, nor in a more dutiful 
 obedience, and was therefore well beloved and esteemed by 
 the king. He wished earnestly to have lived unto the meet- 
 of the Assembly, that he might have declared his mind touch- 
 ing the matters then in hand ; but when he perceived his 
 sickness increasing, and that he should not continue so long, 
 he entreated some brethren that did visit him, to show the 
 Assembly, as from him, " That there was a necessity of re- 
 storing the ancient government of the Church, because of the 
 unruliness of young ministers, that could not be advised by 
 the elder sort nor kept in order ; and, since both the estate of 
 the Church did require it, and that the king did labour to 
 have the same received, he wished them to make no trouble 
 therefor, and to insist only with the king that the best mi- 
 nisters, and of greatest experience, might he preferred to 
 places." This as he directed was reported to the Assembly, 
 and of the greatest part well received ; for he was certain! v 
 
84 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1600. 
 
 a sound-hearted man, and far from all dissimulation, ever 
 professing what he thought, and following the course that he 
 held most expedient for the Church. To the poor he was 
 exceeding helpful, compassionate of those that were in any 
 distress, and merciful even when he seemed most severe. He 
 died the last day of February, in the sixty-third year of his 
 age. 
 
 It was in August this year that the conspiracy of Gowrie 
 fell forth ; a conspiracy plotted by him alone, and only com- 
 municated to Mr Alexander, his brother, two youths of great 
 hope, at whose hands no man could have expected such an 
 attempt. Their father had been taken away by form of 
 justice in the year 1584, whilst the king was yet minor, and 
 forced he was unto it as unto many other things that agreed 
 not with his mind. But the care he took of the nobleman's 
 children, and kindness wherewith he used them, did show 
 how much he disliked that proceeding ; for he restored the 
 eldest to his father's honour and living, his brother Alexander 
 he made one of his bed-chamber, a sister of theirs he pre- 
 ferred to be chief maid about his queen, and had a purpose 
 to advance the earl himself to a principal office in the king- 
 dom. Such and so great benefits might have endeared the 
 most barbarous and hard-hearted. But benefits are no be- 
 nefits to the malicious, and those that are set for revenge. 
 The device was to allure th-e king to the earl's house in 
 Perth, and there to kill him. The king was then remaining 
 in Falkland, and one day early in the morning (it was the 
 fifth of August), as he was going to take his sport in the 
 park, Alexander meets him, and telleth that his brother had 
 intercepted a man, a Jesuit, as he supposed, with a great 
 quantity of gold, and that he kept the man fast in his house 
 at Perth, and sent him with the news, praying the king to 
 make haste, for that he doubted not he should learn things 
 worthy of his travel. The king moving some questions 
 touching the man's stature and habit, and the place where 
 he was taken, received no other answer, but that his brother 
 would satisfy him in all those things at bis coming ; which 
 put him in a suspicion that tlie gentleman was distracted, for 
 he observed in him some perturbation ; yet, because of the 
 instance he made, he yielded to go, willing him to ride back, 
 and show that he would be with his brother before dinner. 
 
A, D. 1600.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 85 
 
 After a short chase and a buck killed, the king made to- 
 wards Perth, accompanied with the duke of Lennox, the earl 
 of Mar, and a few gentlemen more, all in their hunting-coats. 
 By the way, the king did ask the duke of Lennox if he had 
 known Mr Alexander (for the duke had married his sister) 
 at any time troubled or distempered in his wits. The duke 
 answering that he had never known any such thing in him, 
 the king insisted no farther. Being come to the town, the 
 Earl Gowrie did meet him, and was noted by all the company 
 to be in some trouble of mind, the very imagination of the 
 fact he went about perplexing his thoughts. But he coloured 
 all with the want of entertainment, saying, that he did not 
 expect the king, and that his dinner was not prepared. The 
 king wishing him not to trouble himself with those thoughts, 
 because a little thing would content him, and for the noble- 
 men a part of his own dinner would suffice them, they dis- 
 coursed of hunting and other common matters till meat was 
 dressed. How soon the king had taken a little refreshment, 
 and the lords were placed at table in another room, Mr 
 Alexander did sound in the king's ear, that the time was fit 
 whilst the lords were at dinner to go and examine the 
 stranger. At which word the king arose, and went up stairs, 
 Mr Alexander going before him. The king did call Sir 
 Thomas Erskine (afterwards earl of Kelly) to follow him ; 
 but Mr Alexander turninof at the door, after the kins: was 
 entered, said that the king willed him to stay below, where- 
 upon Sir Thomas went back. Thus the door was shut, and 
 Mr Alexander guiding him to an inner room, the king did 
 perceive a man standing alone, whereupon he asked if that 
 was the man. Nay, said Mr Alexander, there is another 
 business in hand ; and with that word covering his head, 
 " You remember," said he, " how you used my father, and 
 now must you answer for it." " Your father ? " answered the 
 king, " I was not the cause of his death ; it was done in my 
 minority by form of justice. But is this your purpose, and 
 have you trained me hither to murder me ? Did you learn 
 this lesson of Mr Robert llollock your master ? or think you, 
 when you have done your will, to go unpunished?" Mr 
 Alexander, stricken with the speeches, and the man who was 
 placed there to assist him trembled for fear, desired the king 
 to be quiet, and make no noise, for that he would go speak 
 
86 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1600. 
 
 with his brother, and pacify him. This said, he went down 
 a back way, as it seemed to the court below. 
 
 Whether he did meet with his brother at that time or not 
 is unknown, but his stay was short, and when he returned, 
 he said to the king, " There is no remedy, you must die." 
 Then making as though he would have tied the king's hands, 
 they fell a-wrestling, and the king drawing him by force to 
 a window in the corner that looked toward the street, as he 
 espied the earl of Mar, cried, " Help, earl of Mar, help." 
 The voice and words were discerned by all the lords and 
 gentlemen, who thereupon ran to seek the king by the way 
 that went up ; but the doors being shut, there was no entry 
 that way till the same was broke by force, which took up a 
 large time. Upon the first cry, Sir Thomas Erskine, sus- 
 pecting treason, did flee upon Gowrie, and taking him by the 
 gorge, said, " Thou art the traitor ;" but they were quickly 
 sundered by his servants that stood by. The first that came 
 to the king was a page called John Ramsay, who falling upon 
 a back passage by which the traitors, after the deed com- 
 mitted, had purposed to escape, found the king and Mr 
 Alexander struggling. The king calling to him and bidding 
 him strike the traitor, he gave Mr Alexander two or three 
 wounds with his dagger, and so parted him from the king. 
 The man who was placed there to assist Mr Alexander did 
 steal away secretly ; and he himself, perceiving that the 
 treason was discovered, made down the stairs, where being 
 encountered by Sir Thomas Erskine, and asked how the king 
 was, because he gave no direct answer, and only said, " That 
 he took God to witness that he was not in the fault," he 
 thrust him through the body with his sword, and killed him 
 outright. 
 
 Sir Thomas was followed by Hugh Hereise, doctor of 
 medicine, and a foot-boy named Wilson, who seeing the king 
 safe were not a little joyed, and placing him in a little room, 
 and shutting the door, they prepared to defend the entry. 
 Gowrie accompanied with three or four servants breaketh 
 presently into the chamber, and with his two swords, one in 
 each hand, puts them all to their shift, and had undoubtedly 
 overthrown them, but that one of the company crying, " You 
 have killed the king our master, and will you also take our 
 lives?" he became astonished, and setting the points of his 
 
A. D. 1600.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 87 
 
 two swords to the earth, as if he minded to cease from any 
 more fight, he was instantly stricken by the page with a 
 rapier which pierced the heart, so as he fell down dead. 
 The servants, seeing him fall, made away ; only Mr Thomas 
 Cranston being sore wounded, and not able to shift for him- 
 self, was apprehended. In this fight, Sir Thomas Erskine and 
 Doctor Hereise were both hurt, but nothing dangerously. 
 
 By this time the doors of the other passage being made 
 open, the lords and a number with them entered into the 
 room, who hearing what happened went all to their knees, 
 and the king himself, conceiving a prayer, gave thanks to 
 God for his deliverance, and that the device of those wicked 
 brothers was turned upon their own heads. The danger 
 that ensued was not much less, for the people of the town 
 taking arms did environ the house, crying " to give them out 
 their provost, otherwise they should blow them all up with 
 powder." The rage of the multitude was great (for they 
 loved the earl, as being their provost, beyond all measure), 
 and with great difficulty were they kept back from using vio- 
 lence ; at last the baihes and certain of the citizens being 
 admitted to enter and brought to the king, when they were 
 informed of the truth of things, returned and pacified the 
 people. After which the king took horse and returned to 
 Falkland, where he was welcomed (the rumour of the danger 
 having prevented^ his coming) with great acclamations of 
 
 joy. 
 
 It was observed, not without some wondering, that after 
 Gowrie was killed there issued no blood for a good space 
 from his body, till his girdle being loosed and taken from him, 
 the same gushed forth in abundance. This was supposed to be 
 the effect of some characters that he did always carry in a 
 little bag at his girdle, which being viewed, were found to be 
 certain spells of necromancers, and added much to the infamy 
 of his death. 
 
 A diligent search was made the days following for the 
 man the king saw standing in the room, and large rewards 
 promised to those that should find him out. In this search 
 one of the earl's servants, called Henry Younger, hiding him- 
 self out of an idle fear among some growing corns, was killed, 
 and for some days supposed to have been the man ; till 
 ' Anticipated. 
 
88 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1600. 
 
 Andrew Henderson, chamberlain to Gowrie, discovering 
 himself to the comptroller, did offer upon promise of his life 
 to enter and show all that he knew in that business. Another 
 of Gowrie's servants surnamed Craigengelt was some two 
 days after apprehended, and both he and Mr Thomas Gran-* 
 ston executed at Perth ; though at their dying they declared 
 that they knew nothing of the earl's purpose, but had only 
 followed him as being their master unto that room, where if 
 they had known the king to have been, they would have 
 stood for hira against their master and all others. 
 
 Henderson at his examination declared, that, the night 
 preceding the attempt, the earl had directed him to attend 
 his brother Mr Alexander, and do what he commanded. 
 That accordingly he accompanied him the next morning to 
 Falkland ; and when they were returned, being commanded 
 by Mr Alexander to dress himself in his armour, and go 
 wait till he came unto him in that upper room, he obeyed. 
 But that he could not imagine any purpose against the king, 
 either in him or in the earl, nor would have believed it un- 
 less he had seen the same with his eyes. Being demanded 
 why he did not take the king's part when he did see them 
 fall a-wrestling, he excused himself by a sudden fear that 
 overtook him in the time ; and indeed he looked ever after 
 that time as one half-distracted. It was much marvelled that 
 in so high an attempt the earl should have made choice of 
 such a one ; but the man was of a servile spirit, and apt 
 enough to do mischief; and many have conjectured that, if 
 the treason had taken effect, it was in the earl's purpose to 
 have made away both his brother and him, that he might not 
 be supposed to have had any knowledge thereof. I remem- 
 ber myself that meeting Avith Mr William Cowper, then 
 minister at Perth, the third day after in Falkland, he showed 
 me that, not many days before that accident, visiting by 
 occasion the earl at his own house, he found him reading a 
 book entituled, De conjurationibus adversus Principes : and 
 having asked him what a book it was, he answered, " That 
 it was a collection of the conspiracies made against princes, 
 which he said were foolishly contrived all of them, and faulty 
 either in one point or other ; for he that goeth about such a 
 business should not (said he) put any man on his counsel," 
 And ho not liking such discourses, desired him to lay away 
 
X. D. 1600.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 89 
 
 such books, and read others of a better subject. I verily 
 think he was then studying how to go beyond all conspirators 
 recorded in any history ; but it pleased God, who giveth 
 salvation to kings, as the psalm speaketh, to infatuate his 
 counsels, and by his ensample to admonish all disloyal and 
 traitorous subjects to beware of attempting against their 
 sovereigns. 
 
 Advertisement sent the next day to the council, which then 
 remained at Edinburgh, the ministers of the town were called 
 and desired to convene their people, and give thanks unto 
 God for his majesty's deliverance. They excusing them- 
 selves, as not being acquainted with the particulars, nor how 
 those things had fallen out ; it was answered, that they were 
 only to signify how the king had escaped a great danger, 
 and to stir up the people to thanksgiving. They replied, 
 " That nothing ought to be dehvered in pulpit but that 
 whereof the truth was known, and that all which is uttered 
 in that place should be spoken in faith." When by no per- 
 suasion they could be moved to perform that duty, it was 
 resolved that the council should go together to the market- 
 cross, and that the bishop of Ross should, after a narration 
 of the king's danger and deliverance, conceive a public 
 thanksgiving, which was done, the multitude applauding and 
 expressing a great joy. 
 
 The Monday following the king came to Edinburgh, ac- 
 companied with divers noblemen and barons, and heard a 
 sermon preached at the cross by Mr Patrick Galloway, who 
 choosing the hundred and twenty-fourth psalm for his theme, 
 did take occasion to discourse of all the particulars of that 
 conspiracy, and gave the people great satisfaction : for many 
 doubted that there had been any such conspiracy, " The 
 condition of princes being," as the Emperor Doraitian said, 
 " herein miserable, that even when conspiracies made against 
 their persons are discovered, yet they are not credited, unless 
 they be slain." The next day the king in a solemn council 
 kept at Halyrudhouse, to testify his thankfulness for his 
 deliverance, and to perpetuate the memory thereof, did mor- 
 tify for the entertainment of some poor men the rent of a 
 thousand pounds yearly to be taken of the readiest fruits of 
 the abbacy of Scone, and ordained an honourable reward to 
 be given to the three gentlemen that had been the instru- 
 
90 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D, 1600. 
 
 ments of his preservation, and the cause of the reward to be 
 specified in their patents. 
 
 After this, order was taken for a pubhc and solemn thanks- 
 giving to be made in all the churches of the kingdom, and 
 the last Tuesday of September with the Sunday following 
 appointed for that exercise. 
 
 The ministers of Edinburgh, who gave the refuse, were 
 commanded to remove themselves out of the town within 
 forty-eight hours, and inhibited to preach within his majesty's 
 dominions under pain of death. Mr Walter Balcanquel, Mr 
 William Watson, and Mr John Hall, three of that number, 
 compearing at Stirhng the 10th of September, and declaring, 
 that they were thoroughly resolved of the truth of Gowrie's 
 conspiracy, and wilHng to amend their former fault, were 
 pardoned, upon condition that, before their return to Edin- 
 burgh, they should in the churches appointed to them pub- 
 licly preach, and declare their persuasion of the truth of that 
 treason, craving God and his majesty forgiveness for the 
 question they made thereof, and rebuking all such as con- 
 tinued in that doubtfulness. The churches designed to them 
 were Tranent, Musselburgh, and Dalkeith, for Mr Walter 
 Balcanquel ; Dunbar and Dunse, for Mr William Watson ; 
 and for Mr John Hall, Dunfermline, St Andrews, and Perth. 
 
 Mr James Balfour, the day following, upon the like con- 
 fession, was remitted, and ordained to publish his resolution 
 in the churches of Dundee, Montrose, Aberbrothock, and 
 Brechin. 
 
 But Mr Kobert Bruce, taking a course by himself, and 
 saying, " He would reverence his majesty's reports of that 
 accident, but could not say he was persuaded of the truth 
 of it," was banished the king's dominions, and went into 
 France. 
 
 The fifteenth of November a parliament was held at Edin- 
 burgh, wherein sentence of forfeiture was pronounced against 
 Gowrie and Mr Alexander his brother, their posterity dis- 
 inherited, and, in detestation of the parricide attempted, the 
 whole surname of Ruthven abolished. But this last was 
 afterwards dispensed with, and such of that name as were 
 known to be innocent tolerated by the king's clemency to 
 enjoy their surnames and titles as in former times. The 
 bodies of the two brothers being brought to the Parliament 
 
A. 1). 1600.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 91 
 
 House were, after sentence given, hanged upon a gibbet in 
 the public street, and then dismembered, their heads cut off 
 and affixed upon the top of the prison-house. This done, the 
 Estates, in acknowledgment of the favour and grace they all 
 had received of God, by the miraculous and extraordinary 
 preservation of his majesty from that treasonable attempt, 
 did ordain, " That in all times and ages to come, the fifth of 
 August should be solemnly kept with prayers, preachings, 
 and thanksgiving for that benefit, discharging all work, 
 labour, and other occupations upon the said day, which might 
 distract the people in any sort from those pious exercises." 
 
 Divers other good and profitable acts, as well for the 
 Church as kingdom, were concluded in this parliament ; as 
 the act decerning " all marriages contracted betwixt persons 
 divorced for adultery to be null, and the children begotten 
 by such unlawful conjunction incapable of succession to their 
 parents' inheritance ;" as also the act made for removing 
 and extinguishing of deadly feuds, which the king had ever 
 striven to abolish, was in that time confirmed by the whole 
 Estates. 
 
 Upon the close of the parliament the king went to Dun- 
 fermline to visit the queen, who was brought to bed of a son. 
 The christening Avas hastened because of the weakness of the 
 child, and that his death was much feared. He was named 
 Charles, and, contrary to the expectation of most men, grew 
 unto years and strength, and surviving Prince Henry, his 
 elder brother, reigns happily (at) this day over these king- 
 doms ; which that he may long do is the desire and wish of 
 all good subjects. 
 
 In the end of the year Mr John Craig, that had been 
 minister to the king, but through age was compelled to quit 
 the charge, departed this Hfe. This man whilst he lived 
 was held in good esteem, a great divine and excellent preacher, 
 of a grave behaviour, sincere, inclining to no faction, and, 
 which increased his reputation, living honestly, without os- 
 tentation or desire of outward glory. Many tossings and 
 troubles he endured in his time ; for being left young and his 
 father killed at Flodden, after he had got an entrance in 
 letters, and passed his course in philosophy in St Andrews, 
 he went to England, and waited as pedagogue on the Lord 
 Dacres his children, the space of two years. Wars then 
 
92 THE HISTORY OF THB [a. D. 1600. 
 
 arising betwixt the two realms, he returned home, and became 
 one of the Dominican order ; but had not lived long among 
 them when, upon suspicion of heresy, he was put in prison. 
 Being cleared of that imputation, he vrent back again into 
 England, and thinking by the Lord Dacres' means to have 
 got a place in Cambridge, because that failed, he went to 
 France, and from thence to Rome. There he found such 
 favour with Cardinal Pole, as by his recommendation he was 
 received among the Dominicans of Bononia, and by them first 
 appointed to instruct the novices of the cloister : afterwards, 
 when they perceived his dihgence and dexterity in businesses, 
 he was employed in all their affairs throughout Italy, and 
 sent in commission to Chios, an isle situated iu the Ionic Sea, 
 to redress things that were amiss amongst those of their 
 order. 
 
 Therein he discharged himself so well, that at his return 
 he was made rector of the school, and thereby had access to 
 the libraries, especially to that of the Inquisition ; where 
 falling on the institutions of John Calvin, he was taken with 
 a great liking thereof, and one day conferring with a reverend 
 old man of the monastery, was by him confirmed in the opi- 
 nion he had taken, but withal warned in any case not to utter 
 himself, or make his mind known, because the times were 
 perilous. Yet he neglecting the counsel of the aged man, 
 and venting his opinions too freely, was delated of heresy, 
 and being sent to Rome, after examination, imprisoned. Nine 
 months he lay there in great misery ; at the end whereof, 
 being brought before the judge of the Inquisition, and giving 
 a clear confession of his faith, he was condemned to be burnt 
 the next day, which was the nineteenth of August. 
 
 It happened the same night Pope Paul the Fourth to 
 depart this life ; upon the noise of whose death the people 
 came in a tumult to the place where his statue in marble 
 had been erected, and pulling it down, did for the space of 
 three days drag the same through the streets, and in the 
 end threw it in the river of Tiber. During the tumult all 
 the prisons were broken open, the prisoners set free, and 
 among those Mr Craig had his liberty. As he sought to 
 escape (for he held it not safe to stay in the city), two things 
 happened unto him not unworthy of relation. First, in the 
 suburbs, as he was passing, he did meet a sort of loose men, 
 
A. D. 1600.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 93 
 
 whom they called banditti ; one of the company, taking him 
 aside, demanded it' he had been at any time in Bononia. He 
 answered that he had been some time there. Do you not 
 then remember, said he, that walking on a time in the fields 
 with some young noblemen, there came unto you a poor 
 maimed soldier, entreating some rehef ? Mr Craig replying 
 that he did not well remember. But I do, said he, and I 
 am the man to whom you showed kindness at that time : be 
 not afraid of us, ye shall incur no danger. And so convey- 
 ing him through the suburbs, and showing what was his 
 safest course, he gave him so much money as might make his 
 charge to Bononia, for he intended to go thither, trusting to 
 find some kindness with those of his acquaintance ; yet at his 
 coming he found them look strange, and fearing to be of new 
 trapped, he slipped away secretly, taking his course to 
 Milan. 
 
 By the way another accident befell hira, which I should 
 scarce relate, so incredible it seemeth, if to many of good 
 place he himself had not often repeated it as a singular testi- 
 mony of God's care of him, and this it was. When he had 
 travelled some days, declining the highways out of fear, he 
 came into a forest, a wild and desert place, and being sore 
 wearied lay down among some bushes on the side of a little 
 brook to refresh himself. Lying there pensive and full of 
 thoughts (for neither knew he in what part he was, nor had 
 he any means to bear him out the way), a dog cometh fawn- 
 ing with a purse in his teeth, and lays it down before him. 
 He stricken with a fear riseth up, and looking about if any 
 were coming that way, when he saw none, taketh it up, and 
 construing the same to proceed from God's favourable provi- 
 dence towards him, followed his way till he came to a little 
 village, where he met with some that were travelling to 
 Vienna in Austria, and changing his intended course went in 
 their company thither. 
 
 Being there, and professing himself one of the Dominican 
 order, he was brought to preach before Maximilian the 
 Second, who, liking the man and his manner of teaching, 
 would have retained him, if by letters from Pope Pius the 
 Third he had not been required to send him back to Rome, 
 as one that was condemned for heresy. The emperor not 
 liking to deliver him, and on the other part not willing to 
 
94 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1601. 
 
 fall out with the pope, did quietly dimit him with letters of 
 safe conduct. So travelling through Germany he came to 
 England, and being there informed of the reformation begun 
 at home, he returned into Scotland, and made offer of his 
 service to the Church. But his long desuetude of the 
 country language (which was not to be marvelled, consider- 
 ing that he had lived abroad the space of twenty -four years), 
 made him unuseful at first ; now and then to the learneder 
 sort he preached in Latin in the Magdalen's Chapel at 
 Edinburgh, and in the year 1561, after he had recovered 
 the language, was appointed minister at Halyrudhouse. The 
 next year he was taken to Edinburgh, and served as 
 colleague with Mr Knox the space of nine years. Then by 
 the ordinance of the Assembly he was translated to Montrose, 
 where he continued two years, and upon the death of Adam 
 Heriot was removed to Aberdeen, having the inspection of 
 the churches of Mar and Buchan committed to his care. In 
 the year 1579 he was called to be the king's minister, and 
 served in that charge till, borne down with the weight of 
 years, he was forced to retire himself. After which time, 
 forbearing all public exercises, he lived private at home, 
 comforting himself with the remembrance of the mercies of 
 God that he had tasted in his life past ; and this year, on 
 the twelfth of December, without all pain died peaceably at 
 Edinburgh in the eighty-eighth year of his age. 
 
 In the beginning of the next year there happened a great 
 stir in the court of England, which, concerning the king in 
 some sort, I must needs touch. The earl of Essex, who had 
 been a long time in special favour with the queen, and was 
 then upon some displeasure kept from the court, not endur- 
 ing to be thrust down (as he complained) by his adversaries 
 into a private life, did resolve to make his way unto the 
 queen by force, to seize upon her person, and remove from 
 her company those he judged to be his adversaries. But 
 the purpose failing, he was taken himself, and committed to the 
 Tower. A while before he had written letters to the king full 
 of respect, informing that they who had the managing of all 
 affairs under the queen were inclining to the infanta of 
 Spain, and advising him to send ambassadors into England, 
 and urge the declaration of his title of succession. The 
 king, though he could have wished his title to be declared. 
 
A. D. 1601.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 95 
 
 did not think that time fitting for such propositions ; yet 
 upon the report of his apprehension he resolved to employ 
 some in commission to the queen. And to this effect made 
 choice of the earl of Mar, joining with hira the abbot of 
 Kinloss ; who coming to the court some days after the 
 execution of Essex, and having access to the queen, did 
 congratulate her good success in repressing that audacious 
 attempt. This she took well, and was glad to hear so much 
 from them, because of the rumours which were then dis- 
 persed, that Essex was made away for favouring the king of 
 Scots' title, and that if the ambassadors had come in time 
 they would have dealt for him. A good answer was here- 
 upon given to all their instructions, and whereas, among 
 other points of their commission, they were willed to seek an 
 assignment of some portion of land in recompense of the 
 lands belonging to the Lady Lennox, the king being her 
 lawful heir ; the queen excusing herself touching the lands, 
 was content to add to the annuity formerly paid the sum of 
 two thousand pounds yearly, as long as he kept fast and 
 held one course with her. Besides this satisfaction obtained 
 of the queen, they did so work with the principal noblemen 
 and councillors, as they won them to be the king's friends, 
 and, at their return, gave his majesty assurance of a peace- 
 able reception to that crown after the decease of the queen, 
 which was some two years after really performed. 
 
 Much about this time had Pope Clement the Eighth sent 
 his breves (as they call them) into England, warning all the 
 clergy and laity that professed the Roman faith, not to 
 admit after the queen's death any man, how near soever in 
 blood, to be king, unless he should bind himself by oath to 
 promove the Catholic Roman religion at his power. And, at 
 the same time, came Mr John Hamilton and Mr Edmond Hay, 
 Jesuits, into Scotland, two factious and working spirits, and 
 therefore much suspected by the king ; the first especially, 
 for that he was known to have been a chief instrument of 
 the seditions raised in the city of Paris in the time of the 
 league. How soon the king understood of their repairing 
 into the country, a proclamation was given out inhibiting their 
 reset under the pain of treason. In this proclamation, to 
 make them the more odious, they were compared to Bothwell 
 and Gowrio; the king declaring that he would judge no 
 
96 THE HISTORY OF THK [a. D. 1601. 
 
 otherwise of their resetters than of those that did treason- 
 ably pursue his own hfe. This notwithstanding, they found 
 lurking-holes amongst the papists in the north, and kept the 
 country till, after some years, that Mr John Hamilton was 
 apprehended and carried to the Tower of London, where he 
 died. 
 
 The church of Edinburgh remained all this while destitute 
 of a number of their ministers, the conditions prescribed unto 
 them when they were pardoned not being performed. Of 
 the four, only Mr John Hall, having given obedience, was 
 licensed to return to his charge ; the other three, upon I 
 know not what pretext, deferred to make their declaration, 
 as was appointed, and were thereupon in the Assembly con- 
 vened at Burntisland the twelfth of May, ordained to be 
 transported from the ministry of Edinburgh, and placed in 
 such parts of the country as the commissioners of the Church 
 should think meet. This Assembly was called by his 
 majesty's proclamation, partly for taking order with the 
 church of Edinburgh, partly for repressing the growth of 
 popery, which was then increasing ; and where it should 
 have held at St Andrews, was, in regard of the king's indis- 
 position, brought to Burntisland. 
 
 Mr John Hall, being elected to moderate the meeting, did 
 begin with a regrate of the general defection from the purity 
 and practice of true religion, which he said was so great, 
 that it must of necessity at last conclude either in popery or 
 atheism, except a substantious remedy were in time provided. 
 And because the ill could not be well cured unless the causes 
 and occasions thereof should be ript up, he exhorteth those 
 that were assembled to consider seriously both of the causes 
 of the defection, and the remedies that were fittest to be 
 applied. 
 
 After long conference, the causes were condescended to 
 be, the wrath of God kindled against the land for the un- 
 reverent estimation of the gospel, and the sins in all estates, 
 to the dishonour of their profession ; lack of care in the 
 ministry to discover apostates ; too hasty admission of men 
 unto the ministry ; ministers framing themselves to the 
 humours of people ; the desolation of the churches of Edin- 
 burgh ; the advancing of men to places of credit that were 
 ill-affected in religion; the education of his majesty's chil- 
 
A. T). 1601.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 97 
 
 dren in the compan j of papists ; the training up of noble- 
 men's children under suspect pedagogues ; the decay of 
 schools ; and the not urging of the reconciled lords to 
 perform their conditions. 
 
 For remedy of the foresaid evils it was ordained, that a 
 public humiliation should be kept throughout the realm the 
 last two Sundays of June, with fasting and prayer, for 
 appeasing the wrath of God kindled against the land ; that 
 the ministers of every presbytery should after the dissolving 
 of the Assembly take up the names of the recusants within 
 their bounds, and send them to the king's ministers ; that 
 places of greatest need should be furnished with learned and 
 wise preachers, and in the meantime, till that might take 
 effect by a constant provision of ministers to those places, 
 that the meetest for that purpose should be appointed to 
 attend for a certain time in the families of the reconciled 
 lords, for their better confirmation in the truth. The rest 
 of the remedies resolved all in petitions to his majesty, for 
 the planting of churches, the not permitting of those who 
 were under process for popery to have access to court, and a 
 care to be taken of the good education of the children of 
 noblemen. To all which the king gave favourable answers ; 
 and for the removing of the princess his daughter from the 
 Lady Livingstone, which was earnestly entreated by the 
 whole Assembly, his majesty did promise to bring her to his 
 own house before the term of Martinmas next. 
 
 Whilst matters were thus proceeding, there was delivered 
 a letter sent by Mr John Davidson to the Assembly, where- 
 in, as if he would awake his brethren fallen asleep, he began 
 with a strong cry, " How long shall we fear or fjivour flesh and 
 blood, and follow the counsel and command thereof? Should 
 our meetings be in the name of man ? Are we not yet to take 
 up ourselves, and to acknowledge our former errors, and feeble- 
 ness in the work of the Lord ?" And a little after, " Is it time 
 for us now, when so many of our worthy brethren are thrust out 
 of their callings Avithout all order of just proceeding, and Jesuits, 
 atheists, and papists are suffered, countenanced, and advanced 
 to great rooms in the realm, for the bringing in of idolatry, 
 and captivity more than Babylonical, with an high hand, and 
 that in our chief city, — Is it time for us, I say, of the min- 
 istry, to be inveigled and blindfolded with pretence of 
 
 VOL. III. 7 
 
98 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. T>. 1601. 
 
 preferment of some small number of our brethren to have 
 voice in parliament, and have titles of prelacy ? Shall we 
 with Samson sleep still on Dalilah's knees, till she say, ' The 
 Phihstines be upon thee, Samson ? ' " Then, scoffing at the 
 king's doings, he said, " But Bonnyton is executed, an in- 
 famous thief in the highest degree ! What is that to the 
 cause of religion, whereof no question was moved ? Is there 
 no papist nor favourer of papists in Scotland but Bonnyton ? 
 But the king is sound in religion, what can the adversaries do ! 
 Being sound, the danger were the less ; but there is nothing 
 either in church or king according to our calling," &c. In 
 postscript to the same letter he wished them to be wary of 
 determining any thing touching the planting of Edinburgh, 
 in respect of any promises against papists, and to remember 
 that Melius et optahilius est helium pace impia, et a Deo 
 distrahente. 
 
 This letter, laughed at by some, did greatly offend the 
 wiser sort, who would have proceeded to censure the man as 
 he had deserved, but that the king interceded, willing them 
 to leave the punishment to him, and go on with their own 
 aifairs as they had begun. So the letter being cast by, the 
 planting of Edinburgh was next handled ; and after some 
 reasoning it was concluded, that the three ministers, Mr 
 Walter Balcanquel, Mr James Balfour, and Mr William 
 Watson should be transported, and others placed in their 
 rooms. The care of this among other things was intrusted 
 to certain commissioners deputed by the Assembly, who had 
 power given them for all matters that concerned the Church, 
 unto the next general meeting. 
 
 After this a proposition was made for a new translation of 
 the Bible, and the correcting of the Psalms in metre. His 
 majesty did urge it earnestly, and with many reasons did 
 persuade the undertaking of the work, showing the necessity 
 and the profit of it, and what a glory the performing thereof 
 should bring to this Church. Speaking of the necessity, he 
 did mention sundry escapes in the common translation, and 
 made it seen that he was no less conversant in the Scriptures 
 than they whose profession it was ; and when he came to 
 speak of the Psalms, did recite whole verses of the same, 
 showing both the faults of the metre and the discrepance 
 from the text. It was the joy of all that were present to 
 
A. D. 1601.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 99 
 
 hear it, and bred not little admiration in the whole Assembly, 
 who approving the motion did recommend the translation to 
 such of the brethren as were most skilled in the languages ; 
 and the revising of the Psalms particularly to Mr Robert 
 Pont ; but nothing was done in the one or the other. Yet 
 did not the king let this his intention fall to the ground, but 
 after his happy coming to the crown of England set the 
 most learned divines of that Church a-work for the transla- 
 tion of the Bible ; which, with great pains and to the 
 singular profit of the Church, they perfected. The revising 
 of the Psalms he made his own labour, and at such hours as 
 he might spare from the public cares went through a number 
 of them, commending the rest to a faithful and learned 
 servant, who hath therein answered his majesty's expec- 
 tation. 
 
 The act for restraining the liberty of application in 
 exercises was of new ratified, and an ordinance made against 
 the preaching of young men not admitted to the ministry 
 in the chief places of the country ; which done, and the next 
 Assembly being appointed to hold at St Andrews the last 
 Tuesday of July, anno 1602, the meeting dissolved. 
 
 Soon after the king, by the advice of the commissioners 
 of the Church, received in favour the three ministers, of 
 Edinburgh that were ordained to be translated to other 
 places, and licensed them to return to their charges. Mr 
 John Dikes also, who had lurked unto this time, having 
 composed some eucharistic sonnets (as he called them) for 
 his majesty's preservation, was pardoned, and permitted to 
 return to his place. But Mr John Davidson, presuming to 
 find the like favour, and appearing in public without warrant, 
 was taken and committed to the Castle of Edinburgh, where 
 he remained some months, till, by the intercession of the 
 king's ministers, he was also put to liberty. 
 
 In the State, the Lord Maxwell began to make new 
 troubles; and, notwithstanding he was prohibited to repair 
 within the bounds of Nithsdale and Galloway, he went home 
 without license, having contrived the death of Sir James 
 Johnston then warden. But the purpose failing, he made 
 an incursion upon Annandale, raising fire, and committing 
 slaughter ; whereupon great stirs were moved in those 
 parts, which were not pacified till the February after ; at 
 
100 THE HISTORY OF THB [a, D. 1601. 
 
 which time the king, going in person to Dumfries, made him 
 leave the country, and put in sureties for his remaining 
 within the bounds of Clydesdale. 
 
 In July thereafter, Lodowick duke of Lennox was sent in 
 an ambassage to France, rather for confirming the old amity 
 and friendship, than for any business else. There went with 
 him Sir Thomas Erskine and Sir William Livingstone of 
 Kilsyth, two of his majesty's privy council ; Mr John 
 Spottiswoode, then parson of Calder, was directed to attend 
 him as his chaplain or preacher. The duke taking his 
 journey by sea arrived at Dieppe the twenty-fourth of that 
 month, and upon the tenth day after entered into Paris, 
 accompanied by James archbishop of Glasgow, and a great 
 train of Scotsmen, who did meet him at St Denis. He 
 had presence of the French king at St Germains, some seven 
 leagues from Paris, and was very kindly accepted. A few 
 days after, the king went to Fontainebleau, where the queen 
 was to lie of childbirth. Thither the duke did follow him, 
 and was entertained with hunting and the like sports unto 
 the queen's delivery, which fell out the seventeenth of 
 September. Going then unto the country to salute his 
 mother, Madame D'Aubigney, and other his friends, whilst he 
 was about these offices of kindness, the king went by post to 
 Calais, upon some intelhgence, as it was said, from England, 
 that the queen was fallen sick. He himself gave out thiit tho 
 affairs of Flanders did occasion his journey, for as then the 
 archduke was besieging Ostend. But whatsoever the busi- 
 ness was, no man doubted but that he had an eye upon the 
 succession of England ; and if he could have found a faction, 
 would have foisted in another bastard of Normandy, which 
 oftentimes in a merriment and gallantry he spared not to 
 utter. 
 
 The duke, after his return to Paris, made no long stay, 
 but taking his leave of the French king, who was then come 
 back from Calais, took journey towards England, and came 
 to London in the beginning of November. A parliament 
 was then sitting at Westminster, (the last that Queen Eliza- 
 beth held), which, with his coming upon that instant, gave 
 many to think that he was come to urge a declaration of the 
 king's right of succession ; and not a few they were, nor of 
 small note, that offered to assist, if he should move any such 
 
A. D. 1601.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 business ; but he told them, that neither had he any such 
 commission, nor would the king ever agree to any thing that 
 might breed a jealousy in the queen. And his commission 
 indeed was no other but to salute the queen in the king's 
 name, and let her know the kind and filial affection he 
 carried unto her, whereof he should be willing to give proof 
 at all occasions. And for that he was given to understand 
 that the Irish rebels had drawn in some Spanish forces into 
 Ireland, to fortify themselves in their rebellion, he would, if 
 his aid should be thought necessary, employ the same for 
 their expulsion. The queen, giving the king many thanks, 
 said, that if those troubles continued, she would take his 
 help, and hire some of his Highlanders and Islesmen ; but 
 she trusted to hear other news shortly, and not be vexed 
 long with those strangers. As also it came to pass : for the 
 very next month the Lord Montjoy her deputy did, in a 
 battle fought near Kinsale, defeat the Irish utterly, and 
 afterwards forced the Spaniards that had taken the town to 
 render, upon condition of their lives saved, and that they 
 might be transported again into their country. 
 
 The duke, after three weeks' stay, being feasted by the 
 queen and entertained with all comphments of amity, re- 
 turned home, and came to Edinburgh in the end of Decem- 
 ber ; where, having related his proceedings in council,, they 
 were all approved. The Lord Elphingston had in his 
 absence resigned the office of treasury upon an offence, as 
 was thought, he conceived for adjoining some others unto him 
 in the composing of signatures : and now was Sir George 
 Home, one of the masters of the equerry, preferred to the 
 office, which he discharged by his deputy, Sir John Arnot, 
 both to his majesty and the country's content. 
 
 The next summer the king having resolved to plant 
 inlandmen in the isles, and transport the inhabitants into 
 the mainland, where they might learn civility, made a 
 beginning at the Isle of Lewis. The undertakers were 
 Patrick abbot of Lindores, Colonel William Stewart, Captain 
 William Murray, Mr John Learmonth of Balcomic, Mr 
 James Spence of Wormiston, Sir James Anstruther of that 
 ilk, and James Ferret of Fingask. These gentlemen 
 furnishing themselves with arras and shipping, and having 
 conduced a number of soldiers, took sea, and in the third or 
 
1^2 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1602. 
 
 fourth day arrived in the lake of Stornoway within the same 
 isle. Murdoch Macleod, base son to old Macleod, who 
 carried himself as lord of the isle, made at the first some 
 resistance ; but after a httle confiict, distrusting the people, 
 for he had used them with great tyranny, he fled and forsook 
 the isle, leaving the indwellers to the discretion of the inva- 
 ders. They, how soon he was gone, did all submit them- 
 selves, and accept such conditions as were offered by the 
 undertakers. 
 
 Being thus peaceably possessed, the laird of Balcomie, 
 either sent by the rest to signify their good success and to 
 make preparation against the winter, or for some private 
 business of his own, took purpose to return home, and being 
 launched a Httle from the coast, and by reason of the calm 
 forced to cast anchor, was suddenly invaded by the said 
 Murdoch Macleod, with a number of birhngs (so they call the 
 little vessels those islesmen use), the ship boarded, the 
 mariners killed, and himself made prisoner. The gentleman 
 being detained some days, and hourly threatened with death, 
 was afterwards ransomed by one of his friends, ai^d conveyed 
 to Orkney, where contracting a fever he died. The re&t of 
 the gentlemen, to repair this injury, conducted Neil Macleod, 
 brother to the said Murdoch, to betray and deliver him in 
 their hands ; wliicli he performed shortly after, having by 
 an ambush laid for his brother apprehended liira, and some 
 twelve more that were in his company. The twelve he pre- 
 sently beheaded ; Murdoch he delivered to the gentlemen, 
 as he had promised, who was afterwards transported to St 
 Andrews, and there executed. 
 
 The undertakers thinking themselves now secured, began 
 to build, and make a partition of the lands, letting the same 
 to the country people, who did all swear fidelity unto them ; 
 but whilst they expected no trouble, Norman Macleod, son 
 to old Macleod, did on the sudden beset them, put fire to 
 their lodgings, and forced them to the conditions following : 
 
 First, that they should purchase to them a remission from 
 the king of all crimes and offences past. 
 
 Next, that they should resign to Norman all the right 
 which they had acquired of the Isle of Lewis. 
 
 And thirdly, that Sir James Spence, with his son-in-law 
 Thomas Monypenny of Kinkell, should remain as pledges 
 
A. D, 1602.] CHUUUU OF SCOTLAND, 103 
 
 until the remissiyu was brought unto him, aud such a surety 
 given of the isle as he could devise. 
 
 This condescended unto, Sir James Anstruther departed 
 with the whole company that was left (for many were killed 
 before their yielding), and, for relief of tJie pledges, obtained 
 of the king both the remis^sion and security of the isle that 
 was desired, which was sent to Norman by James Learraonth, 
 son to the laird of Darcie. By this mean were the pledges 
 freed, and for that time the whole enterprise defeated. Some 
 three years after, the same was of new attempted, with what 
 success we shall hear in the own place. 
 
 Mr Robert Bruce, who as we showed before was exiled iu 
 France, obtained license to return in the beginning of this 
 summer, by the intercession of the earl of Mar, whom he had 
 entreated to mediate his peace, upon promise at his return to 
 satisfy the king, and declare his resolution in that matter of 
 Gowrie. The king, who never showed himself difficile 
 (especially to ministers that professed penitency for their 
 errors), gave warrant to recall him ; and he appearing before 
 the commissioners of the Church, at Perth the twenty-fifth 
 of June, where his majesty was present, acknowledged his 
 error, professed his resolution touching the guiltiness of those 
 unhappy brothers, and promised, if his majesty should license 
 him to return to his place, to declare the same publicly in the 
 first sermon he should have to the people. The king doubt- 
 ing his performance (for he had often in other matters tried 
 his inconstancy) caused the same to be set down in writing 
 upon the back of the letter he had sent to the earl of Mar, 
 and after he had subscribed the same, made all the commis- 
 sioners that were present (eleven in number) to set their 
 hands thereto as witnesses. This done, he was admitted to 
 kiss his majesty's hand, and licensed to return to his place. 
 But as the king had conjectured, so it fell out ; for coming to 
 Edinburgh, where it was expected he should have done what 
 he had both promised and subscribed, he left the town, pre- 
 tending that his ministry should thereby be discredited, and 
 he esteemed to preach by injunction. The General Assembly 
 of the Church meeting in November following, the king, to 
 remove this pretext, after he had showed all the particulars 
 of his proceeding with Mr Robert, and produced the letter 
 sent by him to the earl of Mar, together with his subscription 
 
104 THE HISTORY OF THB [a. D. 1602. 
 
 in the meeting of Perth, desired the voices of the Assembly, 
 whether or not he ought to utter his resohition in pulpit as 
 he had promised. They all, not one gainsaying, declared, 
 " That he was bound both in duty and conscience to fulfil his 
 promise, so much the rather, that by liis distrust and dis- 
 obedience to the council's cliarge he had confirmed ill-disposed 
 people in their suspicions." Yet this ordinance did not con- 
 tent him ; and so, delaying to give satisfaction, he was by the 
 commissioners of the Church discharged from the ministry of 
 Edinburgh the year following. 
 
 In this Assembly, Mr Patrick Galloway being chosen to 
 preside, he made a speech to the king, wherein he showed, 
 " That the Church was oppugned by two sorts of enemies, to 
 wit, papists and sacrilegious persons ; and therefore in the 
 name of the whole Church entreated his majesty, that, as he 
 had with great travail and happy success made the principals 
 of the popish profession to conform themselves in outward 
 obedience, so he would use his princely authority towards 
 the other sort, and compel them, if not to restore all, at least 
 to grant a competent allowance to ministers forth of the tithes 
 they possessed." The king accepting the petition graciously, 
 said, " That it should not be well with the Church so long as 
 ministers were drawn from their charges to attend the yearly 
 modification of stipends, and that he held it fittest once to 
 condescend upon a competent provision for every church, 
 and deal with those that possessed the tithes to bestow a part 
 thereof to the foresaid use ; and seeing that business would 
 require a longer time than they could well continue together, 
 that they should do well to make some overtures to those 
 that had the commission for stipends, promising for himself 
 that he should stand for the Church, and be an advocate for 
 the ministers." 
 
 After a long deliberation, these overtures were proponed. 
 " First, That the ministers having stipends assigned to them 
 forth of the tithes of the churches where they served, a per- 
 petual security should be made to the tacksmen, and a cer- 
 tain grassum condescended on for every chalder of victual, 
 which should be paid for nineteen years' lease ; at the expir- 
 ing whereof, another lease upon the like conditions should be 
 renewed for as many years, the principal tacksmen being 
 obliged to grant the like security for his subtacksmen. 2d, 
 
A. V. 1602.] CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. 105 
 
 That the prelacies should be disponed to actual ministers, the 
 churches annexed thereto being- sufficiently provided, and the 
 tenth of the superplus paid to the king ; or otherwise, that 
 all the great benefices should be dissolved, the prelate enjoy- 
 ing the principal church and temporal lands, and the chui'ches 
 annexed disponed to ministers, both they and the prelate 
 paying a yearly duty to the king. And 3d, That all inferior 
 benefices should be provided to the ministers serving the 
 cure." 
 
 The first of these overtures the king held reasonable and 
 most advantageous to the Church. But the Assembly, esteem- 
 ing it dangerous to make tithes heritable, deferred to give 
 their consent ; so as nothing was at that time concluded, and 
 the overtures remitted to a more deep consideration. 
 
 The synod of Fife did, after this, present some grievances, 
 complaining, •' That the General Assemblies were not kept 
 at the ordinary times, and both places and diets altered, 
 without the knowledge of presbyteries and synods. That 
 ministers were called before the council in prima instantia, 
 for matters of doctrine and discipline. That the government 
 of the Church continued in the hands of a few ministers, 
 under the name of a commission, to the prejudice of the 
 liberty of the Church. That doctors, being an ordinary 
 calling in the Church, were debarred from coming to Assem- 
 blies. That no trial was taken concerning the observation 
 of caveats. That the ministers of Edinburgh, being the prin- 
 cipal watch-tower of the Church, were not permitted to attend 
 their charge. That the land was polluted with the French 
 ambassador's mass, and excommunicates suffered to abide in 
 the country. And lastly, that the letters and practices of 
 papists were kept secret, and not communicated to the 
 watchmen." 
 
 These complaints, being known to proceed from the private 
 discontents of such as grieved to see the affairs of the Church 
 carried by others than themselves, were not much regarded ; 
 yet to show that they had no just cause to complain, a parti- 
 cular answer was made to every one of them. And first it 
 was said, " That the Assemblies both were and should bo 
 kept according to the act of parliament. That ministers 
 should not be called before the council but upon just grounds. 
 That commissions given by the Assembly and rightly dis- 
 
106 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1602. 
 
 charged were lawful. That doctors authorized with a com- 
 mission from the university, where they lived, were not 
 denied a voice in Assemblies ; and that if the caveats were 
 not observed, they might instance the point, and have the 
 person after trial censured." To the rest of the heads his 
 majesty by himself made this reply : " That the French am- 
 bassador's mass was private, and could not be refused to him, 
 considering that the minister, directed with his own ambas- 
 sador the year before, was permitted to preach within the 
 city of Paris. And for the ministers of Edinburgh, they had 
 received all the favour they desired. As to him that lay 
 back, it was his own fault, and no man's else. But where, 
 saith he, it is craved that the letters and practices of papists 
 should be communicate to ministers, as that were the ready 
 way to procure the escape, and no punishment of the prac- 
 tices, so the proponers would remember, that secrets must be 
 imparted at the king's pleasure, and not otherwise." 
 
 Some other acts were concluded in the same Assembly ; 
 as, " That, in memory of his majesty's deliverance, there 
 should be sermons in all the burghs every Tuesday, and the 
 fifth of August solemnly kept, as the parliament had prescribed, 
 in all the churches of the kingdom. That ministers should 
 not refuse the sacrament of baptism to infants, nor delay the 
 same, upon whatsoever pretext, the same being required by 
 the parents, or others in their name :" for as then, except at 
 ordinary hours of preacliing, ministers denied to baptize. 
 And because they had taken up a custom not to celebrate 
 marriage upon the Sunday, pretending that the day was 
 profaned by feasting, dancing, and the like, it was ordained, 
 " They should hereafter, at the parties' desire, celebrate the 
 same either on Sunday or week-day." These things con- 
 cluded, and commissioners chosen to attend the common 
 affairs of the Church, the Assembly dissolved, having ap- 
 pointed the next meeting at Aberdeen, the last Tuesday of 
 July, amio 1604. 
 
 All this time were the enemies of our religion, the Jesuits, 
 especially busied to stir up a party against the king and his 
 title to England. They had lost all hope of gaining his 
 affection, or obtaining any promise of toleration when he 
 should come to that crown ; and had found their writings 
 and pamphlets, for the infanta of Spain her right, to move few 
 
A. U. 1602.] CHUIICH OF SCOTLAND. 107 
 
 or none. Thereupon they fell to treat of a marriage betwixt 
 Lady Arabella and Robert prince of Savoy ; and, that not 
 succeeding, to speak of a match betwixt her and a grand- 
 child of the earl of Hartford's; judging that their pretensions 
 being conjoined, many would befriend them, to the excluding 
 of the king of Scots. But the queen, who truly favoured his 
 right, though she would not openly profess so much, dashed 
 all those projects, and caused an eye to be kept upon that lady 
 and such as resorted unto her. 
 
 About the same time, the king had intelligence given him 
 that one Francis Mowbray, son to the laird of Barnbougle, 
 who had lived a while in the infant's court at Brussels, had 
 undertaken to kill him. This broke out first at London by 
 an Italian, a fencer, whose name was Daniel. Which coming 
 to the queen's ears, she commanded Sir Robert Cecil, her 
 secretary, to call the persons (for they were both in the city), 
 and examine them. The Italian abode by his speeches. 
 Mowbray denied, and offered to prove him a har in combat, 
 which the other accepted. Both being sent into Scotland, 
 they were tried first severally, then confronted before certain 
 of the council. The Italian produced witnesses who verified 
 all that he had deponed. Whereupon Mowbray was com- 
 mitted to the castle of Edinburgh, where, seeking to escape 
 by night, at a window of the chamber where he was detained, 
 the sheets proving too short by which he thought to descend, 
 he fell from a great precipice, and was found the next morn- 
 ing dead at the foot of the rock. The corpse Avas, the same 
 day, being the last of January, presented to the justice, and 
 sentence of forfeiture pronounced against him ; his body 
 hanged for a space upon the gibbet, and afterwards quartered 
 and afiixed on the gates and most open places of the town. 
 His friends (for he was well-born, and a proper young gentle- 
 man) gave out that he had been strangled, and his corpse 
 thrown down at the window. But this carried no appear- 
 ance, and was believed of few.^ 
 
 The queen of England, in the winter, being perceived to 
 wax heavy and dull, and the rumour thereof dispersed (as 
 there is nothing that can be worse concealed than the sick- 
 ness or death of a prince), there was much business every 
 where, and she held by the most part no better than dead. 
 ' [See note to this Book E.] 
 
108 THE HISTORY OF THK [a. D. 1602. 
 
 The French king had sent, the summer preceding, two am- 
 bassadors, one to reside in England and another in Scotland, 
 under colour of impeaching the courses of Spain, but in effect 
 to observe the strength and affection of both people. He 
 that was sent into England brought a letter, from the French 
 king to Secretary Cecil, of infinite kindness ; and breaking 
 with him one day upon the miseries of the kingdom when it 
 should please God to translate the queen, fell to speak of the 
 loss he should sustain by the exchange, and the case wherein 
 he would be if the Scottish king did succeed ; which to his 
 apprehension should be more hard and miserable than any 
 others, being likely to undergo the revenge of faults laid 
 upon his father about matters concerning the king's mother, 
 and other courses that he was esteemed to have run himself 
 since the death of his father. The secretary, that was no 
 child, knowino; that the ambassador did but sound him, for 
 making some other project, answered, " That this was the 
 reward of unspotted duty, when ministers did only regard 
 the service of their sovereigns, without respect of their own 
 particular ; and that for himself he should never grieve to 
 endure trouble for so just a cause, the same being to a man 
 that valued his credit more than his security, a kind of mar- 
 tyrdom ; notwithstanding, he supposed that things past would 
 not be called to mind ; or if so were, and that he saw his case 
 desperate, he should flee to another city, and take the benefit 
 of the king's royal offer." 
 
 The ambassador being so answered, made a fair retreat, 
 saying, " That in case the king of Scots did carry himself 
 towards the king of France with the respect which was due, 
 he was not purposed to impeach his interest." The secre- 
 tary replying, " That it was a wise resolution his master had 
 taken," the ambassador ceased to tempt him any farther 
 in that business. Hereof the king was advertised by letters 
 from the secretary, Avho therein did assure him of his true 
 and honest service when occasion required ; howbeit he would 
 not, as some others had done, needlessly hazard his fortune 
 and reputation before the time. 
 
 It shall not be amiss to hear what was the king's answer 
 to the secretary. " As I do heartily thank you," said he, 
 " for your plain and honest offer ; so may you assure your- 
 self, that it would do me no pleasure that you should hazard 
 
A. D. 1603.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 109 
 
 either your fortune or reputation, since the loss of either of 
 these would make you the less available to me. No, I love 
 not to feed upon such fantastical humours, although I cannot 
 let^ busy-bodies to live upon their own imaginations. But for 
 my part, I hold it the office of a king, as sitting on the throne 
 of God, to imitate the primum mobile, and by his steady and 
 ever constant course to govern all the other changeable and 
 uncertain motions of the inferior planets. And I protest in 
 God's presence, that for your constant and honest behaviour 
 in your sovereign's service, I loved your virtues long before 
 I could be certain that you would deserve at my hand the 
 love of your person ; wherefore go on, and serve her truly 
 that reigneth, as you have done, for he that is false to the 
 present will never be true to the future." 
 
 In another letter directed to the earl of Northumberland 
 (that we may know the wisdom and piety of the king), who 
 had sent him advertisement of the queen's weakness, and 
 advised him to make sure his title by apprehending posses- 
 sion in time, he said, " That man can neither be religious nor 
 just that dealeth worse with his neighbour than he would be 
 dealt withal ; and in a man of quality it can be no wisdom 
 to leap hedge and ditch, and adventure the breaking of his 
 neck for gathering forbidden fruit before it be ripe ; whenas 
 by attending the due time, he may be sure to find all the 
 gates of the orchard open, and with free scope enter, take 
 and taste at liberty. Sure it were a great weakness and 
 unworthiness in me to come in as an usurper, with offence 
 and scandal to the laws and present estate of government, 
 when I may, in the right time, claim the crown as nearest 
 heir to the prince deceased, and possess with equity. Should 
 I, out of untimely ambition, fall to break the long continued 
 and faithfully preserved amity, that by the proof of many 
 kind offices hath taken root among us, it were an error inex- 
 cusable. And hoAvbeit I do acknoAvledge your kind affection 
 in the offers you make of assistance, I must tell you freely, 
 that no prince can presume of any subject's loyalty to himself 
 that hath been unsound and unfaithful to his own sovereign : 
 nor would I ever look to be secure in a kingdom so traitor- 
 ously disposed." In end, he advised the earl to forbear such 
 writing, and when he wrote (which he wished him to do 
 
 ' Hinder. 
 
110 THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, [a. D. 1603. 
 
 rarely, and not but upon great occasions), to beware of any 
 thing that might justly offend the queen, lest, by interception 
 or other misadventure, he might be disabled to serve him an- 
 other day. 
 
 This was the king's resolution, which God so blessed as it 
 brought him within a short time after, against the opinions 
 and desires of many, to the quiet and peaceable possession 
 of his right and inheritance ; for, in the spring, the queen's 
 disease increasing (which was judged to be a melancholy in- 
 corrigible, and by some conceived to proceed from a sorrow 
 for Essex, others ascribed it to the accepting of the rebel 
 Tyrone to peace), and all apprehending it to be deadly, the 
 hearts of people did so incline to the king, as a great man in 
 that state did write unto him, " That all England was grown 
 to be Scottish." The queen herself continuing constant in 
 her affection, when she was asked, a little before her death, by 
 the lord keeper and secretary (who were directed by the 
 council to understand her will touching her successor), an- 
 swered, " None but my cousin, the king of Scots." After 
 which words she spake not much : only being desired by the 
 archbishop of Canterbury (whom she would not suffer to go 
 from her all that time), to fix her thoughts upon God, slie 
 said, " So I do, neither doth my mind wander from him ;" 
 and then commending her soul to God in devout manner, 
 died most patiently and willingly. A queen incomparable for 
 wisdom and felicity of government. She departed this life 
 the twenty-fourth of March, in the seventieth year of her 
 age, and forty-fourth of her reign. The same day, in the 
 forenoon, the king of Scots was proclaimed king, first at the 
 palace of Whitehall, next at the cross in Cheapside, within 
 the city of London, with an infinite applause of all sorts of 
 people. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 NOTE I. Vol. II. p. 361 ; Vol. III. pp. 5, 107. 
 
 QUEEN MARY AND HER MAIDENS.-SCOTT OF BUCCLEUCH 
 AND FRANCIS MOWBRAY. 
 
 [Our author's account of the death of Mary queen of Scots is a model of his- 
 torical narrative. Nevertheless, some circumstances are omitted in the text 
 which seem to complete the dramatic horrors of this matchless tragedy, and 
 may be here supplied. This will be the more readily excused, as even Mr 
 Tytler, in his very accurate and overflowing history, has not recorded all that 
 we are about to add from contemporary sources. 
 
 On the morning of the execution, after the will of the queen had been read to 
 her domestics, which she herself had drawn up, and signed in their presence, 
 and while on her knees at an altar, two of her maidens, Barbara Mowbray, and 
 a young French lady of the name of Beauregard, came weeping to her physician 
 Burgoin. Their names, they said, had been omitted in the will, and they im- 
 plored Burgoin to mention the matter to her majesty. No sooner was the queen 
 informed of this distress, than she rose from her kneeling posture, and wrote an 
 affectionate remembrance of these two damsels on the margin of her testament. 
 This touching trait is not recorded by our authoi", and had escaped the modern 
 historians, from Hume to Tytler. 
 
 It is perhaps more extraordinary that the precise mode of the decapitation 
 has been imperfectly and erroneously recorded by Spottiswoode, Hume, Robert- 
 son, Scott, and even by Tytler; though this last enters more into the details, 
 and is more accurate, than his predecessors. Our author says, " Then stretching 
 forth her body with great quietness, and laying her neck over the block, she 
 cried aloud. In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. One of the exe- 
 cutioners holding down her hands, the other at two blows cut o£F her head, which, 
 falling out of her attire, seemed to be somewhat grey " (vol. ii. p. 361.). This 
 account has been adopted by Hume, Robertson, aud Scott. Tytler is nearer the 
 truth when he says, that the unhappy queen awaited the blow in a sitting pos- 
 ture, expecting to be beheaded according to the mode of capital punishments in 
 France. It is strange, however, that this accurate and indefatigable historian, 
 while quoting the chronicle where the true details are to be found, (Mort do la 
 Royne d'Escos-e), should have added, " On being made aware of her mistake she 
 instantly knelt down, and, groping with her hands for the block, laid her neck 
 upon it, without the slightest mark of trembling or hesitation," and that two 
 strokes of the axe sufficed. 
 
 But there was not vouchsafed to the last moments of poor Queen Mary's suf- 
 ferings the same quiet dignity that invested the death-scene of her grandson, 
 Charles I. Without the slightest disposition on her part to resist, or shrink 
 from the blow, and with no probable intention on the part of her executioners 
 (though the Catholics suspected it) to aggravate the death, nevertheless was tlie 
 
112 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 dying prayer of the Catholic queen disturbed by an unseemly struggle with her 
 executioners. One of them wounded her on the head with his axe, ei-e by two 
 subsequent blows he severed it from her body. The queen was placed upon a 
 low seat on the scaffold, expecting death, from a sword, in that sitting posture ; 
 and, keeping her person rigid, with outstretched neck and clasped hands, she 
 was reciting from the Psalms, when the two executioners (probably mistaking 
 her attitude for resistance) on either side, seized her by the shoulder, and en- 
 deavoured to bring her head to the block. At first they only succeeded in throw- 
 ing her upon her knees. In that posture, and still awaiting the sword, with her 
 neck outstretched for the blow, she continued to repeat the Psalms. The execu- 
 tioners also continued to exert force to place her body in a horizontal position, 
 and at length succeeded in bringing her neck down to the billet of wood that 
 had been provided for the purpose. Then she placed her hand under her chin, 
 as if to enable her to give utterance to prayer ; but the executioner seized it and 
 drew it away, lest it should be cut off. A blow immediately followed from the 
 axe, which the indignant narrator describes as a rude cleaver, altogether unsuited 
 for the purpose. This first blow fell upon the back of her head, but without 
 penetrating deeply. A second blow cut the neck half through ; and the third 
 severed the head from the body. These horrible details were omitted, naturally 
 enough, in the official despatch which described the execution. But whoever 
 reads the contemporary narrative will find no room to doubt that it is the faith- 
 ful description of an eyewitness. The writer says of himself, " Prenez en bonne 
 part, je vous supplie, la grande affection et juste regret crun serviteur fidele, et 
 de bonne volenti, qui ne pent endurer que I'honneur de sa maislresse soit fouM 
 on offenc^." Nor is it at all unlikely that the interesting and melancholy record 
 was penned by her physician Burgoin, who was permitted to be on the scaffold. 
 See " La Mort de la Royne d'Escosse," 1589 ; reprinted in Jebb's Collections, 
 vol. ii. p. 609. 
 
 One affecting incident is thus shortly told by the same chronicler. When the 
 blood was about to be removed from the scaffold, that no avenging spirit might 
 steep a relic therein, " Fut trouvee une petitte chienne dedans sa robhe, qu'il 
 I'avoit suivie en bas, laquelle une grande princesse de France a voulut avoir 
 pour I'amour de la defunte." No more is there recorded of that little dog. But 
 another contemporary account has it thus : " There was one remarkable thing 
 which happened at her execution, and which ought not to be omitted, and that 
 is, the strange and surprising instinct of a little dog that she had, whom they 
 could never sepai'ate from her, without doing violence to her majesty ; shelter- 
 ing himself always beneath her royal robes ; and when the blood began to flow 
 about him, he lap'd some of it, and would never afterwards be induced to taste 
 meat or drink, but died for grief." The anecdote is so narrated in a note to 
 Freebairn's Life of Queen Mary, 1725, quoting " A Relation writ by an Eyewit- 
 ness, by Secretary Cecil's Command," of the execution of Queen Mary, from a 
 copy in the Advocates Library. 
 
 Tytler says, " Her last words were, ' Into thy hands I commend my spirit, for 
 thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.' " But it was not so. While the 
 executioners were yet struggling with her, she had just uttered the three first 
 words In manits iuas with a loud voice, when the first erring blow descended 
 on the back of her head, and of course deprived her of speech. 
 
 It is not generally known that Barbara Mowbray, whose affectionate distress, 
 at having been forgotten in the will of her royal mistress, is mentioned above, 
 was the daughter of Sir John Mowbray of Barnbongle, a Scottish baron of 
 ancient descent, whose residence in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, now the 
 property of the earl of Rosebery, has recently been called Dalmeny Park. The 
 superseding of the ancient name, which signifies the point of land of the victory 
 of strangers, is to be regretted. See a characteristic incident of the times, rela- 
 ting to the place of Barnbongle, and Robert Mowbray, the eldest brother of 
 
NOTES TO liOOK VI. 113 
 
 Barbara, narrated in the notes to book v. p. '217. Barbara Mowbray had an- 
 other brother of the name of Francis, who also became deeply involved in the 
 troubles of the times. Francis Mowbray was the intimate companion of Sir 
 Walter Scott of Braiixholm and Buccleuch, warden of the Liddesdale marches. 
 It was upon the 13th of April 159G, that Buccleuch performed his unparalleled 
 feat of stormiug the castle of Carlisle, and rescuing " Kinmont Willie." 
 
 " ' Now sound out trumpets, quo' Buccleuch, 
 Let's waken Lord Scroope right merrilie ; ' 
 Then loud the warden's trumpet blew, 
 ' wha dare meddle wi' me ! ' " 
 
 On the following day, Francis Mowbray, who had some hand in the above 
 enterprise, meddled with one William Schaw, to the effect of running a rapier 
 through his body, for which slaughter he was outlawed. Robert Birrel records 
 in his diary the exploit of Buccleucli (so admirably narrated by our author at 
 the commencement of this volume), and says, it was performed " with shouting 
 and crying, and sound of trumpet, puttand the said touue and countrie in sic auo 
 fray, that the lyk of sic ane wassaledge wes nevir done since the memorio of man, 
 no in Wallace dayis." Thereafter the same quaint chronicler notes, " The 14th 
 Apryle Mr William Schaw wes stricken tlirou the bodie with ane rapier, be 
 Francis Mowbray, sone to the laird of Barnbougle." All Scotland, including 
 the monarch, were proud of the storming of Carlisle, which so deeply wounded 
 the pride of Elizabeth ; but, in order to afford her some slight satisfaction, Buc- 
 cleuch was confined in the castle of St Andrews, '' under pretext of intercomon- 
 ing with Francis Mowbray, fugitive for the hurting of William Schaw, and 
 making him his secund in a combat undertaken betwixt him and young Ces- 
 fuirdo," (Moysie's Memoirs). Our author (Spottiswoode) has not noticed this 
 special reason assigned for Buccleuch's durance in Scotland. From a letter to 
 Anthony Bacon, dated Edinburgh ^Sd November 1596, it appears that the fend 
 betwixt the Scotts and the Kerrs, which so greatly disturbed the peace of Edin- 
 burgh, had been stayed, and that the parties, including Francis Mowbray, joined 
 themselves in a close league and contract with the popish lords and their con- 
 federates. The parties to the league (says the writer of the letter) were, " The 
 Lords Hume and Sanquire, the lairds Cesford, Baclugh, Clasburn, and Kirk- 
 mighil, with all the rest of their assistants in those parts, who not only subscribed, 
 but swore to follow all one course in whatever should be undertaken by any one 
 of them. This contract, by a general consent, was given to Francis Mowbray to 
 be kept, by whose means I had the sight of it ; for he would gladly have dealt 
 with my lord embassador concerning a plot that he had devised for alteration of 
 the state of these Octavians ; the which, as I understood, should have been 
 effected by those persons aforesaid : for, said he, these are wise men, and wili 
 seek their advantage, either by the queen's majesty of England, or else by the 
 king of Spain. And if this offer of their service take not effect, or be not em- 
 braced of the English, they will take their vantage of the Spaniard. But because 
 of a promise that my lord made to the king, that he ivold in no sort meddle uuth 
 Francis, he refused to deal any further with them, save only that he had the 
 sight of the contract ; which I brought, because I was the traveller between 
 them, requested thereto by Francis, with whom I have been in great friendship 
 this great while, and am yet. Now, I understand, that he is a special doer for 
 the carl of Iluntly ; and my Lord Sanquire, who is the chief man in the foresaid 
 league, hath had sundry meetings with the papists, and now is become a great 
 courtier. So that this makes great appearance to affirm that which I say ; yea, 
 more than this, my Lord Sanquire is to be excommunicated, because ho can in 
 no wise be brought to subscribe to the religion."' (See Birch's Collections from 
 the Lambeth MSS. vol. ii. p. 205.) 
 
 This high spirited but turbulent youth came to an untimely and tragical end. 
 
 VOL. III. 8 
 
114 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 It is the same Francis Mowbray whoso sad fate our author, in this Book (p. 
 107), narrates shortly, but in his usual graphic manner. Injustice, however, to 
 the sufferer, the story requires some farther elucidation. There was no evidence 
 of sufficient credit against Francis Mowbray ; who, in the course of the proceed- 
 ings, addressed this remarkable speech to his sovereign : " If ever I thought evil, 
 or intended evil against my prince, God, that marketh the secrets of all hearts, 
 make me to fall at my enemies feet^muke me a spectacle to all Edinburgh, and 
 cast my soul in hell for ever." The king instantly required these words to be 
 recorded, and subscribed by Francis Mowbray. This he did without hesitation, 
 and, moreover, demanded the trial by combat, with his accuser, Daniel ; a bold 
 measure, as the latter was an Italian fencing master. The combat was allowed, 
 and the 5th of January named as the day of mortal trial, to take place in lists, 
 prepared for the occasion, in the great close of Ilolyroodhouse. The king him- 
 self, however, postponed the ceremony, under pretext of " confronting Francis 
 with other two Scottish men sent out of Eugland ; hot of light accompt, because 
 they had spent their moyen, and wes forced to leave the country," (Calderwood). 
 Meanwhile, Francis Mowbray was confined in the castle of Edinburgh, and the 
 Italian in another chamber immediately above him. On the day after he had 
 been confronted with the witnesses " of light accompt," whose evidence, how- 
 ever, only tended to absolve him, and longing as he had been for the mortal trial 
 that was to test his honour, this unhappy youth, was found dead and mangled 
 at the foot of the castle rock, as our author narrates. It was said, that endeav- 
 ouring to escape by means of his sheets and blankets, they proved to be too short, 
 and he was killed by the fall. But, adds our author, " his friends (for he was 
 well born, and a proper young gentleman) gave out that he had been strangled, 
 and his corpse thrown down at the window. But this carried no appearance, 
 and was believed of few." {Supra, p. 107.) 
 
 It carried some appearance, nevertheless. In the first place, from the manner 
 in which the Italian had been lodged in the castle, above the cell of him he 
 accused, it might be said that Mowbray had fallen at his enemy's feet ; and these 
 words stood recorded against him, and signed by himself, accoi'ding to the king's 
 command. In the next place ; it was upon Sunday the J^Oth of January that 
 Mowbray was killed, and, upon Monday following, James and his counsellors 
 subscribe a letter to the justice-clerk, (in which great stress is laid upon the 
 evidence of guilt derived from the attempt to escape,) desiring him to condemn 
 the dead man to be hanged and quartered, and his quarters to be exposed upon 
 the most public places of Edinburgh. Accordingly, on that same day, the 
 mangled body was placed at the bar of the High Court of Justiciary, having 
 been dragged backwards through the streets. '1 here it vras pronounced against 
 the corpse, for doom, " to be haugit be the craig uponn ane gibbet besyde the 
 mercat croce of Edinburgh, and his body quarterit, and his heid, ane leg, and 
 ane airm, tj be put above the Netlierbow, ane cine above the rest, and ane ather 
 leg to be hung on the Westport of Edinburgh, and ane ather airm to be hangiu 
 uponn the Potterraw-poirt ; and all his lands, &c.,to be foirfalt and inbrocht to 
 our soverane lordis use." (.Records of the High Court of Justiciary.) 
 
 Francis Mowbray, as our author tells us, was "a proper young gentleman." 
 In these fjw significant words we have, doubtless, the epitome of a romance in 
 real life. He was a fiery youth, attached to the Catholic cause, and an active 
 plotter. But there was no sufficient evidence that he harboured the base design 
 of assassinating his sovereign ; and the very peculiar manner in which his solemn 
 denial of that accusation came to bo applied as an evidence of his guilt, could 
 only deceive a superstitious age. Thus, under a process most revolting, in all its 
 features, to justice and humanity, perished a son of oue of the finest old baronial 
 houses in Scotland, and oue to whom the noblest gallant of his age. Sir Walter 
 Scott of Buccleuch, was attached, as a companion and a friend. (Sec Mr Pit- 
 cairn's Collection of Criminal Trials.) 
 
KOTES TO BOOK VI. 115 
 
 The old bavon of Barnbougle, Sir John Mowbray, besides his sons Robert and 
 Francis, had five daughters, Agnes, Elizabeth, Marion, Barbara, and Gilles. 
 Their fates were very various. Two of thorn became the step-mothers, respec- 
 tively, of the two most remarkable men of their age, " the admirable Crichton," 
 and "the marvellous Merchiston." For Agnes Mowbray became the second 
 wife of the father of Crichton, by marriage-contract dated at Barnbougle 6th 
 August 1572, " betwixt honorabill persones, Johne Mowbray of Barnbougle, and 
 Agnes Mowbray, his docter, and Maister Robert Creychton of Eliok,"&c. ; and 
 Elizabeth Mowbray, about the same period, became the second wife of Sir 
 Archibald Napier. Charters were granted to Sir Archibald Napier of Merchis- 
 ton and Edinbellie, Elizabeth Mowbray, his wife, and Alexander Napier, son 
 and heir of that marriage, of the lands and meadow called the king's meadow 
 8th February 1588 ; and of half the lands of Lauraustoun, &c., IGth November 
 15.93, all in the parish of Cramoud. Sir Archibald built thereon the castle of 
 Lauriston, which was inherited by his son Alexander, above named, who became 
 a Lord of Session, by the title of Lord Lauriston. That castle still exists, though 
 it has passed thi'ough a variety of hands, and undergone important changes. 
 There is still to be seen, among tlic decorations of two of the windows, tho 
 initials S. A. N. (Sir Archibald Napier), and D. E. M. (Dame Elizabeth Mow- 
 bray), which no doubt have often puzzled the modern possessors. The original 
 tower, a fine characteristic structure, was added to, and all the carved stones 
 carefully preserved, in a manner that docs equal credit to the taste and feeling of 
 its then proprietor, the late Thomas Allan, Esq. It has recently been yet more 
 sumptuously decorated, under the no less tasteful auspices of its present pro- 
 prietor, her majesty's advocate for Scotland. 
 
 The fate of Barbara and Gilles Mowbray was not so fortunate as that of their 
 elder sisters. In " La Jlort de la Royne d'Escosse," which records the severity 
 of the English government towards the domestics of (iueen Mary, this sentence 
 occurs : " Le Baron de Barnestrudgal, gentilhomme Escossois, qui avoit deiix de 
 ■sesjilles en pi-ison, vint a Londres, ou, ay ant commaudement du Roy d'Escosse 
 de parler pour Ics scrviteurs de sa mere, poursuyuit leur deliverance." There 
 can be no doubt that Barnestrudrjal is a corruption of Darnebougall, and that 
 the venerable Scottish baron had journeyed to London chiefly on account of his 
 two daughters, Barbara and Gilles. The household of the queen of Scots were 
 treated with gi-eat cruelty, immediately after her execution. Her forlorn 
 domestics humbly prayed to be allowed to depart to their respective abodes. 
 They were detained, however, as prisoners, and kept in constant dread of death 
 or torture, with food barely sufficient to sustain them. None of them were 
 suffered to take exercise, or to move without a guard. Barbara and Gilles 
 Mowbray, whose affection for the queen is indicated by the anecdote already 
 noted of the former, the daughters of an ancient house, young, and irreproach- 
 able in their conduct, were cast into prison. This inhuman step appears to have 
 brought matters to a crisis. James VI. commissioned Sir John Mowbray him- 
 self, as an intercessor with the murderess of his mother, in behalf of her oppressed 
 maidens and familiars. The result was their release ; and, immediately after- 
 wards, a very different scene arose out of some revulsion of fooling on the part 
 of the tigress of England. About the period of the baron of Barnbouglc's mission, 
 information had been sent to Elizabeth, by those who were weary of watching 
 the body of her victim, and of tyrannizing over those persecuted domestics, that 
 the embalming had failed, and part of the leaden coffin given way. Some sinister 
 policy of her own, added to the opportune arrival and strong remonstrance of Sir 
 John Mowbray, at length determined Elizabeth to order the remains of the 
 <iueen of Scots to be interred at St Peterborough, with tho pomp suitable to 
 royalty. The same curious contemporary account from which these details are 
 gathered, informs us, that, in this high and solemn pageant, " Le.s femmes de la 
 Royne d'Escosse " walked in tho following order : " Madamoysclles Bar'ue 
 
116 KOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 Maubray ; Cristine Sog ; Gilles Maubray ; Elspeth Curie; Renee de Realy ; 
 Marie Pagets ; Jamie Kennedy ; Susanne Korkady." It is remarkable, after 
 all that has been said and sung of the " Queen's Maries," to find only one, out of 
 the eight who were present at her funeral, who bore the name of Mary. When 
 the royal procession reached the chapel, and the service had commenced in 
 English, the physician Borgoin, and all the others of the household, rushed out 
 of the chapel, with the exception of Sir Andrew Melville and Barbara Mowbray. 
 
 Amid such scenes, and from this soil of blood, and tears, and desolation, it 
 seems that love was springing. Very shortly afterwards, Jane Kennedy was 
 married to Sir Andrew Melville, and Barbara Mowbray to William Curie. This 
 last had acted as secretary to Mary for more than twenty years, — that is, since 
 before the commencement of her captivity in England. His extorted evidence 
 had been made conducive to her murder, which greatly afflicted him. Repeatedly 
 his sister, Elspeth or Elizabeth Curie, used to fall on her knees before the queen, 
 and in an agony of tears implore forgiveness for her brother. Mary always 
 exonerated William Curie, whom she loved ; and accused Nau, the French 
 secretary, of misleading him, and being instrumental in her death. One of her 
 latest requests to the earl of Kent, rendered more earnest, perhaps, by her 
 knowledge of the affection that subsisted between her Secretary and Barbara 
 Mowbray, was, that William Curie should be suffered to depart in peace. The 
 earl pledged himself for his safety, and, accordingly, not long after the solemn 
 pageantry at St Peterborough, William Curie with his spouse Barbara Mowbray, 
 and his sister Elspeth Curie, sought security and consolation in a Catholic 
 country. 
 
 I know not what became of Gilles Mowbray, who probably returned to Scot- 
 land with her father. As for Barbara, her remaining history is no less curious 
 than interesting. Some time in the last century, a Flemish gentleman of talent 
 and consideration in the Low Countries, possessed an ancient Flemish manuscript, 
 which narrated that William Curie, accompanied by two ladies of the same 
 name (his wife and sister no doubt) came over to Antwerp after the execution of 
 the queen of Scots, carrying with them a portrait of that unhappy princess, and 
 her head, which they had contrived to abstract ; that, in the little church of St 
 Andrew there, these pilgrims buried their fearful relic at the foot of one of the 
 pillars, where they resolved that their own tombs were eventually to be ; that 
 to this pillar they attached the portrait of their idol, and placed near it a marble 
 slab recording her fate. Thus far the Flemish manuscript. This wild legend is, 
 in some respects, singularly confirmed. To this day (or within a recent period) 
 a portrait of Queen Mary decorates a pillar of the church of St Andrew in 
 Antwerp. Whoever visits that little church now may read the inscription 
 that records the martyrdom of Queen Mary. Moreover, they may peruse, 
 graven upon the slabs that cover their dust, the sad story of two females buried 
 there, Barbara Rloivbray and Elizabeth Curie. Barbara's tomb at Antwerp 
 records her fidelity to Queen Mary, and also the fact, that she was the daughter 
 of Sir John Mowbray, a Scottish baron. It also states, that she was married to 
 William Curie, who for twenty years had been secretary to Queen Mary ; and 
 that as man and wife they lived together for four and twenty years "sine 
 querela" and reared a family of eight children. But this happy union had not 
 been without its distresses. For the Latin inscription proceeds to tell, that of 
 their eight children, six were called to heaven before their parents, and two 
 sons only were spared, upon whom they bestowed a liberal education ; that James, 
 becoming a member of the society of Jesus, settled in Madrid ; and that Hypolitus, 
 the younger, was attached to the same society in Belgic Gaul, being resolved to 
 enrol himself under the banners of Christ, and with sad tears had closed the 
 tomb of his widowed mother, the best of parents. She died, it is further stated. 
 a widow, upon the 31st of July 1617, aged fifty-seven. As her mistress was 
 beheaded in the month of February 1537, Barbara Mowbray must then have 
 
NOTI'S TO lUlOK VI. 117 
 
 been about twcuty-sevcn years of age. The same stone narrates, that under it 
 also reposes the body of Elizabeth Curie (she who had been on the scaffold with 
 Queen Mary), " semper cnlehs" who died upon the ■29th of May 16"J0, aged sixty. 
 It thus appears that she and Barbara Mowbray were of the same age. The 
 inscription bears to have been placed by Hypolitus Curie, the brother of Eliza- 
 beth. It refers to the monument of their beloved mistress placed above them 
 on the pillar, but affords no confirmation of the story of the abstracted head. 
 There are few obituaries so touching as this tomb in the Church of St Andrew 
 at Antwerp. 
 
 The fate of Jane Kennedy (vvlio bound the embroidered kerchief upon the eyes 
 of Mary on the scaifold), if loss romantic, was more melancholy. After her union 
 to Melville, they were both in the highest favour with James VI. ; and when 
 that monarch was arranging the preliminaries of his marriage, in 1589, Sir 
 Andrew was the master of his household ; and the lady whom he selected to 
 attend his queen was Sir Andrew's spouse. But she who had shrouded the 
 eyes of Mary at the block, was not destined to wait on the mother of Charles I. 
 When Jane Kennedy received this high and well earned mark of her sovereign's 
 confidence, she was residing in Fife. Though the storms were so great as to be 
 considered the effect of a combination of witches against the royal alliance, no- 
 thing could deter her from instantly crossing the water. The result we shall 
 give in the words of her brother-in-law, Sir James Melville : 
 
 " The stormes wer also sa gret heir, that ane boit perissit between Brunteland 
 and Leith, wherein was a gentihvoman callit Jane Kenete, wha had been ilang 
 in England with the queen his majestee's mother ; and was, sensyn, maried upon 
 my brother, the maister houshald to his majestic. Sir Andro Melville of Garvok. 
 Q,uhilk gentilwoman, being discret and grave, was sent for be his majestic to be 
 about the queen his bed-fallow. Scho, being willing to mak deligencc, wald not 
 stay, for tlie storm, to saill the ferry ; when the vehement storm drave a schip 
 forceably upon the said boit, and drownit the gentilwoman, and all the persons 
 except tvva. This the Scotis witches confessit, unto his majestic, to have done."] 
 
 NOTE II. Vol. IT. p. 441. 
 
 THE SPANISH BLANKS— PROCEEDINGS OF THE KIRK— NAPIER 
 OF-MERCHISTON AND KING JAMES— PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 
 
 [Our author narrates the history of that popish plot, which is known by the 
 name of the conspiracy of the " Spanish Blanks," in his usual minute and inter- 
 esting style. But he has not recorded all the circumstances attending the fate 
 of the unfortunate sufferers. " Mr George Kerr," says the archbishop (p. 425, 
 vol. ii.), "at his examination, did irKjenuonsIy confess all that he knew of the 
 business." Dr Robertson, in his History of Scotland, comes a point nearer tho 
 truth, lie says, " But Kcr's resolution shrinking tt'At'/i /o>'/«ce ?faA' //^;rate«erf, 
 he confessed that he was employed by these noblemen to carry on a negotiation 
 with the king of Spain." Dr M'Crio, in his life of Andrew Melville, has it, 
 that, "Graham of Fintry, and Ker, being both cd'amined before tho Privy 
 Council, testified,'^ &c. Even Mr Tytler has not recorded the circumstances, 
 although he mentions, in a cursory manner, that Ker's confession had been 
 extorted by torture umler the superintendence of the king himself. But David 
 Moycic, in his contemporary memoirs. Bays, " It wes thorht meit, because of 
 Mr George Keris dcni/cU, that he suld be bulled; and tho Justice-clerk (Bellen- 
 den), and Mr William liairtc, being bosted be his fi'cindis, durst not doe the 
 sam untill the tyuie /t/.s mr/jr.v/)/, taking the n\VL\icT: \wQ\\]y , void have the same 
 
Il8 NOTES TO BOOK. VI, 
 
 donne ; and, efter the secand streak, he cryed for mercie, and confest «/?," (p- 
 100.) This record affords an important commentary upon that sentence of our 
 author, Spottisvvoode, where he says, (p. 426), " This so manifest a discovery of 
 popish plots, tending not only to the overthrow of religion but also of the realm, 
 which by this treasonable practice should have been reduced to a miserable 
 slavery, did animate the king much against the Jesuits." The confessions, with 
 the intercepted blanks and letters, were all published at the express command 
 of the king, and with an admonitory preface, like a sermon on the occasion, 
 drawn up by a minister. The treatise issued from the press of the king's printer, 
 Robert Waldegrave, 1593. Mr Pitcairn has reprinted the confessions in his 
 Criminal Trials, and considers the tract almost unique. There is one copy in 
 that gentleman's possession, and another in the Advocates Library. The king's 
 own violent and cruel conduct, in the investigation of the affair of the Spanish 
 blanks, of course encoflraged the excitement of the Kirk against the popish lords ; 
 nor is it to be wondered at, that the commissioners should have reminded him 
 of his own demeanour and expressions, upon the fearful occasion which our 
 author so simply records as " the hearing of Mr George Kerr his confession," 
 (p. 441). 
 
 It is somewhat singular, that no historian of the period, from Spottiswoode to 
 Tytlcr, should have noticed, that the leading commissioner from the Kirk, at 
 this eventful crisis, was the most remarkable man of his day, John Napier of 
 Merchiston, who at the very time was brooding over the wonderful conception 
 which so completely revolutionized science in the seventeenth century. It is 
 difficult to say whether he himself regarded that laborious and immortal work, 
 or his no less laborious but mortal antipathy to the Popedom, as the principal 
 mission of his genius upon earth. Certainly his mind was about equally divided 
 between the mysteries of Numbers and the mysteries of the Apocalypse ; 
 and while calculating the Canon Mirijicus Logarithmcrinn, he was at the 
 same time miscalculatiug the day of judgment. The affair of the Spanish 
 blanks had greatly excited him ; so much so, that upon this occasion only, 
 during all his life, ho emerged from the deep shadow of his mysterious studies, 
 to become a public agitator. The whole circumstances connected with his 
 intervention, for the Kirk, with the king at this crisis, are so curiously illus- 
 trative of the times as to occasion regret that the narrative had not found its 
 proper place in the pages of Spottiswoode. 
 
 It was known that the eldest son of the master of the mint was highly and 
 rarely gifted. Mr Robert Pont, particularly mentioned by our author as a leader 
 of the Kirk, was the parish minister of the barony of Merchiston, and the 
 intimate friend of the " fear of Merchiston," or young laird ; who, by the way, 
 was only fifteen years younger than his venerable father. His very learned 
 minister Pont, at once an accomplished mathematician and a profound theolo- 
 gian, in one of his abstruse works refers to Napier as " honoratum et apprime 
 eruditum amicum nostrum fidelem Christi servum, Joannem Naperum, cujus 
 extant in Apocalypsin u^raiWuj^aTa," (De Sabbaticorum Annorum Periodis, 1619.) 
 Sir John Skene of Curriehill, clerk-register, to whom we owe the first collection 
 of the Scottish Acts of parliament, the.i^e^iam I\fajeslatem,theQuonia7n Attachia- 
 menta, and the De Verborum Significatiorie, being puzzled with an article in the 
 last mentioned treatise, tells us that, in order to extricate himself, " I thought 
 gud to propone certaine questions to John Naper, fear of Merchistoun, ane 
 gentleman of singular judgment and learning, especially in the mathematique 
 sciences." As that work was only published in 1597 (seventeen years before the 
 publication of the Logai'ithmic Canon), Skene's estimate of Napier was contem- 
 poraneous with his taking up the cause of the Kirk against the plots of Spain. 
 There is evidence, however, not a little curious and interesting, that even before 
 this time the King of Numbers felt perfectly assured in his own mind of his 
 great discovery, as will appear in the sequel. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI, 
 
 119 
 
 Speaking ot' the destructiou of tho Spanish Armada in 1588, our author, 
 Spottiswoode, says, " This was tho marvellous year, talked of so long before by 
 the astrologucs, which this defeat, and tho accidouts that fell fortli iu France 
 about the end of the same year, did in a part make good," (vol. ii. p. 389.) The 
 other remarkable events of the period wore, the death of Catherine de Medicis, 
 (" bludie Jezabell to the sancts of (Jod," as James Melville, the minister, calls her 
 iu his diary), the murders of tho Duke and Cardinal of Guise, at the instigation 
 of Henry III., and the assassination of that monarch himself. These events aro 
 thus succinctly recorded by Melville. " The Due and Cardinalo wer slean in Decem- 
 ber 15fi8 ; the quein,for ha)iiieuriiess,Mlovf[t in Jauuar ; and the king was slickit 
 the August following," (Diary, p. 177). If even in the nineteenth century, when 
 superstition is understood to be banished from civilized life, tho scripture mys- 
 teries are continually supposed to bo revealed by political events, we must not 
 wonder that in the year 158o such events were regarded as the fulfilment of 
 ancient prophecy. The mind of Napier was particularly agitated at that alarm- 
 ing crisis. He had been long brooding over the depths of the Apocalypse. Be- 
 fore he had completed his fourteenth year, and when at the college of St 
 Andrews, he had held disputations on the subject, of which he gives this very 
 graphic account : " In my tender years and bairnage iu Sanct Androis, at the 
 schooles, having on the one part contracted a loving familiarity with a certain 
 gentleman, a papist, and, on the other part, being attentive to the sermons of 
 that wortliy man of God, Maister Christopher Goodman, teaching upon tho 
 Apocalyps, I was so moved in admiration against the blindness of papists, that 
 could not most evidently see their seven-hilled city, Rome, painted out there so 
 lively by Saint John, as the mother of all spiritual whoredom, that not only 
 Imrstit I out in continual reasoning, against my said familiar, but also from 
 thenceforth I determined with myself, by the assistance of God's Spirit, to em- 
 ploy my study and diligence to search out the remanent mysteries of that holy 
 book : as, to this hour, praised be the Lord, I have been doing at all such times 
 as conveniently I might have occasion." Galileo, when a few years older, was 
 also roused to powerful mental exertion, in the house of God. But it was his 
 eye, not his ear that was attracted, — a characteristic difference between tho prac- 
 tical and the speculative philosopher which continued throughout their respec- 
 tive careers. In the cathedral of Pisa, to which city the young Italian had 
 been sent for the benefit of an university education, he fixed his gaze upon the 
 vibrations of a lamp. Amid the pageantry of that worship against which 
 Napier warred, and of which Galileo was the victim, he watched with the eye of 
 an eaglet tho isochronal movements of the chain, and measured them by tho 
 beatings of his pulse. The result was the pendulum. 
 
 But to return to Napier and the "marvellous year ;" ho also tells us himself, 
 that after many doubts and despairings, at length a light from above seemed 
 suddenly to burst upon his hitherto obscure and painful lucubrations. " Then," 
 says he, " greatly rejoicing in the Lord, 1 began to write thereof iu Latin, yet I 
 purposed not to have set out the same suddenly, and far less to have written tho 
 same also in English ; till that of late, this new insolency of papists, arising 
 about the 1588 year of God, and daily increasing within this island, dotli so pity 
 our hearts, seeing thorn put more trust in Jesuits and seminary priests than in 
 the true Scriptures of God, and iu tlie Pope and king of Spain tlian in tho King 
 of kings, that, to prevent the same, I was constrained of compassion, leaving tlio 
 Latin, to haste out in English tliis present work, almost unrii)o, that thereby the 
 simple of this island may bo instructed, the godly confirmed, and the proud and 
 foolish expectations of the wicked beaten down ; purposing hereafter, God will- 
 ing, to publish shortly the other Latin edition hereof, to the publick utility of 
 the whole Church." 
 
 This was written with a direct reference to tho exciting circumstances under 
 which Napier was cominissioued from tho Kirk to the king, iu the year 15f);}. 
 
120 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 For a time his mind was completely engrossed with these stormy politics, which 
 were coincident with his labours to demonstrate, by means of a scientific ana- 
 lysis of the Scriptures, that the end of all things was not far distant. Yet it can 
 be proved that even in the "marvellous year," 1508, he alone of all the world, 
 and in the days of Tycho, Galileo, and Kepler, was laboriously working out the 
 discovery of the Logarithms, although he did not present that powerful lever to 
 science until the year 1614. The risk was, that his literary crusade against the 
 Popedom, and his devotion to the affairs of the Kirk, might have buried the 
 secret in his grave. And, indeed, his own ardent anticipations, which he an- 
 nounces in the preface to his great mathematical work, of the mighty impetus 
 thus about to be afforded to human investigation in its highest departments, 
 must have been somewhat checked and mortified by the persuasion, that, in the 
 course of a very few generations, the dominion of man upon earth was to cease, 
 and the heavens to pass away like a scroll. 
 
 The circumstances under which Napier was placed at the head of the com- 
 mission from the Kirk are somewhat curious. He had now for a long time been 
 married to his second wife, Agnes Chisholm,tlie daughter of Sir James Chis- 
 liolm of Cromlix, by whom he had a numerous family of sons. His only son by 
 his first marriage to Elizabeth Stirling of Keir, was at tins time attached to the 
 household of the king ; and served him faithfully afterwards in England, for 
 fifteen years, as gentleman of his bed-chamber. James, when on his deathbed, 
 recommended Archibald Napier to Charles I. ; and, accordingly, he was the first 
 Scotchman whom that monarch raised to the peerage. While on the one hand 
 there was this link between John Napier and the Court, on the other a yet closer 
 tie existed between him and the persecuted party cf the popish lords. In the 
 confession extorted by the king from poor Ker,(who was tlie brother of Lord New- 
 bottle,) by that infernal instrument tlie iron boot, he states, " That the filling of 
 the blanks was trusted to Mr William Crichton and Mr James Tyrie ; and that 
 .Sir James Clmhobne, one of the king's master households, was first chosen to be 
 currier of the blanks ; but that he being impeded through some private business, 
 they were delivered to him (Ker) subscribed in the beginning of October, he 
 being then in Edinburgh," (p. 4"26.) Napier's father-in-law had thus escaped 
 the iron boot, but was not allowed to rest by the Kirk. " The ministers of the 
 synod of Fife," says Spottiswoode, " meeting at St Andrews in the beginning of 
 October 1593, did summarily excommunicate the earls of Angus, Huntly, and 
 Erroil, the Lord Home, and Sir James Chisholme. They sent letters also to all 
 the presbyteries, desiring their excommunication to be published in all the 
 churches ; and particularly required the ministers, and ivcll-affected barons, to 
 advise what course was fittest to take for defence of religion, and repressing the 
 practices of enemies," (p. 437.) This rabid synod was very violent against the 
 delinquents, declaring them " ipso facto cut off from Christ and his Kirk, and so 
 become most worthy to be declared excommunicated, and cut off from the fel- 
 lowship of Christ and his Kirk, and to be given over to the bauds of Satan, 
 whose slaves they are, that they may learn, if it so please God, not to blaspheme 
 Christ or his Gospel." They added that, " the said Sir James Chisholm being 
 one of the principal complices and devisers of their most malicious plots, the 
 said synod found that they had good interest and occasion to excommunicate 
 and cut him off," &c. (Calderwood.) If John Napier's numerous family attended 
 their parish church on the day appointed, they must have heard pronounced from 
 the pulpit their grandfather's doom, to be excluded from tlie social comforts of 
 life, the blessings of the Church, and delivered into the hands of Satan ; and this 
 under the auspices of their own father. 
 
 As Spottiswoode narrates (vol. ii, p. 438), this violent jtroceeding on the part 
 of the Kirk gi'catly incensed the king, although his own treatment of tlie brother 
 of the Abbot of Ncwbottlc set the highest example to such tyrannical oppres- 
 sion. But our author has passed over in a very cursory manner the graphic 
 
NOTES TO IJOOK VI. 121 
 
 incident of the [lopish lords' appeal to the king on the highway, which acceler- 
 ated the violent proceedings of the Kirk a<;aiust them. 
 
 On the I2th October 1593, King James, harassed by his clergy and haunted 
 by witches, now dreading the king of Spain, and now in terror for the wild earl 
 of Bothwell, was trotting at the head of his retinue to the borders, with the 
 temper of a goaded ox. Suddenly a most unwelcome apparition arrested his 
 progress at Fala. The earls of Angus, Huntly, and Erroll, and Sir James 
 Chisholme, had been hiding themselves among the mountains. Aware of the 
 royal progress, they determined to extort some favourable expressions from the 
 king himself, and most unexpectedly started up in his path, at the foot of Soutra 
 hill. Falling on tlieir knees before him, they earnestly implored a fair trial, and 
 that they should not be condemned unheard. James, though favourable to the 
 supplicants, was very much alarmed for the interpretation that might be put on 
 this audience, and refused to treat with them. But, instead of ordering them 
 into custody, he dismissed them without committing himself, and immediately 
 sent a report of the whole affair, by the master of Glammis and the abbot of 
 Lindores, to Queen Elizabeth's ambassador and the clergy in Edinburgh. " It 
 was," says the minister Melville, in his diary, " verie greivus to the Breathrin 
 to heir that the saids excummunicat lords haid repearit to his majestic, and 
 spoken him at Faley, even immediately before the meeting of the Kirk. This 
 was given in commission to be regratit." 
 
 Upon this it was, that the excommunication of these persecuted noblemen and 
 gentlemen of the popish persuasion, was ratified in a very excited convention of 
 the Kirk, on the 17th October 1.593, and publio proclamation of the same 
 ordained to be made from all the pulpits. The same convention appointed a 
 select committee to follow the king wherever he was bound, and to lay before 
 him, in a personal interview, certain instructions for the punishment of the 
 rebels, the safety of the Kirk, and the quieting of the public mind. This mission 
 was considered so perilous, that the ministers, not usually backward in the 
 political storms of their religion, declined it very nearly to a man. Their sturdy 
 moderator, however, James Melville, then stepped forward to assert the courage 
 of the school of Knox. The two barons selected for the adventure must have 
 been considered among the most able and courageous of the convention. And 
 certainly it aifords a curious trait of the times, that the leading commissioner, 
 and who no doubt must have been the spokesman with the king, was the son-in-law 
 of Sir James Chisholme, a principal delinquent ; namely, John Napier younger of 
 Mcrchistou. James Melville, in his diary (p. 208), says, " It behoved me (all 
 nther refusing except Mr Patrick Galloway, the kingis ordinar minister, who 
 was to go thither) to tak jorney to Jed^art, accompanied with twa barrones, 
 the lairds of Merchiston and Cadcrwoode, and twa burgesses of Edinbruche ; 
 whar finding the king, were bot bauchlie lookit upon." That the leading com- 
 missioner was the philosopher, and not his father, is distinctly proved by the 
 following record : 
 
 "17 October 1593. Petitiones per commissarios Ecclesice Scoticance Regi 
 cahibiicB." [Here follows the petition.] "Theise foroseid petitionis and conclu- 
 sions being read and considered by the commissioners of the Kirk, barons and 
 burghs present, the said commissioners agreed to the same, and promised to 
 stand by them ; and, for this purpose, hath directed in commission these 
 bretliren, the laird of Merkinston younger, the laird of Calderwood, the com- 
 missioners of Edenburghe and Dundee, Mr Patrick Galloway, and Mr James 
 Melville, to present these humblo petitionis to the kingis majestic, and to re- 
 tourue his majestie's answer back with all diligence. Ordains the excom- 
 munications of the earls of Huntly, Angusso, and Erroll, the laird of Auchin- 
 downe, and Sir James Chesholnic, to be intimate in all the kirkes of Lowthian, 
 the next Sabbothe." (liihl. Cotton. ( '<ilif/ii/a, d. 2, fol. 19(1 ; Fwdera, xvi. p. 222.) 
 
 The reception of these commissioners by his majesty at Jedburgh, and what 
 
122 NOTES TO BOOK VI, 
 
 passed upon tlie occasion, is narrated by our author (vol. ii. pp. 440, 441), who 
 adds, " After these speeches, they humbly besought his majesty to vouchsafe 
 the Assembly some answer in writing ; but he absolutely refused, and so they 
 took their leave." James Melville, however, expressly says, that they got their 
 answers in writing next morning. Upon the 20th of October, the convention 
 received the commissioners, "their brethren, and good frendes, the larde of 
 Marchiston younger,'"' &c., who delivered the king's answers. {Foedera, xvi.) 
 
 It is also remarkable that Spottiswoode should have been ignorant, or have 
 omitted to record, that the leading commissioner for the Kii'k at this desperate 
 crisis followed up his unsatisfactory interviews with a severe lecture to his 
 Majesty ; and this in the form of a published letter, framed in the most uncom- 
 promising and dictatorial spirit of the Kirk, though tempered with the language 
 and manner of a gentleman. This bold and somewhat rash remonstrance, was 
 ere long translated into all the languages of Europe. It was in the month of 
 October 1593, that the commissioners met the king at Jedburgh, and afterwards 
 at Linlithgow. A third deputation laid the same petition before him in Decem- 
 ber following ; because, in the intermediate month of November, the act of 
 abolition had been proclaimed, to the great dismay and dissatisfaction of the 
 protestant party. Now, the following letter (prefixed by way of dedication to 
 Napier's " Plain Discovery,") is dated at Merchiston the 29th of January 1593, 
 — that is to say, the month of Jiuma,ry folloivinff the audiences with his Majesty, 
 the 25th of March being, at that period, reckoned New Year's Day. 
 
 " To the Right Excellent, High and Mightie Prince, James the Sixt, 
 King of Scottes, Grace and Peace, &c. 
 " Forsomuch (right highe and mightie Prince) as both this our divine prophet 
 St John, inti'eating here most speciallie of the destruction of the Anti-christian 
 seate, citie, and kingdome, doth direct the execution of that great worke of 
 God's justice and just judgement to the kings of the earth : as also, the whole 
 prophets of al ages have for the most part directed al their admonitions gene- 
 rally to kings, princes, and governors, to the effect that they (as Heads-men) 
 being by holy admonitions forewarned, might (according thereto) holde all the 
 whole body of their commoun wealth in good order, — for certaine it is that the 
 heade, being well affected, will of ncccssitie ministi^at health and wholsome 
 humors to the whole body, — Therefore it is likewise the dutie of God's servants 
 in this age, interpreters of prophecies, as well (according to the example of the 
 prophets) to incourage and inanimate princes to be ready against that greate 
 day of the Lord's revenge, as also to exhort them generally to remove all such 
 impediments in their cuntries and common wealths as may hinder that work 
 and procure God's plagues. For the which causes wee, also all your Majesties 
 subjects that any waics (how litle soever) have addicted our studies unto these 
 propheticall mysteries, do not onely crave your Highness to abide constant and 
 couragious against that day of the destruction of that Apostatik seate and citie, 
 in case (God willing) it fall in your time, but also in the meantime, untill the 
 reformation of that idolatrous seate, to be preparing and purging your Majesties 
 own seat and kingdom from all the enemies of that cause : yea, and from all 
 others any waics enemies or abusers of justice. For verely and in truoth, such 
 is the injury of this our present time, against both the Church of God and your 
 Majesties true lieges, that Religion is despised, and Justice utterly neglected : 
 for what by Atheists, Papists, and cold professors, the religion of God is 
 mocked in al estates: Againe, for partialitie, prolixitie, dearth, and deceitful- 
 ness of lawes, the poore parishe, the proud triumplie, and justice is no where to 
 be found. Praying your Majestic to attend your self unto these enormities, and 
 (without casting over the credite thereof to wi-ong wresters of justice) your 
 Majesties self to wit certainly that justice be done to these your true and godly 
 lieges, against the enemies of God's church, and their most cruell oppressors : 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI. 123 
 
 Assuring your Majesty, be concordance of al Scriptures, that if your Majestie 
 ministrate justice to them, God the supreme judge shal ministrate justice to you 
 against al your enemies, and contrarily if otherwise. Therefore Sir, let it bo 
 your Majesties continuall study (as called and charged thcreuuto by God) to 
 reforme the universall enormities of your country ; and first (taking example of 
 the princely prophet David) to begin at your Majesties owne house, familie and 
 court, and purge the same of all suspicion of Papists and Atheists or Ncwtrals, 
 whereof this Revelation forctelleth that the number shall greatly increase in 
 these latter daies. For shall any Prince be able to be one of the destroyers of 
 that great seat, and a purger of the world from Anti-christianisme, who purgeth 
 uot his own countrie ? shal he purge his whole country, who purgeth not his 
 owne house ? or shal hee purge his house, who is not purged himselfe by private 
 meditations with liis God ? 1 say therefore, as God hath mercifully bcgunne the 
 first degree of that great worke in your inward minde by purging the same from 
 all apparaut spot of Antichristianisme, (as that fruitfull meditation upon the 7. 8. 
 9. and 10. verses of the 20. Chapter of the Revelation, which your Highness hath 
 both godly and learnedly set forth, doth beare plaine testimony, to your Majes- 
 ties high praise and honour,) so also wee beseeche your Majestie (having consid- 
 eration of the treasonable practices in these present daies, attempted both 
 against God's trueth, your authoritie, and the common wealth of this countrie,) 
 to proceede to the other degi'ees of that reformation, even orderly from your 
 Majesties owne persone til your highnes familie, aud from your family to your 
 court ; til, at last, your Majesties whole country stand reformed iu the feare of 
 God, ready waiting for that great day in the which it shall please God to call 
 your Majestie, or yours after you, among other reformed princes, to that great 
 and universall reformation, and destruction of that Antichristian seat and citie 
 Rome, according to the wordes prophecied, Apoc. 17. saying, — The ten horns are 
 ten Kings, &c. these are they that shall hate that harlot, and shall make her 
 desolate and naked, and shall eate up her flesh and burne herselfe with fire ; — 
 beside also a wari'ant and commaund generally given to all men, Apoc. lii, say- 
 ing, — Rewarde her even as shee hath rewarded you, and give her double accord- 
 ing to her workes, and in the cup that she hath filled to you, fill her the double. 
 And now, because the spirit of God, both by all his prophets generally, and by 
 St John particularly commends and directs the execution of justice to kings 
 and rulers, I ti'ust no man shall thinke that this our Discovery (wherein is con- 
 tained God's justice and severe judgment against the Antichristian seate) can 
 more justly be dedicate unto any man than unto these ten Christian kings, 
 sometimes maintainers of that seate, whome or whose successors now both the 
 prophet promises to be executors of that judgment, as also in whose kingdomes 
 reformation is already beguune ; but, because of these kingdomes, sometimes 
 maintainers of that seate and nowe desisting therefro, this your Majesties 
 realme is undoubtedly one, as also this present treatise, both being written by 
 your Highnes subject and iu your Majesties native language, — were unproper 
 to be directed to any of the other princes. Therefore, of necessitie I am led (as 
 by the eare) to direct and dedicate these primices and first fruites of my study 
 unto your highnes ; wherein, if perchance I should seme auy waies more prc- 
 sumpteous then acceptable, I doubt not but your Majesties clemencie will 
 pardone that presumption that comes of necessitie : Cut contrarily, if I herein 
 shall be found acceptable, (as verely I look for of your Majesties humauitie) 
 then certainly, not onely conjoyne I unto the former necessitie a voluntary 
 heart, and so do ofi'er these presents both gladly and necessarily unto your 
 Highnes, but also it shall incourage both me and others your Majesties lieges, 
 to proceede, every man in his own calHng, to all kindc of godly workes and 
 good exercises, to the honour of God, edification of his Church, your Highness 
 renownc, and welfai-o to your Majesties realme, when they shall finde your 
 clomcncie to become the patrone and protector of all zealous students, and an 
 
124 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 allower and accepter of their godly exercises. For let not your Majestic doubt 
 but that there are within your realme (als wel as in other countries) godly and 
 good ingynes, versed and exercised in al mauer of honest science and godly dis- 
 cipline, who by your Majesties instigation might yeelde foorth tvorkes and f miles, 
 ivorihie of memory, which otherwise (lacking some mightie Maecenas to incour- 
 age them) may perchance be buried with eternall silence. Hoping, therefore 
 that your Highnes will be a protector of us and our godly exercises, wee pray 
 and humblie beseech the Almightie to be also unto your Hignes selfe, and most 
 honourable bedfellowe the queenes Majestic, a perpetuall protector of your 
 honourable estates and welfare of personcs, both in body and soule, to the 
 quieting of your Majesties lieges, increase of the true Chui'ch, and honour of 
 God ; to whome, in Trinitie and Unitie, bee praise for ever. At Marchistoun 
 the 29 daye of Januar. 1 593. 
 
 " Your highnes most humble and obedient subject, 
 
 " John Napier, Fear of Marchistoun" 
 
 As a frontispiece to this epistle, the philosopher selected the arms matrimonial 
 of Scotland and Denmark, in compliment to the King's recent alliance. But 
 underneath the heraldic conjunction, he caused to be printed, in capital letters, 
 this solemn warning : " In vaine are al earthlie conjunctions, unles we be heires 
 together, and of one bodie, and fellow partakers of the promises of God in 
 Christ, as the Evangell." 
 
 In this very characteristic production, which rates the king for not " purg- 
 ing his house " of such Masters of the Household as the excellent Sir James 
 Chisholme, Napier's own father-in-law, a sentence occurs that is well worth 
 noting. It was little heeded or understood by those to whom it was addressed, 
 and has scarcely been noticed or understood since. At a time when the elements 
 of civil and religious sanity were all in a state of solution, and violent conflict 
 during the most vicious age of a semi-barbarous nation, one man, himself an 
 agitator of this unpromising chaos, announces the advent of the great era of 
 science, in the glory of which Scotland, through his solitary means, was to be a 
 proud partaker. 
 
 " In the desert a fountain is springing. 
 In the wide waste tiiere yet is a tree." 
 
 Abstracting his mind for a moment from the turbulent arena, so little 
 congenial to his habits and his destiny, forgetting alike the mystical terrors of 
 the beast with ten horns, and the near approach of the day of judgment, he tells 
 the king, " Let not your Majesty doubt but that there are within your realm, 
 as well as in other countries, godly and good ingynes (geniuses) versed and 
 exercised in all manner of honest science and godly discipline, who by your 
 Majesty's instigation might yield forth works and fruits worthy of memory, 
 which otherwise, lacking some mighty Mtecenas to encourage them, may per- 
 chance be buried ivilh eternal silence." 
 
 This might easily pass, and no doubt has generally done so, for a natural 
 invocation in favour of science, from one more or less devoted to its interests. 
 But it had a deeper and more precise signification. The writer of that sentence, 
 while parading in the midst of a barbarous age his imaginary key to the 
 Apocalypse, which, in weaker and weaker hands, has been constantly and 
 vainly applied ever since, had in his pocket a key to science, so true, and so 
 powerful, as to change the face of it in a few years. The Logarithms is a power 
 in Numbers that bears the same relation to mathematical operations as tho 
 telescope to physical research, and steam to mechanical forces. Indeed, with- 
 out the first of these three mighty impulses, science was not ripe for the other 
 two. To this secret it was that Napier i)riucipally alluded in that solemn 
 sentence to his sovereign. The fact can be distinctly proved, and is not deduced 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI. ] 25 
 
 merely from the circumstance of liis great discovery having appeared many 
 years afterwards. He communicated the discovery to Tvcho Brake immedi- 
 ately after the date of his letter to James VI. Ty cho, however, died in ignorance 
 of the value of the hint, and perhaps of its meaning. Kepler, the pupil and 
 associate of the King of Astronomy, only remembered the neglected communica- 
 tion when, more than twenty years thereafter, his first inspection of the Canon 
 MiRiFicus impelled him to write a most elaborate and enthusiastic espistle to 
 its honoured author. These latent events were co-extensive with the rudest and 
 most turbulent times of onr church histoiy ; and the curious but abstruse 
 evidence by which they can be distinctly proved, is well worthy of being added 
 to the pages of Spottiswoode. 
 
 Not long before the date of Napier's letter to James VI. the monarch had 
 returned from his matrimonial adventure in Denmark. In that expedition he 
 was accompanied by his physician, Dr John Craig, who was an old and valued 
 friend of John Napier. Their fathers. Sir Ai'chibald Napier of Merchiston, and 
 Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, (the great Feudist,) had been colleagues together 
 in the office of Justice-depute. The sons became intimate from the congeniality 
 of their pursuits. John Craig was the third sou of the Feudist, and highly 
 distinguished as a mathematician. A rare and little known record of his fame 
 in that respect is extant in a small volume of Latin epistles, printed at Bruns- 
 wick in the year 1737, and dedicated, by the collector Riid. Aug. Nollenius, to 
 the duke of Brunswick. The three first letters in this collection are from Dr 
 John Craig to Tycho Brahe, and prove the former to have been upon the most 
 friendly and confidential footing with the illustrious Dane. lie addresses 
 Tycho as his " honoured friend," and signs himself, " your most affectionate 
 Johu Craig, doctor of philosophy and medicine." The first letter commences 
 thus: "About the beginning of last winter, that distinguished personage, Sir 
 William Stuart, delivered to me your letter, and the book which you sent." 
 The date of this letter is not given, but is thus curiously ascertained. I have 
 had in my hand a mathematical work of Tycho's, belonging to the library of the 
 Edinburgh University, upon the first blank leaf of which there is written, in 
 Latin, a sentence to the following efi"ect : " To Doctor John Craig of Edinburgh, 
 in Scotland, a most illustrious man, and highly gifted with varied and excellent 
 learning, professor of medicine, and exceedingly skilled in mathematics, Tycho 
 Brahe hath sent this gift, and, tvilh his own hand, hath written this at Urani- 
 burg, "2 November 138^." Now it appears, from contempoi-ary chrouicles, that 
 Sir William Stewart, who was captain of the king's guard, had been sent to 
 Denmark, in the month of August 1588 (the " marvellous year"), to arrange the 
 preliminaries of the royal marriage, and that he returned to Ediuburgli on the 
 loth of November in that same year. It cannot be doubted, that the old book 
 in the College Library, the inscription on which beai's date 2d November 1588 
 when Sir William Stewart was actually in Denmark, is the identical one the 
 receipt of which, from the same distiuguislied emissary, is acknowledged in 
 Craig's letter to Tycho, preserved in the little rare volume printed at Bruns- 
 wick. That letter, then, must have been written in the year 1589. Moreover, 
 Dr John Craig was physician in ordinary to King James. 
 
 Our author has narrated {supra, \-o\. ii. p. 405,) the royal progress to the Court 
 of Denmark, in the first month of the year 1500, after his majesty's romantic 
 expeditiou to meet his bride in Norway. But he has omitted to record the fact 
 that, among the festivities and amusements which the king then enjoyed, was a 
 visit to Tycho Brahe, at Uraniburg. Here was then planted the throne of science; 
 nor can we doubt that the visit was suggested by Dr John Craig, who accompanied 
 his majesty in the capacity of royal jihysiciau. Craig had long desiderated an 
 opportunity of visiting Tycho. In his letter of 1589, above referred to, he states 
 that five years before the date of that letter, ho had made an attempt to reach 
 Uraniburg, but had been driven back by tempests ; and that ever since, being 
 
126 NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 more and more attracted by the reports of Tycho's fame, and of the magnificent 
 scale and appointments of his observatory, he had been ardently longing to 
 satisfy at once his friendship and his curiosity. The storm which baffled him in 
 1584 was scarcely to be regretted, since he now accomplished his desire in the 
 train of a monarch. It is also remarkable that our historians of a more modern 
 date than Spottiswoode should have passed in silence this graphic incident in 
 the one romantic chapter of the life of King James. We might have expected 
 it to have been admirably told in the Tales of a Grandfather ; where, however, 
 the king's adventurous gallantry is not recorded at all ; the fact merely being 
 stated that " King James VI. of Scotland married the daughter of the king of 
 Denmark, called Ann of Denmark." Nor has Scott mentioned the visit to 
 Uraniburg in his notice of the Danish match, which occurs in the history of 
 Scotland written for Lardner's Cyclopedia. Tytler slightly alludes to the 
 fact. Yet not only was it the most curious adventure in the domestic life of the 
 monarch, but, as will appear in the sequel, it had encouraged and accelerated 
 the unexpected impulse which the progress of science derived from savage 
 Scotland. 
 
 In the island of Huen, at the mouth of the Baltic, Frederick II. of Denmark had 
 seated the great astronomer on a prouder throne than his own ; bestowing upon 
 him honours and revenues, and every aid and encouragement which Tycho's 
 soaring genius could desire. Arabia had been lavish of her stores to renovated 
 science ; and now the most romantic tales of eastern magic and splendour 
 seemed realized in the north. Upon the 8tli of August 157(3, the first stone of 
 the far-famed castle of Uraniburg was laid in the island with which the 
 munificent patronage of Frederick had gifted the philosopher. Huen, about 
 eight miles in'circumference, rises from the sea by a gentle elevation, so as to 
 command the horizon on all sides ; and the edifice with which it was honoured 
 was no less royal than the gift. The form was quadrangular, the dimensions 
 being sixty feet on every face. It was flanked with lofty towers, thirty-two 
 feet in diameter, the observatories of this palace of science. The whole estab- 
 lishment was in keeping. Certain mysterious tubes, and other telegraphic con- 
 trivances (not mysteries now), enabled the great man to communicate with his 
 domestics as if by magic, and to obtain secret intelligence regarding his many 
 visiters long before their arrival. And here it was that Tycho catalogued the 
 stars with an accuracy, and to an extent, which threw the labours of Hipparchus 
 and Ptolemy for ever in the shade. No instruments of power or nicety approxi- 
 mating to liis had hitherto been applied to physical research. Tycho in his 
 youth was wild, fanciful, quarrelsome, and romantic. A dispute with a friend 
 on the subject of mathematics was instantly brought to the arbitrement of the 
 sword. The combat took place at seven o'clock of a dark evening in December. 
 The stars refused to be accomplices in this unnatural demonstration of a mathe- 
 matical truth. Tycho lost his nose. But the future king of Uraniburg was 
 nothing daunted thereby ; and the ingenuity by which he supplied it is charac- 
 teristic of the magnificence of his mind. He would have disdained that barbarous 
 borrowing from the forehead, of which modern surgery is so vain ; and he 
 rather gloried in an opportunity of obtaining a finer proboscis than any other 
 mortal. Accordingly, with his own hands he fashioned a nose of gold, silver, and 
 ivory, exquisitely mingled, and thus restored he feared not to look either heaven 
 or woman in the face. An old French author, M. Saverien, who has sketched 
 some biographies of eminent philosophers, says of this precious nose, " Qu'il 
 e'toit si bien fait, et si bien ajuste', que tout le mondc le croroit naturel. Cela 
 peut etre ; mais on ne conjoit pas comment I'or ct Vargent pouvoient imiter la 
 chair; ces deux metaux e'coient apparement caches.'" Perhaps this aided to 
 fascinate the beautiful peasant girl of whom Tycho was enamoured, and whom 
 he shortly afterwards married. This mis-alliance brought upon him such 
 rigorous treatment from his noble family, that the king of Denmark thought it 
 
NOTKS TO BOOK VI. 127 
 
 necessary to interpose his good offices. And hence the astronomer himself 
 became a sovereign on the island of Iluen. To complete the picture of the man 
 whom kings delighted to hononr, by his side, the prime minister of his glorious 
 toils, was the great Longomoutanus ; and at his feet lolled his gifted idiot Lep, 
 whom ho fed from his own hand, and who repaid his master with prophecies 
 and second-sight. But with all his natural powers and artificial appliances, 
 in the essential department of mathematical calculation Tycho was compara- 
 tively feeble. He wasted his genius in weaving systems out of his own imagina- 
 tion, and fortifying them with his ingenuity. And thus it was that this great mind 
 actually retrograded from the truths of Copernicus. The gigantic genius of his 
 pupil Kepler subsequently towered above that difficulty. But the herculean 
 task of unravelling the orbit of Mars, and determining the relative position of 
 that planet with the sun and the earth, had nearly killed him. "The industry 
 and patience of Kepler in this investigation," says Professor Playfair, " were 
 not less remarkable than his ingenuity and invention. Logarithms ivere not yet 
 known ; so that arithmetical computation, when pushed to great accuracy, was 
 carried on at a vast expense of time and labour. In the calculation of every 
 opposition to Mars, the work filled ten folio pages, and Kepler repeated each 
 calculation ten times ; so that the whole work for each opposition extended to 
 one hundred such pages ; seven oppositions thus calculated produced a large 
 folio volume." 
 
 From the exciting scenes of Uraniburg James VI. returned, with his bride 
 and his retinue, in the mouth of May 1590, to bell the cat with his clergy in 
 Scotland. The wonders which Dr John Craig had beheld in the Palace of 
 Science, he could not fail to unfold to his friend in the old fortalice of Merchiston. 
 To Napier was detailed his discussions with Tycho, and all the splendours, 
 resources, triumphs, and difficulties, of the regal astronomer. A fresh impulse 
 was thus given to the one original genius in Scotland. Amid the turbulence that 
 immediately followed the return of the king ; the storm of the Spanish Blanks ; 
 the escape of Francis earl of Bothwell, and of the hunted popish lords ; the 
 solemn consignation of Napier's own father-in-law to the devil ; thunders from 
 the pulpit, and yells from "the buits," science still occupied the mind of 
 Napier, and he still thought of Uraniburg and Tycho Brahe. And hence those 
 expressions to his own sovereign, darkly intimating a power no less worthy of 
 royal patronage than the achievements of the Dane. 
 
 Unquestionably before this time, Napier, and he alone, had conceived the Logar- 
 ithms. This is placed beyond all doubt by the fact that, at the very time when 
 he addressed his epistle against papacy to James VI., he sent Tycho Brahe a 
 promise of the new impulse to science. For this we have the authority of Kepler 
 himself, who succeeded Longomoutanus as the assistant and associate of Tycho. 
 In a letter to his friend Petrus Ciigcrus, a mathematician of Dantzick, after 
 revelling in a sea of calculations, and naming and commenting upon some of the 
 most distinguished improvers of trigonometrical power, he ardently exclaims : 
 " Nihil, auteni, supra Nepcrianam rulionem esse puto : etsi, quidem, Scotus 
 quidam, literis ad Tychonem anno 1594 scriptis, jam spem fecit Canonis iliius 
 Mirijici/'' " But nothing in my opinion can surpass the numerical ratios of 
 Napier ; and yet so early as in the year 159-1 a certain Scotchman had conveyed 
 by letter to Tycho a hope of that same Canon Mirijicus." (Kepleri Epistola, a 
 very rare fo'io.) Can the meaning of this be doubted? Dr Craig was the 
 " Scotus quidam " who corresponded with Tycho ; and " Canon Mirificus Logar- 
 ithmorura " was the title given by Napier to his great work, first published in 
 l(il4. Conversations with his friend relating to the royal reception at Urani- 
 burg, and the narration of the difficulties in calculation by which the genius 
 of the Danish astronomer was nearly overpowered, had induced Napier to 
 transmit through Craig to Tycho a hint and a promise of tlio Logarithms. And 
 Kepler had called this to mind, years afterwards, when he became so excited by 
 
128 NOTES TO BOOK VI, 
 
 the discovery as to write an enthusiastic and most laudatory epistle to Napier 
 himself, giving him all the glory, who by that time was in his grave. 
 
 But the evidence that it was Napier's friend Craig who transmitted this 
 hint to Tycho in 1594, though irresistible as it stands, is more positively con- 
 firmed by the following anecdote, told by Anthony Wood in the A thence 
 Oxonienses. 
 
 " It must be now known, that one Dr Craig, a Scotchman, coming out of 
 Denmark into his own counti-y, called upon John Neper, baron of Merchiston, 
 near Edinburgh, and told him, among other discourses, of a new invention in 
 Denmark, by Lojigomontaniis, as 'tis said, to save the tedious multiplication and 
 division in astronomical calculations. Neper being solicitous to know further 
 of him concerning this matter, he could give no other account of it than that it 
 was by proportional numbei's. Which hint Neper taking, he desired him at his 
 return to call upon him again. Craig, after some weeks had passed, did so, and 
 Neper then showed him a rude draught of what he called Canon Mirabilis 
 Logarithmorum. Which draught, with some alteration, he printing in 1614, it 
 came forth into the hands of our author Briggs, and into those of Will Oughtred, 
 from whom the relation of this matter came." 
 
 This anecdote, combined with the circumstance of Craig's visit to Tycho in 
 1590, and the subsequent statement by Kepler, that, in 1594, a certain Scotch- 
 man communicated to the Dane by letter a promise of the Logarithms, places 
 beyond all doubt or question the fact, that it was Napier who had transmitted 
 the promise through his friend Craig, after his return from Denmark. But in 
 other respects the anecdote is inaccurately and iguorantly told. It is impossible, 
 as every mathematician will know, that Napier could have caught the hint from 
 a reported conversation with Longomoutanus, and in " some weeks " thereafter 
 have produced the Canon of the Logarithms. He himself tells us, in his publi- 
 cation, that the system was by him " longo elaboratuin" and that a vast under- 
 taking had been completed by his solitary toils, which ought, he says, to have 
 been the work of many heads and hands. But if even the germ of this great 
 discovery had come to Napier from Denmark, and had immediately thereafter 
 been re-transmitted by him in blossom, from that moment the world must have 
 been in possession of the Logarithms. On the contrary, however, for twenty 
 years after the promise had been sent to Tycho (who hved not to see it fulfilled), 
 down to the time when Napier published the discovery in 1614, Kepler and the 
 world remained as ignorant of this revolution in science as if Napier had never 
 breathed a syllable on the subject. This is most ardently declared by Kepler 
 himself in his letter to Napier, written in 1619. 
 
 No doubt the stormy state of Scotland, and the exciting affairs of the Kirk, 
 upon which rude arena Napier unfortunately had come forth, must have retarded 
 the advent of his groat discovery. The mere practical arrangement of the system, 
 for the use of science, involved the necessity of continual abstraction and toil, 
 and to an extent which only accomplished mathematicians can accurately 
 estimate. Moreover, however precious the gift of the Logarithms at the very 
 dawn of the great era of applicate science, it was of little use to dctlirone the 
 Beast, or to repel his ally the invading Spaniard. In such times the mind of 
 Napier could not rest satisfied with unravelling the mysteries of the Apocalypse, 
 and of Numbers. The Spanish Armada in 1588, and the constant expectation 
 of a fresh invasion from that quarter in behalf of tJie Popedom, had caused him 
 to apply his genius, as Archimedes had done of old, in defence of his country. 
 A very curious indication of this is yet preserved in the library of Lambeth 
 Palace, the history of which is not generally known, and connects with the 
 history of the Church. 
 
 Our author Spottiswoode, tells us {supra, p. 5.), that in the month of March 
 1596, " The Assembly of the Church convened at Edinburgh, for consulting upon 
 the dangers threatened to religion by the invasion of the Spaniard, which was 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI. 129 
 
 then generally noised. Some brethern directed to lay open the perils to his 
 majesty, returned with this answer, ' That albeit there was no j^rcat cause to 
 fear any such invasion at that time, yet they should do well to give their advice 
 as if the danger were at hand, which would serve when necessity did require.' 
 The Assembly upon this thought meet to enter into consideration both of the 
 dangers and remedies ; and first to inquire upon the causes that had provoked 
 God to threaten the realm with that tyrannous nation, to the end the same 
 might be removed ; then to deliberate, how by ordinary lawful means the enemy 
 should be resisted." This last clause refers to the deliberations of the Kirk 
 militant ; and, inter alia, it was advised, " that, in every parish, captains should 
 be chosen for the mustering and training of men in arms." Such was the state 
 of matters that impelled the leading commissioner from these conventions, to 
 bring the stores of his scientific genius to bear practically upon the defence of 
 his religion and his country, as the following very curious manuscript, preserved 
 in the Lambeth collection, sufficiently proves. 
 
 " Anno Domini 1596, the 7 of June, Secrett Inventionis, proffitabill and neces- 
 sary in theis dayes for defence of this Hand, and withstanding of strangers, 
 
 enemies of God's truth and religion. 
 
 " First, the invention, proofe and perfect demonstration, geometricall and 
 allogebricall, of a burning mirrour, which, receving the dispersed beames of the 
 Sonne, doth reflex the same beames alltogether united and concurring priselie 
 [precisely] in one mathematicall point, in the which point most necessarelie it 
 ingendreth fire, with an evident demonstration of their error who affirmeth this 
 to be made a parabolik section. 
 
 " The use of this invention serveth for burning of the enemies shipps at what- 
 soever appointed distance. 
 
 " Secondlie, The invention and sure demonstration of another mirrour which 
 receiving the dispersed beames of any matcriall fier or flame yealdeth allsoe the 
 former effect, and serveth for the like use. 
 
 " TiiiRDLiE, The invention and visible demonstration of a piece of artillery, 
 which, shott, passeth not liuallie through the enemie, destroying onlie those that 
 stand on the randon thereof, and fra them forth flying idly, as utheris do ; but 
 passeth superficially, ranging abrodo within the whole appointed place, and not 
 departing furth of the place till it hath executed his whole strength, by destroy- 
 ing those that be within the boundes of the said place. 
 
 " The use hereof not onlie sei-veth grcatlio against the armie of the enemy on 
 land, but alsoe by sea it sei-vcth to destroy, and cut downe, and on-shott the 
 whole mastes and tackling of so many shippes as be within the appointed 
 boundes, as well abried as in large, so long as any strength at all remayneth. 
 
 " FouKTHi.iE, The invention of a round chariot of mettle made of the proofe 
 of dooble muskett, whose motion shall bo by those that be within the same, 
 more easie, more light, and more spedie by much then so manie armed men 
 would be otherwayes. 
 
 " The use hereof, as well, in moving serveth to breake the array of the ene- 
 mies battle and to make passage, as also, in staying and abiding within the 
 enemies battle, it serveth to destroy the environed enemy by continuall charge 
 and shott of harquebush through small hoalles ; the enemie in the meantime 
 being abased and altogether uncertaine what defence or pursuit to use against 
 a moving mouth of mettle. 
 
 " These inventiones, besides devises of sayling under the water, with divers 
 other devises and stratagemes for harming of the enemyes, by the grace of God 
 and worke of expert craftesmen I hope to perform. 
 
 " Jo. Neper, Fear of Marchistoun.'" 
 
 [Endorsed] " Mr Steward, secretes inventiones de la guerre, le mois de 
 Juillet, 1596." 
 
 VOL. in. 
 
130 NOTES TO BOOK VI, 
 
 The indorsation of this document affords a key to the transmission of it, and 
 tends to explain how it came to be preserved among the papers of Anthony 
 Bacon, in Lambeth Palace. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1596, James VI., impelled by the agitations of 
 his clergy, sent emissaries abroad, with offers of co-operation to all christian 
 kings against the enemies of the Gospel. Colonel Stewart, commendator of 
 Pittenweem, and captain of the king's guard, (the same who brought the book 
 from Tycho to the king's physician,) was accredited for this purpose. In the 
 month of April 1596, the news reached Scotland that a Spanish army of 25,000 
 men had taken Calais, and that an English army of 30,000 had entered Spain, 
 and attacked the city of Cadiz by sea and land. This was the glorious expedi- 
 tion under Essex, Howard, and Raleigh. Anthony Bacon, (son of the famous 
 Bacon,) among whose papers Napier's propositions are found, and which appear 
 to have been delivered to him, by Stewart, in the month of July 159G, was 
 secretary to Essex. 
 
 The accidental conflagration of a country seat, during the last century, destroyed 
 a large collection of Napier's papers, possessed by a branch of his family. Thus 
 perished all hope of illustrating, from his own manuscripts, these curious scant- 
 lings of inventions ; which, fortunately instead of the Logarithms, " lacking 
 some mighty Maecenas to encourage them, have been bui'ied with eternal 
 silence." His third proposition, however, seems so curiously corroborative of a 
 passage in the works of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, (who does not ap- 
 pear to have been aware of the paper in the Lambeth collection,) that in conclu- 
 sion we must add the story told by that strange author, who was born in the 
 lifetime of Napier. 
 
 In a tract which he entitled, " The discovery of a most Exquisite Jewel, more 
 precious than diamonds inchased in gold," Sir Thomas speaks of a Colonel Douglas, 
 who, he says, was very serviceable to the States of Holland, and presented them 
 with a paper, containing " twelve articles and heads of such wonderful feats for 
 the use of the wars both by sea and land, to be performed by him, flowing from 
 the remotest springs of mathematical secrets, and those of natural philosophy, 
 that none of this age saw, nor any of our forefathers ever heard the like, save 
 what out of Cicero, Livy, Plutarch, aud other old Greek and Latin writers we 
 have couched, of the admirable inventions made use of by Archimedes in de- 
 fence of the city of Syracusa, against the continual assaults of the Roman forces 
 both by sea and land, under the conduct of Marcellus." The knight of Cromarty 
 then introduces his celebrated episode about Napier of Merchiston and Crichton 
 of Elliock, whom he classes together as the Castor and Pollux of Scottish 
 letters. " To speak really," says he, " I think there hath not been any in this 
 age of the Scottish nation, save Neper and Crichtoun, who, for abilities of the 
 mind in matter of practical inventions useful for men of industry, merit to be 
 compared with him : and yet of these two (notwithstanding their precellency in 
 learning) I would be altogether silent (because I made account to mention no 
 other Scottish men here, but such as have been famous for souldiery, and 
 brought up at the school of Mars) were it not, that besides their profoundness 
 in literature, they were inriched with military qualifications beyond expression. 
 As for Neper, (otherways designed Lord Marchiston,) he is for his logarithmical 
 device so compleatly praised in that preface of the author's, which ushers a tri- 
 gonometrical book of his, intituled, The Trissoietras, tha,t to add any more there- 
 unto, would but obscure with an empty sound the clearness of what is already 
 said : therefore I will allow him no share in this discourse, but in so far as con- 
 cerneth an almost incomprehensible device, which being in the mouths of the 
 most of Scotland, and yet unknown to any that ever was in the world but him- 
 self, deserveth very well to be taken notice of in this place ; and it is this : he 
 had the skill (as is commonly reported) to frame an engine (for invention not 
 much unlike that of Architas Dove) which, by vertue of some secret springs. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI, 131 
 
 inward resorts, with other implements and materials fit for the purpose, in- 
 closed within the bowels thereof, had the power (if proportionable in bulk to 
 the action required of it, for he could have made it of all sizes) to clear a field 
 of four miles circumference, of all the living creatures exceeding a foot of 
 height, that should be found thereon, how near soever they might bo to one 
 another ; by which means he made it appear, that ho was able, with the help 
 of this machine alone, to kill thirty thousand Turks, without the hazard of one 
 Christian. Of this it is said, that (upon a wager) he gave proof upon a large 
 plain in Scotland, to the destruction of a great many herds of cattel, and flocks 
 of sheep, whereof some were distant from other half a mile on all sides, and 
 some a whole mile. To continue the thread of the story, as 1 have it, I must 
 not forget, that, when he was most earnestly desired by an old acquaintance, 
 and professed friend of his, even about the time of his contracting that disease 
 whereof he dyed, he would be pleased, for the honour of his family, and his own 
 everlasting memory to posterity, to reveal unto him the manner of the contriv- 
 ance of so ingenious a mystery ; subjoining thereto, for the better perswading 
 of him, that it were a thousand pities, that so excellent an invention should be 
 buried with him in the grave, and that after his decease nothing should be 
 kno\vn thereof: his answer was, That for the ruin and overthrow of man, there 
 were too many devices already framed, which if he could make to be fewer, he 
 would with all his might endeavour to do ; and that therefore seeing the malice 
 and rancor rooted in the heart of mankind will not suffer them to diminish, by 
 any new conceit of his the number of them should never be increased. Divinely 
 spoken, truly." — Sir Thomas Urquhart's Works.] 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 THE SEVENTH BOOK. 
 
 THE CONTENTS. 
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS AFTER HIS MAJESTY's GOING INTO ENGLAND, 
 UNTO HIS DEATH. 
 
 (HE news of the queen's death were brought 
 the third day after by Sir Robert Gary, a 
 son of the Lord Hunsdon ; after whom Sir 
 Charles Percy, brother to the earl of Nor- 
 ^ thumberland, and Thomas Somerset, son to 
 the earl of Worcester, were directed from the council of 
 England with the letter following. 
 
 " Right high, right excellent and mighty Prince, and our 
 dread sovereign Lord — As we cannot but confess unto your 
 majesty, that the grief we have conceived by the loss of our 
 late sovereign lady, whose soul in your palace of Richmond 
 passed from her earthly body to the joys of heaven, betwixt 
 two and three of the clock this morning, was nothing less 
 than our loyalty and love to her whilst she lived, being a 
 princess adorned with virtues meet for government, prosper- 
 ous in the success of her aifairs, and under whose obedience 
 we have lived in greater tranquillity these many years than 
 commonly happeneth to princes; so we must acknowledge 
 that our sorrow is extinguished by the impression we have 
 of those heroical virtues of wisdom, piety, and magnanimity, 
 
134 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1603. 
 
 which we know to be in your majesty's person, to whose 
 right the hneal and lawful succession of all our late sover- 
 eign's dominions doth justly and only appertain ; wherein we 
 presume to profess this much, as well for the honour which 
 will thereby remain to our posterity, as for your majesty's 
 security of a peaceable possession of your kingdoms, that we 
 have never found, either of those of the nobility, or of any 
 other of the estates of this realm, any divided humour about 
 the receiving and acknowledging your majesty to be the only 
 head that must give hfe to the present maimed body of this 
 great kingdom, which is so happy, as with an universal con- 
 sent to have received one sole, uniform, and constant impres- 
 sion of right of blood, as next of kin to our sovereign deceased, 
 and consequently by the laws of this realm true and next heir 
 to her kingdoms and dominions : whereof we have made out- 
 ward demonstration by public proclamation this very day 
 afore noon, first in the city of Westminster, at your majesty's 
 palace-gate of Whitehall, and next at the cross of Cheapside, 
 within your majesty's city of London, with an infinite 
 applause of your people, and with such solemnity as the 
 shortness of time would permit. Of all which we have 
 thought it our duty immediately to advertise your majesty 
 by these two gentlemen, Sir Charles Percy, brother to the 
 earl of Northumberland, and Thomas Somerset, Esq., son to 
 the earl of Worcester, of whom we have made choice to be 
 the bearers of our letters ; humbly beseeching your highness 
 to accept the same as the first-fruits and ofi'ering of our 
 tender and loyal affections towards you our gracious sover- 
 eign, and to rest assured that the same shall be ever here- 
 after seconded with all faith, obedience, and humble service, 
 which shall be in our power to perform, for maintaining that 
 which we have begun, with the sacrifice of our lives, lands, 
 and goods, which we with all our other means do here 
 humbly present at your majesty's feet ; craving of your 
 highness, that seeing hereby you may perceive in what estate 
 we remain, as a body without a head, or rather without that 
 spirit here amongst us, which from the head might give 
 vigour to every member to exercise the duty to it belonging, 
 thereby to keep the whole body from confusion, you will be 
 pleased to enter into consideration, how soon and in what 
 manner it shall seem best to your majesty's excellent wisdom. 
 
A. D. 1603.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 135 
 
 to inspire a new life into this languishing body, the circum- 
 stances wlioreof arc wholly to bo left to your majesty, hold- 
 ing it enough for us humbly to acknowledge ourselves your 
 true subjects, ready to obey all your commandments ; assur- 
 ing you withal, tliat as we have hereby, as many of us as 
 have underwritten this letter, declared our recognition and 
 humble submission to your majesty's sovereign power and 
 right, so we do know by all good proofs, that the mind of 
 the rest of the nobility, and all others who are absent, in 
 their several qualities, places, and charges, whom the time 
 permitted not without the prejudice of your affairs to as- 
 semble so soon as we were desirous this should be performed, 
 are wholly and resolutely concurring with us in all zeal and 
 duty for all things that shall bo imposed upon them by your 
 royal will and pleasure. 
 
 " Farther we have thought meet and necessary to advertise 
 your highness, that Sir Robert Gary this morning departed 
 from hence towards your majesty, not only without the con- 
 sent of any of us who were present at Richmond at the time 
 of our late sovereign's decease, but also contrary to such 
 commandment as we had power to lay upon him, and to all 
 decency, good manners, and respect, which he owed to so 
 many persons of our degree, whereby it may be that your 
 highness hearing by a bare report only of the death of the 
 late queen, and not of our care and diligence in establishing 
 your majesty's right here, in such manner as is above speci- 
 fied, may conceive doubts of other nature than (God be 
 thanked) there is cause you should ; which we would have 
 clearly prevented, if he had borne so much respect to us as to 
 have stayed for a common relation of our proceedings, and 
 not thought it better to anticipate the same ; for we would 
 have been loath that any person of quality should have gone 
 from hence, who should not with the report of her death 
 have been able to declare the first effects of our assured 
 loyalties. 
 
 " And lastly, it may please your majesty to receive this 
 advertisement, that of late there was made ready, by the 
 commandment of the queen our mistress, a good fleet of eight 
 or ten of her ships well manned and furnished under the 
 charge of Sir Richard Lawson, knight, to have been em- 
 ployed upon the coast of Spain ; which employment by her 
 
136 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a. D. 1603. 
 
 decease is ceased for want of commission to exercise the 
 same, and now is kept together in the narrow seas to pre- 
 vent any sudden attempt from the Low Countries. And that 
 now there is nothing either of land or sea that is not yours, 
 it may please your majesty to signify your pleasure concern- 
 ing that fleet, and whether you will have it or any part 
 thereof resort to your coast of Scotland, where it may serve 
 you, either for the safe convoy of your person to this realm, 
 if there shall be cause to use it in this manner, or to trans- 
 port any of yours, whilst you come by land, or any other 
 service. In which point we humbly beseech you to make 
 known under whose charge it shall be your pleasure the 
 whole fleet or any part thereof shall come unto you. And 
 this being all that for the present doth occur to be advertised 
 unto your majesty by us whose minds are occupied about the 
 conservation of this your realm in peace, as far forth as, by 
 any power for your majesty's service only assumed, the 
 interruption thereof may be prevented, saving that we have 
 sent a copy of the proclamation made here to your majesty's 
 deputy of Ireland, to be published in that kingdom, we will, 
 and with our humble prayers to Almighty God, that we 
 may be so happy as speedily to enjoy the comfortable pre- 
 sence of your highness's royal person amongst us, the only 
 object of that glory and those felicities which in the earth 
 we have proponed to ourselves. Written in your majesty's 
 city of London, the twenty-fourth of March 1603, at ten 
 hours of the clock at nia'ht." 
 
 This letter was subscribed 
 Hobert Leigh, Mayor. Pembroke. 
 
 John Canterbury. 
 Thomas Egerton. 
 Thomas Buckhurst. 
 Nottingham. 
 Northumberland. 
 Gilbert Shrewsbury. 
 William Darby. 
 Edward Worcester. 
 Geo. Cumberland. 
 R. Sussex. 
 Henry Lincoln. 
 
 Clanrickard. 
 G. Hunsdon. 
 Tho. Howard. 
 Richard London. 
 Robert Hartford. 
 John Norwich. 
 Moi'ley. 
 
 Henry Cobham. 
 Thomas Laware. 
 Gray. 
 Edward Cromwell 
 
 by 
 
 R. Riche. 
 
 Lumley. 
 
 Chandois. 
 
 W. Compton. 
 
 W. Knolles. 
 
 Edward Wootton. 
 
 John Stanhop. 
 
 Raleigh. 
 
 John Fortescue. 
 
 John Popham. 
 
A. D. 1603.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 137 
 
 The king having imparted this letter to the council, it was 
 thought meet that the contents thereof should be published, 
 for begetting a greater kindness betwixt the people of the 
 two kingdoms ; whereupon a proclamation was made, show- 
 ing, " That the queen before her death, continuing in that 
 loving affection which she professed to his majesty all the 
 course of her life, had declared him her only true heir and 
 successor in the imperial crowns of England, France, and 
 Ireland, and that the lords spiritual and temporal, assisted 
 by the Lord Mayor of London, and others of the gentry of 
 good quaUty, had upon the twenty-fourth of March last pro- 
 claimed him their only liege lord and undoubted sovereign ; 
 which being the most clear demonstration that a people could 
 give of their affection, and a sure pledge of their future 
 obedience, ought to move all true-hearted subjects to account 
 of them no otherwise than as their brethren and friends, and 
 to forget and bury all quarrels and grounds of former dis- 
 sensions. That therefore none should pretend ignorance, 
 nor carry themselves in any unkind sort towards the inhabi- 
 tants of England, his majesty, with the advice of the lords 
 of council, had ordained proclamation to be made of the 
 premises, assuring them that should so apply themselves, of 
 his gracious favour when occasion presented, and certifying 
 such as did in the contrary, that they should incur his wrath 
 and extreme displeasure." 
 
 This notwithstanding, the word no sooner came of the 
 queen's death, than the loose and broken men in the borders 
 assembling in companies made incursions upon England, 
 doing what in them lay to divide the two kingdoms ; which 
 the year following was severely punished, the principals that 
 were tried to have been partners in that business being all 
 executed to the death. 
 
 The king in the meantime giving order for his journey, 
 did appoint the queen to follow him some twenty days after ; 
 and for his children, ordained the prince to remain at Stir- 
 ling, the duke of Albany his brother to abide with the Lord 
 Fyvie, president of the Session, and the Princess Elizabeth 
 their sister with Alexander earl of Linlithgow. To the 
 lords of council an ample commission was given for the 
 administration of all affairs ; receiving resignations ; hearing 
 the accounts of the exchequer ; continuing days of law ; 
 
138 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1603. 
 
 adjoining assessors to the justice ; granting of licences to 
 . depart forth of the realm ; altering the place of their resi- 
 dence as they should find it convenient ; repressing the 
 troubles of the borders ; and for creating lieutenants, one or 
 more, upon occasions. 
 
 The persons he chose to attend him in the journey were, 
 the duke of Lennox, the earls of Mar, Murray, and Argyle, 
 the Lord Home, Sir George Home, treasurer, Mr James 
 Elphingston, secretary, Sir David Murray, Comptroller, 
 Sir Robert Ker of Cesford, with the ordinary gentlemen of 
 the chamber ; and of the clergy, David bishop of Ross, 
 Peter bishop of Dunkeld, Mr Patrick Galloway, Mr Andrew 
 Lamb, Mr John Spottiswoode, Mr Gawin Hamilton, and 
 Mr Alexander Forbes, ministers. 
 
 Things thus ordered, the king went the next morning to 
 St Giles to hear sermon ; Mr John Hall (whose course it 
 was) preaching, took occasion to remember the great mercies 
 of God towards his majesty, reckoning the peaceable succes- 
 sion to the crown of England none of the least. This, he 
 said, was God's own proper work, for who could else have 
 directed the hearts of so numerous a people with such an 
 unanime consent to follow the way of right ? Thereupon he 
 did exhort his majesty to thankfulness ; to the maintenance 
 of God's truth ; and that he would send home some of those 
 commendable orders he would find whither he was going. 
 
 The king, accepting his exhortation in good part, did upon 
 the end of the sermon make a speech to the people, which at 
 the time were frequently convened, and promising to have 
 care of them and their good, gave them a most loving and 
 kind farewell. This was followed with such a mourning and 
 lamentation of all sorts, as cannot be well expressed. For 
 albeit they joyed not a little at first to hear of that accession 
 of honour to their king ; yet considering they should be 
 deprived of his presence, and have no more a resident king 
 among them, they were grieved out of all measure. This 
 affection of the people moved also the king greatly ; there- 
 fore when the magistrates, ministers, and others of the better 
 sort came to receive his commandments, he spake graciously 
 unto them ; willing them not to be troubled wiLli his depart- 
 ing, for that they should find the fruits of his government as 
 well afar off, as when he was near at hand ; and as his power 
 
A. D. 1603.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 139 
 
 was now increased and made greater, so his love towards 
 them should not be a whit diminished. 
 
 In this sort did he part, and beginning his journey on 
 Wednesday the fourth of April, came the second day to 
 Berwick ; there he was welcomed with a most eloquent 
 sermon by Toby Matthew, bishop of Durham (for he went 
 first to the church ;) which finished, he was conveyed to the 
 palace by the governor and garrison, the munition playing 
 from the walls, and the citizens with shouts and acclamations 
 testifying their gladness. The ninth of that month he went 
 to Newcastle, where he abode some few days ; and because 
 multitudes of people from all quarters were daily coming to 
 see the king, and offer their service, order was taken that no 
 strangers should have access granted, till the chamberlain or 
 master of the guard was acquainted with their business. At 
 York he was met by the councillors, and from thence, by 
 easy journeys, travelled to London. How his majesty was 
 there received, and what other things happened in the time, 
 I remit to the English history ; my purpose being only to 
 relate the things which passed in Scotland, or that had some 
 reference to matters of that church and kino-dom. 
 
 Being at Burleigh -house near unto Stamford, the king was 
 advertised of the death of James Beaton, archbishop of Glas- 
 gow, who deceased at Paris in the same month. This man 
 was descended of the house of Balfour in Fife, and conse- 
 crated bishop at Rome in the year 1552 ; at the time of the 
 Reformation he forsook the country, out of the hatred he bare 
 to those that had hand in that work, and carried with him 
 all the writs and evidents of the see of Glasgow, with the 
 vessels and ornaments of the cathedral church, things of 
 exceeding great worth ; for, besides those of ordinary use, 
 there belonged to that church the image of our Saviour in 
 beaten gold, and the portraits of the twelve apostles in silver. 
 The queen returning from France did establish him ambas- 
 sador in those parts for her aftairs : Under the government 
 of the regents he was forfeited, and deprived of his livino-, 
 which, as we showed before, was conferred upon Mr James 
 Boyd of Trochrig, and after him went through divers hands, 
 till the king at his majority did restore him to his dignity, 
 honour, and Hving, employing him likewise for his ambas- 
 sador in France. A man honourably disposed, faithful to 
 
140 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1603. 
 
 the queen while she Hved, and to the king her son, a lover 
 of his country, and liberal according to his means to all his 
 countrymen. In his last will he bequeathed all his means to 
 pious uses, leaving, as was said, ten thousand crowns for the 
 education of poor scholars, being Scotchmen born. The 
 evidents, vessels, and ornaments of the see of Glasgow he 
 consigned in the hands of the Carthusians of Paris, appoint- 
 ing the same to be re-delivered how soon Glasgow should 
 become catholic ; and this year, being the eighty-sixth of his 
 age, departed peaceably this life. 
 
 The king having destinated Mr John Spottiswoode for his 
 successor, sent him back to attend the queen in her journey, 
 and serve her for eleemosynar. Soon after his coming, her 
 majesty went to Stirling, of mind to bring away the prince 
 her sou, and carry him along with herself to England ; but 
 being denied by the friends of the house of Mar, she became 
 so incensed as falling into a fever she made a pitiful abortion. 
 
 Advertisement of this being sent unto the king, he caused 
 the earl of Mar to return ; and after him sending the duke 
 of Lennox with a warrant to receive the prince, and deliver 
 him to the queen, he was brought unto her at Halyrudhouse, 
 about the end of May. Yet she, not satisfied herewith, com- 
 plained bitterly of the dishonour she had received, and by a 
 letter written to the king, full of passion and anger, which 
 she gave her eleemosynar to carry, required a public repara- 
 tion, by the punishment of the earl of Mar and his servants. 
 The king, who knew the earl himself to be blameless, and 
 desired not to be troubled with such business, especially at 
 that time, returned this answer, " That she should do wisely 
 to forget the grudges she carried to the carl of Mar, and 
 thank God of the peaceable possession they had obtained of 
 these kingdoms, which next unto God his goodness he 
 ascribed to the last negotiation of the earl of Mar in Eng- 
 land." This reported to the queen (for the messenger was 
 commanded to speak so much), she in a great choler replied, 
 " That she would rather have wished never to see England, 
 than to be in any sort beholding to him for the same." Yet 
 as she was a most mild princess, and very careful to please 
 the king in every thing, at her coming to Windsor, which 
 was about the end of June, she was reconciled to the earl of 
 Mar, and he, by act of council, declared to have done 
 
A. D. 1603.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 141 
 
 nothing in that accident at Stirhng that might touch her in 
 honour. 
 
 At the same time was the Princess EHzabeth, who was 
 brought alongst with the queen, taken from the earl of 
 Linhthgow, and given to the custody of the Lady Harring- 
 ton ; the earl his service in her education being by act of 
 council approved. 
 
 All this summer the sickness was reigning at London, 
 which made the coronation to be deferred unto July, on the 
 twenty-seventh day whereof the king and queen were sol- 
 emnly inaugurated in the church of Westminster, John 
 Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury, performing the cere- 
 monies. There had been some few days before a conspiracy 
 detected against the king, plotted by two priests, the one 
 called William Watson, the other WiUiam Grey, and George 
 Brook, esquire. 
 
 There joined with them upon some discontents the Lord 
 Cobham, the Lord Gray, Sir Griffin Marcham, and Sir 
 Walter Raleigh. This last had served the late queen a long 
 time, as captain of her guard ; and being put from the place, 
 and the same bestowed upon Sir Thomas Erskine, Lord 
 Fenton in Scotland, he grudged exceedingly. The treason 
 being discovered, (which came by this occasion ; Raleigh 
 parting with his sister at London had commended himself to 
 her prayers, saying, " That he was going whence he thought 
 not to return ; " which she did interpret of some combat he 
 had undertaken, and breaking the same to her neighbours, 
 the words were carried to court, where they received an- 
 other construction), they were all apprehended, and com- 
 mitted to several prisons. Being brought to their trial in 
 Winchester about the beginning of December, they were 
 found guilty, and condemned to die. George Brook and the 
 two priests were executed as traitors ; the rest, whilst they 
 expected nothing but death, (for they were brought all, one 
 after another, to the place of execution, and their heads laid 
 under the axe to be cut off,) were spared, and the execution 
 of the sentence pronounced against them suspended. 
 
 The people that were assembled in great numbers hearing 
 the mandate read, (which was published by the Sheriff, and 
 was to this effect, " That his majesty, unwilling to have the 
 beginning of his reign stained with the blood of noblemen. 
 
142 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1604. 
 
 though convicted of a most hemous crime, was pleased to 
 extend his clemency towards them ; and having spared the 
 Lords Cobham and Gray, because in the dispensing of mercy 
 regard must be taken likewise of inferiors;, had bestowed the 
 same favour on the other two,") did greatly extol his majesty's 
 clemency, promising to themselves much happiness under his 
 government, that could so temper his justice with mercy. 
 Cobham and Gray, lifting up their hands to heaven, " did 
 thank God, who had thus inclined his majesty's heart, pro- 
 fessing they Avere unworthy of life, and that they should be 
 ashamed ever to show their faces amongst men, having 
 wronged so good and gracious a king." 
 
 The next year began with a conference of the clergy at 
 Hampton Court. Divers petitions had been exhibited to his 
 majesty for reformation of abuses in the Church ; whereupon 
 he took purpose to call certain of the bishops, deans, and 
 doctors together, and with them some of the most grave and 
 modest amongst the complainers. The bishops were, the 
 archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Durham, 
 Winchester, Worcester, St Davids, Chichester, Carhsle, and 
 Peterborough ; the deans of the Chapel, Christ-church, Wor- 
 cester, Westminster, Paul's, Chester, Windsor, Dr Field, and 
 Dr King. For the petitioners, Dr Reynolds, Dr Spark, Mr 
 Knewstubb, and Mr Chatterton were present. 
 
 These being called into the privy-chamber, the king spake 
 unto them to this effect : " That following the example of all 
 Christian princes, who, in the commencement of their reign, 
 do usually begin with the establishment of the Church, he 
 had now at his entrance to the Crown taken course to assemble 
 them, for settling an uniform order in the same, for planting 
 unity, removing dissensions, and reforming abuses, which (he 
 said) were naturally incident to all politic bodies. And yet 
 that he should not be mistaken, and his purpose in assembhng 
 them misconstrued, he declared that his meaning was not to 
 make any innovation of the government established, which 
 he knew was approved of God, but to hear and examine the 
 complaints that were made, and remove the occasions there- 
 of; whereof he willed the petitioners to begin, and show 
 what the things were that grieved them." 
 
 Doctor Reynolds with the other three, faUing upon their 
 knees, after a short gratulatory preamble, reduced the matters 
 
A. D. 1604.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 143 
 
 questioned to two heads ; some, lie said, concerned the doc- 
 trine of the Church, and others the government. 
 
 Touching the doctrine, that in the book of articles of reli- 
 gion some things were obscure, and some things defective, 
 which they wished to be supphcd and explained. Being de- 
 sired to name the particulars, he condescended upon some 
 articles ; whereof after they had conferred a while, and he 
 professed to have received satisfaction, the king said, " that if 
 these were the greatest matters that grieved them, such im- 
 portunity needed not as was used to him, and that a more 
 private course had been better." Then falhng to speak of 
 the government of the Church, the want and scarcity of suf- 
 ficient ministers in every parish was much complained of, with 
 the subscription urged to the communion-book ; the censures 
 inflicted by lay chancellors ; and other more points, which 
 are to be seen in the conference imprinted. After some 
 three hours debating, they were commanded to meet again 
 in the same place the eighteenth of January, at which time 
 they should know his majesty's pleasure in these matters. 
 
 At the day the bishops, deans, and doctors of the arches 
 being first called, the archbishop presented certain notes of 
 explanation of the hturgy, which the king had commended 
 to the bishop's care ; and thereafter his majesty questioning 
 them touching the exercise of the high commission, the oath 
 ex offi^cio, the censure of excommunication, and the matter of 
 subscription ; when as they had answered in all these points 
 to his majesty's content. Doctor Reynolds and the others 
 were desired to come into the chamber, and the foresaid 
 explanations read unto them, wherewith they professed to 
 be satisfied. The king upon this, expressing a great content- 
 ment with that which had passed among them, did seriously 
 exhort them to the preservation of unity, willing the bishops 
 to use their inferiors with all lenity, and take the fairest 
 ways for reclaiming those that were otherwise minded ; warn- 
 ing these others also to beware of obstinacy in their opinions, 
 and disobedience to the orders of the Church. " Obedience," 
 said he, " and humility arc the marks of good and honest men; 
 such I beheve you to be, but it fcareth me that many of your 
 sort are humorous, and too busy in the perverting of others. 
 The exceptions taken against the communion- book, as I per- 
 ceive, are matters of mere weakness, and they who are dis- 
 
144 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1604. 
 
 creet will be gained with time, by gentle persuasions ; or if 
 they be undiscreet, better it is to remove them than to have 
 the Church troubled with their contentions. For the bishops 
 I will answer, that it is not their purpose presently and out 
 of hand to enforce obedience, but by fatherly admonitions 
 and conferences to induce such as are disaffected. But if 
 any be of an opposite and turbulent spirit, I will have them 
 enforced to a conformity. Neither tell me, that the wearing 
 of a surplice or using the cross in baptism will diminish the 
 credit of ministers that have formerly disallowed the same ; 
 for this is just the Scottish argument, when any thing was 
 concluded that sorted not with their humour, the only reason 
 why they would not obey was, that it stood not with their 
 credit to yield, having been so long of a contrary opinion. 
 I will none of that ; but let a time be limited by the bishops 
 of every diocese to such, and they that will not yield, who- 
 soever they are, let them be removed ; for we must not pre- 
 fer the credit of a few private men to the general peace of 
 the Church." 
 
 Throughout all this conference in every point that was 
 moved, or came to be talked of, the king did show such 
 knowledge and readiness, as bred not a small admiration in 
 the hearers. Chancellor Egerton, wondering to see him so 
 expedite and perfect in all sort of divinity, said, " That he 
 had often heard and read that Rex est mixta persona cum sacer- 
 dote ; but that he saw never the truth of it until that day." 
 Let me add that which I was afterwards told by Richard 
 Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, (for Whitgift died the 
 next month after the conference, one of the great glories of 
 the Enghsh Church,) that when the rolls were brought in 
 of those that stood out and were deposed, which was some 
 years after, they were found to be forty-nine in all England, 
 whenas the ministers of that kingdom are reckoned nine 
 thousand and above. Such a noise will a few disturbers 
 cause in any society where they are tolerated ! 
 
 In the March thereafter a parliament was kept in Eng- 
 land, where the king, after he had given thanks to the state 
 for the general applause they showed in receiving him to the 
 place which God by birthright and lineal descent had pro- 
 vided for him, did earnestly move the union of the two 
 kingdoms, that as they were made one in the head, so among 
 
A. D. 1604.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 145 
 
 themselves they might be inseparably conjoined, and all 
 memory of by-past divisions extinguished : a motion that 
 took Avell at first, and seemed to be generally desired of both 
 nations, but did not succeed as was wisbed. The parliament 
 always at his majesty's desire, and for a demonstration of 
 their obedience, did nominate Thomas lord EUesmere, lord 
 chancellor of England, Thomas earl of Dorset, treasurer, 
 Charles earl of Nottingham, lord high admiral, Henry earl of 
 Southampton, William earl of Pembroke, Henry earl of Nor- 
 tbampton, Richard bishop of London, Toby bishop of Durham, 
 Anthony bishop of St Davids, Robert lord Cecil, principal 
 secretary to his majesty, Edward lord Zouch, lord president 
 of Wales, William lord Monteagle, Ralph lordEure, Edmond 
 lord Sheffield, lord president of the council of the north, lords 
 of the hio'hor house : and Thomas lord Clinton, Robert lord 
 Buckhurst, Sir Francis Hastings, knight. Sir John Stanhope, 
 knight, vice-chamberlain to the king's majesty, Sir George 
 Carew, knight, vice-chamberlain to the queen's majesty. Sir 
 John Herbert, knight, second secretary to his majesty, Sir 
 Thomas Strickland, knight, Sir Edward Stafford, knight. 
 Sir Henry Neville of Bcrksbire, knight, Sir Richard Buckly, 
 knight. Sir Henry Billingsly, knight, Sir Daniel Dunn, 
 knight, dean of the arches. Sir Edward Hobby, knight, Sir 
 John Savile, knight. Sir Robert Wroth, knight. Sir Thomas 
 Challoner, knight. Sir Robert Mansell, knight, Sir Thomas 
 Ridgway, knight. Sir Thomas Holcroft, knight. Sir Thomas 
 Hasketh, knight, his majesty's attorney of the court of 
 wards and liveries. Sir Francis Bacon, knight, Sir Lawrence 
 Cawfield, knight, serjeant-at-law, Sir Henry Hubart, knight, 
 serjeant-at-law. Sir John Bennet, knight, doctor of the laws. 
 Sir Henry Witherington, Sir Ralph Gray, and Sir Thomas 
 Lake, knights, Robert Askwith, Thomas James, and Henrv 
 Chapman, mei^chants, knights and burgesses of the house of 
 commons : " Giving them, or any eight or more of the said 
 lords of the higher house, and any twenty of the said knights 
 and burgesses of the said house of commons, full power, liberty, 
 and commission to assemble and meet, at any time or times be- 
 fore the next session of parharaeut, for treating and consulting 
 with certain selected commissioners, to be nominated and 
 authorized by authority of the parliament of the realm of 
 Scotland, of and concerning such an union of the said realms 
 VOL. III. 10 
 
146 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1604. 
 
 of England and Scotland, and of and concerning such other 
 matters, causes and things whatsoever, as upon mature 
 deliberation and consideration the greatest part of the said 
 lords, knights, citizens, and burgesses, being assembled with 
 the commissioners to be nominated by the parliament of Scot- 
 land, shall in their wisdom think and deem convenient and 
 necessary for the honour of his majesty, and the weal and 
 common good of both the said realms, during his majesty's 
 life, and under all his progeny and royal posterity for ever : 
 which commissioners of both the said realms shall, according 
 to the tenor of their said commissions, reduce their doings 
 and proceedings into writings, or instruments tripartite, every 
 part to be subscribed and sealed by them, to the end that 
 one part thereof may in all humihty be presented to his most 
 excellent majesty ; the second part to be offered to the con- 
 sideration of the next session of j^arliament for the realm of 
 England, and the third to be offered to the consideration of 
 the next parliament for the realm of Scotland ; that there- 
 upon such farther proceeding may be had, as by both the 
 said parliaments shall be thought fit and necessary for the 
 weal and common good of both the said realms." 
 
 A parliament in Scotland for the same purpose was indicted 
 to the tenth of April, and thereafter prorogated to the 
 eleventh of July ; at which time the lords spiritual and tem- 
 poral, assembled by virtue of his majesty's commission, did 
 ordain the persons following : they are to say, John earl of 
 Montrose, chancellor of Scotland, Francis earl of Erroll, high 
 constable of Scotland, James earl of Glencarne, Alexander 
 earl of Linlithgow, John archbishop of Glasgow, David 
 bishop of Ross, George bishop of Caithness, Walter prior of 
 Blantyre, Patrick lord Glammis, Alexander lord Elphing- 
 ston, Alexander lord Fyvie, president of the session of Scot- 
 land, llobert lord Roxburgh, James lord Abercorn, James 
 lord Balmerino, principal secretary of Scotland, David 
 lord of Scone, Sir James Scrimgeour of Dudop, knight. Sir 
 John Cockburn of Ormiston, knight. Sir John Home of 
 Cowdenknows, knight. Sir David Carnegie of Kinnaird, 
 knight, Sir Robert Melvill, elder of Murdocarnie, knight. 
 Sir Thomas Hamilton of Binnie, knight, Sir John Lermonth 
 of Balcony, knight, Sir Alexander Straiton of Lauriston, 
 knight. Sir John Skeen of Curryhill, knight, Mr John Sharp 
 
A. D. 1604.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 147 
 
 of Houston, lawyer, Mr Thomas Craig, lawyer, Henry Nisbet, 
 George Bruce, Alexander Rutherford, and Mr Alexander 
 Wedderburn, merchants, or any twenty of them, " to assem- 
 ble and convene themselves, after the ending of the present 
 session of parhament, and before the next session thereof, at 
 such time and in such place as it should please his majesty to 
 appoint, with certain selected commissioners, nominated and 
 authorized by the parliament of England, according to the 
 tenor of their commissions in that behalf, to confer, treat, and 
 consult upon a perfect union of the realms of Scotland and 
 England, and concerning such other matters, things and 
 causes whatsoever, tending to his majesty's honour and con- 
 tentment, and to the weal and tranquillity of both the king- 
 doms, during his majesty's life and his royal posterity for 
 ever, as upon mature deliberation the greater part of the 
 said commissioners, assembled, as is aforesaid, with the com- 
 missioners authorized by the parliament of England, shall in 
 their wisdoms think most expedient and necessary, not dero- 
 gating from any fundamental laws, ancient privileges, and 
 rights, offices, dignities, and liberties of the kingdom." This 
 last clause was added because of the narrative of the English 
 act, wherein it was said, " that it was not his majesty's mind 
 to alter or innovate the fundamental laws, privileges, and 
 good customs of the kingdom of England ; by the abolishing 
 or alteration Avhereof it was impossible but that a present 
 confusion should foil upon the whole state and frame of that 
 kingdom." In all other things the statute in substance was 
 the same with the Enghsh. 
 
 Soon after this, the king resolving to have Westminster, 
 at London, the place of the meeting, letters were directed to 
 the noblemen and others nominated for Scotland, willino- them 
 to address themselves to the journey, and to be ready to 
 meet with the other commissioners the twentieth of October ; 
 and lest any disorder should fall out in the absence of the 
 chancellor and others of the council, the Lord Newbottle 
 was appointed to attend and preside in council unto their 
 return. 
 
 The day and place of meeting was precisely observed by 
 the commissioners of both kingdoms, who after many days 
 conferences agreed unto certain articles to be presented to 
 his majesty and to the courts of parliament of both kingdoms, 
 
148 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1604. 
 
 there to receive such strength and approbation as in their 
 wisdoms should seem expedient. The articles were as fol- 
 loweth : — 
 
 " It is agreed by the commissioners of England and Scot- 
 land, to be mutually proponed to the parliament of both 
 realms at the next sessions, that all hostile laws made and 
 conceived expressly, either by England against Scotland, or 
 Scotland against England, shall in the next sessions be abro- 
 gated and utterly extinguished. 
 
 " It is also agreed, that all laws, customs, and treaties of 
 the borders betwixt England and Scotland, shall be declared 
 by a general act to be abrogated and abolished, and that the 
 subjects on either part shall be governed by the laws and 
 statutes of the kingdoms where they dwell, and the name of 
 the borders extinguished. 
 
 " And because by abolishing the border laws and customs 
 it may be doubted that the executions shall cease upon those 
 sentences that have heretofore been given by the opposite 
 officers of those borders, upon wrongs committed before the 
 death of the late queen of happy memory, it is thougbt fit 
 that in case the commissioners or officers to be appointed by 
 his majesty, before the time of th« next sessions of parlia- 
 ment, shall not procure sufficient redress of such filed bills 
 and sentences, that then the said parliaments may be moved 
 to take such order as to their wisdoms shall seem convenient, 
 for satisfaction of that which hath been decerned by some 
 officers ; as also how disorders and insolencies may be here- 
 after repressed, and the country which was lately of the borders 
 kept in peace and quietness in time to come. As likewise to 
 prescribe some order, how the pursuits of former wrongs, 
 preceding the death of the late queen, and since the last 
 treaties of the borders in the years 1596 and 1597, which 
 have never as yet been moved, may be continued and prose- 
 cuted to a definitive sentence. 
 
 " And forasmuch as the next degree to the abolition of all 
 memory of hostility is the participation of mutual commodi- 
 ties and commerce, it is agreed, first, concerning impor- 
 tation of merchandise into either realm from foreign parts, 
 that whereas certain commodities are wholly prohibited by 
 the several laws of both realms to be brought into either of 
 them by the natives themselves or by any other, the said 
 
A. D. 1604.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 149 
 
 prohibitions shall now be made mutual to both, and neither 
 an Englishman bring into Scotland, nor a Scotchman into 
 England, any of these prohibited wares and commodities : 
 nevertheless if the said commodities be made in Scotland, it 
 shall be lawful to brino- them out of Scotland to England : 
 and so reciprocally of the commodities made in England, and 
 carried to Scotland. 
 
 " Whereas a doubt hath been conceived against the equal 
 communication of trade betwixt English and Scottish subjects 
 in matter of importation, grounded upon some inequality of 
 privileges which the Scots are supposed to have in foreign 
 parts, and namely in France, above the Enghsh, whereby 
 the English might be prejudged ; and that, after a very de- 
 liberate consideration had of the said supposed inequalities, 
 both private and public examination of divers merchants of 
 either side, touching all liberties, immunities, privileges, im- 
 posts, and payments on the part of the English, and on the 
 part of the Scottish, either at Bordeaux for their trade of 
 wines, or in Normandy, or any other part of France for other 
 commodities, it appeared that in the trade of Bordeaux there 
 was and is so little difference, in any advantage of privileges 
 or immunities, or in the imposts and payments, all being 
 reckoned and well weighed on either side, as it could not 
 justly hinder the communication of trade ; in the trade of 
 Normandy likewise, or any other parts of France, the advan- 
 tage that the Scottish subjects by their privilege are acknow- 
 ledged to have is such, as without much dithculty may be 
 reconciled and reduced to an equality with the English, by 
 such means as is after declared ; it is agreed that the Scotch- 
 men shall be free for the transporting of wine from Bordeaux 
 into England, paying the same customs and duties that the 
 Englishmen do pay, and the Englishmen shall be likewise 
 free for transporting of wine or other commodities from Bor- 
 deaux into Scotland, paying the same customs and duties 
 that the Scotchmen do pay there. 
 
 " And likewise for clearino; and resolving; the doubts 
 touching the advantage that the Scots are supposed to have 
 above the English, in buying and transporting the commodi- 
 ties of Normandy, and of other parts of the kingdom of France, 
 (excepting the buying of wine in Bordeaux, which is already 
 determined,) it is agreed that there shall be sent some meet 
 
150 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1604. 
 
 and discreet persons into France, two for either side, there 
 to take perfect notice of any such advantage as either the 
 Enghsh have above the Scots, or the Scots above the Eng- 
 hsh, in the buying and transporting of any commodities of 
 Normandy or any parts of France, (excepting the trade for 
 ■wine at Bordeaux,) and as the said persons shall find the ad- 
 vantage to be, so for making the trade equal, the customs 
 shall be advanced to the king in England and Scotland. 
 And for the part of those that have the advantage, and 
 according to the proportion of the said advantage, the ad- 
 vancement of the customs to continue no longer than the 
 privilege having such advantage shall continue ; and that 
 generally for all other trade from any parts, the English 
 and Scottish subjects, each in other's country, shall have 
 liberty of importation as freely as any of the native subjects 
 themselves having special privilege. 
 
 " Next concerning exportation, it is agreed that all such 
 goods as are prohibited and forbidden to Englishmen them- 
 selves to be transported forth of England to any foreign part, 
 the same shall be unlawful for any Scotchmen or any other 
 to transport to any foreign nation beyond sea, under the 
 same penalties and forfeitures that the English are subject 
 unto ; and reciprocally, that forth of Scotland no English- 
 men shall transport to any foreign part the goods or com- 
 modities that are prohibited in Scotland to Scotchmen 
 themselves. Nevertheless such goods, and commodities, and 
 merchandises as are licensed to Englishmen to transport out 
 of England to any foreign part, the same may be likewise 
 transported by Scotchmen thither, they certifying their 
 going into foreign parts, and taking a cocquet accordingly 
 and paying the ordinary custom that Englishmen do pay 
 themselves at the exporting of such wares : the like liberty 
 to be for Englishmen in Scotland. 
 
 " As for the native commodities which either of the coun- 
 tries do yield, and may serve for the use and benefit of the 
 other, it is agreed that mutually there may be transported 
 forth of England to Scotland, and forth of Scotland to Eng- 
 land, all such wares as are either of the growth or handi- 
 work of either of the said realms, without payment of any 
 impost, custom, or exaction, and as freely in all respects as 
 any wares may be transported either in England from port 
 
A. D. 1604.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 151 
 
 to port, or in Scotland from port to port ; excepting such 
 particular sorts of goods and merchandises as are hereafter 
 mentioned, being restrained for the proper and inward use of 
 each country. And for that purj)ose it is declared, that both 
 in this communication of benefit and participation of the 
 native commodities of the one country with the other, there 
 shall be specially reserved and excepted the sorts hereafter 
 specified : That is to say, wool, sheep, sheepfell, cattle, 
 leather, hides, and linen-yarn, which are specially restrained 
 within each country, not to be transported from the one to 
 the other ; excepting also and reserving to the Scotchmen 
 their trade of fishing within their lochs, firths, and bays 
 within land, and in the seas within fourteen miles of the coasts 
 of the realm of Scotland, where neither Englishmen nor any 
 strangers have used to fish ; and so reciprocally in the point 
 of fishing on the behalf of England. All which exceptions 
 and restrictions are not to be understood or meaned in any 
 sort for a mark or note of separation or disunion, but only as 
 matters of policy and conveniency for the several estate of 
 each country. 
 
 " Furthermore, it is agreed that all foreign wares to be 
 transported forth of Scotland to England, or out of England 
 to Scotland, by any of the king's subjects of either kingdom, 
 having at their first entry once paid custom in either of the 
 kingdoms, shall not pay outward custom therein afterwards, 
 save only inward custom at that port whereunto they shall 
 be transported : but the owner of the goods, or the factor or 
 master of the ship, shall give bond not to transport the same 
 into any foreign part. 
 
 " It is also agreed that Scotchmen shall not be debarred 
 from being associates unto any English company of merchants, 
 as merchant-venturers or others, upon such conditions as any 
 native Englishman may be admitted ; and so reciprocally 
 for Englishmen in Scotland. 
 
 " It is nevertheless agreed by mutual consent, and so to 
 be understood, that the mutual liberty aforesaid of exporta- 
 tion and trade in each part from the one to the other, shall 
 serve for the inward use only of either realm ; and order 
 taken for restraining and prohibiting the transportation of the 
 said commodities into foreign parts, and for due punishment 
 of those that shall transgress in that behalf. 
 
152 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1604. 
 
 " And for the better assurance and caution herein, it is 
 agreed that every merchant so offending shall forfeit his 
 whole goods ; the ships wherein the said goods shall be 
 transported, confiscated ; the customers, searchers, and other 
 officers of the custom whatsoever, in case of consent or 
 knowledge on their part, to lose their offices and goods, and 
 their bodies to be imprisoned at his majesty's pleasure. Of 
 which escheats and forfeitures two parts shall appertain to his 
 majesty, if the customs be unfarmed, and the third to the 
 informer : and if the customs be farmed, one third of the 
 forfeiture shall belong to his majesty, a third to the farmers 
 of the customs, and the other third to the informer. The 
 trial of the offence to be summary in either country in the 
 exchequer chamber by writ, sufficient witnesses, or oath of 
 party, or before the justice by jury or assize ; and his 
 majesty's officers in either country to convene with the com- 
 plainers that have interest in the pursuit. 
 
 " As also for the more surety that there shall be no trans- 
 portation of such goods, it is agreed that at the shipping of 
 all such native commodities there be taken by the customer 
 of the port where the goods or wares are embarked, a bond 
 or obligation subscribed by the owner of the said goods, and 
 master of the ship ; by the owner, if he be present, and in 
 case of his absence, by the master of the ship, and factor or 
 party that ladeth the same ; which bond shall contain a sura 
 of money answerable to the value of the goods, with condition 
 of relieving the party obliged, and discharging him of the 
 said bond in case return be made of a due certificate to the 
 customer where the goods were laden, from any part within 
 England or Scotland : the certificate to be subscribed and 
 sealed by the officers of the customs of the port where the 
 said goods shall arrive, and be unladened ; or if there be no 
 such officers there, by the chief magistrate and town-clerk of 
 that harbour-town, under their hand and seal. 
 
 " It is farther agreed touching the indifferent shipping of 
 commodities either in Enghsh or Scotch bottoms, that Eng- 
 lishmen and Scotchmen freight and laden their goods each in 
 other's ships and bottoms indifferently, paying only Enghsh 
 and Scotch custom, notwithstanding any contrary laws or 
 prohibitions. And that a proposition bo made to the parlia- 
 ment of England for establishino; some good orders for 
 
A. D, 1G04.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 153 
 
 upholding and maintaining the great fishing of England ; as 
 likewise that a proposition be made to the parliament of 
 Scotland for the making of their shipping more proportion- 
 able in burthen to the shipping of England, the better to 
 serve for equality of trade, and a common defence for the 
 whole isle. 
 
 " And because it is requisite that the mutual communica- 
 tion aforesaid be not only extended to matter of commerce, 
 but to all other benefits and privileges of natural born sub- 
 jects, it is agreed that an act be proponed to be passed in 
 manner following : That all the subjects of both realms born 
 since the decease of the late queen, and that shall be born 
 hereafter under the obedience of his majesty and of his royal 
 progeny, are by the common laws of both realms, and shall 
 be for ever enabled to obtain, succeed, inherit, and possess all 
 goods, lands and chattels, honours, dignities, offices, liberties, 
 privileges and benefices, ecclesiastical or civil, in parliament 
 and all other places of the said kingdoms, and every one of 
 the same, in all respects and without any exception whatso- 
 ever, as fully and amply as the subjects of either realm 
 respectively might have done, or may do in any sort within 
 the kingdom where they are born. 
 
 " Farther, whereas his majesty out of his great judgment 
 and providence hath not only professed in public and private 
 speech to his nobility and council of both, but hath also 
 vouchsafed to be contented that, for a more full satisfaction 
 and comfort of all his loving subjects, it may be comprised in 
 the said act, that his majesty meaneth not to confer any 
 office of the crown, any office of judicatory, place, voice, or 
 office in parliament of cither kingdom upon the subjects of 
 the other, born before the decease of the late queen, until 
 time and conversation have increased and accomplished an 
 union of tbe said kingdoms, as well in the hearts of all the 
 people, and in the conformity of laws and policies in these 
 kingdoms, as in the knowledge and sufficiency of particular 
 men, who being untimely employed in such authorities could 
 no way be able, much less acceptable, to discharge such 
 duties belonging to them ; it is therefore resolved by us the 
 commissioners aforesaid, not only in regard of our desires 
 and endeavours to farther the speedy conclusion of this 
 happy work intended, but also as a testimony of our love 
 
154 THE HISTORY OF THK [a. D. 1604. 
 
 and thankfulness to his majesty for his gracious promise, on 
 whose sincerity and benignity we build our full assurance, 
 even according to the inward sense and feeling of our own 
 loyal and hearty affections, to obey and please him in all 
 things worthy the subjects of so worthy a sovereign, that it 
 shall be desired of both the parliaments, to be enacted by 
 their authority, that all the subjects of both realms, born 
 before the decease of the late queen, may be enabled and 
 made capable to acquire, purchase, inherit, succeed, use, and 
 dispose of all lands, goods, inheritances, offices, honours, 
 dignities, liberties, privileges, immunities, benefices, and pre- 
 ferments whatsoever, each subject in either kingdom, with 
 the same freedom and as lawfully and peaceably as the very 
 natural and born subjects of either realm, where the said 
 rights, estates, or profits are established, notwithstanding 
 whatsoever law, statute, or former constitutions heretofore 
 in force to the contrary, other than to acquire, possess, suc- 
 ceed or inherit any office of the crown, office of judicatory, 
 or any voice, place, or office in parliament, all which shall 
 remain free from being claimed, held, or enjoyed by the sub- 
 jects of the one kingdom within the other, born before the 
 decease of the late queen, notwithstanding any words, sense, 
 or interpretation of the act, or any circumstance thereupon 
 depending, until there be such a perfect and full accomplish- 
 ment of the union as is desired mutually by both the realms. 
 In all which points of reservation, either in recital of the 
 words of his majesty's sacred promise, or in any clause or 
 sentence before specified, from enabling them to any of the 
 aforesaid places or dignities, it hath been and ever shall be 
 so far from the thoughts of any of us, to presume to alter or 
 impair his majesty's prerogative royal, (who contrariwise 
 do all with comfort and confidence depend herein upon the 
 gracious assurance which his majesty is pleased to give in 
 the declaration of his so just and princely care and favour to 
 all his people,) as for a farther laying open of our clear and 
 dutiful intentions towards his majesty in this and in all 
 things else which may concern his prerogative, we do also 
 herein profess and declare, that we think it fit there be 
 inserted in the act to be proponed and passed, in express 
 terms, a sufficient reservation of his majesty's prerogative 
 royal to denizate, enable, and prefer to such offices, honours. 
 
A. D. 1604.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 155 
 
 dignities, and benefices whatsoever in both the said king- 
 doms, and either of thera, as are heretofore excepted in the 
 preceding reservation of all English and Scotch subjects born 
 before the decease of the late queen, as freely, sovereignly, 
 and absolutely, as any of his majesty's most noble progenitors 
 or predecessors, kings of England or Scotland, might have 
 done at any time heretofore, and to all other intents and 
 purposes in as ample manner as if no such act had ever been 
 thought of or mentioned. 
 
 " And forasmuch as the several jurisdictions and adminis- 
 trations of either realm may be abused by malefactors, for 
 their own impunity, if they shall commit any oifence in the 
 one realm, and afterwards remove their person and abode 
 unto the other, it is agreed, that there may be some fit course 
 advised of, by the wisdoms of the parliaments, for trial and 
 proceeding against the persons of offenders remaining in the 
 one realm, for and concerning the crimes and faults com- 
 mitted in the other realm : And yet nevertheless that it may 
 be lawful for the justice of the realm where the fact is com- 
 mitted, to remand the offender remaining in the other realm 
 to be answerable unto justice in the same realm where the 
 fact was committed, and that, upon such remand made, the 
 offender shall be accordingly delivered, and all farther pro- 
 ceeding, if any be, in the other realm shall cease, so as it 
 may be done without prejudice to his majesty or other lords 
 in their escheats and forfeitures : With provision, neverthe- 
 less, that this be not thought necessary to be made for all 
 criminal offences, but in special cases only ; as namely, in the 
 cases of wilful murder, fiilsifying of moneys, and forging of 
 deeds, instruments, and writings, and such other like cases 
 as upon farther advice in the said parliaments may be 
 thought fit to be added." 
 
 These were the articles then agreed upon, which written 
 in their several scrolls of parchment were subscribed and 
 sealed at Westminster the sixth of December by the commis- 
 sioners of both parliaments, and one thereof presented the 
 same evening to his majesty by the earl of Sahsbury, who, 
 in name of the whole number there present, having showed 
 what pains they had taken in that business, and how after 
 many conferences they were grown to the resolution con- 
 tained in that scroll, besought his majesty to accept graci- 
 
156 THE HISTORY OF THE [a, D. 1604. 
 
 ously that which was done, and made offer of their best ser- 
 vice in perfecting that work as they should be employed. 
 
 The king professing a great content did specially thank 
 them for reserving his prerogative in the preferment of men 
 to offices and honours, in either kingdom ; " for inequality," 
 said he, " of liberties and privileges is not the way to effect 
 the union I desire ; capacity of offices ought to be equal to 
 both people, but the moderation of that equality must be 
 left to me ; neither need you to suspect that I will offer any 
 manner of grievance to either of the countries, or do any 
 thing that may kindle emulation among them, considering 
 the desire I have to see you united in a fast and indissoluble 
 amity." This said, he recommended the prosecution of that 
 business in the several parliaments to their fidelity and trust ; 
 wishing them to lay aside all jealousies, needless fears, and 
 other worse passions, in a matter that so nearly concerned 
 the good and benefit of both kingdoms. 
 
 Some months before, the king had assumed, by virtue of 
 his prerogative, the title of The King of Great Britain, 
 commanding the same to be used from thenceforth in all pro- 
 clamations, missives, assurances, and treaties, and the names 
 of England and Scotland to be discontinued, except in instru- 
 ments of private parties, and where legality of process would 
 not admit the same. This, some in both kingdoms took ill ; 
 but his majesty, esteeming those names whereby they had 
 been called no better then names of hostility, would needs 
 have the ancient name of Britain received, and these of 
 Scotland and England abolished. In like manner he did 
 prohibit the name of the borders to be used, and ordained all 
 places of strength in those parts (the houses of noblemen and 
 barons excepted) to be demolished, their iron gates to be 
 turned into plough-irons, and the inhabitants to betake them- 
 selves to labour and the exercises of peace. For the same 
 purpose he did break the garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle. 
 And, in memory of the union so happily begun, made divers 
 pieces of gold and silver to be coined, upon some whereof 
 were engraven these inscriptions : Quce Deus conjunxit, nemo 
 separet ; and, Tueatur unita Deus : on others, Faciam eos 
 ingentem unani ; and, Henricus rosas, Regna Jacobus} 
 
 ' Juru'it must be here uuderstootl. 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 157 
 
 During this conference the Lord Fyvie, president of the 
 session, supphed the place of the Scotch chancellor, and was 
 shortly after preferred to the same office by the earl of 
 Montrose his dismission, who instead thereof was made 
 commissioner and deputy of Scotland during life. Secretary 
 Elphingston was chosen president of the session, and all 
 affairs trusted by his majesty to the chancellor and him ; 
 with a special direction, that they should be assisting to the 
 Church, and maintain those whom his majesty had preferred 
 to the places of bishops in the same. How they answered 
 the trust committed to them in this particular, we shall 
 hear. 
 
 But leaving the matter of State, let us now see how things 
 went at that time in the Church. The General Assembly, 
 that should have kept at Aberdeen in July 1604, was con- 
 tinued, because of the business of the union, to the same 
 month in the year following. The king being informed of a 
 great preparation that the ministers made for keeping that 
 meeting, and that they intended to call in question all the 
 conclusions taken in former Assemblies for the episcopal 
 government, directed the commissioners of the Church to 
 desert the diet, and make no indiction of another till he 
 should be advertised. They accordingly did intimate his 
 majesty's pleasure to all the presbyteries, and therewith, as 
 they were desired, declared that his majesty did purpose to 
 call a number of the bishops and disaffected ministers to 
 court, and, for preventing such a disordered meeting, hear 
 the differences that were among them debated in his own 
 person. 
 
 The greater part resolved to obey. Nine presbyteries 
 only of fifty (so many there are reckoned in the whole kino-- 
 dom) sent their commissioners to keep the mectino-. The 
 chief leaders of this stir were Mr John Forbes, minister of 
 Alford, and Mr John Welch, minister at Ayr. These two 
 having encouragement given them in private by some princi- 
 pally in the state, used all means to bring the ministers to- 
 gether, and were in expectation of a frequent Assembly ; 
 yet, when the day appointed came, there convened thirteen 
 only, and after some two or three days seven or eight more. 
 The names of the ministers that convened Avere, Mr 
 Charles Farum, minister at Fraserburgh, Mr Robert Youno-- 
 
158 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 son, minister at Clat, Mr James Mill, minister at Inverury, 
 MrAlexanderStrachan, minister at Creich, Mr David Robert- 
 son, minister at Fetterangus, Mr Robert Rid, minister at , 
 Mr James Irvine, minister at Touch, Mr John Munro, sub- 
 dean of Ross, Mr William Forbes, minister at Kinbethock, 
 Mr William Davidson, minister at Ruthven, Mr Thomas 
 Abernethy, minister at Hawick, Mr James Greig, minister at 
 Loudon, Mr Nathaniel Inglis, minister at Craigie, Mr James 
 Ross and Mr Archibald Blackburn, ministers at Aberdeen, 
 Mr John Ross, minister at Blair, Mr John Sharp, minister at 
 Kilmany, Mr Andrew Duncan, minister at Crail, Mr Robert 
 Dury, minister at Anstruther, with the said Mr John Forbes 
 and Mr John Welch. Sir Alexander Straiten of Lauriston, 
 commissioner for his majesty in Church affairs, upon a 
 rumour he heard of a meeting to be kept, lest any imputa- 
 tion of negligence should be laid on him, prevented the same, 
 and by letters he had obtained from the secret council caused 
 discharge the Assembly at the market-cross of Aberdeen. 
 They nevertheless convened the next day, which being re- 
 ported to the commissioner, he went to the place, and in his 
 majesty's name commanded them to dissolve. They reply- 
 ing, " that they were warranted to meet by the laws of the 
 country, and that they could not betray the liberties of the 
 Church by giving way to such unlawful prohibitions," he 
 showed them " that the liberty granted for keeping Assem- 
 blies could not annul his majesty's power, nor denude him of his 
 prerogative in the continuing or discharging these meetings, 
 when he should find cause ; for even the parliament, which 
 is the highest court of the kingdom, said he, is disposed of as 
 the king thinketh meet ; at his pleasure it is called, pro- 
 rogued, dismissed, and deserted, as he judgeth most con- 
 venient : and you will not, I trust, equal your Assemblies to 
 the parliament of the three estates. Besides, you are not a 
 number; you want the ordinary clerk ; neither is the modera- 
 tor of the last Assembly present, and can do nothing orderly." 
 After a little debating they request him to remove, till they 
 should deliberate among themselves what were best for them 
 to do ; but he was no sooner gone than they did choose Mr 
 John Forbes moderator, and that done, continued the Assem- 
 bly to the last Tuesday of September, thinking by this means 
 to preserve their liberty. 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 159 
 
 Lauriston finding himself in this sort abused, caused exe- 
 cute the letters, and denounced them rebels. And, lest they 
 should make a new business in September, complained to the 
 council of the disobedience given to their charge. Order 
 was taken hereupon to summon them before the council, and 
 a beginning made with the two leaders of the rest, Mr 
 Forbes and Mr \Velch being charged to a certain day of the 
 same month. They appeared, and standing to the defence 
 of that which they had done, were committed to the castle of 
 Blackness ; direction was likewise given for citing the rest 
 to the third of October. 
 
 At the day all compeared, and being charged for disobey- 
 ing his majesty's letter, thirteen of the number acknowledg- 
 ing their offence, and protesting that what they did was not 
 out of disobedience, entreated the lords to intercede with his 
 majesty for their pardon. The rest taking a contrary course, 
 and maintaining their proceedings, were committed to several 
 prisons. Their names were, Mr Charles Farum, Mr John 
 Munro, Mr James Irvine, Mr William Forbes, Mr Nathaniel 
 Inglis, Mr Andrew Duncan, Mr James Greig, and Mr John 
 Sharp. Some of these being sent to Dumbarton, others to 
 Blackness, and some to the castle of Doune, the others that 
 had confessed their offence were dimitted, and suffered to 
 return to their charges. 
 
 These proceedings of the council were openly condemned 
 by divers preachers ; and to make them more odious, it was 
 every where given out that the suppressing of Assemblies 
 and present discipline, with the introduction of the rites of 
 England, were the matters intended to be established ; 
 whereupon the declaration following was by his majesty's 
 command published : — 
 
 " Whereas we have ever since it pleased God to establish 
 us in the imperial crown of Great Britain equally regarded 
 the good of both kingdoms, now happily united in our royal 
 person in one monarchy, ever minding to maintain and con- 
 tinue the good and laudable customs and laws whereby each 
 of them hath been these many ages so Avorthily governed ; 
 nevertheless some malicious spirits, enemies to common tran- 
 quiUity, have laboured to possess the minds of our well- 
 affected subjects with an opinion that we do presently intend 
 
160 THE HISTORY OF THK [a. D. 1605. 
 
 a change of the authorized disciphne of the Church, and by 
 a sudden and unseasonable laying on of the rites, ceremonies, 
 and whole ecclesiastical order estabhshed in this part of our 
 kingdom of Britain, to overturn the former government 
 received in these parts ; which none of our good subjects we 
 trust will be so credulous as to believe, knowing how careful 
 we have been to maintain both religion and justice, and to 
 reform the evils that did in any sort prejudice the integrity 
 of either of the two, whereby justice hath attained under our 
 government to a greater perfection and splendour than in any 
 of our predecessors' times, and many abuses and corruptions 
 in the discipline of the Church amended, that otherwise 
 might have brought the purity of religion into extreme 
 danger, neither of which was done by our sovereign and 
 absolute authority (although we enjoy the same as freely as 
 any king or monarch of the world) ; but as the disease of the 
 civil body ever Avas cured by the advice of our three estates, 
 so were the defects of the Church by the help and counsel 
 of those that had greatest interest therein. 
 
 " And, however, in rule of policy we cannot but judge it 
 convenient that two estates so inseparably conjoined should 
 be drawn to as great conformity in all things as the good of 
 both may permit ; and that no monarchy either in civil or 
 ecclesiastical policj^ hath yet attained to that perfection that 
 it needs no reformation, or that infinite occasions may not 
 arise whereupon wise princes will foresee for the benefit of 
 their estates just cause of alteration; yet are we, and have 
 ever been, resolved not to make any sudden and hasty 
 change in the government of that part of our kingdom either 
 civil or ecclesiastical, but with grave advice and consent of 
 our estates, and the wisest and best sort of them whom it 
 most properly concerns, much less to trouble them with an 
 unnecessary alteration of indifferent and ceremonial matters, 
 but to do it upon such foreseen advantages and prevention of 
 confusion and evil to come, as the greatest enemies of peace 
 and obedience to princes shall not obtrude any inconvenient 
 to the contrary. And as by God's holy assistance we have 
 drawn that part of our kingdom out of infinite troubles, 
 factions, and barbarities, reducing the utmost borders and 
 confines thereof to God's obedience and acknowledging of 
 our laws ; (a condition never heard of since this isle was 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 161 
 
 first inhabited) ; so by the same divine providence and our 
 fatherly care over the whole island, we intend to transmit 
 the same in good order, happy quietness, and flourishing 
 policy, to the posterity wherewith God hath blessed us, and 
 after them to the world's end. Likeas for the more verifi- 
 cation of this our honourable intention, and to stop the 
 mouths of those unquiet spirits, raisers of that false scaudal 
 of alteration, we have appointed a General Assembly to be 
 holden at Dundee the last Tuesday of July, whereat we ex- 
 pect a reparation of these disorders in as far as belongeth to 
 their censure, and to be freed in time coming of all such 
 calumnies. Given at our honour of Hampton Court the 
 twenty-sixth of September 1605, and in the third year of 
 our reign of Great Britain, France, and Ireland." 
 
 The copies of this declaration Avere sent to the ministers 
 remaining in ward, that they might see the vanity of these 
 rumours, and be induced to acknowledge their offence ; but 
 they still continuing in their obstinacy, and showing no 
 tokens of penitency, were again called before the council the 
 twenty-fourth of October, to receive their censure for the 
 disobedience of his majesty's commandments. At Avhich 
 time, being inquired what they had to say for themselves, 
 and hoAV they could excuse the contempt of his majesty's 
 directions, after some speeches tending to justify their 
 doings, they presented in writing a declaration formed in 
 this sort : — 
 
 " Please your Lordships, the approbation or disallowance of 
 a General Assembly hath been, and should be, a matter 
 spiritual, and always cognosced and judged by the Church 
 as judges competent within this realm : and seeing we are 
 called before your lordships to hear and see it found and 
 declared, that we have contemptuously and seditiously con- 
 vened and assembled ourselves in a General Assembly at 
 Aberdeen the first Tuesday of July last, and the said 
 Assembly to be declared unlawful, as at more length is 
 contained in the summons executed against us. We, in con- 
 sideration of the premises, and other reasons to be given by 
 us, have just cause to decline your lordships' judgment as no 
 way competent in the cause above specified, and by these 
 presents we simphciter decline the same, seeing we are most 
 wilhng to submit ourselves to the trial of a General Asscm- 
 
 voL. in. 11 
 
162 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 bly, that is the only judge competent. Subscribed with our 
 hands the twenty-fourth of October 1605." 
 
 The subscribers were, Mr John Forbes, Mr John Welch, 
 Mr John Monro, Mr Andrew Duncan, Mr Alexander 
 Strachan, Mr James Greig, Mr Wilham Forbes, Mr 
 Nathaniel Inglis, Mr Charles Farum, Mr James Irvine, 
 Mr John Sharp, Mr Robert Dury, Mr John Ross, and Mr 
 Robert Youngson. 
 
 The last of these was one that had acknowledged his 
 offence, and craved pardon, yet at this diet compeared with 
 these others, professing, " That he was troubled in conscience 
 for the confession he had made, and that he would now take 
 part with the brethren who stood to the defence of the good 
 cause," as he termed it. The council repelling the declinator, 
 declared the Assembly to have been unlawful, and those that 
 met in the same, contrary to his majesty's command, punish- 
 able. But because they had added to their former fault the 
 crime of treason, it was thought meet to defer the censure 
 till the king should be acquainted therewith, and his pleasure 
 known. 
 
 No sooner was his majesty advertised of the declinator, 
 than direction was sent to the council for proceeding against 
 them according to the laws : whereupon the six that were 
 imprisoned in Blackness, they are to say, Mr John Forbes, 
 Mr John Welch, Mr Andrew Duncan, Mr John Sharp, 
 Mr Robert Dury, and Mr Alexander Strachan, were upon 
 the tenth of January thereafter brought to the town of 
 Linlithgow, and there presented upon pannel before the 
 justice, who was assisted by a number of noblemen and 
 others of the privy council. 
 
 The indictment made, which was grounded upon the 
 statute of parliament holden in May 1584, touching his 
 majesty's royal power over all estates, and the presumptuous 
 fact committed by them in declining the judgment of the 
 council, certain of their brethren did supplicate the justice 
 for license to confer with them apart, that they might per- 
 suade them to an humble submission and acknowledgment of 
 their offence. This obtained, they were most earnestly 
 dealt with (as well by their brethren as by the advocates 
 that came to plead for them) to relinquish their wilfulness, 
 and not to exasperate the king by standing to the defence of 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 163 
 
 their declinator ; but no persuasions could avail. So return- 
 ing to the bar they were desired to answer, and show a 
 reason (if any they had) why the matter should not pass to 
 the trial of a jury. The advocates that stayed with them 
 (for the two principals refused to plead because of their 
 obstinacy) excepting against the indictment, and saying, that 
 ^e statute 1592, whereby it was declared, " That the act 
 made against declining of the council's judgment should not 
 derogate any thing from the privileges which God had given 
 to the spiritual office-bearers in the Church, concerning heads 
 of religion, matters of heresy, excommunication, collation, 
 and deprivation of ministers, or any such essential censures, 
 having warrant of the word of God," they thereupon inferred 
 that their meeting' at the time libelled in Aberdeen beincf an 
 essential censure warranted by God's word, they might 
 lawfully have declined the council's judgment from taking 
 cognition therein. 
 
 It was answered by his majesty's advocate, " That the 
 exception was naught, because the keeping of an Assembly 
 at a certain time and place, and the appointing of another 
 contrary to his majesty's direction and the charge of the 
 council, was neither a head of religion, nor matter of heresy, 
 nor excommunication, nor an essential censure ; and so being 
 no ways comprehended under that limitation, their declining 
 of the council, whenas they were called to answer for the 
 keeping of that conventicle in the town of Aberdeen, must of 
 necessity come under the generality of the statute 1584, and 
 bring them under the punishment of treason." 
 
 The matter after some dispute being put to trial of an 
 assize, all the six were found guilty of treason, and returned 
 to their several prisons, till his majesty's pleasure concerning 
 their punishment should be certified ; what this was, in the 
 story of the next year shall be declared. Meanwhile a pro- 
 clamation went out, " discharging all the subjects, of what 
 rank, place, calling, function, or condition soever, either in 
 public or private, to call in question his majesty's authority 
 royal, or the lawfulness of proceeding against the said 
 ministers, or to make any other construction of the statute 
 concerning the declining of his majesty's and the council's 
 judgment than was made in that decision of the justice ; Avith 
 certification to those that contravened, that they should be 
 
164 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 called and severely punished as seditious persons and wilful 
 contemners of his majesty's most just and lawful govern- 
 ment." 
 
 Before these stirs in the Church, a convention of the 
 estates was kept the sixth of June at Edinburgh, where a 
 letter was presented, sent by his majesty to the estates full 
 of affection. The letter was to this effect: "That hig 
 majesty's love being nothing diminished through his absence 
 towards that his native and ancient kingdom, he did wish 
 them to contend in a laudable emulation who should live 
 most virtuously, and be most obedient to the laws : that the 
 nobility should give assistance to the execution of justice, 
 and be in all things a good example to their inferiors ; the 
 barons should set themselves to procure the good of the 
 kingdom ; and the burgesses apply their minds to the in- 
 crease of trade, especially the trade of fishing, wdiich had 
 been long neglected, and to the working of cloth, that had 
 made their neighbour country so famous. To them all he 
 recommended the rooting forth of barbarity, the planting of 
 colonics in the Isles, and peophng the same with civil and 
 industrious persons ; assuring them that, they so behaving 
 themselves, their liberty should be as dear to him as either 
 his life or estate." 
 
 This was the substance of the letter, which the chancellor 
 having resumed, and thereunto added many persuasions for 
 the following of those wholesome and profitable counsels, the 
 estates did express a great forwardness that way, and after 
 a long deliberation condescended upon divers good acts, 
 which if they had been all carefully put in practice, as they 
 were wisely devised, the kingdom had long before this time 
 tried the benefit thereof. Amongst other directions, the 
 removing of the barbarous feuds was recommended to the 
 council, whereof they were desired to make a roll, and urge 
 the parties to reconcile ; and if they refused, then to assure 
 them to the peace, and commit them to ward till the same 
 was secured. And whereas the custom had been to cause 
 parties assure one another, the king did prohibit the same as 
 a thing dishonourable, and arguing too great presumption in 
 the subject, seeing the law should be to every man a suffi- 
 cient assurance. The council, reverencing his majesty's 
 direction, did ordain that course from thenceforth to be 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 165 
 
 observed, and all assurances to be taken for the peace there- 
 after, and not of one party to another : beginning being 
 made with the Lord Maxwell and the laird of Johnston, 
 they were moved to join hands and reconcile in presence of 
 the council. 
 
 This summer the enterprise of the Lewis was again set on 
 foot by Robert Lumsdale of Ardrie and Sir George Hay of 
 Nethcrlifte, to whom some of the first undertakers had 
 made over their right. In August they took journey thither, 
 and by the assistance of Mackey Mackenzie and Donald 
 Gorum forced the inhabitants to remove forth of the isle, 
 and give surety not to return, 
 
 Ardrie and his copartners thinking all made sure, and that 
 there was no more danger, returned south about Martinmas, 
 leaving some companies to maintain their possession ; which 
 they made good all that winter, though now and then they 
 were assaulted by the islesmen. In the spring Ardrie went 
 back, taking Avith him fresh provision, and fell to build and 
 manure the lands. But this continued not long ; for money 
 failing, the workmen went away, and the companies diminish- 
 ing daily, the natives having associated a number of isles- 
 men made a new invasion about the end of harvest, and by 
 continual incursions so outwearied the new possessors, as 
 they gave over the enterprise, and were contented for a 
 little sum of money to make away their rights to the laird 
 of INIackenzie. This turned to the ruin of divers of the 
 undertakers, who were exhausted in means before they took 
 the enterprise in hand, and had not the power which Avas 
 required in a business of that importance. 
 
 In the end of the year a horrible conspiracy was detected 
 against the king and whole body of the state of England. 
 The names of the conspirators were, liobert Catesby, 
 Thomas Percy, Thomas Winter, John Wright, and Guido 
 Faux, Enghshraen all, and papists by profession. These 
 live meeting together, and consulting by Avhat mean they 
 might best relieve the catholic cause (so they spake), Thomas 
 Percy proponed the killing of the king, and at his oavu peril 
 made offer to perform the same. Catesby, Avho had another 
 plot in his head, answered, " That they would not hazard 
 him so ; and that albeit it should succeed, the case of the 
 catholic cause would be no better, the prince and duke of 
 
166 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 York being left alive ; yea, if both these were made away, 
 yet the councillors, nobility, judges, knights, and a great 
 many others addicted to religion, would be remaining, who 
 should be able enough to restore the estate, and cross all 
 their purposes ; that therefore he had bethought himself of 
 a better and more safe way, which was at one time, and with 
 one blow, to cut off all their enemies. This (he said) was by 
 blowing up the parliament-house with gunpowder at the 
 time when the king and estates were assembled." The 
 advice pleased tbem all ; but first it was thought meet to ask 
 the opinion of their ghostly fathers, and be informed of the 
 lawfulness of the fact ; as of Henry Garnet, Oswold Tesmond 
 alias Greenwell, and John Gerard, Jesuits; who being con- 
 sulted commended the enterpinse, assuring them they might 
 go on with a good conscience and perform the deed, seeing 
 they were heretics, and persons ipso jure excommunicated 
 against whom they were set. 
 
 This resolution satisfying their consciences, for their greater 
 security they took an oath of secrecy, " swearing each to an- 
 other by the sacred Trinity and the blessed sacrament they 
 were at that time to receive, that neither directly nor in- 
 directly, by word or circumstances, they should discover the 
 purpose they had taken to any whomsoever, nor should they 
 desist from performing the same without license of their 
 associates." This oath was given upon a primer in the pre- 
 sence of Gerard the Jesuit ; and having heard mass and 
 received the sacrament, Thomas Percy was appointed to 
 hire a house nigh adjoining to the parliament, for the more 
 safe and secret working of the mine. 
 
 This being obtained, yet with dijBSculty enough, they 
 entered to work, and after divers intermissions, because of 
 proroguing the parliament, when that they had brought the 
 mine to the midst of the wall, they found the opportunity of 
 a cellar under the parliament-house to be let, and leaving the 
 mine, for that the wall was hard to be digged through, they 
 hired the cellar, and put in it thirty-six barrels of powder, a 
 number of billets, faggots, and a great quantity of coals, 
 wherewith they covered the barrels. They had called in 
 Christopher Wright, Robert Winter, John Grant, and 
 Thomas Bates, Catesby's servant, and communicated the 
 matter to them. This last was much troubled at first with 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 167 
 
 the cruelty of the plot, and had forsaken them, if he had not 
 been confirmed and encoui'aged by Tesmond the Jesuit to 
 go on with the rest. After these Ambrose Rockwood and 
 Robert Keyes were made of the counsel, all taking the oath 
 of secrecy, and receiving the sacrament upon the same. And 
 because the charge in buying powder, billets, and hiring of 
 houses had been a burden heavy for Thomas Percy, it was 
 thought meet to bring in some more ; whereupon Sir Everard 
 Digby and Mr Francis Tresham were assumed. 
 
 All things being now, as they judged, made sure, they 
 began to think what course was fittest to take after the deed 
 was performed. The first doubt they made was touching 
 the prince and surprise of his person ; or if he should accom- 
 pany his father to the parliament, how they might seize upon 
 the duke of York his brother. But this Percy undertook 
 to do by reason of his acquaintance in the house, into which 
 he could enter without suspicion, and how soon the blow was 
 given carry him away by the help of such as he should have 
 in a readiness to assist. Of the Lady Ehzabeth they made 
 small question, for that she was kept in the country by the 
 Lady Harrington near to Ashby, Catesby's dwelling-house. 
 
 The next doubt they proponed was, where they should 
 have money and horses : and for this Digby made offer of 
 fifteen hundred pounds English, Tresham two thousand, and 
 Percy promised to bring all he could gather of Northumber- 
 land's rents, which he thought would extend to four thousand 
 pounds, and to provide ten horses for his part. Neither 
 doubted they but, having the heir-apparent in their hands, 
 they should find means sufficient. 
 
 A third question they made, what lords they should save 
 from going to the parliament ; which they agTced to be as 
 many cathohcs as conveniently they might. 
 
 Fourthly, it was moved among them what foreign princes 
 tliey should acquaint with the purpose, and whose aid they 
 should seek. Concerning which it was agreed, that none of 
 them should be made privy to the plot, seeing they could 
 not enjoin secrecy to princes; and for aid, after the deed 
 performed, there would be time enough to entreat the same 
 either of Spain or France, or the country of Flanders. 
 
 Lastly, because they saw no way to assure the duke of 
 York his person, (for Percy his undertaking they held un- 
 
168 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 sure), they resolved to serve their turn with the Lady Ehza- 
 beth, and to proclaim her queen ; to which purpose they had 
 a proclamation formed, wherein no mention was made of 
 altering religion, because they had not forces sufficient, and 
 till they might make good their party, they would not avow 
 the deed to bo theirs, but lay it so far as they could upon 
 the Puritans. 
 
 Now there remained nothing, all dangers being foreseen, 
 and every thing provided, but the last act of the intended 
 tragedy to be performed, whenas that which was so secretly 
 hatched came to be discovered after a wonderful manner. 
 The Lord Monteagle, son and heir to the Lord Morley, 
 being in his lodging at seven of the clock at night, had a 
 letter given him by one of his footmen, who received the 
 same upon the street from a person unknown, with a charge 
 to put it in his master's hand. The tenor whereof was as 
 followeth : — 
 
 " My Lord, 
 Out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care 
 of your preservation; therefore would I advise you, as you 
 tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift off your 
 attendance at this parliament ; for God and man have con- 
 curred to punish the wickedness of this time. Think not 
 slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your 
 country, where you may expect the event in safety : for 
 though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they 
 shall receive a terrible blow in this parliament, and shall not 
 see who hurteth them. This counsel is not to be contemned, 
 because it may do you good, and can do you no harm ; for 
 the danger is passed as soon as you have burnt the letter ; 
 and I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of 
 it, to whose holy protection I commit you." 
 
 It was some ten days only before the parliament that 
 Monteagle received this letter, and but twelve hours before 
 the meeting of the estates that the plot was found out. 
 Where it is a sort of wonder to think that so many being 
 made privy to the conspiracy, the same should not have 
 burst out one way or other in so long a time ; for it Avas the 
 eleventh of December 1604 when they began to work at the 
 
A. D. 1605.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 1G9 
 
 mine, and so the space of a year and more the conspiracy 
 went concealed. Some advertisements were sent to the 
 king and divers of his majesty's conncil from beyond sea, 
 " That the papists were preparing to present a petition for 
 toleration of religion at the meeting of the parliament, which 
 should be so well backed as the king would be loth to refuse 
 it." But these advertisements were contemned, and thought 
 to be invented for putting the king in fear. 
 
 Yea, and the nobleman, when he received the letter, not 
 knowing what construction to make thereof, doubted much 
 that it had been a device to scare him from attending the 
 parliament. Not the less out of his care of the king's pre- 
 servation, he resolved to communicate the same with the earl 
 of Salisbury, his majesty's principal secretary, and going the 
 same nio-ht to Whitehall, delivered the letter to him. The 
 secretary acquainting the chamberlain, admiral, and some 
 others of the council therewith, and examining every line 
 thereof, resolved to show the same to the king at his i-eturn, 
 (for he was then at hunting at Royston), and not to search far- 
 ther in the matter till they should hear what was his judg- 
 ment. 
 
 The king returning to London the Thursday after, which 
 was Allhallows evening, the letter was showed him the next 
 day in the afternoon ; who having read the same once or 
 twice, said, " That it was not to be contemned, and that the 
 style seemed more quick and pithy than is usual in libels, 
 pasquils, and the like," The secretary perceiving the king 
 to apprehend the matter more deeply than he expected, told 
 him " that the letter seemed to be written by a fool or mad- 
 man ; and pointing at the passage, ' the danger is past as 
 soon as you have burnt the letter,' said, that the warning 
 was to httle purpose, if the burning of the letter might make 
 the danger eschewed." 
 
 But the king willed him to consider the former sentence, 
 wherein it was said that " they should receive a terrible blow 
 at the parliament, and not see who did hurt them," and when 
 he should join that with the other, he should find it to be 
 sudden danger, as the blowing up by powder, that was there- 
 by meant. Therefore willed all the rooms in the parliament- 
 house to be searched, both above and below, to prevent the 
 danger, if any there was. 
 
170 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 This belono-ino; to the chamberlain his office, he was desired 
 to make the search, and for staying idle rumours, to delay 
 his going to Monday in the afternoon, the day before the 
 first session of parliament. At which time the chamberlain 
 taking with him the Lord Monteagle, who was careful to see 
 what the warning given would prove, went and viewed all 
 the rooms, where he perceived in the vault under the upper 
 house great store of fagots, billets, and coal ; and asking 
 the keeper of the guardrobe named Whinyard, to what 
 use he had put those low cellars, (for they appertained to 
 him,) he answered, that Thomas Percy had hired the house 
 and cellar, and the billets and coal were the gentleman's pro- 
 vision for winter. The chamberlain casting his eye aside, 
 and espying a fellow in the corner of the vault, asked who 
 he was, and received answer that he was Percy's man, who 
 kept the house for his master. 
 
 Thus having looked upon all things in a careless manner 
 as it appeared, he returned to the king, and made report of 
 that he had seen, which increased his majesty's first appre- 
 hension ; and thereupon was order given for turning up those 
 billets and coals even to the bottom. If nothing should be 
 found, it was devised, that Whinyard should pretend the 
 stealing of some of the king's stuff which he had in' keeping, 
 and that made the colour of the search. Sir Thomas Knevet, 
 gentleman of his majesty's privy chamber and justice of 
 peace within Westminster, being appointed for this business, 
 Avent thither with some few in company about midnight, and 
 finding a man standing without doors in his clothes and boots, 
 caused him to be apprehended. This was Guide Faux, 
 whose hand should have fired the train, and gave himself 
 out for Percy's man. Thereafter entering into the house 
 he made the coals and billets to be turned up, under which 
 they found thirty-six barrels of powder more or less. Then 
 turning to the fellow they had apprehended, and questioning 
 him touching the powder, he did instantly confess, swearing, 
 " That if he had been within the house when they took him, 
 he should have blown them up Avith the house and all." 
 
 Sir Thomas taking the man along went immediately to the 
 palace, and showed the chamberlain and secretary how he 
 had sped. They making themselves ready, and warning the 
 councillors that lav within the palace, went all together to 
 
A. D. 1G05.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 171 
 
 his majesty's bed-chamber. The king awake, the chamber- 
 lain, not able to conceal his joy, cried aloud, that the treason 
 was discovered, and the traitor in hands. Tlien command 
 was given to call the council to examine the prisoner touch- 
 ing his partakers. He, nothing dejected nor moved a whit 
 with so honourable a presence, did boldly avow the fact, 
 repenting only that he had failed in the execution, and say- 
 ing, " The devil envying the success of so good a work had 
 discovered the same." All that day nothing could be drawn 
 from him touching his complices, taking all the blame upon 
 himself, and professing he had done it for religion and con- 
 science' sake. Speaking of the king, he denied him to be his 
 sovereign, or anointed of God, in regard he was a heretic, 
 and that it was no sin to cut him off. This was his behaviour 
 at first ; but being conveyed to the Tower, and the rack pre- 
 sented, he laid open the whole conspiracy, and confessed the 
 truth. 
 
 There were in the city at the time Catesby, Percy, 
 Thomas Winter, Francis Tresham, and the younger Wright, 
 who hearing that all was disclosed made away to the country, 
 appointing to meet the next morning at Dunchurch in War- 
 wickshire, Digby's lodging. John Grant, with some recusants 
 that he had associated to himself, had broke up the same 
 night a stable of Benoch, a rider of great horses, and carried 
 away seven or eight belonging to certain noblemen of the 
 country ; for he did think the conspiracy had taken effect, 
 and was preparing to surprise the Lady Ehzabeth, whose 
 residence was not far from the place. But within a few 
 hours Catesby, Percy, and the others that were fled from 
 London, bringing assurance that all was failed, they resolved 
 upon a public rebellion, and pretending the quarrel of reli- 
 gion, laboured to draw some companies together ; yet Avhen 
 they had gathered all their forces, they did not exceed four- 
 score in all. 
 
 Sir Fulk Grevill, lieutenant-deputy of Warwickshire, 
 hearing of the riot that Grant had committed, and appre- 
 hending it to be the beginning of a rebellion, sent to adver- 
 tise the towns about, and warned them to be on their guard. 
 The sheriffs of the county convening, the people likewise in 
 arms, pursued them from shire to shire. Sir Richard Walsh, 
 the sheriff of Worcestei', having tried where they had taken 
 
172 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1605. 
 
 harbour, sent a trumpet and messenger to command tliem to 
 render unto him in his majesty's name, promising to intercede 
 for their Uves. But they, hearing their fault to be uupardon- 
 able, returned answer, that he had need of better assistants 
 than the numbers that accompanied him, before he could 
 either command or compel them. The sheriif, provoked by 
 this arrogant answer, prepared to assail the house ; and they 
 making for defence, it happened that a spark of fire falling 
 among some powder, which they were drying, did kindle and 
 blow up the same, wherewith their hands, faces, and sides 
 were so scorched and burnt, as they lost courage, and 
 opening the gate exposed themselves to the people's fury. 
 Catesby, Percy, and Thomas Winter, joining backs, and 
 resolving rather to die than to be taken, the two first were 
 killed with one shot, and the other after some wounds made 
 prisoner; the two Wrights were killed, Rockwood, Grant, 
 Digby, and Bates were taken. Tresham had stayed at 
 London, and changing his lodging thought to lurk till he 
 should find occasion to escape by sea, but was in end found 
 out ; so were Robert Winter and one Littleton, and all of 
 them committed to the Tower of London. 
 
 Being examined, Thomas Winter ingenuously confessed 
 all, setting down the particulars under his hand, and acknow- 
 ledo-ino' the ofi:ence to be greater than could be forgiven. 
 Dio-by excused the crime by the despair they were driven 
 unto, having hopes given them at the king's first coming to 
 the crown, that the catholics should have the exercise of 
 their religion permitted, which being denied they had taken 
 those wicked courses. Tresham in his confession named 
 Garnet the Jesuit as privy to the conspiracy ; but after- 
 wards by his wife's instigation did deny it, affirming that he 
 had wrono-ed him, and not seen him once these last sixteen 
 years. Yet Garnet being apprehended some months after, 
 confessed that they met divers times within the last half-year. 
 Tresham died in the prison ; the rest were put to the trial of 
 a jury, and condemned. Digby, Grant, Robert Winter, and 
 Thomas Bates were executed at the Avestern gate of St Paul's 
 in the end of January ; Thomas Winter, Ambrose Rockwood, 
 Robert Keyes, and Guide Faux, who had wrought at the 
 mine, suifered in like sort in the court nigh to the parhament- 
 house. 
 
A. D. 1605.] CIIUUCH OF SCOTLAND. 173 
 
 This was the end of that conspiracy, the like whereof in 
 no man's memory hath been heard. We have heard of 
 kings treacherously killed, of practices against estates and 
 commonwealths ; but such a monster of conspiracies (as 
 Thuanus calls it) no country nor age did ever produce. The 
 king, queen, with their posterity, the nobility, clergy, judges, 
 barons, knights, gentry, and in a manner the whole kingdom 
 to be in one moment all destroyed, was a wickedness beyond 
 all expression ; but, blessed be God, this monster, which 
 was long in breeding, in the very birth was choked and 
 smothered. 
 
 The king, giving order for the meeting of the parliament 
 the same day that the conspiracy was discovered, made a 
 long speech to the estates, wherein having aggravated the 
 danger by many circumstances, and greatly magnified the 
 mercies of God in the discovery, when he came to speak of 
 the trial and punishment, was observed to keep a marvellous 
 temper in his discourse, wishing no innocent person either 
 foreign or domestic should receive blame or harm thereby. 
 " For, however," said he, " the blind superstition of their errors 
 in religion hath been the only motive of this desperate 
 attempt, it must not be thought that all who profess the 
 Koman religion are guilty of the same ; for as it is true (I 
 keep his majesty's own words) that no other sect of heretics 
 (not excepting Turk, Jew, or Pagan, nay not those of Cali- 
 cut that adore the devil) did ever maintain by the grounds 
 of their religion, that it was lawful and meritorious to murder 
 princes or people for the quarrel of rehgion, yet it is as true 
 on the other side, that many honest men, blinded peradven- 
 ture with some opinions of popery, as if they be not found in 
 questions of real presence, the number of the sacraments, and 
 some such school questions, do either not know, or not 
 believe at least, all the true grounds of popery, which is 
 indeed the mystery of iniquity : and therefore do we justly 
 confess that many papists, especially our forefathers, laying 
 their only trust upon Christ and his merits, may be saved ; 
 detesting in that point, and thinking the cruelty of the Puritans 
 worthy of fire, that will admit no salvation to any papists." 
 And so concluding that part of his discourse, said, " As upon 
 the one part many honest men, seduced with some errors of 
 popery, may yet remain good and faithful subjects ; so upon 
 
174 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1606. 
 
 the other part, none of those that truly know and beheve the 
 whole grounds of poper j, can prove either good Christians or 
 faithful subjects." The speech is to be seen amongst his 
 majesty's works, and is worthy the reading, for the wise 
 directions given in that business. 
 
 The news of this conspiracy were speedily advertised to 
 the council of Scotland, and a command given for a public 
 thanksgiving in all the churches for his majesty's deliverance ; 
 but the cause was left to every man's conjecture, albeit the 
 advertisement did bear expressly, that the contrivers were 
 papists, and their only quai^rel religion. This being told to 
 the king, and that one of the privy-councillors had said, 
 "that the conspiracy proceeded of a mere discontent the 
 people had conceived at his majesty's government," he was 
 mightily otfended, and from that time forth held his aifection 
 to his service continually suspected. 
 
 Information was made at the same time, that some of the 
 ministers imprisoned at Blackness did blame the chancellor 
 for their meeting at Aberdeen, offering "that they had 
 warrant from him to meet, and his promise that they should 
 incur no danger for the same." The king, to understand 
 the truth thereof, directed his servant Sir William Irvine to 
 inquire of the imprisoned ministers what dealing they had 
 with the chancellor in that business. Their answer was, 
 " That a little before their meeting at Aberdeen, Mr John 
 Forbes and Mr John Welch had sought his advice touchinsr 
 their convening ; and that he asking them what they intended 
 to do, they had answered, that fearing the establishment of 
 bishops, they were to do their best for withstanding the 
 same ; and that he to encourage them did promise all the 
 assistance he could give that way, which they took to be an 
 allowance of their meeting." A letter hereupon was directed 
 to certain of the council to call the ministers, and if they 
 stood to their saying, to hear what the chancellor would 
 answer. They maintaining that which they had said, and 
 the chancellor called to his answer, affirmed that he was en- 
 treated by them to oppose the restitution of bishops' tempo- 
 ralities, which then was in working, promising that he should 
 not be questioned for his rehgion, which they understood to 
 be popish. This denied by the ministers, they fell in a 
 sharp contest ; which continued some space with words not 
 
A. ». IGOG.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 175 
 
 very seemly on cither part. The ministers, for clearing his 
 approbation of their Assembly, did farther allege that ho had 
 uttered so much to Mr Walter Balcanquel and Mr James 
 Balfour, ministers at Edinburgh ; who being examined touch- 
 ing their knowledge, Mr Walter Balcanquel did affirm, 
 " that the chancellor in private to himself had commended 
 them for maintaining the liberty of the Church, which was 
 not a little prejudiced, as he said, by the continuation of 
 Assemblies from year to year." The same he was said to 
 have spoken to Mr James Balfour ; but he excused himself 
 by forgetfulness, saying he did not remember any such 
 speeches. This report made to the king, he said, " That 
 none of the two deserved credit ; and that he saw the minis- 
 ters would betray religion rather than submit themselves to 
 government ; and that the chancellor would betray the king 
 for the malice he carried to the bishops." 
 
 By this contest always the chancellor was made more 
 tractable in the restitution of the bishops' temporalities, which 
 he had strongly resisted unto that time ; and in the parlia- 
 ment kept at Perth in the beginning of July showed a great 
 desire to promove the same. This parliament had been 
 indicted to keep at Edinburgli in June preceding, and the 
 carl of Dunbar employed to see all matters carried therein 
 to his majesty's mind. The chancellor (whether out of emu- 
 lation to show his greatness, or that he feared some aifront 
 by the earl of Dunbar) went on the streets accompanied with 
 the burgesses in great numbers, who, otherwise than was 
 their custom, did walk with their swords. Dunbar taking 
 this in ill part, yet dissembling his offence, caused adjourn 
 the parliament to the first of July, and therewith presented 
 a warrant for removing the same to the town of Perth, 
 which, coming unlooked for, made the burgesses forthink 
 their doing. 
 
 At Perth, the very first day it happened the Lord Scaton 
 and Alexander his brother to encounter the earl of Glcn- 
 carnc, in the Bridgegate, where, drawing their weapons 
 against each other, a great tumult was raised, which con- 
 tinued a certain space, and disturbed the council that as then 
 Avas sitting. The Lord Seaton being tried to have invaded 
 the other, which he did for revenge of his uncle's slaugliter, 
 he was cited before the council for troubling the parliament ; 
 
176 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1606. 
 
 but leaving the town he went home, and for his not appear- 
 ing was denounced rebel. It was held an ominous beginning, 
 and gave many to think that matters would not succeed 
 well ; but the earl of Dunbar did so wisely and with so great 
 care prevent every thing that was like to breed trouble, as 
 all things were carried from that time forth in a most peace- 
 able sort. 
 
 There were attending in the town a number of ministers, 
 labouring all they could secretly to make some perturbation. 
 The earl calling them to his lodging did rebuke them sharply, 
 saying, " That it seemed strange to him, that they who had 
 so often petitioned to have the act of annexation dissolved, 
 should go about to hinder the same, now when the king was 
 to do it in part, specially considering there was nothing to 
 be moved in prejudice of their discipline. And that for re- 
 moving the diiferences that were amongst them in that point, 
 his majesty had resolved, as they knew by the letters some 
 of them had received, to call the most learned and discreet 
 of both sides before himself, and have matters composed so 
 far as might be to their content. More fitting, he said, it 
 were for you, to whom his majesty hath addressed his letters, 
 to have been preparing yourselves for the journey. And I 
 should advise you, for your own good and the peace of the 
 Church, not to irritate the king any more, but rather study 
 bv your peaceable behaviour to procure favour to your 
 brethren that are in trouble." With these speeches he did 
 quiet them, and so the parliament went on, and after some 
 few days ended in great peace. 
 
 In this parliament divers good constitutions were made. 
 But the two principal were the acts of his majesty's prero- 
 gative, and the act intituled, " The restitution of the estate 
 of bishops ; " which title giveth many to mistake the truth of 
 things, and think that before this time the estate of bishops 
 was overthrown and cast down, whereas the same was never 
 so much as intended. Only by this act the temporalities of 
 bishoprics, which by the act of annexation were made to 
 belong to the crown, were restored, in regard it was seen that 
 the bishops were disabled to attend their service in the church 
 and state by the want thereof. 
 
 Soon after the parliament dissolved, such of the clergy as 
 his majesty had called to court went thither. Of the one 
 
A. D. 1606. J CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 177 
 
 side were the archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, the 
 bishops of Orkney, Galloway, and Mr James Nicholson who 
 was destinated bishop of Dunkcld ; on the other part were 
 Mr Andrew Melvill, Mr James Melvill, Mr James Bal- 
 four, Mr William Watson, Mr William Scot, Mr John 
 Carmichael, and JNIr Adam Colt. All these arriving at 
 London about the beginning of September, had warning 
 given them to attend the twentieth of that month at Hamp- 
 ton Court. 
 
 The king had appointed some of the bishops of England 
 to attend during that conference, and preach by course upon 
 the subjects prescribed to them. Doctor Barlow, bishop of 
 Ely, began, taking for his text the 28th verse of the twentieth 
 chapter of the Acts, whereby he took occasion to prove out 
 of the Scriptures and fathers the superiority of bishops above 
 presbyters, and to show the inconveniences of parity in the 
 Church, with the confusion arising from the same. Dr 
 Buckridge, bishop of Ilochcster, took for his text the precept 
 of the apostle, omnis anima, &c. Rom. xiii. 1, where falling 
 to speak of the king's supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, he 
 did handle that point both soundly and learnedly, to the 
 satisfaction of all the hearers ; only it grieved the Scotch 
 minister to hear the pope and presbytery so often equalled 
 in their opposition to sovereign princes. Dr Andrews, 
 bishop of Chichester, followed, who choosed for his text the 
 first verses of the tenth chapter of Numbers, confirming 
 thereby the power of kings in convocating synods and coun- 
 cils. The fourth was Dr King, bishop of London : he took 
 for his theme the 11th verse of the eighth chapter of the Can- 
 ticles, and thereupon discoursing of the office of presbyters, 
 did prove " lay-elders to have no place nor office in the 
 Church, and the late device to be without all warrant of 
 precept or example, either in Scripture or in antiquity." This 
 course his majesty took, as conceiving that some of the min- 
 isters should be moved by force of reason to quit their 
 opinions, and give place to the truth : but that seldom 
 happeneth, especially where the mind is prepossessed Avith 
 prejudice cither against person or matter. 
 
 The first audience was in the privy-chamber at Hampton, 
 the twenty-second of September ; at which, besides the 
 bishops and ministers from Scotland, were present the earls 
 
 VOL. in. 12 
 
178 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1606. 
 
 of Dunbar, Argyle, Glencarne, Sir Thomas Hamilton, advo- 
 cate, and Sir Alexander Straiton of Lauriston : of the Eng- 
 lish, Dr Montague, dean of the chapel, was only admitted to 
 stay. There the king, declaring the purpose for which he 
 had called them, spake a few words to this effect : " That 
 having left the Church of Scotland in peace at his parting 
 forth of it, he did now hear of great disturbances in the same ; 
 whereof he desired to understand the true cause, and to have 
 their advice how the same might best be removed. This being," 
 said he, " the errand in general for which I have called you, 
 1 should be glad to hear your opinions touching that meeting 
 at Aberdeen, where an handful of ministers, in contempt of 
 my authority, and against the discharge given them, did 
 assemble ; and though they wore neither a sufficient number, 
 nor the accustomed order kept, they would take upon them 
 to call it a General Assembly, and have since proudly main- 
 tained it, by declining my council, and such other means as 
 they pleased to use. The rather I would hear your minds, 
 because, I am informed that divers ministers do justify that 
 meeting, and in their public preachings commend these 
 brethren as persons distressed, which in effect is to proclaim 
 me a tyrant and persecutor." 
 
 Mr James Melvill answering first, said, " That there was 
 no such discharge oiven to those ministers that met at Aber- 
 deen as was alleged, adjuring Sir Alexander Straiton, who 
 was said to have given this charge, to declare in his majesty's 
 presence how that matter was carried. As to the absence of 
 moderator and clerk, he said that none of those were es- 
 sential parts of an Assembly ; and that the moderator 
 absenting himself of purpose, and the clerk refusing to serve, 
 the brethren convened might lawfully create others in their 
 places; so as these ministers having warrant to convene 
 from the word of God, and from his majesty's laws, as also 
 coming thither by direction of their presbyteries, he could 
 not in his conscience condemn them." 
 
 " Well then," said the king, " I shall desire you to answer 
 me three things that I will ask. First, If it be lawful to 
 pray publicly for persons convicted by the sentence of a 
 lawful judge as persons being in distress and afflicted. 2d, 
 Whether I may not, being a Christian king, by my authority 
 royal, convocate, and prorogue, and desert, for just and neces- 
 
A. D. 160G.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 179 
 
 sary causes known to myself, any assemblies or meetings within 
 my dominions. 3d, Whether or not may I, by my authority, 
 call and convene before me and my council whatsoever per- 
 son or persons, civil or ecclesiastical, for whatsoever offences 
 committed by them in whatsoever place within my dominions; 
 and if I may not take cognition of the offence, and give sen- 
 tence therein. And farther. Whether or not are all my 
 subjects, being cited to answer before me and my council, 
 obliged to compear, and acknowledge me or them for judges 
 in these offences ? " 
 
 Mr James answering, said, " that the questions were 
 weighty, and craved a great deliberation ; wherefore he 
 would humbly entreat his majesty to grant them a time to 
 confer and advise together, that they might all give one 
 direct answer." This desire gi-anted, they Avere commanded 
 to advise and meet together that night, and be ready to answer 
 the next day. At this meeting the earls of Salisbury and Nor- 
 thampton, with divers of the English clergy, were present. 
 The ministers, desiring to have the meeting more private 
 requested the earl of Dunbar to move the king therein, and 
 that none but Scotchmen should be present ; fearing (as they 
 said) " that some unseemly words might escape them." But 
 this was denied, and they warned to speak with that respect 
 which became subjects. It was believed that the king should 
 have begun with the questions proponed in the former meet- 
 ing ; but his majesty, taking another course, required them 
 to declare one by one their judgments touching Aberdeen 
 Assembly. The bishops (being first asked) did all condemn 
 the meeting as turbulent, factious, and unlawful. 
 
 Mr Andrew Melvill then being inquired made answer, 
 " That he could not condemn the Assembly, being a private 
 man ; that he came into England upon his majesty's letter, 
 without any commission from the Church of Scotland ; and 
 though he had commission, indicia causa, and not hearing 
 what they could say for themselves, he would not give his 
 judgment. Sentence, he said, was given against them in a 
 justice-court ; how justly, he did remit that to the great 
 Judge ; but for himself he would say as our Saviour did in 
 another case, Quis me constituit judicem ? '^ 
 
 Mr James Balfour being next asked, " did pray his 
 majesty not to press him with any answer, for that ho knew 
 
180 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 160G. 
 
 nothing would be well taken that proceeded from his mouth, 
 and that Mr Andrew had answered to his mind sufficiently." 
 
 Mr James Melvill, without giving a direct answer, began 
 to tell, " that since his coming to London he had received 
 divers letters, and with them a petition that should have 
 been presented to the late parliament in behalf of the warded 
 ministers, which he was desired to offer unto his majesty, 
 and, as he thought, the petition would make all their minds 
 known." 
 
 The king taking the petition and falling to read the 
 same, willed the advocate to go on and receive the answer 
 of the rest. And as the advocate Avas questioning Mr 
 William Scot, and urging him with a distinct answer, (for 
 he used many circumlocutions, according to his custom,) Mr 
 Andrew Melvill in a great passion said, " that he followed 
 the instructions of Mr John Hamilton his uncle, who had 
 poisoned the north with his papistry, and that ho was now 
 become xar/jyo^og ruiv ddiX<pujv. Northampton asking what he 
 meant by that speech ; the king said, " he calleth him the 
 mickle devil : " and then, folding up the petition, said, " I see 
 you are all set for maintaining that base conventicle of 
 Aberdeen. But what answers have you to give to the 
 questions I moved ? " It was answered, that " they had 
 conferred together, and finding them to concern the whole 
 Church, they would not by their particular voices prejudge 
 the same." But you will not, I trust, said the king, "call 
 my authority in question, and subject the determination of 
 the same to your Assemblies ? " " This they said was far 
 from their thoughts ; but if his majesty should be pleased to 
 set down in writing Avhat he required, they should labour to 
 give him satisfaction." 
 
 Thus were they dismissed for that time, and being the 
 next day called before the Scottish council, (for after this 
 they were no more admitted to his majesty's presence,) they 
 were inquired whether they had in their public prayers 
 remembered the warded ministers as persons afflicted, and 
 sufferers for the good cause. Some of them confessed that 
 they had prayed for them as persons in trouble and distress ; 
 others, that they had commended them to God, but remem- 
 bered not in what words. 
 
 The twentieth of October they were again brought before 
 
A. D. 1G06.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 181 
 
 the Scotch council, and had the three questions dehvered to 
 them in writing, which they were commanded to answer 
 severally : meanwhile they were discharged to return into 
 Scotland without his majesty's license, and prohibited to 
 come towards the queen and prince's court. The bishops 
 and others of the clergy that assisted them were permitted 
 to return. 
 
 The conference breaking up in this sort, and matters made 
 worse rather than better, his majesty's pleasure concernino- 
 the warded ministers, which to this time had been delayed, 
 was signified by two several letters to the council and justice. 
 The letter to the justice was as followeth : " Whereas in our 
 justice-court holden at Linlithgow the tenth of January last, 
 Mr John Forbes, minister of Alford, Mr John Welch, min- 
 ister at Ayr, Mr Robert Dury, minister at Anstruther, Mr 
 Andrew Duncan, minister at Crail, Mr Alexander Strachan, 
 minister at Creich, and Mr John Sharp, minister at Kilmeny, 
 were convicted of the crime of treason, for their contemptu- 
 ous and treasonable declining the judgment of us and the 
 lords our secret council, by a declinator subscribed with their 
 hands and presented in judgment before the said lords ; and 
 that the pronunciation of the doom was upon grave and 
 weighty respects continued till our pleasui'e was declared : 
 we now, considering the great insolency committed by them, 
 and how dangerous the example of such a fact may prove if 
 it should go unpunished, specially since we, out of our accus- 
 tomed lenity, have given to these declared traitors more 
 than sufficient time to have acknowledged their offence, and 
 made suit for our pardon, and that yet nothing hath appeared 
 in them but an obdured obstinacy, without any token of 
 resipiscence ; albeit the greatness of the offence in men of 
 their function, whose actions should be patterns of duty and 
 obedience to others, hath demeritcd most justly the extremity 
 of punishment appointed by law, yet, according to our wonted 
 clemency, being willing to dispense with the rigour of law at 
 this time, and not to inflict the punishment of death upon 
 them, our will and pleasure is, that you affix a justice-court 
 at Linlithgow, or any other place our council shall appoint, 
 the twenty-third of October, and there cause doom of banish- 
 ment forth of our dominions during their natural lives to be 
 pronounced against the said traitors : after which you shall 
 
182 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1606. 
 
 return them to their wards, there to remain for the space of 
 a month, till they have made their preparations to depart ; 
 before the expiring whereof, if they do not depart, wind and 
 weather serving, or being departed shall return unto our 
 dominions without our license, the ordinary death usually 
 inflicted upon traitors shall be executed upon them. And 
 because this our clemency extended towards these above 
 named may perhaps move others to think, that for trespasses 
 of this quality no greater rigour will hereafter be used ; to 
 remove all such conceits, and that notice may be taken of 
 our full determination in the like case, you shall in open 
 court make intimation to all our lieges, ' that if any hereafter 
 shall offend in such an high trespass, they shall be punished 
 with all severity, and the death due unto traitors be inflicted 
 upon them with all rigour, the example of this our present 
 lenity notwithstanding ; ' and this it is our will you cause to 
 be recorded in your books of adjournal, and publication made 
 thereof at the market- cross of Edinburgh, and all other 
 places needful." 
 
 By the letter directed to the council, Mr Charles Farum 
 was ordained to be confined in the Isle of Bute, Mr John 
 Munro in Kintyre, Mr Robert Youngson in the Isle of 
 Arran, Mr James Irvine in Orkney, Mr William Forbes 
 in Zetland, Mr James Greig in Caithness, Mr Nathaniel 
 Inglis in Sutherland, and Mr John Ross in Lewis. 
 
 The justice, as he was commanded, did keep his court at 
 Linlithgow, and pronounced the sentence and doom in the 
 manner prescribed. Messengers were also directed to charge 
 the other ministers to enter into the parts appointed for their 
 confining, and not to exceed the same without license, under 
 pain of death. After which a proclamation was made inhibit- 
 ing all ministers to recommend cither in their sermons or 
 prayers the persons so sentenced. 
 
 And lest the Jesuits, seminary priests, and others of their 
 faction, should presume of any oversight to be given to them 
 because of these proceedings against the seditious ministers, 
 they were in like sort commanded by proclamation to depart 
 forth of the realm, and all the subjects inhibited to reset or 
 entertain them, under the pain of his majesty's displeasure. 
 
 Mr Andrew Melvill, that could not be idle, and was still 
 speaking against the orders of the English church, having 
 
A. D. 160C.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 183 
 
 dispersed some bitter and scornful verses against the rites 
 used in his majesty's chapel, which were brought to the king 
 bj one of the chaplains, was called before the council of 
 England, and charged with the injuring of the state and 
 clmrch: where, instead of acknowledging his offence, ho 
 behaved himself insolently, and more like a madman than 
 divine, for which ho was committed in the Tower of London. 
 There he remained three years and more, and afterwards, 
 upon the duke of Bulleine his request, was sent to Sedan, 
 where he lived in no great respect, and contracting the gout 
 lay almost bedfast to his death. 
 
 Whilst I am writing this, there cometh to my mind the 
 hard and uncharitable dealing that he and his faction used 
 towards Patrick, some time archbishop of St Andrews, who 
 not content to have persecuted that worthy man in his life, 
 made him a long time after his death the subject of their 
 sermons, interpreting the miseries whereunto he was brought 
 to be the judgment of God inflicted upon him for withstand- 
 ing their courses of discipline. If now one should take the 
 like liberty, and say, that God, to whom the bishop at his 
 dying did commend his cause, had taken a revenge of him 
 who was the chief instrument of his trouble, it might be as 
 probably spoken, and with some more hkelihood, than that 
 which they blasted forth against the dead bishop. But away 
 with such rash and bold conceits ; the love of God either to 
 causes or persons is not to be measured by these external 
 and outward accidents. 
 
 But leaving this, the king being very desirous to have the 
 Church quieted, and a solid and constant order established 
 for preventing the hkc oftences, did call a General Assembly 
 to meet at Linlithgow the tenth of December ; and, for the 
 better ordering of business, directed the earl of Dunbar to 
 attend the meeting. At the day many convened, both mini- 
 sters and others. Of ministers there were reckoned one 
 hundred thirty-six ; of noblemen, barons, and others, thirty 
 and three. INIr James Nicholson elected to preside, the earl 
 of Dunbar presented a letter from his majesty to this effect : 
 " That it was not unknown what pains he had taken, whilst 
 he lived amongst them, as well to root out popery as to settle 
 a good and perfect order in the Church ; and that notwith- 
 standing of his care bestowed that way, he had been con- 
 
184 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1606. 
 
 tinually vexed by the jealousies of some perverse ministers, 
 who, traducing his best actions, gave out amongst the people, 
 that all he went about was to thrall the liberty of the gospel. 
 Neither content thus to liave wronged him, they had in his 
 absence factiously banded themselves against such of their 
 brethren as had given their concurrence to the furtherance 
 of his majesty's just intentions : upon the knowledge whereof 
 he did lately call the most calm and moderate, as he esteemed, 
 of both sides unto his court, thinking to have pacified mattei^s, 
 and removed the divisions arisen in the Church ; but matters 
 not succeeding as he wished, he had taken purpose to con- 
 vene them, for setting down such rules as he hoped should 
 prevent the like troubles in after-times, which he had in- 
 trusted to his commissioner the earl of Dunbar ; willing them 
 to consider what was most fitting for the peace of the Church, 
 and to apply themselves to the obedience of his directions, as 
 they did expect his favour." 
 
 After the reading of the letter the overture was presented, 
 conceived in this form : " That his majesty, apprehending 
 the greatest cause of the misgovernment of Church aftairs to 
 be that the same are often, and almost ordinarily, committed 
 to such as for lack of wisdom and experience are no way able 
 to keep things in a good frame ; for remedying this incon- 
 venient, thinketli meet that presently there be nominated in 
 every presbytery one of the most grave, godly, and of 
 greatest authority and experience, to have the care of the 
 presbytery where he remaineth, till the present jars and 
 fire of dissension which is among the ministry, and daily 
 increaseth, to the hinderancc of the gospel, be quenched and 
 taken away ; and the noblemen professing papistry within 
 the kingdom be either reduced to the profession of the truth, 
 or then repressed by justice and a due execution of the laws ; 
 and for encouragement of the said moderators, and the en- 
 abling them to the attendance of the Church affairs, his 
 majesty is graciously pleased to allow every one of them one 
 hundred pounds Scots, or two hundred marks, according to 
 the quality of their charge ; but where the bishops are 
 resident, his majesty will have them to moderate and preside 
 in these meetings. As likewise because it often falleth out 
 that matters cannot be decided in presbyteries, by reason of 
 the difficulties that arise, and that the custom is to remit the 
 
A. D. 160G.] CHURCH of Scotland. 185 
 
 decision thereof to the synod of the diocese, it is his majesty's 
 advice, that the moderation of these Assembhes be committed 
 to the bishops, who shall be burthencd with the delation of 
 papists, and solicitation of justice against those that will not 
 be brought to obedience, in respect his majesty hath bestowed 
 on them places, and means to bear out the charges and 
 burthens of difhcil and dangerous actions, which other min- 
 isters cannot so well sustain and undergo." 
 
 This overture, seeming to import a great alteration in the 
 discipline, was not well accepted of divers ; but his majesty's 
 commissioner having declared that it was so far from the 
 king's purpose to make any change in the present discipline, 
 as he did not long for any thing more than to have it rightly 
 settled, and all those cyclists removed which had given him 
 so just occasion of discontent, they desired a time to deli- 
 berate, and that a number of the most wise and learned 
 might be selected to confer thereupon, and report their 
 opinions to the Assembly. 
 
 The brethren named upon this conference having debated 
 every point at length, and considered the inconveniences that 
 might arise by the change, especially the usurpation that was 
 feared these constant moderators should make upon their 
 brethren, resolved that the overture proponed was not to be 
 refused, so as certain cautions were added, which were con- 
 descended unto, in manner following : — 
 
 1. That the moderators of presbyteries and provincial As- 
 semblies should not presume to do any thing of themselves, 
 without the advice and consent of their brethren. 
 
 2. That they should use no farther jurisdiction nor power 
 than moderators have been in use of by the constitutions 
 of the Church. 
 
 3. If it should happen the moderators to be absent at any 
 time from these meetings, it should be in the power of 
 synods and presbyteries to nominate another for moderat- 
 ing in their absence. 
 
 4. When the place of a moderator in any presbytery should 
 be void, the election of one to succeed should be made by 
 the whole synod with consent of his majesty's conunis- 
 sioncr. 
 
 5. If any of the moderators should depart this hfe betwixt 
 
186 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1606. 
 
 Assemblies, it should be lawful to the presbyteries to 
 nominate one of the most grave and worthy of their 
 number for the place, unto the meeting of the next synod. 
 
 6. That the moderators of the presbyteries should be subject 
 to the trial and censure of the synod ; and in case they be 
 found remiss in the discharge of their duties, or to have 
 usurped any farther power over the brethren than is given 
 them by the Assembly, the same should be a cause of 
 deprivation from their office of moderation, and they de- 
 prived therefore by the said synods. 
 
 7. In like manner the moderator of the provincial Assembly 
 should be tried and censured by tbe General Assembly ; 
 and in case he was found remiss, or to have usurped any 
 farther power than the simple place of a moderator, he 
 should be deprived therefore by the General Assembly. 
 
 8. That the moderators of every presbytery and synod with 
 their scribes should be astricted to be present at the 
 General Assembly, and be reputed members thereof, they 
 bringing with them the registers of the acts and proceed- 
 ings in their meetings to be seen, that so their diligence 
 and fidelity in their charges miglit bo known. 
 
 9. That it should be lawful to each presbytery to send two 
 or three commissioners to the General Assembly, by and 
 besides the moderator and scribe, if they should think it 
 expedient. 
 
 10. That the moderator of the General Assembly should be 
 chosen by the voices of the whole Assembly, lites being 
 first made and proponed, as in times passed. 
 
 11. That in the synods where there is not a bishop actually 
 resident, the like lite should be made of the moderators of 
 the presbyteries within these bounds, and one of them 
 elected to moderate the same Assembly, so as his majesty's 
 commissioners give their advice thereunto. 
 
 And, lastly. That the rolls of moderators in every presbytery 
 should be examined, to see if there was any other of the 
 number more fit to use the said office; and that they 
 whom this present Assembly should nominate, should be 
 commanded to accept the said moderation upon them with- 
 out making any shift or excuse. 
 
 These cautions being read in the full Assembly, were 
 
A. D. 160G.] CHURCH of Scotland. 187 
 
 approved of all, and the overture thereafter put to voices 
 was allowed, and the same enacted as a conclusion of the 
 whole Assembly, four only of the whole number disassenting ; 
 other four refusing to vote because they had no commission, 
 as they pretended, from their presbyteries, and two answer- 
 ing, non liquet. This conclusion taken, the rolls of presby- 
 teries were called, and none found more sufficient than they 
 who did presently moderate these meetings ; whereupon an 
 ordinance was made, that they should continue in their 
 charges, and not be altered, unless the synod did make 
 another choice. 
 
 This business ended, a great complaint was made of the 
 insolency of papists, chiefly in the north parts, and of the 
 superstitions used at the burials of the Lord Ogilvy and 
 laird of Gight, who had deceased a few months before. The 
 marquis of Huntly being also returned lately from court, 
 had given out that he brought a warrant from his majesty to 
 stay all ecclesiastical proceedings against him, his lady, and 
 family : by which reports those of the Roman profession 
 were not a little encouraged, and were become open contem- 
 ners of the censures of the Church. 
 
 These complaints being greatly taken to heart by the 
 whole Assembl}', it was concluded that a petition should be 
 preferred to his majesty in all their names, for confinino- the 
 marquis of Huntly, the earls of Angus and Erroll, with their 
 ladies, in some cities and towns where they might, by the 
 hearing of the word and conference with learned men, be 
 reduced from their errors, at least kept from doing harm, 
 and from the perverting of others. To present this petition 
 and the act of constant moderators, choice was made of Mr 
 James Law, bishop of Orkney, and he despatched to court ; 
 which done, the Assembly brake up and dissolved with the 
 good satisfaction of all. 
 
 Nor was it long before the king's answer returned in these 
 particulars : and first, concerning the marquis of Huntly, his 
 majesty declared, " That ho had obtained no warrant for 
 impeding the Church discipline, neither against himself or 
 any of his family ; and that only (because he affirmed that 
 he had kept all tlie injunctions prescribed, except that he 
 had not communicated) the council was desired after trial of 
 his obedience in the rest of the particulars enjoined, to com- 
 
188 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D, 1606. 
 
 mand the presbyteries of the north to stay their proceedings 
 against him for his not communicating ; concerning which 
 point he had certified the marquis, that howsoever some 
 space was granted to him for his better resolution, if he did 
 persist in his errors, and would not be reclaimed, he would 
 make no other reckoning of him than of one that studied to 
 make himself the head of a faction, and rather root him out 
 than nourish him in his follies by a preposterous toleration." 
 
 As to the confining of him and the other noblemen in the 
 cities and places set down in the Assembly's petition, " His 
 majesty did think it too rigorous, unless they were tried to 
 have committed some offence deserving the same. Where- 
 fore he would have them called before the council, the 
 bishop of the diocese, moderator of the presbytery, and the 
 minister of the parish being present, and inquired concerning 
 their behaviour, and whether they did resort or not ordi- 
 narily to sermon ; wherein if they should be tried to have 
 transgressed, his pleasure was they should be confined within 
 so many miles compass as are distant betwixt the houses of 
 their residence and the city wherein it was desired they 
 should be confined, to the end they may repair to their 
 houses when the necessity of their business requireth, and at 
 other times resort to the city or town designed for their 
 instruction, where they should be tied to stay ten days 
 together, and during their stay hear sermons, admit confer- 
 ence, and forbear the company of Jesuits, seminary priests, 
 and others of that profession. And if it should happen them 
 to have any business in council or session, that license should 
 be granted unto them for repairing thither during a certain 
 space, providing they did resort to the Church, and gave no 
 scandal by their behaviour." 
 
 For the superstitious rites used at the burial of the Lord 
 Ogiivy and Giglit, his majesty's pleasure was, " That their 
 sons should be called before the council and committed ; but 
 no sentence should be given till the whole circumstances 
 were tried and notified to him." 
 
 As touching the conclusion taken for the constant modera- 
 tors, " His majesty did thank the Assembly for their travails : 
 but whereas they were of opinion that the act should be 
 universally received, (for so much the Assembly had written,) 
 he said, that he knew them too well to expect any such 
 
A. D. 1607.] CIIUUCII OF SCOTLAND. 189 
 
 thing at their hands. Their conscientious zeal to maintain 
 parity, and a desire to keep all things in a continual volu- 
 bility, he said, was such as they would never agree to a 
 settled form of government. Besides, ho knew that divers 
 of these who were nominated to the places of moderation 
 would refuse to accept the same, lest they should be thought 
 to affect superiority above their brethren. That therefore 
 he would have the council to look to that business, and direct 
 charges as well for those that were nominated to accept the 
 moderation as to the ministers of every presbytery to 
 acknowledge them that were nominated." 
 
 The event justified his majesty's opinion, for all the next 
 year there was no matter that so troubled the council as that 
 of the constant moderators. The synod of Perth, convening 
 in March thereafter, did, in direct opposition of the act con- 
 cluded at Linlithgow, inhibit all the presbyteries within their 
 bounds to acknowledge the conclusion taken in that meeting, 
 and discharged Mr Alexander Lindsay, parson of Simme- 
 dose', who was nominated by the Assembly moderator of 
 Perth, to exercise the said office, under pain of the censures 
 of the Church. The synod, being cited before the council 
 for this presumption, was discharged to meet thereafter, and 
 the presbyteries within these bounds commanded under pain 
 of rebellion to accept their moderators. 
 
 In Fife the resistance was no less ; for the synod being 
 continued twice, first from April to June, then from June to 
 September, meeting at that time in Dysart, and pressed by 
 the Lords Lindsay, Scone, and Halyrudhouse, commissioners 
 from the council, to accept the archbishop of St Andrews for 
 their moderator, did obstinately refuse, and dissolved without 
 doing any thing. Hereupon was that synod likewise dis- 
 charged, and all the burghs inhibited to receive them, if per- 
 haps they should reassemble after the commissioners were 
 gone. The presbyteries of Merse were also very trouble- 
 some, and the council so vexed with complaints of that kind, 
 as not a day passed without some one or other. But all this 
 opposition proved vain, and they in end forced to obey, did 
 find by experience this settled course much better than their 
 circular elections. 
 
 A commission came in this mean time for planting some 
 ' St Madocs. 
 
190 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1607. 
 
 learned and worthy person in the place of Mr Andrew Mel- 
 vill at St Andrews. The commission was directed to the 
 archbishop of St Andrews, the bishops of Dnnkeld, Ross, 
 and Brechin, the Lord Balmerino, the advocate, the laird 
 of Balcomie, and commissar of St Andrews ; who meeting in 
 the new college, the sixteenth of June, after the reading of 
 his majesty's letter, (whereby it was declared, that the said 
 Mr Andrew being judged by the council of England to have 
 trespassed in the highest sort against his majesty, and for 
 the same committed to the Tower till he should receive his 
 just punishment, was no more to return to that charge,) they, 
 according to the power given them, did proceed and make 
 choice of Mr Robert Howie to be provost of the said college, 
 ordaining him to be invested in the said office with all the 
 immunities and privileges accustomed ; which was accord- 
 ingly performed in the July thereafter, and he entered to 
 his charge the twenty-seventh of that month. 
 
 It remained that some course should be taken with the 
 ministers that were staying at London, who, as it was once 
 purposed, were to be provided with some livings in England ; 
 but that Church not liking to entertain such guests, they 
 were all permitted to return home, upon their promise to 
 live obedient and peaceable. Mr James Melvill was only 
 retained, who, living a while confined at Newcastle, was after 
 some months licensed to come to Berwick, where he deceased. 
 A man of good learning, sober, and modest ; but so addicted 
 to the courses of Mr Andrew Melvill, his uncle, as by 
 following him he lost the king's favour, which once he en- 
 joyed in a good measure, and so made himself and his labours 
 unprofitable to the Church. 
 
 Now let us see what happened in the kingdom during this 
 time. The king was ever seriously commending to the 
 council the removing of the barbarous feuds wherewith he 
 had been so greatly troubled, divers whereof by their travails 
 were this year agreed ; yet new occasions daily arising, they 
 were kept in a continual business. David Lindsay, younger 
 of Edzell, seeking to revenge the slaughter of his uncle Mr 
 Walter Lindsay, whom David, master of Crawford had killed, 
 as he lay in wait of the said master (who was then by the 
 decease of his father succeeded in the earldom), through a 
 pitiful mistake did invade Alexander, lord Spynie, and killed 
 
A. D. 1608.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 191 
 
 liira instead of the other. The nobleman's death was much 
 regretted for the many good parts he had, and the hopes his 
 friends conceived that he should have raised again that noble 
 and ancient house of Crawford to the former splendour and 
 dignity, all which perished with him. He that was in place 
 and escaped the peril, being a base unworthy prodigal, and 
 the undoer of all that by the virtue of his ancestors had been 
 long kept together* 
 
 Another business no less troublesome did also fhen happen 
 betwixt the earl of Morton and the Lord Maxwell, for the 
 holding of courts in Eskdale, unto which both did pretend 
 right. The preparation on both sides was great, and like to 
 have caused much unquietness, if the same had not been 
 carefully prevented. Both parties being charged by the 
 council to dissolve their forces, and not to come towards the 
 bounds, the earl of Morton obeyed ; Maxwell, contemning 
 the charge, went on, and withal, by a cartel, did appeal 
 Morton to the combat ; whereupon he was committed in the 
 castle of Edinburgh, and after some two months' stay made 
 an escape. No sooner found he himself at liberty, than he 
 fell a-plotting^the laird of Johnston's murder, which he 
 wrought in a most treacherous manner ; for, pretending to 
 use his friendship in obtaining his majesty's pardon, he em- 
 ployed Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardtown, whose sister 
 Johnston had married, to draw" on a meeting betwixt them, 
 as he did, at a little hill called Achnanhill. They did brino- 
 each of them one servant only, as was agreed, the said Sir 
 Robert being present as a friend to both. At meeting, after 
 they had courteously saluted one another, and conferred a 
 little space very friendly, the two servants going aside, the 
 one called Charles Maxwell, a brother of Kirkhouse, the 
 other William Johnston of Lockerby, Charles, falleth in 
 quarrelling the other, shootcth a pistol at him ; the laird of 
 Johnston making to part them, the Lord Maxwell shooteth 
 him in the back with two bullets, whereupon he falleth, and 
 for a while keeping off the Lord Maxwell, who made to 
 strike him with his sword, expired in the place. It was the 
 sixth of April in the year 1008 that this happened. The 
 fact was detested by all honest men, and the gentleman's 
 misfortune sore lamented ; for he was a man full of wisdom 
 and courage, and every way well inclined, and to have been 
 
192 THE HISTOIIY OF THE [a. D. 1608. 
 
 by his too much confidence in this sort treacherously cut off, 
 was a thing most pitiful. Maxwell, ashamed of that he had 
 done, forsook the country, and had his estate forfeited. 
 Some years after, stealing quietly into the kingdom, he was 
 apprehended in the country of Caithness, and beheaded at 
 Edinburgh the twenty-first of May 1G13. 
 
 The purpose of civilizing the Isles was this year again 
 renewed, and a long treaty kept with the marquis of Huntly 
 thereupon ; but that breaking off by reason of the small duty 
 he did offer for the north Isles, the earl of Argyle was made 
 lieutenant thereof for the space of six months, in which time 
 it was hoped that some good should be wrought, and the 
 people reduced to good manners ; yet nothing was done to 
 any purpose, the great men of those parts studying only the 
 increase of their own grandeur, and striving whose command 
 should be greatest. 
 
 In the parliament of England that held in the November 
 
 preceding, the matter of the union received many crossings, 
 
 and of all the articles condescended among the commissioners 
 
 only that was enacted which concerned the abolishing of 
 
 hostile laws. The king grieved at this exceedingly, and 
 
 conceiving that the work should more easily be effected if a 
 
 beginning was made in Scotland, did call a parliament in 
 
 August, which, w^as kept by Lodowick, duke of Lennox, as 
 
 commissioner for his majesty, the earl of Montrose being 
 
 then deceased. The estates, to satisfy the king's desire, did 
 
 allow all the articles concluded in the treaty, with a pro- 
 
 ■vision, " that the same should be in like manner ratified by 
 
 the parliament of England, otherwise the conclusions taken 
 
 should not have the strength of a law." It was also declared, 
 
 " that if the union should happen to take effect, the kingdom 
 
 notwithstanding should remain an absolute and free monarchy, 
 
 and the fundamental laws receive no alteration." But the 
 
 parliament of England either disliking the union, as fearing 
 
 some prejudice by it to their estate, or upon some other 
 
 hidden cause, did touch no more the business ; and so that 
 
 good work, tending to the advantage of both kingdoms, was 
 
 left off and quite deserted. 
 
 In the Church a new trouble was moved by the revolt 
 that Huntly and the two earls Angus and Erroll made ; 
 divers especially in the north parts falling away by their 
 
A. D. ]G08.] CIIUUCII OF SCOTLAND. 193 
 
 example. This being represented to the king, lie gave order 
 for calling an Assembly, which convened at Linlithgow in the 
 end of July. Therein the earls of Dunbar, Winton, and 
 Lothian sat commissioners for the king. The bishop of 
 Orkney, elected to preside, having showed the occasion of 
 the present meeting to be the growth and increase of papists 
 in all the quarters of the kingdom, it was thought meet to 
 take up the names of those that made open profession of 
 popery, as likewise of those that were suspected to favour 
 the course, that their number and forces being known, the 
 remedies might be the better advised and provided. 
 
 The number was found to be very great, chiefly in the 
 north, and the marquis of Huntly delated by all as the only 
 cause of the defection in those bounds. He being cited to 
 appear before the Assembly under the pain of excommunica- 
 tion, and neither compeiring nor sending any excuse, was 
 ordained to be excommunicated, and the sentence accordingly 
 pronounced in the hearing of the whole Assembly. This 
 was appointed to be intimated in all the churches, and no 
 absolution given upon whatsoever off'ers, in regard of his 
 manifold apostasies, without the advice of the general 
 Church. The like course was concluded to be kept with 
 Angus, Erroll, and the Lord Sempill, how soon the processes 
 intended against them were brought to an end. 
 
 This done, the Assembly began to rip up the causes of the 
 defection more narrowly ; which they found to proceed from 
 the ministers in r^ part, their negligence in teaching and 
 catechising of people, the too sudden admission of young 
 men into the ministry, and the distraction of minds among 
 those that arc admitted. 
 
 For remedy whereof it was ordained as followeth : — 
 
 First, That they should opply themselves to the exercise 
 of their function with greater diligence than they were 
 accustomed, and take a special care of young children, to sec 
 them instructed in the Belief, the Lord's Prayer, and Ten 
 Commandments, whereof they should examine every child at 
 the age of six years, and yearly inquire of their profiting 
 and increase in knowledge. 
 
 2. That some longer time should be prescribed for the 
 admission of men to the ministry, and the exceptions, cou- 
 
 VOL. III. 13 
 
104 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1608. 
 
 tained in the act of the age of ministers to be admitted, 
 reserved to the cognition of the General Assembly. 
 
 3. That they shonkl use a greater diligence in the pro- 
 cessing of papists, and that none out of corrupt favour should 
 grant them any oversight under the pain of deposition. 
 
 4. That all who carried office in the Church should be 
 careful to eschew offences, and endeavour to keep love and 
 peace among themselves. 
 
 5. And for the present distractions in the Church, seeing 
 the same did arise partly from a diversity of opinions touch- 
 ing the external government of the Church, and partly from 
 divided aflFcctions, the last of these two being the most 
 dangerous, as not suffering the brethren to unite themselves 
 against the common enemy, they were all in the fear of God 
 exhorted to lay down whatsoever grudge or rancour they 
 had conceived, and to be reconciled in heart and affection 
 one to another ; which all that were present did faithfully 
 promise, by the holding up their hands. 
 
 But the fault not being in the ministers alone, and seen to 
 proceed from other causes also ; as from the oversight of 
 Jesuits and priests, and their entertainment in the country ; 
 the preferment of men to public offices that were suspected 
 in rehgion ; the favour showed to papists by them in places 
 of chief authority ; mass priests admitted without his majes- 
 ty's warrant, and no security taken for their not returning ; 
 licenses granted to noblemen's sons foregoing abroad, and 
 their education trusted to men of contrary profession ; advo- 
 cations to the council of matters properly belonging to the 
 ecclesiastical judicatories, and the lack of preachers in many 
 parts of the land ; it was concluded that certain petitions 
 should be formed and presented to his majesty by some 
 selected commissioners for remedying these evils, which were 
 formed in this manner : — • 
 
 First, That an humble supplication should be made by the 
 whole Assembly, entreating his majesty not to permit any 
 papist or suspected of popery to bear charge in council, 
 session, or in any burgh or city ; and where his majesty did 
 know any such to occupy these places, humbly to crave that 
 order might be taken for their removing. 
 
A. D. 1608.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 195 
 
 2. That the laws made against papists should receive 
 execution, and no favour be granted unto them by the officers 
 of state ; with a prohibition to the council to meddle in affairs 
 ecclesiastical, or to discharge the processes led by ministers 
 against papists and other contemners of Church discipHne. 
 
 3. That papists abjuring their religion, in hope of prefer- 
 ment to offices of state, should not bo admitted thereto till 
 they had given five years' probation at least. 
 
 4. That the sons of noblemen professing popery should be 
 committed to the custody of such of their friends as are sound 
 in religion. 
 
 5. That a commission should be granted to every bishop 
 within his diocese, and to such well-affected noblemen, barons, 
 and gentlemen as the commissioners of the Assembly shoidd 
 nominate, for apprehending Jesuits, seminary priests, excom- 
 municated papists, and traffickers against religion. 
 
 6. That the searchers of ships should seize upon all books 
 that are brought unto the country, and present them to 
 the ministers of the town where the ships shall happen to 
 arrive. 
 
 7. That excommunicated papists be put in close prison, 
 and none have access unto them but such as are known to be 
 of sound religion. 
 
 8. That the deputies of excommunicates be not suffered to 
 enjoy any office under them, and that some others be ap- 
 pointed by his majesty to serve in their places. 
 
 9. Finally, that his majesty should be humbly entreated 
 to plant the unprovided churches, especially the churches of 
 the chapel royal, with competent stipends. 
 
 The commissioners chosen to present these petitions were, 
 the archbishop of Glasgow, the earl of Wigton, the Lord 
 Kilsjth, Mr William Couper, minister at Perth, and James 
 Nisbit, burgess of Edinburgh. Together with the petitions, 
 they received a letter from the Assembly conceived in these 
 terms : — 
 
 " Having convened in this General Assembly by your 
 majesty's favourable license and permission, and shadowed 
 under your majesty's wings with the presence of your 
 majesty's commissioners, we did set ourselves principally 
 
196 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D, 1608. 
 
 to consider the cause of the late growth of papists among ns, 
 and found by a universal complaint the chief cause to be 
 this, that where the Church in these parts was accustomed to 
 be nourished by your majesty's fatherly affection, as the 
 most kind parent of piety and religion, we have been left in 
 the hands of unkind stepfathers, who esteeming us an un- 
 couth birth to them have entreated us hardly, and cherished 
 our adversaries by all means they could, as your majesty's 
 highness will perceive more clearly by the overtures for 
 remedy, which in all humble submission Ave present to your 
 majesty by these honourable commissioners and brethren, 
 humbly entreating your majesty to take compassion upon 
 us, your majesty's loving children in this land, that we may 
 be taken out of the hands of these who are more ready to 
 deliver the heads of the king's sons to Jehu, if the time were 
 answerable to their wishes, than to nourish and bring them 
 up to perfection. 
 
 " There is no cause, Sire, why the apostates who have lately 
 grown up in this land should be feared, whatever they be in 
 estate or number ; for with them are the golden calves, 
 which God will destroy ; with them is Dagon, whose second 
 fall shall be worse than the first : but with your majesty is 
 the Lord your God to fight for you, and under your standard 
 are the best of the nobihty, the greatest number of barons, 
 and all your majesty's burgesses, unspotted in religion, and 
 resolute all of them, for God's honour and your majesty's 
 preservation, to spend their goods and lives and whatever is 
 dear to them. We also your majesty's humble servants, the 
 bishops and ministers of the gospel in this land, now re- 
 conciled to others with a most hearty affection, by your 
 majesty's only means and the careful labours of your majes- 
 ty's trusty councillor and our very good lord, the earl of 
 Dunbar, are for our parts most ready to all service in our 
 callings to stir up your majesty's subjects by the word that 
 God hath put into our mouths, to the performing of that 
 obedience which God and nature doth oblige them unto, and 
 by God's grace shall go before them in all good ensample. 
 These things we leave to be delivered by our commissioners, 
 whom we beseech your majesty to hear graciously, and after 
 some favourable consideration of our case and present suits, 
 to give such answer as in your highness's wisdom shall be 
 
A. D. 1608.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 197 
 
 thouglit fittest. And now with our humble thanks to your 
 majesty for the hberty granted to meet in this Assembly, 
 and our most hearty prayers to God Almighty for your 
 highness's long life and prosperous reign, we rest." 
 
 This letter was subscribed by the earls of Crawford, 
 Glcncarne, and Kinghorn, the Lords Lindsay, Buccleuch, 
 Saltoun, Loudoun, Torphichen, Blantyre, Scone, Halyrud- 
 house, and a great number of the clergy and barons. 
 
 The chancellor hearing of the Assembly's proceedings, 
 and supposing himself to be specially aimed at in all that 
 business (wherein he was not mistaken), moved the secretary 
 to take journey to court for obviating these courses so far as 
 he might. But he at his coming did meet with a business 
 that concerned himself more nearly ; for about the same time 
 Cardinal Bellarmine had published an answer to the king's 
 apology, and therein charged him with inconstancy, objecting 
 a letter that he had sent to Clement the' Eighth whilst he 
 lived in Scotland, in Avhich he had recommended to his 
 holiness the bishop of Vaison for obtaining the dignity of a 
 cardinal, that so he might be the more able to advance his 
 affairs in the court of Rome. The treatise coming to the 
 king's hands, and he falling upon that passage, did presently 
 conceive that he had been abused by his secretary, who, he 
 remembered, had moved him on a time for such a letter, and 
 thereupon began to think that among the letters sent to the 
 dukes of Savoy and Florence, at the time such another 
 might have been shuffled in to the pope, and his hand sur- 
 reptitiously got thereto. 
 
 The king lay then at Royston, and the secretary coming 
 thither, he inquired if any such letter had been sent to the pope 
 at any time. The secretary apprehending no danger, and 
 thinking that his policy in procuring the pope's fiivour to the 
 king should not be ill interpreted, confessed, " that such a 
 letter he had written by his majesty's own knowledge." 
 But perceiving the king to wax angry, he fell on his knees 
 and entreated mercy, " seeing that which he had done was 
 out of a good mind, and desire to purchase the pope's favour, 
 which might at the time have advanced his title to England." 
 
 The king then putting him in mind of the challenge made 
 by the late queen in the year 1599 for writing the same 
 
198 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1608. 
 
 letter, and how being at that time questioned thereupon he 
 had not only denied his own knowledge thereof, but likewise 
 moved Sir Edward Drummond, who carried the letter to 
 the pope, to come into Scotland and abjure the same ; he 
 answered, " That he did not think the matter would be 
 brought again in hearing, and that fearing his majesty's 
 offence he had denied the letter, and had moved his cousin 
 Sir Edward to do the like ; but now that he saw that which 
 he had done in a politic course turned to the king's reproach, 
 with many tears he besought his majesty to pardon his fault, 
 and not to uudo him who was his own creature, and willing 
 to suffer what he thought meet for repairing the offence." 
 The king replying, " that the foult was greater than he ap- 
 prehended, and that it could not be so easily passed, enjoined 
 him to go to London, and keep his chamber till he returned 
 thither." 
 
 After some eight days the king returned to Whitehall, 
 where the secretary was brought before the council, and 
 charged with the fault ; which the lords did aggravate in 
 such manner, as they made the same to be the ground of all 
 the conspiracies devised against the king since his coming 
 into England, especially of the powder treason. " For the 
 papists," said they, " finding themselves disappointed of the 
 hopes which that letter did give them, had taken the des- 
 perate course which they followed, to the endangering of his 
 majesty's person, posterity, and whole estates." 
 
 The secretary, having heard their discourses, kneeled to 
 the ground, and fetching a deep sigh, spake to this effect: 
 " Carce leves loquimtur, ingentes stuj^ent. My Lords, I can- 
 not speak nor find words to express the grief I have con- 
 ceived for the offence committed by me against my gracious 
 sovereign ; for on the one side, when I call to mind his 
 majesty's favours bestowed upon me, having raised me out 
 of the dust to a fortune far exceeding my merit, and, on the 
 other side, I look to my foul fault in abusing his majesty's 
 trust, bringing thereby such an imputation upon his innocency 
 as will hardly be taken away ; I find no other way but with 
 the forlorn child to say, Peccavi in ccelum et terram. My 
 offence is great, I confess, nor am I worthy to be reckoned 
 any longer among his majesty's subjects or servants. His 
 majesty's rare piety, singular wisdom, and unspotted sincerity 
 
A. D. IGOS.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 199 
 
 in all his actions, whereof I had so long experience, might 
 have taught me, that when he refused to have any dealing 
 with the pope, the event of the course I took could not ho 
 good ; but I, unhappy man, would needs follow the way 
 which to me seemed best, and whereof I find now the smart. 
 If no other thing can liberate his majesty of this imputation 
 caused by my folly, let neither my hfe nor estate nor credit 
 be spared ; but as I have all by his majesty's favour, so let 
 all go, even to the last drop of my blood, before any reproach 
 for my offence be brought upon his majesty." 
 
 Then rising up, he said, " It shall not be necessary to 
 remit my trial to Scotland, which I hear your honours do 
 intend, for I do simply submit myself to his majesty's will, 
 and had much rather not live than he any longer under his 
 majesty's displeasure. Therefore my humble suit to your 
 honours is, that in consideration of my miserable estate and 
 ingenuous confession you would be pleased to move his ma- 
 jesty for accepting me in will, and that without delay what- 
 soever may be done for reparation of his honour may be 
 performed, whereunto most willingly 1 submit myself." 
 
 The chancellor, Sir Thomas Egerton, without taking any 
 notice of these last words, declared, that his majesty's 
 pleasure was to remit the trial of his offence to the Judges in 
 Scotland, and that he should be conveyed thither as a 
 prisoner, the sheriffs attending him from shire to shire, till 
 he was delivered in Scotland ; in the meantime he did pro- 
 nounce him deprived of all places, honours, dignities, and 
 every tiling else that he possessed in England. 
 
 Whether or not I should mention the arraignment and 
 execution of George Sprot, notary in Eyemouth, who suffered 
 at Edinburgh in the August preceding, I am doubtful; his 
 confession, though voluntary and constant, carrying small 
 probability. This man had deponed, " That he knew llobcrt 
 Logan of llestalrig, who was dead two years before, to have 
 been privy to Gowrie's conspiracy, and that he understood 
 so much by a letter that fell in his hand, written by Restalrig 
 to Gowrie, bearing that he would take part with him in the 
 revenge of his father's death, and that his best course should 
 be to bring the king by sea to Fast Castle, where he might be 
 safely kept, till advertisement came from those with whom 
 the carl kept intelligence." It seemed a very fiction, and to 
 
200 THE HISTORY OF THE [a, D. 1608. 
 
 be a mere conceit of the man's own brain ; for neither did 
 he show the letter, nor could any wise man think that Gowrie, 
 who went about that treason so secretly, would have com- 
 municated the matter with such a man as this Restalrig was 
 known to be. As ever it was, the man remained constant in 
 his confession, and at his dying, when he was to be cast off 
 the ladder (for he was hanged in the public street of Edin- 
 burgh), promised to give the beholders a sign for confirming 
 them in the truth of what he had spoken ; which also he 
 performed, by clapping his hands three several times after 
 he was cast off by the executioner.^ 
 
 To return to the commissioners of the Assembly. They 
 had presence of the king in Han)pton Court the tenth of 
 September, where the archbishop of Glasgow having declared 
 the occasion of their coming, did present the Assembly's 
 letter, together with their petitions. The king having read 
 both the one and the other, said, " That the difference 
 between the lawful and unlawful meetings might be per- 
 ceived by the fruits arising from both : for as that unlawful 
 conventicle at Aberdeen had caused a schism in the Church, 
 and given the enemies of religion a great advantage ; so in 
 this Assembly they had not only joined in love among them- 
 selves, which is the main point of religion, but also had taken 
 a solid course for the repressing of popery and superstition ; 
 that he did allow all their petitions, and would give order 
 for a convention which should ratify the conclusions of the 
 Assembly ; assuring them that the Church, keeping that 
 course, should never lack his patrociny and protection." 
 
 Letters were immediately directed to publish his majesty's 
 acceptation of the Assembly's proceedings, and the council 
 joined to commit the marquis of Huntly in the Castle of 
 Stirling, the carl of Angus in the Castle of Edinburgh, and 
 the earl of Erroll in Dumbarton. A convention was likewise 
 indicted at Edinburgh the sixth of December, Avhich was 
 afterward prorogued to the twenty-seventh of January. 
 The archbishop of Glasgow was in the meantime sent home 
 to inform the council concerning Balmerino his business, and 
 how these matters had been carried in England. 
 
 This report made, the chancellor, who had been much 
 ruled by the secretary, was greatly afraid, as suspecting the 
 ' [See Note at the end of this Book. — E.] 
 
A. D. 1609.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 201 
 
 next assault should have been made upon himself. But the 
 king, who knew his disposition, and expected that the chan- 
 cellor would carry himself more advisedly, especially in the 
 matters of the Church, the secretary being gone, did haste 
 the earl of Dunbar home with a warrant to receive the 
 chancellor in the number of the councillors of England, and 
 therewith appointed him commissioner together with Dunbar 
 in the convention of estates : all which was done to make it 
 seem that his credit was no way diminished with his majesty. 
 
 In this convention divers statutes were made in favours of 
 the Church. As first, that noblemen, sending their sons forth 
 of the country, should direct them to places where the 
 reformed religion was professed, at least where the same 
 was not restrained by the inquisition ; and that the peda- 
 gogues sent to attend them should be chosen by the bishop 
 of the diocese : wherein if they should happen to transgress, 
 the nobleman, being an earl, should incur the pain of four 
 thousand pounds ; if he was a lord, five thousand marks, and 
 if a baron, three thousand marks. And if their sons should 
 happen to decline from the true religion, that their parents 
 should withdraw all entertainment from them, and find 
 surety to that effect. 
 
 That the bishop of the diocese should give up to the 
 treasurer, controller, collector, and their deputies, the names 
 of all persons excommunicated for religion, to the end they 
 might bo known ; and that no confirmations, resignations, 
 nor infeftments should be granted to any contained in that 
 roll. 
 
 That the Director of the Chancery should give forth no 
 briefs, retours, precepts of retours, nor precepts upon com- 
 prisement, till they produced the bishop's testificate of their 
 absolution and obedience; and that it should be lawful to 
 superiors and lords of regalities to refuse the entry of all 
 such to their lauds by precepts of dare constat, or any other 
 way. 
 
 Lastly, that persons excommunicated for not conforming 
 themselves to the religion presently professed, should neither 
 in their own names, nor covertly in name of any other, enjoy 
 their lands or rents, but that the same should be intromittcd 
 with and uplifted to his majesty's use. 
 
 These were the acts concluded touchino; relia-Ion. For 
 
202 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1609. 
 
 the punishment of rapes, which was grown as then too com- 
 mon, his majesty by a special letter did recommend to the 
 estates some overtures for restraining such violences. As if 
 any widow, woman, or maid should be forced and abused 
 against her will, the crime should be capital, and not purged 
 by the subsequent consent of the woman. 
 
 In like manner if any woman should be taken away, albeit 
 no farther injury was done, and she relieved either by her 
 friends or by the magistrate, or by whatsoever means, the 
 only violence intended should be punished by death, in 
 regard the party had endeavoured to do his worst. 
 
 And for those that did entice any woman to go away with- 
 out their parent's or tutor's consent, that they should be 
 secluded from any part of the goods or lands belonging to 
 the woman so enticed. Some other acts for the public good 
 of the kingdom were passed at the same time, neither was it 
 remembered that in any one convention so much good of a 
 long time was done as in this. 
 
 In tlie beginning of February the secretary was brought 
 to Edinburgh and delivered to the magistrates, who received 
 him at the Nether Port, and conveyed him as a prisoner to 
 the lodging that was appointed. A great gazing there was 
 of people, which troubled him not a little, as he showed by 
 his countenance. The next day he was delivered to the 
 Lord Scone, who Avith a guard of horse did convey him to 
 the prison of Falkland : there he remained till the tenth of 
 March, and was at that time taken to St Andrews to abide 
 his trial. With the Justice there sat as assessors the earls of 
 Dunbar, Montrose, and Lothian, the lord privy-seal, the 
 collector, and clerk-register. 
 
 His indictment was to this effect ; " That in the year 
 1598, by the instigation of his cousin Sir Edward Drummond, 
 a professed papist, he had stolen and surreptitiously pur- 
 chased his majesty's hand to a letter written by the said Sir 
 Edward, and directed to Pope Clement the Eighth, in favour 
 of the bishop of Vaison, for the said bishop's preferment to 
 the dignity of a cardinal; and that, notwithstanding the 
 many denials the king gave him in that business, he had 
 treasonably conspired with the said Sir Edward to deceive 
 and abuse his majesty, shuffling in a letter among others that 
 were to be signed, and filling it up after it was signed, with 
 
A. D. 1609.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 203 
 
 the styles and titles usually given to the pope, had sealed 
 the letter with his majesty's signet, the keeping whereof was 
 intrusted to him hy virtue of his office ; and in so doing had 
 most undutifully and treasonably behaved himself, to the 
 endangering of his majesty's honour, life, crown, and estate, 
 and to the snbversion of true religion and the whole pro- 
 fessors thereof." 
 
 Upon the reading of the indictment he was inquired if he 
 would use any friends or advocates to speak in his defence, 
 as the order of the court did allow him. His answer was, 
 " That he stood never in so great need of a prolocutor, the 
 matter concerning his life, estate, and all that he possessed 
 in this world ; yet he had choosed to keep silence, and not to 
 employ either friends or advocates, the offence he had com- 
 mitted being such as could admit no defence ; for howsoever 
 he conceived that the keeping of intelligence with the pope 
 might advance his majesty's succession to the crown of 
 England, yet knowing, as he did, his majesty's resolution 
 never to use any such crooked course, but to rest upon God's 
 providence and his own right, it did not become him to have 
 meddled in a matter of that importance. Therefore did he 
 entreat all gentlemen and others that were present to bear 
 witness of his confession, and the true remorse he had for 
 the offence committed, which he esteemed so great, as neither 
 his lands, nor life, nay nor twenty thousand lives such as his 
 could repair. Only two things he asked liberty to protest. 
 One was, that he never intended to work an alteration of 
 religion, or a toleration of the contrary, the thing he had 
 done being a mere worldly course, whereby he judged some 
 good might have been wrought at the time. Next he pro- 
 tested, that neither the love of gain nor hope of commodity 
 had led him on, having never received nor expected benefit 
 from any prince living (his master the king only excepted), 
 hut an opinion he foolishly conceived that he might that way 
 promove his master's right." In end he saitl, " that he 
 would not make the Judges any more business ; that he had 
 confessed the truth, and, as he wished God to be merciful to 
 his soul in that great day, his majesty was most falsely and 
 wrongfully charged with the writing of that letter to the 
 pope, and that he never could move him to consent thereto." 
 
 The jury was then called, and the persons following sworn 
 
204 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1609. 
 
 in face of court : David earl of Crawford, George earl Mar- 
 shal, John earl Wigton, Patrick earl of Kinghorn, John 
 earl of Tullibardine, Alban lord Cathcart, John lord Saltoun, 
 David lord Scone, Alexander lord Garlics, William master 
 of Tullibardine, Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig, Sir Robert 
 Gordon of Lochinvar, Sir William Livingstone of Kilsyth, Sir 
 John Houston of that Ilk, and Sir Patrick Home of Polwarth. 
 These going apart, returned after a short space into the court, 
 and by the mouth of the earl of Marshal pronounced " James 
 lord Balmerino to be guilty of treasonable, surreptitious, 
 fraudulent, and false stealing of his majesty's hand to the 
 letter specified in the indictment, without his majesty's 
 knowledge and contrary to his will declared ; as also of the 
 treasonable affixing of his majesty's signet to the said letter ; 
 and of assisting known and professed papists in their treason- 
 able courses, to the danger of religion, the overthrow of the 
 true professors thereof, and drawing of his majesty's life, 
 estate, and right of succession to the crown of England in 
 most extreme peril ; besides the bringing of most false and 
 scandalous imputations upon his majesty as well in religion 
 as honour ; and of art and part of the whole treasonable 
 crimes contained in the said indictment." 
 
 The king being advertised of his conviction (for so he had 
 commanded before any doom should be pronounced), by a 
 warrant directed to the Justice he was brought again to 
 Edinburgh, and in a justice court, kept the first of April, 
 decerned to be taken to the place of execution, and there to 
 have his head cut off, his lands, heritages, lordships, baronies, 
 tacks, steadings, rooms, possessions, offices, benefices, corns, 
 cattle, to be forfeited and escheated to his majesty's use, as 
 being convicted of the aforesaid treasonable crimes. His life, 
 upon the queen's intercession, was spared, and he returned 
 to his prison in Falkland, where he abode some months : 
 being thereafter licensed to go unto his house in Balmerino, 
 he died, as -was thought, of grief and sorrow. A man of 
 abilities sufficient for the places he enjoyed in session and 
 council ; but one that made small conscience of his doings, 
 and measured all things according to the gain ho made by 
 them. The possessions he acquired of the Church kept him 
 still an enemy unto it, for he feared a repetition should be 
 made ef those livings if ever the clergy did attain unto 
 
A. D. ICIO,] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 205 
 
 credit. Not long before lie fell in his trQuble the king had 
 employed him to deal with the lords of session, among Avhom 
 he carried a great sway, for restoring the ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction to the bishops; but he taking ways, that he 
 thought should not have been perceived, to disappoint the 
 errand, drew upon himself the king's displeasure, and fared 
 nothing the better because of his miscarriage in that business, 
 when this occasion was offered. It is not for those that serve 
 princes, and are trusted by them in the greatest affairs, to 
 deal deceitfully with their masters ; for seldom have any 
 taken that course, and have not in the end found the smart 
 thereof. 
 
 A parliament was this year kept at Edinburgh the twentv- 
 fourtli of June, the Earl Marshal being commissioner for the 
 king ; wherein the acts concluded in the preceding conven- 
 tion were ratified, the jurisdiction of commissariats restored 
 to the Church, the justices of peace ordered to be settled in 
 every shire, and a statute made for the apparel of judges, 
 magistrates, and churchmen, wdiich were all remitted to his 
 majesty's appointment. Patterns accordingly were sent 
 from London, not long after, for the apparel of the lords of 
 sessions, the justice, other inferior judges, for advocates, 
 lawyers, commissars, and all that lived by practice of law ; 
 and command given to every one whom the statutes con- 
 cerned, to provide themselves of the habits prescribed, within 
 a certain space, under the pain of rebellion. Such was the 
 king's care to have those who were in public charge held in 
 due respect, and dignosced whithersoever they came. 
 
 The king by his letters was now daily urging the bishops 
 to take upon them the administration of all Church affairs • 
 and they unwilling to make any change without the know- 
 ledge and approbation of the ministers, an Assembly to this 
 effect was appointed to hold at Glasgow the sixth, eighth, of 
 June. The earl of Dunbar, Sir John Preston, president of the 
 session, and Sir Alexander Hay, secretary (which two had 
 succeeded to Balmerino his places), being commissioners for 
 the king, the archbishop of Glasgow was elected to preside. 
 There a proposition was made by the commissioners of 
 certain points of discipline which his majesty craved to be 
 determined, " That all things might be done thereafter 
 orderly in the Church, and with that consent and harmony 
 
206 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. IGIO. 
 
 wliich was fitting among preachers." Some three days 
 bemg spent in reasoning, at last the conclusions folloAying 
 were enacted : — 
 
 1. The Assembly did acknowledge the indiction of all such 
 general meetings of the Church to belong to his majesty by 
 the prerogative of his crown, and all convocations in that 
 kind without his license to be merely unlawful, condemning 
 the conventicle of Aberdeen made in the year 1605, as 
 having no warrant from his majesty, and contrary to the 
 prohibition he had given. 
 
 2. That synods should be kept in every diocese twice in 
 the year, viz. in April and October, and be moderated by 
 the archbishop or bishop of the diocese ; or where the 
 dioceses are so large as all the ministers cannot conveniently 
 assemble at one place, that there be one or more had, and in 
 the bishop's absence, the place of moderation supplied by the 
 most worthy minister having charge in the bounds, such as 
 the archbishop or bishop shall appoint. 
 
 3. That no sentence of excommunication, or absolution 
 from the same, be pronounced against or in favour of any 
 person, without the knowledge and approbation of the bishop 
 of the diocese, who must be answerable unto God and his 
 majesty. for the formal and impartial proceeding thereof. 
 And the process being found formal, that the sentence be 
 pronounced at the bishop's direction by the minister of the 
 parish where the offender hath his dwelling, and the process 
 did first begin. 
 
 4. That all presentations in time coming be directed to 
 the archbishop or bishop of the diocese, within which the 
 benefice that is void lieth, with power to the archbishop or 
 bishop to dispone or confer the benefices that are void within 
 the diocese after the lapse, jure devoluto. 
 
 5. That in the deposition of ministers upon any occasion, 
 the bishop do associate to himself some of the ministers 
 within the bounds where the delinquent serveth, and, 
 after just trial of the fact and merit of it, pronounce the 
 sentence of deprivation. The hke order to be observed 
 in the suspension of ministers from the exercise of their 
 function. 
 
 6. That every minister at his admission swear obedience 
 
A. D. IGIO.] CllUnCII OF SCOTLAND. 207 
 
 to his majesty and to his ordinary, according to the form 
 agreed upon anno 1571. 
 
 7. Tliat the visitations of the diocese be made by the 
 bishop himself, and if the bounds be greater than he can 
 well overtake, by such a worthy man of the ministry, within 
 the diocese, as he shall choose to visit in his place. And 
 whatsoever minister without just cause or lawful excuse shall 
 absent himself from the visitation or diocesan assembly, be 
 suspended from his office and benefice ; and if he do not 
 amend, be deprived. 
 
 8. That the convention of ministers, for exercise, be 
 moderated by the bishop being present, and in his absence 
 by any minister that he shall nominate in his synod. 
 
 9. And last it was ordained, that no minister should speak 
 against any of the foresaid conclusions in public, nor dispute 
 the question of equality or inequality of ministry, as tending 
 only to the entertainment of schism in the Church, and 
 violation of the peace thereof. 
 
 These conclusions taken, it was complained in behalf of 
 the moderators of presbyteries, who had served since the 
 year 1G06, " That notwithstanding of the promise made at 
 their accepting of the charge, they had received no payment 
 at all of the stipend allowed." Which the earl of Dunbar 
 excused by his absence forth of the country, affirming, " That 
 unto that time there was never any motion made thereof to 
 him, and that before the dissolving of that Assembly he 
 should cause satisfaction to be given to them for the time 
 past," declaring withal, " That seeing order was taken for the 
 moderation of presbyteries in time coming, his majesty's 
 treasurer should not be any farther burdened with that pay- 
 ment." The ministers, therein remitting themselves to his 
 majesty's good pleasure, gave his lordsliip thanks for that he 
 had offered ; which he did also see performed, some five 
 thousand pounds Scots being distributed by the treasurer's 
 servants among those that had borne the charge. Certain of 
 tlie discontented did interpret it to be a sort of corruption, 
 giving out, " That this was done for obtaining the ministers' 
 voices;" howbelt the debt was known to be just, and that 
 no motion was made of that business before the foresaid con- 
 clusions were enacted. 
 
208 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1610. 
 
 In this Assembly a supplication was presented in the 
 names of the marquis of Huntly and the two earls of Angus 
 and ErroU for their absolution, and a commission given to 
 that effect upon their satisfaction, they subscribing the Con- 
 fession of Faith, and swearing to continue in the profession 
 of the religion presently established. The marquis of Huntly 
 was at that time confined in Stirling, and to him were the 
 archbishop of Glasgow, the bishops of Caithness and Orkney 
 directed. They found him not unwilling to subscribe the 
 Confession of Faith and make satisfaction for his apostasy, 
 but in regard of his many relapses did not judge it fitting to 
 absolve him ; wherefore they gave order that he should confer 
 with Mr Patrick Simpson, the minister of the town, a learned 
 and moderate man, that so he might subscribe with know- 
 ledge, and resolution not to fall back. In the December 
 following, having professed himself resolute in all points, he 
 was liberated from his confinement at Stirling, and licensed 
 to go home to Strathbogie. 
 
 With the earl of Erroll the difiiculty was greater ; for 
 when, in a public meeting of the council within the Castle of 
 Ediubiu'gh, he had professed his conformity in every point 
 of religion, and made offer to subscribe, the very night after 
 he fell in such a trouble of mind as he went near to have 
 killed himself. Early in the morning, the archbishop of 
 Glasgow being called, he confessed his dissimulation with 
 many tears ; and beseeching them that were present to bear 
 witness of his remorse, was hardly brought to any settling 
 all that day. The nobleman was of a tender heart, and of 
 all that I have known the most conscientious in his profes- 
 sion ; and thereupon to his dying was used by the Church 
 with greater lenity than were others of that sect. 
 
 The earl of Angus, who lived confined at Glasgow, took 
 another course, and, upon license obtained from his majesty, 
 went to France, where he might enjoy the exercise of his 
 religion with liberty, and died at Paris in a voluntary 
 banishment some years after. 
 
 Shortly after the Assembly dissolved, the archbishop of 
 Glasgow was called to court, and commanded to bring with 
 him two others such as he thought fitting. The archbishop, 
 taking with him the bishops of Brechin and Galloway, came 
 to court in the midst of September. At their first audience 
 
A. D. IGIO.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 209 
 
 the king declared what the business was for which he had 
 called them, speaking to this purpose ; " That he had to his 
 great charge recovered the bishoprics forth of the hands of 
 those that possessed them, and bestowed the same upon such 
 as he hoped should prove worthy of their places : but since 
 he could not make them bishops, nor could they assume that 
 honour to themselves, and that in Scotland there was not a 
 sufficient number to enter them to their charge by consecra- 
 tion, he had called them to England, that being consecrated 
 themselves they might at their return give ordination to 
 those at home, and so the adversaries' mouths be stopped, 
 who said that he did take upon him to create bishops, and 
 bestow spiritual offices, which he never did nor would he pre- 
 sume to do, acknowledging that authority to belong to Christ 
 alone, and those whom he had authorized with his power." 
 
 The archbishop answering in the name of the rest, " That 
 they were willing to obey his majesty's desire, and only 
 feared that the church of Scotland, because of old usurpa- 
 tions, might take this for a sort of subjection to the church 
 of England." The king said, " That he had provided suffi- 
 ciently against that ; for neither should the archbishop of 
 Canterbury nor York, who were the only pretenders, have 
 hand in the business, but consecration should be used by the 
 bishops of London, Ely, and Bath." The Scotch bishops 
 thanking his majesty for the care he had of their Church, 
 and professing their willingness to obey what he would 
 command, the twenty-first of October was appointed to be 
 the time, and the chapel of London-house the place of con- 
 secration. ' ' 
 
 A question in the meantime was moved by Dr Andrews, 
 bishop of Ely, touching the consecration of the Scottish 
 bishops, who, as he said, " must first be ordained presbyters, 
 as having received no ordination from a bishop." The arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, Dr Bancroft, who was by, maintained 
 " that thereof there was no necessity, seeing where bishops 
 could not be had, the ordination given by the presbyters 
 must be esteemed lawful ; otherwise that it might be doubted 
 if there were any lawful vocation in most of the reformed 
 Churches." This applauded to by the other bishops, Ely 
 acquiesced, and at the day and in the place appointed the 
 three Scottish bishops were consecrated. 
 
 VOL. in. 14 
 
210 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1610. 
 
 At the same time did the king institute a high commission 
 in Scotland for the ordering of causes ecclesiastical, and 
 therewith sent to the clergy the directions following : — 
 
 1. That every particular matter should not be brought at 
 first before the high commission, nor any thing moved 
 unto it, except the same was appealed unto, or complained 
 by one of the bishops as a thing that could not be rectified 
 in their dioceses ; or then some enormous offence in the 
 trial, whereof the bishops should be found too remiss. 
 
 2. That every archbishop and bishop should make his 
 residence at the cathedral church of his diocese, and 
 labour so far as they could, and were able, to repair the 
 same. 
 
 3. That all archbishops and bishops be careful in visitation 
 of their dioceses, and every third year at least take inspec- 
 tion of the ministers, readers, and others serving cure within 
 their bounds. 
 
 4. That every archbishop visit his province every seven 
 years at least. 
 
 5. Whereas there be in sundry dioceses ■ some churches 
 belonging to other bishops, that care be taken to exchange 
 the churches one with another, that all the dioceses may 
 lie contigue, if possibly the same may be performed. As 
 likewise in regard some dioceses are too large, and others 
 have a small number of churches, scarce deserving the 
 title of a diocese, that a course be taken for enlarging the 
 same in a reasonable proportion, by uniting the nearest 
 churches of the greater diocese thereto. 
 
 6. That the convention of ministers for the exercise of 
 doctrine exceed not the number of ten or twelve at most, 
 and over them a moderator placed by the ordinary of the 
 diocese where the said conventions are licensed, with 
 power to call before them all scandalous persons within 
 that precinct, and censure and correct offenders according 
 to the canons of the Church : yet are not these moderators 
 to proceed in any case either to excommunication or sus- 
 pension, without the allowance of the ordinary. And if it 
 shall be tried that these ministers do usurp any farther 
 power than is permitted, or carry themselves unquietly 
 either in teaching or otherwise at these meetings, in that 
 
A. D. 1610.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 211 
 
 case the bishop shall discharge the meeting, and censure 
 the offenders according to the quality of their fault. 
 
 7. Considering that hiic elders have neither warrant in the 
 word, nor example of the primitive Church, and that not 
 the less it is expedient that some be appointed to assist 
 the minister in repairing the fabric of the church, provid- 
 ing elements to the holy communion, and collecting the 
 contributions for the |)oor, with other such necessary 
 services ; the minister is to make choice of the most wise 
 and discreet persons in the parish to that effect, and pre- 
 sent their names to the ordinary, that his approbation may 
 be had thereto. 
 
 8. That the minister of the parish be authorized to call 
 before him and his associates so allowed, all public and 
 notorious offenders, and enjoin the satisfaction according 
 to the canons of the Church ; or, if they be obstinate and 
 contumacious, delate their names to the bishop, that order 
 may be taken with them. 
 
 9. That no minister be admitted without an exact trial pre- 
 ceding, and imposition of hands used in thuir ordination by 
 the bishop and two or three ministers whom he shall call 
 to assist the action : and to the end an uniform order may 
 be kept in the admission of ministers, that a form thereof 
 may be imprinted and precisely followed of every bishop. 
 
 10. That the election of bishops shall in time coming be 
 made according to the conference anno 1571, and whilst 
 the bishopric remaineth void, the dean of the chapter be 
 vicarius in omnibus ad episcopatum pertinentibus, and 
 have the custody of the living and rents, till the same be 
 of new provided. 
 
 11. That the dean of every chapter convene the members 
 thereof once at least in the year, and take order that 
 nothing pass except they be capitulariter congregati ; and 
 that a register be made of every thing done by the arch- 
 bishop or bishop in the administration of the rents, and 
 kept safely in the chapter-house. 
 
 12. That when it shall be thought expedient to call a 
 General Assembly, a supphcation be put up to his majesty 
 for license to convene ; and that the said Assembly consist 
 of bishops, deans, archdeacons, and such of the ministry as 
 shall be selected by the rest. 
 
212 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. IGIO. 
 
 13. And because there hath been a general abuse in that 
 Church, that youths, having passed their course in philo- 
 sophy, before they have attained to the years of discretion, 
 or received lawful ordination by imposition of hands, do 
 engire themselves to preach ; that a strict order be taken 
 for restraining all such persons, and none permitted but 
 those that have received orders to preach ordinarily and 
 in public. * 
 
 These directions, being exhibited to the bishops and some 
 principals of the clergy convened with them at Edinburgh 
 in February next, were approved of all ; and at the same 
 time was the high commission published, to the great discon- 
 tent of those that ruled the estate ; for that they took it to 
 be a restraint of their authority in matters ecclesiastical, nor 
 did they like to see clergymen invested with such a power. 
 
 The king, no less careful to have all things ordered rightly 
 in the estate, did prescribe the number, attendants, and 
 manner of proceeding which the council should keep in their 
 meetings. As, " that the number should not exceed thirty, 
 and seven at least be present in every meeting. That at 
 their admission they should take the oath of allegiance and 
 swear fidelity and secrecy in matters to be communicated 
 unto them. That they should convene twice in the week ; 
 once every Tuesday for matters of state, and once on the 
 Thursday for actions. That none should be permitted to 
 stay within the council-house but the lords and clerks of the 
 council, nor any solicitations be made within the house, but 
 that all should take their places at their coming in, and none 
 stand on foot, unless they be to answer for themselves, and 
 in that case to rise and stand at the head of the table. That 
 four days' absence of any counsellor in the time of sitting, 
 without heensc from the rest, should infer the loss of his 
 place. That if any of the number were denounced rebel, or 
 did not at least once in the year communicate, they should 
 be likewise excluded. That wheresoever they remained or 
 happened to come, if they should be informed of any trouble 
 like to arise betwixt parties, they should charge them to 
 keep the peace ; and if tliey refused, they should command 
 them to enter in ward ; the disobedience whereof should be 
 punished as if the whole council were disobeyed. Lastly, to 
 
A. D. IGll.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 213 
 
 keep their persons and places in tlic greater respect, tliey 
 were commanded in the streets either to ride with foot- 
 clothes or in coaches, but not be seen walking on foot." 
 
 With these directions a command was given to inhibit by 
 proclamation any person " to bear quarrel to another with 
 intention of private revenge, requiring those that should 
 happen to be in any sort injured to complain to the ordinary 
 judge within the space of forty days after the injury com- 
 mitted, and insist for justice ; wherein if they should fail, 
 and yet be perceived to carry a grudge towards him by whom 
 they were injured, they should be called before the council, 
 and, if they refused to reconcile, be punished as despisers 
 of the royal authority, and violators of the public peace." 
 
 In the isles of Orkney and Zetland at this time were 
 great oppressions committed by the earl thereof, for which 
 he was committed in the castle of Edinburgh, and the bishop 
 of Orkney employed by the council to examine the particular 
 complaints. This nobleman, having undone his estate by 
 riot and prodigality, did seek by unlawful shifts to repair 
 the same, making acts in his courts, and exacting penalties 
 for the breach thereof: as, if any man was tried to have 
 concealed any thing that might infer a pecuniary mulct, and 
 bring profit to the earl, his lands and goods were declared 
 confiscated ; or if any person did sue for justice before any 
 other judge than his deputies, his goods were escheated ; or 
 if they went forth of the isle without his license, or his 
 deputies, upon whatsoever occasion, they should forfeit their 
 moveables ; and, which of all his acts was the most inhuman, 
 he had ordained that " if any man was tried to supply or 
 give relief unto ships or any vessels distressed by tempest, 
 the same should be punished in his person, and fined at the 
 earl his pleasure." These acts produced by the complainers, 
 and confessed by the earl himself, were by the council 
 decerned unlawful, and the execution thereof in all times 
 thereafter prohibited. 
 
 The clan Gregory, a barbarous and thievish race of people, 
 that could by no means be repressed nor reclaimed from 
 their robberies, were at the same time ordained to be rooted 
 forth, and the service committed to the carl of Argyle; who 
 made some beginning, and presented certain of the principals 
 to justice ; but the neglect of their children and their exhibi- 
 
214 THE HISTORY or the [a. d. IGll. 
 
 lion as was appointed, made them in after -times no less 
 troublesome to the country than before. i 
 
 In the end of the year the earl of Dunbar departed this 
 life at Whitehall ; a man of deep wit, few words, and in his 
 majesty's service no less faithful than fortunate. The most 
 difficult affairs he compassed without any noise, and never 
 returned when he was employed without the work performed 
 that he was sent to do. His death made a great change in 
 our estate ; Sir Robert Ker, a son of Farniherst, who had 
 served the king long in the quality of a page, was then 
 grown powerful in court, carrying all things by his credit. 
 At first the treasurer's office, which was in the person of 
 Dunbar whilst he lived, was trusted to certain commissioners ; 
 but after a little space the same was bestowed upon the said 
 Sir Robert, and he preferred to be earl of Somerset. The 
 guard that Sir William Cranston, a gentleman of great 
 worth, did command, and wherewith he had performed divers 
 notable services in the borders, was taken from him, and 
 given to Sir Robert Ker of Ancrum, Somerset's cousin. Sir 
 Gideon Murray, his uncle by the mother, was made deputy 
 in the office of treasury ; and Sir Thomas Hamilton, his 
 majesty's advocate, who had married his sister, placed first 
 in the office of register, and afterwards made secretary ; all 
 which was ascribed to Somerset his credit. Yet these things 
 were not ill taken, the last excepted. For Sir William 
 Cranston being content to resign his place, the king in 
 remembrance of his good service did prefer him to be a lord 
 of parliament ; Sir Gideon his abilities for the service he 
 was trusted with were known to all ; and for the advocate, 
 his sufficiency was undoubted, only the manner of his coming 
 to be register was not so well interpreted. Sir John Skeen 
 had enjoyed the place a good many years, and being grown 
 in ago and infirm, thinking to get his son provided to his 
 office, had sent him to court with a dimission of the place, 
 but with a chai'ge not to use it, unless he found the king 
 willing to admit him : yet he, abused by some politic wits, 
 made a resignation of the office, accepting an ordinary place 
 among the lords of session. The office upon his resignation 
 was presently disponed to the advocate, which grieved the 
 father beyond all measure. And the case indeed was pitiful 
 
 ' [See Note at the end of tliis Book.— E.] 
 
A. D. 1612.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 215 
 
 and much regretted by all honest men ; for ho had been a 
 man much employed and honoured with divers legations, 
 which he discharged with good credit, and now in his ago to 
 be circumvented in this sort by the simphcity or folly of his 
 son, it was held lamentable. The king being informed of 
 the abuse by the old man's complaint, was very careful to 
 satisfy him, and to have the son reconciled to his father, 
 which after some travail was brought to pass : yet so exceed- 
 ing was the old man's discontent, as within a few days he 
 deceased. The office of register was shortly after inter- 
 changed with the secretary Sir Alexander Hay, and he made 
 keeper of the rolls, the Lord Binning secretary, and Sir 
 William Oliphant received to be his majesty's advocate. 
 
 In the beginning of the next year there happened divers 
 unhappy quarrels betAvixt the Scotch and English at court, which 
 was like to have produced very bad effects; and nothing worse 
 taken than the slaughter of an English fencer by the Lord 
 Sanquhar's instigation, who, for an injury alleged, did hire 
 one called Carleill to kill the fencer. This fact committed 
 in the city of London, and so near to the king's court, caused 
 such a heartburning among the people, as it was not far 
 from breaking forth into a general commotion. But his 
 majesty, preventing the danger, made Sanquhar to be ar- 
 rested and brought to his trial ; where being convicted he 
 was hanged publicly at the palace-gate of Westminster. 
 This act of justice gave the English a great content; nor 
 was the death of the nobleman much regretted by his own 
 country people, for he had lived all his time dissolutely, and 
 falling in familiarity with a base courtezan at Paris, had by 
 her a son to whom he entailed his lands, intending to defraud 
 the lawful heir. But the king, taking the matter into his 
 own cognition, did, by compromise, adjudge the succession 
 to the just inheritor, appointing a little portion to the base 
 son, who in a short time made away the same prodigally. 
 
 Not long before, his majesty being informed of a course 
 kept by the Church in excommunicating persons that were 
 fugitives for capital crimes, sent to the bishops and clei-gy a 
 letter of this tenor. 
 
 " The ecclesiastical censure of excommunication, which 
 should be inflicted upon such as having committed any 
 
216 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1G12. 
 
 scandalous offence are contemners of the admonitions of the 
 Church, is, as we have been informed, so far abused against 
 the first institution, that we cannot sufficiently marvel of the 
 proceeding said to be commonly used among you ; namely, 
 that persons fugitive for capital crimes being cited before 
 ecclesiastical judicatories, although it be known that they 
 dare not compeir for fear of their life, are sentenced as per- 
 sons contumacious, whereas the fear they stand in ought in 
 reason to excuse their absence, since they cannot be judged 
 contemners of the Church who upon just terrors are kept 
 back from giving their personal appearance. In a late 
 treatise the Venetian Padre Paulo did learnedly confute the 
 sentence pronounced by the present pope against him for his 
 not appearing to answer in the cause of heresy, only upon 
 the just fear he pretended, and had his appeal justified by all 
 indifferent men from the pope's sentence as abusive. Your 
 proceedings for the manner is no other, and by the learnedest 
 divines in these parts resembled to the Muscovite's form, who, 
 if he be offended with any person, commandeth him to send 
 his head unto him : just so your citations are in the foresaid 
 case, which is to will the offenders come in and be hanged, 
 which were they never so penitent is not to be thought they 
 will do ; for they will rather fall under your censure, than 
 hazard themselves in the hands of the justice. This being 
 the ready way to bring the censures of the Church in con- 
 tempt, our ple'asure is, that hereafter there be no such form 
 of proceeding used among you. Notwithstanding if it shall 
 happen such offenders to obtain our pardon, and that the 
 fear they stand in of their life be removed, we mean not 
 but that they should be called before the Church, and cen- 
 sures used against those that are impenitent. Hereof per- 
 suading ourselves that you will have care, and not give way 
 to the abuse in time coming, we bid you farewell." 
 
 Upon the receipt of this letter, the bishops convening with 
 certain of the clergy, to advise what course was fittest to be 
 held in these cases, a long reasoning was kept, some main- 
 taining, " That the form practised by the Church was not to be 
 changed, they having tried the good thereof, and that people 
 were terrified by this means from falling into these odious 
 crimes." Others reasoned, " That the principal end of all 
 
A. D. 1G12.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 217 
 
 church censures, especially of excommunication, was the 
 reclaiming of offenders, and tlic bringing of them to the 
 acknowledgment of their sin, and that where this principal 
 use had no place, that other secondary ends ought not to be 
 respected ; and so in case of fugitives, what could any cen- 
 sure avail to their reclaiming, they not being in place to 
 answer, or to receive any admonition ? Y^a, and might it 
 not fall, that by proceeding against men in such case, men 
 truly sorrowful for their sin should be sentenced, and so the 
 persons bound by the Church whom God hath loosed ? They 
 did therefore judge it more safe in these cases to advertise 
 people of the heinousness of the fact committed, Avarning 
 them to make their own profit thereof, and to forbear all 
 proceeding against the fugitive person till his condition 
 should be made known." This turned to be the resolution 
 of the whole number, and thereupon direction was given to 
 the ministers not to intend or follow any process against 
 fugitives in time coming. 
 
 This year the earl of Eglinton departed this life, who, 
 having no child nor heir-male to succeed, made a disposition 
 of his lands and honours to Sir Alexander Seaton his cousin- 
 german, with a proviso, " That he and his children should 
 take the name and use the arms of the house of Mont- 
 gomery." The king, who was always most tender in the 
 conveyance of honours, being informed of the disposition 
 made by the deceased earl, did by a letter written to the 
 council witness his displeasure at such alienations ; sho wing- 
 that howsoever he could not stay noblemen to dispose of 
 their lands, he, being the fountain of all honour within his king- 
 doms, would not permit the same to be sold or alienated 
 without his consent : and thereupon did inhibit the said Sir 
 Alexander to use the title of lord or earl, notwithstanding 
 the disposition made to him. Some two years after his 
 majesty was pleased to bestow the honour upon him, and so 
 was he received into the place and honour formerly belong- 
 ing to the house of Eglinton. 
 
 In the month of October a parliament was kept at Edin- 
 burgh, the chancellor being commissioner for the king ; 
 wherein the conclusions taken in the Assembly at Glasgow 
 were ratified, and all Acts and constitutions, especially the 
 Act made in the parliament 1592, rescinded and annulled, in 
 
218 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1612. 
 
 SO far as they, or any of tliem, or any part of the same, were 
 derogatory to the articles there conckuled. 
 
 In this parHament a subsidy was urged, and a great con- 
 test made for the quantity, which was required in a more 
 large measure than in former times, because of his majesty's 
 affairs, especially for the marriage of the Lady Elizabeth 
 with the PalsgFave, who in the same month arrived in 
 England. The poverty of the country, with a fear that 
 what was then granted should be made a precedent for after- 
 times, was pretended by those that withstood the motion ; 
 albeit the true cause was known to be the dislike that the 
 popish faction had of the match, which by all means they 
 laboured to cross : nor was any more busy than the Lord 
 Burleigh to impede the subsidy. He, being but a little 
 before come from court, did affirm that the king in a private 
 speech with him touching the same, had said, " Tbat he re- 
 quired no more than was granted in the parliament 1606," 
 and thereby made the opposition greater than otherwise it 
 would have been. Yet in the end, after long debating, it 
 was concluded, that the supply should be more liberal in 
 regard of the present occasion than at any time before. 
 
 The king upon advertisement of the Lord Burleigh's 
 business gave order to remove him from the council, and to 
 inhibit him from coming any more at court : which he 
 apprehending to be the Lord Scone's doing, and that he had 
 informed against him, took so ill, as he did send him a 
 challenge, and appeal him to the combat. Hereupon he was 
 committed in the castle of Edinburgh, where he remained 
 some two months ; thereafter, upon the acknowledgment of 
 his offence, and being reconciled with the Lord Scone, he 
 was put to liberty. 
 
 In court at this time was great rejoicing, and the marriage 
 of the Lady Elizabeth with the Prince Palatine daily ex- 
 pected, when on the sudden all was turned to mourning by 
 the death of Prince Henry, who departed this life at St 
 James's in the beginning of November. A prince of ex- 
 cellent virtues, and all the perfections that can be wished for 
 in youth. He died at the age of eighteen years and eight 
 months, greatly lamented both at home and abroad. The 
 council esteeming it their duty to express their doleance for 
 tliat accident, made choice of the chancellor and the arch- 
 
A. D. 1613.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 219 
 
 bishop of Glasgow for that business. But the king having 
 received a hard information of the chancellor's carriage in 
 the late parliament, sent his servant William Shaw to dis- 
 charge him from coming to court, who encountering him at 
 Morpeth caused him to return. The archbishop, who was 
 no ftirther advanced than Berwick, accompanied the chancel- 
 lor to Edinburgh ; and after a short stay there, as he was 
 willed, took his journey again towards court, whither he 
 came a little before Christmas. The nuptials, in regard of 
 the prince's death, were put oif to the February following ; 
 at which time, the sorrow being a little worn out, the same 
 were performed with great solemnity. 
 
 It was showed before concerning the oppressions of the 
 people of Orkney, that the acts made by the earl in his 
 courts were judged unlawful, and he discharged to put the 
 same thereafter in execution. Not the less going on in his 
 wonted course, he sent his base son called Robert into the 
 country, in show to uplift his rents and duties, but in effect 
 to try and punish the transgressors of those acts : whereupon 
 new complaints being preferred to the council, the king was 
 advised to make purchase of Sir John Arnot's right, to whom 
 the earl had impignorated his estate, as being the only means 
 to relieve that distressed people from his oppressions ; the 
 bargain shortly was made, and the king possessed in the 
 lands. Sir James Stewart, Captain James his son, being made 
 chamberlain and sheriff of the country. The earl himself 
 was transported from Edinburgh to the castle of Dumbarton, 
 and had allowed to him six shillings eight pence sterling a- 
 day for his entertainment ; where he had not long remained, 
 whenas he received advertisement that the castles of Kirk- 
 wall, Birsay, and other his houses in those isles were all 
 rendered to the sheriff. This put him in a great passion, 
 and many ways he essayed to make an escape ; but finding 
 no possibility, he sent his base son, who was lately returned, 
 with an express command to take back the houses, and 
 expulse the deputy Mr John Finlason, whom the chamberlain 
 had left there. 
 
 The young man at his coming to Orkney being assisted 
 with some loose people made his first assault upon Birsay, 
 expulsing Bernard Stewart the keeper, and placing a garri- 
 son therein of some thirty persons. The deputy hearino- 
 
220 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1613. 
 
 what was done went speedily thither, charging them in his 
 majesty's name to render : but they despising the charge, 
 and he not able to force them, he went from thence to Kirk- 
 wall ; the rebels following at his heels, compelled him in 
 like sort to render the castle of Kirkwall in which he had 
 entered. 
 
 Upon report of this rebellion, commission was given to the 
 earl of Caithness, as lieutenant for the king in those bounds, 
 to recover the castles and pacify the country ; which he care- 
 fully performed. At his first landing, a company of people, 
 to the number of five hundred, who were brought together 
 more out of fear of the rebels than of any desire to withstand, 
 made a countenance to resist ; but how soon they perceived 
 the earl's resolution to pursue, they gave back, their leaders 
 flying to the castles, which they meant to defend. This 
 they made good some five weeks or more, till the cannon 
 having beaten down a great part of the walls, they were 
 forced to yield themselves at discretion. The persons taken 
 in the castle were Robert Stewart the earl's base son, 
 Archibald Murray, Andrew Martin, Alexander Legat, and 
 Thomas King, servants to the earl. These were all trans- 
 ported to Edinburgh, and being convicted by a jury, Avere 
 hanged on a gibbet at the market-cross. In this siege the 
 lieutenant lost four men only ; namely, William Irvine son 
 to William Irvine of Saba, James Richardson, Andrew 
 Adamson, and William Robinson, who were killed all by 
 shots from the house ; many were wounded and hurt, but 
 thereof recovered. 
 
 Towards the end of the year Mr David Lindsay, bishop 
 of Ross, departed this life in a great age, having attained to 
 fourscore and two or three years ; a man nobly descended,' 
 and a brother of the house of Edzell. Soon after the Refor- 
 mation, returning from his travels abroad, he applied himself 
 to the function of the ministry, and entering the charge at 
 Leith, continued therein to his death ; of a peaceable nature, 
 and greatly favoured of the king, to whom he performed 
 divers good services, especially in the troubles he had with 
 the Church ; a man universally beloved and well esteemed 
 of by all wise men. His corpse was interred at Leith by 
 his own direction, as desiring to rest with that people on 
 whom he had taken great pains in his life. 
 
A. D. 1614.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 221 
 
 The carl of Orkney being brought, the October preced- 
 ing, from Dumbarton to Edinburgh, was in February next 
 put to trial, where together with the justice there sat as 
 assessors the earl of Dunfermline, chancellor, the Lord Bin- 
 ing, secretary, the president Sir John Preston, Sir Gideon 
 Murray, treasurer-deputy, Sir Richard Cockburn of Clark- 
 ington, lord privy-seal, Sir John Cockburn of Ormiston, 
 justice-clerk. Sir Alexander Hay, clerk -register, Sir Wilham 
 Livingstone of Kilsyth, and Sir Alexander Drummond of 
 Medop, senators of the college of justice. 
 
 The substance of the indictment was, " That he had caused 
 his base son to surprise the castle of Kirkwall, with the 
 steeple of the church, the place called the yards, and house 
 of Birsay ; that he had incited the people to rebelhon, and 
 detained the said castles and houses treasonably after he 
 was charged to render the same." His prolocutors were 
 Mr Alexander King, Mr Thomas Nicolson, and Mr Alex- 
 ander Forbes, lawyers, all of good esteem ; the chief defence 
 they used was a denial of the libel. The advocate producing 
 the confession of his base son and those that were executed 
 with him, together with some missive letters written by one 
 John Sharpe at his direction for the detaining of the castle 
 of Kirkwall, and a charter of certain lands gifted by him to 
 Patrick Halcro for assisting the rebels, the justice remitted 
 the verity of the indictment to the assize. 
 
 The persons chosen thereupon were James earl of Glen- 
 carne, George earl of Winton, John earl of Perth, Robert 
 earl of Lothian, William earl of TuUibardine, David lord 
 Scone, William lord Sanquhar, John lord Herries, James 
 lord Torphichcn, Hugh lord Sempill, William lord Kilmaurs, 
 John Grant of Freuchie, Sir Patrick Hepburn of Waughton, 
 Robert Arnot of Farny, and Sir Henry Lindsay of Kin- 
 fauns ; who, sworn and received according to the custom, 
 went apart by themselves for a certain space, and returning 
 unto the court, by the mouth of their chancellor (the earl of 
 Glencarne) declared him guilty of the foresaid rebellion, and 
 of the whole points contained in the indictment. The justice 
 thereupon gave sentence, that he should be taken to the 
 market-cross, and there beheaded, and all his goods and 
 lands confiscated. 
 
 The earl taking the sentence impatiently, some preachers 
 
222 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1G14. 
 
 were desired to confer with him, and to dispose his mind 
 towards death ; but they finding him irresolute, entreated 
 for a delay of the execution ; which was granted to the sixth 
 of February, at which time he was brought unto the scaffold, 
 guarded by the magistrates of the city, and in the sight of 
 many people beheaded. This was the end of Patrick earl 
 of Orkney, son to Robert Stewart, one of King James the 
 Fifth his base sons. Robert was at first provided to the 
 abbacy of Halyrudhouse, which he enjoyed divers years. 
 After the forfeiture of Hepburn, Earl Bothwell, and the 
 obtaining of these isles, he exchanged the abbacy with the 
 bishopric of Orkney, and so became sole lord of the country. 
 Patrick, succeeding to an elder brother who died young, by 
 his too much resort to court and profuse spending did involve 
 himself in great debts, and seeking to repair his estate by the 
 indirect courses he touched, fell into these inconveniences 
 which you have heard, and may serve for a warning to all 
 great personages not to oppress nor play the tyrants over the 
 meaner sort of people. 
 
 About the end of the year John Ogilvy a Jesuit was 
 apprehended at Glasgow. Ho was lately come from Gratz, 
 where the Jesuits have a college, by the command (as he 
 said) of his superiors, to do some service in these parts. 
 There were found with him three little books, containing 
 certain directories for receiving confessions ; a warrant to 
 dispense with them that possessed any church-livings, con- 
 ceived in this form. Quoad dispensationem de bonis ecclesias- 
 ticis, poteris dispensare ut retineant quae possident, dummodo 
 in usiis pios aliquid impendant, pro jndicio con/essarii dis- 
 pensantis ; with some relics, and a tuft of St Ignatius's hair, 
 the founder of their order, which he seemed to have in great 
 regard. 
 
 Upon advertisement given to his majesty, a commission 
 was sent to the secretary, the Lord Kilsyth, the treasurer- 
 deputy, and advocate, for his examination and trial. Being 
 presented before them, and inquired when he came into 
 Scotland, what his business was, and where he had resorted ? 
 To the first he answered, that he came in the June preced- 
 ing ; to the second, that his errand was to save souls ; but 
 to the third he denied to give any answer at all, saying, 
 " that he would not utter any thing that might work pre- 
 
A. D. 1614.] CIIUKCH OF SCOTLAND, 223 
 
 judice to others : " nor could lie be induced either by per- 
 suasion or threatening to detect the persons with whom he 
 had resorted. The commissioners offended at his obstinacy, 
 and meaning to extort a confession from him, advised to 
 keep him some nights from sleep : and this indeed wrought 
 somewhat with him, so as he began to discover certain 
 particulars, but how soon he was permitted to take any rest, 
 he denied all, and was as obstinate in denying as at first. 
 
 His majesty being certified that without torture nothing 
 would be drawn from him, made answer, " That he would 
 not have those forms used with men of his profession ; and if 
 nothing could be found but that he was a Jesuit, and had 
 said mass, they should banish him the country, and inhibit 
 him to return without license, under pain of death. But if 
 it should appear that he had been a practiser for the stirring 
 up of subjects to rebellion, or did maintain the pope's trans- 
 cendent power over kings, and refused to take the oath of 
 allegiance, they should leave him to the course of law and 
 justice; meanwhile his pleasure was, that the questions 
 following should be moved unto him, and his answers there- 
 to required." 
 
 1. Whether the pope be judge and hath power in spiritua- 
 libus over his majesty; and whether that power will reach 
 over his majesty in temporalihus if it be in ordine ad spiri- 
 tualia, as Bellarmine affirmeth ? 
 
 2. Whether the pope hath power to excommunicate 
 kings (especially such as are not of his Church), as his 
 majesty ? 
 
 3. \Vhether the pope hath power to depose kings by him 
 excommunicated ; and in particular, whether he hath power 
 to depose the king's majesty ? 
 
 4. Whether it be no nmrdcr to slay his majesty, being so 
 excommunicated and deposed by the pope ? 
 
 5. Whether the pope hatli power to assoile subjects from 
 the oath of their born and native allegiance to his majesty ? 
 
 These questions were sent enclosed in a letter to the arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow, who assuming to himself the provost of 
 the city, the principal of the college, and one of the ministers, 
 as witnesses, did in their hearing read the questions, and 
 
224 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1614. 
 
 receive his answer, which he gave under his hand, as 
 followeth : — 
 
 I acknowledge the pope of Home to be judge unto his 
 majesty, and to have power over him in spiritualibus, and 
 over all Christian kings. But where it is asked, whether 
 that power will reach over him in temporalibus, I am not 
 obliged to declare my opinion therein, except to him that is 
 judge in controversies of rehgion, to wit, the pope, or one 
 having authority from him. 
 
 For the second point, I think that the pope hath power to 
 excommunicate the king ; and where it is said, that the king 
 is not of the pope's Church, I answer, that all who are 
 baptized are under the pope's power. 
 
 To the third, where it is asked, if the pope hath power to 
 depose the king, being excommunicated ; I say that I am not 
 tied to declare my mind, except to him that is judge in con- 
 troversies of religion. 
 
 To the fourth and fifth I answer ut supra. 
 
 Being reasoned with a long time, and the danger exponed 
 wherein he did cast himself by maintaining such treasonable 
 opinions, he answered, " That he would not change his mind 
 for any danger that could befall him ;" and speaking of the 
 oath of allegiance, said, " that it was a damnable oath, and 
 treason against God to swear it." Some days being allowed 
 him to bethink himself better of these points, whenas no 
 advice could prevail, the answers were sent to his majesty 
 subscribed by himself, and therewith a testification of such 
 as were present at the giving thereof. 
 
 Hereupon the council was commanded to pass a commis- 
 sion to the provost and bailiffs of Glasgow for putting him to 
 a trial. There were assisting, James marquis of Hamilton, 
 Robert earl of Lothian, William lord Sanquhar, John 
 lord Fleming, and Robert lord Boyd. Some days be- 
 fore he was brought to the bar, it was told him, " That he 
 was not to be charged with saying of mass, nor any thing 
 that concerned his profession, but only with the answers 
 made to the questions proponed, which, if he should recall, 
 there being yet place to repentance, the trial should be sus- 
 pended till his majesty were of new advertised." His reply 
 
A. D. 1614.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 225 
 
 was, " That he did so httle miiid to recall any thing ho had 
 spoken, as when he should be brought to his answer he should 
 put a bonnet on it." And this indeed he performed ; for 
 when he was placed on panncl, and the indictment read, 
 which was grounded all upon the Acts of Parliament made 
 against those that declined his majesty's authority, or main- 
 tained any other jurisdiction within the realm, and upon 
 the answers made to the above-written demands subscribed 
 with his hand, he brake forth in these speeches : — 
 
 " Under protestation that I do no way acknowledge this 
 judgment, nor receive you that are named in that commission 
 for my judges, I deny any point laid against me to be treason ; 
 for if it were treason, it would be such in all places and all 
 kingdoms, which you know not to be so. As to your Acts 
 of Parliament, they were made by a number of partial men, 
 and of matters not subject to theW forum or judicatory, for 
 which I will not give a rotten fig. And where I am said to 
 be an enemy to the king's authority, I know not any au- 
 thority he hath but what he received from his predecessors, 
 who acknowledged the pope of Rome his jurisdiction. If the 
 king will be to me as his predecessors were to mine, I will obey 
 and acknowledge him for my king ; but if he do otherwise, 
 and play the runnagate from God, as he and you all do, I 
 will not acknowledge him more than this old hat." At these 
 words being interrupted, and commanded to speak more 
 reverently of his majesty, he said, " That he should take 
 the advertisement, and not offend, but the judgment he 
 would not acknowledge. And for the reverence I do you 
 to stand uncovered, I let you know it is ad redemptionem 
 vexationis, not ad agnitionem judicii." 
 
 The persons cited upon the jury being then called, and he 
 desired to show if he would except against them, he said, 
 " That he had but one exception against them all, Avhich 
 was, that either they were enemies to his cause, or friends : 
 if enemies, they could not sit upon his trial ; and if friends, 
 they ought to assist hira at the bar. Only he should wish 
 the gentlemen to consider well what they did, and that he 
 could not be judged by them. That whatsoever he suf- 
 fered was by way of injury and not of judgment ; and that 
 he was accused of treason, but had not committed any offence, 
 nor would he beg mercy." And, proceeding in this st.'ain, " I 
 
 VOL. HI. 15 
 
226 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1614. 
 
 am," said he, " a subject as free as the king is a king ; I came 
 by commandment of my superior into this kingdom, and if I 
 were even now forth of it, I would return ; neither do I re- 
 pent any thing, but that I have not been so busy as I should 
 in that which you call perverting of subjects. I am accused 
 for declining the king's authority, and will do it still in 
 matter of religion, for with such matters he hath notliing to 
 do ; and this which I say, the best of your ministers do main- 
 tain, and if they be wise, will continue of the same mind. 
 Some questions were moved to me, which I refused to 
 answer, because the proposers were not judges in contro- 
 versies of rehgion, and therefore I trust you cannot infer any 
 thing against me." " But I hope," said the archbishop, 
 " you will not make this a controversy of religion, whether 
 the king being deposed by the pope may be lawfully killed." 
 To this he replied, "It is a question among the doctors of 
 the Church ; many hold the affirmative, not improbably ; but 
 as that point is not yet determined, so if it shall be concluded, 
 I will give my life in defence of it ; and to call it unlawful, I 
 will not, though I should save my life by saying it." 
 
 His speeches, the more liberty was given him, growing 
 still the more intolerable, the jurors were willed to go apart, 
 who, quickly returning, declared by the mouth of their 
 chancellor. Sir George Elphingston, that they found him 
 guilty of all the treasonable crimes contained in the indict- 
 ment. Whereupon doom was pronounced, and the same day, 
 in the afternoon, he was hanged in the public street of 
 Glasgow. He was, as it seemed, well instructed in that 
 Jesuitical doctrine of deposing and dethroning kings, and hke 
 enough to have played another Ravaillac, if he had not been 
 intercepted ; which was the rather believed, that, in lament- 
 ing his mishap to one that he esteemed his friend, he did say, 
 " That nothing grieved him so much as that ho had been 
 apprehended in that time, for if he had lived unto Whit- 
 sunday at liberty, he should have done that which all the 
 bishops and ministers of Scotland and England should never 
 have helped; and to have done it, he would willingly have been 
 drawn in pieces with horses, and not cared what torments he had 
 endured." But this did not burst forth till after his death. 
 
 Mr James Moffat, another of the same society, being ap- 
 prehended near about the same time, took -a safer course ; 
 
A. D. 1615.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 227 
 
 for having condemned Ogilvie's positions, he was suffered to 
 depart the country, the king professing, as he ever did, 
 that he would never hang a priest for his rehgion ; only 
 these polypragmatic papists, that were set upon sedition and 
 to move disturbance in countries, he could not away with. 
 
 The next spring, JMr George Gladstanes, archbishop of 
 St Andrews, departed this life; a man of good learning, ready 
 utterance, and great invention, but of an easy nature, and in- 
 duced by those he trusted to do many things hurtful to the 
 See, especially in leasing the tithes of his benefice for many 
 ages to come, and for a small duty ; esteeming (which is the 
 error of many churchmen) that by this mean he should 
 purchase the love and friendship of men, whereas there is no 
 sure friendship but that which is joined with respect ; and 
 to the preserving of this, nothing conduceth more than a wise 
 and prudent administration of the church-rents wherewith 
 they are intrusted. He left behind him in writing a declara- 
 tion of his judgment touching matters then controverted in 
 the Church, professing that he had accepted the episcopal 
 function upon good warrant, and that his conscience did never 
 accuse him for any tiling done that way. This he did to ob- 
 viate the rumours which he foresaw would be dispersed after 
 his death, either of his recantation or of some trouble of spirit 
 that he was cast into (for these are the usual practices of the 
 puritan sect), w^hereas he ended his days most piously, and to 
 the great comfort of all the beholders. His corpse was in- 
 terred in the south-east side of the parish church, and the 
 funeral sermon preached by Mr William Cowper, bishop of 
 Galloway, who was lately before preferred upon the decease 
 of Mr Gavin Hamilton, bishop of that See ; a man for 
 courage, true kindness, and zeal to the Church, never enough 
 commended. 
 
 St Andrews falling thus void, divers translations were 
 made in the Church ; as of the archbishop of Glasgow to St 
 Andrews, the bishop of Orkney to Glasgow, the bishop of 
 Dunblane to Orkney, in whose place succeeded INIr Adam 
 Ballcndcne, rector of Falkirk. 
 
 In the end of this year, there was at court a great busi- 
 ness for trying the murder of Sir Thomas Ovcrbury, who 
 had died in the Tower some two years before. The occasion 
 and secret contriving of the murder, with the strangeness 
 
228 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1615. 
 
 of the discovery, and his majesty's impartial proceedings 
 in the trial, deserve all to be remembered. The occasion 
 was Overbury's free and friendly counsels to the earl of 
 Somerset for diverting him from the marriage he intended 
 with Lady Frances Howard, who by a sentence of nullity 
 was freed from the earl of Essex her husband. Often he 
 had dissuaded Somerset, presuming upon the familiarity that 
 he vouchsafed him, to forbear that lady's company, and one 
 night more freely, for that he saw Somerset going on in the 
 match, came unto him, and spake to this eifect : " My Lord, I 
 perceive you are proceeding in this match, which I have often 
 dissuaded as your true servant and friend. I now advise you 
 not to marry that woman, for if you do, you shall ruin your 
 honour and yourself ; " adding, that if he went on in that busi- 
 ness, he should do well to look to his standing. The earl 
 taking his free speech more impatiently because he had 
 touched the lady (with whom he was bewitched) in her 
 honour, replied in passion, that his legs were strong enough 
 to bear him up, and that he should make him repent those 
 speeches. Thus he parted in anger at that time. 
 
 Overbury interpreting this to be a sudden passion only, 
 and not thinking that their long continued friendship would 
 break off by this occasion, continued in his wonted attend- 
 ance, neither did the earl wholly abandon him ; howbeit, 
 having discovered to the Lady Overbury his counsel, and the 
 words he had uttered to her prejudice, she never ceased to 
 inflame him against the gentleman, and by all means sought 
 to practise his overthrow. It falling out that Overbury was 
 about this time to be employed in an ambassage to Russia, 
 the earl, whose counsel he asked, advised him not to embrace 
 the service, but to make some fair excuse. This advice he 
 followed, taking the same to proceed of kindness, and for his 
 refuse was committed to the Tower. 
 
 The lady now had him where she wished, and, meaning to 
 despatch him by poison, wrought so with the lieutenant Sir 
 Jervis Elways, as he did admit one Richard Weston, upon 
 her recommendation, to be Overbury's keeper, by whom, the 
 very evening after he was committed, a yellow poison was 
 ministered unto him in a broth at supper, which provoked 
 such extreme vomits and purging as it was looked he should 
 not recover. But neither this nor the other poisons that 
 
A. D. 1G15.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 229 
 
 were continually put in liis meats scrvint; to despatch him, 
 Mistress Turner, the preparer of all, procured an apothe- 
 cary's boy "to give him a poisoned glyster, which brought 
 him to his end. Overbury thus dead, was presently buried ; 
 and because of the blanes and blisters that appeared in his 
 body after his death, a report was dispersed that he died of 
 the French pox, which few believed ; and still the rumour 
 went, according to the truth, that he was made away by 
 poison. The greatness of the procurers kept all hidden for 
 a time ; but God, who never suffereth such vile acts to go 
 unpunished, did bring the same to light after a miraculous 
 manner. 
 
 It happened the earl of Shrewsbury, in conference with a 
 councillor of estate, to recommend the lieutenant of the Tower 
 to his favour, as a man of good parts, and one that desired to 
 be known to him. The councillor answering, that he took it 
 for a favour from the lieutenant that he should desire his 
 friendship, added withal, that there lay upon him a heavy 
 imputation of Overbury 's death, Avhereof he wished the 
 gentleman to clear himself. This related to the lieutenant. 
 He was stricken a little with it, and said, that to his know- 
 ledge some attempts were made against Overbury, but that 
 the same took no eifect ; which being told to the king, he 
 willed the councillor to move the lieutenant to set down in 
 writing what he knew of that matter, which he also did. 
 Thereupon, certain of the council were appointed to examine 
 and find out the truth. From Weston somewhat was drawn, 
 whereupon he was made prisoner. Turner and Franklin, 
 the preparers of the poison, being examined, confessed every 
 thing ; and then all breaking forth, the earl of Somerset with 
 his lady and the lieutenant were committed. 
 
 Weston at his first arraignment stood mute, yet was in- 
 duced afterwards to put himself to the trial of the country, 
 and being found guilty, was hanged at Tyburn. Mistress 
 Turner and James Franklin were in like sort executed. The 
 lieutenant, who had winked at their doings, was judged ac- 
 cessory to the crime and condemned to death, which ho suf- 
 fered most patiently, expressing a great penitency and 
 assurance of mercy at the hands of God. 
 
 In the May following, the carl and his lady were brought 
 to their trial, which by their friends they laboured earnestly 
 
230 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 161G. 
 
 to eschew ; but the king would not bo entreated, for the love 
 he had to maintain justice. The judge by commission was 
 Thomas Lord Ellesmere, chancellor of England, and lord 
 high-steward for that time ; his assistants were. Sir Edward 
 Coke, lord chief-justice of England ; Sir Henry Hobart, lord 
 chief-justice of the common pleas ; Sir Laurence Tanfield, 
 lord chief-baron of the exchequer ; Judge Altharne, one of the 
 barons of the exchequer ; Judge Crook, Judge Doddridge, 
 and Judge Haughton, judges of the king's bench, and Judge 
 Nicols, one of the judges of the common pleas. 
 
 The peers by whom they were tried were, the earl of 
 Worcester, lord privy-seal ; the earl of Pembroke, chamber- 
 lain ; the earls of Rutland, Sussex, Montgomery, and Hart- 
 ford ; the Viscount Lisle, the Lord Zouch, warden of the 
 Cinqueports ; the Lord Willoughby of Eresby ; the Lord 
 Dacres, the Lord Monteagle, the Lord Wentworth, the Lord 
 Rich, the Lord Willoughby of Parham, the Lord Hunsdon, 
 the Lord Russel, the Lord Compton, the Lord Norris, the 
 Lord Gerard, the Lord Cavendish, and the Lord Dormer. 
 
 With the lady there was not much ado, for she with 
 many tears confessed the fact, desiring mercy. The carl, 
 who was the next day presented before the judges, made 
 some defences ; but the confessions of those that were exe- 
 cuted, and a letter he had sent to his majesty, did so clearly 
 convince him of being accessory to the crime at least, that 
 they were both sentenced to be taken to the Tower of London, 
 and from thence to the place of execution, and hanged till 
 they were dead. It was a foul and hateful fact, on the earl's 
 part especially, who did betray his friend for satisfying the 
 appetite of a revengeful woman ; yet by his majesty's clem- 
 ency, the lives of both were afterwards spared. 
 
 A new business was about the same time made by the 
 marquis of Huntly. Some eight years before he had been 
 excommunicated, and giving hopes from time to time of his 
 reconcilement, did not only frustrate the same, but, break- 
 ing out in open insolencies, had caused his officers discharge 
 his tenants from hearing the sermons of some ministers, with 
 whom he made show to be offended. Being for this called 
 before the high commission, he was committed in the Castle 
 of Edinburgh, and had not remained there two or three days 
 when, upon the chancellor's warrant, he was put to liberty. 
 
A. D. 161G.] CHURCH of Scotland, 231 
 
 The bishops that were in town, complaining to himself of that 
 he had done, were disdainfully answered, " That ho might 
 enlarge without their advice any that were imprisoned by the 
 high commission ; " and when it was told that the Church 
 would take this ill, he said, " that he cared not what their 
 Church thought of him ; " whereupon the ministers made 
 great exclamations in the pulpits, as against one that abused 
 his place and power. 
 
 Complaints hereupon were sent from all hands to the king. 
 The bishops complained of the chancellor his usurping upon 
 the commission, and to this eifect directed Alexander, bishop 
 of Caithness, to court. The chancellor complained of the 
 turbulency of the ministers, and the liberty they took to 
 censure the public actions of statesmen in their sermons. 
 The marquis, upon a suit he had made before his imprison- 
 ment, had obtained license to come unto court, and had taken 
 his journey thither. But the king, upon the clergy's com- 
 plaint, sent Mr Patrick Hamilton, then waiting as secretary- 
 deputy at court, to command the marquis to return and 
 enter himself in the Castle of Edinburgh, for satisfying the 
 high commission ; withal, he carried a letter to the council, 
 sharply rebuking them for releasing the marquis, he being 
 warded by the lords of the commission. 
 
 The gentleman meeting the marquis at Huntingdon, within 
 a day's journey of London, did use his message, who entreated 
 him to go back, and show the king that he was come to 
 give his majesty satisfaction in every thing he would enjoin, 
 and to beseech his majesty, since he was so far on his journey, 
 not to deny him his presence. The offer of satisfiiction 
 pleased the king well, who permitting him to come forward 
 to court, directed him to the archbishop of Canterbury, 
 with whom he offered to communicate. His excommunica- 
 tion standing in the way, and it being contrary to the canons 
 that one excommunicated by the Church should, without 
 their consent who had so sentenced him, be absolved in 
 another, it was a while doubted what course they should 
 take. The kin": on the one side was desirous to win him 
 home, and, on the other, loath to infringe the order of the 
 Church ; yet inclining to have the marquis absolved, it was 
 thought that the bishop of Caithness his consent, in the name 
 of the clergy of Scotland, was a warrant sufficient. Thus, 
 
232 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1616. 
 
 the bishop consentina*, the absohition was given him, in the 
 chapel of Lambeth, by the archbishop of Canterbury in this 
 form : — 
 
 " Whereas the purpose and intendment of tlie whole 
 Church of Christ is to win men unto God and frame their souls 
 for heaven, and that there is such an agreement and corre- 
 spondency betwixt the Churches of Scotland and England, that 
 what the bishops and pastors in the one, without any earthly 
 or worldly respect, shall accomplish to satisfy the christian 
 and charitable end and desire of the other, cannot be dis- 
 tasteful to either ; I therefore, finding your earnest entreaty 
 to be loosed from the bond of excommunication wherewith 
 you stand bound in the Church of Scotland, and well consider- 
 ing the reason and cause of that censure, as also considering; 
 your desire, on this present day, to communicate here with 
 us, for the better eftecting of this work of participation of 
 the holy sacrament of Christ our Saviour his blessed body 
 and blood, do absolve you from the said excommunication, in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost ; and beseech Almighty God, that you may be so 
 directed by the Holy Spirit, that you may continue in the 
 truth of his Gospel unto your life's end, and then be made 
 partaker of his everlasting kingdom." 
 
 How soon it was known that the marquis was absolved by 
 the archbishop of Canterbury, there were great exceptions 
 taken by the Church, and the same interpreted to be a sort 
 of usurpation, whereof the king being advertised in a long- 
 letter written to the archbishop of St Andrews, he did 
 justify the doing by these reasons : " First, That in absolv- 
 ing the marquis, nothing was intended to the prejudice of the 
 Church of Scotland, but what was done was out of a christian 
 necessity, it being needful that the marquis should be absolved 
 before he was admitted to the participation of the holy sacra- 
 ment. Secondly, He willed the Church to consider that his 
 absolution at home was only deferred upon the scruple he 
 made of the presence of our Saviour in the sacrament, and 
 that upon his confession, swearing and subscribing the other 
 points of religion, they themselves had suspended his excom- 
 munication, the lawfulness whereof he would not dispute, but 
 
A. D. 1616.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 233 
 
 remit the same to the canonists, yet the suspension standing, 
 it was not much from an absolution. Thirdly, That the ab- 
 solution given him in England did necessai'ily imply an 
 acknowledgment of the authority of the Church of Scotland ; 
 whereas, if the archbishop of Canterbury had received him to 
 the holy communion, and not first absolved him, being ex- 
 communicated by the Church of Scotland, the contempt and 
 neglect had been a great deal greater. Fourthly, That the 
 marquis being come into England, and making oifer to per- 
 form whatsoever should be required of him, it was more 
 fitting to take him in that disposition, than to have delayed 
 it unto his return into Scotland. For these reasons, he said, 
 and especially because all that was done was with a due 
 acknowledgment and reservation of the power and indepen- 
 dent authority of the Church of Scotland, which the arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury had by his own hand testified, it was 
 his pleasure, that upon the marquis his return a full form of 
 absolution should be given him, or a ratification made of that 
 which was done in England ; so as neither the archbishop of 
 Canterbury his doing should be disapproved as unlawful, nor 
 the same so approved as it might seem that the Church of 
 Scotland was inferior in any sort to that of England ; and 
 that the archbishop's letter written to that effect should be 
 put in record, and kept as a perpetual monument for ages to 
 come." 
 
 This letter directed to the archbishop of St Andrews, I 
 have thought here meet to be inserted. 
 
 " Salutem in Christo. 
 " Because I understand that a General Assembly is shortly 
 to be held at Aberdeen, I cannot but esteem it an ofiice of 
 brotherly love to yield you an account of that great action 
 which lately befell us here with the marquis of Huntly. So 
 it was then, that upon the coming up of the said marquis, his 
 majesty sharply entreating him for not giving satisfaction to 
 the Church of Scotland, and for a time restraining him from 
 his royal presence, the marquis resolving to give his majesty 
 contentment, did voluntarily proffer to communicate when and 
 wheresoever his highness should be pleased ; whereupon his 
 majesty being pleased to make known that offer to me, it was 
 
234 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1616. 
 
 held fit to strike the iron whilst it was hot, and that this 
 great work should he accomplished before his majesty's going 
 to progress ; whereunto a good opportunity was offered by 
 the consecration of the bishop of Chester, which was to be in 
 my chapel of Lambeth the seventh of this month, at which 
 time a solemn communion was there to be celebrated. 
 
 " The only pause was, that the marquis being excommuni- 
 cated by the Church of Scotland, there was in appearance 
 some difficulty how he miglit be absolved in the Church of 
 England ; wherewith his majesty being made acquainted, 
 who wished that it should not be deferred, we grew to this 
 peaceable resolution, which I doubt not your lordship and the 
 rest of our brethren there will interpret to the best. For, 
 first, what was to be performed might be adventured upon, as 
 we esteemed, out of a brotherly correspondency and unity of 
 affection, and not only of any authority ; for we well know, 
 that as the kingdom of Scotland is a free and absolute 
 monarchy, so the Church of Scotland is entire in itself, and 
 independent upon any other Church. Secondly, we find by 
 the advice of divers doctors of the civil law, and men best ex- 
 perienced in things of this nature, that the course of ecclesi- 
 astical proceedings would fairly permit that we might receive 
 to our communion a man excommunicated in another church, 
 if the said person did declare that he had a purpose hereafter 
 for some time to reside among us, which the lord marquis did 
 openly profess that he intended, and I know his majesty 
 doth desire it ; and for my part, I rest satisfied that it can 
 bring no prejudice, but rather contentment, unto you and 
 to that kingdom. Thirdly, it pleased God the night be- 
 fore the celebration of the sacrament to send in our brother, 
 the bishop of Caithness, with whom I taking counsel, his 
 lordship resolved me, that it was my best way to absolve the 
 lord marquis, and assured me that it would be well taken by 
 the bishops and pastors of the Church of Scotland. I leave 
 the report of this to my Lord Caithness himself, who was an 
 eye-witness with what reverence the marquis did participate 
 of that holy sacrament. For all other circumstances, I doubt 
 not but you shall be certified of them from his majesty, 
 whose gracious and princely desire is, that this bruised reed 
 should not be broken, but that so great a personage (whose 
 example may do much good) should be cherished and com- 
 
A. D. ICIG.] CHURCH or SCOTLAND. 235 
 
 forted in his coming forward to God ; which I for my part 
 do hope and firmly bchcve that you all will endeavour, ac- 
 cording to the wisdom and prudence which Almighty God 
 hath given unto you. And thus, as your lordship hath ever 
 been desirous that I should give you the best assistance I 
 could with his majesty for the reducing or restraining this 
 nobleman, so you see I have done it with the best discretion 
 I could ; which I doubt not but all our brethren with you 
 will take as proceeding from my desire to serve God and his 
 majesty, and the whole Church of Scotland. I send you 
 herewith the form which I used in absolving the lord 
 marquis in the presence of the lord primate of Ireland, the 
 lord bishop of London, and divers others. And so beseech- 
 ing the blessing of God upon you all, that in your Assembly 
 with unity of spirit you may proceed, to the honour of Christ 
 and to the beating down of antichrist and popery, I leave 
 you to the Almighty. 
 
 " From my house of Croyden, July 23, 1616." 
 
 This letter being showed to the clergy and others that 
 were oifendcd with the absolution of the marquis, gave them 
 content ; yet was it resolved that the marquis (who then was 
 returned from court) should present a supplication to the 
 General Assembly which was to meet at Aberdeen the 
 thirteenth of August, acknowledging his offence in despising 
 the admonitions of the Church, and promising to continue in 
 the profession of the truth, and make his children to be 
 educated in the same ; and that upon his supplication he 
 should be of new absolved according; to the form used in the 
 Church of Scotland. This was very solemnly performed the 
 first day of the Assembly, the earl of Montrose being then 
 commissioner for his majesty. 
 
 In the Assembly it was ordained, " That forasmuch as his 
 majesty had by proclamation recalled such as were gone 
 forth of the country to be educated in the colleges of Jesuits 
 or other popish universities within the space of a year, upon 
 pain to be declared incapable of succession either to goods or 
 lands, a trial and exact search should be made of all those 
 that were sent or gone into foreign parts within these last 
 ten years ; and that every minister should send a partic- 
 ular note unto his ordinary of those within his parish that 
 
236 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1616. 
 
 were gone to follow their studies in places abroad, with their 
 age, profession, and families whereunto they appertained, to 
 the end they may be known, and the dangers prevented 
 wherewith their corrupt education did threaten the Church." 
 
 It was hkewise enacted, " That no man should be permitted 
 to practise or profess any physic, unless he had first satis- 
 fied the bishop of the diocese touching his religion : That a 
 liturgy or book of common prayer should be formed for the 
 use of the Church : That the Acts of the General Assemblies 
 should be collected and put in form, to serve for canons to 
 the Church in their ministration of discipline : That children 
 should bo carefully catechized and confirmed by the bishops, 
 or, in their absence, by such as were employed in the visita- 
 tion of churches : That grammar-schools should be estab- 
 lished in all parishes where the same might be conveniently 
 done : And that a register should be kept of baptisms, 
 marriages, and burials by the minister of every parish." 
 
 These Acts being put in form, were ordained to be pre- 
 sented to his majesty by the archbishop of Glasgow and 
 bishop of Ross, who were sent from the Assembly to entreat 
 his majesty's confirmation of the things concluded. 
 
 By the answer returned with them, his majesty's good 
 liking of all that had proceeded in the Assembly was under- 
 stood ; only against the act of confirming young children by 
 bishops he excepted, saying it was a mere hotch-potch, and 
 not so clear as was requisite ; and therefore directed the 
 same to be reformed, and among the canons of the Church 
 the articles following to be inserted. 
 
 1. That for the more reverent receiving of the holy com- 
 munion, the same should be celebrated to the people there- 
 after kneeling and not sitting, as had been the custom since 
 the reformation of religion. 
 
 2. If any good Christian visited with sickness, which was 
 taken to be deadly, should desire to receive the communion 
 at home in his house, the same should not be denied to him, 
 lawful warning being given to the minister the night before ; 
 and three or four of good religion and conversation being 
 present to communicate with the sick person, who must pro- 
 vide for a convenient place, and all things necessary for the 
 reverent administration of the blessed sacrament. 
 
A, D. 1G16.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 237 
 
 3. That the sacrament of baptism should not bo longer 
 deferred than the next Sunday after the child is born, unless 
 some great and reasonable cause, declared and approved by 
 the minister, do require the same. And that in the case of 
 necessity, tried and known to the minister, it should be law- 
 ful to administrate baptism in private houses, the same being 
 always ministered after the form it would have been in the 
 congregation, and public declaration thereof made the next 
 Sunday in the church, to the end the child might be known 
 to have been received into the flock of Christ's fold. 
 
 4. Seeing the inestimable benefits received from God by 
 our Lord Jesus Christ his birth, passion, resurrection, as- 
 cension, and sending down of the Holy Ghost, have been 
 commendably remembered at certain particular days and 
 times by the whole Church of the world ; every minister 
 from thenceforth should keep a commemoration of the said 
 benefits upon these days, and make choice of several and per- 
 tinent texts of scripture, and frame their doctrine and ex- 
 hortations thereto, rebuking all superstitious observation and 
 licentious profaning of the said times. 
 
 5. The act of confirmation of children, his majesty desired 
 to be reformed in this manner. Seeing the confirmation of 
 children is for the good education of youth most necessary, 
 being reduced to the primitive integrity, it is thought good 
 that the minister in every j^arish shall catechize all young 
 children of eight years of age, and see that they have know- 
 ledge, and be able to rehearse the Lord's Prayer, the Belief, 
 and Ten Commandments, with answers to the questions 
 of the small catechism used in the Church, and that the 
 bishops in their visitations shall cause the children be 
 presented before them, and bless them with prayer for the 
 increase of grace, and continuance of God his heavenly gifts 
 with them. 
 
 The difficulty of admitting these articles being represented 
 in a humble letter to his majesty by the archbishop of St 
 Andrews, and a reason given why the same could not be in- 
 serted witli the canons, as having at no time been motioned 
 to the Church, nor proponed in any of their meetings, he was 
 pleased to forbear the pressing of the same for that time, 
 thinking at his coming into Scotland, which he intended the 
 
238 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1616. 
 
 next summer, to satisfy such as were scrupulous, and to ob- 
 tain the Church's consent. 
 
 Shortly after a letter was sent to the council, " To assure 
 them of the king's resohition to visit the kingdom, which he 
 said did proceed of a longing he had to return to the place of 
 his breeding, a salmon-like instinct (as he was pleased to call 
 it) ; and because he knew that evil-disposed persons would 
 disperse rumours as if he came to make alterations in the 
 civil and ecclesiastical estate, he commanded a proclamation 
 to be made for certifying the subjects of the contrary. It 
 was true, he said, that he desired to do some good at his 
 coming, and to have abuses reformed both in the church and 
 commonwealth ; yet foreseeing the impediments that his good 
 intentions would meet with, and regarding the love of his 
 people no less then their benefit, he would be loath to give 
 them any discontent ; and therefore willed all his good sub- 
 jects to lay aside their jealousies, and accommodate them- 
 selves in the best sort they could for his receiving, and the 
 entertainment of the noblemen of England who were to ac- 
 company him in the journey." 
 
 The earl of Maf was at this time made treasurer, and 
 Sir Gideon Murray continued in his deputation. A motion 
 had been made a little before for appointing a commissioner 
 or deputy in the kingdom, which was hearkened unto by the 
 king as that which would ease him of many vexations, and in 
 his absence maintain a face of court, and breed a great re- 
 spect among the people ; and so far was that purpose ad- 
 vanced, as both the kmg had made offer of the place to the 
 earl of Mar, and he yielded to accept the same. But 
 this breaking out and coming to the chancellor's knowledge, 
 whether that he desired not to have any in place above him- 
 self, or, as he pretended, wishing the nobleman's good, he 
 diverted him from accepting that charge, and brought him to 
 embrace the office of treasurer as the most profitable, and 
 that which should bring with it a less envy. Sir Gideon had 
 the intromission of all, as when Somerset was in place, and 
 did provide things so carefully and with such foresight, as 
 when the king came, he found nothing lacking that was re- 
 quired for a royal and princely entertainment. 
 
 Among other directions sent from the king, one was for 
 repairing of the chapel, and some Enghsh carpenters were 
 
A. D. 1G17.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 239 
 
 employed, who brought with them the portraits of the 
 apostles to be set in the pews or stalls. As they were pro- 
 ceeding in their work, a foolish and idle rumour went, that 
 images were to be set up in the chapel ; and, as people are 
 given to speak the worst, it was current among them, that 
 the organs came first, now the images, and ere long they 
 should have the mass. The bishop of Galloway, then dean 
 of the chapel, moved with these speeches, did pen a letter to 
 the king, entreating his majesty " for the offence that was 
 taken to stay the affixing of these portraits," To this letter 
 he procured the subscriptions of the archbishop of St 
 Andrews, the bishops of Aberdeen and Brechin, and divers 
 of the ministers of Edinburgh. 
 
 The answer returned by the king was full of anger, ob- 
 jecting ignorance unto them that could not distinguish be- 
 twixt pictures intended for ornament and decoration, and 
 images erected for worship and adoration ; and resembling 
 them to the constable of Castile, who being sent to swear the 
 peace concluded with Spain, when he understood the business 
 was to be jperformed in the chapel where some anthems were 
 to be sung, desired " that whatsoever was sung, God's name 
 might not be used in it, and that being forborne, he was con- 
 tent they should sing what they listed ; just so," said the king, 
 " you can endure lions, dragons, and devils to be figured in 
 your churches, but will not allow the like place to the patri- 
 archs and apostles." His majesty always gave order for some 
 other form, and staying the erecting of these portraits ; 
 which in the same letter he said " was not done for ease of 
 their hearts, or confirming them in their error, but because 
 the work could not be done so quickly in that kind as was 
 first appointed." This letter was of the date at Whitehall, 
 the thirteenth of March 1617. 
 
 The king was much laboured to defer his journey to the 
 next year, whcnas he should find things better prepared ; 
 but he refusing to hearken to any such motion, made the 
 greater haste, and in the beginning of May came to Berwick, 
 where he was met with divers of the council, and by their 
 advice, the parliament which had been indicted to the 
 seventeenth of May was prorogued to the thirteenth of June. 
 All that time which intervened, the king spent in a progress 
 through the country, making his entry in the special burghs 
 
240 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1617. 
 
 after a most royal manner, and welcomed with all the ex- 
 pressions of joy that could be devised. 
 
 At the day appointed, the Estates were frequently 
 assembled, where his majesty had a long speech for the 
 establishing religion and justice, neither of which, he said, 
 could be looked for so long as a regard was not had to the 
 ministers of both. " For rehgion, he complained, that notwith- 
 standing of the long profession of the truth, numbers of 
 churches remained unplanted, and of those that were planted 
 few or none had any competent maintenance ; for this he 
 wished some course to be taken, and certain commissioners to 
 be chosen for appointing to every church a perpetual local 
 stipend, such as might suffice to entertain a minister, and make 
 him able to attend on his charge. Of justice he discoursed 
 long, remembering the pains he had taken as well when he 
 lived among them as since his going into England, and how he 
 had placed justices and constables (a most laudable kind of 
 government) for the preserving of peace and the keeping of 
 the laws in due regard, which he understood, as he said, to be 
 much neglected, partly in default of some that were named 
 to those places and held it a scorn to be employed in such a 
 charge, and partly by the opposition which the lords and 
 great men of the country made unto them, and to their 
 setthng. But he would have both the one and the other to 
 know, that as it was a place of no small honour to be a 
 minister of the king's justice in the service of the common- 
 wealth, so he did esteem none to deserve better at his hands 
 than they who gave countenance thereto ; as, on the other 
 part, whosoever should show themselves hinderers thereof 
 should be accounted with him enemies to his crown and the 
 quiet of the kingdom. In end, he said, that he had long 
 striven to have the barbarities of the country, which they 
 knew to be too many, removed and extinct, and in place 
 thereof civility and justice established ; and that he would 
 still endeavour to do his best that way, till he might say of 
 Scotland as one of the emperors said of Rome, " inveni later- 
 itiam, relinquo marmorearro." 
 
 The king having closed and the lords gone apart to choose 
 those that should be upon the Articles, the humours of some 
 discontented lords began to kithe ; for whosoever were by 
 the king recommended as fit persons, were passed by as men 
 
A. D. 1617.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 241 
 
 suspected, and others named who stood worse affected to his 
 majesty's service. Another question they made for admit- 
 ting the officers of state, refusing to admit any but the 
 chancellor, treasurer, secretary, and clerk of the rolls. This 
 being long and sharply debated, was in end agreed by the 
 admission of the whole number. 
 
 Among the Articles proponed, the first was, of his 
 majesty's authority in causes ecclesiastical ; concerning which 
 it was desired to be enacted, " That whatsoever conclusion 
 was taken by his majesty with advice of the archbishops and 
 bishops in matters of external policy, the same should have 
 the power and strength of an ecclesiastical law." The bishops 
 interceding did humbly entreat that the article might be 
 better considered, for that in making of ecclesiastical laws, 
 the advice and consent of presbyters was also required. The 
 king replying, " That he was not against the taking of minis- 
 ters their advice, and that a competent number of the most 
 grave and learned among them should be called to assist the 
 bishops ; but to have matters ruled as they have been in 
 your General Assemblies I will never agree, for the bishops 
 must rule the ministers, and the king rule both, in matters 
 indifferent and not repugnant to the Word of God." So the 
 article passed in this form, " That whatsoever his majesty 
 should determine in the external government of the Church, 
 with the advice of the archbishops, bishops, and a competent 
 number of the ministry, should have the strength of a law." 
 
 This coming to the ministers' ears, they began to stir as if 
 the whole rites and ceremonies of England were to be 
 brought upon them without their consents ; whereupon the 
 ministers that were in town were called together and warned 
 to be quiet, for that such a general act did not lay upon them 
 any bond ; and if any particular was urged, the same should 
 be communicated to them, and nothing concluded without 
 their consents. It was farther told them, that there would 
 not be wanting informations enoiigh to stir them up unto 
 unquietness, but that they should do well not to irritate his 
 majesty, whom they knew to be a gracious prince, and one 
 that would hear reason, and give way to the same. This 
 they did all promise ; yet, upon the suggestion of some dis- 
 contented people, the very next day, Mr William Struthers, 
 one of the ministers of Edinburgh, did unhappily break out 
 
 VOL. III. 16 
 
242 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1617. 
 
 in his sermon upon these matters, condemning the rites re- 
 ceived in the Church of England, and praying God to save 
 Scotland from the same. This reported to the king by some 
 of the English doctors that were his hearers, he became 
 greatly incensed. But the ministers, not contented with this, 
 did the same day in the afternoon tumultuously convene and 
 form a protestation in the words following : — 
 
 " Llo&t gracious and dread Sovereign, most honourable 
 Lords and remanent Commissioners of this present Parlia- 
 ment, we the ministers of Christ's evangel, being here con- 
 vened from all the parts of this your majesty's kingdom, do 
 in all reverence and submission entreat your majesty's and 
 honour's patient and favourable hearing of this our reasonable 
 and humble supplication. And first it will please your high- 
 ness and honourable Estates presently convened to be in- 
 formed, that we are here a number of the ministry out of 
 all the parts of the kingdom, and that the bishops have 
 protested to a great many of us since our coming, that 
 nothing should be agreed nor consented unto by them in this 
 present parhament, in matters concerning the discipline and 
 order of the Church, without our knowledge and advice, 
 affirming that neither we nor they have any power to 
 consent to any novation or smallest change of the order 
 estabhshed, without the advice of the General Assembly ; 
 whereupon we resting in security, have received a sudden 
 report of an article to pass for a law in this parliament, 
 decerning and declaring that your majesty, with the advice 
 of the archbishops and bishops, and such a competent number 
 of the ministry as your majesty out of your wisdom should 
 think expedient, shall in all time coming have full power to 
 advise and conclude all matters of decency, and which any 
 way may concern the policy of the Church, and that such 
 conclusions shall have the strength and power of laws 
 ecclesiastical ; wherein it will please your majesty and 
 honourable Estates to hear our just griefs, and to consider 
 our reasonable desires, and not to put us, your majesty's 
 humble subjects, to that poor and simple part of protestation, 
 which, if remedy be not provided, we shall be forced to use, 
 for the freedom of our Church and discharge of our con- 
 sciences. 
 
A. D. 1617.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 243 
 
 " Wc then first plead our reformation, and that the purity 
 of our Church in doctrine, ministration of the sacraments, 
 discipHne and all convenient order, with the best reformed 
 churches in Europe, hath been acknowledged rather as a 
 pattern to be followed of others, than that we should seek 
 our reformation from those that never attained to that per- 
 fection which we, by the mercy of God, this long time past 
 have enjoyed under your highness's protection. 
 
 " Next we plead the hberty of our Church, which, by the 
 laws of your majesty's kingdom and divers Acts of Parlia- 
 ment, is estabhshed with power of public meetings and 
 annual assemblies, and allowance to make canons and consti- 
 tutions, such as may serve for the comely order thereof; all 
 wliich by this conclusion that is intended will be utterly over- 
 thrown. 
 
 " Thirdly, we plead for the peace and tranquillity of our 
 Church, that, being nearest the divine and apostolical insti- 
 tution, hath lived without schism and rent in itself, and by 
 introduction of any novelty against order may be miserably 
 divided, and so our peace broken. 
 
 " Fourthly, we have been at divers times sufficiently 
 secured from all suspicions of innovation, and specially by 
 your majesty's letter sent down this last winter, to take 
 away all fear of any alteration which might arise upon your 
 majesty's lovingly-intended journey ; which letter, by your 
 majestjf's special will and direction of your highness's council, 
 was intimated in pulpits ; as also by that proclamation given 
 out the twenty-sixth of September 1616, when rumours of an 
 intended conformity with the Church of England were dis- 
 persed, whereby your majesty sufficiently avoided all such 
 suspicion, and settled the hearts of honest men in a confidence 
 that no such thing should be attempted. 
 
 " These and many other reasons have moved us in all 
 reverence, by this our humble supplication, to entreat your 
 highness and honourable Estates, not to suffer the afore- 
 named article, or any other prejudicial to our former 
 liberties, to pass at this time, to the grief of this poor Church ; 
 that the universal hope of thousands in this land, who re- 
 joiced at your majesty's happy arrival, be not turned into 
 mourning ; wherein as we are earnest supplicants to God to 
 incline your majesty's heart this way, as the most expedient 
 
244 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1617 
 
 for the honour of God and weal of your subjects, so if we 
 shall be frustrated of this our reasonable desire, then do we in 
 all humility (with that dutiful acknowledgment of our loyalty 
 to your majesty as becometh) protest for ourselves and all 
 our brethren that shall adhere to this our protestation, that 
 as we are free of the same, so must we be forced rather to 
 incur the censure of your majesty's law, than to admit or 
 obtemper any imposition that shall not flow from the Church 
 orderly convened, or others having power from the same." 
 
 This protestation was subscribed by Mr Archibald Simp- 
 son, minister at Dalkeith, in name of the brethren and 
 supplicants. In another paper, the ministers who were 
 present set down their names each of them with his own 
 hand, for a testimony of their concurrence, which was com- 
 mitted to the said Mr Archibald in custody. But as it 
 falleth out in things unadvisedly done, and in the heat of 
 humour, the principals in that business, quickly forethinking 
 that which they had done, came the next morning early to 
 the archbishop of St Andrews, entreating him to stop the 
 presenting thereof, which they showed he might easily do, 
 by taking the same from Mr Peter Hewet, in whose hands 
 it was given to present. 
 
 This man, being one of the ministers of Edinburgh, had 
 lately before been preferred to the abbacy of Crossraguel, 
 and having thereby a place in the Parliament House, was 
 held the most fitting to present the protestation, which he 
 willingly undertook ; for he loved ever to be meddling, and 
 was always set to make trouble. The parliament was that 
 day to close, and the archbishop knowing how ill the king 
 would take their doing, went the more timely to the palace : 
 where meeting with the abbot, he asked him concerning the 
 protestation, desiring to see it ; and having perused a few 
 lines, began to rebuke him for taking in hand such a busi- 
 ness. He making some excuse, and saying, it was a protesta- 
 tion only which could not offend, put forth his hand to take 
 back the paper ; but the archbishop holding it fast, the 
 protestation was nearly rent betwixt them. It happened one 
 of the grooms (called John Livingston) to see them at strife, 
 for they had met in the private gallery near to his majesty's 
 chamber, who showing the king what he had seen, his 
 
A. D. 1617.] CHURCH of Scotland. 245 
 
 majesty came forth, being as yet undressed, and asked what 
 the matter was. The archbishop answered, " That a num- 
 ber of ministers having framed a protestation against the 
 article of his majesty's prerogative, had given it to the man 
 that he had made abbot to present, and that he had under- 
 taken to do the same ; for which he had been chiding him, 
 it being an undutiful part in him, without once signifying 
 the matter to his ordinary, to take such a business in hand." 
 
 The man falhng upon his knees and trembUng, said, 
 " That he supposed the protestation would never offend his 
 majesty, and that he had promised to present the same in 
 parliament ; but now that it appeared to him otherwise, he 
 would no more meddle therewith." 
 
 The king taking the protestation and perceiving it sub- 
 scribed by one only minister, inquired who those others 
 were that convened. The abbot answered that they had all 
 signed a paper besides, which the subscriber kept by him for 
 his warrant. Then the king, commanding the bishop to keep 
 the protestation, went to prepare himself for the meeting, 
 and suspecting that some other might come and protest 
 against the article, commanded the Register, Sir George 
 Hay (who, upon the death of Sir Alexander Hay, had been 
 preferred to the office the year before), to pass by that 
 article as a thing no way necessary, the prerogative of his 
 crown bearing him to more than was declared by it. Thus, 
 when the hour of meeting came, the Register, as he was com- 
 manded, laying by that article, caused read the others that 
 were concluded, as the custom is, and the same being assented 
 to by the Estates, were ratified by his majesty. Thereafter, 
 the king in a most grave speech, having commended the 
 execution of the laws made to the Judges and other inferior 
 magistrates, gave the Estates a most kind and loving fare- 
 well. 
 
 The same night the bishops had warning given them 
 to meet his majesty at St Andrews the tenth of July, 
 whither he minded to call the principal ministers also, that 
 they might know his mind before he Avent away. The diet 
 held as was appointed, and there assembled with the bishops 
 the ministers of chief account, to the number of thirty-six, 
 who being convened in the chapel of the castle, the king did 
 speak to them to this purpose : — 
 
246 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1617. 
 
 " What and how great my care hath been for this Church, 
 as well before as since my going into England, is so well 
 known to you all, as I neither need, nor do I mean to speak 
 much of it, lest any should think I am seeking thanks for 
 that I have done. It sufficeth me that God knows my in- 
 tention is, and ever was, to have his true worship maintained, 
 and a decent and comely order established in the Church. 
 But of you I must complain, and of your causeless jealousies, 
 even when my meaning towards you is best. Before my 
 coming home to visit this kingdom, being advertised that in 
 your last Assembly an act was made for gathering the canons 
 of the Church, and putting them in form, I desired a few 
 articles to be inserted ; one was for the yearly commemora- 
 tion of our Saviour his greatest blessings bestowed upon 
 mankind, as his nativity, passion, resurrection, ascension, and 
 the descent of the Holy Spirit ; another for the private 
 use of both sacraments in urgent and necessary cases; a 
 third for the reverent administration of his holy supper ; and 
 a fourth for catechizing and confirming young children by 
 bishops. It was answered, that these particulars had not 
 been moved in any of the Church Assemblies, and so could not 
 be inserted with the rest ; which excuse I admitted, and was 
 not minded to press them any more till you, after advice, did 
 give your consent thereto ; yet when in the late parliament 
 I desired my prerogative to be declared in the making of the 
 ecclesiastical laws, certain of your number did mutinously 
 assemble themselves, and form a protestation to cross my 
 just desire. But I will pass that amongst many other wrongs 
 I have received at your hands. The errand for which I 
 have now called you is, to hear what your scruples are in 
 these points, and the reasons, if any you have, why the 
 same ought not to be admitted. I mean not to do any 
 thing against reason ; and, on the other part, my demands 
 being just and religious, you must not think that I will be 
 refused or resisted. It is a power innated, and a special 
 prerogative which we that are Christian kings have, to order 
 and dispose of external things in the policy of the Church, 
 as we by advice of our bishops shall find most fitting ; and 
 for your approving or disapproving, deceive not yourselves, 
 I will never regard it, unless you bring me a reason which I 
 cannot answer." 
 
A. D. 1G17.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 247 
 
 The ministers, at these words, falhng on their knees, did 
 beseech his majesty to think of them as his most humble and 
 obedient subjects, and to permit them to confer a Uttle space 
 among themselves, that they might return with an uniform 
 answer. This granted, they went to the parish church, and 
 after some two hours returned, making petition for a General 
 Assembly, wherein these articles being proponed might be 
 with a common consent received. The king asking " what 
 assurance he might have of their consenting," they answered, 
 " that they found no reason to the contrary, and knew the 
 Assembly would yield to any reasonable thing demanded by 
 his majesty." " But if it fall out otherwise," said the king, 
 " and that the articles be refused, my difficulty shall be 
 greater, and when I shall use my authority in establishing 
 them, they shall call me a tyrant and persecutor." All 
 crying that none could be so mad as to speak so, " Yet ex- 
 perience," says the king, " tells me it may be so ; therefore 
 unless I be made sure, I will not give way to an Assembly." 
 Mr Patrick Galloway saying, that the bishop of St Andrews 
 should assure for them, the bishop refused, for that he had 
 been deceived by them, they having against their promise in 
 the time of parliament taken the course which they did. 
 Then said Mr Patrick, " If your majesty will trust me, I 
 will assure for the ministers." The king replying that he 
 would trust him, it was condescended that an Assembly 
 should be called for that end, at St Andrews, the twenty- 
 fifth of November next. 
 
 Mr Archibald Simpson, the subscriber of the protestation, 
 had been called to this meeting, but falling sick by the way, 
 he excused himself by a letter, and therein was earnest to 
 have the brethren oppose the articles, which he called tricas 
 Anglicanas, using some other disdainful words. The letter 
 being showed to the king, he asked for the bearer. This 
 was Mr David Calderwood, who, carrying himself unreve- 
 rently, and breaking forth into speeches not becoming a sub- 
 ject, was committed in the town-house of St Andrews, and 
 afterwards banished the kingdom. Simpson for his letter 
 was warded in the castle of Edinburgh, where he remained 
 unto December following. 
 
 The king after this, taking his journey to London by the 
 west parts, was all the way through Scotland royally enter- 
 
248 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1617. 
 
 tained, and at Dumfries had a farewell sermon preached by 
 the bishop of Galloway, which made the hearers to burst 
 out in many tears. 
 
 When the diet of the Assembly came, the earl of Had- 
 dington and viscount of Stormont were sent thither as com- 
 missioners from his majesty. The archbishop made the ex- 
 hortation, " wherein having deduced the story of the Church 
 from the time of Reformation, he showed that the greatest 
 hindrance the Church received proceeded from the ministers 
 themselves, who for the pleasure of ill-disposed people spared 
 not to provoke his majesty to just anger, exhorting them for 
 the glory of God, the honour of the gospel and their own 
 good, to take another course, and prefer the favour of their 
 king, under whom they enjoyed so many blessings, to the 
 vain applause of factious persons." 
 
 It seemed at first that matters should have gone well. 
 For the first two days there was much calmness, and the 
 reasoning very formal and free ; but then upon a motion 
 to delay the conclusion to another Assembly, that the minis- 
 ters might have time to inform the people of the equity of 
 the articles, the greater part went that way, and almost all 
 cried for a delay. 
 
 His majesty's commissioners declaring that the king would 
 take in ill part the delay, and that nothing should be done, 
 considering the promises they had made, if a General Assem- 
 bly should be granted, to receive the whole articles, a fashion 
 was made of condescending to private communion, and the 
 ministers ordained to give the elements in the ministration of 
 the holy supper out of their own hands to the people ; which 
 two acts, with a letter of excuse for the continuance of the 
 rest, were sent to his majesty. How the same was accepted 
 may appear by the answer that came a few days after, which 
 was this : — 
 
 " We have received your letter, and thereby understand 
 what your proceedings have been in that Assembly of St 
 Andrews ; concerning which we will have you know, that 
 we are come to that age as we will not be content to be fed 
 with broth, as one of your coat was wont to speak, and think 
 this your doing a disgrace no less than the protestation it- 
 self. Wherefore it is our pleasure, and we command you, 
 as you will avoid our high displeasure, the one of you by 
 
A. 1). 1617.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 249 
 
 your deputy in St Andrews, and by yourself in Edinburgh, and 
 the other of you in Glasgow, keep Christmas-day precisely, 
 yourselves preaching, and choosing your texts according to the 
 time. And likewise, that ye discharge all modification of sti- 
 pends for this year to any minister whatsoever, such excepted 
 as have testified their afi'ection to our service at this time, by 
 farthering at their power the acceptation of the articles pro- 
 posed ; and in the premises wilhng you not to fail, we bid 
 you farewell. — Newmarket, the sixth of December, 1617." 
 
 In a postscript to the same letter, it was said — " So many 
 bishops as you can get warned in time to preach at their sees 
 on Christmas-day, urge them to it. Thus much in haste for 
 this time ; after two or three days ye shall hear further from 
 us." With his majesty's own hand, after all, was written — 
 " Since your Scottish Church hath so far contemned my cle- 
 mency, they shall now find what it is to draw the anger of 
 a king upon them." 
 
 This letter was directed to the archbishops of St Andrews 
 and Glasgow. The other which followeth to St Andrews 
 him alone. 
 
 " After we had commanded the despatch of our other let- 
 ter, we received an extract concluded (we know not how) in 
 your Assembly, and subscribed by the clerk thereof; the 
 one concerning private communion, and the other touching 
 the form to be used at the receiving of the holy sacrament ; 
 both so hedged, and conceived in so ridiculous a manner, as 
 besides that, of the whole articles proponed, these two were 
 the least necessary to have been urged and hastened, the 
 scornful condition and form of their grant makes us justly wish 
 that they had been refused with the rest. For in the first 
 place, concerning the communion allowed to sick persons, be- 
 sides the number required to receive with such patients, and 
 a necessity tying them upon oath to declare that they truly 
 think not to recover, but to die of that disease, they are yet 
 farther hedged in with a necessity to receive the sacrament 
 (in case aforesaid to be ministered unto them) in a convenient 
 room ; which what it importcth we cannot guess, seeing no 
 room can be so convenient for a sick man (sworn to die) as 
 his bed, and that it were injurious and inhumane from thence 
 in any case to transport him, were the room never so neat 
 and liandsome to which they should carry him. 
 
250 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1617. 
 
 " And as to that other Act, ordaining the minister himself 
 to give the elements, in the celebration, out of his own hand to 
 every one of the communicants, and that he may perform 
 this the more commodiously, by the advice of the magistrates 
 and honest men of his session, to prepare a table at which 
 the same may be conveniently ministered ; truly in this we 
 must say that the minister's ease and commodious sitting on 
 his tail hath been more looked to than that kneehng which, 
 for reverence, we directly required to be enjoined to the 
 receivers of so divine a sacrament ; neither can we conceive 
 what should be meant by that table, unless they mean to make 
 a round table (as did the Jews) to sit and receive it. In con- 
 clusion, seeing either we and this Church here must be held 
 idolatrous in this point of kneeling, or they reputed rebel- 
 lious knaves in refusing the same, and that the two fore- 
 said acts are conceived so scornfully, and so far from our 
 meaning, it is our pleasure that the same be altogether sup- 
 pressed, and that no effect follow thereupon. So we bid you 
 farewell. — JVeiumarket, the 11th of December, 1617." 
 
 These letters were accompanied with another to the coun- 
 cil, for " inhibiting the payment of stipends to any of the 
 rebellious ministers refusers of the said articles either in 
 burgh or landward, till they did show their conformity, and 
 that the same was testified by the subscriptions of the pri- 
 mate or ordinary bishop." Which letters being showed to 
 the ministers of Edinburgh, and others that happened to re- 
 pair to that city for augmentation of stipends, did cast them 
 into a great fear ; and repenting their wilfulness, as they had 
 reason, became requesters to the archbishop of St Andrews 
 to preach as he was commanded on Christmas-day at Edin- 
 burgh, trusting his majesty should be mitigated by his obe- 
 dience and intercession for the rest. Neither did he fail to 
 use his best means for diverting the king from these rigorous 
 courses, and after a little time (so loath was his majesty to 
 exerce any rigour against ministers) obtained a warrant 
 for staying the execution of the former letters, till their be- 
 haviour should be tried in the particular synods, and their 
 disposition for accepting the articles. 
 
 Mr Archibald Simpson, who all this while remained pris- 
 oner in the castle of Edinburgh, hearing that the king was 
 so greatly displeased, did supplicate the lords of his majesty's 
 
A. D. 1618.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 251 
 
 commission (by whose command he was committed) for 
 liberty, " promising not to fall again in the like errors, and 
 professing a great sorrow for his meddling with the protes- 
 tation ; as likewise for writing that letter wherein he had 
 taxed the Church of England." Being brought before the 
 commission, after he had set his hand to his supplication, he 
 was permitted to return to his charge at Dalkeith. Yet ere 
 many days passed, finding the countenances of the holy breth- 
 ren cast down upon him, he dispersed an apologetic (as he 
 entitled it), wherein, making a gloss upon every word of his 
 confession, he concluded, " that whatsoever weakness or 
 frailty had befallen him, he hoped to be like Peter, qui ore 
 negavit, et corde confessus est, and never to betray the Lord's 
 cause with Judas." This I have remembered by the way, 
 to make the humours of these men seen, and the small re- 
 gard they take of saying and gainsaying, when it maketh 
 for their purpose. 
 
 But to proceed. The bishops, upon advertisement given 
 them, convened at Edinburgh the twenty -ninth of January, 
 and considering the hurt that the Church might receive 
 if the commission granted in parliament for provision of 
 ministers (which was to expire at Lammas next) should 
 take no effect, did by a common letter entreat his majesty 
 for a warrant to proceed in that commission, giving hopes 
 that, in their synods, they should induce the ministers to 
 obey. 
 
 The answer returned in February next was to this effect : 
 — " That howbeit his majesty did interpret well their doings, 
 as intended for the good of his service ; yet, considering the 
 obstinate resistance of the ministers to all his just and reli- 
 gious desires, he could not expect any thing from them in 
 their meetings but a farther expression of their former mis- 
 behaviour. Not the less as he had once already, upon the 
 archbishop of St Andrews his entreaty, suspended the exe- 
 cution of his last directions, so at their requests he was 
 pleased that the commissioners for stipends should meet and 
 go on with the providing of churches, they, in the meantime, 
 in their own persons and in their own cathedrals, observing 
 the festivities that should intervene betwixt and the synods, 
 and ministering the holy communion with the reverence re- 
 quired, at the feast of Easter next." Thus were matters 
 
252 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 161S. 
 
 pacified for that time, and the commission for augmentation 
 of stipends by the warrant of this letter put in practice. 
 
 Most of the next summer was spent in that work, but with 
 greater detriment than benefit to the Church ; for what 
 augmentation soever was granted, the same was recompensed 
 to the givers by prorogation of their former leases for num- 
 bers of years, and thereby the Church more damnified than 
 bettered. 
 
 In the synods all things were carried with reasonable quiet- 
 ness, so as, upon the bishop's humble request, license was 
 granted for meeting in a General Assembly, and the same 
 indicted at Perth the t\Yenty -fifth of August. The Lords 
 Haddington, Carnegy, and Scone, were commissioners in 
 this Assembly for the king, who, upon the end of the sermon, 
 presented his majesty's letter, conceived as followeth : — 
 
 " We were once fully resolved never in our time to have 
 called any more Assemblies there for ordering things con- 
 cerning the policy of the Church, by reason of the dis- 
 grace offered unto us in that late meeting at St Andrews, 
 Avherein our just and godly desires were not only neglected, 
 but some of the articles concluded in that scornful manner, as 
 we wish they had been refused with the rest ; yet at this 
 time we have suffered ourselves to be entreated by you our 
 bishops for a new convocation, and have called you together 
 who are now convened for the self-same business which then 
 was urged, hoping assuredly that you will have some better 
 regard to our desires, and not permit the unruly and igno- 
 rant multitude, after their wonted custom, to oversway the 
 better and more judicious sort ; an evil which we have gone 
 about with much pains to have had amended in these Assem- 
 blies ; and for that purpose, according to God's ordinance 
 and the constant practice of all well-governed churches, we 
 have placed you that are bishops and overseers of the rest, 
 in the chiefest rooms. You plead much, we perceive, to 
 have things done by consent of the ministers, and tell us 
 often, that what concerneth the Church in general should be 
 concluded by the advice of the whole ; neither do we alto- 
 gether dislike your opinion, for the greater is your consent 
 the better are we contented. But we will not have you to 
 think, that matters proponed by us of the nature whereof 
 
A. D. 1618.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 these articles are, may not without such a general consent be 
 enjoined by our authority. 
 
 " This were a mis-knowing of your places, and withal a 
 disclaiming of that innate power which we have by our call- 
 ing from God, whereby we have place to dispose of things 
 Qxternal in the Church as wc shall think them to be conveni- 
 ent, and profitable for advancing true religion among our sub- 
 jects. Wherefore let it be your care, by all manner of wise 
 and discreet persuasions, to induce them to an obedient yield-r 
 ing to these things, as in duty both to God and us they 
 are bound ; and do not think we will be satisfied with de- 
 lays, mitigations, and other, we know not what, shifts have 
 been proponed ; for we will not be content with any thing 
 but a simple and direct acceptation of these articles in the 
 form sent by us unto you a long time past, considering both 
 the lawfulness and undeniable convenience of them, for the 
 better furtherance of piety and religion, the establishing 
 whereof it had rather have becomed you to beg of us, than 
 tliat we should have needed thus to urge the practice of them 
 upon you. 
 
 " These matters indeed concern you of the ecclesiastical 
 charge chiefly ; neither would we have called noblemen, 
 barons, and others of our good subjects to the determination 
 of them, but that we understand the offence of our people hath 
 been so much objected ; wherein you must bear with us to 
 say, that no kingdom doth breed, or hath at this time more 
 loving, dutiful, and obedient subjects than we have in that 
 our native kingdom of Scotland ; and so, if any disposition 
 hath appeared to the contrary in any of them, we hold the 
 same to have proceeded from among you, albeit of all sorts 
 of men ye are they that both of duty were bound, and by 
 particular benefits obliged, to have continued yourselves, and 
 confirmed others by sound doctrine and exemplary life, in a 
 reverent obedience to our commandments. What and how 
 many abuses were offered us by divers of the ministry 
 there, before our happy coming to the crown of England, we 
 can hardly forget, and yet like not much to remember ; 
 neither think we that any prince living should have kept 
 himself from falling in utter dislike with the profession itself, 
 considering the many provocations that were given unto us ; 
 but the love of God and his truth still upheld us, and will 
 
254 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1618. 
 
 by his grace so do unto the end of our life. Our patience 
 always in forgetting and forgiving of many faults of that 
 sort, and constant maintaining of true religion against the 
 adversaries (by whose hateful practices we live in greater 
 peril than you all or any of you), should have produced 
 better effect among you than continual resistance of our best 
 purposes. We wish that we be no more provoked, nor the truth 
 of God which you teach and profess any longer slandered, by 
 such as under the cloak of seeming holiness walk disorderly 
 amongst you, shaking hands as it were and joining in this 
 their disobedience to magistracy with the upholders of popery. 
 In sum, our hearty desire is, that at this time you make the 
 world see by your proceedings what a dutiful respect you 
 bear to us your sovereign prince, and natural king and lord ; 
 that as we in love and care are never wanting to you, so ye 
 in an humble submission to our so just demands be not found 
 inferior to others our subjects in any of our kingdoms. And 
 that the care and zeal of the good of God's Church, and of 
 the advancing of piety and truth, doth chiefly incite us to the 
 following of these matters, God is our witness ; the which 
 that it may be before your eyes, and that according to your 
 callings you may strive in your particular places, and in this 
 general meeting, to do those things which may best serve to 
 the promoving of the gospel of Christ, even our prayers are 
 earnest unto God for you ; requiring you in this and other 
 things to credit the bearer hereof, our trusty servant and 
 chaplain, the dean of Winchester, whom we have expressly 
 sent thither, that he may bring unto us a certain relation of 
 the particular carriages of all matters, and of the happy event 
 of your meeting, which, by God's blessing (who is the God 
 of order, peace, and truth), we do assuredly expect ; unto 
 whose gracious direction we commend you now and for ever. 
 " Given at Theobalds, the 10th of July 1618." 
 
 The letter being read once and again, as the custom is to 
 do with letters of such importance, the archbishop of St 
 Andrews resumed shortly the heads thereof, advising them, 
 as he had done in his exhortation, to consider the inconve- 
 niences they should draw upon the Church by the refusal of 
 the articles. After which the rolls being called, certain of 
 the most wise and discreet ministers were set apart to confer 
 
A. D. 1618.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 255 
 
 Upon the articles. How matters proceeded in the said As- 
 sembly you may learn by the defence afterwards published, 
 in answer to a lying and seditious pamphlet that came forth 
 in print against the conclusions there taken. To our story 
 it shall suffice, that after long reasoning, first in the confer- 
 ence, and then in the full Assembly, the Articles were con- 
 cluded in this form : — 
 
 " 1. Seeing we are commanded by God himself, that when 
 we come to worship him, we fall down and kneel before the 
 Lord our Maker, and considering withal that there is no 
 part of divine worship more heavenly and spiritual than is 
 the holy receiving of the blessed body and blood of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ, likeas the most humble and re- 
 verent gesture of our body in our meditation and the lifting 
 up of our hearts best becometh so divine and sacred an 
 action ; therefore, notwithstanding that our Church hath used 
 since the reformation of religion to celebrate the holy com- 
 munion to the people sitting, by reason of the great abuse of 
 kneeling used in the idolatrous worship of the sacrament by 
 the papists, yet seeing all memory of bypast superstitions is 
 past, in reverence of God and in due regard of so divine a 
 mystery, and in remembrance of so mystical an union as we 
 are made partakers of, the Assembly thinketh good, that the 
 blessed sacrament be celebrated hereafter, meekly and rever- 
 ently upon their knees. 
 
 " 2. If any good Christian visited with long sickness, and 
 known to the pastor, by reason of his present infirmity, to be 
 unable to resort to the Church for receiving the holy com- 
 munion, or being sick, shall declare to the pastor, upon his 
 conscience, that he thinks his sickness to be deadly, and shall 
 earnestly desire to receive the same in his house, the minister 
 shall not deny him so great a comfort, lawful warning being 
 given to him the night before, and that there be three or 
 four of good religion and conversation, free of all lawful 
 impediments, present with the sick person, to communicate 
 with him, who must also provide a convenient place in his 
 house, and all things necessary for the reverent administra- 
 tion thereof, according to the order prescribed in the Church. 
 " 3. The minister shall often admonish the people that 
 they defer not the baptizing of infants any longer than 
 
256 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1618. 
 
 the next Lord's-day after the child be born ; unless, upon a 
 great and reasonable cause declared to the minister, and by 
 him approved, the same be continued. As also they shall 
 warn them, that, without great cause, they procure not their 
 children to be baptized at home in their houses ; but when 
 great need shall compel them to baptize in private houses (in 
 which case the minister shall not refuse to do it, upon the 
 knowledge of the great need, and being timely required 
 thereto), then baptism shall be administered after the same 
 form as it should have been in the congregation : and the 
 minister shall, the next Lord's-day after any such private 
 baptism, declare in the Church that the infant was so bap- 
 tized, and therefore ought to be received as one of the true 
 flock of Christ's fold. 
 
 " 4. Forasmuch as one of the special means for staying the 
 increase of popery, and settling of true religion in the hearts 
 of people is, that a special care be taken of young chil- 
 dren, their education, and how they are catechized ; which in 
 time of the primitive Church most carefully was attended, as 
 being most profitable to cause young children in their tender 
 years drink in the knowledge of God and his religion, but is 
 now altogether neglected, in respect of the great abuse and 
 errors which crept into the popish church by making thereof 
 a sacrament of confirmation ; therefore, that all superstitions 
 built thereupon may be rescinded, and that the matter itself, 
 being most necessary for the education of youth, may be 
 reduced to the primitive integrity, it is thought good that 
 the minister in every parish shall catechize all young chil- 
 dren of eight years of age, and see that they have the know- 
 ledge and be able to make rehearsal of the Lord's Prayer, 
 Belief, and Ten Commandments, with answers to the questions 
 of the small catechism used in our Church, and that every 
 bishop, in his visitation, shall censure the minister who shall 
 be found remiss therein ; and the said bishops shall cause the 
 said children to be presented before them, and bless them 
 with prayer for the increase of their knowledge, and the 
 continuance of God's heavenly graces with every one of them. 
 
 "5. As we abhor the superstitious observation of festival 
 days by the papists, and detest all licentious and profane 
 abuses thereof by the common sort of professors, so we 
 think that the inestimable benefits received from God, by 
 
A. D. 1618.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 257 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, passion, resurrection, ascen- 
 sion, and sending down of the Holy Ghost, were commend- 
 ably and godly remembered at certain particular days and 
 times by the whole church of the world, and may also be 
 now ; therefore, the Assembly ordaineth that every minister 
 shall upon these days have the commemoration of the fore- 
 said inestimable benefits, and make choice of several and per- 
 tinent texts of scripture, and frame their doctrine and exhor- 
 tations thereto ; and rebuke all superstitious observation and 
 licentious profanation thereof." 
 
 These Articles concluded, order was given to intimate the 
 same in all the parish churches, and the ministers enjoined to 
 inform their people of the lawfulness thereof, and exhort them 
 to obedience. But this being neglected of the greater part, 
 was not the least cause of the distractions that ensued, espe- 
 cially in the Church of Edinburgh, where the people being 
 still fostered in an opinion that their ministers would not go 
 from their former practice, when they saw them give obe- 
 dience, withdrew themselves in great numbers, and ran to 
 seek the communion from other ministers they knew to be 
 refractory. His majesty always, upon advertisement that 
 the Articles were concluded, caused publish the same at the 
 market-crosses of the principal burghs, commanding the sub- 
 jects to obey and conform themselves, under the pain of his 
 highness's displeasure. 
 
 At the same time, the king being informed that the earl of 
 Argyle (who the summer preceding had obtained license, 
 upon a pretext of some infirmity, to go unto the Spadan 
 Wells) was revolted from the religion, and that he enter- 
 tained some secret practice with old MacRannald for dis- 
 turbing the country, did recall his license, and ordained him 
 to be cited, upon threescore days, to appear before the coun- 
 cil. He not appearing at the time appointed, was denounced 
 rebel, and process of forfeiture intended against him. Whe- 
 ther he was perverted by his EngUsh lady, who was popish, 
 or that to gain the favour of Spain he did change his reli- 
 gion, is doubtful ; but thereby he lost his majesty's favour 
 (who could never endure an apostate papist), and undid his 
 own reputation. Some few years after he made means for 
 his peace, and was permitted to return unto England. 
 
 VOL. ni. 17 
 
258 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1G19. 
 
 In the month of November a comet or blazing star of more 
 than ordinary bigness shined many nights together. It was 
 held to portend great calamities, and was interpreted by 
 divers to have foreshowed the troubles that shortly after 
 arose in Germany. But as every one is ready to make his 
 own construction of such things, some with us did take it to 
 foretell the death of our noble Queen Anne, who deceased 
 some months after, to the great regret of all honest subjects ; 
 a courteous and humane princess, and one in whom there was 
 much goodness. 
 
 It was in this year that the synod of Dordrecht, in Hol- 
 land, was gathered for repressing the Arminians, and thither 
 did the troublers of our Church (thinking to procure their 
 approbation) direct a relation of the government of the Scot- 
 tish Church. But the synod declining all questions of disci- 
 pline, held themselves to the points of doctrine controverted ; 
 and having condemned the live articles wherein the Armi- 
 nians dissented from the reformed churches, the Acts of Perth 
 Assembly being also five in number, it was given out among 
 the vulgar sort, that they had condemned the synod of Perth ; 
 and for a time was the people entertained by some ministers 
 in those conceits. The relation was confuted a little after, 
 and the falsehood thereof discovered ; yet they ceased not 
 by their libels and pamphlets to injure the most worthy men, 
 and among others the bishop of Galloway, whom they vexed 
 so with their papers, as he, taking the business more to heart 
 than was needful, fell in a sickness, whereof he deceased in 
 the beginning of the same year. An excellent and ready 
 preacher he was, and a singular good man, but one that 
 affected too much the applause of the popular. The good 
 opinion of the people is to be desired, if it may be had law- 
 fully ; but when it cannot be obtained (as who is he that can 
 please all men and at all times ?) the testimony of a well- 
 informed conscience should suffice. Mala opinio bene parta 
 delectat, said Seneca, an ill opiviion well purchased (that is, 
 for sustaining a good cause, or keeping a straight course) 
 should work us joy and delight, not grieve us at all. 
 
 Upon the death of Bishop Wilham Cowper, Mr Andrew 
 Lamb was translated to Galloway, to whom succeeded in 
 Brechin Mr David Lindsay, then minister at Dundee. At 
 Edinburgh, betwixt the magistrates and ministers, a great 
 
A. D. 1620.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 259 
 
 strife and discontent was raised, because of the people's 
 straying from their churches, at which the magistrates were 
 thought to connive. Their usurpation, besides, in church 
 affairs, especially the intruding of a clerk upon the church 
 session, did minister no small cause of offence. The matter 
 was brought before the king, where, in behalf of the minis- 
 ters, it was said, "' That they were unkindly entreated for the 
 obedience given to the Acts of Perth Assembly ;" the magis- 
 strates, by their commissioner, did on the other side inform, 
 " That the ministers were the cause of the people's disobedi- 
 ence, some of them having directly preached against the Acts 
 of Perth, and all of them affirmed that these Acts were con- 
 cluded against their hearts," 
 
 His majesty remitting the trial of these complaints to his 
 secretary, and to the archbishops of St Andrews and Glas- 
 gow, whenas they had examined the same, it appeared that 
 both the one and the other were in fault, and that the mis- 
 takings among them were not the least cause of the disorders 
 in that church, whereupon they were admonished to lay 
 aside their grudges, and to keep one course for the retaining 
 the people in the obedience of God and his majesty. The 
 magistrates and council were likewise commanded, as the 
 king had given direction, to provide four other ministers, 
 besides those that were in present service, and perfect the 
 division of the town in parishes, which had been often pro- 
 mised. And so shortly after this, were Mr William Forbes, 
 minister at Aberdeen, Mr John Guthrie, minister at Perth, 
 Mr John Maxwell, minister at Mortlach, and Mr Alexander 
 Thomson, minister at Cambuslang, translated from their 
 several churches, and placed ministers at Edinburgh. 
 
 The next year, being the year 1620, the wars of Bohemia 
 growing hot, and the Palatinate invaded, the king took in 
 mind the defence of his daughter and grandchildren in their 
 patrimony ; and because a supply of monies was required to 
 such a business, the council was desired to travail with the 
 noblemen, the members of session, and the town of Edin- 
 burgh, for a voluntary contribution, knowing that others, by 
 their example, would be drawn thereto. The noblemen, 
 meeting to this effect the twenty-fourth of November, ex- 
 pressed a great forwardness to satisfy his majesty's desire ; 
 yet fearing that all the contributions, when they were brought 
 
2G0 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1G21. 
 
 together, slioukl prove unworthy, advised the council rather 
 to call a parliament, and impose upon the subjects, by way of 
 tax, a reasonable proportion, according to the wealth and 
 substance that every man had. This being signified to the 
 king, he refused to have any supply by tax, for he considered 
 that the collection would require a time, and a burthen should 
 that way be cast upon the commons and poor labourers of 
 the ground, which would make an outcrying among the peo- 
 ple ; therefore, he desired as before, that noblemen and those 
 others he had named in his first letter should be urged to 
 show their liberality. 
 
 A new meeting for this business being kept in January 
 thereafter, divers overtures were made for giving his ma- 
 jesty content. The noblemen that were present made offer 
 for their parts to give a benevolence according to their abili- 
 ties ; but divers of their rank being minors, and others abroad 
 in their travels, they saw not who would undertake for them. 
 The town of Edinburgh being pressed with an answer, ex- 
 cused themselves as being one burgh only, and lacking tlie 
 concurrence of the rest, without which any supply they could 
 make would be of little worth. The advocates, clerks, and 
 other members of the session, gave in effect the like answer, 
 so as they were forced to turn unto the first overture for a 
 parliament. And for that the difiiculties of the contribution 
 could not so well be expressed by letter, it was thought 
 meet that one of the council should be sent to inform his 
 majesty of the reasons and necessity they had to call a par- 
 hament. This employment being laid upon the archbishop 
 of St Andrews, he took journey about the end of the same 
 month, and obtained, after a little insisting, his majesty's 
 warrant for a parhament. Thus was it indicted to keep at 
 Edinburgh the first of June, and prorogued to the twenty- 
 third of July thereafter. 
 
 In this mean time, it happened that Sir Gideon Murray, 
 treasurer-deputy, being then at court, an information was 
 made against him for abusing his office to the king's preju- 
 dice. The informer was James Stewart, styled then Lord 
 Ochiltrie : who, out of mahce carried to the gentleman for 
 the strictness which he had used in calling him to an account 
 for the duties of Orkney, made offer to justify the accusa- 
 tion ; and, by the assistance of some of better credit than 
 
A. D. 1621.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 261 
 
 himself, prevailed so fai", that the matter was remitted to the 
 trial of certain counsellors at home. The ojentleman beino; 
 of a great spirit, and taking impatiently that his fidelity, 
 ■whereof he had given so great proof, should be called in 
 question upon the information of a malicious enemy, by the 
 way as he returned from court, did contract such a deep 
 melancholy, as neither counsel nor comfort could reclaim him ; 
 so far was he overgone, that no advice given by friends, nor 
 offer of their assistance, nor the company and counsel of any 
 whomsoever, could reduce him to his wonted estate ; and so, 
 after he came to Edinburgh, within a few days departed this 
 life. It was not doubted, if he should have patiently attended 
 the trial, but he had been cleared, and the accusation proved 
 a mere calumny ; nor was it thought that the king did trust 
 the information, but only desired to have the honesty of his 
 servant appear. Yet such was his weakness (courage I can- 
 not call it), as, giving scope to his passions of anger and grief, 
 he suffered himself to be therewith oppressed. By his death 
 the king did lose a good servant as ever he had in that 
 charge ; and did sore forethink that he should have given 
 ear to such delations. But of that pestilent sort some will 
 never be wanting in the courts of princes, and happy is the 
 king that can rid himself of hars in that kind. The gentle- 
 man, always, died happily, and had his corpse interred in the 
 church of Halyrudhouse. 
 
 The time of parliament drawing near, the marquis of Ha- 
 milton was employed as commissioner for keeping the same. 
 At his first coming, having understood the business that some 
 tui'bulent ministers were making to impede the ratification of 
 the Acts of Perth Assembly, he caused discharge all the min- 
 isters out of the town, the ordinary preachers excepted, and 
 two of the number that would not be made quiet, he sent 
 prisoners to Dumbarton. All that time he did carry him- 
 self, and the matters committed to his trust, with such wis- 
 dom and foresight, as Avithin a few days he brought tliem all 
 to the end which he wished, without any open contradiction. 
 The subsidy desired was granted ; the Acts of Perth Assem- 
 bly ratified ; and divers other constitutions for the profit and 
 good of the country, as in the Acts imprinted may be seen. 
 At the closing of the parliament, which was the fourth of 
 August, such abundance of rain, with such thundcrings and 
 
262 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1621. 
 
 lightnings, did fall, as the noblemen and others of the Estates 
 •were compelled to leave their horses, and betake them to 
 their coaches; which the factious sort did interpret to be " a 
 visible sign of God's anger for ratifying the Acts of Perth :" 
 others, in derision of their folly, said, " That it was to be 
 taken for an approbation from Heaven, likening the same to 
 the thunderings and lightnings at the giving of the law to 
 Moses." 
 
 This was the last parliament of King James in this king- 
 dom, and that wherein he received greatest content : for the 
 puritan faction had boasted that the Acts of Perth should 
 never pass in a law (so confident they were of their favourers 
 in the parliament-house) ; and now that they failed in their 
 hopes, he trusted they would become more wise. But the 
 king, no less careful to have the Acts obeyed, than he 
 was to have them pass in a law, did commend the same by 
 two several letters to the bishops and to the lords of council. 
 
 To the bishops he said, " That as they had to do with two 
 sorts of enemies, papists and puritans, so they should go for- 
 ward in action both against the one and the other ; that 
 papistry was a disease of the mind, and puritanism of the 
 brain ; and the antidote of both, a grave, settled, and well- 
 ordered church in the obedience of God and their king ; 
 whereof he willed them to be careful, and to use all means 
 for reducing those that either of simplicity or wilfulness did 
 err." 
 
 In the letter directed to the council, he put them in mind 
 of that he had written in his " BasiHcon Doron," " That he 
 would have reformation to begin at his own elbow, which 
 he esteemed the privy-council and session, with their mem- 
 bers, to be, as having their places and promotions by him. 
 Therefore commanded them and every one of that number 
 to conform themselves to the obedience of the orders of the 
 Church now established by law, which he trusted they would 
 readily do. Otherwise if any councillor or sessioner should 
 refuse and make difficulty, he did assure them that if within 
 fourteen days before Christmas they did not resolve to con- 
 form themselves, they should lose their places in his service ; 
 and if any advocate or clerk should not at that time obey, 
 they should be suspended from the exercises of their offices, 
 and the fees and casualties thereunto belonging, unto such 
 
A. D. 1621.] CHUIICH OF SCOTLAND. 263 
 
 time as they gave obedience." In the same letter he willed 
 the council to take order, " that none should bear office in 
 any burgh, nor be chosen sheriff, deputy, or clerk, but such 
 as did conform themselves, in all points, to the said orders." 
 This letter was of the date. At the Honour of Hampton, the 
 twenty-ninth of September 1621. 
 
 By this may the reader judge of that which hath been 
 commonly affirmed, " That the nobleman who was commis- 
 sioner should have promised, at the passing of the Acts, that 
 none should be pressed with the obedience of them, but all 
 left to their oavu pleasures." That his majesty gave no such 
 warrant it appears by the foresaid letters, and that the noble- 
 man would go an inch from that he was trusted with, none 
 that kneAV him will believe. The truth is, that in most per- 
 suasive Avords (and with that majesty which became the place 
 he represented), he did " require them all to acquiesce, and 
 willingly obey the conclusions taken, and not to draw upon 
 themselves, by their disobedience, his majesty's anger ; assur- 
 ing them, in that case, that his majesty should not in his days 
 press any more change or alteration in matters of that kind 
 without their own consents." And this was all the nobleman 
 spake, as divers yet living may remember. 
 
 In the beginning of the next year, the chancellor died at his 
 house of Pinkie, near to Musselburgh, in a good age, and with 
 the regret of many ; for he exerced his place with great moder- 
 ation, and to the contentment of all honest men. He was 
 ever inclining to the Roman faith, as being educated at Rome 
 in his younger years ; but very observant of good order, and 
 one that hated lying and dissimulation, and above all things 
 studied to maintain peace and quietness. Sir George Hay, 
 clerk of register, being then at court, was preferred to the 
 place, and by his dimission Mr John Hamilton, brother to 
 the earl of Haddington, made keeper of the register. 
 
 About this time, upon advertisements sent from England 
 of the enlargement of certain priests and papists that were 
 there imprisoned, a rumour was dispersed that the king was 
 inclining to a toleration of popery, and would grant liberty 
 of conscience. This rumour was increased by occasion of 
 certain directions sent from the king to the bishops of Eng- 
 land, for reforming certain abuses crept into the Church, 
 whereby the preachers and lecturers were commanded on 
 
264 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D, 1622, 
 
 Sundays and holy days, in the afternoon, to teach the Cate- 
 chism only, or then some text taken out of the Creed, the 
 Ten Commandments, or Lord's Prayer ; and in their preach- 
 ing to abstain from handling the deep points of predestina- 
 tion, reprobation, election, the universality, efficacy, resisti- 
 biHty or irresistibility of grace, leaving these themes as 
 fitter for the schools than for simple auditories ; as likewise 
 not to presume in any lecture or sermon to limit and bound, 
 by way of positive doctrine, the power, prerogative, juris- 
 diction, authority, or duty of sovereign princes, or to meddle 
 with matters of state, having reference betwixt princes and 
 people, otherwise than they were instructed and precedented 
 in the homily of obedience, and others of that sort set forth 
 by public authority. These directions were interpreted to 
 be a discharge of preaching, at least a confining of preachers 
 to certain points of doctrine, which they called a limiting of 
 the Spirit of God ; and, as people will ever be judging and 
 censuring public actions, every one made the construction 
 whereunto their humours did lead them. 
 
 The better and wiser sort, who considered the present 
 estate of things, gave a far other judgment thereof ; for as 
 then the king was treating with the French king for peace 
 to the protestants in France, and with the king of Spain for 
 withdrawing his forces from the Palatinate, at which time it 
 was no way fitting that he should be executing the rigour of 
 his laws against papists at home, while he did labour for 
 peace to them of the religion abroad ; the most likely way to 
 obtain what he did seek of these princes being a moderation 
 of the severity of laws against priests and papists, at least 
 for a time. And as to the directions given to the preachers, 
 the same they judged both necessary and profitable, con- 
 sidering the indiscretion of divers of that sort, who, to make 
 ostentation of their learning, or to gain the applause of the 
 popular, would be meddling with controversies they scarce 
 understood, and with matters exceeding the capacities of 
 people. 
 
 The king oifending with these rumours, which he heard 
 were dispersed in both kingdoms, took occasion in a parlia- 
 ment assembled about that time in England to speak to them, 
 and say, " I understand that I am blamed for not being so 
 careful as heretofore, of maintaining true religion, and for not 
 
A. D. IGl'o.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 265 
 
 executing the laws made against papists ; but ye should 
 know that a king and his laws are not unfitly compared to a 
 rider and his horse ; the spur is sometimes to be used, but not 
 always ; the bridle is sometimes to be held in, at other times 
 to be let loose, as the rider finds cause ; just so a king is not 
 at all times to put in execution the rigour of his laws, but he 
 must for a time, and upon just grounds, dispense with the 
 same, as I protest to have done in the present case, and to 
 have connived only for a time, upon just cause, howbcit not 
 known to all. If any man for the favour showed to a priest 
 or papist will judge me to be inclining that way, he wrongs 
 me exceedingly. My words, and writings, and actions, have 
 sufficiently demonstrated what my resolution is in matters of 
 religion." 
 
 Some more words to this purpose he uttered in that meet- 
 ing ; but in a letter directed to the council of Scotland he was 
 somewhat more rough, finding fault with those that presumed 
 to censure his proceedings, and commanding them to take an 
 exact trial of such as had broken out into any such insolen- 
 ces either in word or deed, and to punish them severely ac- 
 cording to the laws. This was not well published, when the 
 news of the prince's journey to Spain made all good men 
 amazed ; for hearing that he was gone accompanied only 
 with the duke of Buckingham and another servant, the fear 
 of inconveniences that might befall his person did mightily 
 trouble them. But it pleased God, both in his going and 
 returning, safely to conduct and protect him. The occasion 
 and success of that journey I shall shortly relate. 
 
 A match had been treating of a long time betwixt the 
 prince and a daughter of Spain, which received many hinder- 
 ances both at home and in that court ; but it being thought 
 that the delays made in these parts would be easily removed 
 by the presence of the prince himself, whereof great hopes 
 were given by Gundomar the Spanish ambassador, the king 
 gave way to the journey, as hoping by this mean to have 
 the Palatinate freed from the vexations of war, and a general 
 peace established throughout Christendom. Thus the prince, 
 accompanied in manner aforesaid, departed secretly from 
 court, and landing at Calais, went through France undis- 
 covered, and after a few days came safely to the court of 
 Spain. 
 
266 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1623. 
 
 At his coming he was kindly received, and welcomed with 
 divers courtly compliments, but found a greater strangeness 
 than he expected ; for although he was still kept in hope of 
 the match, yet he was not permitted to visit the lady, but 
 upon condition to speak in such and such terms, and no 
 otherwise. Afterwards they began to move him touching 
 his religion, desiring he should confer with some divines, for 
 that he could not have the Infanta to wife, unless he was 
 converted and became a Roman-catholic. The prince re- 
 plying, " That he would never change his religion for such a 
 worldly respect, nor would he enter in conference with any 
 divines to that purpose, for if they did not prevail with him, 
 it would breed a greater discontent : " it was then told him, 
 " that he must attend till a dispensation was procured from 
 Rome, and that in the meantime he should be entertained 
 as a prince, but not as a suitor." 
 
 This dispensation being returned, which had in it a condi- 
 tion, that the king of Spain should take oath to obtain the 
 king of Britain's consent unto certain demands concerning 
 rehgion, there was a letter therewith sent from Pope 
 Gregory the Fifteenth to the prince, wherein, after many fair 
 and plausible words, he said, " That as Pope Gregory was 
 the first that induced the people of England to submit them- 
 selves to the See Apostolic, so he bearing the same name, 
 and being his equal in the height of dignity, though inferior 
 to him in virtue and holiness, desired nothing more than to 
 follow his pattern, and promove the health and happiness of 
 that kingdom ; the rather because his peregrination at that 
 time had given such hopes of a happy success. For since 
 he was arrived in Spain and at the court of the catholic king, 
 with a desire to join in marriage with the house of Austria 
 (which intention he greatly commended), he could not believe 
 that he did really desire the match and in heart abhor the 
 catholic religion, and seek to ruin the holy see of Rome." 
 Then falling to a prayer, he " besought God the Father of 
 lights to advance him (the most fair flower of the Christian 
 world, and the only hope of Great Britain) to that noble inherit- 
 ance which his illustrious progenitors had gained by the de- 
 fence of the apostolic authority, and the suppression of the 
 monsters of all heresies." Towards the end of the letter, 
 willing him " to call to mind the ancient times, and make his 
 
A. D. 1623.] CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 267 
 
 prayers to his ancestors, that they would vouchsafe to teach 
 him the way by which they went to heaven," he asked, " how 
 he could with patience hear the heretics call them damned 
 whom the catholic faith doth testify to reign in heaven, and 
 to dwell exalted above all the princes of the earth ?" In end, 
 returning to his supplications, he said, "that the Catholic 
 Church Roman, stretching forth her arms to embrace him 
 with all affection as her most desired son, he could not per- 
 form any thing of greater comfort to the nations of Christen- 
 dom, than to bring again the profession of that most noble 
 island to the prince of the Apostles, whereof he could not 
 despair, his hopes being set on God, in whose hands are the 
 hearts of kings," &c. 
 
 This letter, given at Rome in the palace of St Peter, the 
 twentieth of April 1623, and in the third year of his 
 apostolate, was delivered to the prince about the midst of 
 May, which he received courteously, thanking the pope for 
 his good affection. Thereafter, understanding that the dis- 
 pensation was granted, he pressed the performance of the 
 marriage, but was answered, " That the conditions must first 
 be fulfilled, and the articles concerning the Infanta, her 
 liberty of profession, when she came into England, and the 
 education of her children, if God should grant her any by 
 him, drawn up in form." These articles being advised by a 
 commission of divines, were sent into England, and shortly 
 after returned signed with his majesty's hand, and approved 
 by the council. And now it was thought there should be no 
 more delays used, but other excuses were forged ; as, " That 
 it was not fitting the Infanta should go to England before the 
 business of the parliament was settled, and that these articles 
 must be sent to Rome and allowed by the pope." The prince 
 perceiving that there was nothing really intended on the 
 king of Spain his part, and that the treaty was only enter- 
 tained till the king of Spain had reduced Germany in his 
 power, resolved to be gone, and declaring the necessity he 
 had to return, did leave a proxy in the hands of the earl of 
 Bristol (the ambassador Icgier) for espousing the Infanta, 
 how soon the articles returned from Rome, So the king of 
 Spain having conveyed the prince a little way towards the 
 sea, they parted in most loving terms, and in hope the match 
 should take effect. I^ut the prince being after that informed 
 
268 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1624. 
 
 of a conclusion laid, " That if the match should be farther 
 pressed, the Infanta, to eschew the same, should presently 
 enter into the house o^los Discalceatos" (a monastery of bare- 
 footed nuns), after he was parted, sent and commanded 
 Bristol not to make use of the proxy till he should advertise. 
 
 The prince having for his convoy home eleven of the 
 king's ships and some merchants, arrived at Portsmouth the 
 fifth of October with his whole retinue, and went the next 
 day to Royston, where the king lay. The joy was ex- 
 ceeding great of all sorts of people, and public thanks 
 ffiven to God throuo-hout all the churches of both the 
 kingdoms for his safe return. Soon after, wlien the king 
 perceived by the report, that neither was the match truly 
 meant, nor the Palatinate like to be restored, he directed the 
 earl of Bristol to insist for the restitution, and if he was put 
 oif with delays, to take his leave and come home : which also 
 he did. Thus was the marriage which had been long 
 treated of quite dissolved, the king saying, " that he would 
 never marry his son with a portion of his only sister's 
 tears." 
 
 The year following, the ministers of Edinburgh were 
 greatly vexed by a sort of mutinous people, who, separating 
 themselves from the public assemblies, kept private conven- 
 ticles, and went so far as to oppose publicly the order estab- 
 lished for receiving the holy communion. The leader of 
 those was William Rigge, elected one of the baihes for that 
 year. This man, puffed up with a conceit of his own abili- 
 ties, did dream of no less than the overturning of the Church 
 orders, and reforming of the ministry in such things as he 
 held to be amiss : hereupon, in a meeting ordinarily kept 
 before the celebration of the holy sacrament, he did publicly 
 challenge Dr William Forbes, who was afterwards preferred 
 to the bishopric of Edinburgh, for divers points of doctrine 
 delivered by him in his sermons ; and whenas he refused to 
 be judged by him and the laics that assisted, the said bailie 
 did openly threaten them all, that unless they returned to 
 the old form of ministering the holy communion, the whole 
 people should forsake them. Herein he was assisted by 
 John Hamilton, an apothecary, John Dickson, William 
 Simson, John Mayn, and some other base companions ; who 
 being called before the council, were charged to leave the 
 
^. D. 1624.] CHURCH of Scotland. 2G9 
 
 town, and the bailie, William Rigge, deprived of his bay- 
 lerie, and declared incapable of any public office in time 
 coming. 
 
 This trouble gave occasion of settling the state of that 
 Church in a better case than in former times — " the minis- 
 ters being ordained to reside in their own parishes, and have 
 allowed to them a sufficient maintenance ; the popular elec- 
 tion of ministers, whenas places by any occasion fell void, 
 discharged, and the presentation appointed to be made by 
 the provost, bailies, and council ; the sessions to be choosed 
 yearly by the magistrates and ministers for the particular 
 parishes, who should convene every year some ten days after 
 the election of the magistrates for that business ; the meet- 
 ing before the communion, wherein the ministers were accus- 
 tomed to be censured by the people, simply prohibited ; " with 
 divers other particulars serving to the orderly ministration 
 of all things in the Church. 
 
 The sixteenth of February, Ludovick, duke of Richmond 
 and Lennox, deceased, to the great regret of all that knew 
 him — a nobleman of excellent parts, whose very aspect and 
 countenance did promise much good. He was thrice mar- 
 ried ; first to a sister of the Earl of Gowrie, by whom he had 
 no children ; his second wife was a sister of the Lord Loudoun, 
 by whom he had a daughter and son that died both youno*. 
 Li his third and last marriage with the countess of Hartford, 
 he found more content than in both the others, but lived 
 with her only some few years, being taken away in the forty- 
 eighth year of his age. His brother Esme, a noble gentle- 
 man, succeeded, but did not survive him long, for he died 
 the next year, leaving a hopeful succession of children behind 
 him. 
 
 The next year, in the month of March, James, marquis 
 of Hamilton, deceased also — a nobleman of rare gifts, and 
 fitted for the greatest aifairs, which he showed at his de- 
 putation to the parliament 1621, and at other divers occa- 
 sions. His death was the more grievously taken, tJjat it was 
 thought to be procured by poison, whereof the monstrous 
 swellings in his face and body afore his death gave great ap- 
 pearance. His corpse, brought to Scotland by sea, was in- 
 terred at Hamilton with his predecessors. 
 
 These two deaths affected the king exceedingly ; and when 
 
270 THE HISTORY OF THE [a. D. 1624. 
 
 it was told him that the marquis was dead, he said, " If the 
 branches be thus cut down, the stock cannot continue long:" 
 which saying proved too true, for shortly after he fell into 
 the fever that the physicians call Hemitritceum — a dan- 
 gerous fever to those that are grown in years — and thereof 
 died at Theobalds, the twenty-seventh of March, being Sun- 
 day, about twelve of the clock in the forenoon. The Thurs- 
 day preceding his death he desired the blessed sacrament to 
 be ministered unto him, which he received with great devo- 
 tion, professing to the prince his son, and those that stood by, 
 that " he had received a singular comfort thereby," wishing all 
 men to do the like when they were visited in that sort. From 
 that time to the hour of his death he was still almost pray- 
 ing, and some one sentence or other of piety ever in his 
 mouth. As he drew near to his end, the prayer usually said 
 at the hour of death being ended, having repeated once or 
 twice these words, Veni, Domine Jesu, he gave up the ghost 
 without any pangs, such as are commonly seen in persons 
 that are dying. -•' He was the Solomon of this age, admired 
 for his wise government, and for his knowledge in all manner 
 of learning. For his wisdom, moderation, love of justice, for 
 his patience and piety (which sinned above all his other vir- 
 tues, and is witnessed in the learned works he left to pos- 
 terity), his name shall never be forgotten, but remain in 
 honour so long as the world endureth. We that have had 
 the lionour and happiness many times to hear him discourse 
 of the most weighty matters, as well of policy as divinity, 
 now that he is gone, must comfort ourselves with the remem- 
 brance of these excellencies, and reckon it not the least part 
 of our happiness to have lived in his days^ 
 
 Many doleful epitaphs in all languages were composed to 
 express the sorrow conceived by his death. This following, 
 penned by a learned divine in our vulgar language, did aifect 
 me so, as I thought good to subjoin it : — 
 
 All who have eyes, awake and weep, 
 For he whose waking wrought our sleep 
 Is fallen asleep himself, and never 
 Shall wake again till waked for ever. 
 Death's iron hand hath closed those eyes 
 Which were at once three kingdoms' spies, 
 
D. 1G24.] CHURCH OF .S( OTLAND. 271 
 
 Both to foresee, and to prevent 
 
 Dangers as soon as they were meant. 
 
 That head, whose working brain alone 
 
 Wrought all men's quiet but its own. 
 
 Now lies at rest. let him have 
 
 The peace he lent us, in his grave. 
 
 If that no Naboth all his reign 
 
 Was for his fruitful vineyard slain ; 
 
 If no Uriah lost his life 
 
 Because he had too fair a wife ; 
 
 Then let no Shimei's curses wound 
 
 His honour or profane his ground. 
 
 Let no black-mouthed, no rank-breathed cur, 
 
 Peaceful James his ashes stir. 
 
 Princes are Gods ; do not then 
 
 Rake in their graves to prove them men. 
 
 For two-and-twenty years' long care. 
 
 For providing such an heir, — 
 
 Who to the peace we had before 
 
 May add twice two-and-twenty more, — 
 
 For his days' travels and nights' watches, 
 
 For his crazed sleep, stolen by snatches. 
 
 For two fair kingdoms joined in one, 
 
 For all he did, or meant to have done. 
 
 Do this for him, write on his dust 
 
 James, the Peaceful and the Just. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 NOTE I. P. 200. 
 
 EXAMINATION OF THE POSTSCRIPT TO THE GOWRIE CON- 
 SPIRACY, AND OF MODERN HISTORIANS ON THE SUBJECT. 
 
 [The paragraph in the text, which this note illustrates, is both curious and 
 important. It is curious and important to find, in reference to that extraordi- 
 nary postscript to the Gowrie conspiracy, the trial and execution of George 
 Sprot, that a churchman of the first reputation and highest position in the king- 
 dom, who gravely performed the part assigned him in that discreditable tragedy, 
 who sat as one of the judges on the trial, and attended on the scaffold to attest 
 the dying words of the wretched victim, should himself have entertained the ut- 
 most contempt for the whole proceedings, and an utter disbelief of the culprit's 
 confessions. The archbishop did not, and dared not, at the time announce his 
 disbelief, or even evince scepticism. Far less dared he, in the lifetime of the 
 monarch whom that strange story so deeply concerned, have published such a 
 paragraph as his history contains. Yet his contempt for, and disbelief of, the 
 wild romance extracted, per fas et nefas, from the notary Sprot, he deliberately 
 recorded for all posterity to read. This of itself is no unimportant commentary 
 upon that disgusting passage in the history of James VI. 
 
 Our author's paragraph, moreover, is important in this respect, that it dis- 
 tinctly records a fact overlooked by all our best modern historians, yet of 
 the utmost importance to the question of the truth or falsehood of those so 
 called coufessions, upon which alone Sprot was convicted. The archbishop 
 asserts, as a fact unquestioned, that the letter from Logan of Restalrig to the 
 earl of Gowrie, which the culprit confessed that he had abstracted, and declared 
 he still possessed, was never made forthcoming on his trial. In the paragraph 
 under consideration, he states, as one of the reasons for his opinion that Sprot's 
 story seemed " a very fiction, and to be a mere conceit of the man's own brain," — 
 that " neither did he show the letter ,-" — which letter formed the basis of the in- 
 dictment, and which was then, according to the original record itself, under- 
 stood to be the onli/ one of those treasonable missives that Sprot had in his pos- 
 session. Of course our author must mean, that throughout the whole proceed- 
 ings the letter itself never was produced ; for had it been produced after Sprot's 
 first confession, so as to be inserted verbatim in his indictment, or produced at 
 any time so as to support his confession, the archbishop would scarcely have 
 been guilty of so puerile a defence of his scepticism, as the argument that Sprot 
 did not " show the letter " at first. His statement is very shortly expressed ; 
 but it distinctly amounts to this, that throughout the proceedings which led to 
 the execution of Sprot, tiot one of those famous letters from liestalrig to Gowrie 
 were produced. 
 
 But all our modern historians, paying not the slightest attention to this simple 
 and unequivocal statement of one of the leading judges on that trial, and one 
 most observant of the whole proceedings from first to last, have assumed and 
 asserted that the letters were produced on the trial, and that upon those pro- 
 ductions themselves his majesty's advocate libelled against Sprot. No doubt, 
 VOL. III. 18 
 
274 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 the archbishop may have given us a false account of that matter, and the modem 
 historians may be quite correct. But let us see to that. Let us first test 
 Spottiswoode's statement by the original record of the trial, and then look into 
 history on the subject. 
 
 The whole evidences relating to the matter have beau collected, in their most 
 authentic form, by Mr Pitcairn, in his laborious and valuable publication of the 
 Criminal Records of Scotland. From this repertory we derive the facts. The 
 indictment itself is there printed from the original record. Sprot is accused of 
 being guilty, art and part, of the Gowrie conspiracy, by having become cogniz- 
 ant thereof before the fact, and not having revealed the treason. It is narrated 
 that he acquired his knowledge by reading various letters from Logan of Res- 
 talrig to the earl of Gowrie, referring to the conspiracy ; that this had hap- 
 pened by means of Logan's confidential messenger " laird Bour," who had 
 given Sprot those letters to read, he, Bour, not being able to read one syllable, — 
 a fact, by the way, of no little consequence to the evidence that is supposed to 
 authenticate the details of the poor notary's insane victimizing of himself. The 
 indictment further narrates that, besides havinr/ seen several of the letters in 
 question, the accused had taken that opportunity of abstracting one, and retain- 
 ing it in his own possession. This letter is specially libelled ; and it is the only 
 letter, of all the alleged treasonable missives from Logan, the contents of which 
 his majesty's advocate even pretends to have such knowledge of as to be able to 
 libel thereupon. This one is so inti'oduced as to seem, not an abstract as Mr 
 Pitcairn loosely assumes it to be, but a verbatim extract of the whole substance 
 material to the cause. It is important, in reference to a comparison of Arch- 
 bishop Spottiswoode's notice of the subject with the dissertations by modern 
 historians, to bear in mind that the indictment proceeds only upon one letter, and 
 only charges the accused with having obtained possession of that one, though 
 he is also accused of having seen others in the hands of this Bour. Moreover, 
 the public prosecutor does not pretend to libel upon the letter itself as a produc- 
 tion. He does not say, that, in consequence of Sprot's confession, the letter was 
 sought for and recovered, either from him or his repositories,— a most important 
 point in the prosecutor's case, and which, had the fact so been, he could not fail 
 to have specially introduced. Then, again, the same letter, or at least a letter 
 generally assumed to be so, is produced about a twelvemonth afterwards, on the 
 trial of Logan's bones, and it turns out to be essentially different from the extracts 
 in the libel against Sprot. 
 
 The record of that unhappy man's principal confession is also printed by Mr 
 Pitcairn, and serves to illustrate this state of the indictment. In that con- 
 fession (upon which alone the public prosecutor proceeded against him) he ad- 
 mits having seen various treasonable letters, and that he abstracted and pos- 
 sessed one of them. But he produces none. From memory, however, he repeats 
 what he declares to be the substance of a letter from Gowrie to Logan, and 
 also what he declares to be the tenor of the letter alleged to be from Logan 
 to Gowrie, which ho had abstracted and retained. On comparing these two im- 
 portant records, the confession and the indictment, it will be seen that the only 
 letter libelled is the very same as that which had been taken down from Logan's 
 own lips. That he there had given it from memory, and had not produced it, is 
 manifest from the conclusion of his examination, where he depones, " That he left 
 the above icritten letter in his chest among his writings when he was taken and 
 brought away, and that it was closed and folded within a piece of paper." The 
 king's advocate, for reasons best known to himself, did not libel upon the letter 
 from Gowrie to Logan, which Sprot in his confession also repeated from memory. 
 That letter was never pretended to be produced at all ; nor was it heard of 
 more ! Neither does it appear that the advocate, upon this deposition of Sprot's, 
 recovered out of his chest the letter from Logan to Gowrie. Had he done so, 
 he would have stated the fact, and libelled upon the production of it. Instead 
 of which, as is manifest from the terms of the indictment itself, he libels entirely 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 275 
 
 upon Sprot's confession, and upon the letter as repeated from memory therein, 
 ipsissimis verbis. Throughout the whole record of the trial, so well collected by 
 Mr Pitcairn, there is not a circumstance or expression to warrant any other 
 idea than this, that not one of the treasonable letters, about which so much was 
 heard some time afterwards, and )io letter at all, was produced throughout the 
 proceedings that brought Sprot to the gallows. And here we may pause to 
 correct a comment which the ingenious editor of the Criminal Trials has noted 
 under the indictment printed in his text. 
 
 Mr Pitcairn, seeing the very imperfect resemblance between the scrap of a 
 letter libelled on, and that which he assumes to be the same letter produced at 
 the trial of Logan's bones a year after, but being wedded to the notion that 
 all the letters are authentic, and that Sprot spoke the truth, thinks some apology 
 necessary. And here it is : " It will be readily observed," he says with great 
 simplicity, "that a mere abstract of part only of the treasonable letters had been 
 considered by the public prosecutor as necessari/ to be engrossed in the ' Dittay ' 
 of Sprot ; proper transcripts of these epistles will be found in the following 
 article. No. XV. Restalrig's forfeiture, June 24, 1609, where they were produced 
 in evidence, and recorded in the Books of Parliament." 
 
 This note distinctly involves an assertion, that the public prosecutor at Sprot's 
 trial, about a twelvemonth before Restalrig's forfeiture, had in his possession 
 " the treasonable letters " (five in number), afterwards produced in the process 
 against the bones. Mr Pitcairn is not justified, by any part of the record he has 
 printed, in the comment he has made. What " treasonable letters " were in the 
 power of the king's advocate at that trial ? Surely his own indictment, and the 
 recorded confession upon which it founds, is the best evidence on that subject. 
 He only libels upon one letter, and does not pretend to say that even that one 
 was recovered by him, or that he had any other knowledge of its contents than 
 what he acquired through Sprot's statement in his confession. The Jive letters, 
 long afterwards produced, to which Mr Pitcairn alludes in his note, and so 
 loosely assumes to have been within the advocate's power from the first, are 
 never hinted at as being so, throughout the whole proceedings against Sprot. And 
 does this industrious and ingenious gentleman (seemingly not much accustomed 
 to sift and_to weigh evidence) really mean to tell us, that at this trial the public 
 prosecutor had in his possession, or in his power, those five Logan letters, stuffed 
 full of the rankest treason in the most prolix detail, and yet thought it not 
 necessary, in a case of the highest importance, to libel upon them, or to produce 
 them, or even to allude to them ? Would his Majesty's advocate, in a matter 
 so deeply affecting his Majesty's interest, have contented himself with founding 
 upon a tortured confession, which the culprit might have retracted, and with libel- 
 ling upon a scrap of a letter taken from the accused's agonized lips — a scrap that 
 will not stand the test of the most cursory comparison with any one of the 
 Logan missives, if he at that time really had in his power those five letters 1 
 Then Sprot's own confession, which is turned into the libel against him, and 
 forms part of the record, puts this matter beyond doubt or question. For he 
 distinctly depones that he possessed but o?ie letter, which he repeats from 
 memory, and that he never possessed more of this treasonable correspondence. 
 Would he have confessed to a single letter only, when the whole correspondence 
 was in his possession ? Or would his Majesty's advocate have made the most 
 important discovery that such was the case, without taking advantage of it on 
 the trial, or placing a hint of that unexpected discovery on the record ? What 
 then becomes of Mr Pitcairn's note, intimating that the public prosecutor had 
 not thought it necessary to libel upon more than an " abstract " of the Jive Logan 
 letters, which our antiquary assumes to have been in his power at the date of 
 the proceedings against Sprot l With the highest respect for that intelligent 
 collector's valuable researches, wo must say, that loose and partial notes, and 
 ill-digested views of evidence, deteriorate the value of such an undertaking, and 
 are detrimental to the cause of historical truth in which he labours. Even the 
 
276 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 best historians will think it a sufficient fulfilment of the task of research, upon a 
 particular incident, to turn over the p;roaning pages of Mr Pitcairn's voluminous 
 collection, which may be termed the Book of Sighs, and to hasten for assistance 
 and relief to his guiding notes ; and thus error enters history from aM/AeH^icrecorcfs/ 
 
 For the first time, then, in the strange proceedings against the bones of the 
 unconscious Restalrig, were those treasonable letters, said to be in his hand- 
 writing, produced. Where they had been found, during the interval between 
 those two processes, the public prosecutor does not vouchsafe to disclose. His 
 summons of treason, and the whole record, is silent upon that subject. He men- 
 tions, in the narrative, the now defunct Sprot's part in the drama. " Nor 
 was that horrid treason," we translate from the Latin summons, " of the said 
 Robert Logan detected, until the deceased George Sprot, at the instigation, as 
 it would appear, of divine Providence, for the sake of vindicating our fame from 
 the calumnies of wicked men, voluntarily disclosed (ultra patefecit), the said 
 treasonable conspiracy, and the guilt of the said Robert Logan therein, in the 
 most consistent confessions {constantissimis confessionibus), which he verified 
 imanifestavit) by quoting a letter (Uteris prolatis) he had received (acceperat) 
 from the said James Bour ; and happily confirmed all this by a constant and 
 pious death of penitence for the crime he had committed, in so long concealing 
 such horrible wickedness." 
 
 In the above translation, we have given his Majesty's advocate credit for not 
 having falsely narrated the state of the record in the case of Sprot. But as 
 some readers might put a different interpretation upon the most important sen- 
 tence in the paragraph quoted, that which speaks of the treasonable letter 
 which Sprot did not receive, but stole, from Bour, we here give it in the original 
 words : — " Et dicli quondam Roberti Uteris, quas a dicto quondam Jacobo Bour 
 acceperat, prolatis, manifestavit." One meaning of the Latin verb profero, is 
 to cite or quote. It means also to tell, publish, make known, utter, or pro- 
 nounce. Any one of these significations is consistent with the fact, that Sprot, 
 in his confession, repeated from memory the substance of a letter which he did 
 not produce. For, again, Literis does not mean letters, but a letter. We have 
 the authority of Cicero for saying, that "Literas dare ad aliquem" means to 
 send one a letter, and that " ^tnis Uteris " means in one letter. On the other 
 hand, profero bears the meaning, to proffer, hold out, or produce ; and some 
 may think that the passage should be translated, "by means of producing 
 letters, which he had received from the said James Bour." This translation, 
 however, if admissible, would furnish no argument whatever to prove that Sprot 
 had received those letters from Bour, and that they were produced at his trial. 
 It would only prove that the lord advocate, in the summons of treason against 
 Logan, hadfalsehj narrated the state of the record in the proceedings against 
 Sprot. The passage, therefore, must be translated consistently with Sprot's 
 own confession, and with the advocate's own libel against him. No other his- 
 tory of the five letters produced in Logan's case is vouchsafed by the public pro- 
 secutor, and no one can tell from whence they came. 
 
 The facts, that Sprot abstracted but one letter from Bour, and only repeated 
 that from memory in his confession, and that the public prosecutor simply 
 turned his confession into a libel, and produced no letter at all, being proved 
 unequivocally by the original record of Sprot's trial, it must be admitted that 
 no statement to the contrary, found in any mere chronicler of the period, is of 
 the slightest value against that original record. Calderwood has a loose para- 
 graph on the subject, in which he seems to have mixed up the proceedings 
 against Sprot and Logan, as if they had been contemporaneous, and one case. 
 " Letters were found in his (Sprot's) house," he says, " alleged to be written by 
 the umquhill laird of Restalrig to certain persons whose names could not be 
 known, because the letters were not directed on the back : a relation was made 
 in the letters of the whole proceedings of Gowrie's treason, and about some 
 meeting appointed for that purpose betwixt the earl, Mr Alexander, his brother, 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 277 
 
 and the said laird, in the house of Fascastle." But it is absolutely certain that 
 the^contents of these letters were only known at Logati's trial a twelvemonth 
 after Sprot had been disposed of. Moreover, Sprot himself deponed that he had 
 one letter (which he had stolen), and one only, in his house, that from Logan to 
 Gowrie ; and the public prosecutor libelled and founded vehemently upon the 
 absolute truth of the whole of his deposition. Had more than one letter been 
 in Sprot's house, unquestionably he would have so deponed. Calderwood has 
 recorded what Sprot himself contradicts, and what tlie public prosecutor never 
 alleged in either of those two most suspicious criminal processes. 
 
 Mr Pitcairn does not quote Calderwood in his illustrations ; but he has 
 printed, along with the proceedings in question, a " curious fragment, among 
 the voluminous MS. collections of Wodrow, preserved in the Library of the 
 Faculty of Advocates, in an anonymous MS., marked—' Hist, of Church of 
 Scotland.' — Rob. IIL 2. It is evidently written by some person who entertained 
 ideas unfavourable to the reality of the conspiracy." Upon comparing this 
 anonymous fragment with Calderwood, we find the two passages to be identical, 
 or very nearly so. If this fragment be earlier than Calderwood's History, we 
 have here the source of that historian's inaccurate account ; otherwise it may 
 be the remnant of an old MS. of his history. 
 
 We now return to the text of our author Spottiswoode, which is something 
 more to the purpose. His name stands third in the list of those distinguished 
 assessors who sat upon the trial of George Sprot. He was on the scaffold, too, 
 at the no less discreditable scene of his execution. Calderwood narrates an 
 anecdote curiously coinciding with the sceptical contempt which our author ex- 
 presses in his history, and not a little characteristic of the whole affair. Mani- 
 festly, the entire strength of the case for the king was left to depend upon the 
 culprit's steady adherence to the confession which had been cooked into shape 
 by torture, or upon the public faith in that adherence. " A little before the 
 execution," says Calderwood, " when Mr John Spotswod, bishop of Glasgow, 
 said to Mr Patrick Galloway, ' I am afraid this man make us all ashamed,' Mr 
 Patrick answered, ' Let alone, my lord, I shall warrant him ;' and indeed he 
 had the most part of the speech to him upon the scaffold." He was the " king's 
 miuister." Spottiswoode's private conviction unquestionably seems to have been, 
 that in the case there was no truth, in the execution no justice. But those were 
 times when men of the highest station, and purest character, were too often 
 compelled to put their conviction in their sleeve, and their conscience in their 
 pocket. Had the treasonable letters been produced on Sprot's trial, or even 
 one well authenticated letter, there would have been little reason for the courtly 
 bishop expressing his fear that the wretched man on the scaffold would " make 
 us all ashamed." Against such evidence, found in his own repositories, his 
 dying recantation would have availed nothing. But not a letter had as yet 
 been produced. Spottiswoode says so distinctly in his history. The original 
 record of the trial confirms this statement of a judge who was present ; and his 
 statement in like manner confirms the record of the trial. The fact shakes the 
 credit of this criminal process, and the farce that followed, to the very founda- 
 tion; and throws another dark shade of suspicion upon the truth of the Gowrie 
 conspiracy. But let us see how this important point has been treated by modern 
 historians. 
 
 I. Dr Robertson records the Sproto-Logan story as a " strange" one, but gives 
 credence to it ; manifestly, however, without much consideration, or any research. 
 After narrating how the notary of Eyemouth had brought this awful storm upon 
 his own head, he goes on to say,—" Both Logan and Bour were now dead. But 
 Sprot afiirmed that he had read letters written both by Gowrie and Logan on 
 that occasion ; and, in confirmation of his testimony, several of Logan's letters 
 —which a curiosity fatal to himself had prompted Sprot to steal from among 
 Bour's papers— tf<?re produced. Logan's letters were five in number. One to 
 Bour, another to Gowrie, and tlireo of them without any direction ; nor did 
 
278 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 Sprot declare the name of the person to whom they were written." (Hist, of 
 Scotland, Book viii.) 
 
 In these sentences, the elegant historian of Scotland makes no distinction, 
 either in point of time or testimony, between the two trials, namely, of Sprot 
 and of the bones of Logan. He states, as a fact, that the five Logan letters 
 were produced at Sprofs trial, " in confirmation of his testimony ;" and that 
 Sprot had stolen them all " from among Bour's papers !" The context proves 
 that he means the whole five letters that were produced at the Logan trial ; for, 
 in the first line of the sentence, he says, " several of Logan's letters," and then 
 immediately adds in a note, " Logan's letters were five in number — nor did Sprot 
 declare the name of the person to whom thei/ u-ere written.'" What wild work 
 is here ! Had the historian consulted the original record, he would have found 
 that Sprot himself— the sole authority for this alleged theft of letters — only 
 confessed to having stolen a single letter, — which fact was disbelieved by one of 
 the principal assessors on his trial, because even that letter was not produced ; 
 and the judge's ground of disbelief is confirmed by the original record. 
 
 Under this confused narrative of the state of these separate processes, and 
 this imperfect knowledge of the state of the evidence on record, Dr Robertson 
 expresses surprise at the scepticism of our author. " Spottiswoode could not be 
 ignorant," he says, " of the solemnity with which Logan had been tried, and of 
 the proof brought of the authenticity of his letters : he himself was probably 
 present in parliament at the trial : the earl of Dunbar, of whom he always 
 speaks with the greatest respect, was the person who directed the process 
 against Logan : such a peremptory declaration against the truth of Sprot's evi- 
 dence, notwithstanding all these circumstances, is surprising." The historian 
 then refers to a courtly report (most suspicious in all its terms) from Sir Thomas 
 Hamilton (earl of Haddington) to the king, in which the former asserts that 
 there was vast unanimity, as to the truth and propriety of the whole proceedings, 
 and that none but traitors would " any longer refuse " to declare their belief in 
 the Gowrie conspiracy. (See the letter in Pitcairn's Collection). Sir Thomas 
 Hamilton was his majesty's advocate for his majesty's interest. As for " the 
 solemnity with which Logan was tried" being any reason why Bishop Spottis- 
 woode should have believed, so little did he think so himself, that he has not 
 deemed the trial of Logan's bones, or the authenticity of those letters, a subject 
 worthy of notice at all. Who was there to support the authenticity of those 
 letters,— who dared contradict it ? Logan the writer of them, Bour tho carrier 
 and custodier of them, Sprot who had seen and read them, were all dead before 
 those letters were produced. With none to oppose him, with none who dared 
 oppose, the public prosecutor for an irresponsible, unscrupulous, and most un- 
 principled government, triumphed comjyaratione literarum, and sang To pcean, 
 to the king. Men swore it was the handwriting of Logan, which they knew. 
 It was particularly noted in evidence, that the now fleshless traitor always 
 wrote his " yous " with a y, instead of a z, — and there they were ! Never was 
 the comparatio literarum more worthless than upon this memorable occasion. 
 
 There are two modes of bringing this imperfect species of evidence to bear upon 
 the question of a forgery. If a skilfully forged document, or signature, be laid 
 before a witness of competent knowledge and experience, to discover whether it 
 be false, and he, notwithstanding the skill of the imitation, detects, and can 
 point out, some differences or peculiarities which assure him of a forgery, this is 
 positive evidence of such deficiencies in the imitation, and is proper evidence 
 quantum valeat. But if a witness, however experienced and skilful, be brought 
 to support the authenticity of a document by such comparison, and swears to 
 it because he can see no peculiarity or difference indicating forgery, his evi- 
 dence is merely negative, and, in a question of forgery, has no weight or value 
 whatever. Were it otherwise, every forgery so well executed as to defy com- 
 parison, would be proved authentic by that circumstance alone. Of this last kind 
 was the evidence upon which even modern historians have so rashly come to the 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 279 
 
 conclusion, that the authenticity of those letters had been amply proved. " They 
 were compared," says Dr Robertson, " by the privy council with papers of 
 Logan's handwriting, and the resemblance teas visible: persons of undoubted 
 credit, and well qualified to judge of the matter, examined them, and swore to 
 their uulhenticily " / 
 
 This charming historian having arraigned the scepticism of Spottiswoode, we 
 are entitled to arraign the credulity of the more polished and enlightened mo- 
 dern. We are not to suppose that Dr Robertson wrote his history ironically. 
 When he records facts, wo are bound to understand that he believed them to be 
 such. He thus concludes his narrative and argument relating to George Sprot : — 
 
 " He adhered to his confession to the last ; and having promised, on the 
 scaffold, to give the spectators a sign in confirmation of the truth of what he 
 had deposed, he thrice clapped his hands after he was thrown off the ladder by 
 the executioner." 
 
 It will be seen that our author Spottiswoode asserts the same, without any 
 expression of scepticism, and he was upon the scaffold. He lived in an age of 
 superstition, extreme credulity, and delight in the marvellous. But Dr Robert- 
 son ! ! Would the Scots professor have accepted the proposition in this shape ? 
 A man launched from the gallows, his power of breathing suddenly cut off by 
 the force of a ligature round his throat, and with the whole weight of his body 
 tearing at his spinal marrow from the neck, is, nevertheless, capable at that 
 moment of exercising his living faculties, his memory and his will, as if in un- 
 broken continuity from the time when he stood in life upon the scaffold ! All 
 this, and no less, is involved in the assertion that Sprot, when siis. per col., 
 punctually and exactly performed the promise which he had made (or which 
 Mr Patrick Galloway made for him) on the scaffold. That the action was the 
 simple one, and perhaps the most convenient for a man hanging, of clapping his 
 hands, removes none of the diificulty. If it was the deliberate fulfilment of a 
 promise made beforehand, then there is, or may be, complete presence of mind, 
 the exercise of memory, and the command of will, all active in a human being 
 the moment after the weight of his body has fallen upon his neck fi-om a gallows ! 
 That Sprot, under the instructions of " Maister Patrick Galloway the king's 
 minister," should have announced the presumptuous promise, may be believed. 
 That the convulsive action of the dying or dead man's hands would be repre- 
 sented by those interested, and understood by the vulgar or the credulous, as a 
 conscious fulfilment of it, is no less likely. But that it should be received and 
 recorded as a fact by Dr Robertson, was no more to have been expected, than 
 if he had received and recorded this story, physically just as possible, that Sprot 
 applied to his nose a pinch of snuff, pulled off his night-cap, and kissed his hand 
 to the spectators, immediately after he had been " launched into eternity." 
 
 2. Malcolm Laing, in the Jirst edition of his history, had arrived at the conclu- 
 sion, that the Logan letters were forgeries. He submits them to a close and 
 searching inspection, and it would not be easy to answer the reasons which ho 
 there assigns for his very decided opinion. But his argument is crippled by the 
 circumstance, that he, too, has fallen into the great mistake of assuming that at 
 least one of the letters taken down from Sprot's memory (or his pretended 
 memory) in that confession, which the king's advocate simply turned into a libel, 
 was actually produced by Spi'ot at that time. " There were two letters," he 
 says, " produced at his confession, the one from Gowrie, which aftcrivards dis- 
 appeared, the other a transcript of Logan's answer, the original of which was 
 preserved among his writings, and engrossed in his indictment ; but at Logan's 
 posthumous trial, four additional letters were produced ; and although the 
 discovery of these miffht be recent, the letter formerly inserted in Sprot's in- 
 dictment was again exhibited in a different form," &c.— (Hist. Book i.) 
 
 It would have been very odd had Sprot, at this confession, produced the ori- 
 ginal of Gowrie's letter to Logan, and only a transcript of Logan's to Gowrie, — 
 which last only he admitted to bo in his possession. The transcript is a gratuitous 
 
280 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 assumption of Mr Laing's — that historian having perceived that the confession 
 proved that the letter itself was not produced. It is immaterial to the present 
 argument whether Sprot then produced a transcript of the alleged letter, or 
 whether the tenor of it was taken down from his memory. But there is no 
 authority whatever for the fact assumed, nor is there the least likelihood that 
 Sprot would have been carrying about his person a transcript of that letter, for 
 which he referred his examiuators to his private repositories. Neither is there 
 the slightest authority for assuming that it was engrossed in his indictment /rom 
 the original. The confession, and that part of the indictment which embraces 
 the letter, are composed ipsissimis verbis. Moreover, the fact, so pointedly and 
 justly noticed by Laing, that when the same letter was produced at Logan's 
 trial, it loas not the same, of itself sufficiently proves that the king's advocate 
 had formerly recovered no such original letter from the repositories of the tor- 
 tured notary as that contained in his indictment. As for the production of " the 
 one from Gowrie, which afterwards disappeared," here also the historian has 
 rashly assumed a fact, unsupported by, and contrary to, the evidence. Sprot 
 himself expressly depones, that the only letter of the alleged treasonable cor- 
 respondence that was ever in his possession, was the single one from Logan to 
 Gowrie, which he stole from Bour. Can he, then, at the very time he so de- 
 poned, be supposed to have produced that other letter from Gowrie to Logan ? 
 And if he had, how could it have " disappeared " ? The truth is, it never ap- 
 peared ; and the probability is, that it never existed. 
 
 In the second edition of his history, however, Malcolm Laing comes to a 
 totally different conclusion, both with regard to the Gowrie conspiracy and the 
 authority of the Logan letters. His recantation affords so curious a specimen of 
 a retrograde movement, on the part of an historian of no small account in Scot- 
 land, that we must give it entire : — 
 
 " No historical question has ever perplexed me more than the Gowrie con- 
 spiracy. From the different copies of the same letter from Logan to Gowrie, as 
 inserted in Sprot's trial, and in Logan's attainder, I did not hesitate, in the first 
 edition of this history, to pronounce the whole con-espondence a forgery. The 
 difference appeared to be still greater upon examining the original Records of 
 Justiciary and Parliament, in which Sprot's trial and the attainder of Logan 
 are respectively engrossed. At the same time, the absolute identity of the letters 
 with Logan's handwriting is attested by such strong and unexceptionable evi- 
 dence, that any explanation, sufficient to i-econcile the apparent contradiction 
 between the different copies of the same letter, should be preferred to the ulti- 
 mate supposition of forgery. The explanation which I have now discovered, 
 has at last convinced me that the letters are genuine, and that Logan was really 
 accessory to the Gowrie conspiracy. 
 
 " Sprot, in his confession (which is preserved by Abbot, but not inserted in 
 the Records of Justiciary), recites from memory the substance of Gowrie's letter 
 to Logan,' which he had seen with Bour before it was returned to the earl with 
 Logan's answer. This answer, also, which he had stolen from Bour, by whom 
 it had been sent back to Logan, he proceeds, in the same manner, to recite from 
 memory f and preserves the most striking expi-essions and circumstances, but 
 with many unavoidable alterations, omissions, and additions of his ovra. The 
 letter itself was preserved, as he said, among his other papers in a chest at 
 Eyemouth ; and the regular mode of procedure undoubtedly was, to have searched 
 for the original, and to have produced it at his trial. But the privy-council 
 having obtained his confession on the tenth and eleventh of August, to prevent 
 
 1 In his first edition, Laing (who was never at a loss for a fact when he wanted it) says that 
 Sprot produced that letter from Gowrie to Logan. 
 ^ In the first edition, he says that Sprot produced a transcript of this letter. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 281 
 
 his retracting it, brought him to trial upon the twelfth ; aud he was executed on 
 the same day that he was condemned. The letter recited in his confession was 
 inserted in his indictment instead of the original; and from this circumstance, 
 Spottiswoode, who sat upon his trial as one of the assessors to the Justice- 
 general,' was doubtful whether he should mention the arraignment and execu- 
 tion of Sprot in his history ; ' his confession, though voluntary and constant, 
 carrying small probability. It seemed a very fiction, and to be a mere invention 
 of the man's own brain ; for neither did he show the letter, nor would any wise 
 man think that Gowi-ie, who went about that treason so secretly, would have 
 communicated the matter with such a man as this Restalrig was known to be.' 
 But the letter itself was discovered afterwards among Sprot's papers,- together 
 loithfour others from Logan to some unknown correspondent on the subject of 
 the conspiracy (Cromarty, 92) ; and this explanation of the fact removes the 
 seeming contradiction between the different copies of the same letter, as inserted 
 in Sprot's indictment and in the attainder of Logan." Edition 1819, vol. iii. 
 Note n. p. 538. 
 
 Never did any historian more completely stultify himself than Mr Laing has 
 done by this second edition of his views regarding the authenticity of the Logan 
 letters, and their bearing upon the truth of the Gowrie conspiracy. It will be 
 observed, that this absolute but irrational repudiation of all his former reasoning 
 on the subject is entirely based upon the single allegation, that the five letters 
 in question were " discovered afterwards among Sprot's papers." What though 
 they were \ How would that have proved the authenticity of letters, the con- 
 tents of which, as indeed IMr Laing himself has partly shown, in his first edition, 
 cannot stand the test of a close inspection and comparison with facts and dates I 
 The inexplicable circumstance is admitted, and most weakly handled by this 
 historian, that the public prosecutor himself, with this alleged treasure in his 
 possession, neither ventured to use the letters, which were the very foundation 
 of his prosecution, on the trial of Sprot, nor to drop a hint that he had found 
 them. As the passage in his history proves. Archbishop Spottiswoode, one of 
 the principal assessors on that trial, and whose conviction of the truth of the 
 proceedings it was essential to secure, was left in ignorance of such a discovery, 
 and historically recorded in consequence his utter contempt and disbelief. But 
 how, we repeat, would the discovery have authenticated the letters ? Sprot was 
 a miserable tool in the hands of unscrupulous power. He was a poor scribe, of 
 very bad character, and notorious as an imitator of autographs and forger of 
 documents : " prceterea, Scriba tarn fwlix in imitandis chirographis, signisque 
 effingendis, ut verane an falsa internosci via; possent." (See Historia Rerum 
 Britannicarum, Roberto Jonhstono ; MS. Advocates' Library. Also a copy of 
 the same printed at Amsterdam 1655, p. 267.) Were it proved that the public 
 prosecutor actually got those missives from Sprot himself, or out of his reposi- 
 tories, the fact would only make room for the very prevalent theory, that the 
 wretched notary himself, who had been led on to become the instrument of his 
 own destruction, had also been made the instrument of a desperate crime of the 
 court. 
 
 But Mr Laing's rccantution is far more faulty and irrational than this. He 
 has assumed the fact, inadequate though proved, upon authority that is not of 
 the slightest value ; and even that he has misquoted, and stretched beyond its 
 limit. It was to be expected, from an historian of his pretension and reputation, 
 that so violent a change of opinion, upon a subject of no small historical import- 
 ance, would be accounted for, not only by the announcement of some most 
 
 The Justice-general did not preside. It was " Mr AVilliam ITairt," one of tlie Justice- 
 deputes, wlio were often mere cypliers upon such occasions. 
 
 * But Spottiswoode must have liuown tlie fact of the recovery of the original, before writing 
 his history, had it been a fact. 
 
282 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 relevant fact, but by that stated upon unequivocal authority, precisely and 
 accurately quoted. His fact is, that all the five Logan letters were discovered 
 in Sprot's repositories. His whole authority, and manner of quoting it, is com- 
 prehended in this cabalistic parenthesis "(Cromarty, p. 92)." 
 
 That ancient courtier and statesman, George, first earl of Cromarty, when 
 eighty-three years of age, published a defence of " The Royal Family in Scot- 
 land," against the " Generation of Vipers," who " did suggest and propagate most 
 abominable lies against the majesty, honour, and person of King James the Sixth, 
 in the matter of Cowrie's conspiracy and punishment thereof." This nobleman 
 had been Clerk Register and Justice-general in Scotland, which gave him the 
 best opportunities of exploring the records there. As regards the matter of the 
 Gowrie conspiracy, he appears to have done so to little purpose ; for of all the 
 dissertations and arguments on the subject, of any pretension. Lord Cromarty's 
 is the loosest and the worst. Yet he wrote from vantage ground. There were 
 few who explored the records in his day, or indeed who had access to them. 
 The great Register House of Scotland still reposed in Craigleith quarry ; and 
 its most indefatigable searcher, the editor of the Book of Sighs, yet slumbered 
 in uncreated dust. Earl Cromarty was not a Pitcairn. He seems to have found 
 the original record of Sprot's prosecution, and of the subsequent Logan afi"air, 
 including the Logan letters themselves. But he does not publish a full and 
 exact print of all the documents, as we have them now from Mr Pitcairn. The 
 consequence of the violent courtly spirit in which he writes, and of his isolated 
 command of the original sources of information, is, that while he extracts a great 
 deal, and with tolerable accuracy, he takes some most important liberties with 
 the record, which materially aid his own theory. A notable example is this : 
 Professing to give verbatim the confession upon which Sprot was convicted, when 
 he comes to that part of it where the miserable notary quotes, or pretends to 
 quote, from memory, Gowrie's letter to Logan, instead of inserting that which is 
 printed in the confession, our noble author interjects this of his own, — " And 
 producing the earl of Gowrie's letter to Restalrig," &c. Thus my Lord Cromarty 
 becomes authority for the fact (and the sole authority), that Logan had actually 
 produced into the hands of the pubUc prosecutor that important letter from the 
 chief conspirator, which ivas never heard of or seen more. The terms of the 
 confession itself, however, proves that Sprot produced no letter, and only ad- 
 mitted the possession of one, that from Logan to Gowrie, which he said was in 
 his repositories. 
 
 Malcolm Laing founds his own recantation upon the alleged fact that the 
 whole five Logan letters were found in Sprot's repositories. For this he quotes 
 the noble author, though somewhat briefly and shyly. But the Earl, inclined as 
 he is to stretch matters, says no such thing. He does not say that the five letters 
 produced at the Logan trial were found among Sprot's papers, as Malcolm Laing 
 has it. Did this ingenious historian imagine that no individual of the public, 
 whom he entertains with his candid recantation, would feel interested to consult 
 for himself " Cromarty, 92 " ? We have done so, and must here lay before our 
 readers the whole passage referred to, premising that the Earl is narrating the 
 substance of Sprot's confession, and occasionally interjecting a parenthesis of 
 his own : — 
 
 "And deponed, that he did abstract (i. e. steal) quietly from James Bour, the 
 principal letter written by Restalrig to the earl of Gowrie, which Bour had 
 brought back from the earl of Gowrie (as was the custom amongst them at that 
 time) ; and that when James Bour employed him, Sprot, to look over his papers, 
 that he did keep the same, and that it was yet in his keeping, and was in his 
 chest among his writings, where he left it when he was taken (and accordingly 
 the letter was found there by the Sheriff-depute, who was ordered by Sir 
 William Hart, Lord-justice of Scotland, to seize the said chest, and search for this 
 letter, which was found and delivered to the king's advocate)." Cromarty, 92. 
 
 Thus, between " Cromarty, 92," and Mr Malcolm Laing, the whole five cups 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 283 
 
 are found in the sack of Benjamin. But the chief merit is due to Mr Laing, 
 who discovers four of them himself, Lord Cromarty having only found one.^ 
 
 We have already seen that the noble author, contrary to the evidence of the 
 record before him, had taken the liberty to assert that Sprot, upon the occasion 
 of his confession, had produced that mysterious letter from Gowrie to Logan, 
 which, as Mr Laing has it, " afterwards disappeared." Notwithstanding the 
 precise manner in which his lordship states that the other letter from Logan 
 to Gowrie, which Sprot admitted to be in his possession, was sought for and 
 found, we have every reason to believe that assertion also to rest entirely upon 
 the ipse dixit of the octogenarian courtier. We have been unable to discover 
 any other authority for the fact; which, however, is not very material to the 
 argument of the authenticity of the Logan letters. If the public prosecutor 
 could have explained his possession of the whole five letters in the same manner, 
 neither would that have been conclusive of the question; though it would have been 
 a little more to the purpose, as Mr Laing had perceived when he so put it. But 
 " Cromarty, 92," does not say so. No letter is spoken of in that passage, but the 
 single one to which Sprot confessed ; and the only rational conclusion that can be 
 arrived at, from the following considerations, is, that no such letter was found. 
 
 1. Sprot was hanged the day after his confession, and without production of 
 the treasonable letter which he said was among his papers, in his chest at home. 
 It was the merest puerility in Mr Laing to attempt to explain this upon the 
 theory, that they hastened to hang their victim lest he should retract his con- 
 fession. The letter, if authentic, was worth all the confessions in the world; and, 
 moreover, it would have nailed him to his confession. 2. Neither at Sprot's trial, 
 nor when the five letters were produced in the following year, did the public 
 prosecutor drop a hint that he had recovered any letter whatever out of Sprot's 
 possession ; his own possession of those letters he never pretended to account 
 for ; nor in his report to the king, who was so deeply interested, did he say how 
 or from whence those letters had been obtained. 3. The discrepancies, between 
 the letter quoted in Sprot's confession, and the equivalent produced at Logan's 
 trial, are of a nature not to be explained by the theory of an imperfect repetition 
 from memory. 4. Lord Cromarty boldly asserts that " Sir William Hart, Lord 
 Justice of Scotland," gave orders to the Sherifl" to search for and secure the 
 letter deponed to by Sprot ; that this was done, and that the letter was delivered 
 to the Lord Advocate. " Maister William Hairt of Preston" was one of the 
 Justice-deputes in Scotland, and presided under that designation at Sprot's trial. 
 He appears to have been knighted very soon after the trial, and the reason can 
 scarcely be doubted. This respectable functionary drew up an official account 
 of the culprit's examinations, confessions, and execution, which was prefaced 
 by a long and abject sermon in favour of the king, by Dr George Abbot, dean 
 of Winchester, soon afterwards made Primate of England. This ex parte 
 account of the matter, so important for his majesty, the courtly dean imme- 
 diately published in London. It is reprinted by Mr Pitcairu, and forms the 
 authentic record of that confession of Sprot's, so often referred to, upon which 
 alone he was convicted. The Justice-depute there records the fact that Sprot, upon 
 reinterrogation, said that the letter which he had stolen was in his repositories. 
 But, throughout the whole of this particular and official account, Mr William 
 Hart himself does not say that the letter was found, or that he had ordered the 
 Sheriff to search for it. Would he have omitted this most important fact in an 
 
 ' If our space would permit, we could prove, from several striking examples, that JMalcoIm 
 Laing was never at a loss for a fact, if such were wanting to complete or to render consistent 
 the evidence upon which he happened to be rclj'ing. The above is one instance. Again, in 
 this second edition of his Gowrie views, wo hear nothing of that transcript of Logan's letter to 
 Gowrie, which he formerly said that Sprot had produced. He has now no use for it ; so the 
 fact is as quietly withdrawn as it was assumed. 
 
284 NOTES TO BOOK Vll. 
 
 ofBcial report, expressly published " for satisfaction of the true-hearted and 
 well-affected subjects to their gracious sovereign, and closing of the mouths of 
 his malicious enemies" 1 
 
 The rationality of Lord Cromarty's mind upon the subject, and his competency 
 to treat the question of evidence so as to arrive at the soundest conclusion, may 
 be tested by the manner in which he handles the incident of Sprot's intelligent 
 communication with the assembled multitude, whilst in mid air he was struggling 
 with the agonies of death. We must premise, moreover, that there is excellent 
 contemporary authority for the fact that his arms were pinioned, probably by 
 the elbows from behind, as is usual upon such occasions, so as to allow the suf- 
 ferer to clasp his hands together, or to use them in prayer, but not to lift them 
 high up. Accordingly, the old Latin chronicler, Robert Johnston, already 
 quoted, tells us, — " Relegatis post tergum manibus, injecto cervicibus laqueo, cir- 
 cumfusa iiifjenti multitudine, in foriim Edinburgemim ad suppUcium traclus est." 
 Now let us hear Lord Cromarty upon the miraculous portion of the evidence. 
 
 " I had almost forgotten that which in this action of his death was strange, 
 and in a manner marvellous. For being urged by the ministers and others of 
 good rank upon the scaffold, that now at his end he should declare nothing but 
 the truth, touching the matter for which he suffered, on the peril of his own 
 salvation or condemnation of his soul, — he, for the greater assurance of his con- 
 stant and true deposition, promised, by the assistance of God, to give them an 
 open and evident token before the yielding of his spirit. Wliich he accomplished 
 thereafter; for, before his last breath, when he had hung a pretty space, he lift 
 up his hands a good height, and clapped them together aloud three several times, 
 to the great wonder and admiration of all the beholders ; and very soon there- 
 after he yielded his spirit." (Cromarty, 12-2.) 
 
 And this leads us to a somewhat amusing point in Malcolm Laing's solemn 
 recantation. He had not failed, in the first edition, to treat with due contempt 
 the miraculous part of Sprot's confession. Li his text (vol. i. p. 52), he narrates 
 the incident, but under the ironical qualification, " we are gravely informed ;" 
 and then in a foot note, he adds : " The fact, although attested by Spottiswoode 
 in his history, is omitted in the attestation of Sprot's behaviour at his execution, 
 subscribed by the same historian, and those who attended on the scaffold. 
 Calderwood and Johnston are also silent. The latter informs us that his hands 
 were bound ; relegatis post tergum manibus. Such is the credit due to a popular 
 story, universally received." But Mr Malcolm Laing changed his opinion on tho 
 subject of the Logan letters ; and finding that this barbarously ignorant anecdote, 
 or disreputable juggle of " Maister Patrick Galloway, the king's minister," was 
 part of the evidence, and relied upon by Cromarty, he had the unpardonable 
 weakness, we had almost applied a harsher term, simply to cut out the ironical 
 qualification from his text, ro omit his rational foot-note entirely, and thus, in his 
 second edition (vol. iii. p. 58), to leave the anecdote standing naked and not 
 ashamed, as if he had never doubted the fact ! In this manner did Malcolm 
 Laing deal with history. 
 
 3. The indefatigable, the instructive, the amusing Tytler, whose recent his- 
 tory of Scotland is the best that has appeared, unfortunately runs riot alto- 
 gether upon the Logan letters. There is something in the style of those extra- 
 ordinary missives, the mysterious curiosity of their contents, the strain of wild 
 and savage romance that pervades them, which seems at once to have attached 
 itself to the quaint and imaginative mind of this agreeable historian. He seizes 
 upon them, from among the less inviting mass of Mr Pitcairn's illustrations, 
 with a natural and irresistible gusto. He incorporates them nearly verbatim, 
 into his pure and refined text, with all their antique honours, where they show 
 like a mask of salvage men in a courtly circle. But the indications of the 
 ancient " daynty cheer," in the mysterious recesses of Fastcastle, " a fine hattit 
 kit, with sugar, confits, and wine," and that, too, in " my awin house, where I 
 haue keipit my Lord Bothwell in his greatest extremities, say the king and his 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 285 
 
 counsall what they wald"— the dark hints of dealing with the evil one, at the 
 distant seat of forbidden lore where Gowrie is said to have 
 
 " learnt the art that none may name, 
 
 In Padua, far beyond the sea," 
 
 was too picturesque to forego, and too charming to be doubted. Accordingly, 
 he pronounces, not merely that the Logan letters are authentic, but that their 
 authenticity has never been questioned ! " These letters," says the carried his- 
 torian, " explain themselves ; their import cannot be mistaken ; their authenti- 
 city has never been questioned ; they still exist ; and although they do not open 
 up all the particulars of the intended attempt, they establish the reality of the 
 Gowrie conspiracy beyond the possibility of a doubt." 
 
 The authenticity of the Logan letters has been more or less questioned, from 
 the first moment of their production to the present day. A close examina- 
 tion of the proceedings against Sprot (wliich Mr Tytler never touches) shakes 
 our faith in the Gowrie conspiracy to pieces. Even at the time, the public and 
 intelligent belief in this treasonable correspondence between the Earl of Gowrie 
 and Restalrig required to be compelled by that very equivocal character the 
 Earl of Dunbar, who had i/ot up the whole affair for the King and his Advocate. 
 This wc leai'E from Sir Thomas Hamilton's own report to James — that very letter 
 to which Dr Robertson so loosely refers, as afTording satisfactory evidence of 
 the authenticity of the missives produced at Logan's trial. Sir George Home, 
 created Earl of Dunbar, was the king's first favourite and minister. He would 
 have gone any length to retain that position. Malcolm Laing characterizes him 
 as " an apt and devoted instrument of arbitrary power, an obsequious and op- 
 pressive minister." Under the whole circumstances of the case, the following 
 passage from the Lord Advocate's letter will scarcely bear out the historian, 
 Robertson, in the object of his reference. It must be kept in mind, that upon 
 that extraordinary occurrence, no proof whatever was led, except the five let- 
 ters produced, and the record of Sprot's trial ; that no link of connection what- 
 ever was shown between those letters and Sprot ; that their authenticity was 
 so generally disbelieved, that it was thought necessary to authenticate them by 
 a proof comparatione literarum ; and that, upon that ea; parte and selected evi- 
 dence, which, besides, was merely negative, and therefore altogether inconclu- 
 sive, the whole case rests. We may here dispense with the antique orthography, 
 the original being printed by Pitcairn : — 
 
 " Hearing that sundry of that number (the Lords of the Articles) had precon- 
 ceived hard opinions of Restalriy's process, the knowledge thereof, which ivrought 
 fear and mistrust in the minds of divers your Majesty's well affected subjects, 
 did breed in the Earl of Dunbar such care and fervency to remove these impedi- 
 ments, that, bending his wits in more passionate manner nor (than) he uses to 
 express in common and indifferent matters, he did travail so earnestly with the 
 noblemen, and whole remanent Lords of Articles, and sohcited some of the most 
 learned and best experimented of your Majesty's counsel, to furnish reasons and 
 light, to the clearing of the probation of that most heinous treason, and gave to 
 myself so earnest charge, and furnished so pregnant, judicious, and clear grounds 
 to confirm the summons, and manifest the very circumstances thereof to the 
 world, that he left no travail to me but the repetition of the substance of his in- 
 formation. To the which having so nearly conformed my discourse as possibly 
 I could, it pleased God that the lords of the articles, being happily prepared by 
 the deposition of divers honest men of the ministry, and other famous witnesses, 
 zvho, recognoscing umrjuhi/e (deceased) liestalrig's handwriting in his treason- 
 able missives produced by me, with very sensible and forcible reasons of their 
 constant and confident affirmation, that these missives were written by him, 
 when the probation of the summons was referred to the lords' votes, they found 
 uniformly, all in one voice, the said summons to be so clearly proven, that they 
 seemed to contend who should bo able most zealously to express the satisfaction 
 
286 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 of his heart, not only by most pithy -words, but by tears of joy — divers of the 
 best rank confessing, that that whereof Ihey doubted at their entry in the house, 
 was now so manifest, that they behoved to esteem them traitors who should any 
 longer refuse to declare their assured resolution of the truth of that treason." 
 
 History may depend upon it, that there is something more at the back of this 
 official and courtly report than meets the eye. We who are removed from the 
 influence of the 'passionate exertions and earnest travail of the Earl of Dunbar, 
 and who know that the inability (or perhaps disinclination) of " the most famous 
 witnesses" to detect a forgery, is (in a question of forgery) no proper proof of 
 authenticity — may be allowed to recur to, and concur in, the contemporary 
 doubts, without the fear of being " esteemed traitors." And here the import- 
 ance of that circumstance, which all our best modern historians have misunder- 
 stood, becomes manifest. Had those five letters been obtained from Sprot, and 
 produced on his trial, at least the public prosecutor's possession of them would 
 have been accounted for. Moreover, Sprot's dying testimony, quantum valeat, 
 that they were Logan's letters, and not forgeries, would have been added to the 
 mere negative proof of those packed witnesses whose evidence, after all, only 
 amounted to this, that they could not detect the slightest symptoms of forgery in 
 the handwriting. But if it be proved, as we think we have shoM'n by the ori- 
 ginal record, that those letters were never exhibited at Sprot's trial, were never 
 identified by him, were at no time said by the public prosecutor to have been 
 either produced by Sprot, or to have been obtained from his repositories, their 
 unexplained production at Logan's trial, their sudden resurrection, as if they 
 had been dug up with the bones, casts the darkest shade of suspicion upon the 
 whole proceedings. Produced at Sprot's trial they could not have been; other- 
 wise, at that time would have occurred the verification of them. Obtained from 
 Sprot's repositories they could not have been ; otherwise Sprot himself would 
 have confessed to them ; and his verification of them would have been secured by 
 the public prosecutor. Not attending to this important fact has engendered the 
 theory that Sprot forged those letters. But Sprot had not been connected with 
 the possession of the letters, by the proceedings on either trial. We can find no 
 reason to suppose that Sprot forged letters the possession of which were never 
 traced to him, however falsely he may have deponed regarding Gowrie's corres- 
 pondence with Logan. Then, where and when did the king's advocate get 
 those letters 1 He neither informs the public nor the king : but he frankly ad- 
 mits how much he was indebted to the earnest and passionate travail of the 
 king's minister and minion, the earl of Dunbar ; and perhaps he may have been 
 indebted to him also for the five Logan letters. ' 
 
 Our author, Spottiswoode, is not the only contemporary historian who has 
 recorded his own and the public disbelief in the Logan letters, and in all the 
 royal inferences therefrom. Calderwood, whose narrative of the facts is some- 
 what loose and confused, may, however, be taken as good evidence of the uni- 
 versal feeling on the subject. Notwithstanding poor Sprot's supposed attempt 
 to satisfy the public mind by his legerdemain exploit while suspended by the 
 neck, the public were not satisfied. " Notwithstanding of Sprot's confessions," 
 says Calderwood, " so many as did not believe before were never a wheate the 
 more persuaded ; partly because he was a false notary, and could counterfeit so 
 finely men's hand-writts, for which cause he was worthy of death ; partly because 
 benefit was promised to his wife and children by the earl of Dunbar, and had 
 sufiered both death and torments as a false notary." The people icondered 
 
 1 There is a general but very loose impression abroad, that Mr Pitcairn, by discovering 
 and printing the letters that were produced at Logan's trial, h&s proved their authenticity! 
 He seems to have been under that impression himself. He has only proved their existence. 
 
 2 We quote from Calderwood, as printed by the Wodrow Society, vol. vi. p. 780. A sentence 
 seems to have been printed out of its proper place here. Obviously, however, the meaning is, 
 that Sprot was a doomed man at any rate, from having forged deeds, and that he was bribed 
 <as well as tortured), into his confessions in regard to Logan. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 287 
 
 wherefore Dunbar should attend upon the execution of such a mean man ; and 
 surmised, that it was only to give a sign when his speech should he interrupted, 
 and when he was to be cast over the ladder. Farther, it was unknown to any 
 man that ever Gowrie was acquainted with the laird of Restalrig ; yea, such 
 was the account men had of Gowrie, that they thought he would not discredit 
 himself by contracting a familiarity with so dissolute a man." Sprot's charac- 
 ter as a falsifier of writs has naturally enough given rise to a theory,— especially 
 with those who argue under the mistaken idea that the Logan letters were pro- 
 duced by him, or found in his repositories,— that by his own hand were those 
 extraordinary missives created. A closer attention, however, to facts and dates 
 will, we think, entirely dissipate the notion, and cause the suspicion of that 
 mysterious crime to rest elsewhere. 
 
 Assuming the forgery, and that this notary was the forger, two propositions 
 must be granted : first, that he had committed the forgery deliberately, and 
 under circumstances which inferred prolonged leisure, security, and composure 
 of mind ; and, second, that he had thus severely and dangerously taxed his time 
 and ingenuity for some specific purpose. Nor do we think it much less doubtful, 
 from the tenor of the letters themselves, that the specific purpose must have been 
 to afford written evidence of a conspiracy between the Gowrie family and Logan 
 of Restalrig against the king. Whether this supposed desperate deception would 
 have to be traced to the secret and powerful inducements of others, or simply to 
 monomania, is not material to the immediate inquiry. Now, xchen was the for- 
 gery accomplished ? Upon the 10th of August 1C08, Sprot, after previous exa- 
 minations which have not been preserved, and after having suffered the extremity 
 of torture, emitted that final deposition which was turned into the libel against 
 him. He there narrates generally what he knew, and how he came to know, of 
 the correspondence between Logan and Gowrie. He professes to repeat from 
 memory some of the substance of that correspondence. He admits that he stole 
 one of the letters. He admits that that letter is secreted in his repositories at 
 Eyemouth. And all this he depones as a dying man. By admitting so much, 
 and the actual possession of one of the letters, he was as irretrievably doomed as 
 if he had confessed to the possession of all the letters. It is not at all impossi- 
 ble,^ndeed, all circumstances considered, it is more than probable, that having 
 been led by torture, and by some other inducements behind the scenes, to tell a 
 false story, and to invent the scrap of a letter, he had, when pressed, aXao falsely 
 said that it existed in his repositories. But this certainly may bo deemed im- 
 possible, that supposing him to \vxvq actually forged for the specific purpose those 
 five Logan letters, he would now have only used them to the extent of a, general 
 and very imperfect narrative, and the admission oi one only of a set of forgeries 
 which he had so painfully fabricated for the very purpose of this disclosure. 
 The conclusion is inevitable. Upon the 10th of August 1608, Sprot knew no- 
 thing whatever about these supposed forgeries. Then, had he forged them sub- 
 sequent to that date ? Had the earl of Dunbar (a man perfectly capable of the 
 act), induced his wretched victim, by false hopes and promises, to afford him the 
 benefit of his expert hand, by concocting those fearful letters after his examina- 
 tion on the 10th of August ? Again we say, impossible. Upon the 1 1th of August 
 Sprot was made to adhere to his confession of the day before ; upon the forenoon 
 of the 12th he was convicted in terms of that confession ; and he was hanged in 
 the afternoon of the same day. If he was unconscious of those elaborate for- 
 geries upon the lOth of August, as his own confession we think demonstrates, 
 then the Logan letters were not forged by Sprot ; and those letters, whether 
 authentic or forgeries, were never in Sprot's possession. This state of matters 
 is not only proved by the dying confession of Sprot, but by the Lord Advocate's 
 indictment against him. The public prosecutor there distinctly indicates that 
 at that time he knew of no such missives in Sprot's possession. This he does by 
 explicitly restricting his charge, as regards that particular, to Sprot's surrep- 
 titious possession of a single letter, in terms of his own confession. 
 
288 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 The wretched notary of Eyemouth having served the purpose of Government, 
 and being hanged, drawn, and quartered (for an alleged offence in its own na- 
 ture scarcely tangible), out of the way, the farce was resumed in the following 
 year with less of cruelty, but even more of absurdity. The public prosecutor, 
 " Tam of the Cowgate," (as the first Lord Haddington was called), appears 
 armed with Jive treasonable letters from Logan of Restalrig to the earl of Gowrie. 
 He calls into court the mouldering bones of the dead and buried laird, and pro- 
 ceeds to prove that this treason was committed by him. The obvious and only 
 satisfactory mode of doing so would have been, to trace the possession of those 
 letters home to such a quarter as would necessarily or naturally infer the reality 
 of the alleged correspondence. They might have been found in the repositories 
 of the Gowrie family ; or, as returned letters, in Logan's repositories ; or in that 
 of his alleged confidential messenger, " laird Bour." Surely the Lord Advocate 
 knew something of their history. He must at least have known how, and from 
 whence they came into his own possession. The fact was every thing to the 
 case. It was every thing to the doubting and bewildered public, who could not 
 fathom these strange proceedings. It was every thing to the Lords of Articles, 
 the judges in the case, who were shaking their heads, and putting their tongues 
 in their cheeks on the very day of trial. But Tam of the Cowgate was as silent 
 as the bones of the accused on that essential point of the case. He does not 
 pretend to trace the history, or the acquisition of those letters. He does not 
 drop a hint even that they were discovered in the repositories of Sprot. The 
 latest confession of that victim, and the Advocate's own indictment against him, 
 placed such an allegation out of the question. The Earl of Dunbar having 
 primed him to meet the universal cry of forgery, he calls witness after witness, — 
 all selected by the excited and travailing Earl, — to prove what ? That they were 
 intimately acquainted with Logan's handwriting, and could discover no appear- 
 ance of forgery ! And this, without an attempt to trace the past possession, or 
 to account for the present possession, of those strange missives, was the Lord 
 Advocate's case for King James, and for his prime-minister, the Earl of Dunbar. 
 And such is the evidence for their authenticity, by which, although it imposed 
 not upon the public mind at the time, our modern historians have suffered them- 
 selves to be misled ! 
 
 These considerations, which can only be imperfectly developed within the com- 
 pass of an illustrative note, naturally suggest the question, what was the meaning 
 of all this iniquitous mystery ? The conduct of the case for the crown no doubt 
 inevitably leads to the only rational conclusion, that the public prosecutor 
 could not honestly account for those pi-oductions. But cui bono the dishonesty ? 
 The Gowrie family was destroyed. King James was upon the throne of England. 
 If a little more whitewashing, with regard to the Gowrie conspiracy, seemed 
 to be necessary, that purpose was effected, as well as it coxild be, by the confes- 
 sions of the immolated notary. Why was the crazy credit of the Government 
 of Scotland, and of its king, to be again perilled in a prosecution which possessed 
 no feature of legality, and which bore on the very face of it evidence of the most 
 audacious corruption of public justice \ And taking the two trials together, as one 
 scheme of tyrannical intrigue on the part of certain powerful and unprincipled 
 courtiers, how came it that Logan of Restalrig, who by this time had gone to 
 where the wicked cease from troubling, was selected as the pretended conspira- 
 tor, in concert with the princely and exclusive earl of Gowrie,— a theory which 
 instantly provoked the public scepticism ? The limits of this note will not permit 
 us to follow out the curious inquiry with that closeness and precision which it 
 requires and deserves. But, before leaving the subject, attention may be drawn 
 to certain facts, not hitherto observed, which will readily suggest a new theory, 
 and may serve as a guide to future investigators of these dark and perplexing 
 transactions. 
 
 It is pointedly stated by Calderwood, that the case in which Sprot figured so 
 wofuUy was most zealously got up by two great functionaries,— James lord 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII, 289 
 
 Balmerinoch, who was then Secretary of State for Scotland and Lord President ; 
 and George earl of Dunbar, Prime Minister, (Hist. p. 779). That the last named 
 was active, in the forfeiture of Logan of Restalrig, to a degree of excitement 
 which he rarely displayed upon other occasions, we have on the authority of the 
 Lord Advocate's letter to King James. Now the coincidence is not a little re- 
 markable, that both of these worthies had engaged in money transactions to a 
 great extent with Logan, and were deeply indebted to his estate. From the 
 record of the Great Seal, it appears, that in the year IG05, Logan's estate of 
 Restalrig had passed into the hands of Balmerinoch by purchase. But the price 
 had not been paid ; and when the laird of Restalrig died, the Secretary was in 
 his debt no less than eighteen thousand marks, a large sum in those days. This 
 is proved by the register of confirmed testaments, where Logan's is recorded ; 
 and by the sam3 it appears that the Earl of Dunbar was also Logan's debtor to 
 the amount o{ fifteen thousand marks. To that most accurate and obliging 
 antiquary, Mr David Laing, I am indebted for an exact transcript of the con- 
 firmed testament of Logan of Restalrig, who died in the month of July 1G06. 
 The confirmation is dated nliimo Januarij 1607, not long before the commence- 
 ment of the process against the notary Sprot. Among the items of the debts due 
 to the deceased occur the following : 
 
 " Item, There was awiu to the said umquhill Robert Logane of Restalrig, be 
 my Lordof Balmerinoh, the sowme of auchteene thousand markes. Item, Be the 
 Erie of Dunbar, the sowme of fyftene thousand markis." 
 
 Lord Balmerinoch, as is well known, became involved in the charge of having 
 falsified the king's name in a transaction with the Pope, about the very time of 
 the trial of Logan's bones ; and the result of Balmeriuoch's trial (also suspected 
 of being collusive) rendered his benefiting by the Sproto-Logan imposition out of 
 the question. All these matters were entirely ruled by the intriguing Earl of 
 Dunbar ; and why that worthy, was so earnest in the forfeiture of Logan's 
 estate is pretty distinctly indicated by the following extracts from the Register 
 of the Privy Seal, for which I am also indebted to Mr Laing. 
 
 " Ane letter maid to his Hienes richt trustie Consigne and werie familiar 
 Counsallour, George Earle of Dumbar, of the gift of the escheit and forfaultour 
 of the sowme of fyftene thousand markis Scotis money, restand unpayit be him 
 to umquhill Robert Logane of Restalrig, for compleitiug the sowme of threttie 
 aucht thousand markis of usuall monie of our said Realme, promitit and con- 
 ditionit for the lands of Flemyngtoun, with the pertinents, sauld and disponit be 
 the said umquhill Robert Logane of Restalrig to our said richt traist Consigne 
 his airis and assignais, heritablie and irredimablie, according to the contract of 
 alienatioun maid betwixt thame thairauent, registrait in the buikis of Counsall ; 
 quharof the said Erie payit to the said umquhill Robert befoir his deceis, at 
 divers times, great sowmcs of money, extending to the sowme of twentie thrie 
 thousand markis ; and sue restis the remanent thairof yet unpayit, extending to 
 the sowme above mcntionit ; and that in default of the said Robert Logane, for 
 not delyverance to the said Erie of the auld evidentis concerning the saidis landis 
 of Flemyngtoun, and not fulfilling of certain utheris substantial! hcidis and con- 
 ditions for the said Robert his pairt," &c. 
 
 " Lykeas his Majestic quytclames and simplicitcr dischargeis the said 
 George Erie of Dumbar of the particular debt and sowmes quhilk wes unpayit to 
 the said umquhill Robert Logane," &c. 
 
 " At Andover the 22d day of August 1G09. Per signaturam." 
 
 At the same time appears another grant to Alexander Home of Renton, the 
 Earl of Dunbar'' s cousin-german, " Of the gift of the escheit and forfaultour of 
 quhatsumever takis and assedatiouns, lang or schort, of all and sindric the teynd 
 scheavis and utheris teyndis, both personage and vicarage, and ather of thame of 
 the parochim and paroche kirk of Horden, lying within the Sherifi'dom of Ber- 
 wick, quhilk pertenit of befoir to umquhill Robert Logane of Restalrig, and now 
 VOL. III. 19 
 
290 NOTES TO BOOK VII. 
 
 perteining to our Soverane Lord, throw the proces and dome of forfaultoux 
 ordourlie led and deduceit agains the said umquhill Robert," &c.—{Registrum 
 Secreti Sigilli, LXXVIII. 1609-10.) 
 
 Since the above note was prepared for the press, there has fallen under the 
 editor's observation a pamphlet upon the subject of the Gowrie conspiracy, pub- 
 lished in 1849, by the accomplished novelist, G. P. R. James, Esq. Much 
 acuteness and some research are displayed in this performance ; and the author 
 arrives at a conclusion adverse to all ideas of the truth of the Gowrie conspiracy 
 — a subject upon which we have not attempted to enter in this note. The new 
 views, however, which we hope to have cast upon the actual state of the strange 
 criminal processes against Sprot and Logan, instituted by the Earl of Dunbar 
 for the king, many years afterwards, will show that those proceedings tend to 
 discredit, and not, as generally supposed, to support the truth of the Gowrie con- 
 spiracy. Mr James, of course, has noticed the trial of Sprot, and commented 
 upon the treasonable letters alluded to in that process. But he, too, appears 
 to have been misled into the erroneous idea, that Sprot was in possession of 
 " a set " of those letters, and not of one letter merely ; for he says (p. 72) " Sprot 
 abstracted and kept the same letter [that to which he confesses], and apparently 
 others ",• and he comes to the conclusion, " that one set of letters, [Sprot's], or 
 the other [those produced at Logan's trial], or both, were manufactured." But 
 Sprot never confessed to more than thepossession of one letter (it would have been 
 no worse for his case had it been fifty) ; and, as Archbishop Spottiswoode says, 
 that one was never shown. And here we must come into collision with Mr 
 James upon the subject of that very paragraph in Spottiswoode's history which 
 has given rise to this note. He founds upon the contemporary historian's scep- 
 ticism, and then (p. 8} ) gives the passage thus : — 
 
 " Whether or not I should mention the arraignment and execution of George 
 Sprot, notary in Eyemouth, I am doubtful. His story seemed a very fiction, 
 and to be a mere invention of tlte man's own brain ; for neither did he show the 
 letter which he said was ivritten by the Earl of Goivrie, nor could any man think 
 that Gov7rie,who went about that treason so secretly, would have communicated 
 the matter with such a man as Restalrig was known to be." 
 
 We know not where the historical novelist has got that version of Spottis- 
 woode containing the sentence which we have printed above in italics. It 
 seems to be an interpolated sentence — of course not by Mr James, who is omni 
 suspicione major; and, moreover, the vicious text is against his own argu- 
 ment. But Spottiswoode never could have written that sentence, as it is quite at 
 variance with the rest of the paragraph. This, however, does not appear distinctly 
 in Mr James's version, because, besides the interpolation, something has been 
 omitted. We must here repeat the whole paragraph as the historian wrote it : 
 
 " Whether or not I should mention the arraignment and execution of Georgo 
 Sprot, notary in Eyemouth, who suffered at Edinburgh in the August pre- 
 ceding, I am doubtful ; his confession, though voluntary and constant, carrying 
 small probability. This man had deponed, ' That he knew Robert Logan of 
 Restalrig, who was dead two years before, to have been privy to Gowrie's con- 
 spiracy, and that he understood so much by a letter that fell in his hand, written 
 by Restalrig to Goivrie, bearing, that he would take part with him in the revenge 
 of his father's death, and that his best course should be to bring the king by sea 
 to Fast Castle, where he might be safely kept till advertisement came from those 
 with whom the earl kept intelligence.' It seemed a very fiction, and to be a 
 mere conceit of the man's own brain ; for neither did he show the letter, nor 
 could any wise man think that Gowrie, who went about that treason so secretly, 
 would have communicated the matter with such a man as this Restalrig was 
 known to be." — (See supra, p. 200.) 
 
 The sentence which Mr James's version omits, distinctly proves that the pas- 
 sage interpolated could not have been written by Spottiswoode. It is only of 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VII. 291 
 
 the letter " by R«stalrig to Gowrie " that he speaks ; and there is no reference 
 whatever in the whole paragraph to the letter from Gowrie to Restalrig. More- 
 over, he could not have meant to complain that this last letter was not shown, 
 for Sprot himself only confessed to the possession of the former letter ; and the 
 historian could not be so unreasonable as to expect that Sprot should " show 
 the letter " which he did not pretend to possess. 
 
 We know not how Spottiswoode's text has come to be thus seriously blundered 
 in a disquisition so elaborate as Mr James's ; but we exonerate that gentleman 
 from any intention whatever to misquote our author.— E.] 
 
 NOTE II.— P. 214. 
 
 CONTRACT AGAINST THE BROKEN MEN OF THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 [A CURIOUS illustration of the state of the Highlands, to which our author here 
 refers, and of the feeling against the " heilland broken men," will be found in the 
 following contract of mutual defence, the original of which is among Lord Napier's 
 archives. The great Napier, whose signature is attached, besides the rich barony 
 of Merchiston, possessed one-fourth of the Levenax, or Lennox, by inheritance 
 from his ancestress, Elizabeth Menteith, co-heiress of Lennox and Rusky : 
 
 "At Edinburgh, the 24 day of December, the year of God 1611, it is apoyntit, 
 agreeit, and finallie contractit, betwixt Johnne Napier of Merchiston on the ane 
 pairt, and James Campbell of Laweris, Coline Campbell of Aberurquhill, and 
 Johnne Campbell their brother-germane, on the uther pairt, in manner, forme, 
 and effect as eftir followis ; to wit, forsamekill as baith the saids parteis respect- 
 ing and considdering the mutuall amitie, friendship, and guidwill quhilk hes 
 been thir divers yciris bygaue betwixt the Lairds of Merchiston and Laweris 
 and their houssis, and willing that the lyk kyndness, amitie, and frendsliip, sail 
 still continew betwixt thame in tyme coming ; thairfoir, the saidis James Camp- 
 bell of Laweris, Coline and Johnne Campbellis thair breither, faithfully pro- 
 mittis, that in case it sail happin the said Johnne Napier of Merchistoun, or his 
 tennentis of the landis within Menteith and Lennox, to be trublit or oppressit 
 in the possessioun of thair said landis, or their guidis and geir, violentlie or be 
 stouth of the name of M'Grigour, or ony utheris heilland broken men ; in that 
 case, the said James, Coline, and Johnne Campbellis to use thair exact dilligence 
 in causing searsch and try the committaris and dears of the said crymes ; and, 
 on the uther pairt, the said John Napeir of Merchistouno promittis and oblissis 
 him and his airis to fortifie and assist with the saidis James, Coline, and 
 Johnne Campbellis, in all their leisum and honest effairis, as occasioun sail offer; 
 and hcrit baith the said parteis faithfullie promittis, binds, and oblissis thame, 
 hinc inde, to utheris. In witnes of the quhilk thing (written bo George Ban- 
 erman, servitor to Antono Quhite, writer in Edinburgh), baith the said pairties 
 have subscryvit this presentis with thair hands, day, yeir, and place foirsaid, 
 befoir thir witnesses ; Johnne Napier, sonno lauchful to the said Laird of Mer- 
 chistoun ; Alexander Menteith, his servitour; William Campbell, sononaturrell 
 to the said Laird of Laweris ; and the said George Bannerman. 
 
 James Campbell of Laweris. 
 Jhone Nepair of Merchistoun. 
 Jhone Campbell of Ardewnane. 
 CoLEiNE Campbell of Aberurquhill.— E.'\ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbeys, or Monasteries, founded, i. 
 70, 71 ; observations on the objects 
 and utility of, ib. 
 
 Abbot, George, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, absolves the Marquis of Huntly 
 from excommunication, iii. 232 ; 
 complaint aj^aiust for this act, ib. ; 
 defended by James VI., iii. 232, 233 ; 
 letter of, to Archbishop Spottiswoodo 
 in explanation of his conduct, iii. 233, 
 234, 235. 
 
 Abel, Arch-Dean of St Andrews, elect- 
 ed Bishop of St Andrews, i. 88 ; conse- 
 crated at Rome by Pope Innocent IV. 
 i. 89 ; death of, ib. ; character of, ib. 
 
 Aberdeen, Bishops of, i. 199-210, 235- 
 239. 
 
 Diocese of, i. 59. 
 
 King's College and University 
 
 founded, i. 207. 
 
 General Assembly at, iii. 235. 
 
 Abernethy, the burial place of the 
 
 Scottish St Bridget or St Bride, i. 
 22 ; the alleged capital of the Pictish 
 kingdom, i. 46. 
 
 Achaius, King of Scotland, and Char- 
 lemagne, King of France, alleged 
 league of, i. 41. 
 
 Adam, Bishop of Caithness, i. 85. 
 
 Adamnanus, Bishop, account of, i. 35, 36. 
 
 Adamson, Patrick, titular Archbishop 
 of St Andrews, opposition of the 
 Presbyterians to, ii. 202, 337 ; death 
 and character of, ii. 415. 
 
 Adrian, first Bishop of St Andrews, 
 killed,!. 51. 
 
 Aidanus, Bishop, converts the Saxons, 
 i. 27, 28 ; death of, i. 28. 
 
 Aidanus, King of Scotland, i. 17, 18 ; 
 crowned by St Columba, i. 18 ; vic- 
 tory over Brudeus, King of the Picts, 
 i. 19; death of, i. 19,21. 
 
 Albany, Robert Stuart, first Duke of, 
 Regent, conduct of, i. 122, 123. 
 
 Alcuinus, celebrity of, i. 42, 43. 
 
 Alexander I., King of Scotland, letter 
 of, to Radolph, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, to send a successor to Turgot, 
 Bishop of St Andrews, i. 65. 
 
 complains of the Archbishop of 
 
 York, ib. 
 
 Alexander I., founds Scone and Inch- 
 colm Abbeys, i. C8. 
 
 benefactions of, ib. 
 
 Alexander II., accession of, i. 84; coro- 
 nation of, ib. ; protects the Church 
 of Scotland against the demands of 
 Rome, ib. ; death of, i. 88 ; interred 
 at Melrose, ib. ; inscription on his 
 tomb, ib. 
 
 Alexander III., accession of, i. 88; 
 death of, i. 94 ; death of all the chil- 
 dren of, ib. 
 
 Alexius, Sub- Dean of the Roman See, 
 arrival of, i. 79. 
 
 Alpin, King, killed, i. 45. 
 
 Alwinus, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 54. 
 
 Amphibalus, first Bishop at lona, i. 6. 
 
 Andrew, St. the Apostle, relics of, 
 brought to Scotland, i. 8, 9 ; mira- 
 culous appearance of, i. 44, 45. 
 
 Andrews, St. constituted the seat of 
 the chief Bishop of Scotland, i. 46. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 51-193 ; i. 227-230. 
 
 Diocese of, limits of, i. 59. 
 
 Bishops of, consecrated at York, 
 
 i. 65. 
 
 Priory of, founded, i. 71. 
 
 constituted a royal burgh, ib. 
 
 Cathedral, founded, i. 72, 73. 
 
 Cathedral, destroyed, i. 276. 
 
 murder of Cardinal Beaton in the 
 
 Castle of, i. 164, 165. 
 
 Archbishopric, constituted by Pope 
 
 Sixtus IV., i. 116; opposition to the 
 primacy of, ib. 
 
 contests for the Archbishopric of, 
 
 i. 122, 123. 
 
 Castlo, siege of, i. 166, 173 ; sur- 
 render of, i. 174. 
 
 University of, founded, i. 112, 113; 
 
 first Professors in, ib. 
 
 New College, or St Mary's Col- 
 lege, founded by Archbishop James 
 Beaton, i. 134. 
 
 state of the University of, iii. 66, 
 
 67 ; resolutions concerning the Uni- 
 versity of, ib. 
 
 dissensions in the Presbytery of, 
 
 in the case of Leuchars parish, ii. 416, 
 
 ; 417. 
 
 ' Andrewes, Dr Lancelot, successively 
 
294 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bishop of Chichester, Ely, and Win- 
 chester, preaches at the opening of 
 the Hampton Court Conference, iii. 
 177 ; opinion of, on the ordination of 
 presbyters without bishops, iii. 209, 
 
 Angelramus, or Ingebamus, Bishop of 
 Glasgow, i. 73. 
 
 Angus, Archibald Douglas, eighth Earl 
 of, death and character of, ii. 389, 
 390. 
 
 Angus, William Douglas, tenth Earl of, 
 escape of, ii. 428 ; submits to the 
 Church, iii. 62 ; retires to France, iii. 
 208 ; death of, ib. 
 
 Anne of Denmark, Queen of James VI., 
 coronation of, ii. 408. 
 
 state entrance of, into Edinburgh, 
 
 ii. 408 ; death of, iii. 258. 
 
 Arbuthnot, Alexander, Principal of 
 King's College, Aberdeen, death of, 
 ii. 319 ; account of, ib. 
 
 Archbishops of St Andrews and Glas- 
 gow, rules for the residence and visi- 
 tations of, iii. 210. See Bishops. 
 
 Argyll, foundation of the Diocese of, i. 
 194. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 225, 226, 258, 259. 
 
 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, seventh 
 Earl of, appointed Lieutenant of The 
 Isles for six months, iii. 192 ; autho- 
 rized to extirpate the Clan Gregory 
 or Macgregor, iii. 213,214 ; becomes 
 a Roman Catholic, iii. 257 ; exiled, 
 ib. ; suspected of a design to disturb 
 the country, ib. ; allowed to return to 
 England, ib. 
 
 Armstrong, William, called Kinmonth 
 Willie, seized by the English, and im- 
 prisoned in Carlisle Castle, iii. 1,2; 
 rescue of, by Scott of Buccleuch, iii. 
 2, 3, 4. 
 
 Arnold, Abbot of Kelso, Bishop of St 
 Andrews, i. 72. 
 
 Arran, James Hamilton, second Earl 
 of, appointed Regent, i. 141 ; de- 
 nounced by the clergy ,as a favourer of 
 heretics, i. 143; resigns the regency, i. 
 182. See Chatelherault (Duke of). 
 
 Arran, James Hamilton, third Earl of, 
 eldest son of the Duke of Chatelher- 
 ault, disorderly conduct of, i. 323 ; 
 opposes the Roman Catholic service, 
 ii. 7 ; rumoured violence intended by, 
 to Queen Mary, ii. 15 ; informs Queen 
 Mary of a design to murder the Earl 
 of Moray, ii. 17 ; examined before the 
 Privy Council, ib.; supposed insanity 
 of, ib. 
 
 Arran, title of Earl of, restored to the 
 right possessor, ii. 334. 
 
 Arran, Earl of. See Stewart (Captain 
 James.) 
 
 Articles, the Five, sanctioned in the 
 General Assembly at Perth, iii. 255, 
 256, 257. 
 Ascension Day, Festival of, enjoined to 
 
 be observed, iii. 257. 
 Assembly, General, at Linlithgow, iii. 
 183 ; proceedings of, iii. 184-187. 
 
 Assembly, how to be convened, and the 
 constituent members of, iii. 211. 
 
 at Glasgow in 1609, acts of, rati- 
 fied by the Parliament, iii. 217, 218. 
 
 at Aberdeen, resolutions of, iii. 
 
 235, 236, 237 ; opposition of the min- 
 isters to the resolutions of, iii. 241- 
 245. 
 
 at Perth, iii. 252 ; commissioners 
 
 to, ib. ; letter ft"om James VI. to, iii. 
 252, 253, 254 ,• the Five Articles en- 
 acted in, iii. 255, 256, 257 ; ratifica- 
 tion of in Parliament, iii. 261. 
 
 Athelstane, an alleged King of the West 
 Saxons, or of Northumberland, de- 
 feated and killed, i. 44, 45. 
 
 Atholl, John Stewart, fourth Earl of, 
 death of, ii. 263 ; said to have been 
 poisoned by the Earl of Morton, ib. 
 
 Augustine, arrival of, in Britain, i. 22 ; 
 sent by Gregory VII. to convert the 
 English Saxons, ib. ; converts King 
 Ethelbert, ib. ; demands to be recog- 
 nised as the only Archbishop of 
 Britain, ib. ; labours of, i. 22, 23 ; 
 troubles caused by, and death of, i. 
 22, 23. 
 
 Babington, Anthony, a Roman Catho- 
 lic gentleman, conspiracy of,in favour 
 of (ineen Mary against Queen Eliza- 
 beth, ii. 349. 
 
 Bagimont's Roll, notice of the list of 
 Scottish benefices enumerated to pay 
 taxes in, i. 93. 
 
 Balcanqual, Walter, one of the min- 
 isters of Edinburgh, preaches against 
 the Dnke of Lennox, ii. 284 ; defends 
 himself, ib. ; flight to England, ii. 
 315. 
 
 Baldred, St. of the Bass, known as the 
 Apostle of East Lothian or Hadding- 
 tonshire, account of, i. 21. 
 
 Balfour, Sir James, one of the mur- 
 derers of Henry Lord Damley, ap- 
 pointed keeper of Edinburgh Castle 
 by the Earl of Bothwell, ii. 49. 
 
 Balfour, Sir Michael, first Lord Bal- 
 four of Burleigh. See Burleigh. 
 
 Baliol, John, King of Scotland, coro- 
 nation of, i. 97; opposes Edward I. 
 of England, i. 98 ; compelled to sub- 
 mit, ib. 
 
 Balmcrino, James Elphinestono, first 
 Lord, arrested on a charge of high 
 treason, and sent to Scotland, iii. 197, 
 198, 199; trial of, iu. 202, 203, 204 ; 
 conviction of, iii. 204 ; sentenced to 
 be executed, ib.; remission, ib.; death 
 of, ib. ; character of, iii. 205. See 
 Elphinestone (Sir James). 
 
 Balnaves, Henry, of Hallhill, i. 144, 
 167. 
 
 Bancho, or Banqno, murder of, i. 57, 
 58. 
 
 Bancroft, Dr Richard, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, opinion of, on the ordina- 
 tion of presbyters without bishops, 
 iii. 209. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 295 
 
 Bane, James, elected Bishop of St An- 
 drews, i. 109. 
 
 Baptism of James VI. in Stirling Cas- 
 tle, account of the, ii. 41, 42. 
 
 Baptism, Sacrament of, regulations for 
 the administration of, in public and 
 private, iii. '255, "256. 
 
 Barlow, Dr William, successively 
 Bishop of Rochester and Lincoln, 
 preaches at the opening of the Hamp- 
 ton Court Conference, iii. 177. 
 
 Beaton, Cardinal David, Archbishop of 
 St Andrews, history of, i. 134-1G5 ; 
 assassinated in the Castle of St An- 
 drews, i. 164, 1(J5 ; murderers of, i. 
 163. 
 
 Beaton, James, Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 elected Archbishop of St Andrews, i. 
 123 ; death of, i. 134 ; founder of St 
 Mary's or the New College, St An- 
 drews, i. 134. 
 
 Beaton, James, Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 death of, iii. 139 ; account of, iii. 139, 
 140. 
 
 Bedford, Francis Russell, second Earl 
 of, arrives in France from Queen 
 Elizabeth, ii. 1. 
 
 Bellarmine, Cardinal, controversy of, 
 with James VI., iii. 197. See Bal- 
 merino (Lord) or Elphinestoue (Sir 
 James). 
 
 Benedict XIII., Pope, obedience of 
 Scotland to, i. 111. 
 
 Benham, David, elected Bishop of St 
 Andrews, i. 87. 
 
 Binning, Sir Thomas Hamilton, first 
 Lord, afterwards Earl of Melrose 
 and Earl of Haddington, preferments 
 of, iii. 214, 215. See Hamilton (Sir 
 Thomas). 
 
 Bishops, Scottish, and clergy, proceed- 
 ings of, in ecclesiastical atfairs, i. 84, 
 85 ; complaint to Rome against Car- 
 dinal Guallo, ib. ; privileges to the, 
 conferred by Pope Honorius III., 
 i. 86. 
 
 Bishops-Elect, Scottish, at Rome, i. 91. 
 
 Bishops, Scottish, lists of, i. 227-2G1. 
 
 Bishops, Scottish, act for the restitution 
 of, in all the Dioceses, iii. 176 ; ex- 
 planation of, ib. 
 
 consecration of three, in the Chapel 
 
 of London House in 1609, iii. 209; 
 speech of James VI. to, ib. ; objec- 
 tions to the consecration of, without 
 episcopal ordination discussed, ib. 
 
 regulations for the election of, iii. 
 
 211. 
 
 position and duties of, in the Gen- 
 eral Assemblies, stated by James VI., 
 iii. 241. 
 
 address of James VI. to, at St An- 
 drews, iii. 245. 
 
 Bishoprics, Scottish, internal state of 
 the, iii. 82. 
 
 Blacater, or Blackadder, Robert, Bi- 
 shop of Glasgow, first Archbishop of 
 Glasgow, i. 120. 
 Black, or Blake, David, minister at St 
 
 Andrews, treasonable sermons of, iii. 
 13; reviles (^ueen Elizabeth, ib. ; 
 case of, iii. 15, 16, 18, 19. 
 
 Blackness Castle, sale of, ii. 175. 
 
 Blanks, the Spanish, account of the 
 device and intention of the,ii. 425, 426. 
 
 Boece, or Boethius, Hector, first Prin- 
 cipal of King's College and Univer- 
 sity, Aberdeen, notice of, i. 135. 
 
 Boernellus, a Scottish Bishop, favours 
 marriage of the clergy, i. 54, 55. 
 
 Bohemia, the war in, iii. 259. 
 
 Bonifacins, arrival of, in Scotland, i. 
 37, 38. 
 
 Borders, feuds on the, ii. 198 ; state of 
 the, ii. 259. 
 
 Borthwick, Sir John, prosecution of, i. 
 138 ; charges of heresy against, i. 
 138, 139 ; fljght of, i. 139 ; condemna- 
 tion of, ib. 
 
 Bothwell, Adam, Bishop of Orkney, 
 marries Queen Mary to Bothwell, ii. 
 54; deposition of, ii. 83; history of, 
 note, ii. 71-80 ; rcpoued, ii. 93. 
 
 Bothwell, James Hepburn, fourth Earl 
 of, hatred to Lord Darnley, ii. 41 ; 
 the favourite of Queen Mary, ib. ; 
 plots of, ii. 16; accusations of, against 
 the house of Hamilton, ib. ; resolves 
 to murder the Earl of Moray, ii. 17 ; 
 imijrisoned in Edinburgh Castle, ii. 
 18 ; recalled from exile, ii. 26 ; again 
 plots to murder the Earl of Moray, 
 ib. ; flight to France, ib. ; publicly 
 accused as the princijial murderer 
 of Lord Darnley, ii. 47, 48; alleges 
 that the Earls of Moray and Morton 
 were the contrivers, ii. 48 ; im- 
 peached by the Earl of Lennox, ii. 
 49 ; imprisonment of, ib. ; offers him- 
 self for trial, ib. ; secures Edinburgh 
 Castle, ib. ; mock trial of, ii. 49, 50 ; 
 names of the jury on,ii. 50; acquitted, 
 ib. ; reasons for, ib. ; popular hatred 
 to, ii. 51 ; gives an entertainment to 
 the nobility, ib. ; seizes Queen Mary, 
 ib. ; conveys her to Dunbar Castle, 
 ib. ; divorced from his Countess, ii. 
 52 ; marriage of, to the Queen, ii. 54; 
 combination against, iii. 55 ; pro- 
 clamation against, ii. 57, 58 ; flight of, 
 ii. 62 ; retires to (Orkney, ii. 81 ; pur- 
 suit of, ii. 82 ; escape of, ib. ; impri- 
 sonment and death of, in Denmark, 
 ii. 138. 
 
 Bothwell, Francis Stewart, Earl of, 
 conduct of, ii. 333; denounced a rebel, 
 ii. 395 ; imprisoned, ii. 398 ; escape 
 of, ii. 412 ; forfeited and declared a 
 traitor, ii. 412, 413; plots of, ib. ; at- 
 tempts of, against James VI., ii. 417- 
 419 ; retires to the North, ii. 419 ; 
 invades James VI. at Falkland, ii. 
 421,422 ; adventures of, ii. 423, 424; 
 surprises the King in Ilolyrood Pa- 
 lace, ii. 422, 423, 424, 425. 
 
 Bowes, Sir William, arrival of, as am- 
 bassador from England, at Edin- 
 burgh, iii. 79. 
 
296 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 BoydjJames, titular Ai'chbishop of Glas- 
 gow, ii. 172 ; death of, ii. 257. 
 
 Brechin, Bishopric of, founded, i. 69. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 212, 213, 242-244. 
 
 Brice, Bishop of Moray, i. 85. 
 
 Brigida, St, commonly called St Bride, 
 sanctity of, i. 22 ; born in Caithness, 
 ib. ; death of, ib. ; interred at Aber- 
 nethy, ib. 
 
 Brigida, a native of Sweden, notice of, 
 i. 22. 
 
 Britain, Archbishop of, the exclusive 
 title of, claimed by Augustine, i. 22. 
 
 Britain, introduction of the Gospel into, 
 i. 2. 
 
 Britons, defeat of the, by the Scots and 
 Picts, i. 11. 
 
 Britons and Saxons, conflicts of, i. 26. 
 
 Bruce, King Robert, account of, i. 103- 
 107; death of, i. 107. 
 
 Bruce, Robert, minister at Edinburgh, 
 popularity of, ii. 379 ; crowns Queen 
 Anne, ii. 408; conferences of, with 
 James VI., iii. 7, 8 ; banished from 
 Scotland, iii. 90; pardoned, iii. 103. 
 
 Brudeus, King of the Picts, 1. 18, 19 ; 
 killed, i. 45. 
 
 Buccleuch, Sir Walter Scott, first Lord 
 Scott of, surprises Carlisle Castle, iii. 
 2, 3, 4 ; imprisoned, iii. 5. See Arm- 
 strong, alias Kinmont Willie. 
 
 Buckeridge, Dr John, successively Bi- 
 shop of Rochester and Ely, preaches 
 at the opening of the Hamilton Court 
 Conference, iii. 177. 
 
 Buchanan, George, opinions of, on the 
 episcopal order refuted, i. 13; impri- 
 soned in the Castle of St Andrews, 
 1.134 ; escape of, ib.; appointed joint 
 preceptor to James VI., ii. 223; death 
 of, ii. 299 ; account of, i. 299, 300. 
 
 Buchanan, Thomas, minister of Ceres 
 in Fife, death of, iii. 77. 
 
 Burleigh, Sir Michael Balfour, first 
 Lord Balfour of, opposes a grant of 
 money to James VI., iii. 218 ; dis- 
 missed from the Privy Council, ib. ; 
 challenges Lord Scone, ib. ; impri- 
 soned in Edinburgh Castle, ib. 
 
 Caithness, Bishopric of, founded, i. 59. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 216, 217, 218, 248, 
 
 249.^ 
 
 Earl of, ordered to suppress a re- 
 bellion in Orkney, iii. 220 ; lands at 
 Kirkwall, and besieges the Castle, ib. 
 
 Calderwood, David, banishment of, iii. 
 247. 
 
 Candida Casa, or Galloway, Bishops of, 
 i. 12 ; origin of the name of, ib. 
 
 Canon, Paschal, note on the, i. 47-50. 
 
 Carmelites, first appearance of, in Scot- 
 land, i. 91 ; settle at Perth, ib. 
 
 Carnegy, David, of Colluthie, death of, 
 iii. 77. 
 
 Carthusian monastery at Perth founded, 
 i. 113. 
 
 Cathedrals, Scottish, enjoined to be re- 
 paired by the Bishops, iii. 210. | 
 
 Cary, Sir Robert, address of, to James 
 VI., ii. 363, 364. 
 
 Censures, Church, how to be adminis- 
 tered, iii. 210,211. 
 
 Chancellor of Scotland, remarks on the 
 ofiice of, in early times, i. 82, 83. 
 
 Charlemagne, King of France, alleged 
 league of, with A chains. King of Scot- 
 land, i. 41. 
 
 Charles I., birth of, iii. 91 ; proposed 
 marriage of, to the Infanta of Spain, 
 iii. 265 ; proceeds to Spain, ib. ; mar- 
 riage of, frustrated, iii. 266, 267, 268 ; 
 returns to England, iii. 268. 
 Charterhouse. See Carthusian Monas- 
 tery. 
 Chatelherault, Duke of, and others, re- 
 tire to England, ii. 32 ; interposition 
 of Queen Elizabeth in favour of, ib. ; 
 opposes the government of the Regent 
 Moray, ii. 107-112 ; imprisoned, ii. 
 112 ; released, 128 ; death of, ii. 199. 
 
 Chattan, Clan, or Macintosh, support 
 Queen Mary on her arrival at Inver- 
 ness, ii. 21. 
 
 Chilianus, travels of, i. 36. 
 
 Christianity, introduction of, into Scot- 
 land, i. 2. 
 
 early preachers of, in Scotland, i. 
 
 8,11, 12,14, 15,16,17. 
 
 Christmas Day, Festival of, ordered by 
 James VI. to be observed in Scot- 
 land, iii. 248, 249, 257. 
 
 Church, General Assembly of the, peti- 
 tions of the, against Popery, ii. 28, 29. 
 
 General Assembly, replies of, to 
 
 Queen Mary, ii. 33, 34. 
 
 General Assembly of the, indigna- ^ 
 
 tion of, ii. 43, 44. 
 
 Assembly, letter of, to the Church 
 
 of England, ii. 44, 45, 46. 
 
 Assembly, articles ratified by the, 
 
 ii. 65, 66, 67. 
 
 new arrangements of the, ii. 167, 
 
 168, 171, 172. 
 
 policy of the,ii. 233-256; presented 
 
 to the Parliament, ii. 256. 
 
 General Assembly, quarrel of, with 
 
 the Court of Session, ii. 413, 414. 
 
 questions proposed for the regula- 
 tion of the, iii. 41-45. 
 
 orders for the internal government 
 
 and discipline of, iii. 210, 211, 212. 
 
 protestation to James VI. against 
 
 alterations in the service of, iii. 242, 
 243, 244. 
 
 Church rents, divisions of, ii. 15. 
 
 Churches, parish, plundered and de- 
 faced, i. 372. 
 
 Civil war, cruelties practised in the, ii. 
 174,175. 
 
 Clement, Bishop of Dunblane, i. 87. 
 
 Clergy, celibacy of the, controversy on, 
 i. 54, 55. 
 
 Cockburn, Patrick, notice of, i. 192. 
 
 Coldingham Abbey constituted aPriory, 
 i. 65. 
 
 Colman, disputation of, on the obser- 
 vance of Easter, i. 29-34. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 297 
 
 Columba, St, notice of, i. 14. 
 
 return of, to Scotland from Ireland, 
 
 i. 17. 
 
 companions of, i. 1 7. 
 
 crowns Aidanus, King of Scotland, 
 
 i. 18. 
 
 retires to lona, i. 18. 
 
 piety of, i. 19. 
 
 death of, ib. 
 
 burial-place of, ib. 
 
 Commission, High Court of, in Scotland, 
 forecclesiastical causes, instituted, iii. 
 210 ; objects and regulations of, iii. 
 210, 211, 212 ; number of members of, 
 iii. 212 ; mode of proceedings of, iii. 
 212, 213 ; privileges and duties of the 
 members of, ib. ; proclamation of, ib. ; 
 unpopularity of, ib. 
 
 Confession of Faith, ratification of, in 
 Parliament, ii. 83. 
 
 Confirmation, rite of, enjoined to be ob- 
 served, iii. 256. 
 
 Congallus II. King of Scotland, account 
 of, i. 16, 17. 
 
 Congregation, the Scottish Reformers 
 so styled themselves, i. 267. 
 
 resolutions of the,i. 274 ; proceed- 
 ings of, i. 277, 278. 
 
 Lords of, articles accepted by the, 
 
 i. 285, 286. 
 
 Constance, Council of, decision of the, 
 i. 111. 
 
 Constantine II., convention held at 
 Scone by, i. 52. 
 
 Couvallanus of lona, account of, i. 21. 
 
 pupils of, i. 21, 22. 
 
 Convallus of Inchinnan, predictions of, 
 i. 21. 
 
 Coronation of Anne of Denmark op- 
 posed as a Jewish ceremony, ii. 407; 
 performed at Holyrood, ib. 
 
 Council, general, of all Bishops of Chris- 
 tendom summoned by Gregory IX., 
 i. 88. 
 
 Council, Scottish Privy, rules to be ob- 
 served by the, iii. 212, 213. 
 
 Couper, John, minister of Edinburgh, 
 insolence of, ii. 356. 
 
 Couper, William, Bishop of Galloway, 
 and Dean of tlie Chapel - Royal, 
 preaches the funeral sermon on the 
 death of Archbishop Gladstanes in 
 the parish church of St Andrews, iii. 
 227; opposes the intended ornaments 
 in the Chapel-Royal of Holyrood at 
 Edinburgh, iii. 239; reproved by the 
 King, ib.; preaches before James VI. 
 at Dumfries, iii. 248; death and char- 
 acter of, iii. 258. 
 
 Crab, Gilbert, notice of,i. 1.35, 136. 
 
 Craig, John, one of the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, refuses to proclaim the 
 bans of marriage between Queen 
 Mary and the Earl of Bothwell, ii. 
 52, 53, 54. 
 
 compiles a Confession of Faith by 
 
 order of James VI., ii. 2(i8. 
 
 deatii and character of, iii. 91, 92; 
 
 life of, iii. 92-94 
 
 Craigmillar Castle, proceedings at, 
 against Darnley, called the " Confer- 
 ence of Craigmillar," ii. 41. 
 
 Cranstoun, Sir William, deprived of the 
 command of the Border troops, iii. 
 214 ; created a peer by the title of 
 Lord Cranstoun, ib. 
 
 Cratilinth, King of Scotland, i. 4, 5, 7. 
 
 Craw, Paul, burnt for heresy at St An- 
 drews, i. 112. 
 
 Crossraguel, Abbot of. See Kennedy 
 (Quintin). 
 
 Crusades, notices of the, i. 80, 81. 
 
 Culdees, account of, i. 6. 
 
 extinction of the, i. 101. 
 
 Cumin, or Comyn, family of, influence 
 of, i. 84. 
 
 Cupar-Fife, hostile meeting of the Lords 
 of the Congregation against the 
 Queen Regent near, i. 277. 
 
 Dalgliesh, Nicol, minister at St Cuth- 
 
 bert's, imprisoned, ii. 321. 
 Darnley, Lord, arrival of, ii. 25; notice 
 
 of, ii. 25. 
 
 meets Queen Mary at Wemyss 
 
 Castle, ii. 25. 
 
 rumoured marriage of, to Queen 
 
 Mary, ii. 26. 
 
 created Duke of Rothesay, ii. 27 ; 
 
 marriage of, to Queen Mary, ii. 31 ; 
 proclaimed king, ib. ; resorts to the 
 preaching of John Knox, ib. 
 
 quarrels of, with Queen Mary, ii. 
 
 35 ; contemptuous treatment of, by 
 Queen Mary, ii. 40, 41, 42, 43. 
 
 illness of, ii. 43 ; removed to Glas- 
 gow, ib. ; supposed to be the eifects of 
 poison, ib. 
 
 removal of, from Glasgow to Edin- 
 burgh, ii. 47 ; murdered, ib. ; perpe- 
 trators, ii. 48. 
 
 D'Aubigny, Lord, arrival of, ii. 266 ; 
 created Earl of Lennox, ib. ; Esme 
 Stuart. See Lennox (Duke of). 
 
 David I. King of Scotland, munificence 
 of, i. 69, 70, 71 ; defence of, i. 70. 
 
 David, a presbyter, notice of, i. 71, 72. 
 
 Davidson, John, opposes coronations, 
 ii. 407. 
 
 extraordinary letter of, to the 
 
 General Assembly, iii. 97, 98. 
 
 Deans of Chapters, Scottish, duties of, 
 iii. 211. 
 
 Denmark, embassy to, against Both- 
 well, ii. 138. 
 
 Dinmure, Sir John, Knight, excommu- 
 nication of, i. 90. 
 
 Dioceses, Scottish, regulations for the 
 government of, iii. 210. 
 
 Discipline, or Church Policy , First Book 
 of, 1. 331-371, framed by John Knox, 
 i. 371 ; ratified, i. 373. 
 
 Donald I. King of Scotland, conversion 
 of, i. 2, 4. 
 
 dissolute government of, i. 52. 
 
 Donald IV. King of Scotland, i. 27. 
 
 Donaldbane, flight of, i. 57. 
 
 Dordrecht, or Dort, Synod of, iii. 258. 
 
298 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Doughty, Thomas, impostures of, i. 137, 
 138. 
 
 Douglas, Archibald, Provost of Edin- 
 burgh, imprisoned, ii. 14. 
 
 Douglas, Archibald, executed, ii. 314. 
 
 Douglas, Archibald, one of Darnley's 
 murderers, acquitted, ii. 343. 
 
 Douglas, Gavin, Bishop of Dunkeld, 
 notice of, i. 1'22. 
 
 Douglas, James, of Torthorwald, kills 
 Captain Stewart, iii. 40. 
 
 Douglas, John, Carmelite Friar, be- 
 comes a reformed preacher, i. 186, 
 264 ; appointed by the influence of the 
 Regent Morton titular Archbishop of 
 St Andrews, ii. 172 ; death of, ii. 202. 
 
 D'Oysell, Monsieur, sent to England, ii. 
 2; interview with Queen Elizabeth, 
 ii. 2. 
 
 Druids, account of the, i. 4, B. 
 
 Dunbar, George Home, Earl of, rebukes 
 certain of the disaffected Presbyterian 
 ministers in Perth, iii. 176 ; threat- 
 ened at Edinburgh by the burgesses, 
 iii. 175 ; resolves to adjourn the Par- 
 liament to Perth, ib. ; death and 
 character of, iii. 214. 
 
 Dunbarton Castle, extraordinary seiz- 
 ure of, ii. 155. 
 
 Dunblane, Bishopric of, founded, i. 69. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 213, 214, 215, 244-6. 
 
 Duncan I. King of Scotland, murdered, 
 i. 57. 
 
 Dunfermline Abbey church built, i. 60. 
 
 Dunfermline, Alexander Seton, first 
 Earl of, death of, iii. 263. 
 
 Dunkeld, Bishopric of, founded, i. 69. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 193-199, 231-234. 
 
 Duns Scotus, Joannes, account of, i. 
 107, 108, 109. 
 
 Dunstan, Archbishop, remarkable es- 
 cape of, i. 55. 
 
 Durham Cathedral, foundation of, i. 60. 
 
 Durie, John, imprisoned foi' sedition, i. 
 273 ; banished from Edinburgh, and 
 confined to the town of Montrose, ii. 
 315 ; death and cliaracter of, iii. 82, 
 83. 
 
 Eadmerus, monk of Canterbury, Bishop 
 of St Andrews, i. 66, 67. 
 
 account of, ib. 
 
 Easter. See Canon, Paschal. 
 
 Easter, early observance of, in Scot- 
 land, i. 3,22,23,24,25,29. 
 
 controversy on the observance of, 
 
 i. 29-34. 
 
 Festival of, enjoined by royal au- 
 thority to be observed in tlie Scot- 
 tish Church, iii. 257. 
 
 Echadius, or Ethodius, brother of King 
 Eugenius, flight of, i. 9. 
 
 Edelfrid,King of Northumberland, mur- 
 ders twelve hundred monks, i. 23. 
 
 Edgar, King of Scotland, coronation of, 
 i. 65. 
 
 • munificence of, ib. 
 
 Edinburgh, riot at, i. 265, 266. 
 
 proceedings at the election of the 
 
 Magistrates, ii. 14 ; Provost of, impri- 
 soned and deposed, ib. 
 
 Edinburgh Town Council, enactments 
 of, against Popery, ii. 14. 
 
 — — Castle resigned to Bothwell, ii. 49. 
 
 town of, occupied by the confeder- 
 ated Nobility, ii. 57. 
 
 Castle, siege of, ii. 192 ; surren- 
 dered, ii. 193. 
 
 riot at, iii. 32. 
 
 deplorable condition of, iii. 57. 
 
 four additional ministers appoint- 
 ed to, iii. 259. 
 
 conduct of some citizens of, against 
 
 the Estabhshed Church in, iii. 268, 
 269. 
 
 Edward, Bishop of Aberdeen, i. 72. 
 
 Edward I. of England, negotiations 
 with, i. 95, 96. 
 
 Edward VI., death of, i. 182. 
 
 Eglinton, Hugh Montgomery, fourth 
 Earl of, killed by certain Cunning- 
 hams, ii. 345 ; revenged by his brother 
 Robert, ii. 346. 
 
 Eglinton, Hugh Montgomery, fifth Earl 
 of, death of without issue, iii. 217 ; his 
 disposal of his honours and estates to 
 Sir Alexander Seton, his cousin, ib. 
 
 Elders, Lay, office of in parishes un- 
 scriptural and unecclesiastical, iii. 
 211. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, proceedings of, ii. 2 ; 
 attempts to intercept Queen Mary, 
 ii. 6 ; audiences with, on Queen 
 Mary's afiairs, ii. 351, 352, 353 ; 
 reasons assigned by, for condemning 
 Queen Mary, ii. 352, 353 ; letters of, 
 to James VI., ii. 362, 363 ; friendly 
 letter of, to James VI., iii. 38, 39 ; 
 last illness and death of, iii. 110. 
 
 Elizabeth, Princess, daughter of James 
 VI., birth of, iii. 9 ; baptism of, iii. 
 19 ; marriage of, iii. 218, 219. 
 
 Elphincstone, James, afterwards Lord 
 Balmerino, appointed collector of the 
 revenues, ii. 469. See Balmerino 
 (Lord). 
 
 Elphincstone, William, Bishop of Aber- 
 deen, account of, i. 206, 207, 208, 209 ; 
 founder of King's College, Aberdeen, 
 i. 207. 
 
 England, afiairs of in 1601, iii. 94, 95 ; ' 
 league with, ii. 346, 347, 348 ; Church 
 of, opposition to the, iii. 241-245. 
 
 English, ravages of the, on the Scottish 
 Borders, ii. 188. 
 
 Episcopacy, opposition to the establish- 
 ment of, iii. 162 ; arguments for, iii. 
 177 ; discussions on, iii. 241-245. 
 
 Erthus, i. 9. 
 
 Erskine, John,of Dun, notice of, i. 131 ; 
 deathof, ii. 412. 
 
 Erroll, Francis Hay, eighth Earl of, 
 absolved, iii. 62. 
 
 submission of, iii. 208. 
 
 Ethelbert, King of the English Saxons, 
 conversion of, i. 22. 
 
 Ethelf'rid, King of Northumberland, 
 killed, i. 26. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 299 
 
 Ethelfrid, conversion of the children 
 of, in Scotland, i. *2G. 
 
 Ethodius, King of Scotland, i. 4. 
 
 Eucharist, or Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper, ordered to be received in a 
 kneeling attitude, iii. '255 ; private 
 administration of, to the sick and in- 
 firm in their houses, allowed, iii. 255. 
 
 Eugenius 1 1 1., Pope, act of, repealed by 
 Malcolm III., i. 59. 
 
 Eugcniiis, King of the Picts, killed, i. 7. 
 
 Eugeuius, King of Scotland, i. 11. 
 
 Eugenius IV. King of Scotland, i. 26. 
 
 Excommunication, letter of James VI. 
 to the Scottish bishops and clergy on 
 the censure of, pronounced against 
 fugitives for capital crimes, iii. 215, 
 216 ; discussions of the bishops and 
 clergy on the King's letter in refer- 
 ence to, iii. 216, 217. 
 
 Exchequer, Scottish, affairs of the, ii. 
 466-469. 
 
 Faith, the " Twopenny," origin of the 
 designation, i. 182. 
 
 Ferguson, David, minister of Dunferm- 
 line, death of, iii. 77. 
 
 Feredith, King of the Picts, sacrilege 
 of, at St Andrews, i. 43 ; killed, 45. 
 
 Fergus, King of Scotland, victories of, 
 i. y, 10, 11, 
 
 Fiacre, Prince, story of, i. 39, 40, 41. 
 
 Fife, Synod of, opposition of, iii. 189 ; 
 denounced, ib. 
 
 Finanus, Bishop, labours of, in North- 
 umberland, i. 28, 29. 
 
 opposed by Romanus,orConanus,ib . 
 
 --- death of, i. 29. 
 
 Fincomarchus, King of Scotland, i. 7. 
 
 Fleance, escape of, i. 58. 
 
 Fogo, John, monk of Melrose, speech 
 of, against Benedict XIII., i. 111. 
 
 Forbes, William, minister at Aberdeen, 
 afterwards first Bishop of Edinburgh, 
 appointed one of the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, iii. 259. 
 
 Forfar, meeting of the Estates at, i. 59. 
 
 Forman, Andrew, Bishop of Moray, 
 elected Archbishop of St Andrews, i. 
 123 ; death of, ib. 
 
 Forrest, Henry, notice of, i. 129 ; burnt, 
 i. 130. 
 
 Forrester, David, murder of, ii. 4G5. 
 
 Fothadus, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 56. 
 
 Francis II. of Franco, letter of, to Lord 
 James Stuart, i. 288. 
 
 France, ambassadors from, insulted by 
 the Presbyterian ministers, ii. 297, 298. 
 
 Eraser, William, elected Bishop of St 
 Andrews, i. 94 ; consecrated at Rome 
 by Pope Nicolas III., ib. ; death 
 of, i. 100, 101. 
 
 Frederick II. imprisons the Bishops of 
 St Andrews and Glasgow in Ger- 
 many, i. 88. 
 
 French, military proceedings of the, in 
 Scotland, i. 176, 177. 
 
 Galfrid, Bishop of Dunkeld, i. 87. 
 
 Galloway, Diocese of, limits, i. 59. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 224, 225, 256-258. 
 
 Galloway, Patrick, three petitions of, 
 
 to James VI., ii. 409, 410 ; speech of, 
 
 to James VI., iii. 104. 
 Gameline elected Bishop of St Andrews, 
 
 i. 89 ; troubles during the episcopate 
 
 of, ib. ; death of, i. 91. 
 Germany, princes of, ambassadors to 
 
 the, iii. 75, 76 ; opinions of, on the 
 
 claims of James VI. to the English 
 
 crown, ib. 
 Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness, i. 87. 
 Gladstanes, George, minister at Arbir- 
 
 lot, removed to St Andrews, iii. 64 ; 
 
 appointed Bishop of Caithness, iii. 
 
 82 ; Archbishop of St Andrews in 
 
 1606, iii. 177 ; death and character 
 
 of, iii. 227. 
 Glammis, John Lyon, eighth Lord, 
 
 Chancellor, killed, ii. 221. 
 Glasgow, Diocese of, limits, i. 59. 
 
 Bishops and Archbishops of, i. 
 
 219-224, 251-256. 
 
 Archbishopric of, constituted, i. 
 
 120. 
 
 Cathedral of, saved by the Incor- 
 porated Trades, ii. 259. 
 
 General Assembly at, iii. 205 ; 
 
 proceedings of, iii. 206, 207, 208. 
 
 Glencairn, Alexander Cunningham, 
 fifth Earl of, demolishes the orna- 
 ments in Holyrood Chapel, ii. 62 ; 
 commended by the Reformed preach- 
 ers, ii. 62 ; denounced by the Queen's 
 party, ib. 
 
 Glencairn, James, seventh Earl of, en- 
 counters Lord Seton at Perth, iii. 
 175. 
 
 Glenlivat, battle of, ii. 458, 459, 460. 
 
 Godricus, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 65. 
 
 Good Friday, or Passion-Day, enjoined 
 to be observed, iii. 257. 
 
 Gordon, Alexander, keeper of Inver- 
 ness Castle, executed, ii. 21. 
 
 Gordon, Sir John, imprisonment of, ii. 
 18 ; executed, ii. 23. 
 
 Gordon, John, a Jesuit, drowns himself 
 at Ailsa Craig, iii. 61. 
 
 Gourlay, Norman, burnt, i. 131. 
 
 Gowrie, William Ruthven, first Earl of, 
 treasonable conduct of, ii. 308 ; im- 
 prisonment of, ii. 309 ; disclosures of, 
 ii. 310, 311; petition to James VI., 
 ii. 311,312 ; trial of,ii. 311, 312, 313 ; 
 conviction and execution of, ii. 313 ; 
 penitence of, ii. 314. 
 
 Gowrie, John Ruthven, third Earl of, 
 iii. 84-88. 
 
 Gowrie Conspiracy, iii. 84-88 ; disbe- 
 lieved by the ministers of Edinburgh, 
 iii. 89, 90 ; sermon on, by Patrick 
 Galloway at the cross of Edinburgh, 
 ib. 
 
 Grreme, Regent of Scotland, i. 11. 
 
 Graham, John, Lord Ilallyards, con- 
 duct of, ii. 413, 414 ; killed, ii. 421. 
 
 Graham, Patrick, Bishop of Brechin, i. 
 115 ; elected bishop of St Andrews, 
 
300 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ib. ; account of, ib. ; constituted Arch- 
 bishop of St Andrews, i. 116 ; im- 
 prisonment of, i. 118 ; death of, ib. 
 
 Graham, William, executed, ii. 414. 
 
 Gray, Patrick, Master of, afterwards 
 seventh Lord Gray, sent to England, 
 ii. 324; exertions of, for Queen Mary, 
 ii. 353; design of, to kill Lord Thirle- 
 stane and others, 37"2 ; informs Sir 
 William Stewart of his purpose, ib- ; 
 quarrel with Stewart before the King, 
 ib. ; accused of advising the execu- 
 tion of Queen Mary, ib. ; imprison- 
 ment of, ib. ; banishment of, ii. 373. 
 
 Gregorius, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 
 56, 57. 
 
 Gregory VIL Pope, sends Augustine 
 to Britain, i. 22. 
 
 Gregory XV., letter of, to Charles, 
 Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles 
 I., on his projected marriage with 
 the Infanta of Spain, iii. 266, 267 ; 
 reply to the letter of, iii. 267, 268. j 
 
 Gregory, King of Scotland, munificence , 
 of, i. 52, 53. \ 
 
 Gregory, William, notice of,i. 136. 
 
 Gregory, or Macgregor, clan, ordered 
 to be extirpated, iii. 213, 214. 
 
 Guallo, or Waldo, papal legate, places 
 Scotland under interdiction, i. 84 ; 
 the sentence remitted, ib. 
 
 Gundomar, the Spanish ambassador, 
 favours the project and marriage of 
 Prince Charles to the Infanta of 
 Spain, iii. 265. 
 
 Gunpowder Plot, the, iii. 165-173. 
 
 Guthrie, John, minister of Perth, re- 
 moved to Edinburgh, iii. 259. 
 
 Hamilton, Catharine, trial of, at Holy- 1 
 rood Abbey, for heresy, i. 1 30. 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of, ii. 16. See Chatel- 
 herault. 
 
 Hamilton, Gavin, Bishop of Galloway, 
 consecrated, iii. 209. 
 
 Hamilton, Gawin, Abbot of Kilwinning, 
 imprisonment of, in Stirling Castle, 
 ii. 18. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir James of Finnart, execu- 
 tion of, i. 140, 141. 
 
 Hamilton, James, of Bothwellhaugh, 
 assassinates the Regent Moray at 
 Linlithgow, ii. 119, 120; escape of, ib. 
 
 Hamilton, James, first Marquis of, 
 death of, iii. 269 ; character of, ib. ; 
 suspected to be poisoned, ib. 
 
 Hamilton, John, Abbot of Paisley, i. 
 143 ; elected Archbishop of St An- 
 drews, i. 166 ; proceedings of, i. 78- 
 180. 
 
 letter of, to the Earl of Argyll, 
 
 i. 264. 
 
 advice of, on the proceedings of the 
 
 Reformers, sent to John Knox, i. .371. 
 
 imprisoned for hearing and saying 
 
 mass, ii. 23. 
 
 apprehended in Dunbarton Castle, 
 
 ii. 154. 
 
 executed on Stirling Bridge, ii. 155. 
 
 Hamilton, John, Abbot of Paisley, 
 dying declaration and character of, 
 ii. 155. 
 
 Hamilton, Lord, popularity of, iii. 32. 
 
 Hamilton, Patrick, Abbot of Fearn, ac- 
 count of, i. 124 ; opinions of, i. 124, 
 125 ; trial of, for heresy, i. 125, 
 126 ; martyrdom of, i. 126, 127; fate 
 of promotes the Reformation in Scot- 
 land, i. 127, 188. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir Thomas, Lord 'Advocate, 
 afterwards Earl of Melrose, and first 
 Earl of Haddington, constituted Lord 
 Clerk Register and Secretary of 
 State, iii. 214 ; sent as a Commis- 
 sioner from James VI. to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly in 1617, iii. 248. 
 
 Hampton Court Conference, iii. 142, 
 143,144, 176-181. 
 
 deputation from Scotland to the, 
 
 iii. 177. 
 
 sermons preached at the opening 
 
 of, iii. ib. 
 
 speech of James I. at, iii. 178. 
 
 discussions at, iii. 178, 179, 180. 
 
 Harlow ,William, a Reformed preacher, 
 
 i. 183. 
 Harold, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, 
 
 cruelty inflicted on the Bishop of 
 
 Orkney by, i. 80 ; punishment of the 
 
 Earl and liis family, i. 82. 
 Harding, a Minorite Friar, speech of, 
 
 for Benedict XIII., i. 111. 
 Hay, Sir Alexander, Lord Advocate, ap- 
 pointed Lord Clerk Register, iii. 214. 
 Hay, Sir George, afterwards Viscount 
 
 Dupplin and Earl of Kinnoull, and 
 
 Lord Chancellor, iii. 245. 
 Hengustus. See Hergustus. 
 Henry II. of France, death of, i. 
 
 284. 
 Henry II. of England, proceedings of, 
 
 against Malcolm III. i. 74, 75. 
 Henry III. of England, accession of, i. 
 
 84. 
 Henry VIII., proceedings of, i. 139, 
 
 140. 
 Henry, Prince, birth of, ii. 447 ; bap- 
 tism of, ib. ; death of, iii. 218. 
 Hepburn, James, Earl of Bothwell. See 
 
 Bothwell. 
 Hepburn, John, Prior of St Andrews, 
 
 notice of, i. 122. 
 Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow, i. 73. 
 Hergustus, King of the Picts, patron of 
 
 Regulus, i. 8. 
 
 conversion of, ib. 
 
 Heriot, Adam, minister of Aberdeen, 
 death and character of, ii. 197, 198. 
 
 Herries, Lord, speech of, to James VI. 
 on the state of tlie Borders, ii. 260, 
 261 ; proposals of, ii. 261, 262 ; op- 
 posed by Lord Maxwell, ii. 262, 263. 
 
 Hewet, Peter, one of the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, selected to pi-esent the 
 protestation against Episcopacy to 
 the Parliament, iii. 244 ; rebuked by 
 Archbishop Spottiswoode, iii. 245 ; 
 apologizes for his conduct, ib. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 301 
 
 Hildebert, a Scottish Bishop, notice of, 
 
 i. 15. 
 Holyroodhouse Chapel, riots at, ii. 7, 8. 
 
 24, 25. 
 
 marriage of Queen Mary to Lord 
 
 Daruley in, ii. 31 ; opposition to the 
 improvements in, iii. 2'Mi, 239. 
 
 Home, David and Patrick, condemned 
 
 and executed, ii. 321. 
 Honorius, Pope, letter of, to the Church 
 
 of Scotland on the oLservance of 
 
 Easter, i. 24. 
 Howie, Robert, appointed Provost of St 
 
 Mary's College, St Andrews, iii. 190. 
 Hugo, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 78, 79 ; 
 
 death of, i. 80, 82. 
 Hungus, King of the Picts, munificence 
 
 of, i. 43, 44, 45. 
 Hunsdou, Henry Carey, first Lord, 
 
 assures James VI. that Queen Eliza- 
 beth never sanctioned Queen Mary's 
 
 execution, ii. 378. 
 Huntly, George Gordon, fifth Earl of, 
 
 appointed Lord Chancellor, ii. 14 ; 
 
 becomes Popish, ii. 15. 
 plots of, against the Earl of Moray, 
 
 ii. 16 ; resolves to murder him, ii. 18. 
 
 influence of, in Inverness, ii. 21, 
 
 rebellion of, ii. 21, 22 ; defeated 
 
 and killed, ii. 23. 
 Huntly, George Gordon, sixth Earl and 
 
 first Marquis of, imprisoned, ii. 23 ; 
 
 forfeited, ib. ; restored, ii. 26. 
 murders the Earl of Moray, ii. 419, 
 
 420. 
 
 conditions proposed to, iii. 13, 14; 
 
 submission of, 62. 
 
 disaffection of, iii. 192; submission 
 
 and liberation of, iii. 208 ; turbulence 
 of, iii. 230 ; absolved from excom- 
 munication by Archbishop Abbot of 
 Canterbury, iii. 232 ; submission and 
 reconcihation of, in the General As- 
 sembly held at Aberdeen, iii. 235. 
 
 Icolumkil, origin of the name of, i. 6. 
 See loua. i 
 
 Ingelram. See Angelramus. 
 
 Innocent III., Pope, gifts of, to King ] 
 William II., i. 82 ; privileges to the 
 Church of Scotland conferred by, ib. 
 
 Inverness, Queen Mary at, ii. 21 ; sur- 
 render of the castle of, ib. 
 
 lona, or Icolumkil, island of, i. 6, 8. 
 
 seat of the Bishops of the Isles, i. 6. 
 
 Ireland, first name of, i. 15, 16. 
 
 Isles, Bishops of The, original title of 
 the, i. 6. 
 
 Bishops of The, first cathedral 
 
 church of, i. 6. 
 
 Bishops of The, i. 226, 259-261. 
 
 feuds in The, between M'Neill and 
 
 Maclean, account of, ii. 344, 345. 
 submission of The, iii. 5. 
 
 attempt to colonize with Low- 
 landers, iii. 101 ; failure of, iii. 103 ; 
 renewed, iii. 165; second failure of,ib. 
 
 James I., of Scotland, returns from 
 
 captivity in England, i. 113 ; munifi- 
 cence to the University of St An- 
 drews, ib. ; murdered, ib. 
 James V., anecdote of, i. 130. 
 
 death of, i. 141. 
 
 James VI., birth of, ii. 40. 
 
 i baptism of, ii. 41 ; account of the, 
 
 I ii. 42. 
 
 proclaimed King, ii. 68 ; corona- 
 
 I tion of, ib. 
 
 conveyed to Stirling Castle, ii. 49. 
 
 assumes the government, ii. 208. 
 
 signs John Craig's Confession of 
 
 Faith against the Church of Rome, 
 ii. 288. 
 
 disputes of, with the Presbyterian 
 
 ministers, ii. 266, 267, 268. 
 
 seizure of, at Ruthven, ii. 289-291. 
 
 accused of Popery, ii. 315. 
 
 letters of, to Queen Elizabeth in 
 
 favour of his mother, ii. 349, 350, 351. 
 
 remonstrances of, to Queen Eliza- 
 beth in behalf of his mother, ii. 353. 
 
 singular attempt of, to reconcile 
 
 his nobility, ii. 374. 
 
 arrangements for the marriage of, 
 
 ii. 378. 
 
 marches against the insurgent 
 
 nobihty, ii. 396. 
 
 returns to Edinburgh, ib. 
 
 resolves to proceed to Denmark 
 
 and celebrate his marriage, ii. 400. 
 
 declaration of, ii. 400, 401, 402, 
 
 403, 404. 
 
 sails to Denmark, ii. 404. 
 
 marriage of, to the Princess Anne, 
 
 ii. 404. 
 
 returns to Scotland, ii. 406. 
 
 opposition to the coronation of the 
 
 Queen of, ii. 407. 
 
 replies of, to the General Assem- 
 bly's tliree petitions, ii. 409, 410. 
 
 conference of, with the ministers, 
 
 iii. 8, 9, 11, 12. 
 
 proclamation of, against the minis- 
 ters who had resorted to Edinburgh, 
 iii. 17. 
 
 contentions of, with the ministers, 
 
 iii. 20-31. 
 
 — — assailed at Edinburgh, iii. 32 ; 
 indignation at, ib. 
 
 pardons the citizens, and returns 
 
 to Edinburgh from Linlithgow, iii. 
 36, 37. 
 
 letter of, to the Earl of Huntly, iii, 
 
 47, 48. 
 
 pecuniary wants of, iii. 78, 79. 
 
 right of, to the crown of England, 
 
 disputed, iii. 80. 
 
 publishes his Basilicon Doron, 
 
 ib. 
 
 feuds with the ministers of Edin- 
 burgh, iii. 81. 
 
 urges a new metrical version of 
 
 the Psalms, iii. 98, 99. 
 
 accession of, to the crown of Eng- 
 land, iii. 110. 
 
 letters from the Privy Council of 
 
 England to, iii. 133-136. 
 
302 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 James VI., prepares for his journey to 
 
 England, iii. 137, 138. 
 chooses his attendants, iii. 138. 
 
 addresses the people in St Giles' 
 
 church, Edinburgh, ib. 
 
 arrives in London, iii. 139. 
 
 coronation of, iii. 141. 
 
 assumes the title of King of Great 
 
 Britain, iii. 156. 
 
 speech of, at the Hampton Court 
 
 Conference, iii. 178. 
 
 letters of, iii. 181, 182. 
 
 letter of, to the General Assem- 
 bly held at Linlithgow, iii. 183, 184. 
 
 answers of, to the complaints of 
 
 the General Assembly held at Lin- 
 lithgow, iii. 187, 188, 189. 
 
 letters to, from General Assembly, 
 
 iii. 195, 196, 197. 
 
 speech of, to the three Scottish 
 
 Bishops respecting their consecration 
 in 1609, iii. '209. 
 
 institutes the High Court of Com- 
 mission in causes ecclesiastical in 
 Scotland, iii. 210,211, 212. 
 
 proclamation of, against turbu- 
 lent persons, iii. 213. 
 
 letter to the Scottish Bishoj)s and 
 
 clergy on excommunicated fugitives, 
 iii. 215, 216. 
 
 defends Archbishop Abbot for ab- 
 solving the Marquis of Huntly, iii. 
 232, 233. 
 
 instructions of, on the Sacraments 
 
 of the Eucharist and Baptism, and 
 on Confirmation, iii. 236, 237. 
 
 visits Scotland, iii. 239. 
 
 speech of, to the Parliament, iii. 
 
 240. 
 
 declaration of, on the position of 
 
 the Scottish Bishops in the General 
 Assemblies, iii. 241, 
 
 allows a certain number of minis- 
 ters to advise the Bishops in the Gen- 
 eral Assemblies, ib, 
 
 speech of, to the Scottish Bishops 
 
 at St Andrews, on the Scottish 
 Church, iii. 246. 
 
 leaves Scotland, iii. 247, 248. 
 
 letters of, to the Archbishops of 
 
 St Andrews and Glasgow, enjoining 
 the observance of Christmas in Scot- 
 land, iii. 248, 249, 250. 
 
 letter from, to the General As- 
 sembly at Perth, iii. 252, 253, 254. 
 
 opinions of, on Scottish ecclesias- 
 tical afi'airs, iii. 262, 263, 264, 265. 
 
 injunctions of, on special points 
 
 of doctrine and discipline, iii. 263,264. 
 
 defends himself against the charge 
 
 of inclining to Popery, iii. 264, 265. 
 
 death of, iii. 270. 
 
 character of, and poetical eulo- 
 
 gium on, by Dr Morley, iii. 270, 271, 
 
 Jesuits, proclamation against, ii. 395. 
 
 Scottish, attempts of, iii. 95, 96. 
 
 106, 107. 
 
 proclamations against, iii, 182, 
 
 194, 195. 
 
 Jesuits, arrival of, ii. 378. 
 
 proceedings against, ii. 379. 
 
 Jocelinc, Bishop of Glasgow, i. 78, 79. 
 
 and others excommunicated, i. 79, 
 
 John, Bishop of Glasgow, retires for a 
 
 time to France, i. 74. 
 compelled by the Pope to return to 
 
 Scotland, ib. 
 John, Cardinal de Monte Coelio, arrives 
 
 in Scotland, i. 82 ; meets the clergy 
 
 at Perth, ib. 
 John, King of England, death of, i. 84. 
 Johnston, laird of, murdered, iii. 191, 
 
 Kellach, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 52, 
 Kellach, second of that name. Bishop of 
 
 St Andrews, i. 54. 
 Kennedy, James, Bishop of Dunkeld, 
 
 i. 113 ; elected Bishop of St Andrews, 
 
 ib. ; account of, i. 114,115; death of, 
 
 ib. 
 Kennedy, Quintin, Abbot of Crossra- 
 
 guel, Confession of Faith by, ii. 15. 
 Kenneth, King, killed, i. 45. 
 II., King of Scotland, conquers the 
 
 Picts, i. 46. 
 
 enacts the Macalpine Laws, ib. 
 
 munificence of to the Church, ib. 
 
 Kenneth III., King of Scotland, mur- 
 ders his nephew Malcolm, i. 55. 
 
 vision of, i. 56. 
 
 murdered, ib. 
 
 Kentigern, or St Mungo, account of, i. 
 20. 
 
 founder of Glasgow Cathedral, ib. 
 
 Ker, Sir Robert, son of Ker of Ferni- 
 hirst, appointed Lord High Treasu- 
 rer, iii. 214 ; created Earl of Somer- 
 set, ib. ; trial and condemnation of, 
 iii. 229, 230 ; pardoned, ib. 
 
 Ker, Sir Robert, of Ancrum, appointed 
 to command the Border troops, 
 iii. 214. 
 
 Ker, WilUam, of Ancrum, killed, ii. 
 411. 
 
 Killigrew, Sir Henry, arrival of, ii. 
 185. 
 
 King, Bishop, preaches at the opening 
 of the Hampton Court Conference, 
 iii. 177. 
 
 Kinnatellus, King of Scotland, i. 18. 
 
 Kirkaldy, Sir William, of Grange, re- 
 ceives the surrender of Queen Mary 
 at Carbery, ii. 62. 
 
 appointed Governor of Edinburgh 
 
 Castle, ii. 82. 
 
 attacks Edinburgh, ii. 148. 
 
 fate of, predicted by John Knox, 
 
 ii. 182, 183 ; bombards Edinburgh 
 from the Castle, ii. 186. 
 
 and others executed, ii. 193 ; char- 
 acter of, ii. 194. 
 
 Kirkwall, Castle of, besieged by the Earl 
 of Caithness, iii. 220 ; surrendered, 
 ib. ; prisoners executed, ib. 
 
 Knox, John, joins the murderers of 
 Cardinal Beaton in the Castle of St 
 Andrews, i. 167; history of, i. 168, 
 169, 170, 171, 174, 183, 184, 185. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 303 
 
 Knox, John, arrives in Scotland, i. 272; 
 preaches at Terth, ib. 
 
 speech of, against the Queen 
 
 Regent, i. 301. 
 
 • reply by, to the Abbot of Cross- 
 
 ragucl, ii. 15. 
 
 summoned before the Privy Coun- 
 cil, for instigating a riot at Iloly- 
 roodhouse chapel, ii. 24 ; violent 
 language to (iueeu Mary, ii. 2.5 ; re- 
 buked by the Earl of Morton, ib. 
 
 assails Lord Daruley in a sermon, 
 
 ii. 31 ; defends himself, ib. 
 
 prediction of, ii. 121, 122. 
 
 visits his sous at Cambridge, ii. 
 
 44 ; carries a letter to the Bishops of 
 
 the Church of England, ib. 
 letter of, to the General Assembly, 
 
 ii. 167. 
 
 illness of, ii. 186; account of, ib. 
 
 address of, to the Earl of Morton, 
 
 ii. 181. 
 
 speech to the ministers, ii. 182. 
 
 death and burial of, ii. 183, 184. 
 
 History of the Reformation, on the 
 
 authenticity of, i. 375-378. 
 
 Lamb, Andrew, Bishop of Brechin, 
 
 consecrated, iii. 209. 
 Lamberton, William, elected Bishop of 
 
 St Andrews, i. 101 ; consecrated, ib. ; 
 
 death of, i. 107. 
 
 munificence of, i. 107. 
 
 Landel, or Landalc, William, Bishop 
 
 of St Andrews, i. 109, 110. 
 Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 encroaches on the independence of 
 
 the Scottish Church, i. 65. 
 Langside, battle of, ii. 87, 88; defeat of 
 
 Queen Mary's forces at, ib. 
 Laurentius, successor of Augustine, i. 
 
 23. 
 
 letter of, to the Church of Scot- 
 land, i. 23. 
 
 Lawson, James, successor of John 
 Knox, as minister of Edinburgh, ii. 
 180, 181, 182. 
 
 flight of, to England, ii. 315. 
 
 letter of, 317 ; death of, 318. 
 
 Leicester, Earl of, suggests that Queen 
 
 Mary should be poisoned, ii. 349. 
 letter of, to James VL, ii. 354, 
 
 355. 
 Leith, landing of Queen Mary at, ii. 6. 
 
 occupation of, i. 290-300 ; siege of, 
 
 i. 304, 305. 
 
 siege of, i. 317, 318, 319. 
 
 surrender of, i. 321-325. 
 
 Treaty of, ii. 1,2,3,5. 
 
 Lennox, Matthew Stewart, fourth Earl 
 
 of, arrival of from England, ii. 25 ; 
 restored to his titles, ib. ; impeaches 
 Bothwell of the murder of Darnley, 
 ii. 49 ; reasons for his declining to 
 attend Bothwell's trial, ib. 
 
 elected Regent, ii. 134, 136, 137. 
 
 shot in a riot at Stirling, ii. 164, 
 
 165 ; death of, ii, 166 ; funeral of, ii. 
 168. 
 
 Lennox, Esme Stuart, Earl of, letter to 
 the General Assembly, ii. 273. 
 
 created Duke of Lennox, ii. 280 ; 
 
 quarrels with Arran, ii. 281. 
 
 attacked for Popery, ii. 284. 
 
 excommunicated, ii. 289 ; com- 
 pelled to leave Scotland, ii. 297 ; 
 death of, ii. 298. 
 
 Lennox, Ludovick, second Duke of, ar- 
 rival of, ii. 306 ; generosity of James 
 VI. to the family of, ib. 
 
 ambassador to France, iii. 100 ; 
 
 visits Queen EUzabeth,iii. 101 ; death 
 of, iii. 269. 
 
 Lermouth, Thomas, the Rhymer, notice 
 of, i. 93, 94 ; predictions of, ib. 
 
 Lesley, John, Bishop of Ross, death 
 and character of, iii. 55, 56. 
 
 Lindores, Laurence, inquisitor in Scot- 
 land, i. 112. 
 
 Lindsay, Sir David of the Mount, i. 
 144 ; account of, i. 192. 
 
 Lindsay, David, minister of Leith, mo- 
 derate conduct of, ii. 299. 
 
 imprisonment of, in Blackness, ii. 
 
 315. 
 
 marries James VI. , ii. 404. 
 
 nominated Bishop of Ross, iii. 82 ; 
 
 continues to officiate as minister of 
 Leith, ib. ; death and character of, 
 iii. 221 ; interred at Leith, ib. 
 
 Linlithgow, Regent Moray assassin- 
 ated at, ii. 119, 120. 
 
 Provincial Council at, i. 182. 
 
 General Assembly at, iii. 183. 
 
 Lollards of Kyle and Cunningham in 
 
 Ayrshire, opinions of, i. 120, 121 ; 
 
 proceedings against the leaders of 
 
 the, i. 121. 
 Lothian, Superintendent of, anecdote of, 
 
 ii. 30. See Spottiswoode, John. 
 Lyons, Council of, acts of, i. 92. 
 
 Macbeth, usurpation of, i. 57. 
 
 built Dunsinane Castle, i. 59. 
 
 killed, ib. 
 
 Macbrair, John, notice of, i. 192. 
 
 Maccalzeau, Sir Thomas, elected Pro- 
 vost of Edinburgh, ii. l4. 
 
 Macduff, Thane of Fife, account of, i. 
 58. 
 
 Macgregor (Clan). See Gregory (Clan). 
 
 Maitland, William, of Lethington, op- 
 poses the French influence, i. 306. 
 
 sent to England, ii. 8 ; interview 
 
 with Queen Elizabeth, ii. 8-14. 
 
 death and character of, ii. 193. 
 
 Major, John, notice of, i. 135, 169. 
 
 Malcolm II. defeats the Danes at Mort- 
 lach, i. 56. 
 
 death of, i. 62. 
 
 Malcolm III., flight of, i. 57. 
 
 crowned, i. 59. 
 
 death of (1 159), i. 73. 
 
 IMaldwin, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 54. 
 
 Malisius, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 52. 
 
 ■ second of that name. Bishop of St 
 
 Andrews, i. 54. 
 
 Malmore, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 54. 
 
304 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Malvoisin, William, Bishop of Glas- 
 gow, translated to St Andrews, i. 83; 
 character of, ib. ; death of, i. 83. 
 
 Man, Isle of, foundation of the See of, 
 1.5. 
 
 Mar, John Erskine, sixth Earl of, of 
 the Family of Erskine, resigns Edin- 
 burgh Castle to Bothwell, ii. 49. 
 
 elected Regent, ii. 168. 
 
 death of, ii. 179. 
 
 Margaret, St, Queen of Malcolm III., 
 account of, i. 60, 61, 62. 
 
 sons and daughters of, i. 62. 
 
 character of, i. 62. 
 
 said to have built Carlisle Cathe- 
 dral, i. 62. 
 
 Margaret, the Maid of Norway, death 
 
 of, i. 95. 
 Margaret, Princess, birth of, iii. 76 ; 
 
 baptism of, ib. 
 Martin V., Pope, i. 111. 
 Mary of Guise, Queen Dowager of 
 
 James V., appointed Regent, i. 182, 
 
 183 ; conduct of, ib. 
 opposition of, to the Reformation, 
 
 i. 263, 264. 
 
 death of, i. 319. 
 
 Mary, Queen, birth of, i. 141. 
 
 letter of, to Lord James Stuart, i. 
 
 289. 
 
 illness of, in France, ii. 1. 
 
 interview with the Earl of Bedford, 
 
 ii. 1. 
 
 conversation with Sir Nicholas 
 
 Throgmorton, ii. 2, 3, 4. 
 
 departure of, from France, ii. 5. 
 
 lands at Leith, ii. 6. 
 
 popularity of, ii. 7. 
 
 adheres to the Roman Catholic ri- 
 tual, ii. 7, 8. 
 
 sends Maitland of Lethington to 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, ii. 8. 
 
 progresses of, ii. 14. 
 
 returns to Edinburgh, ib. 
 
 selects her Privy Council, ib. 
 
 offends the Protestant preachers, 
 
 ib. 
 
 revenues of, how increased, ii. 
 
 15. 
 
 protected by a guard of horse and 
 
 foot, ii. 16. 
 dislike of the Earl of Arran, ii. 16, 
 
 17. 
 favours her illegitimate brother 
 
 the Earl of Moray, ii. 16, 17. 
 proceedings of, at Falkland, ii. 17, 
 
 18. 
 
 letters to, from France, ii. 18. 
 
 interview proposed with Elizabeth 
 
 at York, ii. 19. 
 
 progress of, in the North, ii. 
 
 19. 
 
 visits Stirling, ii. 19. 
 
 petitions to, against Popery and 
 
 Popish churchmen, ii. 19. 
 answers to, and indignation at, ii. 
 
 19,20. 
 meets the Countess of Huntly at 
 
 Aberdeen, ii. 20. 
 
 Mary, Queen, proceeds to Inverness, ii. 
 
 20, 21. 
 refused admission to the Castle of 
 
 Inverness, ii. 21. 
 enters the Castle of Inverness, ii. 
 
 21. 
 
 returns to Aberdeeqi, ii. 21. 
 
 hunts in the districts of AthoU and 
 
 Argyll,ii. 24, 25. 
 
 insulted at Holyroodhouse, ii.24. 
 
 first meeting with Lord Darnley, 
 
 ii. 25. 
 refuses to marry the Earl of Lei- 
 cester, ii. 25. 
 resolves to marry Lord Darnley, 
 
 ii. 26. 
 opposition to the marriage of, to 
 
 Lord Darnley, ii. 26, 27, 28. 
 marriage of, to Darnley, sanctioned 
 
 by the Estates, ii. 27. 
 creates Darnley Duke of Rothe- 
 say, ii. 27. 
 replies to the Commissioners of the 
 
 General Assembly, ii. 29, 30, 31. 
 marriage of, to Lord Darnley, ii. 
 
 31. 
 proclaims Lord Darnley as King, 
 
 ib. 
 opposed by some of the nobility for 
 
 proclaiming Lord Darnley as King, 
 
 ib. 
 
 rebellion against, ib. 
 
 proceeds to Stirling, ib. 
 
 proceeds to Glasgow, Paisley, and 
 
 Hamilton, ib. 
 and Darnley return to Edinburgh, 
 
 ii. 32. 
 
 visit Dumfries, ib. 
 
 proceed to Fife, ib. 
 
 return to Edinburgh, ib. 
 
 proceed to Dumfries, ib. 
 
 unpopularity of, ii. 35. 
 
 quarrels of, ib. 
 
 accouchement of, in Edinburgh 
 
 Castle, ii. 40, 
 congratulated by the General As- 
 sembly, ib. 
 
 visits the Earl of Mar at Alloa, ib. 
 
 illness of, at Jedburgh, ii. 4L 
 
 hatred of, to Darnley, ib. 
 
 divorce of, from Darnley, proposed 
 
 at Craigmillar Castle to, and rejected 
 
 by, ii. 41. 
 removes Darnley from Glasgow to 
 
 Edinburgh, ii. 47. 
 
 is informed by Bothwell of the 
 
 murder of Darnley, ii. 48. 
 
 unfeeling conduct of, on that occa- 
 sion, ib. 
 
 led to Dunbar Castle by Bothwell, 
 
 ii. 51. 
 
 marries Bothwell, ii. 54. 
 
 popular indignation at, ii. 54, 55. 
 
 chooses a new Privy Council, 
 
 ii. 56. 
 
 visits the Borders, ib. 
 
 escape of, from Borthwick Castle, 
 
 ii. 57- 
 assembles her forces, ii. 58. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 305 
 
 Mary, Queen, rebellion against, ii. 58. 
 
 issues a proclamation deteuding 
 
 ^ herself and Bothwcll, ii. 5!i, 5.0. 
 
 surrenders to the confederated no- 
 bility at Carbery,ii. O'l, (ii'. 
 
 conveyed a prisoner to Edinburgh, 
 
 ii. G2. 
 
 committed to Lochlevcn Castle, 
 
 ib. 
 
 alleged letters of, to Bothwell, ib. 
 
 compelled to abdicate, ii. G7, OU 
 
 escape of, from Lochleveu Castle, 
 
 ii. 85. 
 
 defeat of her forces at Langside, 
 
 ii. 87, 88. 
 
 flight of, to England, ii. 89. 
 
 imprisonment of, at Carlisle, ii. 89; 
 
 proceedings against, ii. 39, 109. 
 
 successes of her friends in Aber- 
 deenshire, ii. 1G9, 170; in Roxburgh- 
 shire, ii. 172, 173. 
 
 charged with Babington's conspi- 
 racy, ii. 349. 
 
 trial and condemnation of, ii. 349. 
 
 execution of, ii. 357-3fa"l. 
 
 and her Maidens, ?io/'e,iii. 111-117. 
 
 Maxwell, John, sixth Lord, turbulent 
 conduct of, ii. 3"25, ?y26, 330. ! 
 
 causes Mass to be said in Linclu- i 
 
 den College, ii. 337 ; imprisonment of, j 
 ib. 
 
 slain in a feud with the Johnstones, 
 
 ii. 440\ 
 
 Maxwell, John, seventh Lord, quarrels 
 of, with the Earl of Morton, iii. 191 ; 
 imprisoned, ib. ; murders the Laird 
 of Johnston, ib. ; beheaded, iii. 192. 
 
 Maxwell, John, minister at Mortlach, 
 appointed one of the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, iii. -259. 
 
 Matthew, Bi.shop of Aberdeen, i. 79. 
 
 May, Island of, purchased from the 
 Abbot of Reading, i. 101. 
 
 Melville, Andrew, first appearance of, 
 ii. 200 ; commences the disputes on 
 church government, ib. 
 
 ingratitude of, ii. 257. 
 
 — — opposition to Episcopacy, ii. 257, 
 
 advises the demolition of Glasgow 
 
 Cathedral, ii. 258. 
 
 hostility of, ii. 286. 
 
 seditious sermons of, ii. 308; flight 
 
 of, ii. 309. 
 
 conduct of, in a synod at St An- 
 drews, ii. 337-339. 
 
 opposes the ceremonial of corona- 
 tions, ii. 407. 
 
 . — — defends his conduct in maintain- 
 ing Presbyterianism, iii. 179, 180. 
 
 libelswritten by, against tlieChurch 
 
 of England, iii. 182, 183 ; violence of, 
 ib. ; imprisonment of, ib ; death of, 
 ib. ; ingratitude of, ib. 
 
 Melville, James, defends the presbyte- 
 rian ministers, iii. 178, 179. 
 
 death of, iii. 190. 
 
 Melville, Sir Robert, sent to England on 
 behalf of Queen Mary, ii. 351. 
 VOL. III. 
 
 Merchiston Castle, sieges of, note, ii. 
 
 213-218. 
 Methven, Paul, Reformed preacher at 
 
 Dundee, i. 186, 2GG. 
 Mill, Walter, trial and martyrdom of, 
 
 i. 188-191. 
 Ministers, Reformed, stations of, i. 325. 
 
 at Edinburgh refuse to pray for 
 
 Queen Mary, ii. 356. 
 
 ordered to be imprisoned, iii. 35 : 
 
 flight of, ib. 
 
 imprisoned at Blackness, com- 
 plaints of, iii. 174, 175. 
 
 Presbyterian, exile of, iii. 112 ; de- 
 nounced, ib. 
 
 parochial, form for the ordination 
 
 and meetings of, iii. 210, 211. 
 
 duties of, in their parishes defined, 
 
 ib. 
 
 powers of, at meetings defined, ib. 
 
 protestation of, against the rites 
 
 and ceremonies of the Church of 
 England, iii. 242, 243, 244. 
 
 Monasteries founded, i. 87. 
 
 destruction of, i. 280, 281. 
 
 Monks, various orders of, brought into 
 Scotland, i. 87. 
 
 orders of, restored, i. 93. 
 
 Montgomery, Robert, minister of Stir- 
 ling, zeal of, ii. 281 ; unprincipled con- 
 duct of, ii. 282; denounced for accept- 
 ing the titular Archbishopric of Glas- 
 gow, ii. 282, 283 ; simony of, ib.; pro- 
 ceedings against, ii. 285-289. 
 
 Moray, or Murray, Bishopric of, 
 founded, i. 59. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 210, 211, 212, 240, 
 
 241. 
 
 James Stuart, Earl of, illegitimate 
 
 brother of Queen Mary, plots of 
 certain individuals to murder the, 
 ii. 17. 
 
 defeats the Earl of Huutly, ii. 22. 
 
 refuses to acknowledge Bothwell, 
 
 ii. 55; proceeds to France, ii. 56. 
 
 appointed Regent, ii. 68. 
 
 return of, from France, ii. 68. 
 
 visits Queen Mary at Lochleven, 
 
 ii. 69. 
 
 accepts the regency, ib. 
 
 opposition to, ii. 82, 112. 
 
 defeats Queen Mary's forces at 
 
 Langside, ii. 87, 88. 
 
 marches to Hamilton, ii. 89. 
 
 proceedings of, against Queen 
 
 Mary, ii. f'.9-109. 
 
 troubles of, ii. 1 12, 1 1,3. 
 
 assassination of, ii. 119, 120. 
 
 character of, ii. 121, 122, 
 
 Moray, second Earl of, murdered in 
 Fife, ii. 419. 
 
 Morley, Dr., of Corpus Christi College, 
 Oxford, poetical eulogium on the 
 character of James VI. by, iii. 271. 
 
 Mortlach, Bishopric of Aberdeen found- 
 ed at, i. 57. 
 
 Morton, James Douglas, fourth Earl of, 
 elected Regent, ii. 184, injunctions to, 
 ii. 185. 
 
 20 
 
306 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Morton, James Douglas, activity of, ii. 
 195. 
 
 — — avarice of, ii. 195, 196. 
 
 hated by the Presbyterian minis- 
 ters, ii. 197. 
 
 oppressions of, ii. 203, 204, 205. 
 
 resigns the regency, ii. 207. 
 
 unjustly accused of poisoning the 
 
 Earl of Atholl, ii. 263. 
 
 troubles of, ii. 268, 271. 
 
 imprisoned in Dunbarton Castle, 
 
 ii. 272. 
 
 . trial of, ii. 276, 277 ; condemned, 
 
 ib. ; confession of, ii. 277, 278 ; exe- 
 cution of, ii. 279. 
 
 Moveanus, Bishop of St Andrews, ad- 
 vice of, to Kenneth III., i. 56. 
 
 Mowbray, Francis, impi-isoned, iii. 107; 
 killed in attempting to escape from 
 Edinburgh Castle, ib. 
 
 Murray, Sir Gideon, of Elibank, ap- 
 pointed Treasurer-Depute, iii. 214 ; 
 abilities of, ib.; excellent manage- 
 ment of, in the office of, iii. 238. 
 
 Bishopric of. See j\Ioray. 
 
 or Moray, Earl of, and Regent. 
 
 See Moray, and Stuart (Lord James). 
 
 Napier, John, of Merchiston, note, iii. 
 117-131. 
 
 Ninian, St. account of, i. 11, 12. 
 
 . first Bishop of Galloway, ib. . 
 
 Ninian, St. built his cathedral church 
 at Whithorn, i. 11, 12. 
 
 Nobility, titles of, introduced, i. 57, 62. 
 
 Scottish, render homage to Ed- 
 ward I., i. 98. 
 
 Scottish Roman Catholic, intrigues 
 
 of, ii. 392, 3!)3. 
 
 Norfolk, Thomas Howard, fourth Duke 
 of, condemned, ii. 173. 
 
 Octavians, or officers of the Scottish 
 Exchequer appointed by James VI., 
 conduct of, iii. 40. 
 
 Ogilvie, John, a Jesuit, trial and execu- 
 tion of, at Glasgow, for maintaining 
 the Papal supremacy, iii. 222-226. 
 
 Oliphant, Sir William, appointed Lord 
 Advocate, iii. 215. 
 
 Orkney, Bishops of, i. 219, 250, 251. 
 
 and Shetland, claimed by Den- 
 mark, i. 329; oppressions in, iii. 213. 
 
 Orkney, Patrick Stewart, Earl of, op- 
 pressions and tyranny of, in Orkney 
 and Shetland, iii. 213; imprisoned 
 in Edinburgh Castle, ib. ; charges 
 against, ib. ; sent to Dumbarton Castle, 
 iii. 2 1 9 ; orders his vassals in Orkney to 
 rebel, iii. 219, 220; trial of, at Edin- 
 burgh for high treason, iii. 221 ; con- 
 viction and execution of, iii. 221,222. 
 
 Ormiston, John, executed as one of 
 Darnley's murderers, ii. 197 ; con- 
 fessions of, ib. 
 
 Oswald, King of the Saxons, pious zeal 
 of, i. 27. 
 
 Otholinia, now St Andrews in Fife, i. 8. 
 
 Ottobon, Papal Legate, opposition of 
 
 the Scottish clergy to the demands 
 of, i. 90. 
 Overbury, Sir Thomas, account of the 
 murder of, iii. 227,228, 229 ; trial and 
 execution of the murderers of, iii. 
 229,230. 
 
 Palladius, arrival of, in Scotland, i. 12, 
 13. 
 
 labours of, i. 13, 14. 
 
 Palatine, or Palsgrave, the Elector, 
 marries Princess Elizabeth, daughter 
 of James VI., iii. 218, 219. 
 
 Papists, severe proceedings against, ii. 
 23, 24. 
 
 complaints against, iii. 187. 
 
 Parliament, Scottish, at Berwick, i. 
 98. 
 
 articles presented to, i. 267-271. 
 
 meeting of and discussion in 1 560, 
 
 i. 325, 382. 
 
 of 1560, the validity of the, 1. 378- 
 
 384. 
 
 held in Edinburgh, ratifies the 
 
 acts of the General Assembly at Glas- 
 gow in 1609, and rescinds and annuls 
 all previous acts of the Parliaments 
 opposed to the same, iii. 217,218. 
 
 Paternoster, dispute in St Andrews on 
 the, i. 180, 18], 182. 
 
 Patrick, St, account of, i. 140. 
 
 Patrick, Sub-Prior of Durham, ap- 
 pointed Abbot of Dunfermline, i. 82. 
 
 Peebles, cross church of, built, i. 91. 
 
 Pelagian heresy, i. 12. 
 
 Perth, assembly of the clergy at, i. 57. 
 
 Perth, siege of, i. 74. 
 
 — — • convocation of the Scottish clergy 
 at, i. 82. 
 
 execution of heretics at, i. 147, 
 
 148. 
 
 monasteries in, destroyed, i. 271, 
 
 272. 
 
 encounter at, between Lord Seton 
 
 and the Earl of Glencairn, iii. 175 ; 
 parliament at, iii. 176. 
 
 Synod of, proceedings of, iii. 189 ; 
 
 prohibited to meet, ib. 
 
 Five Articles of, ratified in the 
 
 General Assembly at, iii. 255, 256, 
 257. See Articles, Assembly, Ascen- 
 sion Day, Christmas, Confirmation, 
 Eucharist, Good Friday, Easter, 
 Whitsunday. 
 
 Picts, join the Romans, i. 7. 
 
 battle with the Scots, ib. 
 
 subversion of the, i. 43, 44. 
 
 Pont, Robert, and others, proceedings 
 of, ii. 286, 315. 
 
 makes a general revocation of 
 
 church property, ii. 415, 416. 
 
 Preaching, lay, by young students, pro- 
 hibited, iii. 212. 
 
 Preston, meeting at, i. 284. 
 
 Psalms, new metrical version of the, 
 proposed, iii. 98. 
 
 Radolph, Abbot of Melrose, consecrated 
 Bishop of Down in Ireland, i. 82. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 307 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, imprisoned for 
 high treason, tried, and convicted, 
 iii'. 141. 
 
 Randolph, Sir Thomas, arrival of, ii. 
 274 ; intercedes for the Earl of Mor- 
 ton, ib. 
 
 Reformation, Scottish, rise and pro- 
 gress of, i. UJ, et seq. 
 
 promoters of, i. 263. 
 
 Reformers, Scottish, notices of, i. 131. 
 
 burnt at Edinburgh and Glasgow, 
 
 i. 132, 133. 
 
 Regnlus, a Greek monk, story of the 
 arrival of, at St Andrews, i. 8. 
 
 Religion, state of, in Scotland, iii. 9G, 
 97. 
 
 Resby, James, burnt for heresy at St 
 Andrews, i. 1 12. 
 
 Restalrig, Dean of, John Sinclair, 
 marries Queeu Mary to Lord Darn- 
 ley, ii. 31. 
 
 Richard de Sancto Victore, notice of, 
 i. 71, 72. 
 
 Richard, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 74, 78. 
 
 Richard, Bishop of Dunkeld, patronizes 
 the Carmelites at Perth, i. 91. 
 
 Richmond, Ludovic, Duke of. See 
 Lennox. 
 
 Rizzio, or Riccio, David, secretary to 
 Queen Mary, accouut of, ii. 2G, 27 ; 
 promotes the marriage of Lord Darn- 
 ley to Queen Mary, ib. 
 
 murder of, in Holyrood Palace, 
 
 ii. 35-38 ; results of, ii. 39. 
 
 Robert, Prior of Scone, Bishop of St 
 Andrews, i. 68, 69. 
 
 Robert, Abbot of Dunfermline, deposi- 
 tion of, i. 82. 
 
 Robert II., coronation of, i. 110. 
 
 Roger, Archbishop of St Andrews, i.73. 
 
 Roger, elected Bishop of St Andrews, 
 i. 82. 
 
 Roger, John, a BlackFriar, killed,!. 149. 
 
 Rollock, Robert, presides at a General 
 Assembly at Dundee, iii. 58. 
 
 death of, iii. 77, 78 ; account of, ib. 
 
 Rome, appeals to, in the election to the 
 see of St Andrews, i. 79, 80. 
 
 Ross, Bishopric of, founded, i. 69. 
 
 Bishops of, i. 215, 216, 246-248. 
 
 Rough, John, a Reformer, notices of, i. 
 143,144,167; burnt, i. 172. 
 
 Row, John, minister of Perth, death 
 and character of, ii. 273, 274. 
 
 Rule, St, or Regulus, church of, at St 
 Andrews, founded, i. 8. 
 
 Rustaudus, papal legate, opposition to, 
 i. 90. 
 
 Ruthven, Raid of, ii. 289, 291. 
 
 Sadler, Sir Ralph, arrival of, i. 142. 
 
 Sandilauds, Sir James, of Caldcr, pre- 
 sents petitions from the Reformers to 
 the Queen Regent and Privy Coun- 
 cil, i.266, 267. 
 
 Sanc^uhar, Crichton, Lord, hires a per- 
 son to kill an English fencing-master, 
 iii. 215 ; trial and execution of, ib. ; 
 dissolute life of, at Paris, ib. 
 
 Saturday from twelve o'clock to Mon- 
 day morning to be observed as a holi- 
 day, i. 82. 
 
 Scone, Abbey of, destroyed, i. 279, 280. 
 
 Scot, John, elected Bishop of St An- 
 drews, not sanctioned by the king, 
 i. 78. 
 
 • consecrated at Holyrood Abbey, 
 
 i. 79. 
 
 appointed Bishop of Dunkeld, i. 
 
 80. 
 
 Scot, John, impostures of, at Edinburgh, 
 i. 136, 137. 
 
 Scotland, conversion of, to Christianity, 
 i. 1, 2, 3, 4. 
 
 converted to Cln-istianity before 
 
 Ireland, i. 15. 
 
 original designation of, i. 16. 
 
 numbers of learned men in, i. 41, 
 
 42, 43. 
 
 Chief Bishop of, title of, i. 46. 
 
 Church of, disputes with the Arch- 
 bishops of York, i. 73. 
 
 Bishops and clergy of, cited to ap- 
 pear at Norham, ib. 
 
 Church of, gross corruptions in, i. 
 
 118,119. 
 
 Reformation war in, i. 263-331. 
 
 political position of, at Queen 
 
 Mary's arrival, ii. 6, 7. 
 
 civil war in, by Queen Mary's 
 
 party, ii. 156-162. 
 
 North of, feuds in the, ii. 410, 411, 
 
 424, 425. 
 
 High Court of Commission in 
 
 causes ecclesiastical instituted in. 
 See Commission (High Court of). 
 
 Pi-ivy Council of, number of mem- 
 bers of, and regulations to be observ- 
 ed by, iii. 212, 213. 
 
 Scots, the, defeated by the Picts, i. 7. 
 
 persecution of, by the Picts, ib. 
 
 Scots, exile of, i. 8. 
 
 conformity of, to the Britons in 
 
 religion, i. 24. 
 
 Scotsmen in Germany, notices of, i. 64. 
 
 Scotus, Joannes, i. 42. 
 
 or Erigena, account of, i. 53, 54. 
 
 works of, ib. 
 
 death of, i. 54. 
 
 Scott, Michael, surnamed the " Wiz- 
 ard," notice of, i. 93. 
 
 Seaton, Alexander, Dominican Friar, 
 embraces the Protestant doctrines, i. 
 127 ; account of, ib.; flight of, i. 128, 
 129. 
 
 Sedulius, account of, i. 15. 
 
 Sempill, John, of Belltrees, severely 
 harassed by the Regent Morton, ii. 
 
 ^ 203, 204. 
 
 Servanus, Bishop of Orkney, i. 20. 
 
 Seton, Sir Alexander, succeeds his 
 cousin the Earl of Eglinton, iii. 217; 
 prohibited by the King to assume the 
 title of Eglinton, ib. ; afterwards re- 
 cognised as Earl of Eglinton, ib. 
 
 Severns, Roman Wall of, between the 
 Forth and the Clyde, erection of, 
 i. 4. 
 
308 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Shevez, William, Archbishop of St An- 
 drews, account of, i. 117-121. 
 
 Simpson, Archibald, minister of Dal- 
 keith, signs the protestation against 
 the Church of England, iii. 244 ; im- 
 prisoned, iii. 247 ; submission of, iii. 
 ;250, 251. 
 
 Sinclair, John, afterwards Bishop of 
 Brechin. See Restalrig (Dean of). 
 
 Sixtus IV., Pope, constitutes St An- 
 drews an Archbisliopric, i. IIC. 
 
 Smeton, Thomas, Principal of Glasgow 
 University, death of, ii. 319; account 
 .of, ii. ,320. 
 
 Sodor, Bishops of, origin of the title of, 
 i. 5, G. 
 
 Somerset, Earl of, trial and condemna- 
 tion of, iii. 230 ; pardoned, ib. See 
 Ker (Sir Thomas). 
 
 Spain, intrigues of, in Scotland, ii. 378. 
 
 Spanish Armada, destruction of, ii. 387, 
 388. 
 
 Spanish Blanks, the, note, iii. 117. 
 
 Spottiswoode, John, Superintendent of 
 Lothian, death of, ii. 336, 337. 
 
 Spottiswoode, John, son of the Super- 
 intendent, appointed Archbishop of 
 Glasgow, iii. 1 40. 
 
 presides at a General Assembly, 
 
 iii. 205 ; consecrated at London, iii. 
 209 ; translated to St Andrews, iii. 
 227. 
 
 preaches before the General As- 
 sembly in 1617 at Perth, iii. 248. 
 
 letters to, from James VI., iii. 
 
 249, 250. 
 
 manuscript copies of his History of 
 
 the Church of Scotland, i. v-xvii. 
 
 life of, i. x^ix-cxxxvi. 
 
 Sprot, George, execution of, for his 
 connexion with the Gowrie Conspi- 
 racy, iii. 199 ; confession of, ib. 
 
 Spynie, Sir Alexander Lindsay, first 
 Lord, killed, iii. 190,191. 
 
 Stephen, Prior of St Andrews, elected 
 Bishop of St Andrews, i. 1 10. 
 
 Stewart, Alexander,elected Archbishop 
 of St Andrews, i. 122 ; killed at the 
 battle of Flodden, ib. 
 
 Stewart, James, titular Archbishop of 
 St Andrews, election and death of, i. 
 121. 
 
 StewartjCaptain James, created Earl of 
 Arran, accuses the Earl of Morton of 
 Darnley's murder, ii. 271. 
 
 proliigacy of, ii. 280. 
 
 dismissed from the Chancellor- 
 ship, ii. 374. 
 
 killed, iii. 40. 
 
 Stewart, Thomas, son of Robert II., 
 refuses the see of St Andrews, i. 111. 
 
 Stormont, Sir David Murray, Lord 
 Scone, first Viscount, appears as a 
 commissioner from James VI. to the 
 General Assembly in 1617, iii. 248. 
 
 Stuart, Lord James, sent to quiet the 
 Borders, ii. 16 ; created Earl of Mar, 
 ib. ; created Earl of Moray, ib. See 
 Moray. 
 
 Stirling, tumult at, ii. 331. 
 
 Straiten, David, burnt for heresy, i. 131 . 
 
 Struthers, William, one of the ministers 
 of Edinburgh, preaches against the 
 Church of England, iii. 241, 242 ; dis- 
 pleasure of James VI. at, ib. 
 
 Supremacy, Royal, in the General As- 
 
 ' semblies, to be regulated with the 
 advice of the Bishops and a number 
 of the ministers, iii. 241. 
 
 Suteville, Dean of Dunkeld, rejected as 
 Bishop of St Andrews, i. 88. 
 
 Templars, Knights, origin of, and sup- 
 pression of the, in Scotland, i. 101, 
 102, 103. 
 
 Thirlstane, Sir John Maitland, first 
 Lord, accusations against, ii. 372 ; 
 appointed Chancellor, ii. 374. 
 
 death of, ii. 463, 464. 
 
 Thomson, Alexander, minister of Cam- 
 buslang, appointed one of the minis- 
 ters of Edinburgh, iii. 256. 
 
 Throgmorton, Sir Nicholas, interview 
 of, with Q,ucen Mary, ii. 2, 3, 4. 
 
 Thurstan, Archbishop of York, claims 
 of, i. 65-68. 
 
 Traill, Walter, Bishop of St Andrews, 
 i. 110. 
 
 Turgot, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 62, 63. 
 
 Tuthaldus, Bishop of St Andrews, i. 
 54. 
 
 Union, projected treaty of, with Eng- 
 land, rejected, iii. 192. 
 
 Veremundus, Archdeacon of St An- 
 drews, History of Scotland by, i. 64 ; 
 doubtful existence of, ib. 
 
 Vibianus, Cardinal, in Scotland, i. 78 ; 
 proceeds to Ireland, ib. ; returns to 
 Scotland and enacts unpopular can- 
 ons, ib. 
 
 Victor (Pope) sent no Christian preach- 
 ers to Scotland, i. 2, 3. 
 
 Wachop, or Wauchope, Robert, notice 
 of, i. 192, 193. 
 
 Wallace, Adam, trial and martyrdom 
 of, i. 178, 179, 180. 
 
 Wallace, minister of St Andrews, iii. 
 62, 63, 64 ; death of, iii. 77. 
 
 Wallace, Sir William, account of, i. 
 100. 
 
 Walsingham, Sir Francis, Secretary of 
 State in England, letter of, to Lord 
 Thirlestane, ii. 355, 365-371. 
 
 Walter, Bishop of Dunkeld, death of, 
 i. 79. 
 
 W.alter, Bishop of Glasgow, i. 85. 
 
 Walthemius, Abbot of Melrose, refuses 
 the Bishopric of St Andrews, i. 72. 
 
 Wardlaw, Henry, Bishop of St An- 
 drews, i. Ill ; character of, i. 112; 
 erects the Guard Bridge over the 
 Eden in Fife, ib. ; death of, i. 113. 
 
 Welch, or Welsh, John, minister, trea- 
 sonable sermon of, iii. 33, 34. 
 
 Whitsunday, Festival of, enjoined to 
 be observed in Scotland, iii. 257. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 309 
 
 William, Bishop of Glasgow, i. 87. 
 William, a Friar, notice of, i. 143, 
 
 144. 
 
 William II., King of Scotland (1165) 
 accession of, i. 75 ; invades England, 
 and is taken prisoner, ib. ; sent to 
 Normandy, ib. ; conditions for the 
 ransom of, i. 75, 80 ; death of, i. 83 ; 
 munificence of, ib. ; founder of Aber- 
 brothock Abbey, ib.; interred in that 
 Abbey, i. 84. 
 
 Willox, John, Franciscan Friar, ac- 
 count of, i. 183. 
 
 speech of, against the Queen Re- 
 gent, i. 300, 301. 
 
 Winyet, or Wingate, Ninian, questions 
 
 of, against the Confession of Faith, 
 ii. 15 ; flight of, ib. ; account of, ib. 
 
 Wishart, George, the " Martyr," his- 
 tory of, i. 150-1()2; trial of, for heresy, 
 i. 15G ; burnt, i. 161, 162 ; note on, i. 
 230, 231. 
 
 Wishart, William, elected Bishop of 
 Glasgow, i. 91 ; consecrated, ib. 
 
 Witches, prosecutions of, ii. 411, 412. 
 
 trials of, iii. 68, 69. 
 
 York, Archbishops of, claims of, to 
 jurisdiction over the Church of Scot- 
 land, i. 65-68, 71, 73, 76, 77, 78. 
 
 Young, SirPeter, preceptor with George 
 Buchanan to James VI., ii. 223. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 21 
 
INDEX 
 
 xo 
 
 THE EDITORS' NOTES 
 
 AT THE END OF EACH BOOK OF THIS HISTORY. 
 
 NOTES BY BISHOP RUSSELL TO THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Page 
 On Paschal Canon, ....... 47 
 
 BOOK II. 
 Notes on the Catalogue of Bishops, . . . . .227 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 1. On the authenticity of Knox's History, .... 375 
 
 2, On the validity of the ParUament held at Edinburgh in the mouth of 
 
 August 1560, 378 
 
 NOTES BY MR NAPIER TO THE SECOND AND THIRD VOLUMES. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 Some account of Adam Bothwell, bishop of Orkney, ... 71 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 1. The Pest of 1568, 211 
 
 2. The King and Queen's Wars— Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange- 
 
 Sieges of Merchiston Castle, . . . . . 213 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 1. Queen Mary and her Maidens— Scott of Buccleuch and Francis Mow- 
 
 bray (vol. iii.) ........ Ill 
 
 2. The Spanish Blanks— Proceedings of the Kirk— Napier of Merchiston 
 
 and King James— Progress of Science, , . . . 117 
 
 BOOK VIL 
 
 1 . Examination of the Postscript to the Gowrie Conspiracy, and of modern 
 
 historians on the subject, ...... 273 
 
 2. Contract against the Broken Men of the Highlands, . . . 291 
 
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