LIBRARY 
 

 .^<'-S 
 
 CONSTABLE'S MISCELLANY, 
 VOL. XLV. 
 
 \ 
 
 On the 15th August will appear, iu one Volume, illu8tiate<i 
 with Engravings, 
 
 THE NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 SELBORNE, 
 
 BV TH£ LATE 
 
 REV. GILBERT WHITE, A.M. 
 
 FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 » UNSTABLE AND CO., 19, WATERLOO PLACE ; 
 AND HURST, CHANCE, AND CO., LONDON. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 REMARKABLE CONSPIRACIES. 
 
^IN THK VARIOUS DKPARTMKNTS^ 
 
 — D¥ 
 
 LITKR^lKE.SCIENl K.&THK AirrS 
 
 vo].,x],ri:i. 
 
 CONSPIRACIES VOL.1. 
 
 GOWRIE HOUSE. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 FRINTKB FOR CO^-STAMILE & r? EDUNBTRGHs 
 
 AJSD HirRST, rMAJ^riE * r? ldnjdon, 
 
 1829. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OP 
 
 REMARKABLE CONSPIRACIES 
 
 CONNECTED WITH 
 
 EUROPEAN HISTORY, 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, AND 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. / 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN PARKER LAWSON, M.A. 
 
 Al'THOR OF "the LIFE AND TIMES OF ARCHBISHOP I-AUD.'* 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED FOR CONSTABLB AND CO. 
 AND HURST, CHANCE, AND CO. LOxNDON. 
 
 '; ,1829. 
 
PRINTED BY J. HUTCHISON, 
 FOR THE HEIRS OF 1). WlLLI&qN.. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 Page 
 
 I. ^THE ASSASSINATION OF JAMES 1. OF SCOTLAND, A. D. 
 
 ^ liSl, IN THE BLACKFRIARS' MOITASTERy, PERTH. 
 
 ^ Chapter 1 15 
 
 Chapter II 26 
 
 Chapter III 33 
 
 Chapter IV 49 
 
 II. THE DEATH OF JAMES III. OF SCOTLAND, A. D. 1488. 
 
 Chapter 1 65 
 
 Chapter II 80 
 
 Chapter III 104 
 
 III.— THE CONSPIRACY OF JOHN LEWIS FIESCO, COUNT 
 ^ OF LATAGNA, AGAINST GENOA, A. D. 1547. 
 
 V Introductory Notice, 137 
 
 ^ The Conspiracy of John Lewis Fiesco, . . . 143 
 
 ■^V. ^THE DEATH OF DON CARLOS SON OF PHILIP II. OF 
 
 SPAIN, A. D. 1588. 
 
 ^ The Death of Don Carlos, 209 
 
 h 
 
 .—THE GOWRJE CONSPIRACY, A. D. 1600; INCLUDING 
 THE RAID OF RUTHVEN, 1582. 
 
 Chapter I 1. The Raid of Ruthven, ... 223 
 
 Chapter II.— 2. The Gowrie Conspiracy, . . 269 
 Chapter III 290 
 
 147351. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In laying this Work before the Public, 
 my object has been to give as luminous 
 a view as my limits would permit, of the 
 causes of the various enterprises narrated 
 in these volumes. 
 
 It is necessary to observe, that in the ac- 
 count of the Assassination of James I., I 
 have followed the document inserted in the 
 first volume of Pinkerton's History, which 
 that historian has himself used. The death 
 of James III. cannot be well understood, 
 without giving a brief sketch of his eventful 
 reign ; and although I have perhaps dwelt 
 longer on it than was absolutely necessary, 
 as it is a very important period of our na- 
 tional history, it could not be avoided, with- 
 out making any account of the lamentable 
 end of that monarch imperfect. It has no 
 other pretensions than that of being a com- 
 pilation of facts ; yet history, after all, must 
 of necessity be a compilation. 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 The Conspiracy of Fiesco against Genoa, 
 is reprinted. As I have prepared an intro- 
 ductory notice in its proper place, it is un- 
 necessary to repeat my observations here. 
 
 The Death of Don Carlos is a mere 
 sketch, compiled from various sources, of an 
 affair so involved, that it is extremely diffi- 
 cult to separate truth from fable. It has 
 been variously treated by the friends and 
 enemies of Philip, and has afforded a theme 
 for the inventions of poets and romancers. 
 But, in whatever light it is viewed it will 
 never be forgotten, that the ikte of that 
 Prince is the groundwork of one of Schiller's 
 Tragedies, of one of Otway's great efforts, 
 and of one of the finest pieces of historical 
 romance by the Abbe St Real. 
 
 The Gowrie Conspiracy is certainly one of 
 the most mysterious events recorded in his- 
 tory, and to it I would beg the attention of the 
 reader. I have taken, doubtless, a peculiar 
 view of it, as connected with the events of 
 that j:)eriod ; but such subjects are now open 
 to discussion, and every individual is en- 
 titled to hold his own opinion. Fortunate- 
 ly, all doubt as to the reality of the Con- 
 spiracy is ended, by the recent discovery 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 of the Original Letters of Logan of Restal- 
 rig, in the Register- Office, Edinburgh. To 
 Robert Pitcairn, Esq., the able Editor of 
 the Criminal Trials, I am under very great 
 obligations, for having put into my hands a 
 mass of interesting documents connected 
 with this Conspiracy, hitherto unpublished, 
 and of which I have made as much use as 
 my limits would permit. Indeed the latter 
 part of the narrative is almost wholly pre- 
 pared from these documents, and from the 
 subsequent proceedings of the government 
 contained in that splendid work, " The Acts 
 of the Parliament of Scotland" recently print- 
 ed by the command of his present Majesty. 
 
 The second volume must speak for itself. 
 It is not too much to say, that its contents 
 will be found perhaps more interesting than 
 the first ; and it is hoped, that, altogether, 
 these portions of history, in which human 
 character and adventure are brought so con- 
 spicuously before the reader, as illustrative 
 of what men have hazarded for the accom- 
 plishment of ambitious projects, or to gratify 
 revenge, will not be unacceptable to the 
 Public. 
 
 J. P. L. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 1829. 
 
I. 
 
 THE 
 
 ASSASSINATION 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 ANNO 1437, 
 IN THE 
 
 BLACKFRIARS' MONASTERY, 
 PERTH. 
 
THE 
 
 ASSASSINATION 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate, 
 All but the page prescribed, their present state : 
 From brutes what men, from men what spirits know, 
 Or who would suffer being here below ? 
 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 
 Had he thy rea;?on, would he skip and play ? 
 Plcas'd to the last, he crops the flowery food. 
 And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood. 
 
 Pope. 
 
 From the death of Robert III. in 1405, till 1586, 
 — a period of one hundred and eighty-one years — 
 it was the misfortune of Scotland to be governed by 
 a succession of minors. The consequences in a 
 rude and turbulent age, and among a people com- 
 pletely under the control of their feudal superiors, 
 may be easily conceived. The progress of im- 
 
16 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 provement and civilization was restrained ; domestic 
 broils, and the evils of factious ambition, complete- 
 ly depressed the spirit of the nation. 
 
 At no period of Scottish history, perhaps, were 
 these more apparent than when James, the first of 
 that name, acceded to the government, after a capti- 
 vity of nineteen years in England. The feeble reign 
 of Robert III. had abundantly encouraged the spirit 
 of faction ; and the infamous murder of the unfortu- 
 nate Rothsay at Falkland, by Ramorny and his 
 associates, who were suborned by the Duke of Al- 
 bany and the Earl of Douglas, is a proof of the 
 weakness of Robert's administration, and the un- 
 principled ambition of his relatives. The imprison- 
 ment of James in England rendered a regency ne- 
 cessary ; and Roberts own brother, the Duke of 
 Albany, by various arts and crimes, obtained the 
 administration of the government, which he held 
 for thirteen years with a vigour rarely witnessed 
 at his great age. * His son Murdac succeeded — 
 a regent of a different character, weak, indolent, 
 and remiss in his authority, who was maintained 
 in his brief regency of four years solely by the 
 peculiar circumstances of the times. 
 
 It was the misfortune of James I. that he lived 
 at that period ; for a prince he was worthy of a 
 better age and a more enlightened and civilized 
 kingdom. His imprisonment in England had not 
 been without its advantages, and the greatest care 
 had been bestowed on his education. In him, 
 after two feeble reigns, and two regencies equal- 
 ly inactive, the House of Stuart was at last to 
 
 * The Duke of Albany was approaching his 70th year 
 when he became regent. 
 
I. ASSASSINA I ION OF JAMES I. 17 
 
 knonr a sovereign — a prince as disting^uished for 
 his mental as lie was for his personal accomplish- 
 ments — " a man of science and learning, an ex- 
 cellent poet, a master of music : — illustrious in 
 every personal virtue, free from any personal vice, 
 his very amusements adorned his character, — his 
 hours of leisure heing frequently dedicated to ele- 
 gant writing, and miniature painting, to mechani- 
 cal arts, and to the cultivation of the garden and 
 the orchard. " * 
 
 As it is not my province here to discuss the 
 state of Scotland when James assumed the go- 
 vernment, I shall pass at once, after a few histori- 
 cal notices, to the narration of the tragedy which 
 terminated the existence of the most accomplish- 
 ed prince of his age. After a number of salutary 
 regulations, James soon astonished the nobles 
 by his bold proceedings. His first act was to 
 humble the ambitious family of Albany ; and 
 in a Parliament held at Perth, 1425, he arrest- 
 ed the Duke of Albany, his two sons, the Earls of 
 Lennox, Douglas, Angus, and March, Sir Robert 
 Graham, and more than twenty barons of great 
 power. Some of tltese were afterwards released, 
 but a full measure of revenge was in reserve for 
 Albany and his sons. Seated on the throne of 
 justice, James himself presided at their trial; and 
 among the jury were some of those whom he 
 had formerly ordered to be arrested. By this 
 jury, Murdac of Albany, Duncan Earl of Lennox 
 
 * Pinkerton, vol. i. p. 109. — The Poems of James I. 
 are well known, and evince his great abilities. His King's 
 Quair, Christ's Kirk of the Grene, and Peeblis to the 
 IMav, are to be found in almost every collcctiou, 
 A 2 
 
18 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 his father-in-law, and his two sons, were con- 
 demned. Walter, the late Regent's eldest son, 
 was beheaded on the very day of his condemna- 
 tion ; and on the following day, Albany himself, 
 Alexander his second son, and the Earl of Len- 
 nox, were led out to execution. It was a severe, 
 though, perhaps, a just retribution ; yet the vulgar 
 beheld it not without commiseration. The former 
 authority of Albany, the venerable age of Len- 
 nox, then approaching his eightieth year, and the 
 noble appearance of the third, excited those feelings 
 which invariably result from the sight of greatness 
 in misfortune. * 
 
 But the execution of these noblemen brought 
 for a while peace to Scotland ; and James applied 
 himself still farther to the improvement and civi- 
 lization of his subjects. Many wise and efficient 
 laws were enacted, while the boldness and vigour 
 of the administration seemed to check all disposi- 
 tion to faction and turbulence. But the schemes 
 of the King for the humbling of the nobility were 
 observed with rancorous and malignant hatred ; 
 and there were those among them who had re- 
 solved to rid themselves of a sovereign before 
 whom they trembled, divested of their power and 
 feudal greatness, opposed by a vigour which Bruce 
 himself, the restorer of the Scottish monarchy, 
 had only once presumed to exercise, and which 
 even to him had well nigh proved fatal. 
 
 It was thus, while James I. was proceeding 
 with a boldness and determination which astonish- 
 ed his nobility, and which amounted even to rash- 
 ness, a confederacy was secretly forming, the con- 
 
 * The execution was at Stirling, an j they were all buried 
 in the Church of the Blackfriars there. 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 19 
 
 trivere of which had for their object the dethron- 
 ing of the Kin^, and the elevation of another to 
 his throne. Unfortunately for James, his sum- 
 mary revenge on the family of Albany had ren- 
 dered him exposed to such dangerous associations. 
 While the nobles were exasperated at his pro- 
 ceedings, and alleged that avarice, and not justice, 
 prompted him to procure so many confiscations, 
 the people were no less disposed to view with dis- 
 pleasure the subsidies levied from them, which 
 they had hitlierto been unaccustomed to advance, 
 not perceiving that a king without a treasury must 
 necessarily become the tool of faction, and unable 
 to maintain the exigencies of state ; and as those 
 subsidies had not been exsicted from them in for- 
 mer reigns, although attached to their sovereign, 
 they were disposed to view his government as ty- 
 rannical. No inconsiderable murmurings, there- 
 fore, existed among them, while a few of the 
 nobles were conspiring together to recover their 
 former power and independence. 
 
 Certain circumstances occurred, which proved 
 favourable to the designs of the confederates. 
 James, by his marriage with Joanna, a daughter 
 of the royal house of Lancaster, * a lady who 
 had been long the object of his affections during 
 his captivity in England, had formed various 
 leagues with that kingdom for a certain number of 
 years, which had been renewed at the expiration 
 of the allotted periods. These truces or leagues 
 
 * Joanna was daughter of the Duchess of Clarence, 
 niece of Richard IL, by her first husband John Uuke of 
 Somerset, fourth son of John of Gaunt, or Ghent, Duke 
 of Lancaster. The marriage of James and Joanna was 
 celebrated in the church of St Mary Overy, Southwark. 
 
20 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 had been generally well observed, with the excep- 
 tion of the usual maraudings on the Borders, till 
 the year 1435, when the treaty then existing was 
 infringed on the part of England. In support of 
 some of those who had opposed the King's autho- 
 rity, and who had been exiled in consequence. Sir 
 Robert Ogle the Younger entered Scotland at the 
 head of a considerable force, and committed se- 
 veral ravages in the southern counties. He was 
 opposed, however, by the Earl of Angus, Hep- 
 burn of Hailes, and Ramsay of Dalhousie ; and, 
 after a battle, in which upwards of forty men were 
 slain, he was defeated and taken prisoner. James, 
 enraged at this violation of the truce, despatched 
 a remonstrance to the English Court, but the af- 
 fair was suffered to pass without farther notice ; 
 and there is every reason to conclude, that Ogle 
 acted according to some secret instructions he had 
 received from the English Council. * 
 
 • This affair is differently narrated by our historians, 
 and the inroad has been greatly magnified. See Duff's 
 History of Scotland, folio, p. 59; Maitland's History, 
 folio, vol. i. p. 611 ; Drummond's (of Hawthornden) His- 
 tory of the Reign of James I. 8vo. edit. 1681, p. 39, 4-0 ; 
 Abercromby's Martial Achievements, vol. ii. p. 299 ; Bu- 
 chanan, lib. X. It is this difference of narration, and prone- 
 ness to magnify slight skirmishes, as if they were great 
 battles, which constitute some of the difficulties in Scot- 
 tish History. According to the above writers, the Eng- 
 lish army entered Scotland, 4000 strong, under the com- 
 mand of Percy, Earl of Northumberland ; and there is 
 mention only made of a Sir John Ogle in that army. The 
 Scots, under Angus, Hepburn, Elphinstone, and Ramsay, 
 met them on the borders, at a place called Piperden, and, 
 after a desperate battle, obtained a decisive victory, slaying 
 1500 of their enemies, and taking prisoners 400 noblemen 
 and knights, and 300 men. They themselves, it is pre- 
 tended, lost 500 men. It is not my intention to dis- 
 
1. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 21 
 
 The cause of this infringement of the truce was 
 the conduct of James with respect to France, with 
 which country the English were at war. The 
 Maid of Orleans was then pursuing her successful 
 career, and the English armies had been more than 
 opce defeated by a woman. James had contract- 
 ed his daughter, the Princess Margaret, to the 
 Dauphin — an alliance which alarmed tlie English 
 Government. But no direct violation of the truce 
 between England and Scotland had taken place 
 till 1435, which was destined to be followed by 
 another wanton provocation in 1436. The Dau- 
 phin had then attained his thirteenth year, and the 
 Scottish Princess her twelfth ; and it was accord- 
 ingly resolved to conclude the marriage. Henry 
 of England beheld this connection with increased ir- 
 ritation, more especially as James had rejected an 
 alliance he had himself proposed in a special em- 
 cuss the absurdity of this ludicrous attempt to magnify an 
 inroad, which.wasraade merely to harass James in his pre- 
 parations to send his daughter to France, with which country 
 the English were then at war. Bowar, vol. ii. p. 500, 
 has set the matter right ; and even Abercromby observes, 
 that some writers say, the number of the prisoners amount- 
 ed only to 1500, and that of the slain on both sides to 40 
 or 200 at most. The fact that Sir Robert Ogle command- 
 ed, and the date of this inroad, are ascertained from the 
 correspondence of James and Henry on the subject, nar- 
 rated in the long instructions of the English Council for 
 redress. Cotton MSS. Vespasian, F. VII. f. 48, dated 
 5th February 14v36. See also note, apud Pinkerton, vol. i. 
 p. 130. Our historians, moreover, err in placing this 
 skirmish after the departure of the Princess iNIargaret for 
 France, which took place in 14.36, whereas the inroad hap- 
 pened in 1435. The English were not in a condition to 
 spare a numerous anny for a Scottish expedition, nor was 
 it their interest at that time to break with the Scottish 
 King. 
 
44, CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 bassy conducted by Lord Scroop. In the begin- 
 iiintr of the year 1486, two French envoys arrived 
 in Scotland to betroth the Princess ; and she was 
 sont to France, escorted by an honourable retinue, 
 conducted by the Earl of Orkney and the Bishop 
 of Brechin. Sixteen knights and squires, forty 
 ladies of noble parentage, and 140 gentlemen, * 
 completed the gallant train, guarded by 1000 arm- 
 ed men, in three galleys, and six well-manned bar- 
 ges. The English Government, however, were 
 on the watch ; 180 vessels lay in the Channel to 
 intercept the Scottish Princess ; and captured she 
 would have been, had not the English fleet at- 
 tacked a number of Flemish merchant ships, and 
 afterwards engaged with some Spanish vessels, 
 which suddenly appeared, and deprived them of 
 their Flemish prizes. The Scottish fleet escaped 
 during these contests, and safely landed the Prin- 
 cess at Rochelle, whence she proceeded to Paris. 
 When James heard this additional insult offered 
 him by the English, he did not long hesitate about 
 retaliation ; yet it must be confessed, that, if the 
 English were the first actual aggressors, the con- 
 duct of James was not altogether free from blame, 
 inasmuch as he had actually sent troops to France, 
 to assist the French armies against their English 
 enemies. The delay of redress, however, for the 
 inroad under Ogle, the attempt to intercept his 
 daughter, and probably a desire to prevent any 
 treasonable confederacies among his nobility, 
 prompted James to undertake a war against Eng- 
 land. With incredible alacrity, he summoned a 
 
 * Drummond of Hawthornden says, 140 gcniZt'icomen, 
 History of James I. p. 38. 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 23 
 
 numerous army ; and it is remavkahie, that Scot- 
 land, at all tinxiS limited in her resources, should 
 have been able in those times to have sent so 
 many men into the field, — a circumstance which 
 can only, perhaps, be accounted for from the state 
 of the kingdom, the limited extent of its merchan- 
 dise and intercourse with foreign nations, and the 
 nature of the tenures under which the peasantry 
 held their limited property. The military array 
 of James on this occasion consisted of nearly 
 5^00,000 men, many of them mounted on horses, 
 and a vast number of foot soldiers and followers of 
 the army. This unwieldy assemblage, however, 
 chiefly formidable on account of its numerical 
 strength, was ill-armed and without discipline, 
 composed generally of men who were courageous 
 and savage enough in their own peculiar mode of 
 warfare, but totally unfit to endure a campaign 
 against a less numerous but well-disciplined force. 
 The castle of Roxburgh, so fatal to James' son 
 and successor, had been for a considerable time 
 in the possession of the English, — a cause of 
 no inconsiderable uneasiness to the Scottish mo- 
 narchs. Situated on an eminence near the con- 
 fluence of the Tweed and the Teviot, it had been 
 always deemed a place of great importance ; and 
 the vicissitudes it had undergone in former reigns 
 made it at length be deemed, in a manner, the 
 commanding fortress on the Borders. The reco- 
 very of this fortress, then held for the English 
 monarch by Sir Ralph Gray, was the primary ob- 
 ject of James, and against it he led his unwieldy 
 army in person. The King sat down before it 
 and began the assault without success. For fifteen 
 days, the valiant governor of the castle kept the 
 
24 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Scottish force at bay ; and tlie King was at length 
 compelled to al)andon the siege, dismiss his army, 
 and return unsuccessful. 
 
 The causes of this sudden movement and re- 
 treat of James are variously related by historians. 
 With a vanity which is too often apparent among 
 our early writers, they have generally asserted, 
 that the castle of Roxburgh was almost recovered 
 by James, notwithstanding the bravery of Gray the 
 governor, when the Queen arrived suddenly at the 
 camp, with tidings of a formidable conspiracy 
 formed against him. Insinuations are even made 
 against the Queen, that it was a mere pretence on 
 her part, as she was disposed to favour her coun- 
 trymen the English. The King, according to 
 these writers, suddenly raised the siege, fearing 
 the reality of the plot, and that the officers of his 
 army had been corrupted by English gold ; and 
 betook himself to Perth, that he might investigate 
 the conspiracy. But these accounts seem to have 
 originated solely in the melancholy events which 
 marked the termination of James's life the following 
 year. That there was a conspiracy existing against 
 him, we shall presently see ; and it is probable that 
 the Queen may have heard who were the principal 
 leaders. But the narrative of Walter Bowar, the 
 monastic historian, who lived at the period, at once 
 explains the causes of James' sudden retreat. Had 
 there been a conspiracy, such as is vaguely reported 
 by later writers on no authority, James was much 
 safer with his army than after its dispersion ; but 
 the King appears to have been convinced, that he 
 was weakening his kingdom by supporting this 
 numerous army ; and perhaps he perceived that 
 spirit of dissatisfaction and discontentment begin- 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 25 
 
 ning to operate among his nobles, wliich under his 
 successors ])rocee(led to violent extreuu's, and too 
 often induced them to sacrifice their country to a 
 gratification of their resentments. 
 
 After the army was disbanded, James retired 
 to Perth, where the court was then held. The 
 Dominican or Blackfriars' Monastery, founded 
 in 1231 by Alexander II., was the royal resi- 
 dence, — a monastery of gieat splendour, sacrile- 
 giously plundered and destroyed by the enthusiasts 
 of the Reformation. This monastery, no trace of 
 which now remains, was situated in the street still 
 called the Blackfriars' Wynd ; and from the man- 
 ner in which it is mentioned, and the frequent 
 allusions made to it by our historians, it appears 
 to have been a magnificent fabric of Gothic splen- 
 dour. It became the residence of the sovereigns 
 when the court was kept at Perth, after the de- 
 molition of the Castle, (the site of which was 
 towards the north end of the narrow street called 
 the Skinnergate), in the Church of the monastery 
 several parliaments were held ; and it was always 
 the place where the national ecclesiastical councils 
 assembled. But it is necessary to introduce the 
 principal actors in the cruel scene which terminat- 
 ed the life of James I. 
 
26 CONSriRAClES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Tliere is a history in all men's lives, 
 Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd; 
 The which observ'd, a man may prophecy, 
 With a near aim, of the main chance of things 
 As yet not come to life, which in their seeds, 
 And weak beginnings, be intreasured. 
 
 Shakspeare — Henry IF. 
 
 Sir Robert Graham, uncle of Malise Earl of 
 Stiathern, had been imprisoned by James in 1425, 
 when he took his summary vengeance on the fa- 
 mily of Albany; but the cause, unless he had 
 been connected with the practices of Albany, is 
 not accurately known. In the Parliament, held 
 in 1424, a statute was enacted to ascertain the 
 lands which belonged to the crown at the de- 
 cease of Robert I., and James was authorized to 
 call for the production of all charters and writs 
 of tenure. While thus engaged, James turned his 
 attention to the earldom of Strathern ; and, under 
 the pretence that it was a male fee, two years af- 
 terwards he divested Malise of the earldom, and 
 gave it to his own uncle, Walter Earl of Athol 
 and Caithness, grand-uncle to the same Malise, 
 for his liferent. As a recompense to the latter 
 nobleman, James assigned to him the earldom of 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 27 
 
 Menteith, by wliich distinction his family was af- 
 terwards known in tlie peerage. 
 
 Sir Robert Graliam, whose hatred to the King 
 was inveterate, beheld not this divestment of his 
 nephew's dignity without indignation ; yet it can 
 hardly be conceived that this alone could stimulate 
 him to murder his sovereign. Whatever were his 
 motives, his dissimulation induced him to intrigue 
 with Athol, who was not without ambition, though 
 it is not likely that Graham was at all inclined to 
 aid it, from the circumstances above narrated. Athol, 
 at this period approaching his seventieth year, was 
 the second son of Robert II., by Euphemia Ross, 
 the second queen of that monarch. His grandson, 
 Sir Robert Stuart, was in high favour with James, 
 and held the office of private chamberlain in the 
 court. These were the two noblemen on whom 
 Graham practised, captivating the dotage of age, 
 and the inexperience of youth, to promote his own 
 desperate revenge. His audacity equalled his dis- 
 simulation. It was pretended by him and his as- 
 sociates, that after the King was despatched, the 
 crown would be given to Sir Robert Stuart; — 
 the latter thus dazzled by the prospect of a throne, 
 and Athol his grandfather no less attracted by the 
 hopes and allurements of seeing his family elevated 
 to the regal dignity. 
 
 Graham soon found a number of desperate ad- 
 herents in this conspiracy ; and after his plan was 
 matured, every action of the King was interpreted 
 in the severest manner. He made it his business 
 to inflame the people by false representations of 
 the King's proceedings, while he fomented the dis- 
 contentment of the nobility, who were already suf- 
 
28 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ficiently dissatisfied at the King's successful at- 
 tempts to diminish their power and influence. 
 In 1434, shortly after Graham had heen releas- 
 ed from his imprisonment, a meeting of the prin- 
 cipal nobility was held, most probably to con- 
 sider the intentions of James, who was then pro- 
 ceeding vigorously in his plans to humble their feu- 
 dal greatness. At this meeting Graham attend- 
 ed ; and, irritated by his confinement, his conduct 
 was as outrageous as his language was inflamma- 
 tory. It was maintained, that the execution of Al- 
 bany and hie sons had originated in the insatiable 
 avarice of the King to possess their estates ; and 
 no measured language was employed to express 
 the greedy covetousness, by which, it was alleged, 
 James oppressed and impoverished the kingdom. 
 " My Lords, " said Graham, at the conclusion of a 
 long harangue, " if you will firmly support me in 
 what I shall say to the King, I shall demand redress 
 in your presence, and I trust in God we shall be 
 satisfied. " As he was a man of eloquence, and 
 skilled in the laws as they then stood, Graham's 
 proposal was readily assented to, and the nobles 
 present bound themselves to support him. 
 
 The next Parliament was the time fixed for the 
 accomplishment of this plan, and Graham in the 
 meanwhile had not been idle. It met in 1485, 
 and Graham, relying on the promises he had 
 received of support, conducted himself with the 
 most extravagant audacity. Exceeding the bounds 
 of his commission, he rose with a furious counte- 
 nance, and, advancing to the throne, he pre- 
 sumptuously laid his hand on the King, and ex- 
 claimed, " I arrest you in the name of the three 
 estates of your realm, now assembled in this present 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 29 
 
 Parliainent ; for, as your subjects are bound and 
 sworn to obey you in the administration of the 
 laws, in like manner you are compelled to defend 
 your people, to govern by the laws, so that ye do 
 not wrong them, but defend and maintain them in 
 justice. " Then turning to the assembled peers, 
 he cried, " Is it not thus as I say ? " But they, 
 astonished at his boldness, and awed, perhaps, by 
 the presence of their sovereign, kept profound 
 silence, not venturing to appear as the abettors of 
 this daring action. The King immediately ordered 
 Graham to prison, who, exasperated at seeing him- 
 self deserted by those who had pledged their sup- 
 port, retorted a severe sarcasm as he was led out 
 in custody : — " He that serveth a common man, 
 serveth only during bis convenience. " 
 
 It does not appear that James endeavoured to 
 ascertain who were the associates of Graham pre- 
 paratory to this exploit, but it farther confirmed 
 him in his resolution to crush the power of the no- 
 bility. Graham was soon after ordered into ba- 
 nishment, and he retired to the fastnesses of the 
 Highlands, revolving in his mind dark and des- 
 perate designs. As his estates were forfeited to 
 the crown, he proceeded to renounce his allegi- 
 ance, and sent the King a mortal defiance, declar- 
 ing that for his tyranny he would destroy him, 
 his wife, and children, and slay him with his own 
 hands, whenever he had opportunity. This de- 
 fiance drew forth a proclamation from James, oflFer- 
 ing a reward of three thousand deniers of gold, each 
 piece worth half a noble of English money, to any 
 one who would bring Graham, dead or alive, into 
 the royal presence. 
 
 ji 2 
 
30 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 But, nothing daunted by this proclamation, this 
 audacious rebel was not idle. He took advan- 
 tage of the King's absence at Roxburgh Castle, to 
 correspond with some of the nobles ; and he vo- 
 luntarily offered to assassinate James, and place 
 the crown on the head of Robert Stuart, Athol's 
 grandson. It was probably, after all, a report of 
 Graham's conduct, which induced the Queen to 
 depart with such precipitancy for the camp at 
 Roxburgh ; but there is no evidence to suppose 
 that it caused James to raise the siege, as he was 
 previously well aware of the inveterate hatred of 
 this daring offender. 
 
 Athol and his grandson, however, had ere this 
 time engaged in the conspiracy ; and it is said the 
 former was the more inclined, from the prediction 
 of a Highland seer whom he had consulted in the 
 district of Athol, that, " before his death, he would 
 be crowned before a great concourse of people. " 
 The last parliament of James met at Edinburgh 
 on the festival of All-Hallowmas, 1436, when the 
 bold and ferocious Graham, though an exile and a 
 rebel, exerted himself with more than ordinary 
 activity. He sent private messages to certain re- 
 tainers of the late Duke of Albany, again offering 
 to slay the King, and place Sir Robert Stuart on 
 the throne. By this means a few were drawn over 
 to the party, but the chief conspirators were Gra- 
 ham himself, Athol, Sir Robert Stuart, and a do- 
 mestic of the King's, whom they had bribed for 
 the purpose, and from whom they received inti' 
 mations of James' movements. 
 
 After the meeting of Parliament, in which many 
 wise and salutary laws were enacted, the court 
 removed to Perth, there to celebrate the approach- 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 3i 
 
 ing feetivBl of Christmas. If we are to believe 
 the popular historians and chroniclers of the times, 
 many supernatural indications were given of 
 James' approaching fate. In 1436, towards the 
 end of that year, Sir James Balfour notes, that a 
 fearful comet, like a fiery sword, was seen in the 
 heavens, as if between Edinburgh and Perth ; * 
 and the same author gravely observes, that this 
 year in Perth a sow brought forth a dog. A fear- 
 ful eclipse also, it is said, lasted for three hours, 
 during which it was as dark as midnight ; and 
 these hours were long remembered in Scotland as 
 the black Jiours. As a remarkable prodigy, we are 
 informed, that the frost was so intense that winter, 
 as to cause ale and wine to be sold by weight, 
 being frozen into a solid substance. Two of the 
 most ridiculous traditions, doubtless an improve- 
 ment on some of the former, are, that a calf was 
 seen with a head exactly shaped like that of a 
 horse, and a sow littered pigs with dogs' heads. 
 Absurd as these traditions are, they were most re- 
 ligiously believed by the Scots of that age after 
 the King's death, as so many indications from 
 heaven of his approaching fate. 
 
 Meanwhile the conspirators were proceeding 
 with caution ; their plan was completely matured, 
 the opportunity only being wanting to perpetrate 
 the diabolical deed. Yet their caution was not 
 80 great as to prevent some vague rumours of their 
 intentions to spread abroad ; and these rumours 
 had reached even the most intimate domestics in 
 
 * It is remarkable that in the early history of Scotland 
 the appearance of fiery swords in the air seems to have 
 been very common. 
 
32 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 the palace. But, from what cause soever it was, 
 they seem to have been utterly disregarded ; nor 
 were the least suspicions excited. The apparent 
 inability of Graham to conduct any formidable 
 conspiracy, — the fact that no powerful cabal of the 
 nobles had been mentioned, and Graham's pre- 
 sumptuous defiances to his sovereign, resembling 
 rather the ravings of a madman, than the cool and 
 calculating intentions of a conspirator, — probably 
 concurred in deceiving the King, and lulling every 
 suspicion. Well, however, would it have been for 
 James had he listened to the dictates of prudence, 
 and endeavoured to apprehend lliis dark and gloomy 
 exile, ere he was able to form any confederacy with 
 ambitious nobles in a turbulent and seditious age. 
 
1. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 'Tis said, as thro' the aisles they pass'd. 
 
 They heard strange voices on the blast; 
 
 And thro' tlie cloister-galleries small, 
 
 Which at mid-height thread tlie chancel wall, 
 
 Loud sobs, and louder laughter, ran, 
 
 And voices unlike the voice of man : 
 
 As if the fiends kept holiday, 
 
 Because their spoils were brought to day. 
 
 I cannot tell how the truth may be ; 
 
 I say the tale as 'twas said to me. 
 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
 
 The court removed to Perth in splendid array, 
 anticipating the usual rejoicings at the celebration 
 of the approaching festival. It was in the midst 
 of the journey, that a Highland woman, who pre- 
 tended to be a soothsayer, hut wlio in reality had 
 heard the real plans of the conspirators, appeared 
 before the King and his attendants. Her wild and 
 singular attitude astonished James. It was at a 
 place, according to our authority, termed the Water 
 of Leith — the rivulet known by that name which 
 falls into the Frith of Forth near Edinburgh, as 
 the King is described as being near, or in big 
 way to, " Saint John's towne, which is from Eden- 
 borougli on that other side of the Scottisii See, " * 
 
 • The Frith of Forth was anciently called the Scottish 
 See. 
 
34 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 the river Tay. " My Lord Kinir, " she cried with 
 a loud voice, " if you pass over this water, you 
 shall never return again alive. " James was star- 
 tled at her language, more especially as at that 
 moment an old prophecy occurred to his mind, 
 that a King of Scotland was to be slain that year. 
 He commanded one of his attendants to ride up 
 to the woman, and ask the meaning of her dubious 
 exclamation ; but to this messenger she merely re- 
 peated what she had before said to the King, per- 
 sisting in her declaration, that if he passed that 
 stream, he would never return alive. He asked 
 her how she knew that ; to which she replied, 
 that she had received her information from a per- 
 son named Hubert, most probably a domestic of 
 the palace. Whether or not the attendant was in 
 the plot, is doubtful ; he treated the prediction of 
 the woman with contempt. " Sire, " said he to 
 James, " men would smile if your Majesty re- 
 garded yon woman's language, for she is nought 
 but a drunken fool, and knows not what she says." 
 The monarch and his attendants passed on, and 
 entered Perth, where the celebration of the festi- 
 val of Christmas commenced. 
 
 Many were the omens which were observed of 
 the King's approaching fate, and many are the popu- 
 lar traditions recorded ; but the observation of Pin- 
 kerton is too true, that " the worst omen was his 
 rigorous administration, which had created many 
 enemies, among whom the conspiracy spread like 
 a fire among combustible materials. " The monas- 
 tery of the Dominicans, or Blackfriars, in Perth,* 
 as had been observ(?d, was the King's residence, 
 and the scene of his last and fatal revelry. 
 
 That maanificent edifice, thus destined to be the 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 35 
 
 scene of a most horrible tragedy, was on this occa- 
 sion honoured by a brilliant assemblage of Scottish 
 beauty, and bright eyes were tliere mixing in the 
 dance and gracing the tournament, which ere long 
 were to be suffused with tears. The Queen and 
 Ler ladies resided in the monastery, and James, 
 unconscious of his fate, moved among them — the 
 gay, the gallant, the accomplished monarch. The 
 sacred services of the Church were concluded, and 
 the Court was the scene of festal gaiety. One of 
 the attendant knights, remarkable for his personal 
 accomplishments, received the epithet of King of 
 Love from James. With him the King was one 
 evening playing at chess, when he indulged in some 
 sportive satire on his new title. " Sir King of Love, " 
 said James, " it is not long since I read a pro- 
 phecy, spoken some time ago, which set forth, 
 that this year a king should be slain in this land, 
 and well ye wot. Sir Alexander, there are no 
 Kings in this realm but you and I ; and therefore I 
 counsell you that ye be wary ; for I let you know 
 that, under God, I shall take care of my own safe- 
 ty sufficiently, being under your Kingship, and in 
 the service of Love. " 
 
 If our chroniclers are to be credited, other po- 
 pular stories strikingly illustrate the influence 
 of superstitious impressions, as also the fatal se- 
 curity in which James imagined himself. Short- 
 ly after the above circumstance, the King was in 
 his own apartment, conversing with some ladies 
 and nobles on various subjects. A squire, a fa- 
 vourite of the King, drew near, and said, " In 
 sooth, my Lord, I verily dreamed to-night that 
 Sir Robert Graham had slain your ^Majesty. " It 
 is not improbable, that this, under the pretence of 
 
36 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 its being a dream, was a timely hint to James of 
 liis situation ; but be this as it may, the squire was 
 sharply reproved by the Earl of Orkney, (the same 
 nobleman who founded the magnificent chapel at 
 Roslin near Edinburgh), who commanded him to 
 liold his peace, and tell no such idle tales in the 
 royal presence. Yet it made some impression on 
 James, who immediately recollected a dream of 
 his own, in which he thought a serpent and a toad 
 furiously assailed him in his own private apart- 
 ments, and that he had nothing to defend himself 
 against them but a pair of tongs he found in the 
 chimney. The other signs and omens our chro- 
 nicler has not narrated ; but yet, so great was the 
 reverence which the presence of the devoted mo- 
 narch excited, that thrice did Christopher Cham- 
 bers, the domestic whom the conspirators had 
 bribed, and who had formerly been a retainer of 
 the Duke of Albany, attempt to approach the 
 King, and make a full disclosure of the conspira- 
 cy, and as often did he fail, from a want of reso- 
 lution, accident, or a sense of pity towards his asso- 
 ciates. The unhappy monarch was devoted to 
 destruction. 
 
 At length a night was fixed for the accomplish- 
 ment of the conspiracy, and the first Wednesday in 
 Lent 1437, was the night destined for its execution 
 by the conspirators, being the night between the 20th 
 and 21st of February. The leaders of the con- 
 spiracy had previously met ; Graham had private- 
 ly returned from his gloomy fastnesses in the High- 
 lands, and had anived in the neighbourhood of 
 Perth, where he met with Athol and his effemi- 
 nate grandson. A speech is reported to have been 
 delivered by Athol, in which he recapitulates all 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. S7 
 
 }ii8 previous exploits in exciting ferments in the 
 state, which, tliough conjectural, as it is not gene- 
 rally known, is not unworthy of a place in this nar- 
 rative, more especially as it proceeds on various 
 historical facts, in which, whether or not Athol 
 was actually guilty to the full extent in this con- 
 spiracy, he had no inconsiderable share. 
 
 " The engagements, " said he to his associates, 
 " which you have made to each other, and which 
 I have made to you all, founded on the strongest 
 grounds of consanguinity, friendship, and resolu- 
 tion to revenge our mutual wrongs, move me free- 
 ly to reveal my secret intentions, and to disclose 
 my hidden purposes and counsels. The tragedies 
 which have been acted in the state since the first ar- 
 rival of this Englishman at the crown, are to none 
 of you unknown. Murdac and his children have 
 been beheaded ; the Earl of Lennox, the father- 
 in-law of Murdac, came to the same end ; the no- 
 bles repine at the government of the King ; the 
 King is jealous of his nobles ; and the people are 
 on the eve of rebellion. These have all been the 
 effects of my crafty policy, and hitherto they have 
 happened as fortunately as they were ingeniously 
 contrived. For what more ingenious and cun- 
 ning stratagem could be devised to overthrow the 
 prosperity of these usurpers, than to get them des- 
 patched under the pretence of justice ? Sitting 
 myself as judge in Albany's case, easily did I pro- 
 cure summary vengeance for the crimes of his 
 house. And if there were any evil in such pro- 
 ceedings, in small matters we must not be over- 
 BCiTipulous, that so justice and equity may be per- 
 formed in gieat. My fear was, and indeed ie, that 
 
38 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 the taking; down tlie scaffold of Albany might oc- 
 casion l!ie erection of ours ; crowns must not have 
 rivals ; the world knows, and this Englishman him- 
 self is conscious, that the right and title to the crown, 
 by descent of blood from liobert IL, my father, was 
 in the person of David, my brother, and is now just- 
 ly claimed by me and my nephew. And though 
 acts of Parliament and oaths of allegiance have 
 seemingly confirmed the rights of that other race 
 who now- occupy the throne, yet no parliament- 
 ary authority can take away justice and the law of 
 God ; neither are oaths bmding, when they tend 
 to the oppression of truth and right. And though 
 for a time such acts and oaths have prevailed, yet, 
 if our designs be successful, we shall have a Par- 
 liament approving our right, abolishing the autho- 
 rity of our oppressors, and declaring them usurp- 
 ers. This one man and child taken off, if perad- 
 venture we can strike such a blow, the kingdom 
 must obey the lawful successor. What subject 
 will then dare to revolt, or take up arms against 
 him ? Here is more feai' than danger ; but though 
 there were, the only remedies of present dangera 
 are desperate courses. It was truly simple in him 
 who now oppresses us, and usurps our throne, to 
 think that deeply-rooted injuries are likely to be 
 forgotten by the b --.towal of contemptible favours, 
 and that I should calmly submit to the title of 
 Earl, when 1 should have been King myself, and 
 receiving his homage. By his tyrannical justice, 
 if he is not hated, he is not beloved, but has be- 
 come an object of terror to his people, who now, 
 through their poverty and grievances, obey him, 
 not from affection, but from fear and necessity; 
 and he himself even feareth that some do that to 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 39 
 
 him wltich he knows right well he deserveth. Let 
 us, then, resolve his douhts ; our purposes are 
 honour and revenge ; our feelings towards him are 
 mutual. The very heavens seem to favour us, 
 having induced him to dismiss his army, and to 
 come to the very place where our designs must suc- 
 ceed. Let us rather follow these advantageous cir- 
 cumstances, trusting more to that propitious fortune 
 which ever favours great actions, than to that effe- 
 minate virtue which preacheth cowardly patience ; 
 remembering, that the fairest representations of va- 
 lour have been given to the foulest deeds, and that 
 the most powerful families thence derive their 
 greatness, chance seldom or never following vic- 
 tory, however it be achieved or purchased. What 
 was sovereignty at first but u violent usurpation of 
 the stronjjer over the weaker? Great enterprises 
 must begin with danger, but end with rewards. 
 Death should rather be prevented than expected, 
 but it were more honourable to die at once, than 
 to prolong a miserable life, subject to the scorn of 
 other men's pride. Let us be resolute in our plot, 
 and hazard the enterprise. The worst that can be- 
 fall us, since we cannot exist while the usurper is 
 alive, is, that he be taken away while we run the ha- 
 zard of death, which, however^ happeneth to all 
 men equally, with the difference only of fame or 
 oblivion with posterity, which ariseth out of an 
 evil action as well as out of a good, if the action 
 and attempt be alike great. Now, then, is the 
 time for action, not for superfluous deliberation. " 
 
 7'his speech, though it is merely hypothetical, 
 contains a pretty accurate specimen of the designs 
 of the conspirators. The eventful night, however, 
 at length arrived, which was to consummate the 
 
40 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 tragedy. Graliam was lurking in the neighbour- 
 hood of the Dominican Convent, occasionally re- 
 ceiving information of the proceedings within from 
 the perfidious domestic. Athol and his grandson 
 were at the court that evening, and the time was 
 spent in more than ordinary hilarity, in playing at 
 chess, reading, singing, piping, playing on instru- 
 ments, and other amusements, both before and 
 after supper. During the prolongation of these 
 recreations, the woman who had before warned 
 James of his fate, while on his journey from Edin- 
 burgh to Perth, appeared at the gate of the Do- 
 minican Convent. She had followed the court to 
 Perth, and knew that this was the night fixed for 
 the execution of the conspiracy, from the numbers 
 of armed men lurking in the vicinity of the town. 
 She entered the court of the Convent, and crossed 
 to that side of the building which contained the 
 royal apartments. Having found the door, she 
 designed to force her way into the King's pre- 
 sence, but it was shut. She knocked till the door 
 was opened by a domestic, who demanded her 
 business at that advanced hour in the evening. 
 " Let me in, " said she, " for I have something 
 to say, and to tell to the King. I am the same 
 woman that not long ago desired to have spoken 
 with him when about to enter Perth. " The ap- 
 parent earnestness of the woman astonished the 
 domestic, and he proceeded to inform the King. 
 Tliinking, however, that it was some frivolous 
 affair, James was not inclined to relinquish his 
 amusements, and simply said, " Let her come to- 
 morrow. " Wlien this was told to the woman, 
 she sorrowfully replied, " Well, it will repent you- 
 all, that you will not let me speak now with the 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 41 
 
 King. " This called forth a jest from the domes- 
 tic, and she departed. 
 
 The amusements of the Court were kept up to 
 a late hour. After supper, James called for the 
 parting-cup, and every one present drank before 
 retiring to rest. Stuart, Athol's grandson, was 
 the last who left the King, and he left the door of 
 the apartment open — a precaution indeed needless, 
 as he had previously destroyed the locks. It would 
 appear that a door from the apartments opened 
 into a garden ; for about midnight the conspirators 
 had laid down planks of wood, and hurdles, by 
 which they might be able to get over the ditch 
 which surrounded the garden near the outer wall. 
 By this way the conspirators entered the convent ; 
 and shortly after midnight, when the Court had 
 retired to rest, Graham, with three hundred High- 
 landers, was in possession of the house, having 
 effected his entiance without being observed, or 
 meeting with the slightest interruption. 
 
 James had retired to his own apartment, and 
 was standing before the fire-place in a kind of un- 
 dress, gaily conversing with his Queen and her 
 ladies, when suddenly he heard a loud noise in the 
 court, as if the clashing of armour and armed men, 
 and the gloomy flash of torches glared from with- 
 out through the room. Immediately the suspi- 
 cions of treason occurred to him ; the warnings he 
 had received revived in his mind; and his thoughts 
 naturally reverted to the dark and gloomy exile 
 who had insulted him by his mortal defiance. 
 Astonishment and terror were depicted on the 
 countenances of the ladies ; and, as the noise wax- 
 ed louder, thev clung to each other around the 
 c2 
 
42 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 King. Recovering, liowever, their composure for 
 a moment, tlie Queen and the ladies rushed to the 
 door, which they found open, and the holts de- 
 stroyed. The imhappy prince, without arms or 
 attendants, hesought them to keep fast the door as 
 well as they could, while he looked round to see 
 if escape were practicable. He ran to the win- 
 dows, hut found them so strongly barred without, 
 as utterly to preclude any possibility of escape by 
 them ; nor had he time to effect it, even had it been 
 practicable, as the tumult and clashing of armour 
 every moment increased. Heavy footsteps were 
 already heard along the gallery which led to the 
 King's apartment, and the violence from without 
 already indicated the designs of the assailants. 
 
 The unhappy King, finding it impossible to 
 escape by the windows, seized the fire-tongs, and, 
 by a desperate exertion, succeeded in wrenching a 
 plank from the floor, which covered a kind of square 
 vault or cellar of trifling dimensions. Through this 
 aperture he dropped himself, and covered himself 
 with the plank. He was now in one of those dis- 
 agreeable places often found in old houses, a place, 
 indeed, full of ordure and filth, but still he could 
 not escape outwardly, for, by a sad fatality, he had 
 caused the aperture, or small square window, 
 which had been formerly used for cleansing the 
 place, and through which he could have easily 
 escaped, to be built up three days before, because 
 the tennis-balls were apt to enter it when that 
 game was played in the garden. Yet even in this 
 place the King might, perhaps, have been safe, 
 had his own impatience not betrayed him. 
 
 As soon as the conspirators had got possession 
 of the Convent, it was, of course, their first object 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 43 
 
 to make towards the KingVj apartment ; and tra- 
 dition affirms, that they were nhown it by Sir Ro- 
 bert Stuart, Atliol's t^randson, tlie same individual 
 for whom James Iiad always entertained a special 
 regard. A page, named Walter Straiton, who held 
 the office of cup-bearer, and who was then in the 
 act of carrying some wine for the King and Queen, 
 first gave the alarm. He saw them consulting 
 among themvselves, and instantly exclaiming, Trai- 
 tors ! Traitors ! made haste to secure the door. 
 The page, however, was stabbed to the heart by 
 one of the conspirators, who simultaneously rush- 
 ed towards the King's apartment with axes, swords, 
 and other weapons. Yet his cries had wained the 
 inmates of the royal apartments of the approach of 
 the assassins. The King was at this time in the 
 vault, or cellar, under the floor, and the ladies ran 
 towards the outer door. The bolts, as lias been said, 
 had been previously despoiled ; but one of the 
 Maids of Honour, Lady Catherine Douglas, a lady 
 of the house of Douglas, and afterwaids married 
 to a knight named Alexander Lovel, performed an 
 action of heroism, which is worthy of being known 
 to latest posterity. This noble lady, with a cour- 
 age beyond her age and sex, thrust her arm into 
 the bolt, while the door was attempted to be se- 
 cured within by the pressure of the other ladies. 
 The delicate arm-bone, however, was in a moment 
 broken to pieces by the violence of the assassins, who 
 burst open the door, and scrupled not, while thus 
 stimulated by their savage passions, to trample down 
 and wound several of the fair defenders. The fierce 
 appearance of the conspirators alarmed the helpless 
 females, and they fled from tliem with loud cries of 
 terror and lamentation. Several attendants, whom 
 
44 CONSriRACIES. 
 
 the noise had called together, and who endeavoured 
 to resist, were slain, and among these fell Patrick 
 Dunbar, a brother of the Earl of March. Shrieking 
 with horror, the ladies fled, and the conspirators 
 rushed into the apartment under which the King 
 was concealed. They found the Queen speechless 
 and aghast at the horrid scene, and incapable of 
 even imploring protection. A villain wounded her, 
 and would probably have murdered her on the 
 spot, had not a son of Sir Robert Graham inter- 
 posed, exclaiming, "What! shame on yourself! 
 What will you do to the Queen ? She is but a wo- 
 man. Let us go and seeU the King." Leaving 
 the princess in that deplorable condition, with her 
 hair dishevelled, and her dress, from their rudeness, 
 hanging loose about her, while the ladies remained 
 lost in tears and astonishment, the traitors pro- 
 ceeded to search every corner of the apartment. 
 
 But their search was in vain ; and it is remark- 
 able that they never recollected the cellar, or vault, 
 below the floor. Having examined every corner 
 without success, some of them proceeded to the 
 one adjoining, while others extended the search 
 to more remote apartments. Every place was 
 diligently explored, — *' in the litters, undir the 
 presses, the fourmes, the chares, and all othir places, 
 long they besily sought the Kyng." At length a 
 temporary quietness ensued, when the King, think- 
 ing the conspirators were gone, called for sheets 
 to draw him out of the nauseous place of his con- 
 cealment. The ladies with considerable exertion 
 removed the plank, and were proceeding to extri- 
 cate the King, when one of them, Elizabeth Doug- 
 las, fell down into the place. At this unfortunate 
 moment, Christopher Chambers, one of the assas- 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAxMES I. 45 
 
 sins, recollecting the vault, or cellar, concluded, 
 that aa the King was not found in any of the 
 apartments, he would most likely he there con- 
 cealed. " Sirs," said he to his associates, " where- 
 fore stand we thus idle, and lose our time, when 
 the object of our search is hid ? Come on with 
 me, and I shall soon discover where the King is." 
 He entered the apartment with a torch, and though 
 the noise of their appioach had caused the ladies 
 hastily to replace the board, he proceeded to a 
 careful examination of the floor. He soon per- 
 ceived that a plank had been broken up, and lift- 
 ing it, held the torch in the aperture, and beheld 
 through the glare the King and the lady. " Sirs," 
 he exclaimed with ferocious exultation, " the bride 
 is found, for whom we have been searching, and 
 carolling all night long." This fatal discovery, 
 which, without doubt, the King's own impatience 
 caused, was no sooner known than the conspirators 
 speedily assembled. A traitor, named Sir John 
 Hall, instantly leaped into the cellar with a dagger 
 in his hand. But the King grappled him by the 
 shoulders, and dashed him witli violence on the 
 ground. Another conspirator, a brother of Hall, 
 descended, and made for the King, but the blow 
 was parried ; and, being seized by the neck, he 
 also was thrown down. So strong was the grasp 
 of the King when he throttled these two assassins, 
 tliat they retained the marks on their throats for a 
 considerable time after. Yet in vain did James 
 attempt to wrest a dagger from either. Although 
 standing above them, and they almost stunned by 
 the fall, they lu'ld fast their weapons ; and, in the 
 struggle, the King wounded his hands, which 
 served to render him the less capable of farther 
 
4G CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 defence. Had James succeeded in acquiring a 
 dagger, he would not only have sold his life at the 
 dearest rate, but in all probability, by parrying 
 their attacks, he would have defended himself till 
 the alarm had been sounded, and the people of the 
 town assembled for his rescue in the monastery. 
 
 But fate had ordered it otherwise. Graham, 
 the King's implacable enemy, now entered the 
 apartment, and descended into the wretched cellar. 
 Weary and faint with his former sti-uggles, and 
 also weaponless, James appealed to him for mer- 
 cy, as further resistance was vain. But Graham, 
 with ferocious exultation, raised his dagger, and 
 pointed it towards the King's heart. " Thou cruel 
 tyrant," said he, " never didst thou show mercy to 
 those of thy own blood, nor to any other gentle- 
 man, who came in thy way. No mercy shalt thou 
 have now. " " Then, " replied the King, " I en- 
 treat thee, for the salvation of my soul, to let me 
 have a confessor. " " No, " said Graham, " no 
 other confessor shalt thou have but this dagger." 
 Thus saying, he plunged his weapon into the King's 
 body. The unhappy monarch instantly fell with 
 a fearful cry, imploring for mercy, and offering 
 half his kingdom for his life. The assassin, 
 struck with remorse for a moment, relented, and 
 was about to withdraw without farther violence, 
 when the other conspirators from above exclaim- 
 ed, " We shall abide by thee faithfully, if thou 
 slay him ; but if thou depart, we swear thou shalt 
 die by our hands. " Immediately Graham, and 
 the other two who had been thrown down, fell 
 upon the King, and accomplished the infamous 
 murder with circumstances of the most aggravated 
 cruelty. They repeatedly stabbed him, even after 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 47 
 
 lie was dead, in various parts of the body : no 
 fewer tliau sixteen mortal wounds were in his 
 breast alone. 
 
 Thu^ fell James I., the most accomplished prince 
 of his time, in the forty-fourth year of his a^e, and 
 thirty-first year of his nominal, though only the 
 thirteenth of his actual reign. After murdering 
 their sovereign, the infamous assassins, as if still 
 unsatisfied with blood, sought the Queen, with 
 the intention of murdering her also ; but she had 
 escaped. Ttie alarm, however, was now given in 
 the town ; and tlie citizens, with the King's ser- 
 vants, rushed into the monastery, when it was too 
 late, to defend their sovereign. The red glare of 
 torches, and loud threats of vengeance, burst upon 
 the midnight regicides, who, struck with dismay, 
 now consulted their safety by flight in every direc- 
 tion. They were instantly pursued by Sir David 
 Dunbar, but without success. One of them lie 
 slew, and wounded another ; but in this fighting 
 pursuit, for by this time they were compelled to a 
 defence, some of them turned on him with fury, 
 and sorely wounded him. They effected their 
 escape to the fastnesses of the Highlands, only 
 regretting that they had not slain the Queen, 
 whose revenge they justly feared. *' Why, " said 
 they, among themselves, " did we not also des- 
 patch the Queen ? Had we done so, we would 
 have been freed from the trouble and vengeance 
 now likely to overtake us. Our work is only half 
 done. She will yet pursue us, and exact a ter- 
 rible retribution. " Well might they have antici- 
 pated th.e vengeance of Joanna, for no punish- 
 ment was ever more summary and revolting than 
 
48 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 that inflicted on these wretched and infamous re- 
 gicides. 
 
 The hody of the unfortunate James was huried 
 in the Church of tlie Carthusian Monastery, or 
 Charter-house, at Perth — a monastery which he 
 himself and his Queen had founded in 1429. No 
 vestige of that splendid monastery is now to be 
 seen ; and the tomb of James, as well as those of 
 his Queen Joanna, and Margaret, mother of James 
 v., likewise buried in the same church, was lost 
 in the fanatical dilapidations of the religious edi- 
 fices, excited by the Scottish reforming enthusiasts 
 in the sixteenth century. * Drummond of Haw- 
 thornden relates, that the doublet in which the 
 King was slain, was kept as a relic olniost to his 
 time (by which he must mean the century of the 
 Reformation), and " with execrations seen by the 
 people, every man thinking himself interested in 
 his wrong:. " 
 
 * It is proper to mention, however, that a flat tomb- 
 stone, with two figures in outline, supposed ^o represent 
 James I. and his queen, was discovered some years ago, 
 and is now to be seen built into the wall in one of the di- 
 visions of St John's Church at Perth. — Chambers' Picture 
 of Scotland, vol. ii. 
 
ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 49 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 '* Mcthinks I am ,i prophet new inspir'd, 
 And, thus expiring, do foretell of him, 
 His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last, 
 For violent fires soon burn out themselves. 
 Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short ; 
 He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes, 
 With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder. " 
 
 RICHARD II. 
 
 It is not accurately known by what means the lead- 
 ers of this atrocious conspiracy were apprehended. 
 The united testimony of all our historians, how- 
 ever, establishes the fact, that the King's murder 
 excited great lamentation in the kingdom, and 
 the most furious indignation against the con- 
 spirators ; for even those with whom James was 
 unpopular, and who were disposed to view his go- 
 vernment as tyrannical, deplored their sovereign, 
 and deemed the act execrable. So anxious were 
 the people to bring the conspirators to justice, that 
 every baron and chief in the kingdom united in 
 endeavouring to apprehend them. Had this not 
 been the case, it is probable that they might have 
 eluded justice for a considerable time in the fast- 
 nesses of the Highlands. They had good cause 
 to fear the vengeance of the Queen. Within a 
 month after the assassination, they were all taken 
 VOL. I. D /i 
 
50 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and lodged in prison, when punishments were pre- 
 pared for them, and a series of exquisite tortures 
 devised, which, as refinements on human cruelty, 
 excite, even at this distance of time, the involunta- 
 ry shudder, and sufficiently denote the barharism 
 of the age. 
 
 The regicides who were first apprehended, were 
 Sir Robert Stuart and Christopher Chambers. 
 They were secured, it is said, by Robertson of 
 Strowan — a fact extremely probable, as they botlj 
 retreated after the assassination to that chief- 
 tain's territories. * They were carried to Edin- 
 burgh, and imprisoned in the Castle, whence they 
 were speedily brought to trial, and condemned to 
 be hanged, drawn, and quartered. The metropo- 
 lis was destined to be the scene of the sufferings of 
 some of the conspirators. For those two who were 
 first brought to punishment, a scaffold was erect- 
 ed in the principal street of the city, and a wood- 
 en cross of considerable height was placed in the 
 centre. To this cross they were both bound, al- 
 most naked, amid a great concourse of spectators. 
 The executioner stood before them with a pair of 
 iron pinchers or tongs, with which he ever and 
 anon twisted theii' bodies, and pulled off large 
 pieces of their flesh in the most excruciating man- 
 ner, while the blood gushed forth from the ghastly 
 wounds. Yet they endured with great patience 
 their torments ; and Sir Robert Stuart even said 
 to the executioner, " Do whatsoever you please, 
 for we have been guilty, and well deserve much 
 more than this painful death." This wretched 
 
 * In commemoration of this event, the Family of Strowan 
 have over since borne a loild ma7i chained, lying under the 
 escutcheon of their arms. 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 51 
 
 young man, on wlio8(5 inexperience the crafty 
 Graham liad wroiii^lit so eftectually, deeply la- 
 mented tile share he had in the conspiracy. They 
 were soon after made to descend from the scattbld, 
 and were led through the streets of Edinburgh, the 
 same tortures heing all the way repeated by the 
 executioner. They were then brought before the 
 Guildry Hall or Council-House, which was situ- 
 ated in the vicinity of St Giles' Church, and com- 
 pelled to remount the scaflfold, where they stood 
 nearly two hours a pul)lic spectacle. After this 
 they were again carried through the city, till they 
 came to a place where two high poles had been 
 erected, with cross-beams, for some mechanical 
 purpose. Here they were stopt, and the execu- 
 tioner immediately tied ropes round about their 
 breasts, below their shoulders, and suspended them 
 in the air. While thus hanging, they made an 
 open confession of their guilt ; Sir Robert Stu- 
 art professing great penitence, but Christopher 
 Chambers justifying the whole conspiracy, and the 
 manner of the King's death. After being sus- 
 pended for some time in this manner, they were 
 both carried to the market-place, where Sir Ro- 
 bert Stuart was drawn asunder by four horses ; 
 his companion beheaded on a high scaffold, and 
 then quartered. * Stuart's head was sent to Perth, 
 
 ♦ This assertion is on the authoiity of Sir James Bal- 
 four (Annals, vol. i. p. 165.) ; and I have adopted it though 
 it is traditionary. It is proper to mention, however, that 
 the other authorities state simply that Stuart was beheaded 
 and quartered, I find Drununond observing (History of 
 King James I. p. ii'i), that <* Robert Stuart was not 
 altogether so vigorously handled, for that he did not con- 
 sent to others' wickedness, being only hanged and quar- 
 tered. " 
 
52 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and placed on the top of the town-jail ; the head 
 and right hand of his associate were fixed on a 
 spear, and set up in Edinburgh. 
 
 The next leader of the conspiracy brought to 
 punishment was the Earl of Athol, who had been 
 apprehended by the Earl ot Angus, and lodged 
 also in the Castle of Edinburgh. This aged no- 
 bleman was arraigned and condemned by his peers ; 
 though, in the presence of Antony de Santo Vito, 
 Bishop of Urbino, and at that time Papal Legate 
 in Scotland, he persisted in declaring his inno- 
 cence. As the festival of Easter was at hand, the 
 cross on which his grandson was tortured, was, 
 from a religious feeling, taken down, as unbe- 
 coming the associations connected with that great 
 and solemn festival of the Christian Church ; but 
 a pillai" was set up, to which he was bound. For 
 three successive days the punishment of this no- 
 bleman continued; and it is hardly credible to 
 think that, at his great age, he was able to endure 
 the tortures inflicted on him. If the narration 
 of Buchanan be true, the Scots of that age showed 
 themselves to be barbarians in no ordinary degree. 
 At first he was placed naked in a cart, over which a 
 stork-like swipe or engine like a crane was placed, 
 and by ropes through pullies he was hoisted up in 
 the air. The ropes being loosened, he was sud- 
 denly let down again with great violence, the motion 
 of the excruciating torture causing a relaxation 
 of the joints. • In this manner was this aged no- 
 bleman dragged along the High Street and the Ca- 
 nongate of Edinburgh. On the second day he was 
 
 * Sir James Balfour (Annals, vol. i. p. 16a) does not 
 attempt to describe this machine. He merely says, that it 
 was '< ane ingyne made for the purpois. " 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 53 
 
 bound to the pillar, and a red-hot iron crown 
 placed upon his head, with the inscription above, 
 The King of all Traitors ! * that the prediction 
 of the Highland soothsayer might be fulfilled, that 
 he should be crowned King before a gieat con- 
 course of people. He was then placed upon a 
 hurdle, and drawn at the horse's tail through the 
 principal streets. The third day closed his suffer- 
 ings. He was led out to the scaffold, where a 
 scene of no ordinary cruelty was to be exhibited. 
 He was brought on the scaffold, and while he was 
 yet alive, he was stretched naked along it, his 
 bowels were cut out and cast into a fire, afterwards 
 his Jjeart was pulled out and also consumed, f He 
 was then beheaded and quartered. His hoary 
 head was placed upon a spear in a prominent part 
 of the city encircled with a crown of iron, and 
 his four quarters were set up on posts in Perth, 
 Stirling, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. 
 
 Such is the traditionary narrative of the punish- 
 ment of the aged Athol, who was at this time in 
 his seventieth year ; and it certainly proves, in a 
 remarkable degree, the barbarism of the Scots at 
 that period. That Athol was concerned in the 
 Conspiracy is undeniable ; but as he was not a 
 
 ♦ Our contemporary writer denies the fact of the red- 
 hot iron crown. He says, that Athol was led to the " po- 
 lour yn the toune, and ther wes he fast boundcn, and a 
 corone of papir put upon his hed, the which was all aboute 
 depaynetid with jubettes, and for the more dispite and 
 shame to hym, was writyn with thes wordes, Trailour ! 
 Trail our ! Traitour ! " 
 
 f Sir James Balfour says, the heart was " rest in a fyre 
 befor his eyes by the executioner, then cast to the doges to 
 eaU" 
 
 d2 
 
54 
 
 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 personal actor in it, the tortures inflicted on him 
 were revolting and infamous. It is proper to 
 mention, also, that he continued to assert his in- 
 nocence to the Bishop of Urbino, the Papal Le- 
 gate, who was present at his trial, and to whom 
 he confessed himself. He maintained to that pre- 
 late to the last, that he had never consented to the 
 King's death ; but he admitted that he knew of it, 
 and kept the intentions of the conspirators secret, 
 because Sir Robert Stuart was his own grandson, 
 whom he did not wish to expose. He admitted, 
 also, that Stuart had proposed the conspiracy to 
 him, but that he counselled him against it, re- 
 garding the whole matter as a wild and visionary 
 scheme of a young man. He appears, indeed, to 
 have expected a pardon till he was led out to the 
 scaffold. 
 
 But supposing Athol guilty of treason to the 
 full extent, no one will deny that the revenge was 
 infamous in the highest degree. His hoary hairs 
 ought at least to have saved him from the torture 
 of three successive days. His royal birth, and re- 
 lationsliip to the King, also, though it made his 
 crime the greater, inasmuch as James had been to 
 him and his family no inconsiderable benefactor, 
 ought to have saved him from being held up to 
 the ignorant rabble in this shocking manner. It 
 was disgraceful to the royal house of Scotland to 
 see one of its princes cruelly arrayed in the mock 
 ensigns of royalty, and it was no less disgraceful 
 to the peers to see one of their number, whose 
 guilt might bear a question, and whose age was 
 certainly excusable, thus enduring wanton torture 
 before the vulgar. Death was the utmost they 
 Could inflict, and humanity required its infliction 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 55 
 
 in the shortest manner. It was, however, the re- 
 venge of Joanna, and it was a fearful revenge for 
 a woman. 
 
 Tiie revolting narrative, however, is not con- 
 cluded. Another, and the most miportant conspi- 
 rator, was yet to he punished, namely. Sir Robert 
 Graham ; and in the case of this audacious crimi- 
 nal, there was certainly some excuse for the ap- 
 plication of the torture. It appears from the con- 
 fessions of Christopher Chambers, that many of 
 the inferior sort, who were connected with the 
 conspiracy, were drawn into it totally ignorant of 
 Graham's intentions, he holding out to them, that 
 his motive for attacking the Dominican C< invent 
 was merely to carry off a young lady of the court, 
 with whom Stuart was enamoured, and whom he 
 intended to marry the following day. They de- 
 clared, that they knew not even the nature of the 
 conspiracy, until they had at once become parties 
 in the regicide. Whether this be true or not, is of 
 little consequence ; Graham was the contriver of 
 the whole plot, and the first who plunged his dag- 
 ger into his sovereign's breast. He was removed to 
 Stirling, where he was brought to trial, the inha- 
 bitants of the metropolis being sufficiently disgust- 
 ed at the recent executions. This ferocious as- 
 sassin had the hardihood to glory in his crime, to 
 tell his judges, that there was no law to put him 
 to death, as he had committed no fault, but had 
 slain his mortal enemy, which might be proved 
 by his own letters, written to the King some years 
 before, sealed with his own seal, in which he had 
 sent his defiance to the King, and renounced his 
 allegiance, for reasons, as he conceived, perfectly 
 satisfactory. It was evident, therefore, that if he 
 
56 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 (Graham) got justice done him, they would im- 
 mediately set him at liberty, because the King 
 would have destroyed him if he had been able to 
 apprehend him. Perceiving, however, that this 
 reasoning was treated with contempt by the judges, 
 Graham looked steadily at them, with a bold and 
 courageous countenance, and thus addressed them 
 from the bar : — " Sinful, wretched, and tyrannical 
 Scotsmen ! without prudence, ignorant, and weak- 
 minded, well do I know that I shall die, and that 
 I cannot escape your murderous hands. By ma- 
 lice, and not by law, ye have determined to doom 
 me to death, which condemnation God hath in- 
 flicted on me, not by reason of this pretended ac- 
 cusation, but for various offences and grievous sins, 
 which, in the days of my youthful inexperience, I 
 committed against him. Yet doubt it not, that 
 you will yet see the day when you will pray for 
 my soul, for the good I have done to you, as one 
 of the greatest benefactors of this realm, for having 
 slain and delivered you from the government of a 
 cruel tyrant, the greatest enemy whom the Scots 
 or Scotland ever had, noted even in his youth for 
 his unsatiable avarice, his uusupportable tyranny, 
 without pity or compassion to relations or friends, 
 high or low, rich or poor. " 
 
 This speech, which was long remembered in 
 Scotland, though delivered with considerable ener- 
 gy and eloquence, made no impression on Graham's 
 judges. He was immediately condemned, and the 
 sentence was speedily carried into execution in the 
 town of Stirling, in a manner, if possible, still more 
 revolting and barbarous than the punishment of his 
 associates. 
 
 The criminal was placed in a cart, in the centre 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 57 
 
 of which a pole of seven or eiglit feet in height 
 was placed, and to this pole he was in a manner 
 suspended hy the right hand, which was transfixed 
 to the top of the pole, the dagger driven through 
 it with which he slew the King. In this manner 
 he was drawn through the town. After enduring 
 this torture, the executioner, with the same knife 
 or dagger, separated the hand from the hody, and 
 burnt it before his face. He was then nailed to 
 the pole, in a state of complete nudity, and a se- 
 cond time drawn through the town. In this pro- 
 gress, two executioners were placed opposite to 
 him, who continually cut and gashed his body with 
 hooked instruments of red-liot iron, pinching and 
 twisting his thighs, legs, arms, sides, back, shoul- 
 ders, neck, and belly ; — " the whole musckells of 
 his body, " says Sir James Balfour, " being cut 
 in long slitts, " — his tormentors seeking out the 
 most tender parts of the body on which to inflict 
 their pinching gashes. This excruciating torture 
 excited the pity of the beholders, who turned with 
 disgust from the appalling sight. In the midst 
 of these tortures, Graham conducted himself 
 with a courage and resolution worthy of a better 
 cause. " This that ye are doing to me, " he ex- 
 claimed, with a deadly voice, " being against the 
 law, is another proof of your unmeasurable ty- 
 ranny. The world will henceforth mention the 
 Scots as brutal barbarians, when the painful and 
 tyrannical tortures are known which you liave in- 
 flicted on me, and which it is hardly possible to 
 endure. I doubt not, if ye continue your wanton 
 tortures on my wretched body, tliat the very pain 
 will constrain me to deny and blaspheme my 
 Maker. But if I do, I declare before God, the 
 
58 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 great and chief Judge of all mankind at the uni- 
 versal doom, that you have been the cause of the 
 loss of my soul. " 
 
 The sight, indeed, was too much for humanity 
 to endure, and some nobles, who attended on the 
 execution, made the unhappy Graham be instantly 
 taken down. But it was a humanity more bar- 
 barous than the wanton cruelties he had previous- 
 ly suflfered, inasmuch as they were reserving him 
 for greater torments. Covered with blood, and 
 disBgured by frightful and ghastly wounds, a rough 
 mantle of the coarsest texture was thrown over 
 his body, and he was afterwards cast into a 
 nauseous and horrid dungeon in the town. While 
 in this state of insensibility, some of the inferior 
 sort were hanged, bowelled, and quartered, after 
 which Graham was brought out to his final execu- 
 tion. When carried to the scaffold, he was set on 
 his feet, and instantly the coarse mantle which had 
 been thrown over him, and which, having stopped 
 the blood, had stuck fast to his wounds, was torn 
 from his body, and the blood again gushed from the 
 ghastly wi'ithings. So excruciating was the pain 
 of this dreadful punishment, that the criminal 
 fell down in a swoon, from which he did not re- 
 cover for some time. When he revived, he said 
 that the tearing of the mantle from his body was 
 more painful than any of the other tortures he had 
 endured. But another and still more painful pu- 
 nishment was in reserve, which made all his 
 wounds bleed afresh. His son was in the conspi- 
 racy ; and while Graham himself lay in these ago- 
 nies, the unhappy youth was brought out, and 
 bowelled and quartered before his eyes. His tor- 
 mentors, thinking that they bad punished the re- 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 59 
 
 gicide sufficiently, or tired of their barbarous cru- 
 elties, or unable to invent any other torture, now 
 proceeded to the completion of the sentence. Gra- 
 liam was beheaded, and his bowels taken from his 
 body; his heart cast into afire, and his body quar- 
 tered, and sent to the four principal towns in the 
 kingdom. His head was set over the West Port 
 gate of the city of Edinburgh. 
 
 Thus ended the punishment of the conspirators 
 against James I., in which the most summary re- 
 venge was inflicted on those persons. If the con- 
 spiracy against the King, and the circumstances at- 
 tending that prince's murder, were atrocious in no 
 ordinary degree, and if the courage of Graham, in 
 particular, was not inferior to " his dark fanati- 
 cism of vengeance, as appeared from the spirit 
 with which he bore his punishment, " it must 
 be admitted that the assassins rendered a terrible 
 retribution, and that the vengeance which was 
 taken upon them was amply proportioned to the 
 magnitude of the crime. The annals of few mo- 
 dern nations are stained with more wanton cruel- 
 ties than are the annals of the Scots ; and the pu- 
 nishment of those conspirators now recorded may 
 be placed on the same line with the tortures prac- 
 tised by the most savage and barbaious nations. 
 The ingenuity of torture which appears in the am- 
 ple narrative now given, from an authority which 
 is undoubted, and which is substantiated by the 
 unanimous testimonies of our historians, was cha- 
 racteristic of a country which, according to Le 
 Laboureur, a contemporary writer, was " more 
 abundant in savages than cattle, " and a peo])le 
 whose penury and barbarism the French, as I'rois- 
 sart testifies, witnessed not without a shueidcr. 
 
60 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 But while it is admitted that these tortures suf- 
 ficiently indicate the rudeness of the age, and 
 prove that the Scots of that century were bar- 
 barous in no ordinary degree, it must not be for- 
 gotten, that the necessary allowances must be 
 made for this rudeness and barbarism, the forego- 
 ing remarkable exhibition of which was called 
 forth to revenge a crime of the greatest atrocity, 
 committed under circumstances of peculiar ag- 
 gravation. If, as has been already said, the re- 
 venge was Joanna's, it was a revenge hardly cre- 
 dible to be sanctioned by a woman ; and yet 
 there is every reason to conclude that it was un- 
 der her auspices, as the conspirators, before they 
 were apprehended, expressed their dread of the 
 Queen's vengeance, and as she at that time was 
 vested with the executive government. The inflic- 
 tion of the torture, however, on regicides, or on 
 those who have attempted the life of their sovereign, 
 has been witnessed among nations more civilized 
 than were the Scots in the fifteenth century, and in 
 a more enlightened age. llavilliac, who assas- 
 sinated Henry IV. of France in 1608, was put 
 to death in a manner as cruel, to say the least, 
 as were the Scottish conspirators ; and Damiens, 
 who attempted the life of Louis XV. of the 
 same country, suffered tortures, even in the mid- 
 dle of the 18th century, which would have dis- 
 graced an age of greater barbarism than that of 
 James I. of Scotland. Both of these criminals, 
 too, were under the influence of fanaticism ; the 
 insanity of the latter, in particular, was proved 
 beyond a doubt ; while the conspiracy against 
 James was planned and executed in the coolest 
 manner, from a principle of private revenge, and 
 
I. ASSASSINATION OF JAMES I. 61 
 
 from a wisli to gratify the most lawless ambition. 
 The rudeness of the age, therefore, which cannot be 
 pleaded in the cases of Ravilliac and Damiens, may 
 be held as an apology for the tortures which the 
 Scottish regicides suffered ; and though the best 
 feelings of humanity, as regulated by philosophy, 
 and enlightened by the precepts of a pure and ra- 
 tional religion, naturally prompt us to lessen, as 
 much as possible, the sufferings of condemned cri- 
 minals, it is right, to a certain extent, that a more 
 marked expression of public abhorrence should be 
 awarded to the regicide. For, if he be justly ac- 
 counted infamous by his fellow men who is a 
 traitor to his country, how much more infamous 
 is he who dares to shed the blood of his sovereign, 
 who is Pater Patriae, the father of his country ? 
 With respect to Graham, notwithstanding the 
 tortures he endured, he was long remembered by 
 the Scots with abhorrence in a popular rhyme of 
 the country : 
 
 " Sir Robert Graham, 
 Who slew our King, 
 God give him shame. " 
 
 Such is the account furnished by a contempo- 
 rary writer of this melancholy history, of which 
 it may be said, in the quaint versicle of an old 
 poet — 
 
 " My hand and pen have tried to write, 
 A wofull tale to tell: 
 My pen it cannot halfe indite 
 Alace ! how it befell. 
 
 This account differs very much from that gene- 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
62 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 rally given by our historians. The original MS., 
 in the antiquated and perplexing phraseology of 
 the period, is printed in the Appendix to the first 
 volume of Pinkerton's History of Scotland ; and 
 that writer has followed it in his History. The 
 original MS., translated by one John Shirley from 
 the original Latin in 1440, was found by Mr Pin- 
 kerton in the possession of a Mr Jackson of Cle- 
 ment's Lane, Lombard Street, London. It had 
 formerly belonged to Mr Thoresby of Leeds, the 
 eminent antiquarian, and is noticed by Bishop Ni- 
 colson, in his Historical Libraries, chap, iii., as in 
 his possession. It concludes in the following quaint 
 manner. " And thus nowe here endethe this most 
 pitevous cronicle, of th' oribill dethe of the Kyng 
 of Scottes, translated oute of Latyne into oure 
 moders Englishe tong, hi youre symple subjet 
 John Shirley, in his laste age, after his symple un- 
 derstondyng, whiche he recommendethe to your 
 supportacione and correccione, as that youre gen- 
 telnese vowchethe safe for his excuce, he. " John 
 Shirley describes himself as " youre humble ser- 
 vytoure John Shirley, att the full nobill, honor- 
 able and renouned cite of London, so as feblesse 
 wold suffice, in his grete and last age, the yere of 
 oure lord a thousand foure hundrethe fourty. " 
 
IT. 
 
 THE 
 
 DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES III. OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 A. D. 1488. 
 
THE 
 
 DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES III. OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 As wha wad, in a stormy blast. 
 When mariners been all aghast, 
 Through danger of the sea's rage 
 Then talc a chyld of tender age, 
 And to his bidding, all obey. 
 
 SIR DAVID LINDSAY, 
 
 The circumstances which let! to the untimely fate 
 of James III., mark in a peculiar manner the age 
 in which he lived. The aristocracy, fierce and 
 powerful, utterly disregarded the authority of their 
 sovereign, and viewed the reigning prince as a 
 mere machine, on whose shoulders the government 
 ostensibly rested, but who depended on them 
 alone for co-operation and support. James, on the 
 E 2 
 
66 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Other hand, to adopt the quaint language of Drum- 
 mond of Hawtliornden, " conceived that noble- 
 men, like the coin, were of his predecessors' mak- 
 ing ; and why he might not put his stamp upon 
 the same metal, or, when those old metals were 
 defaced, that he might not refound them, and give 
 them a new print, he could not well conceive. " 
 On many points, therefore, the Scottish nobles 
 differed from their sovereign, though none exas- 
 perated them more than a new creation of their 
 order, and the exaltation of paltry minions to the 
 honours and the privileges of nobility. Proud to 
 a proverb of their ancestors, and tenacious of their 
 dignity, the Scottish nobles of that age were not 
 the men to submit with patience to those infringe- 
 ments on their rights as peers, and to proceedings 
 which they deemed as insults to their families, 
 whose antiquity they boasted could be traced to 
 the very foundation of the monarchy. A series of 
 intestine broils, caused for the most part by the 
 imprudent conduct of James, ensued ; which end- 
 ed in their appearing in arms against their sove- 
 reign, on a spot sacred in the annals of Scottish 
 story, — where their ancestors boldly encounter- 
 ed the English host, — where Bruce, the great 
 restorer of the monarchy, obtained his most sig- 
 nal victory, — where the song of national enthu- 
 siasm was raised by many a gallant warrior, and 
 appalled the effeminate Edward of England. On 
 that very spot — the well known field of Bannock- 
 burn — the indignant and exasperated confederates 
 opposed their lawful sovereign, and were success- 
 ful with less bloodshed than when Bruce, after he 
 liad cleft to the chin with his battle-axe the boast- 
 ing Henry de Bohun, rode triumphant over the tent- 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 67 
 
 ed field, won by his skill, and the valour of his 
 warriors. 
 
 We have seen, in the case of James I., that the 
 policy which that prince adopted in endeavourinj^ 
 to humble the exorbitant power of the aristocracy, 
 was attended with disastrous consequences ; and 
 the Dominican Monastery at Perth witnessed the 
 indomitable spirit of disappointed ambition. His 
 son and successor, James II., when he came of 
 age, had to oppose the flood of aristocratic tyranny 
 and violence wliich had been restrained by tempo- 
 rary barriers under the stern administration of 
 his father ; and the House of Douglas, during his 
 reign, was so powerful, as to contend with royal 
 authority, and assert its independence with the ut- 
 most insolence and haughtiness. The fall of that 
 House, however, which James himself accelerated, 
 by stabbing Douglas with his own hand in Stir- 
 ling Castle, freed him not only from a turbulent 
 peer, whose retainers were numerous, and who 
 lived in a sort of regal splendour, creating knights, 
 and convening senatorial assemblies, but even from 
 a <langerous rival ; yet the assassination of Dou- 
 glas, — a breach of good faith and kingly pledge, — 
 was regarded by his subjects with horror ; and it 
 hindered not the successor of that same Douglas, 
 with other nobles, to enter into a dangerous as- 
 sociation against James, and exhibit manifestoes 
 on the doors of the principal churches, declaring, 
 " that they were resolved never to obey, com- 
 mand, or charge, nor answer any citation for the 
 time coming ; because the King, so far from being 
 a just master, was a bloodsucker, a murderer, a 
 transgressor of hospitality, and a surpriser of the 
 innocent. " But the rigorous measures of James 
 
68 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 frustrated the intentions of this association ; nor 
 was it long before he effected the complete and 
 irrecoverable fall of the House of Douglas. Mis- 
 fortune, however, overtook him, as well as his 
 father ; and his brilliant career vsoon set in tlie fa- 
 tality which attended the princes of his house. 
 Rash curiosity prompted him to examine too 
 cautiously one of the rudely contrived cannons of 
 that age at the siege of Roxburgh Castle ; and 
 Scotland was again to bewail the untimely death 
 of an accomplished monarch, for whose loss the 
 demolition of that calamitous fortress was but a 
 sorrowful consolation. 
 
 The progeny of James II. were, his son who 
 succeeded him, Alexander Duke of Albany, John, 
 afterwards Earl of Mar, and two daughters — all 
 infants ; James III. being only in the eighth year 
 of his age. A regency administered the govern- 
 ment till the King attained his eighteenth year, 
 during which, from the silence of our annals, lit- 
 tle is known of the internal state of the kingdom. 
 The disposition of James differed from that of Ids 
 two predecessors, and rendered him incapable of 
 governing a turbulent people in a rude and turbu- 
 lent age. In person he was elegant, but weak in 
 mind, without dignity or prudence. His habits 
 were not those which were calculated to ensure 
 respect and attachment ; his pursuits were charac- 
 terized by the ignorance of the times, his proneness 
 to superstition, love of retirement, and attachment 
 to favourites, disgusted his nobles, and accelerated 
 his (lownfal. Avarice was a prominent feature in 
 his disposition, while he was capricious, averse to 
 public business, abandoning the government to 
 minions, who oppressed the people, and flattered 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. G9 
 
 him in his indolence. His virtues were thus coun- 
 terbalanced by failings which approximated to 
 vices ; and though his reign is characterized by few 
 acts of injustice on his own part, his inclination to 
 despotism was not the less conspicuous ; — his im- 
 patience of moderate courses too often prompt- 
 ing him to hasty and imprudent outrages. A 
 sovereign thus constituted was liable to the intrigues 
 of opposing factions, who would not fail to im- 
 prove the advantages his own remissness afforded, 
 and evince their dissatisfaction by exploits of bold- 
 ness and decision. 
 
 But from the years 1469 to 1476, James III. 
 had been uniformly successful in his government, 
 and fortune had been more liberal to him in her 
 favours than to his more immediate predecessors. 
 In his minority, the executive government appears 
 to have been intrusted to his mother, Mary of 
 Gueldres, assisted by the prudence, ability, and 
 wisdom of James Kennedy, Bishop of St An- 
 drew's, (for the See was not then archiepiscopal), 
 a prelate as illustrious for his piety and learning, 
 as he was for his royal birth and ancient lineage. 
 To tiiis princely prelate, a grandson of Robert III., 
 Scotland is indebted for her first establishment of 
 learning ; and the University of St Andrew's is a 
 noble memorial of Bishop Kennedy's episcopal 
 piety and munificence. * The reduction and de- 
 
 * It may be remarked, eii passant, in allusion to the 
 Scottish Universities, that Scotland is indebted solely to 
 Bishops for the establishment of her Universities. Glas- 
 gow was founded by the pious Bishop Turnbull ; King's 
 College, Aberdeen, by Elphinstone, Bishop of that See ; 
 St Andrew's, by Bishop Kennedy ; St Mary's, in that U- 
 niversity, by Archbishop James Beaton, and farther en- 
 dowed by Cardinal David Beaton and Archbishop Hamil- 
 
70 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 molltion of tlie calamitous Castlo of Rox])urg1i ; 
 the surron<k'r of Berwick to tlie Scots, an acqui- 
 sition often in vain attempted from the days of 
 Edward Baliol ; the cessation of the Orkneys to 
 Scotland, by the marriage of James to Margaret 
 of Denmark, daughter of Christian I., and th.e 
 possession of the Shetland Islands, sold by the 
 same monarch to James, to enable him to car- 
 ry on his war with Sweden ; * the treaty with 
 
 ton. Even the University of Edinburgh owes its origi- 
 nal foundation to Robert Kcid, Bishop of Orkney. The 
 Marischal College, Aberdeen, founded by the Earl Maris- 
 chal, is the only Scottish University founded by a lay- 
 man. 
 
 * Before that period (14.G8 and 14-69), the Orkney and 
 the Shetland Islands belonged to Denmark, and they were 
 sold, or rather pledged, to James III. by Christian, at the 
 marriage of James and IMargajet of Denmark, as part of 
 the marriage-portion of that princess. The portion which 
 James received with IMargaret, was 60,000 florins, 10,000 
 of which were to be paid by the Danish King to the Scot- 
 tish ambassadors, and the Orkney Islands were assigned 
 to James as a pledge for the 50,000, until redeemed 
 by him or any of his successors. But Christian's affairs 
 rendered him unable to pay the remaining 10,000 florins, 
 and his Swedish war served as an apology for his oifer- 
 ing the Shetland Islands as part of that sum. He propos- 
 ed them in pledge to James for 8000 florins, while he 
 agreed to pay the remaining 2000, (a sum now nearly 
 equal to about 20,000/. Sterling), and the proposal was 
 accepted. As the pledge was never redeemed, the 
 Islands, since the above period, have belonged to the British 
 Crown. It may be mentioned, that Torfaeus, a Danish 
 writer, who wrote in 1697, attem]»ts to prove that these 
 islands may still be redeemed by Denmark. They were 
 claimed in 1549, 1558, and 1500, during the reign of 
 Mary; in 1585, during the reign of James VI., on occa- 
 sion of his marriage witli Anne of Denmark ; in l&l-O, dur- 
 ing the reign of Charles I. ; in 1660 and 1667, after the 
 Restoration. 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 71 
 
 England, in wliicli a marriago was contracted be- 
 tween the infant son of James (afterwards Janies 
 IV.) and Cecilia, dauj^liter of F.dward IV., and 
 which, iiad it been observed, might perhaps have 
 saved Scotland from the fatal disaster of Floddeu 
 in the next rei<^n ; the assumption and annexa- 
 tion of the earldom of lloss to the Crown, on ac- 
 count of the rebellion of John Earl of lloss and 
 Lord of the Isles, by which the whole of Ross, in- 
 cluding Knapdale and Kintyre on the Western 
 Seas, with the Castles of Nairn and Inverness, 
 were withdrawn from the dominion of those power- 
 ful and turbulent chieftains, who had held that 
 earldom as Lords of the Isles since the commence- 
 ment of the century, and who had been long the 
 hereditary foes of the Scottish Crown : — these, 
 with other events of a less public, but not of a less 
 important nature, such as the foundation and en- 
 dowment of the University of St Andrew's, and 
 the erection of that city into an archiepiscopal 
 see and primacy, by which the usurping claims of 
 the metropolitans of York over the Scottish Churcli 
 were finally ended, were splendid events in the 
 annals of James' reign, as indicating a high state 
 of national prosperity, and as tending to repress, for 
 a time, the spirit of dissatisfaction which many 
 of his measures would liave otherwise infallibly 
 excited. But, this seeming prosperity was speedi- 
 ly to be checked ; a change of political views soon 
 roused the slumbering spirit of faction, and dissi- 
 pated the bright anticipations of the future. The. 
 measures of James had provoked a deep and inve- 
 terate hatred Jimong his nobles against him, and, 
 having no standing army, the utmost facility was 
 given to the formation of a powerful confederacy : 
 
72 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 a catalogue of crimes, a series of misfortunes, 
 and the usual result of imprudence, — a dangerous 
 conspiracy, were to characterize the remaining 
 years of the reign of James III., and to terminate 
 in his ruin. 
 
 The disposition and the private habits of the 
 King had been little in accordance with the splen- 
 did acquisitions above recorded, from the success 
 of which we would naturally conclude that he 
 was a prince of great abilities. In the year 1476, 
 when his misfortunes commenced, he had reached 
 his twenty-fifth year, — the £ge in which the civil 
 law sanctions a complete majority ; and, perhaps, 
 much must be allowed for the previous inexpe- 
 rience of youth, and his capricious disposition, 
 which would rather be encouraged by ambitious 
 minions, than restrained and regulated by the sa- 
 lutary principles of moderation and prudence. Un- 
 able to discriminate, or to estimate rightly the dis- 
 positions of those by whom he was surrounded, 
 and of his subjects at large, James found himself 
 overwhelmed by misfortune ere he was aware, and 
 a confederacy, which he could have checked at its 
 first commencement, grown too powerful to be 
 dismayed by the threatened vengeance of a mo- 
 narch, who was without resources to oppose, and 
 unable to prevent, the leaders of any association. 
 
 The habits of James were widely different from 
 those of his brothers, the Duke of Albany and the 
 Earl of Mar. From a peculiar weakness of mind, 
 for which the age in which he lived is doubtless 
 an excuse, James was a religious believer in every 
 superstitious absurdity. He was greatly addicted 
 to astrology, and was completely swayed by the 
 prevaihng notions of sorcery and witchcraft. These 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 73 
 
 Studies, added to others more praiseworthy, name- 
 ly, music and architecture, were his sole occupa- 
 tions ; and in solitary retirement, he forgot or ne- 
 glected the duties of a monarch amid various idle 
 amusements. As the nobles in those days seldom 
 visited the court, except when on urgent business, 
 they were totally ignorant of the favourite pur- 
 suits of their sovereign. It may be easily con- 
 ceived, that the society of men who held these 
 studies as utterly effeminate and contemptible, 
 would be of no great importance to James, and 
 that he would use every means to rid himself of 
 their presence. The same fatality prompted him 
 to forget his dignity, and to associate with low- 
 born and despicable minions, who flattered him in 
 his favourite pursuits, and who pretended to excel 
 in the sciences to which he was addicted. Men 
 of mean origin thus exalted above their degree, 
 knowing well the evil eyes that were upon them, 
 felt their only safety to consist in preserving the 
 delusion of James. The conduct of the King, in- 
 deed, in this respect, would almost infer a kind of 
 infatuation. William Shevez, Archdeacon of St 
 Andrews, an unprincipled ecclesiastic, who by va- 
 rious arts and impostures succeeded in supplanting 
 the pious Patrick Graham, first Archbishop of St 
 Andrews, uterine brother to the munificent Ken- 
 nedy, Bishop of that See, and founder of the Uni- 
 versity, was one of the King's chief favourites, on 
 account of his pretensions to astrology. Cochrane, 
 a master-mason, who had been introduced to James, 
 on account of his skill in architecture ; and a man 
 named William Rogers, an Englishman, by pro- 
 fession a musician, were other two favourites. But 
 VOL. I. F 
 
74 CONSriRAClES. 
 
 their names were respectalile vvlien compared witli 
 the other chosen companions of tlie Scottish King. 
 William Torphichen, a swordsman or fencing- 
 master, James Hommil, a tailor, and one Leonard, 
 a smith, were the daily associates of James 111., 
 on whom he heaped rewards and favoms, who 
 wore his chief counsellors, and with whom he 
 completely forgot the majesty of the sovereign. 
 
 It was not to he expected that the haughty 
 nobles of Scotland in that age could behold the 
 exaltation of these worthless minions, and the ne- 
 glect of their own ancient order, without exasper- 
 ation. Their hatred and contempt of the King 
 necessarily increased when they placed him in con- 
 trast with his brothers, who excelled in all those 
 martial accomplishments which command respect 
 in a feudal age, and among fierce and warlike 
 barons. - It was only, according to Lindsay of 
 Pitscottie, that the two princes, especially Albany, 
 whose courage was well known, were on good 
 terms with James, notwithstanding his superstiti- 
 ous predilections, that the Scottish nobles were 
 restrained from appearing in open rebellion. 
 
 But a confederacy was secretly forming, and, in 
 1 179, circumstances soon occurred which called it 
 into action, and roused the King from his effe- 
 minate lethargy. It was destined, too, to com- 
 mence with Albany and Mar. The former prince 
 had been appointed Warden of the Eastern Marches 
 for life, governor of Berwick, and lord-lieutenant 
 of the Borders ; he was also vested with the earl- 
 dom of March. Very extensive powers had been 
 conceded to Albany for the execution of his office, 
 wiiich he was often wont to display with no or- 
 dinary ostentation and dignity ; and the consequence 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES HI. 75 
 
 was, that t!ie Barons or Iiordor Chiefs of t!»e ad- 
 jacent counties, who were chiefly freehooters, he- 
 gan to plot his destruction. The Flomos and the 
 llephurns, in particular, two very numerous and 
 powerful septs, had conceived a violent enmity to- 
 wards him, on account of some peculiar oft'encethey 
 had received, or fancied they had received, from Al- 
 bany, whose earldom of March lay contiguous to 
 their possessions. He had, moreover, compelled 
 them to restore to him certain lands, which they 
 had by some means or other ingeniously acquired 
 in the preceding reign. Afraid, however, that they 
 were unable to oppose him successfully in an open 
 attack, which they would not have scrupled to have 
 done had a favourable opportunity offered, they 
 began tfieir practices in a difterent quarter. 
 
 Certain emissaries of those freebooters repair- 
 ed to the Court, and obtained access to Cochrane, 
 the King's chief favourite, who, they knew well, 
 resented Albany's contempt, though he dreaded his 
 power. A confederacy had indeed been previous- 
 ly formed against the royal favourites, with which 
 Albany and his brother the Earl of Mar, had no 
 inconsiderable connexion. It was not difficult, in 
 these circumstances, to obtain Cochrane's co-opera- 
 tion in their endeavours to effect the ruin of Al- 
 bany, as it was the interest of that minion .and his 
 associates to weaken the power of those whom 
 they knew well beheld them with contempt and 
 indignation. The propositions of the freebooters 
 from the Borders were readily assented to by 
 Cochrane, who confessed that he also lireaded Al- 
 bany's power, and promised that, at a convenient 
 time, he would endeavour to accomplish their mu- 
 tual purpose. The minion was farther flattered by 
 
76 CONSriRACIES. 
 
 a suitable sum of money ; and from tliat time he 
 laboured with great assiduity to elf(?ct a discord 
 between James an(} liis brother. Knowing the 
 King's superstitious belief in witchcraft and pro- 
 phecy, he privately stimulated an old woman to 
 pass herself off as a witch before the King, who 
 predicted to James that he would one day be slain 
 by his own kindred. This prediction heightened 
 the King's superstitious terrors, and his suspicions 
 immediately alighted on his brothers. * The pro- 
 phecy, aggravated by the artful insinuations of 
 Cochrane and his associates, made a great impres- 
 sion on the King, who soon began to recollect va- 
 rious actions and expressions of Albany which 
 seemed to him to establish the fact. As it was 
 the interest of those minions to ruin the Earl of 
 Mar also, that prince was not forgotten. It was 
 brought to the King's recollection, that Mar had 
 often ridiculed him, and spoken in language which 
 sufficiently proved that he and his brother had a 
 design against his life. But a much more serious 
 charge was brought against Mar, and one which 
 at once roused every superstitious feeling of James. 
 He was accused of using magical arts against the 
 King's life, — that he associated with notorious 
 witches and sorcerers, — and that he was concern- 
 ed in the consuming of a waxen image of the King 
 
 ♦ Lindsay of Pitscottie, p. 116, 117. Buchanan (lib. 
 xii.) gives a different account. He traces the enmity of 
 James to his brothers, to the prediction of one Andrew, a 
 Flemish astrologer, who was high in favour with the King, 
 and who had declared that " a lion should be killed by his 
 own whelps. " This emblem, however, could not apply to 
 Albany and Mar ; but if it was a real prediction, it was 
 certainly verified in a remarkable manner. 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 77 
 
 before a fire, thus endeavouring to affect the King's 
 health by magic. 
 
 Mar, who was very younf;^, was probably in 
 complete ignorance of those absurd and Huperstitious 
 practices in witchcraft ; still less, perhaps, did he 
 ever imagine that he was the subject of such accu- 
 sations. The real cause, however, of the King's 
 enmity towards his brothers, for it is hardly pos- 
 sible to conceive it to have resulted from the above 
 traditions, is unknown, but it was attended with 
 disastrous consequences. From a prince, observes 
 Buchanan on this subject with great truth, of con- 
 siderable genius and good hopes, and as yet not 
 wholly depraved, the King degenerated into a cniel 
 tyrant; for when his mind was filled with these sus- 
 picions, he reckoned his nearest kindred, and the 
 best of his nobility, his greatest enemies. Be this 
 as it may, Albany and Mar were apprehended at 
 the King's instance, under the pretence of being 
 concerned in a plot against the royal authority and 
 life. This arbitrary conduct of James still farther in- 
 censed the nobles against him and his minions, and 
 strengthened the confederacy against them, inas- 
 much as the two brothers had, in reality, no great 
 connection with the intended conspiracy against the 
 crown. It has indeed been asserted, that Albany 
 was concerned in a treasonable correspondence 
 with England, which was the cause of his impri- 
 sonment ; and could the fact be ascertained, it 
 would vindicate James. But the fact is doubtful ; 
 for though Albany had, on various occasions, ap- 
 plied the epithet oi bastard to the King, and after- 
 wards assumed the royal title, there is no evidence 
 that he did so previous to 1479. The truth ap- 
 F 2 
 
78 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 pears to be, tliat the minions of James had prepos- 
 sessed him against his brothers, by alarming his 
 superstitious fears, and by laying before him false 
 representations. Whatever were the causes of this 
 rash procedure, James was to be stained with a 
 brother's blood. It is somewhat remarkable, that 
 three contemporary sovereigns of England, France, 
 and Scotland, were each of them in the same si- 
 tuation. Edward IV., on the most frivolous grounds, 
 deprived his brother, the Duke of Clarence, of his 
 life ; the only favour granted to that prince, was 
 his being permitted to choose the manner of his 
 death, and he was accordingly drowned in a butt 
 of Malmsey wine. Louis XI. procured, among his 
 other acts of tyranny, the assassination or murder 
 of the Duke of Guienne ; and James III. of Scot- 
 land scrupled not, as we shall subsequently see, to 
 condemn his brother, the Earl of Mar, under the 
 pretence that he associated with witches to deprive 
 him of life. In the present age, the accusation of 
 witchcraft only excites the smile of ridicule ; but 
 we must not forget, that the reign of James was 
 early in the history of improvement — In a more 
 enlightened era, and under a better system, the 
 belief in witchcraft or sorcery universally prevailed, 
 and is not, perhaps, in some districts of Scotland 
 wholly eradicated. James VI. wrote a book against 
 it, and maintained that witchcraft was the greatest 
 of crimes. The Presbyterians were most vigilant 
 in their endeavours to procure the condemnation 
 of witches ; and they actually, among their other 
 acts of fanatical intolerance, burnt a poor old wo- 
 man in Edinburgh, who had cured Archbishop 
 Adamson, of St Andrews, of a dangerous disease, 
 by the application of some simple herbs. The 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 79 
 
 Statutes of the Kirk are furious in their anathemas 
 against it ; even Sir George Mackenzie sets forth, 
 that witchcraft is a most horrible crime, and ought 
 to be punished ; and that no person can doubt for 
 a moment that there is such a crime as witchcraft, 
 since the laws condemn it. So late as 1722, a 
 poor woman became a victim in Scotland to this 
 absurd superstition. Finally, in this digression, the 
 sect of Presbyterian dissenters in Scotland called 
 Seceders, published an act of their Associate Pres- 
 bytery in 1743, which was reprinted at Glasgow 
 in 1766. In this there is what they call their an- 
 nual confession of sins ; and besides the sedition 
 and extravagant language which it contains, the Se- 
 ceders lamented, among other grievous calamities, 
 national and personal, that " the penal statutes 
 against witches have been rejjealcd hy Parliament., 
 contrary to the express laiv of God ! " In this, 
 however, the Seceders of the last century were 
 greatly mistaken. The " penal statutes against 
 witchcraft," have not been repealed to this day, 
 but common sense has repealed them. The zeal- 
 ots of the Associate Presbytery in 1743 and in 
 I76G, ought to have lived in the days of James 
 III. or James VI. Both of these monarchs would 
 have given them the benefit of " the law of pa- 
 tronaye. " 
 
80 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 More than a crown true worth should be esteemed. 
 
 One Fortune gives, the other is our own : 
 By which the mind from anguish is redeemed, 
 
 When Fortune's goods are by herself o'erthrown. " 
 
 Monarchic Tragedies, by Sir W. Akxnndery 
 Earl of Stirling. 
 
 The two brothers of the King, thus intended to 
 become the victims of superstition by a worthless 
 minion and his associates, were speedily appre- 
 hended. The Duke of Albany was committed a 
 prisoner to Edinburgh Castle, and the Earl of Mar 
 was seized in his bed by the King's orders, and 
 confined in the Castle of Craigmillar, in the vici- 
 nity of the metropolis, at that time a fortress of 
 gi-eat strength. The Castle of Dunbar, which be- 
 longed to Albany, yielded to the King after a short 
 siege, at which the Lairds of Luss, Sauchie, and 
 Craigie- Wallace, and a gentleman named Ramsay, 
 of the King's army, were slain. The garrison, 
 unable to hold out, and not choosing to trust to 
 James' leniency, made their escape by night in fish- 
 ing boats to the English coast. 
 
 But the Earl of Mar was destined to be the 
 only victim of the King's superstition. Tiie youth 
 of this prince, for he was almost a mere boy, de- 
 mands the passing tribute of compassion for Ids 
 
 I 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 81 
 
 melancholy fate. Without a fair and open trial hy 
 his peers, but in a private council, which ajipears 
 to have consisted chiefly of Cochrane and his as- 
 sociates, whose interest it was to effect the ruin of 
 both princes, the unfortunate Mar was condemned 
 to die for associating with witches, and practising 
 magical arts, to affect the King's life. He was 
 brought from the Castle of Craigmillar, the place 
 of his confinement, to the Canongate of Edinburgh, 
 in 1479, where, in the public street, a vein was 
 cut, and he was allowed to bleed to death in a 
 bath. This murder was attempted to be justified 
 by sundry executions of witches which followed, 
 who all confessed that Mar had dealings with them 
 to destroy the King by incantations. They ac- 
 knowledged that they had made a waxen image of 
 the King, which they placed before a slow fire, 
 and persuaded themselves that, in proportion as it 
 consumed, the King's health would decay. As witch- 
 craft was the current belief of the age, the execution 
 of Mar does not seem to have excited any disgust 
 among the people. It is supposed that this is the 
 first instance of the execution of witches in Scot- 
 land : Buchanan says, that twelve women were 
 executed, all of the lowest condition. This cause 
 of Mar's death was given out only to the vulgar ; 
 but, according to the same writer, he was appre- 
 hended and executed for speaking too rashly on the 
 state of the kingdom, 
 
 A fate equally fatal, though not perhaps similar, 
 most probably awaited Albany, as he was the 
 principal object of resentment to James' minions, 
 had he not contrived to make his escape from the 
 Castle of Edinburgh. In that fortress he hail been 
 committed a prisoner, and deprived of holding any 
 
82 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 communication or intercourse save in tlie presence 
 of liis keepers. Notwithstanding^ this vigilance, 
 Albany did not despair. A Frencli vessel, proba- 
 bly procured by his friends, appeared in the Vv'nh of 
 Fortlj, and anchored in the roadstead oft' New- 
 liaven, a village at a short distance from the seaport 
 of Leith, and at that time little frequented, being 
 only a place of resort for fishing-boats on the coast. 
 The captain of the vessel, being in the plot, pre- 
 tended that he had a cargo of excellent wines on 
 board, and despatched one of the crew to the Cas- 
 tle, with a message to the Duke, informing him that 
 he might have the first choice. An order was of 
 course given for two small casks of Malmsey — 
 a wine at that time in great repute, and the casks, 
 in order to remove suspicion, contained not more 
 than two gallons. In the one cask, the captain enclos- 
 ed a secret writing covered with wax, containing in- 
 structions to the Duke, and in the other, some fa- 
 thoms of rope by which he was to effect his escape. 
 The Duke's servant was confidentially intrusted 
 with the secret ; and as he had been employed by 
 Albany as his messenger to the captain, the latter 
 communicated to him more at large certain instmc- 
 tions for his master. 
 
 The King himself lodged in the Castle at the 
 time, and the exploit was the more hazardous, as 
 the only chance of escape was by getting over the 
 wall unobserved by the numerous attendants who 
 formed his retinue. On the night appointed for 
 the attempt, the Governor of the fortress, having 
 ordered tlie gates to be shut, set the watch on 
 the battlements, and proceeded to the royal 
 apartments to receive the orders of the King. 
 The Duke, whose sensations were not the most 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 83 
 
 agreeable, more especially as he had been posi- 
 tively assured by his emissaiies and friends 
 that he was to be executed the following day, 
 that evening entertained the Governor and his 
 friends at supper, having invited them to try his 
 wine, and his sole hope lay in their intoxication. 
 Albany and his servant contrived to conceal their 
 own abstemiousness, while they repeatedly }>lied 
 their guests with the intoxicating liquor. They 
 sat to a late hour, till the rest of the garrison 
 were sunk in slumber. At length, according to 
 Lind^^ay of Pitscottie, when the guests were com- 
 pletely intoxicated, the Duke made a sign to his 
 domestic, and starting from his seat, he suddenly 
 attacked the Governor, whom he struck down with 
 his weapon, and slew him, and two of his attend- 
 ants, with his one hand. His domestic also as- 
 sisted him to despatch the odious guests. They 
 then rushed out to the most retired place on the 
 Castle wall, where they would be the least ob- 
 served by the sentinels ; and having fixed the rope, 
 the domestic first hazarded the dangerous descent. 
 But the rope was too short, and, from the dark- 
 ness of the night, the great height was not clearly 
 ascertained, in consequence of which the domestic 
 fell, and broke his thigh-bone. He called out to 
 the Duke to avoid a similar fate by lengthening 
 the rope. Albany ran to his apartment, and seiz- 
 ing the sheets on his bed, he increased the length 
 of the rope by tying them together, and descended 
 from the wall of the fortress in safety. His first 
 object was to provide for his faithful domestic, 
 whose misfortune precluded him from accompany- 
 ing him in his flight. He carried him on his back, 
 for more than a mile to a place of safety, af ter 
 
84f CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 which he proceeded, with due speed, to Newhaven. 
 On a signal being given, a boat put oft' from the 
 vessel, which received Albany, who tlms narrowly 
 escaped his brother's vengeance. The captain im- 
 mediately sailed for France, where the fugitive 
 prince arrived in safety, and was honourably receiv- 
 ed by Louis IX. 
 
 In the morning, when the rope was discovered 
 hanging over the battlements, the alarm was given 
 in the Castle, and the sentinels immediately pro- 
 ceeded to the Governor's apartments. But he 
 was not to be found. Suspicions of Albany's 
 flight being raised, they ran to the place of his 
 confinement. They found the door of the apart- 
 ment open, and the first object they beheld was one 
 of the Governor's servants lying weltering in his 
 blood. They soon perceived the bodies of that 
 ofKcer himself, and his two other attendants dread- 
 fully scorched, for, according to Lindsay of Pit- 
 scottie, they had been thrown into the fire-place by 
 Albany and his domestic in the struggle. The 
 tidings were soon conveyed to the King, who, sur- 
 prised at this escape of Albany, as it were from 
 his own presence, refused to believe it till he saw 
 the bodies of the men, and the means by which 
 the Duke's escape had been effected. Still con- 
 ceiving, however, that the fugitives might probably 
 be concealed in the Castle, the gates were shut, 
 and a most vigilant search was made, but in vain. 
 Horsemen were then sent out in all directions 
 throughout the adjacent country, with promises of 
 liberal rewards if they apprehended him ; but their 
 exertions met with the same success. In the mean 
 time, a man from Leith, who happened to have some 
 business in the Castle during the day, informed 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 85 
 
 the King's attendants that a boat had put off from 
 the French vessel in the roadstead, and taken on 
 board some persons from Newhaven, after which 
 the vessel immediately sailed down the Frith, and 
 stood out to sea. This being deemed a satisfactory 
 explanation of the whole matter, no farther search 
 was made. 
 
 There are few persons who know the Castle of 
 Edinburgh, who will not be surprised at this dar- 
 ing exploit of Albany. Situated on an immense 
 rock which terminates the hill towards the west 
 on which the ancient city is built, the Castle is 
 totally inaccessible save on the east, where is the 
 public entrance from the city. On the south, and 
 especially on the north, the rock is perpendicular, 
 and at that time it was almost suiTounded by the 
 lake now drained, called the North Loch, on which 
 there was a ferry-boat, to carry passengers to the 
 opposite side, on which the new city is now built. 
 The escape was effected towards the south-west 
 part of the rock, and even there it must have 
 been sufficiently hazardous ; after which, having 
 carried his faithful domestic to a place of safe- 
 ty, Albany betook himself across the sequestered 
 fields, where extends the suburb of Stockbridge, to 
 Newhaven. He must, indeed, have been aware 
 of his danger; and the hazard which he encountered 
 evidently proves that James had determined to 
 bring him to execution. If Lindsay is to be cre- 
 dited, the fact is indisputable. According to him, 
 at nine o'clock on the morning which succeeded 
 Albany's escape, a number of the Lords of the 
 Council proceeded to the Castle, to arrange the 
 preparations for the Duke's execution, and to re- 
 
 VOL. I. G 3 ' 
 
86 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ceive the King's commands as to the place where 
 it was to be done. But they found the garrison 
 in a commotion, and James thus unwillingly on 
 liis part saved from a double act of fratricide. 
 They were astonished when they learned the cause ; 
 and not a few of them feared that the Duke 
 might be able, at some future period, to take am- 
 ple revenge for their enmity. There were among 
 them, however, some who rejoiced at Albany's 
 flight, and who hoped that they would yet see 
 him in prosperous circumstances. The King was 
 the principal person who lamented the Duke's 
 flight, his fears being excited by the prediction of 
 the pretended witch, and still thinking that his life 
 was in danger as long as his brother lived. The 
 only proceeding now instituted against Albany 
 was the sentence of forfeiture, which gratified the 
 Homes and Hepburns, the original exciters of the 
 quarrel, but made the power of the minions by 
 whom James was surrounded, and who in this 
 instance had done their utmost to ruin Albany, 
 the more exposed to a complete overthrow. 
 
 But it must not be concealed that Albany's 
 Bubsequent conduct justifies the supposition that 
 he was a considerable party in the confederacy 
 against the King. Those transactions, however, 
 will be noticed in the sequel. In the midst of 
 several negociations with Edward of England, 
 James devoted himself to his favourite pursuits. 
 The turbulent state of England made the wars 
 between the two countries less frequent, and Scot- 
 land was for a period in a state of comparative 
 tranquillity. The Castle of Stirling became at 
 this time the King's chief residence, and his taste 
 for architecture prompted him to adorn that ancient 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 87 
 
 seat'^'of Scottish royalty with elegant buildings. 
 He founded in it a college of secular priests, called 
 the Chapel-Royal, which consisted of a dean or 
 provost, an archdean, a subdean, a treasurer, 
 chanter, subchanter, and other officers ; and the 
 deanery of the Chapel- Royal was awarded to the 
 Bishops of Galloway ex officio, on which account, 
 perhaps, it was, that during the establishment of 
 the Episcopal Church of Scotland, and after the 
 foundation of the See of Edinburgh, the Bishops 
 of Galloway followed in the order of precedence 
 after the two Archbishops of St Andrew's and Glas- 
 gow and the Bishop of Edinburgh, the others rank- 
 ing according to the order of their consecration. 
 The original foundation of the Chapel-Royal of Stir- 
 ling by James III. consisted of eight ecclesiastics 
 and three singing-boys ; but he afterwards doubled 
 the number, and it consisted eventually of sixteen 
 ecclesiastics and six singing-boys. The reason as- 
 signed by Lindsay of Pitscottie for this increase 
 of the foundation is illustrative of the habits of 
 James. " He doubled them, " says that writer, 
 " to the eflFect that they should be ever ready, 
 the one half to pass with him wherever he pleas- 
 ed, that they might sing and play to him, and 
 hold him merry ; and the other half should remain 
 at home, in the said chapel, to sing and pray for 
 him and his successors. " Among other new edi- 
 fices which James erected in the Castle, besides 
 repairing many that were hastening to decay, he 
 built the noble hall still entire, which in those days 
 was deemed a magnificent structure, called the 
 Parliament House, one hundred and twenty feet 
 long, the roof of which is covered with oak of ad- 
 mirable workmanship, elegantly carved, accordirg 
 
88 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 to the fashion of the age ; and at the distance of 
 nearly four centuries it is not much decayed. It 
 may be Iiere observed, that the College, or Cha- 
 pel-Royal, founded by James III., was demolish- 
 ed in 1594, by his successor James VI., when the 
 present chapel was erected, which is now employ- 
 ed as the Armoury. 
 
 But James, while thus employed in his favour- 
 ite pursuits, was hastening to his ruin. He still 
 persisted in his attachment to unworthy minions ; 
 and Cochrane at length became his chief favour- 
 ite and minister. Through him alone could the 
 royal favour be procured ; and he who, as a ser- 
 vant of the court, would have been suitably re- 
 warded for the edifices he erected as master-mason 
 by a pension, or by employment, was exalted by the 
 imprudent King above those haughty nobles whose 
 birth was their exulting boast. The height of power 
 to which this upstart was elevated, procured for 
 him numerous presents from the ambitious, the 
 flattering, and those who sued for his influence ; 
 and he soon acquired wealth which far exceeded 
 that of any peer in the kingdom. All the pro- 
 ceedings of government emanated through him ; 
 nothing was transacted in the council without his 
 consent ; and it was as dangerous to oppose this 
 haughty minion, as it was impossible to satisfy his 
 avarice by liberal presents. So great was his influence 
 with James, that he was permitted to coin a species 
 of money of his own, called black money ^ which 
 was one of the causes of his own ruin and that of his 
 master, the circulation of which often threatened to 
 excite insurrections among the people, who refused 
 what they termed the Cochrane plack. When it was 
 represented to him that this coin would soon be 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 89 
 
 prohibited, he was wont to observe with haughti- 
 ness, that " its circulation would cease the day 
 he was hanged, " — an event which he, in the ful- 
 ness of his security, considered improbable, but 
 which was truly verified. 
 
 This man had been long an object of hatred and 
 contempt to the nobles, and his elevation was to 
 them mortifying and humiliating ; but they were 
 exasperated when they beheld him raised to the 
 peerage, and the earldom of Mar purchased by him 
 from the King's avarice, with the wealth which he 
 had so ignobly acquired. The title thus bestowed 
 on Cochrane by James was perhaps the most un- 
 fortunate he could have selected ; and the nobles 
 scowled with unrelenting hatred on what they 
 were disposed to consider a marked insult to their 
 order, in seeing James thus bestow on an ignoble 
 minion the title borne by his own brother, who 
 had so lately been a victim to his superstition. 
 The execrations of the people followed this despi- 
 cable elevation and increase of power, which, 
 though now the infallible prelude to his certain 
 destruction, the new Earl of Mar continued to 
 exercise with his wonted tyranny, avarice, and in- 
 solence. Those places and situations in the court 
 which had formerly been awarded by the Scottish 
 sovereigns to the sons of high-born men, were 
 given by Cochrane to his own associates ; and the 
 pious prelates and dignitaries of the Church la- 
 mented that the simoniacal purchase of the va- 
 cant benefices filled the coffers of the minion, and 
 intruded into the sacred office unprincipled men, 
 who were totally incapable and reckless of dis- 
 charging the sacred duties of religion. 
 
 A number of the nobles and barons speedily 
 G 2 
 
00 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 assembled to consider the state of aflfairs, for 
 they had found that personal access to James was 
 almost impossible, he being vigilantly guarded by 
 his favourite. The result was, the appointment 
 of a deputation to wait on the King, with a repre- 
 sentation of the state of the kingdom. The depu- 
 tation was admitted into the royal presence, and 
 its members tendered a detail of their grievances. 
 They entreated James to dismiss those from his 
 councils who cormpted him by their dishonesty 
 and avarice, and promoted their own interests 
 more than those of the kingdom. They besought 
 him to trust to the loyalty of the nobles in the ad- 
 ministration of justice and defence against his ene- 
 mies ; and they proffered him their lives and for- 
 tunes to maintain the country against every in- 
 vader. But they declared, that if those requests 
 were refused, they would be guiltless of whatso- 
 ever misery and misfortunes the kingdom might 
 be visited. 
 
 The answer of James was far from being satis- 
 factory. He informed them, that those who coun- 
 selled him in the government were peers like 
 themselves ; and that those who attended him 
 pleased him for the time, because he could not see 
 better persons on whom to bestow his favours. 
 He declared that he would dismiss none of his at- 
 tendants at their pleasure, for he believed them to 
 be true and trust-worthy ; nor was he inclined to 
 place much reliance on this petition, for he had 
 found too often that his nobles were far from 
 being united among themselves, and that when 
 the one half were with him, the other half were 
 against him. Yet, he said, in a full assembly of the 
 peers, when they were all unanimous, he would 
 willingly make use of their counsel in all things 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 91 
 
 appertaining to the defence of the government, 
 and the preservation of the liberties of the king- 
 dom. 
 
 The nobles pretended to assent to this reply, 
 while, by their crafty dissembling, they were con- 
 cealing their resentments. It is unfortunately too 
 true, that James, like his predecessors, had fre- 
 quently been harassed by their tendency to faction ; 
 and unanimity in the national councils of Scotland 
 is a thing to be wholly unlooked for in the history 
 of its sovereigns. Even on occasions of great na- 
 tional emergency, when they were in the field, and 
 about to draw the sword against the invaders of 
 their liberties, a trivial dispute about precedence 
 often excited a furious contention, which weaken- 
 ed their attachments, and too frequently ended in 
 disasters. Much more so it was in the national 
 councils, where a mutual jealousy invariably exist- 
 ed among them, and when the independence of 
 feudal power often provoked to retaliations and 
 aggressions which were not forgotten for genera- 
 tions. It was probably on these accounts, that 
 James felt an attachment to his minions, whose ob- 
 sequiousness afibrded a striking contrast to the tur- 
 bulence and haughty spirit of his peers ; but the 
 misfortunes of the King was, that he knew not 
 how to accommodate himself to circumstances — 
 he forgot, what his grandfather James I. well 
 knew, that men vested with the feudal power 
 were likely, when exasperated, to become danger- 
 ous enemies, and gladly seize the first opportunity 
 to rid themselves of the obnoxious controul of 
 those whom they despised, and by whom their own 
 ambitious purposes were frustrated. 
 
 On this occasion, whatever might be their secret 
 
92 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 animosities, they were collected, and firm in 
 their purposes : and they were shortly to exhibit 
 one of those defiances of the regal authority, which 
 are conspicuous in the Scottish annals of every 
 reign. From the reign of the first, as it has been 
 well remarked, to the termination of that of the fifth 
 James, the Scottish nobles were accustomed to seize 
 occasions when they set no limits to the ebullitions 
 of their resentment. That their proceedings were 
 unconstitutional, and insults to the government, 
 cannot be doubted, inasmuch as the camp and the 
 field of battle too frequently witnessed their mu- 
 tual dissensions, and the interests of their coun- 
 try were neglected to gratify their revenge. But 
 those proceedings strikingly mark the state of 
 the times ; and the nobles of Scotland were war- 
 riors, not statesmen. Unaccustomed to the forms 
 of debate in the day of peace, and in the assembly 
 of the states, they oftener appealed to the sword 
 than to reason. From the constitution of the Par- 
 liaments, they were too liable to the royal influence ; 
 and it was not to be thought that men, whose edu- 
 cation unfitted them for other scenes than those 
 of strife and warfare, could contend in the as- 
 semblies of the nation with the spiritual peers, 
 whose habits fitted them for declamation, and who 
 would more willingly coincide with the sovereign, 
 the source of all their dignities. It can hardly, 
 then, be a subject of surprise, that many disgrace- 
 ful actions are recorded in the pages of their his- 
 tory, which, in their impatience of controul, ge- 
 nerally terminated in misfortune and blood. 
 
 The Duke of Albany, as has been observed, 
 after his remarkable escape from the Castle of Edin- 
 burgh, proceeded directly to France, where he 
 
ir. DEATH OF JAMES III. 93 
 
 was honourably received by Louis XI. So little 
 did his disgrace with James affect his interests, 
 that all his expenses were defrayed from the French 
 treasury; and, although, married to Lady Catharine 
 Sinclair, daughter of the Earl of Orkney, who was 
 still alive, he scrupled not to form a matrimonial 
 alliance with Anne daughter of the Count of Au- 
 vergne. A misunderstanding had in the mean- 
 while taken place between England and Scotland, 
 occasioned most probably by Edward discontinuing 
 to pay the marriage-portion of the Princess Ce- 
 cilia, according to the terms of the treaty, to whom 
 the eldest son of James, the Duke of Rothsay, 
 was betrothed. Tired of his wife, Albany pass- 
 ed over into England, where he found the Eng- 
 lish sovereign exasperated at the Scots, and the 
 Borders ravaged by mutual aggressions and for- 
 ays. This was in 1482, two years before Ed- 
 ward's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, after- 
 wards the notorious Richard IIL, had been ap- 
 pointed lieutenant-general of the North, and placed 
 at the head of the army against the Scots. In 1480, 
 when Richard first received this appointment, 
 hostilities had not actually commenced, but he 
 was ordered to have the army in readiness for the 
 ensuing year. On that year the campaign began, 
 and the English army entered Scotland, where 
 they burnt sixty villages, sailed up the river Forth, 
 captured eight vessels, and consigned to the flames 
 the village of Blackness, on the southern shores 
 of the river, in the county of Linlithgow, where 
 is the castle of that name ; after which the in- 
 vaders sought their native shores. * But the cam- 
 
 * " Bot God rewenged their perfidey, " observes Sir 
 
94 
 
 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 paign ended with little glory on either side, for 
 while the English were in the Firth, the famous 
 Admiral Andrew Wood of Largo destroyed se- 
 veral English vessels, and the Scottish Borderers 
 carried fire and sword into England. On the fol- 
 lowing year, 1482, the same in which Albany 
 proceeded to England, the English were not dis- 
 posed to relinquish the war, but were preparing 
 for another invasion. Instigated by the artifi- 
 ces of the unprincipled Gloucester, Albany, who 
 seems to have considered his affairs as despe- 
 rate, hesitated not to form a treaty with Edward 
 IV. disgraceful to liimself and to his country, in 
 which he styles himself " Alexander King of Scot- 
 land, " and promises to perform homage for his 
 kingdom to the English King, from whom he re- 
 ceives it, cedes to Edward several of the Border 
 counties, relinquishes the town of Berwick, and 
 finally, promises to marry the princess Cecilia, " pro- 
 vided he could clear himself of other women," — a 
 precaution highly necessary in his case, as he had 
 already two wives alive. Edward promised to assist 
 him in reducing Scotland, and to maintain him on the 
 throne. Such was the secret treaty between Ed- 
 ward and Albany, aided by the perfidious Glou- 
 cester, who commanded the English army. The 
 pretended causes of the war were, that the Earl 
 of Douglas was still kept in exile, deprived of his 
 honours, — ^that the Prince of Scotland (Duke of 
 Rothsay) was to be delivered into the hands of the 
 English monarch till his marriage with Cecilia, — 
 that James had usurped the castles of Berwick, 
 
 James Balfour, « many of them being broken and drown- 
 ed by tempest ere they could gaine home." 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 95 
 
 Roxburgh, Coldingham, and other fortresses on the 
 Borders, — and that he refused to do homage to Eng- 
 land. The secret instructions were, that Douglas 
 must be restored to his honours — the prince sent 
 into England before a certain day — the castle of 
 Berwick surrendered — otherwise the war was to 
 commence. 
 
 Those demands were of course refused by James, 
 and the war was proclaimed. Albany, deluded by 
 the English monarch, and allured by the prospect 
 of a crown, joined the army of Edward under 
 Gloucester, which assembled at Alnwick in Nor- 
 thumberland, and amounted to 22,000, or, accord- 
 ing to some, 40,000 men. The van of the army 
 was led by Henry Percy, Earl of Northumber- 
 land. Albany and Gloucester were at the head 
 of the middle division ; and several of the English 
 lords commanded the minor detachments. 
 
 The first object of attack was Berwick, which 
 had been in the hands of the Scots since it had 
 been ceded to them by Henry IV. when a refu- 
 gee in Scotland. Thither Gloucester directed his 
 march, and his formidable army appeared sudden- 
 ly on the river-side, over against the town. As 
 the town made no resistance, it was immediately 
 seized ; but the garrison in the Castle, refused to 
 capitulate. Lord Stanley, Sir John EIrington, 
 treasurer of the Household, and Sir William Parr, 
 were left with 4000 men to carry on the siege ; 
 and Gloucester, with the rest of the army, ac- 
 companied by Albany, marched towards Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 No sooner did James receive intelligence of the 
 movements of the English army, than he proceed- 
 ed to defend his kingdom. It was in the month 
 
96 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 of July 14S2 that the royal standard was display- 
 ed on the Borough Muir near Edinburgh, the usual 
 rendezvous of the Scottish armies, and there fifty 
 thousand men ranged themselves under the ban- 
 ner of their sovereign. The discontented nobles 
 readily took the field with their retainers ; but 
 they had privately resolved to perform some bold 
 deed, and revenge themselves on a sovereign towards 
 whom their resentments were almost incurable. 
 
 The King, little suspecting their intentions, or 
 that the friends of Albany were among them, put 
 himself at the head of his army. He caused some 
 pieces of artillery to be conveyed from the Castle ; 
 but the discontented nobles were again exasperat- 
 ed when they saw Cochrane intrusted with the 
 command. This imprudence of the King was in- 
 deed inexcusable. In marching against the com- 
 mon enemy, it was his object rather to conciliate 
 those feudal peers, whose retainers, if commanded 
 by their chieftains, would set at defiance the King 
 himself, than to increase their disaffection by the 
 odious presence and pomp of Cochrane, which 
 were considered as additional insults. But they 
 stifled their resentments, and the Scottish warriors 
 directed their course towards the Borders. They 
 marched first to Soutra, in East Lothian, whence 
 they proceeded to Lauder, a village in the Merse, 
 or Berwickshire, where they encamped for the 
 night between the church and the village. 
 
 On the morning after their arrival at Lauder, a 
 secret council of the peers assembled. The old 
 church of Lauder was the place of meeting — a 
 church originally a Chapel of Ease to Channel- 
 kirk, or Children's kirk, so called, because dedi- 
 cated to the Holy Innocents. It stood on the 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 97 
 
 nortl) side of the town, opposite Lauder Fort, built 
 by Edward I., suniamed Longshanks, during hie 
 campaigns in Scotland. The chief nobles men- 
 tioned who were present, were the Earls of Argyle, 
 Angus, Huntly, Orkney, and Crawford, Lords 
 Hume, Fleming, Gray, Drummond, Hailes, and 
 Seton, Lord Evandale the Chancellor, and certain 
 bishops. The ostensible object of their meeting 
 was to consider what was to be done for the de- 
 fence of the kingdom, and whether or not they 
 ought to proceed with the King to the Borders ; 
 but in reality to devise some means of ridding 
 themselves of the favourites, and of obtaining pos- 
 session of James' person. 
 
 This council convened early in the morning, 
 without the knowledge of the King. It was ob- 
 served by some of the peers, says Lindsay, that 
 James was " not their King, nor guided by them 
 in their councils, but had elevated upstarts to the 
 rank of nobles — that he had forfeited and banished 
 the Duke of Albany his brother, and slain the 
 Earl of Mar — and that Cochrane, a mason, had 
 been raised to his dignity, which was an insult 
 not to be endured. " A speech is reported by 
 Buchanan to have been delivered by the Earl of 
 Angus, in which he inveighs against the King's 
 government and his favourites. Lord Gray, how- 
 ever, opened the dangerous debate with the fol- 
 lowing fable. " The mice, " said he, " consulted 
 what measures they sliould adopt to escape from 
 the cat, their inveterate and tyrannical enemy. It 
 was proposed that a bell should be hung from her 
 neck, to give due warning of her approach ; but 
 the difficulty was to find a mouse courageous 
 
 vol. I. H 
 
98 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 enough to fasten the bell. " * No sooner had 
 this fable been delivered by Gray, which the peers 
 present failed not to apply to themselves, than An- 
 jj:us, in whose veins the blood of the House of 
 Douglas flowed, instantly exclaimed, " / shall bell 
 the cat. " From this phrase, Angus was after- 
 wards surnamed, in the homely phraseology of the 
 country, Archibald Bell-the-Cat. A murmur of 
 approbation ran throughout the assembly ; and se- 
 veral of the peers, laying their hands on their 
 ewords, exclaimed, " To our arms against the 
 public enemy. " The result of their deliberation 
 was, that the King's person should be secured, and 
 conducted back to the Castle of Edinburgh ; and 
 that Cochrane, with the other favourites, should 
 be seized and hanged over the Bridge of Lauder. 
 
 The council, however, was not kept so secret, 
 but that it came to the knowledge of the King, 
 who felt no inconsiderable alarm on account of 
 the meeting at so early an hour. He rose in 
 gi'eat fear from his couch, and asking, what 
 was to be done ? summoned Cochrane to his 
 presence. Cochrane attended, and, after consult- 
 ing for a little with the King, he was sent to the 
 council to observe their movements, and learn the 
 nature of their deliberations. He repaired to the 
 church where the peers were assembled in his 
 usual pomp, little anticipating that he was de- 
 voted to destruction. He was attended, accord- 
 ing to Pitscottie, by three hundred men, all clad 
 in white livery, with black fillets, and armed with 
 battle-axes, that they might be known as the 
 
 * Hume of Godscroft's History of the Houses of 
 Douglas and Angus, folio, edit. IGW. 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 99 
 
 retainers of the new Earl of Mar. His own dress 
 displayed his upstart magnificence. He was clad 
 in a riding-cloak of black velvet, and wore a 
 chain of gold around his neck worth five hun- 
 dred crowns. His hunting-horn was enriched with 
 gold at both ends, and a precious stone glit- 
 tered in the centre. His helmet was carried be- 
 fore him, overlaid with gold. * In this pomp 
 he proceeded to the church of Lauder, where the 
 peers were assembled, and, approaching the door, 
 he commanded one cf his attendants to knock 
 with great authority. Sir Robert Douglas of 
 Lochleven stood guard within, who, on inquiring 
 the cause of this rude noise, was answered by 
 Cochrane — " 'Tis I, the Earl of Mar." Rejoic- 
 ing at this fortunate circumstance, for which they 
 ardently wished, Cochrane and soma of his attend- 
 ants were ordered to be admitted. Angus instant- 
 ly advanced towards him, and seizing him by the 
 gold chain which hung around his neck, he twist- 
 ed it with such firmness as nearly to strangle Coch- 
 rane, exclaiming, " A rope would become thee 
 better." f Douglas of Lochleven seized his hunt- 
 
 * Lindsay's description of this minion's profusion is 
 amusing. " Himself was clad in a riding-pie of black 
 velvet, with a great chain of gold about his neck to the 
 value of five hundred crowns; and four blowing-horns 
 with both the ends of gold and silk, set with precious 
 stones. His horn was tipped with fine gold at every end, 
 and a precious stone, called a beryl, hanging in the midst. 
 This Cochrane had his heument (helmet) borne before 
 him overgilt with gold, and so were all the rest of his 
 horns ; and all his pallions were of fine canvas of silk, and 
 the cords thereof fine turned silk, and the chains upon his 
 pallions were double overgilt with gold. " 
 
 f In the History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, 
 by David Hume of Godscroft, (Edinburgh, folio, 1644'), 
 
100 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ing horse, and told him that " he had been too 
 long a hunter of mischief. " Cochrane, finding 
 himself thus roughly handled, asked, " My Lords, 
 is this jest or earnest?" To which they replied, 
 " Thou shalt soon find that it is in good earnest; 
 for thou and thy associates have too long abused 
 the favour of our sovereign. No longer shalt thou 
 enjoy thy greatness ; but thou and thy accomplices 
 shall have your deserved reward. " 
 
 They soon secured the new made Earl, after 
 which they despatched some of their friends to the 
 King's abode, who amused James with smooth 
 speeches, while their followers were apprehend- 
 ing Cochrane's associates. On Leonard, Ro- 
 gers, Torphichen, Preston, (the only gentleman 
 amongst them,) and others, they soon laid their 
 hands ; and, dragging them out to the bridge, be- 
 neath which mns the rivulet Lauder or Leader, 
 they were all immediately hanged over it. So 
 odious, according to Buchanan, had those minions 
 become, that the whole army exulted in their ex- 
 ecution, exclaiming, " Hang them, the rogues ! " 
 Nay, so anxious were the soldiers for their death, 
 that, when ropes were wanted to bang them, so 
 sudden had been the resolution to put them to 
 death, they all offered their horse-bridles and bag- 
 gage-tackle, and many of them strove to make the 
 first offer. The execution, it would appear, was 
 performed before the King's eyes. * Cochrane 
 was brought out last, his hands bound with a rope. 
 
 Angus is reported to have said to Cochrane: — " This 
 chain doth not become a man of your rank ; but I shall 
 ere long give you one that will become you to wear far 
 better. ' ' p. 226. 
 
 ♦ Lindsay of Pitscottie, p. 125. 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 101 
 
 Here, however, ho exhibited his empty pride. He 
 desired to have the rope exchanged for one of the 
 silken cords of his own tent ; hut he was answer- 
 ed, that he was a traitor, and deserved no better. 
 He was conducted to the bridge, and hanged 
 above his companions. * 
 
 Sir John Ramsay of Balmain, a young man, was 
 the only one of the King's favourites who escaped 
 the indignant resentment of the peers. He leaped 
 on the King's saddle, and clasped his person, and 
 was saved at the earnest request of James himself, 
 who pleaded for him on account of his extreme 
 youth, he being only eighteen years of age. The 
 genius and accomplishments of this youth had re- 
 commended him to James ; and he was destined 
 to be forfeited for his attachment to his master, 
 after the disaster of Bannockburn or Sauchie. He 
 was created Lord Bothvvell by the King ; and, in 
 148S-4, he sat in Parliament as a peer by that 
 title, f 
 
 Having thus rid themselves of the odious fa- 
 vourites, the nobles proceeded to the King, whose 
 
 • It is proper to mention, that the bridge of Lauder, at 
 which this execution took place, is not the present one — 
 it having been erected within the last century. The piles 
 of the old one may be observed at some distance. 
 
 f This nobleman was lineal ancestor of Sir Alexander 
 Ramsay of Balmain, Bart. Member of Parliament for the 
 county of Kincardine, who died without issue at his seat 
 of Halley, in Yorkshire, Feb. 12. 1806, in the 90th year 
 of his age, and was succeeded in the greater part of his 
 English and Scottish estates, by his nephew Alexander 
 Burnett of Strachan, second son of his sister Catherine 
 Ramsay and Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys, Bart. Mr 
 Burnett thereafter assumed the name of Ramsay, and was 
 created a baronet of Great Britain in 1S06. 
 H 2 
 
102 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 person they resolved to secure, as all confidence 
 between him and them was now ended. The 
 house in which James was seized is still standing.* 
 He was conveyed to the Castle of Edinburgh, 
 where he was placed under a respectful restraint, 
 and the army dismissed, until he should give am- 
 ple security that he would not revenge the death 
 of his favourites, to which he evinced, for a consi- 
 derable time, the most obstinate repugnance, f 
 
 Such was the issue of the campaign of the Scots 
 against the English under Gloucester, which af- 
 forded an opportunity for the Scottish nobles to 
 neglect the defence of their country for the grati- 
 fication of their resentments. It was a boisterous 
 ebullition of passion, similar instances of which 
 are frequently to be found in the Scottish annals. 
 But, at the same time, it must not be denied that 
 the imprudence of James was great, and that, if 
 he depended on his nobles for assistance against 
 the common enemy, he ought to have removed his 
 minions from the camp, and trusted to the valour 
 of his army. It may be true, however, after all, 
 
 * It was standing in 1819 when Principal Playfair 
 published his Geographical and Statistical Description of 
 Scotland, vol. i. p. 59. 
 
 f It is asserted by some writers, that the King volun- 
 tarily dismissed his army, and shut himself up in the Cas- 
 tle of Edinburgh for security. But the imprisonment of 
 James is certain, from Ruddiman's Notes on Buchanan, 
 vol. i. p. 4'4<5, and the Preface by the same writer to An- 
 derson's DIpIomata; also, Lindsay of Pitscottie, p. 125, 
 126, and Sir James Balfour, vol. i. p. 206, 207. " This 
 tragedy acted," says the last writer, *< the haill armey in- 
 continent dislodges, and brings the King prissoner with 
 them to Edinbrughe Castell, and coramitts him to the cus- 
 todey of Johne, Earl of Athol." 
 
II. I>EATH OF JAMES III. 103 
 
 that though he had done so, the campaign would 
 still have terminated ingloriously. Tlie partisans 
 of Albany were numerous in the army, and the 
 remembrance of the King's studied neglect might 
 have induced them to yield the contest, and to 
 have consented to terms not the most advanta- 
 geous for their country. It was a remarkable in- 
 stance of the power and influence which the aris- 
 tocracy possessed over their followers, tliat the 
 King was conveyed to the Castle of Edinburgh 
 without a single murmur of the army. 
 
 The accusations against those favourites, for 
 their trials were despatched in the most summary 
 manner, were, 1. Of causing the King to execute 
 his brother, John Earl of Mar. 2. That they had 
 excited the King against, and caused him to banish 
 his brother, Alexander Duke of Albany. 3. That 
 they had sowed dissensions between the King and 
 his nobles. 4. That they had enticed him to su- 
 perstition, witchcraft, and magic, to the offence of 
 God, and dishonour of religion. And, lastly, that 
 they had persuaded him to coin a certain kind of 
 brass, of no value, which the people called black 
 coin: — " which fact," observes Hume of Gods- 
 croft, " of all the others was the most odious to 
 the vulgar ; for hereupon had ensued great dearth 
 of com and victuals, while the owners did choose 
 rather to suffer their grain to rot in their garners, 
 than, under the name of selling, to give them to the 
 buyers ; for they thought it a gift, and not a sale." 
 
104 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 « Our hapless king that wears the crown. 
 
 Full boldl)- shall the battel bide ; 
 His banners shall be beaten down. 
 
 And have no hole his head to hide. 
 The starns three that day shall die 
 
 That bears the heart in silver sheen. 
 Nor riches, gold, nor silver fee. 
 
 Can lengthen his life one hour, I ween. " 
 
 SIR THOMAS THE RYMEK. 
 
 The English army under Richard of Gloucester, 
 and accompanied by Albany, marched to Edin- 
 burgh, having already obtained possession of Ber- 
 wick. In that city they found affairs in confu- 
 sion ; the King a prisoner in the Castle, and the 
 administration of the government assumed by a 
 party of the peers. They encamped at Restalrig, 
 in the vicinity of the city. 
 
 At Albany's request, Gloucester spared the citi- 
 zens from being pillaged by the English army, and 
 Albany himself was pardoned by the acting go- 
 vernment, on returning to his allegiance. The 
 approach of Gloucester to Edinburgh resembled 
 a splendid triumph rather than an invasion. In- 
 stead of carrying the treaty between Edward and 
 Albany into effect, which purported to place the 
 latter on the throne, the conduct of the English 
 is not a little mysterious. Gloucester demanded 
 
ir. DEATH OF JAMES III. 105 
 
 from James tlie performance of his stipulations 
 with England; hut the King, heinii; a prisoner, re- 
 turned no answer. At length, however, a new 
 treaty was concluded between James and Edward, 
 and after a short residence in the Scottish metro- 
 polis, Gloucester returned to London. It was 
 stipulated, that the marriage between the Duke 
 of Rothsay and the Princess Cecilia, should still 
 take place ; and the citizens of Edinburgh, who 
 had all along remained firm in their loyalty, be- 
 came bound to repay Edward the dowry he had 
 formerly given in contemplation. As the marriage 
 eventually failed, the citizens honourably discharged 
 their obligations. Berwick was perpetually sur- 
 rendered to the English. 
 
 For nine months the King had been confined 
 in the Castle of Edinburgh, where Albany, overcome 
 by the importunities of the queen, resolved to 
 set his brother at liberty. Accordingly, aided by 
 the citizens of Edinburgh, the fortress was sur- 
 prised, and the King released from his durance. 
 For this service, a reconciliation was eft'ected be- 
 tween James and the Duke, and the latter had 
 the titles of Earl of Mar and Lord of Garioch 
 conferred upon him, " as the reward of his loyalty, 
 affection, and service. " It was on this occasion, 
 too, that Edinburgh received her most important 
 charter from a grateful sovereign, confirming her 
 ample privileges. The office of hereditary sheriflf 
 within the city, with complete jurisdiction, was 
 conferred on the provost, with all the fines and 
 forfeitures arising from the administration of that 
 office. The magistrates and council were also 
 empowered to make laws at pleasure for the wel- 
 fare of the town ; they were exempted from cer- 
 
106 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 tain duties ; and entitled to exact customs at the 
 port of Leith. In return for this ample charter, all 
 that the King demanded from the civic rulers was 
 the annual celebration of a funeral mass for the 
 repose of the souls of his predecessors, himself, 
 and successors, in the collegiate church of the 
 city dedicated to St Giles. 
 
 But this apparent reconciliation between James 
 and Albany was of no long continuance, and the 
 latter soon returned to his former intrigues and 
 practices. The superstitious piety of James in- 
 duced him to propose a pilgrimage to the relics of 
 St John at Amiens in France ; and for this pur- 
 pose he obtained a safe-conduct from Edward to 
 pass through England on his way. In the Parlia- 
 ment which met in December 1482, and which 
 appears to have been entirely under Albany's in- 
 fluence, a recommendation was given to James, 
 on the 11th December, to constitute the Duke 
 Lieutenant-General and Governor of the kingdom 
 during his absence. With this recommendation 
 he complied, though subsequent events occurred 
 which hindered James from performing his devo-\ 
 tions at the shrine of St John. But Albany, not- 
 withstanding his power, knew well that his situa- 
 tion was precarious ; his conduct, seemingly in- 
 fluenced by the treasonable treaty he had made 
 with Edward when in exile, and his desire for the 
 crown, had disgusted the nobles, and excited the 
 jealous suspicions of James. Perceiving that the 
 loyal party were increasing, he secured a con- 
 siderable military force, and contrived to excite 
 disturbances in the West and Eastern Marches, 
 in the hope that a war would ensue between the 
 two countries. With this view he sent Archibald 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 107 
 
 Earl of Angus, surnamed Bell-the-Cat, from the 
 affair at Lauder, Lord Gray, and Sir James Liddel 
 of Halkerstone, to Edward, to renew the former 
 treaty, the object of which was to depose James, 
 to procure troops from Edward to conquer Scot- 
 land, and to place him on the throne, by the title of 
 Alexander IV. This disgraceful treaty was accord- 
 ingly renewed by Edward — Albany again engaged 
 to marry one of that prince's daughters, and to 
 assist him against France — the exiled Earl of 
 Douglas was to be restored to his possessions — 
 and Gloucester and the Earl of Northumberland 
 were to invade Scotland. What might have been 
 the result of this treasonable agreement, it is im- 
 possible to say ; but the death of Edward, the 
 murder of his two nephews in the Tower by the 
 unprincipled Gloucester, afterwards Richard IIL, 
 who began his infamous reign with blood, — 
 terminated at once those intrigues of lawless 
 ambition ; and Richard was too much occupi- 
 ed with the discords of England, to find leisure 
 to further the wild and treasonable schemes of 
 Albany and his partisans. The Duke soon af- 
 terwards retired into England, where, finding all 
 hopes of assistance from Richard in vain, and 
 again endeavouring to excite a disturbance in Scot- 
 land, he finally departed for France, where he fell 
 a few years afterwards at a tournament, leaving 
 one son by the Countess of Auvergne, who inhe- 
 rited his unfortunate title, and who was destined 
 to misgovern Scotland in the minority of James V. 
 The honours and estates of Albany were annexed 
 to the crown in 14-87, but James did not long en- 
 joy these accessions. 
 
 Without, however, detailing minutely the vari- 
 
108 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ous circumstances of this calamitous reign, which 
 belong rather to the general history than to a de- 
 tached narrative like the present, it is proper to 
 observe, that the final departure of Albany did not 
 abate the zeal of his partisans, and that of James' 
 enemies. Had the King possessed the activity 
 and dignity of some of his predecessors, his private 
 pursuits would have been honourable to his taste ; 
 and the g^reat hall in Stirling Castle, and the cha- 
 pel in the same fortress, united to his taste for 
 music and the fine arts, would have been lasting 
 memorials of his princely munificence among a 
 people at that time on the threshold of improve- 
 ment. The long-stifled resentments, however, were 
 speedily to break out with overwhelming fury ; 
 and Scotland was doomed to experience the scourge 
 of an unnatural discord, induced by the imprudence 
 of its sovereign, and the turbulent ambition of its 
 nobles. 
 
 Several of the King's proceedings, after his re- 
 lease from the Castle of Edinburgh, had given 
 great offence to the chief leaders of the nobility. 
 He continued to live in ignoble privacy; nor was 
 he cured of his attachment to favourites by the 
 fierce burst of resentment which had characterized 
 the affair of Lauder Bridge. Though Albany had 
 departed, his spirit was left behind, and James had 
 not the prudence to provide against its excesses. 
 After the final retreat of that prince, he issued an 
 order that no nobleman should wear arms within the 
 precincts of the court ; — his appointment of Ram- 
 say, the favourite who had escaped at Lauder, to 
 the ofhce of captain of the royal guard, was view- 
 ed with no friendly feelings; and a number of the 
 nobles believed, or pretended to believe, that it 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 109 
 
 was the design of James to plare Scotland under 
 English influence. Though this last accusation 
 was utterly groundless, it served as a sufficient 
 pretext for their traitorous designs ; and a con- 
 federacy was speedily formed, consisting of the 
 Earls of Angus, Lennox, and Argyle, Lords 
 Home, Hailes, Drummoud, Lyle, and Gray ; the 
 object of which was to receive again the King's 
 person, and to appoint the young Duke of Roth- 
 say regent of the kingdom. 
 
 This confederacy was formed in 1485, but its 
 leaders delayed their intentions for some time, till 
 the rupture between them and the King became 
 irreconcileable. In the meantime, James obtained 
 possession of the Castle of Dunbar from the Eng- 
 lish; and in 1486 a treaty was concluded between 
 him and Henry VH. of England, who had de- 
 feated and slain the usurper Richard HI. at the 
 battle of Bosworth Field. But James experienced 
 a calamity that year in the death of his amiable 
 queen, Margaret of Denmark, who was consigned 
 to the tomb in the venerable abbey of Cambus- 
 kenneth. The confederacy, however, continued, 
 though considerably disturbed by the league with 
 England ; and each of the nobles who composed it 
 had his own peculiar causes of discontentment. The 
 Earl of Angus was the very soul of the associa- 
 tion, and Lord Home was induced to join it from 
 a motive of private revenge. As it was the King's 
 intention to endow the college or chapel-royal at 
 Stirling, he purposed to bestow on it the revenues 
 of the rich priory of Coldingham, at that time va- 
 cant. This priory was of great antiquity and 
 wealth. It had had been rebuilt by King Edgar 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
110 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 in 1098, and was dedicated to the Virgin ; at the 
 consecration Edgar assisted in person, and caus- 
 ed a house to be built for himself, the remains 
 of which are still to be seen, and are called 
 Edgars Walls. Besides the extensive lands and 
 other immunities belonging to this monastery, which 
 were very considerable, the prior had a right to 
 the teinds or tithes of no fewer than twenty-four 
 parishes. A vacancy at this time induced James 
 to seize on all its temporalities for the endow- 
 ment of his college at Stirling ; and accordingly, he 
 caused an act of parliament to be passed, discharg- 
 ing all his subjects to attempt any thing against 
 the union of the chapel-royal at Stirling with the 
 priory of Coldingham, under the penalties of high 
 treason. 
 
 This mortally offended the Homes and Hep- 
 burns, as one of the former families had generally 
 held the priory, and they had been long accustom- 
 ed to view its lands, temporalities, and titles, as 
 part of their hereditary possessions. The dispute 
 had indeed lasted for some years, but it was only 
 in the two last parliaments that the priory had 
 been alienated. As this loss stripped the Homes 
 of considerable revenues, it materially affected all 
 the gentlemen of that name ; and they according- 
 ly leagued under their chief. Lord Home, with 
 their allies the Hepbums, at the head of whom 
 was Lord Hailes. They entered into a combin- 
 ation, and bound themselves not to suflfer any 
 prior to take possession of Coldingham who was 
 not a Home or a Hepburn. The power and in- 
 fluence of those two families were such as to ren- 
 der them a most important acquisition to the con- 
 federacy, and they contrived to make their own 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. Ill 
 
 quarrel that of tlie faction at large. Their emis- 
 saries sent abroad rumours, that the King was aim- 
 ing at arbitrary power, — that notwithstanding all 
 his protestations he was not to be trusted — that 
 he had begun his attacks on their property by in- 
 vading and seizing the ancient privileges of the 
 Homes, which he had grasped more from hatred 
 and avarice, than from any desire to increase the 
 endowment of his chapel — and that, in short, he 
 meditated a deep and terrible revenge for the 
 affair at Lauder Bridge. 
 
 These misrepresentations of the King's inten- 
 tions were sufficient to kindle anew the rank- 
 ling animosities of the factious nobles. Angus, sur- 
 named Bell-the-Cat, was, however, the chief ring- 
 leader of the conspiracy, and his principal object was 
 to get a person of sufficient influence to preside 
 over his associates. In an invasion conducted by 
 Albany and the exiled Earl of Douglas in 1484, 
 the latter nobleman had been taken prisoner at 
 Lochmaben fair, and had been ordered by James 
 to spend the remainder of his days in the Abbey 
 of Lindores in Fife. In this peaceful retreat Dou- 
 glas first found happiness. To this nobleman, now 
 old and infirm, Angus advised the conspirators to 
 apply to head them ; but the venerable Douglas was 
 dead to ambition, and instead of encouraging them 
 in their designs against the destroyer of his house, 
 he exhorted them to abandon their rebellious in- 
 tentions, expressing great contrition for his own 
 past conduct. Finding, however, that his remon- 
 strances were disregarded, this magnanimous no- 
 bleman (for he was the son of that Earl of Dou- 
 glas who was stabbed in the Castle of Stirling by 
 James 11. ), wrote to the various branches of his 
 
1 12 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 family, particularly Douglas of Cavers, cautioning 
 them not to enter the association. * This great man 
 survived this application only a few months. He 
 died in peace in the Abhey of Lindores, without 
 issue, on the 15th of April 1488, and in him end- 
 ed the first branch of the illustrious and once 
 powerful House of Douglas. 
 
 Tims baffled in tlieir application, the conspira- 
 tors were left to their own resources ; nor do they 
 seem to have been in the least impressed by the 
 remonstrances of Douglas. As Angus and Gray 
 were, in reality, the principal traitors. Home had 
 been induced to join the association from the cir- 
 cumstances already narrated. The Hepburns un- 
 der Lord Hailes, were united to it from the same 
 motives. To them were afterwards added Hunt- 
 ly, Errol, Marischal, and Lord Glammis, who, 
 with the others already mentioned, constituted the 
 association. The pretext for this conspiracy was 
 as ridiculous as it was false, namely, that James 
 intended to place his kingdom under English in- 
 fluence. The real causes were, hatred to the King, 
 to dethrone and imprison him, and to elevate his 
 son the Duke of Rothsay to the throne or the re- 
 gency. Yet the circumstances of the kingdom fa- 
 voured their pretext, and did them great service, by 
 causing many of the moderate party to join them. 
 The surrender of Berwick — the intended marriage 
 between the Duke of Rothsay and the daughter 
 of the queen-dowager of England — the harmony 
 which existed between James and Henry — fa- 
 voured the allegations of the conspirators, that 
 
 * It is said that some of his original letters on this 
 subject are still in existence. 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 113 
 
 Scotland was to become a province of England, and 
 to be governed by an English force. 
 
 With the King there remained the Earls of Craw- 
 ford, Monteith, Rothes, Athole, Caithness, Su- 
 therland, and Buchan ; Lords Forbes, Lovat, Max- 
 well, Ruthven, Erskine, Boyd, and Kilmaurs, 
 with some other persons of great power, not then 
 elevated to the peerage. James, indeed, appears 
 to have been acquainted with the designs of the 
 conspirators; but he wanted energy to prepare him- 
 self against the popular ferment. His conduct at 
 this time is remarkable, and made his enemies 
 charge the descendant of a race of heroes with 
 cowardice ; but, though the first of his name against 
 whom this odious imputation was made, his con- 
 duct by no means justifies the accusation. His 
 laxity or negligence, however, only caused his ene- 
 mies to parade about the country with greater bold- 
 ness, while he was shut up in the Castle of Stir- 
 ling (some say Edinburgh) pursuing his favourite 
 studies, heedless of the strong combination, and 
 depending on the protection of the law, which the 
 affair at Lauder 13ridge might have taught him 
 would most certainly be treated with contempt. 
 
 The factious peers assembled at Edinburgh, and 
 the malignity of Buchanan has in consequence as- 
 persed the character of James. He asserts that 
 the King, who had affected to forget Angus' con- 
 duct at Lauder, invited him to the Castle, and pro- 
 posed to him to cut off the rebel chiefs at one blow. 
 But Angus, who conceived this to be a snare for 
 his own destruction, though he seemingly reason- 
 ed with the King on the impolicy of this measure, 
 and pretended to have no objections in assisting to 
 I 2 
 
114 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 apprehend them, disclosetl to his associates the in- 
 tentions of the Kinf(, and joined them with his re- 
 tainers. But the false colouring of this affair — 
 that the King intended to assassinate them, is evi- 
 dent from the facts, and James was always averse 
 to shed hlood. 
 
 James, however, was at last roused from his 
 lethargy. The confederates took the field, and 
 all the counties south of the Forth were under 
 their controul. The Earl of Angus, the only chief 
 who could have assisted him in reducing the rebels, 
 was at their head, and appointed places of meet- 
 ing for all those who were inclined to enlist under 
 their banners. Although summoned by the Kin^ 
 to answer for their conduct at the proper tribunals, 
 the insurgents treated his citations with contempt,' 
 tore them in pieces, abused and maltreated the 
 messengers, and openly spurned the royal autho- 
 rity. The populous counties of Fife and Forfar 
 were in a state of revolt ; and those alone continu- 
 ed faithful to the King, north of the Grampian 
 Mountains. 
 
 Distrusting all the Lowland counties, James 
 resolved to visit the North, where the inhabi- 
 tants remained true to their allegiance. He first, 
 however, proceeded to Stirling, with the Duke 
 of Rothsay, his son, then a youth of fifteen years 
 of age ; and, having sufficiently provided the Cas- 
 tle with military stores, he delivered the young 
 prince to the care of Shaw of Sauchie, the go- 
 vernor, charging him to let no man enter the Castle 
 till his return, nor to let the prince go out on any 
 pretence wliatsoever. He then returned to Edin- 
 burgh, the fortress of which he garrisoned in the 
 like manner, committing to the care of the go- 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 115 
 
 vcrnor all his money ; after which he proceeded 
 to Leith, on liis journey to the northern counties, 
 and embarked in a vessel belongin^^ to Sir An- 
 drew Wood, to convey him over the Frith to 
 the opposite shore. Unfortunately, the vessel 
 in which he embarked had been engaged in the 
 Flemish trade, and a report was immediately 
 circulated, that, overcome by his fears, he had 
 
 quitted the kingdom and fled to Flanders 
 
 The insurgents, taking advantage of the consterna- 
 tion, mustered their forces, and advanced to Leith. 
 There they seized and rifled the royal baggage, 
 which was in readiness to be sent after the King, 
 and found a large sum of money, which proved of 
 great consequence to them in their affairs. They 
 then proceeded to arm themselves from the King's 
 stores, and advanced to the Castle of Dunbar, 
 which they immediately took by surprise. They 
 afterwards ravaged all the southern counties, par- 
 ticularly the Lothians and Tweeddale, rifling and 
 plundering the houses of all who were not engaged 
 in the insurrection. 
 
 While the insurgents were conducting them- 
 selves in this tumultuous manner, the King, who 
 had summoned the counties of Fife, Forfar, and 
 the district of Strathearn to attend his banner at a 
 certain day, proceeded northward to Aberdeen. 
 In his journey he held courts of justice, and was 
 every where received with aft'ection, particularly 
 in the districts under the influence of tiie Earls of 
 Huntly, Errol, and Marischal, who were devoted 
 to his interests. The northern clans readily obey- 
 ed the summons of their sovereign, and marshalled 
 themselves under the royal banner. The chiefs 
 in those parts were busily engaged in mustering 
 
116 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 their retainers, and the King had the prospect of 
 a numerous army under his control. But as every 
 day brought more alarming reports of the proceed- 
 ings of the insurgents in the south, James had no 
 time left for deliberation. He hastened to Perth, 
 which he appointed the place for the mustering of 
 his army, followed by his uncle, the Earl of Athol, 
 the Earls of Huntly, Crawford, and Errol, with 
 many northern chiefs, and, indeed, all the array of 
 the northern counties. There he was joined by 
 Lord Lindsay of the Byres, — an officer who had 
 acquired considerable military reputation in France, 
 with a thousand horsemen and three thousand foot. 
 From this Baron it was, according to Pitscottie, 
 that the King received the present of the fatal 
 courser; and in presenting him to the King, he 
 observed, that " if his Majesty were reduced to 
 extremity, either to flee or pursue, that horse 
 would surpass every other in Scotland, if the rider 
 kept his saddle." Lord Ruthven, too, who was 
 at that time Sheriff of Strathearn, ancestor of the 
 Earls of Gowrie, brought a thousand gentlemen on 
 horseback to the King's assistance, well armed, and 
 provided with spears, a thousand bowmen, and a 
 thousand armed men with long swords and coats of 
 mail : — three thousand in all from the loyal town 
 of Pertli. The King found himself at the head of 
 30,000 men, and with this army he set out for 
 Stirling against the rebels. 
 
 The insurgents being in possession of all the 
 counties south of the Forth, had not, on their part, 
 been idle. They had mustered their forces in the 
 county of Linlithgow, or West Lothian, and had 
 encamped near Blackness Castle, on the southern 
 shores of the Frith of Forth. The fleet under the 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 117 
 
 coniinaiul of Sir Andrew Wood of Largo liaving 
 sailed up the Forth, the royal anny passed over in 
 those vessels ; and having landed at Blackness, in 
 April 1488, the King was joined by the few in 
 tlie soutliern counties who continued in their al- 
 legiance. The contest was about to be decided 
 by a battle, and an indecisive skirmish had taken 
 place, in which several of the loyal chiefs emi- 
 nently distinguished themselves ; but the insur- 
 gents appear to have been aware of the superiority 
 of the King's forces, and consented to an accom- 
 modation. Probably both parties were not suffi- 
 ciently exasperated against each other, and there- 
 fore shrank from the last resource of shedding the 
 blood of their countrymen. The Earl of Athole, 
 the King's uncle, a nobleman trusted by both par- 
 ties, effected a negociation, and surrendered him- 
 self as a hostage into the hands of the rebels. 
 Though the terms of this accommodation are not 
 mentioned by our historians, and indeed their whole 
 account of this transaction is confused and contra- 
 dictory, yet the fact of this temporary treaty is 
 beyond dispute ; and we know that Athole was 
 confined for his loyalty in the Castle of Dunbar. * 
 
 * There is a document first published by Dr Henry, in 
 the Appendix to vol. v. of his History of Great Britain, 
 and inserted in the Appendix (No. 32) to vol. i. of Pin- 
 kerton's History, which is taken from the Records of Par- 
 liament in the Register Office, Edinburgh. It is entitled 
 the " Pacification of Blackness," and contains nine ar- 
 ticles, which were signed by the King's own hand, and 
 presented in the first Parliament of James IV. Commis- 
 sion was granted to the Bishop of Aberdeen, Chancellor, 
 the Earls of Huntly, Errol, Marischal, Lords Glammis 
 and Alexander Lindsay, on the King's part, and the Bi- 
 shop of Glasgow, the Earls of Angus, Argyle, Lords 
 Hailes and Lvlc, to conclude the accommodation. Red- 
 
118 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 The two armies were disbanded, though the in- 
 surgents continued to meet in detached parties ; 
 and the King retired to the Castle of Edinburgh, 
 his son, the Duke of Rothsay, being still in the 
 Castle of Stirling, under the government of Shaw 
 of Sauchie. 
 
 Nothing could be more unfortunate for the af- 
 fairs of James than this ill-timed lenity, which 
 proceeded from his timidity, and his averseness toi| 
 shed blood. As in religious disputes, decision is, 
 the only course with frantic sectaries, who gene- 
 rally care little for the lenity which tolerates, and 
 must therefore be opposed by the resolution which 
 expels, so, in political insurrections, the strong and 
 salutary arm of power ought always to be exer- 
 cised, and the faction crushed, ere it strengthens 
 that spirit which, when excited, proceeds to the, 
 most daring extremes. It is asserted by all our 
 historians, that this timidity was fatal to James, 
 and that by it he lost an opportunity which couldL, 
 never be recalled. It was not likely that the dis-. 
 contentment would be allayed by any concessions ; 
 for concessions to insurgents are in reality virtual 
 acknowledgments that their conduct is praisewor- 
 
 path, in his Border History, suspects that the Bishop of 
 Glasgovv( Blackadder), and theBishop of Dunkeld( Brown), 
 favoured the insurgents, as they were connected with fa- 
 milies attached to the Homes and Hepburns. The arti- 
 cles chiefly relate to the young prince ; and it certainly 
 does appear from them, that they had then got possession 
 of his person. The last article is to this effect : " At al 
 discentions and discordis, now standand or beand betuex 
 any lordis or gret baronis, of baith the pertis, sal be 
 drawen be the wisdome of the said lordis to unite con- 
 cord, so that luff and favour may stand ymanges oure 
 Soverane Lordis leegis. " 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 119 
 
 thy, and must only increase the insolence of their 
 partisans. James ought at Blackness to have put 
 down this dangerous association, ere its members 
 dispersed with their prejudices inveterate, their 
 resolutions the same to expel the sovereign, and 
 increasing in strength during the brief cessation of 
 hostilities, more especially as he was then support- 
 ed by many powerful chiefs, particularly Huntly, 
 Errol, Glammis, and Marischal, who afterwards 
 deserted the royal cause, and joined the insur- 
 gents. 
 
 But the misfortunes of his house attended James 
 in his series of disasters. He was indeed sen- 
 sible of the advantages which public clamour gave 
 to his enemies ; and had he possessed due discri- 
 mination, he might have ruined their cause. He 
 was still suspected, and the insurgents at length 
 insisted on his abdication of the throne. It is un- 
 fortunate that the terms of the negociation are 
 only partially recorded, and that we have no other 
 document than that entitled, " The Pacification of 
 Blackness, " which almost exclusively relates to 
 the guidance of the young prince, with only one 
 article, that the King's '' maist noble person be at 
 all tymes in honor, securitie, and fredome. " But 
 the demands of the rebels being exorbitant, inas- 
 much as they completely controlled the King in 
 his administration, James had evaded or delayed 
 their accomplishment. The rebels, on the other 
 hand, insisted that the King had not fulfilled his 
 terms of the treaty, and, whatever the terms were, 
 it is certain they had some occasion for complaint, 
 more especially when we consider that the peers 
 already mentioned deserted him on that very ac- 
 count : And in an act of parliament framed after 
 
120 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 the King's death, and entitled, " The proposition of 
 thd debate of the field of Stirling," the non-fulfil- 
 ment of the terms on the part of the King is ex- 
 pressly assigned by those peers as the cause of 
 their defection. The error of James consisted in 
 agreeing to any conditions which were exorbitant, 
 and when he was able to defeat his enemies ; but 
 he was certainly bound afterwards to fulfil them, 
 and hence it was that the confederacy daily spread 
 wider, till all the country south of the Grampians 
 was in a state of revolt. 
 
 The conduct of James, too, at this juncture, was 
 not likely to eifect a reconciliation, and must 
 necessarily have excited the suspicions of the in- 
 surgents for their own personal safety. He had 
 retired to the Castle of Edinburgh, where was all 
 his treasure, and he proceeded to strengthen it 
 with considerable activity. In the meantime, be- 
 ing aware of the practices of the insurgents, he 
 applied to the kings of England and France, and 
 to the Pope, Eugenius VIII. for their interference; 
 and the application was successful. This was most 
 certain to rouse the fears of the confederates. 
 The two monarchs threatened to raise armies 
 for the aid of the Scottish King, and his Holiness 
 appointed Adrian de Castello as his nuncio, at 
 that time his Legate in England, and, according to 
 Buchanan, a man of great learning, to effect a re- 
 conciliation, and even to excommunicate the insur- 
 gents, should they prove refractory. But those re- 
 sources were too late, and the nuncio arrived when 
 his interposition was in vain. 
 
 Those proceedings of the King were viewed with 
 alarm by the conspirators, who were beginning to 
 find, that, notwithstanding the promising aspect of 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 121 
 
 their affairs, they were not secure. They now saw 
 that decision and activity were their only resources. 
 It was not their interest to delay so long as to 
 bring against themselves the armies of France and 
 England, and they wished especially to anticipate 
 tlie Nuncio's arrival, whose influence they dreaded 
 most of all, because, were their practices to be de- 
 nounced by the Church, it would have drawn from 
 them a considerable number of adherents, through 
 the fear of ecclesiastical censures. They, therefore, 
 at once appeared in arms, and openly insisted on 
 the King's resignation of the crown. 
 
 Sensible, however, that their affairs must lan- 
 guish, and their adherents dwindle, unless they 
 were furnished with new pretexts for rebellion, and 
 were headed by a person of authority, they had 
 recourse to bold and daring proceedings. The 
 Earl of Angus proposed that the Duke of Roth- 
 say, the King's eldest son, should be placed at their 
 head, and his proposal met with the most cheerful 
 acquiescence. By involving him in their conspi- 
 racy, they in a manner secured themselves ; for, 
 should they be successful, their safety was evi- 
 dent ; if unsuccessful, prudential reasons would re- 
 strain the King from inflicting on them summary 
 punishment. They now gave out that the King 
 had a design on his son's life, which, in the state 
 of popular feeling, was readily believed. The 
 young prince had been consigned to the care of 
 Shaw of Sauchie, governor of Stirling Castle, with 
 strict orders from the King, that no one who was 
 disaffected should be allowed to approach him, and 
 that he should on no account be suffered to go 
 out of the Castle. But that treacherous governor 
 
 VOL. I. f K 4 
 
122 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 disregarded his sovereign's injunctions. He secretly 
 favoured the conspirators, and he was prevailed 
 upon, by the present of a considerable sum of money, 
 to deliver the young prince into their hands, the 
 defence of whose life, it was maintained, called 
 them to arms, and whose name, thus associated 
 with the confederates, sanctioned their designs. 
 The youth was accordingly conducted to Linlith- 
 gow, unconscious of their ultimate intentions, and 
 Scotland was thus to behold a son constrained to 
 league against his father and sovereign. With the 
 money which they had found at Leith in the King's 
 baggage the confederates contrived to supply them- 
 selves with warlike stores ; and having obtained 
 possession of the prince, whose name was now em- 
 ployed to sanction all their actions, they took the 
 field with their retainers. 
 
 James, ignorant of this infamous conduct on the 
 part of Shaw, seeing no other resource but war, 
 again summoned the northern chiefs to attend his 
 standard. The place of rendezvous is not men- 
 tioned, but it was probably at or near Stirling, 
 whither the King intended to proceed, to join 
 those chiefs who were advancing from the north 
 with their followers. The rebels in the meantime 
 were assembling their forces in the same direction. 
 By a fatality which seems to have attended him, 
 James left the Castle of Edinburgh for Stirling, 
 trusting to the fidelity of its governor, as it was also 
 a fortress where he could be secure. This was 
 another misfortune. His affairs were not then so 
 desperate, and had he kept himself in Edinburgh 
 Castle until the result of his applications to France 
 and England was known, and until the arrival of 
 the Papal Nuncio, he would stiJJ have been abJe 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 123 
 
 to defeat the confederacy. He was in possession 
 of the Castle of Blackness ; his Admiral, Sir An- 
 drew Wood, commanded the river Forth; and 
 his friends in the north were still numerous and 
 powerful. But unconscious of Shaw's treachery, 
 and believing, perhaps, that the Castle of Stirling 
 was of more importance than that of Edinburgh, 
 inasmuch as it commanded the only bridge over 
 the Forth, and the great entrance into the High- 
 lands, whence his northern subjects were to ad- 
 vance, he left the metropolis. All that the conspir- 
 ators wanted was to draw the King into the field. 
 James proceeded to Stirling by Blackness, where 
 he was joined by the Earls of Montrose and Glen- 
 cairn, (who had been recently elevated to that earl- 
 dom from the title of Lord Kilmaurs), the Lords 
 Maxwell and Ruthven. As some of the chiefs 
 had joined the insurgents, and as the junction of 
 the northern clans with the King's troops had 
 caused a considerable delay, a second negotiation 
 was proposed, but without effect. The rebels, in 
 order to induce the King to take the field, made 
 a show of dismissing their army, while they were 
 secretly mustering their forces for a decisive en- 
 gagement. The King, in the meantime, arrived 
 at Stirling, where he found a considerable num- 
 ber of the northern clans assembled. Advancing 
 to the Castle, he was astonished when he was not 
 only refused admittance, but found the gates shut, 
 and the guns pointed against his person. He in- 
 quired for his son, and the perfidious governor at 
 first said, that he could not be seen at that time. 
 He soon learned, with astonishment, that lie was 
 with the rebels ; and on upbraiding Shaw with his 
 perfidy, he pretended that the prince had been 
 
124) CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 carried off by the conspirators against his inclination. 
 But the King perceived the treachery. " Fy, trai- 
 tor ! " said he, " thou hast deceived me ; but if I 
 live, I shall be revenged on thee, and reward thee 
 as thou deservest." 
 
 In this extremity, and, according to some writ- 
 ers, after crossing and recrossing the Forth, and 
 making another attempt to gain admittance into 
 the Castle, James lay that night in the town of 
 Stirling, where he was speedily joined by all his 
 army. While deliberating on the measures he 
 should adopt, intelligence was brought him that 
 the conspirators were then at Falkirk, and were 
 advancing with their forces to Torwood, — a place 
 famous in Scottish story as the retreat of the pa- 
 triot Wallace, and at that time a forest of consi- 
 derable extent. The King was now in a peculiar 
 situation ; the Castle of Stirling was held out 
 against him, the only place where he could have 
 been secure ; and the army of the conspirators, 
 by thus advancing in the direction of Torwood, 
 could easily intercept him in any attempt to reach 
 Edinburgh. Sir Andrew Wood, his admiral, had 
 indeed sailed up the Forth as far as Alloa, — a 
 town only seven miles from Stirling over land, but 
 more than double that distance by water, on ac- 
 count of the serpentine turnings and windings of 
 the river, in that delightful carse or valley through 
 which the Forth runs towards the ocean ; and that 
 famous mariner would have sailed farther up the 
 river, had there been sufficient depth of water for 
 his vessels. The King could easily have retreated 
 from Stirling by embarking in the Admiral's fleet, 
 but this would most probably have been attended 
 with danger ; and as it would have been interpret- 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES HI. 125 
 
 ed by the insurgents as the result of timidity and 
 cowardice, it would have increased their boldness, 
 and done material injury to the royal cause. Situ- 
 ated as James was, he liad no other alternative 
 than either to embark in Wood's vessels, or to 
 decide the contest by a battle ; and, after calling 
 a council of the chiefs who followed the royal 
 standard, he resolved to hazard the latter. 
 
 It was in the month of June, and the forests of 
 Stirlingshire were clothed in their summer foliage, 
 when this unnatural and fatal contest was de- 
 cided. The ground is sacred in the annals of 
 Scottish song. Different, indeed, were the mo- 
 tives which stimulated this array of Scotland's chi- 
 valry, from those which prompted their illustrious 
 ancestors under the banneis of Bruce. The in- 
 surgents, who soon understood the purposes of the 
 King, prepared also for battle, and passed the Car- 
 ron, a small but remarkable rivulet in Stirlingshire, 
 which rises in the parish of Fintry, almost in the 
 centre of the isthmus between the Forth and 
 Clyde, and falls into the Forth, a few miles below 
 Falkirk. The associations connected with this 
 brook are interesting in no ordinary degree. It was 
 the boundary of the Roman empire, when that em- 
 pire was in its glory, the famous wall of Antoni- 
 nus running parallel to it for some miles. On its 
 banks was the Roman structure called Arthur's 
 Oven ; and there was fought a famous battle be- 
 tween the Romans, and the Scots and Picts, in 
 the fifth century. On its banks were performed 
 the exploits of Ossian, the son of Fingal. Oscar, 
 the son of Ossian, there signalized himself as a 
 hero ; and the vale is yet pointed out by tradi- 
 tion, where those ancient warriors contended with 
 K 2 
 
126 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 tlie beroe8 of the streams of Caros. There, with 
 more certaiuty of truth, was fought the well known 
 battle between Wallace and the English invaders, 
 which succeeded the memorable interview between 
 that patriot and Robert Bruce, disastrous to the 
 Scottish arms. It is long, however, since the sil- 
 very stream of the Carron rolled along amid the 
 din of arms ; happy it is that the busy scenes of 
 trade and the mechanical arts now distinguish its 
 classic banks. 
 
 The insurgents had encamped at the bridge 
 over the Carron, near the Torwood, when the 
 King led his army against them, and encamped at 
 a small brook named Sauchie Burn, about two 
 miles from the town of Stirling, and a mile south 
 from the famous field of Bannockburn. If Lindsay 
 of Pitscottie is to be credited, on the night before 
 the battle, another attempt was made for a nego- 
 tiation, which was also unsuccessful. The two 
 armies met on a tract of land now termed Little 
 Canglar, on the east side of Sauchie Burn. The 
 army of the rebels was greatly superior to that of 
 the King ; it consisted chiefly of Borderers inured 
 to war, well armed and well disciplined ; and was 
 consequently most unequally opposed by the Low- 
 land royalists. The exact number of the two 
 armies has not been ascertained ; the royal army 
 has been estimated by some as containing 30,000 
 men, that of the insurgents 18,000 ; but there is 
 every reason to conclude, that the number of the 
 royal army is greatly exaggerated, as it is uni- 
 versally admitted, that the army of the insurgents 
 was greatly superior to the royal forces. 
 
 The King, in complete armour, and mounted 
 on the courser presented to him at Perth by Lord 
 
11. DEATH OF JAMES III. 127 
 
 Lindsay of the Byres, appeared at the head of the 
 army, wliich he divided into tliree several lines. 
 The first, or vanguard, was commanded by the 
 Earl of Menteith, Lords Erskine, Gray, Ruthven, 
 Graham, and Maxwell, and consisted chiefly of 
 Highlanders to the number of 10,000, armed with 
 swords and bows ; the second line, or right wing, 
 was headed by the Earl of Glencairn, and consist- 
 ed of Highlanders, and troops from the Western 
 counties ; the third, the left wing, or rear, in which 
 was the greatest strength of the army, was com- 
 manded by the Lords Boyd and Lindsay; and 
 the main body, in which was the King himself, by 
 the Earl of Crawford, all consisting of soldiers 
 from Fife and Angus, Strathearn, and the district 
 of Stormont. 
 
 When the King beheld the approach of the re- 
 bels, he called for the horse presented to him by 
 Lindsay, and mounted him, to observe the dis- 
 position of the rebels. Their army, which consist- 
 ed chiefly of cavalry, was also divided into three 
 separate lines. The first was composed of men 
 from East-Lothian and the Merse, or Berwick- 
 shire, led by Lords Hailes and Home ; the se- 
 cond was under the command of Lord Gray, and 
 consisted of men from Galloway and the Borders ; 
 the third was under the nominal command of the 
 Duke of Rothsay, though he was completely un- 
 der the controul of the rebel Lords who belonged 
 to this division, and consisted of men from West- 
 Lothian, and other midland Lowland counties. 
 The rebels advanced with great boldness, presum- 
 ing too well on the King's timidity, and want of 
 military experience. As for James liimself, when 
 he perceived the insurgents advancing with tlie 
 
128 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 royal banner displayed, and his own son at their 
 head, he felt no inconsiderable alarm. The pro- 
 phecy which had formerly preyed upon his mind, 
 " that he should be put down, and destroyed by one 
 of his own kindred, " now recurred, and, it is more 
 than probable, influenced his subsequent conduct. 
 
 The leaders of the royal amiy, fearing that the 
 King's timidity would prove fatal, and also desir- 
 ous of his safety, wished to remove him from the 
 lines, but by that time the action had commenced. 
 A dense shower of arrows from the West-Lothian 
 men, and a keen attack from the Homes and Hep- 
 bums, denoted the opening of the contest ; but 
 they were successfully opposed by the first line 
 of the royal army, and were beaten back with 
 considerable loss. They were, however, instantly 
 supported by the men of Annandale and the Bor- 
 derers, who, with loud shouts, drove the King's 
 first and second lines back to the third. This ad- 
 vantage was decisive, though it is not accurately 
 known how long the battle continued, or how 
 many fell. Victory declai-ed for the rebels, and the 
 King's army experienced a total rout. Glencairn, 
 Ruthven, Erskine, Ramsay of Balmain, and other 
 leaders of the royal army, were slain, and many 
 were wounded. Such was the result of the la- 
 mentable disaster at Sauchie Burn, which was 
 fought on the 11th day of June 1488, the day of 
 the Festival of St Barnabas. 
 
 The King, whose courage had never been re- 
 markable, now put spurs to his steed and fled. 
 It was his endeavour to gallop across the carse or 
 vale of Stirling to Alloa, where Wood's fleet lay 
 at anchor, the distance being only five miles from 
 the field of battle. As he was on the point of 
 
JI. DEATH OF JAMES III. 129 
 
 crossing the rivulet of Bannockburn, near the vil- 
 lage of Milltown, a mile eastward of the field, a 
 woman happened to be drawing water with a 
 pitcher from the stream. Alarmed at seeing a 
 man in armour galloping furiously towards her, 
 she threw down her pitcher, and fled for safe- 
 ty. The noise startled the horse, and, leaping 
 over the rivulet fit one spring, threw his inex- 
 perienced rider from the saddle. The King, from 
 his fall, was so stunned and bruised by the weight 
 of his armour, that he fainted away, and seemed to 
 all appearance dead. The accident happened with- 
 in a few yards of a mill, and the miller and his wife 
 came running in haste to the aid of the unfortunate 
 horseman. Ignorant of his rank, they carried him 
 into their house, and laid him in a corner, cover- 
 ing him with a cloth to conceal him from any pur- 
 suer. Having administered to him what remedies 
 their house afforded, James recovered, and, feeling 
 himself weak and greatly bruised, he called for a 
 priest to hear his confession. The rustics inquired 
 the name and quality of their guest, when James 
 incautiously said, " I was your king this morning. " 
 The miller's wife, overcome with astonishment, 
 wrung her hands, and ran hastily to the door in 
 alarm to search for a priest, as the King desired, 
 to grant him absolution. 
 
 The fate of the unfortunate monarch was de- 
 cided by this incautious disclosure of his name and 
 rank. A general rout had followed the battle, 
 and the royal army fled in all directions, pursued 
 by the victorious confederates. It had been the 
 express desire of the Duke of Rothsay, when he 
 perceived the rout of the royal array, that none 
 should presume to pursue his father, or attempt to 
 
130 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 intercept his flight ; but this, of coui-se, was little 
 regarded by the victorious conspirators. It hap- 
 pened, that at the very moment the miller's wife 
 came out of the house exclaiming for a priest, 
 some of the rebels who were following the rout 
 which the King took in his flight, passed the house. 
 According to Buchanan, though the statement 
 wants proof, there were three who pursued the 
 King very closely, Patrick Gray, the chief of that 
 family, Kerr, and a priest named Borthwick. The 
 pursuers, whoever they were, thus having disco- 
 vered the object of their search, failed not to im- 
 prove the opportunity. One of them exclaimed 
 to the woman, " Here, I am a priest, lead me to 
 the King. " He was accordingly admitted, and 
 falling on his knees before James, asked him, if 
 he thought he would yet live. " I might, *' re- 
 plied the King, " if I had the attendance of a 
 physician ; but give me absolution and the sacra- 
 ment. " — " That I shall do readily, " said the vil- 
 lain; and pulling out a dagger, stabbed the unfor- 
 tunate monarch repeatedly in the heait, and then 
 departed ; nor was the perpetrator of this atrocious 
 act ever afterwards discovered. 
 
 Beaton's Mill, said to be so called from a per- 
 son of that name who then possessed it, the place 
 where this villany was committed, is still to be 
 seen, but is now converted into a dwelling-house. 
 The lower parts of the walls are those which were 
 erected at the time, the upper parts are of more 
 recent date. Mr Chambers, in his admirable 
 work, the " Picture of Scotland, " informs us, 
 that " he had the curiosity to visit it, and to in- 
 quire into the traditionary account of the circum- 
 stance above related, as preserved by the people 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 131 
 
 of the place, which he was surprised to hear tal- 
 lied in every particular with the historical nar- 
 rative. He was even shown the particular cor- 
 ner in which the King was slain. The house has 
 been somewhat modernized, and converted from 
 a mill into a dwelling-house. The lower part of 
 the walls, however, are, to about a man's height, 
 unaltered, and impressed with the appearance of 
 great antiquity. A corner stone of the modem 
 part of the fabric bears date 1667. The house is 
 divided into two ends^ with separate doors, ac- 
 commodating two families, and is thatched. It 
 stands about fifty yards east of the road from 
 Glasgow to Stirling, in the close neighbourhood 
 of the new mill which had been substituted, when 
 it was converted into a dwelling-house. " 
 
 Some of the King's forces had retreated to the 
 Torwood, and others to the town of Stirling. The 
 conspirators betook themselves to Linlithgow, after 
 resting all the night succeeding the battle in the 
 field. The fate of the King was not then known, 
 but in a short time rumours soon spread over the 
 country of the assassination, aided by an additional 
 report, that Rothsay was the murderer of his own 
 father. The young prince, now King, was incon- 
 solable when he heard of his father's death, yet, 
 as it had not become public, he was not without 
 hope. It was some days before he received cer- 
 tain information, for if any of the conspirators knew 
 it, they carefully concealed it from him. In the 
 mean time, a person who came to Linlithgow, in- 
 formed them that Admiral Wood's two vessels 
 were traversing up and down the Frith, and it was 
 still believed that the King had reached the fleet 
 in safety. The rebel army forthwith proceeded to 
 
132 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Leith, whence a message was sent from the young 
 prince to Wood, desiring to know if the King was on 
 board any of his vessels. Wood informed them that 
 he was not, and gave them permission to searcli 
 his ships. A second message was sent to him, 
 desiring an interview ; but Wood refused to go on 
 shore without hostages for his safety. These being 
 delivered in the persons of Lords Seton and Fle- 
 ming, who were sent on board the Admiral's ves- 
 sels in the custody of his brother, Wood pro- 
 ceeded to Leith, and presented himself before the 
 prince. Mistaking the Admiral, from his noble 
 appearance, for his father, whom it would appear 
 he had seldom seen, no sooner did he see him, 
 than he exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, " Sir, 
 are you my father ? " — " I am not your father, " 
 replied Wood, " but I was your father's faithful 
 servant, and shall be so till I die, and an enemy to 
 those who have been the occasion of his downfal. " 
 Some of the nobles who had been in the conspi- 
 racy, asked him, if he knew any thing of the King, 
 or where he was ; to wliich he replied, that he 
 knew not. They then asked him who the persons 
 were that put off from the field at Alloa, and went 
 on board his vessels in boats. " I and my bro- 
 ther, " replied Wood, " wlio were ready to have 
 risked our lives in defence of the King." They still 
 asked him, if he really was not in the vessel, and 
 W^ood boldly said, " He is not ; but would to God 
 he were there, for he would be in safety. I would 
 defend and keep him free from all the vile traitors 
 who have cruelly murdered him, and I hope to 
 see the day when they will be rewarded as they 
 deserve. " As this answer of Wood was not very 
 agreeable to the persons present, it is probable that 
 
II. DEATH OF JAMES III. 133 
 
 he would never have returned to his vessels alive, 
 had there been no hostages for his security. And in- 
 deed, as his absence was longer than was expected, 
 his brother was becoming impatient, and would 
 have executed the two hostages without ceremony, 
 as they testified at their return, had the Admiral 
 been delayed any longer. * At last the body of the 
 unfortunate James was discovered, and carried to 
 Stirling Castle, where it lay till it was interred in 
 the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, beside the body of 
 his late Queen. The spot is still shown, though there 
 is no monument. So sincerely did the young prince, 
 afterwards James IV., repent of his proceedings 
 against his father, that the keenest remorse preyed 
 upon his mind. " Residing for some time," says 
 an historian, " in the Castle of Stirling, the priests 
 of the chapel-royal deplored in his presence, and 
 even in their prayers, the death of their founder ; 
 and the solemnity of religion increased the mental 
 gloom of his son, who resolved, with amiable su- 
 perstition, to wear constantly in penance an iron 
 girdle, the weight of which he increased with his 
 years. The Roman Pontiff spared the youth and 
 innocence of Jamps, but darted the thunder of the 
 Vatican at the rebellious barons, whose arms had 
 been pointed against their sovereign." James him- 
 self, however, as he acceded to the crown amid 
 
 * Mr Pinkerton observes, that this passage, taken from 
 Lindsay of Pitscottie's History, " can have no claim to 
 truth, James being sixteen years of age, and knowing his 
 father perfectly. " This, however, does not follow ; for 
 it is certain that he had not seen his father for some time ; 
 and as it was believed that he was in Wood's fleet, he might 
 have mistaken at first sight the Admiral, who, in years and 
 appearance, if tradition be correct, resembled James III. 
 VOL. I. L 
 
134 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 rebellion and misfortune, was not free from the 
 calamities of his House ; and the fatal disaster of 
 Flodden deprived Scotland once more of a sove- 
 reign, who fell in the field of battle with the flower 
 of Scottish chivalry. 
 
 It may be observed, in conclusion, that no execu- 
 tions followed this unnatural rebellion. In the first 
 Parliament of James IV, a remarkable act was 
 passed, entitled, " The proposition of the debate of 
 the field of Stirling," which secured the conspira- 
 tors, and justified their successful rebellion, by enu- 
 merating various pretended accusations against the 
 late King. So completely did the conspirators 
 gain upon the King by the force of flattery, that 
 he caused all the peers to be summoned who 
 had been leaders in the royal army, to the number 
 of twenty-eight. The most remarkable of these 
 trials was that of Lord Lindsay of the Byres, who 
 was put first on the list. It ended, after a consi- 
 derable altercation, and some rough and energetic 
 replies from Lindsay, in his acquittal, on account 
 of some imperfection in the indictment. He was 
 ordered to enter his recognisances that he would 
 appear on a certain day. He was, however, soon 
 afterwards sent a prisoner, by the command of the 
 King, to the Castle of Rothsay, in the Island of 
 Bute, where he remained a whole year. The 
 superior talents and administration of James IV. 
 relieved the nation from its former distractions. 
 His character was brightened by many illustri- 
 ous qualities ; the spirit of Scottish chivahy re- 
 vived ; and a reign of considerable glory in the 
 Scottish annals ensued, till the dark cloud of mis- 
 fortune again appeared after the melancholy disaster 
 of Flodden. 
 
III. 
 
 THE 
 
 CONSPIRACY 
 
 OP 
 
 JOHN LEWIS FIESCO, 
 
 COUNT OF LAVAGNA, 
 
 AGAIKST 
 
 GENOA, 
 
 A.D. 1517. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OP THE CARDINAL DE RETZ, 
 
 BY FKTER DAVALL, OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, 
 
 BARRISTER AT LAW. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 The following acconnt of the remarkable con- 
 fipiracy of Count Fiesco at Genoa is reprinted from 
 the narrative of the celebrated Cardinal De Retz, 
 who flourished in the 17th century. John Francis 
 Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, one of the most 
 remarkable political characters in French history, 
 was the son of Philip Emanuel de Gondi, General 
 of the Galleys, and descended from a Florentine 
 family. He was born at Montmirel, a town in 
 France, in 1G14. He was compelled by his father 
 to enter the Church against his inclination, and 
 had several abbacies conferred upon him wlien yet 
 in his youth. In 1643, he became a Doctor of the 
 Sorbonne, and coadjutor to his uncle who was Arch- 
 bishop of Paris. But, although an ecclesiastic, no- 
 thing could be at greater variance with his profes- 
 sion than the life of this extraordinary man. In 
 his Memoirs, written by himself, and perhaps one 
 of the most remarkable works translated into our 
 language, though now almost forgotten, he has most 
 graphically pourtrayed his transactions. " These 
 Memoirs," says Voltaire, " are written with an air 
 L 2 
 
138 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 of greatness, an impetuosity of genius, and an in- 
 equality, which are the image of his conduct. He 
 composed these in his retirement with the impar- 
 tiality of a philosopher, but of one who had not 
 always been a philosopher. He neither spares 
 himself nor others. He gives portraits of all those 
 who acted a considerable part in the intrigues of 
 the Frondi, which are often very natural, but 
 sometimes spoilt by a remnant of acrimony, vani- 
 ty, and enthusiasm." * He was a man who, not- 
 withstanding his life of debauchery, and while la- 
 bouring under its consequences, preached to the 
 people, and was almost adored by them. His 
 whole conduct partook of the spirit of faction and 
 sedition. He fought duels, entered into every 
 species of licentiousness, and at the age of twenty- 
 three was himself the very soul of a conspiracy 
 against Cardinal Richelieu. It was, however, dur- 
 ing the ministry of the famous Cardinal Mazarine, 
 who both hated and feared him, that he was 
 in his element. By pretending great devotion in 
 the discharge of his episcopal duties, he imposed 
 upon the people, and became popular by his pro- 
 fessions of zeal of the public welfare. It is said 
 that he was the first bishop who canied on a war 
 without the pretence of religion ; and, as he was 
 one of the most violent opposers of the Court, he 
 once entered the French Parliament with a dagger 
 * Siecle de Louis XIV. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 139 
 
 in his pocket, the handle of which heing observed 
 by a wit, called forth the remark. " There is our 
 Archbishop's Breviary. " It is impossible to give 
 even a rude outline of the tumultuous, daring, and 
 intriguing life of this remarkable man. On coal- 
 escing with the Court, he procured a Cardinal's 
 Hat in 1651, but, as he was esteemed a deserter 
 by his party, he soon lost his popularity. He was 
 imprisoned in the Castles of Vincennes and Nantz, 
 whence he made his escape, and fled first to Spain, 
 and afterwards to Rome, whern he was received 
 with great favour as the enemy of Mazarine. He 
 was present, and assisted at the elevation of Alex- 
 ander VII. to the Pontificate ; but, finding his 
 Holiness not much disposed to promote his 
 views, he left Italy, and wandered throughout 
 Holland, Flanders, and England. He was at this 
 time Archbishop of Paris, having succeeded his 
 uncle in the sole government of that See. Weary, 
 however, of his wanderings and exile, he return- 
 ed to France after the death of Mazarine, in 
 1661, and made his peace with the Court by 
 vacating his Archbishopric, as a recompense for 
 which he received the Abbacy of St Denis. He 
 was afterwards at Rome, and assisted at the 
 consecration of Clement IX. He returned his 
 Cardinal's Hat to Clement X, but that Pontiff re- 
 fused to accept it. He now retired from the 
 world, was enabled to discharge all his debts, which. 
 
140 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 from his life of profusion, were considerable, and 
 died at Paris in 1679, in the 66th year of his age, 
 regretted by men of worth and integrity. His 
 conduct towards the close of his career, was dif- 
 ferent from that of his former life ; but it has been 
 often asserted, and perhaps with truth, that " he 
 did not quit the world till it had quitted him, and 
 that disappointed ambition, rather than elevation, 
 was the motive of his retreat. " 
 
 It was in the retirement of St Denis that De Retz 
 wrote his Memoirs. The best French editions are 
 those of Amsterdam, 1718, in five volumes octavo ; 
 1719, in seven vols. 12mo ; and of 1731, four vols, 
 small 8vo. They were translated into English by 
 Peter Davall, of the Middle Temple, a barrister, 
 afterwards a Master in Chancery, and, at the time 
 of his death in 1763, Accomptant-General of that 
 Court. They were published at London in 1723, 
 in four vols. 12mo, by the famous bookseller Jacob 
 Tonson, dedicated to Congreve the poet, who en- 
 couraged Davall's publication. The Memoirs were 
 also published in 1774, in three vols. 12mo. It 
 is, however, from Tonson's edition of 1723, trans- 
 lated by Davall, that the following narrative is 
 taken, as the name of that eminent bibliopole is a 
 sufficient guarantee for its faithfulness. I must 
 also add, that having compared Davall's transla- 
 tion of this conspiracy with the original written by 
 the Cardinal, and published at Amsterdam, I have 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 141 
 
 found it substantially correct, and it has been there- 
 fore thought necessary to preserve Davall's transla- 
 tion, with merely some slight alterations in the or- 
 thography and structure of a few of the sentences. 
 This account of the conspiracy of Fiesco by the 
 Cardinal de Retz, is inserted among some other 
 pieces, now also forgotten, in the fourth volume of 
 Tonson's edition translated by Davall. 
 
 It is needless to say any thing here respecting 
 the conspiracy of Fiesco, which is one of the most 
 remarkable and daring adventures recorded in 
 history. There is another account of it, in a rare 
 volume of historical tracts, entitled " A Collection 
 of Select Discourses out of the most Eminent Wits 
 of France and Italy, " 8vo, London, 1678 ; but it 
 appears to be a translation, and a very inferior one, 
 of the Cardinal's narrative, from Signior Mascardi, 
 but the translator's name is not given. It is, how- 
 ever, noticed occasionally in the notes. Dr Robert- 
 son has given a very graphic though confused ac- 
 count of this famous conspiracy, in his History of 
 Charles V, and he has made considerable use of De 
 Retz's narrative. This performance by the Cardi- 
 nal, it may be observed in conclusion, was written 
 when he was only eighteen years of age, and may be 
 considered as characteristic of his disposition, and 
 of his turbulent conduct in after life. It is partly 
 translated from the Italian of Mascardi, and was 
 entitled " La Conjuration du Comte de Fiesque, 
 
 / 
 
142 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 par Cardin. de Retz. " The Cardinal, of course, 
 professes great admiration of Fiesco. " It is re- 
 markable, " says Dr Robertson in a note, " that 
 Cardinal de Retz, at the age of eighteen, composed 
 a history of this conspiracy, containing such a dis- 
 covery of his admiration of Fiesco and his enter- 
 prise, as renders it not surprising, that a minister 
 so jealous as Richelieu, should be led, by the per- 
 usal of it, to predict the turbulent and dangerous 
 spirit of that young ecclesiastic." 
 
CONSPIRACY 
 
 JOHN LEWIS FIESCO, 
 
 GENOA. 
 
 But Brutus says he was ambitious* 
 And Brutus is an honourable man. 
 
 Julius Ccssar. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1547, the republic of 
 Genoa was in a condition which might have been 
 called happy had it been better secured. To all ap- 
 pearance it enjoyed a glorious tranquillity, acquir- 
 ed by its own arms, and preserved by those of the 
 great Charles V, whom that state had chosen 
 for the protector of its liberty. The weakness 
 of its enemies sheltered it from their ambition, 
 and the charms of peace restored a prosperity, 
 which the disorders of war had long banished. 
 Trade began to revive in the city, to the visible 
 
144 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 advantage of the public and of private persons ; and 
 if the minds of the citizens had been as free from 
 jealousy, as their fortunes were from necessity, 
 that commonwealth had soon recovered from its 
 past miseries, by a state of ease, wealth and hap- 
 piness. But the want of union amongst them, and 
 the seeds of hatred which the late divisions had left 
 in the hearts of the people, were dangerous remains, 
 which plainly indicated, that the great body was 
 not yet cured of its distempers, and that its seeming 
 health was like that of those persons, whose bloat- 
 ed faces carry with them a good appearance, but 
 conceal many ill humours. The nobility, who had 
 the government in their hands, could not forget the 
 injuries which they had received from the people, 
 during the time that they had no share in the ma- 
 nagement of affairs ; and the people, on their part, 
 could not suffer the dominion of the nobility, but 
 viewed it as a new tyranny, contrary to the or- 
 dinances of the state. Some, even amongst the no- 
 blemen, who aspired to a higher fortune, secretly 
 envied the grandeur of the rest. Tims the one 
 commanded with haughtiness, and the others obey- 
 ed with indignation, and many thought themselves 
 servants because they did not act enough like mas- 
 ters ; when Providence permitted an accident to 
 happen, which made these different sentiments break 
 out on a sudden, and which finally confirmed the 
 one in their command, and the others in their 
 slavery. This was the conspiracy of John Lewis de 
 J Fiesco, Count de Lavagna, which we must trace a 
 little higher, the better to understand the circum- 
 stances of the events that followed. 
 
 At the time of those famous wars in which the 
 Emperor Charles V. and Francis I. King of France, 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 145 
 
 laid Italy waste, Andrew Doria, born of one of 
 the befit families in Genoa, and the greatest sea- 
 man at that day in Europe, followed the French 
 party with much zeal, and maintained the gran- 
 deur and reputation of that crown at sea with 
 such courage and good fortune, as tended no less 
 to the advantage of those whose interests he pro- 
 moted, than to his own glory. But it is a mis- 
 fortune common to great princes not to regard suf- 
 ficiently those who can do them service, wlien 
 once they think themselves assured of their loyal- 
 ty. From this cause proceeded the loss which 
 France suffered of so good a servant ; and that loss 
 produced effects so fatal, that the remembrance 
 of them will ever be grievous and deplorable to 
 that kingdom. Whilst this great man was engag- 
 ed upon advantageous terms in the King's ser- 
 vice abroad, as general of his galleys, those who 
 were first in favour and power at home began to 
 envy both his glory and his office, and formed the 
 design of undoing the man whom they saw too 
 great ever to submit to be a dependant on any one 
 but his master. As they judged it at first nei- 
 ther safe nor useful to their design to do him ill 
 offices with the King, who had lately expressed 
 too good an opinion of him, so soon to conceive 
 an ill one ; they took a more subtile method, and, 
 joining their praises to the public applause, which 
 was given to Doria's first taking up arms for France, 
 they resolved, by degrees, to give him such oc- 
 casions of discontent, as might seem rather to 
 proceed from the general necessity of affairs 
 than from their private malice, and which, never- 
 theless, would work the desired effect. They 
 VOL. I. M 
 
146 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 sought the means of giving his proud and haughty 
 mind room to display itself, that they might the 
 better ruin him in the King's good opinion ; and 
 the business which his employment obliged him 
 to have before the council, furnished those who 
 were in full authority there with too many oc- 
 casions of disobliging him. One time the ex- 
 chequer was too low to pay his large salary ; an- 
 other time it was assigned him upon insufficient 
 funds ; sometimes his demands were reckoned un- 
 just and exorbitant. At length, his remonstrances 
 on the wrongs done him were so criminally re- 
 presented to the King by the artifices of his ene- 
 mies, that he began to be importunate and trouble- 
 some, and, by little and little, came to be accounted 
 by his Majesty a man of an interested, insolent, 
 and turbulent spirit. He was at last openly dis- 
 obliged, by being refused the ransom of the Prince 
 of Orange, whom his nephew Philippino Doria had 
 taken prisoner before Naples, and whom the King 
 had caused to be put into other hands. They de- 
 manded from him, even with threats, the Marquis 
 de Guasto and Ascanio Colonna, taken prisoners at 
 the same battle. They talked no longer of keep- 
 ing the promise which they had made him, to 
 restore Savona to the republic of Genoa : And 
 as his enemies observed him to take fire, instead 
 of concealing the reasons he had to complain, 
 under an appearance of moderation, they left no- 
 thing undone to increase them. Monsieur de 
 Barbezieux was ordered to take possession of his 
 galleys, and even to secure his person if it were 
 possible. This fault was no less contrary to pru- 
 dence than to good faith ; and the ministers of 
 France cannot be sufficiently blamed for having 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 147 
 
 preferred their private interest to their master's 
 service, and taken away from him the only man 
 who could have maintained his party in Italy. 
 And since they were resolved to ruin Doria, we 
 may venture to say that they were bad politicians 
 not to have done it thoroughly, but to have left 
 him in a condition wherein lie was capable of 
 doing a great deal of hurt, not only to France in 
 general, but to themselves in particulai', by the 
 vexation and disgust which the King might take 
 at their counsels, and by the ill consequences 
 which they had brought upon his kingdom. 
 
 Doria, finding himself thus insultingly treated, 
 published a manifesto of his complaints, protesting 
 that they did not so much proceed from his private 
 interests, as from the injustice with which Savona 
 had been refused to be restored to his country, 
 though so often promised by the French King. He 
 treats with the Marquis de Guasto, his prisoner, 
 declares for the Emperor, and accepts of the com- 
 mand of his fleet. The conduct of this old politi- 
 cian was in this, at least, as malicious as that of 
 the French ministers, but much more cunning and 
 judicious. He cannot be excused from an ex- 
 treme ingi'atitude, in suffering hiraself to be hur- 
 ried away by his passion to such a dangerous 
 revenge against a prince, to whom he may be 
 said to have been obliged for all his honour, since 
 he iiad gained the most glorious marks of it in the 
 command of his armies ; and he can hardly be ex- 
 cused from a base piece of treachery, unworthy his 
 former actions, in ordering his lieutenant, Philip- 
 pino Doria, to suffer provisions to come into 
 Naples, which was then extremely distressed by De 
 Lautrec, at the time that he still protested that he 
 
148 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 would continue in the King's service. But it 
 must also be owned, that, for this way of acting 
 he ought to pass for a very able man in rela- 
 tion to political interest, for he so artfully threw 
 the appearances on his side, that his friends could 
 say that the breach of promise which he com- 
 plained of for his country, was the true cause of 
 his change ; and that his enemies could not deny but 
 that he was compelled to it by such usage as was 
 too severe and too hard to endure. Besides, he was 
 not ignorant that the means of being greatly con- 
 sidered in a party is, to let the first coming into 
 it be accompanied with great advantages. And 
 indeed, he contrived his revolt so well, and managed 
 it with so much conduct, that he preserved Naples 
 to the Emperor, which, in a few days, would 
 have been taken from him by the French, if Phi- 
 lippino Doria had continued faithful in their 
 service. By this change France lost one of the 
 greatest generals that ever the kingdom produced, * 
 and at last placed the commonwealth of Genoa 
 under the protection of the crown of Spain, to 
 whom it is advantageous on account of its con- 
 tiguity to the Spanish dominions in Italy. This 
 was the first of Andrew Doria's actions for the 
 Emperor's service, after he had openly declared 
 himself against the French King. 
 
 This skilful and ambitious man, acquainted as 
 he was with the intrigues of Genoa and the in- 
 clinations of the Genoese, did not fail to manage 
 the minds of that people, who have always been 
 accused of a natural love for novelty. As he had 
 
 * Odet de Foix, Sieur de Lautres and Mareschal of 
 France, who died before Naples in the year 1528. 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 149 
 
 in the city many friends and secret favourers, who 
 took care to v^ive liim intellic^ence of all that pass- 
 ed there, he took care, on his side, to confirm the 
 one in the discontent which they expressed against 
 tlie present government, and to use his endea- 
 vours to raise a like discontent in the others ; — 
 to persuade the people that the French left them 
 only the name of sovereigns, whilst they them- 
 selves kept all the power ; — to set before the no- 
 bility the image of the ancient government which 
 had always been in their hands ; — and, lastly, to 
 inspire every one with the hopes of a general re- 
 establishment of affairs, by a revolution. 
 
 Having formed his party, he came near to Ge- 
 noa with his galleys, landed his troops, and ranged 
 them in order of battle, without meeting with any 
 resistance. He entered the city, followed by those 
 of his friends who had taken up arms at the ap- 
 pointed signal. He possessed himself of the prin- 
 cipal posts, of which he made himself master, al- 
 most without drawing his sword. Theodore Tri- 
 vulcius, who commanded there for the King of 
 France, lost with Genoa all the reputation which 
 he had gained in the Italian wai's, by neglecting to 
 frustrate the measures which were concerted there, 
 though he had notice given him of them ; and be- 
 cause, to save his life and his money, he preferred 
 the making a shameful composition in the Castle, 
 to the burying himself honourably in the ruins of 
 that place which was of such importance to his 
 master's service. 
 
 No sooner were the French driven out of Ge- 
 noa, than the name of Doria was heard to echo 
 through the streets ; one side, in these acclama- 
 M 2 
 
150 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 tiona, following their trae sentiments ; the other, 
 by their dissembled shouts, endeavouring to con- 
 ceal the opinion which they had expressed on di- 
 vers occasions, that their thoughts were not agree- 
 able to the public joy ; and the greatest part re- 
 joiced at these things (as it is common with the vul- 
 gar), for no other reason than because they were 
 new. 
 
 Doria did not suffer this zeal to subside. He 
 assembled the nobility, he put the government into 
 their hands, and, protesting that he claimed no 
 share in it but what should be common to him 
 and the rest of the noblemen, he gave a form to 
 the commonwealth ; and having received all ima- 
 ginable testimonies of the obligations which his 
 fellow-citizens had to him, he retired to his palace 
 to enjoy at ease the fruits of his past labours ; and 
 the commonwealth erected a statue for him, with 
 the title of father of his country, and 
 
 RESTORER OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Many people are of opinion, that Doria had 
 fully satisfied his ambition in thus restoring liberty 
 to his country, and that the general applause which 
 he received from his countrymen, rather inspired 
 him with the thought of enjoying that glory in 
 quiet, than that of making use of it for higher 
 purposes. Others cannot imagine, that the great 
 employment which he had recently accepted in 
 the Emperor's service, and the continual care he 
 had taken to keep the nobility of Genoa attached 
 to his house, could proceed from a quiet and en- 
 tirely disinterested mind. They think that he was 
 too able a man, not to see that a sovereign in Ge- 
 noa could not be pleasing to the Spanish Council, 
 and that he intended only to amuse them by an 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 151 
 
 appearance of moderation, and to defer, to a more 
 favourable opportunity, his more exalted enter- 
 prises. 
 
 His old age might, however, have justly dimi- 
 nished the fear they had of his authority, if they 
 liad not perceived a power almost equal to his own 
 lodged in a second self. * Giannetino Doria, his cou- 
 sin and adopted son, aged about twenty-eight, was 
 extremely vain, haughty, and insolent ; he had the 
 survivorship of all his father's posts, and by that 
 means kept the Genoese nobility in his interest. 
 He lived with too much splendour for a citizen 
 who desired to avoid drawing envy on himself, 
 and giving offence to the commonwealth ; and 
 he even showed pretty openly that he disdained 
 that character. The extraordinary height to which 
 that House had attained, produced the great agi- 
 tation of which we are now about to speak, and 
 may serve as a memorable example to all states, 
 never to suffer within themselves any person so 
 eminent, that his authority may give rise to the 
 design of bringing him down, and to the pretence 
 of undertaking it. 
 
 John Lewis de Fiesco, Count de Lavagna, des- 
 cended from the most ancient and most illustriou.s 
 family in Genoa ; worth above two hundred thou- 
 sand crowns a year, not above twenty-two years 
 of age, endowed with one of the finest and most 
 elevated minds in the world, ambitious, bold, and 
 enterprising, led the same time in Genoa a life very 
 contrary to his inclinations. As he was passionately 
 fond of glory, which he wanted opportunities of 
 
 • The reader will find the same view of affairs taken by 
 Dr Robertson in the Eighth Book of his Hibtory of 
 Charles V. 
 
152 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 acquiring, he thought of nothing so much as the 
 means of finding tliem out : hut though the present 
 time afforded liim none, he might nevertheless have 
 assured himself that his merit would have opened 
 him a way to that glory he so passionately desired 
 in secret, by serving his country, if the extraor- 
 dinary power of Giannetino Doria, whom we have 
 just now mentioned, had left him any room to 
 hope for an employment. 'But as he was too 
 great by his birth, and too much esteemed for his 
 good qualities, not to excite an apprehension in the 
 man who would have had all the reputation and 
 strength of the commonwealth to centre in him- 
 self, he foresaw that he could have little chance of 
 success in a place where his rival was almost en- 
 tirely master ; because it is certain that all persons 
 in the highest posts who take umbrage at others, 
 never think of those who ai'e the occasion of it but 
 with a design of ruining them. Seeing, therefore, 
 that he had every thing to fear from Doria's gran- 
 deur, and nothing to hope for his own advantage, 
 he thought himself obliged to prevent, by his in- 
 genuity and courage, the ill consequences of that 
 greatness which was so opposite to that of his own 
 family : not being ignorant that there is never any 
 thing to be expected from those who make them- 
 selves feared, but an extreme distrust, and a con- 
 tinual endeavour to keep down those who have any 
 merit, and who are capable of raising themselves. 
 All these considerations made John Lewis de 
 Fiesco despair of growing great in his country's 
 service, and entertain the design of bringing down 
 the power of the family of the Dorias, before 
 they had acquired a gi-eater strength ; and as 
 tlie government of Genoa was annexed to that 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 163 
 
 family, he resolved, witli tlieir ruin, to effect a 
 chan^''e in that government. 
 
 Great rivers never do any harm whilst nothing 
 witlistands their course : but tlie least obstacle 
 makes them rush forward with vioU»nce, and a 
 small dam is often the occasion of their drowning 
 those plains which they would otherwise have 
 watered with advantage. Thus we may judge, 
 that if the Count de Fiesco had not found his path 
 to glory blocked up by the authority of the Dorias, 
 he had certainly kept within the bounds of a more 
 moderate conduct, and had usefully employed, for 
 the service of his country, those talents which 
 brought it to the brink of ruin. 
 
 These ambitious thoughts were kept up in the 
 Count's mind by many persons who hoped to find 
 their private advantage in the public confusion ; 
 and amongst these, none were more eager in their 
 solicitations than the French, who made him great 
 promises and considerable offers ; first by Caesar 
 Fregozo and Cagnino Gonzaga, and afterwards 
 by Monsieur du Bellay, who had private con- 
 ferences with him by means of Peter Luke de 
 Fiesco. 
 
 It was the common opinion of that time, that 
 Pope Paul, hoping by the same blow, to ruin 
 Andrew Doria, whom he hated for some private 
 reasans, and to take away from the Emperor, 
 who was already too powerful, a considerable 
 support of his party in Italy, had left nothing 
 undone to feed the Count de Flesco's ambition, 
 and had raised in him the strongest desire of form- 
 ing a design upon Genoa. 
 
 There is nothing that flatters a man of courage 
 so much, or that stimulates him to hazai'dous 
 
154t CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 resolutions, as to see himself courted by persons 
 eminent either by their dignity or tlieir reputation. 
 This mark of their esteem immediately fills him 
 with a great confidence in his own merit, and 
 makes him think himself capable of succeeding in 
 the greatest affairs. The design which the Count 
 had formed must for this reason have appeared 
 both glorious and easy to him, since he saw him- 
 self urged to it by the greatest prince in Europe, 
 and by the most able man of his time. The one 
 was Francis I., who ordered Peter Strozzi, ♦ 
 who was to pass with some troops over the moun- 
 tains near Genoa, to press (in his majesty's name) 
 the execution of it ; and the other was Cardi- 
 nal Augustine Trivulcius, ambassador of France 
 at the Court of Rome, from whom the Count re- 
 ceived all imaginable honours, in the journey which 
 he took to that city, under pretence of diversion, 
 but in reality the better to communicate his design 
 to the Pope, and to learn his sentiments. 
 
 That Cardinal, who was in great repute, and 
 who was thought to have much penetration in 
 state affairs, found means to animate the Count, 
 by exciting in him an emulation to which he was 
 but too subject, in setting before his eyes, with all 
 the arts that could rouse his jealousy, the present, 
 greatness of Giannetino Doria,and the future gieat- 
 ness of which he began to assure himself by the 
 deep root which his authority began to take ; and 
 thus increasing his envy of the one and his fear 
 of the other, he represented to him how unsup- 
 portable it is for a man of spirit to live in a com- 
 monwealth, where he can find no lawful way of 
 
 * He was made a Marcsclml of France in 1554i. 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 155 
 
 raising himself, and where merit and noble birth 
 make hardly any distinction betwixt the most il- 
 lustrious and the most common persons. 
 
 Having thoroughly confirmed Fiesco in his general 
 design, the Cardinal came to particulars, by offering 
 him all possible assistance on the part of France ; 
 and he so strongly pressed the Count, whose mind 
 was already inclined to that side, that at last he 
 seemed to accept with the utmost joy the pro- 
 posal that was made to him, of giving him the pay 
 and the command of six galleys for the King's ser- 
 vice, a garrison of two hundred men in Montobio, 
 a company of gens d'armes, and a pension of 
 twelve thousand crowns ; desiring time, however, 
 till his return to Genoa, before he gave his final 
 answer. So true it is, that nothing is more diffi- 
 cult in affairs of importance, than to take at once 
 an ultimate resolution, because the numerous con- 
 siderations which crowd into the mind, and de- 
 stroy each other, make people think that they 
 never have sufficiently deliberated. 
 
 Extraordinary actions may be resembled to 
 thunder, which never produces any violent claps 
 or dangerous effects, but when the exhalations 
 of which it is formed have been long struggling 
 against each other ; otherwise, it is only a mass of 
 vapours which yield nothing but a dull sound, 
 which, far from giving us fear, is scarcely to be 
 heard. The same thing may be said of resolu- 
 tions in great affairs, when they enter sudden- 
 ly into any one's mind, and are received there 
 with a very weak resistance. This is an infalli- 
 able sign that they make but slight and transient 
 impressions ; which, though these may excite some 
 
156 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 trouble, can never be strong enough to produce 
 any considerable effect. 
 
 It cannot be reasonably doubted, that John 
 Lewis de Fiesco did not consider maturely, and 
 with great reflection, what he intended to under- 
 take ; for on his return to Genoa, though he had a 
 violent desire to execute his design, he neverthe- 
 less deliberated a considerable time, about the seve- 
 ral means which might conduce to the end which 
 he had proposed to himself. Sometimes the aid 
 of a great king made him incline to throw himself 
 into the hands of the French ; sometimes the na- 
 tural distrust which men are apt to have of foreign- 
 ers, joined to a certain desire for glory which makes 
 them passionately wish to owe their great actions 
 to none but themselves, inclined him to seek in 
 his own strength for means which might bear some 
 proportion to his elevated thoughts ; and perhaps 
 these different agitations had kept his mind longer 
 in suspense, and produced a farther delay, if he 
 had not, at every moment, had some fresh cause 
 of just indignation against the excessive pride of 
 Giannetino Doria, who, carrying his insolence to the 
 pitch of despising every one, treated the Count 
 after his return with such haughtiness, that he 
 could no longer conceal his exasperation, and his 
 detestation of the simmeful slavery of all his fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 Politicians have blamed this conduct as injudici- 
 ous, following in this the general rule of never 
 showing the least sign of anger against those we 
 hate, but at the moment we strike that blow 
 which is to bring them down. But if he wanted 
 prudence on this occasion, it must be owned tliat 
 It is a fault common to persons of great courage, 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 157 
 
 wliom contempt exasperates too much to give them 
 time to consult their reason and master themselves. 
 This fault, however, has freed him from the impu- 
 tation cast on him by some Iiistorians, that he was 
 one of a dark and dissembling temper, that lie was 
 more covetous than ambitious, and more in love 
 with interest than glory. This warmth, I say, 
 which has been observed in his conduct, shows 
 that he was urged to this enterprise by no o- 
 tlier motives than an emulation of honour and a 
 generous ambition ; since all those who have en- 
 gaged in the like designs out of a spirit of tyran- 
 ny, and for other interests than those which tend 
 to a great reputation, have always begun by the 
 most submissive patience and abject cringings. 
 
 It is certain that the insolence of GiannetinoDoria 
 was carried to an insufferable excess, and that he 
 followed in every particular the wicked maxim, 
 that severity and haughtiness are the most secure 
 methods of reigning, and tliat it is useless to govern 
 with lenity those who may be kept within the 
 bounds of their duty by their fear and their inter- 
 est. Tfiis conduct so increased the aversion which 
 the Count had against him, that it hastened the 
 resolution which he had taken of undoing him, and 
 gave him an opportunity of making a good use 
 against him of that pride witli which Giannetino 
 pretended to keep every body under. 
 
 Cardinal Augustine Trivnlcius, who knew that 
 on those occasions the minds of young men must 
 not be suffered to cool, sent to him, imme- 
 diately after his return to Genoa, Nicholas Fo- 
 derato, a gentleman of Savona, and a relation of 
 the House of Fiesco, to know his resolution. 
 VOL, I. N 5 - 
 
158 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 That gentleman having found him more exasper- 
 ated than ever, and in the condition which we 
 have represented, got him to sign whatever he 
 pleased, and immediately returned to get the 
 treaty ratified by the French king's ministers who 
 were then at Rome. But before he had gone 
 thirty or forty leagues he was recalled in great 
 haste, the Count having reflected, that he had act- 
 ed too precipitately, and that he ought not to 
 conclude an affair of that consequence without 
 consulting some of his friends, with whose ca- 
 pacity he was acquainted. He sent for three of 
 them, on whose fidelity he could rely, and whom 
 he very much esteemed for their good qualities ; 
 and having, in general, declared to them the resolu- 
 tions he had taken no longer to bear with the pre- 
 sent government of the commonwealth, he beg- 
 ged of them to declare their opinion on this sub-- 
 ject. 
 
 Vincent Calcagno of Varesa, a zealous servant 
 of the House of Fiesco, and a man of judgment 
 but of a timorous spirit, began his discourse with 
 the liberty to which his long services entitled him, 
 and addressing himself to the Count, he spoke in 
 this manner. 
 
 " I think those who have the misfortune to be 
 engaged in great affairs, are very justly to be pitied, 
 because they are, as it were, on a troubled sea, 
 where they can see no place but what is distin- 
 guished by some shipwreck. But it is just that 
 we should redouble our fears, when we see young 
 men whom we love exposed to this danger ; 
 since they have not strength enough to go through 
 the fatigues of so toilsome a voyage, nor expe- 
 rience, enough to avoid the quicksands, and steer 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 159 
 
 safely into the harbour. All your servants ought to 
 be sensibly concerned at the enterprises to which 
 your courage prompts you. Give me leave to 
 tell you, that they are above your age, and the 
 state in which you are. You dream of projects 
 which require such a regard in the world, that the 
 reputation of a man of your age, however great it 
 may be, can never attain to it ; and you form a 
 design which requires such forces, as one of the 
 greatest kings on earth has never yet been able to 
 set on foot. These thoughts arise in your mind 
 from two errors, which are in some measure inhe- 
 rent to human nature. Men are apt to have too 
 great thoughts of themselves, that is, they act as 
 if whatever their imagination tells them they can 
 do were actually within their power ; and they 
 judge with little certainty of other persons, be- 
 cause they judge of them only with regard to 
 themselves, and consider what service those per- 
 sons are able to do them, and not what they ought 
 to do, or are likely to do for their own interest. 
 The first of these is extremely dangerous, because 
 as no one executes a great enterprise alone, but is 
 obliged to communicate it to many people, it is of 
 the highest importance that they should believe it 
 reasonable and practicable, or otherwise the under- 
 taker will meet but with few friends who are ready 
 to follow his fortune. The second is more com- 
 mon, and no less dangerous ; because it often hap- 
 pens that we find the greatest resistance from 
 those very persons of whose assistance we had the 
 greatest expectation. Be careful, therefore, that 
 the great qualities with which nature has endowed 
 you, and which you, perhaps justly, imagine may 
 supply your want of experience, do not lead you 
 
160 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 into the first inconveniency ; and consider, that 
 how shilling soever those qualities may he, it is 
 hard to imagine that they will procure you, even 
 with those who have the best dispositions for that 
 service, such a share of esteem, as is proportionate 
 to the execution of so difficult and dangerous an 
 undertaking. Consider, besides, that it is not cre- 
 dible that these qualities should so dazzle your 
 enemies, as to prevent their making a proper use 
 against yourself of the pretence of your youth. 
 Take care that the greatness of your birth, and 
 the reputation which your good qualities have 
 acquired you, the abundance of your riches, and 
 the secret intelligence which perhaps you have 
 secured, do not lead you into the second incon- 
 veniency, and make you believe that tlie assist- 
 ance of those who have promised you, cannot fail 
 you, when you have need of it. Change, there- 
 fore, that thought, or if you still preserve it, cease 
 to consider others with respect to yourself, but 
 consider them with respect to themselves ; exa- 
 mine their interest, and think, that that is the 
 most powerful motive of men's actions ; that most 
 of those who esteem and love you, love themselves 
 infinitely better, and fear their own ruin much more 
 than they wish your greatness. In short, con- 
 sider that those who give you hopes of their assist- 
 ance are either foreigners, or your own countrymen. 
 The most considerable amongst the first are the 
 French, who cannot undertake to assist you, be- 
 cause they are employed in defending their own 
 country against the armies of the empire and of 
 Spain ; and the (lenoese, who are capable of aid- 
 ing you, will not do it, because fear will make 
 many of them apprehend the dangers which acconi- 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 161 
 
 pany aft'airs of this nature ; and interest will make 
 the rest afraid of hazarding tlioir quiet and their 
 fortunes. The most part of those that are not in- 
 fluenced by these considerations are persons of so 
 mean a birth, and so little power, that nothing for 
 your advantage is to be hoped for from them. So 
 that Doria's too great power, and the bad state of the 
 times, which give you tliese thoughts of rebellion, 
 ought to inspire you with patience, since they have 
 so depressed the minds of the Genoese, that they 
 now make a glory of submitting out of gratitude 
 to the authority of Andrew Doria, that liberty 
 which he has restored to them, and which he 
 snatched out of the hands of foreigners, for no 
 other end but to usurp the dominion over them. 
 Do you not perceive that this commonwealth has 
 for a long time had only the image of a free go- 
 vernment, and that it can no longer subsist with- 
 out a master ? Do you not see that the greatest 
 part of the nobility are attached to the interest of 
 the House of Doria, by the employments at sea 
 wliich that House bestows on them ; and that this 
 family, under the protection of the Empire and of 
 Spain, liolds all else in fear ? Do you not per- 
 ceive, I say, that all the Genoese are buried in a 
 kind of lethargy, and that the bravest do not 
 think it dishonourable to yield to that mighty 
 power, provided they do not adore it ? I do not 
 here pretend to justify the imprudence of the com- 
 monwealth, who have suffered the elevation of 
 that Ijouse, which they can no longer bear with- 
 out reproach, nor pull down without danger ; but 
 I dare maintain, that a private man cannot reason- 
 ably think of removing by his own power a dis- 
 N 2 
 
162 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 tress which has taken so deep a root, and that all- 
 which a generous man can do on this occasion is to 
 imitate those wise mariners who, instead of obsti- 
 nately contending against the wind to make to a 
 harbour, steer out again to sea, and leave them- 
 selves to the mercy of the waves and winds. Yield, 
 therefore, to the times, since fortune will have it 
 80, and seek not for remedies where none are to be 
 found but those which are worse than the disease ; 
 expect them from Providence, which disposes at 
 its pleasure of the changes of states, and which 
 will never be wanting to this commonwealth. 
 Enjoy peaceably that ease and those advantages 
 to which your birth entitles you, or accept of law- 
 ful employments to exercise your valour, which 
 the foreign wars will furnish you with sufficient 
 opportunities of doing. Do not expose the great 
 fortune which you possess, and which would satis- 
 fy any ones ambition but yours, to the conse- 
 quences of a criminal revolt ; and imagine, that if 
 Giannetino Doria has conceived any hatred or envy 
 at your merit, you cannot oblige him more than by 
 pursuing your present tlioughts; since you will give 
 him an opportunity of concealing his private resent- 
 ment, under the pretence of the general good, and 
 of ruining you with the authority of the common- 
 wealth, and, in short, that you yourself are work- 
 ing to raise upon your own ruin trophies to his 
 glory and grandeur. The greatest fortunes raised 
 without exertion most commonly fall of themselves ; 
 because it seldom happens that those who, with 
 ambition, have the other qualities necessary to 
 raise themselves to eminent stations, are at the 
 same time possessed of qualities necessary for 
 maintaining tliemsclves in them ; and when any 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 163 
 
 oue of those whom fortune has thus precipitately 
 raised, reaches the top without stumhling, he must, 
 in the heginnin^, have met witli many ditiiculties, 
 which have by little and little accustomed him to 
 stand firm in so slippery a place. Caesar had, in 
 the liighest degree, all qualities necessary to a 
 great prince, and yet it is certain, that neither his 
 courtesy, his prudence, his courage, his eloquence, 
 nor his liberality, had ever raised him to the em- 
 pire of the world, had he not found great difficul- 
 ties to overcome in the commonwealth of Rome. 
 The pretence which the persecution of Pompey 
 furnished him with, — the reputation which their 
 contests gave him room to acquire, — the advantage 
 he made by the divisions of his fellow-citizens, 
 were the true causes of his power ; and, notwith- 
 standing this, you seem desirous of adding to the 
 establishment of the family of Doria the only ad- 
 vantage whicli was wanting to it ; and because 
 their happiness has hitherto cost them too little to 
 be well assured, you seem desirous of settling it 
 on a firm foundation, by endeavours which, being 
 too weak to destroy it, will only serve to justify 
 their undertakings, and establish their authority. 
 But for once I will give into your way of thinking, 
 and suppose that you have happily executed your 
 designs ; — imagine, then, the family of the Dorias 
 massacred, all the nobility who follow their inte- 
 rest in fetters ; imagine all your enemies over- 
 thrown, Spain and the Empire in a condition not 
 to hurt you ; flatter yourself already with your 
 triumph in this general calamity : If you can fancy 
 to yourself any comfort in these fatal images of 
 the ruin of the commonwealth, what will you do in 
 the midst of a desolate city, which will look on you 
 
I64i CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 rather as a new tyrant, than as a deliverer ? What 
 solid foundations will you find on which to build 
 your new greatness ? Can you put any trust in the 
 humour of the people, who, the very moment that 
 they have placed the crown on your head, if you 
 have any such thought, will perhaps conceive the 
 greatest horror against you, and will think of no- 
 thing but the means of taking it otf again ? For, 
 as I have already told you, they can neither enjoy 
 their liberty, nor bear long with the same master. 
 Or, if you put Genoa once again into the posses- 
 sion of foreigners, if by your means the city opens 
 its gates to them, the first time they are ill used 
 by them, you will be considered as the destroyer 
 of your country, and the parricide of the people. 
 Are you not afraid that those who now are the 
 keenest to serve you, may be the first to work your 
 ruin, by their envy at being subjected to you ? 
 And even supposing that that consideration should 
 not induce them to it, you cannot be ignorant that 
 those who serve a rebel, imagine they so strongly 
 oblige him, that no reward being sufficient to sa- 
 tisfy them, they most commonly become his ene- 
 mies. As those who roll down a mountain are 
 dashed to pieces against those very points of rocks 
 which they made use of to get up to the top ; so 
 those that fall from an exalted fortune, are almost 
 always ruined by the means which they had em- 
 ployed for their elevation. T am sensible that am- 
 bition continually tickles persons of your rank, 
 age, and merit, and that it represents nothing to 
 your eyes but pompous and splendid images of 
 glory and grandeur. But whilst your imagination 
 is presenting you with all the objects of that pas- 
 sion which makes men illustrioui*, your judgment. 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIKSCO. 165 
 
 ought to make you behold it as the passion which 
 generally makes them unhappy, and obliges them 
 to quit the most certain advantages for the most 
 uncertain hopes. Consider, that if its just use is 
 the occasion of the greatest virtues, its abuse oc- 
 casions the greatest crimes. Imagine that it is 
 that passion wiiich of old mingled so many poi- 
 sons, and sharpened so many poniards against 
 usurpers and tyrants, and that it is that same pas- 
 sion that now urges you on to be the Catiline of 
 Genoa. Flatter not yourself that the design you 
 seem to have to preserve the liberty of the com- 
 monwealth, can be otherwise received in the world 
 than as the common pretence of all factious peo- 
 ple. And supposing that, in reality, no other mo- 
 tive but your zeal for the public good should in- 
 duce you to this attempt, you must not hope that 
 any one will do you the justice to believe it ; since, 
 in all actions which may indifferently be attributed 
 to virtue or vice, when nothing but the intention 
 of the doer can justify them, men, who can judge 
 only from appearances, seldom make a favourable 
 construction of the most innocent ones. But, in 
 the present enterprise, which way soever you turn 
 your eyes, it is impossible to behold any thing but 
 massacres, plunder, and such dismal objects as the 
 best intentions in the world cannot justify. Learn, 
 therefore, to regulate your ambition ; and remem- 
 ber, that the only instance wherein that passion 
 can be justified, is, where you set aside your own 
 interest, and follow only the rules of your duty. 
 There have been many conquerors, who have ra- 
 vaged states and overthrown kingdoms, who have 
 not possessed that greatness of soul which en- 
 ables us to look with an indifferent eve on the 
 
166 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 most exalted and the lowest condition — on the 
 greatest human happiness and misery, on ])leasure 
 and pain, on life and death ; and yet it is this love 
 of true glory, this elevated state of the mind, which 
 renders men truly great, and raises them above 
 the rest of the world. This is the only glory that 
 can render you perfectly happy (even though the 
 dangers which you imagine to yourself surrounded 
 you on all hands), since you cannot acquire any 
 other without disgracing yourself by the greatest 
 of crimes. Embrace, therefore, this glory, as well 
 out of prudence as generosity, since it is more 
 useful, less dangerous, and more honourable. " 
 
 The Count was extremely moved with this dis- 
 course, because it seemed grounded on solid rea- 
 sons, and because the confidence he had reposed 
 in the speaker, from his earliest youth, added 
 to its authority. Verrina, who was one of those 
 who were called to this council, a man of an ex- 
 tensive genius, impetuous, naturally inclined to 
 great enterprises, an implacable enemy to the pre- 
 sent government, almost ruined by his great ex- 
 penses, firmly attached to the Count both by in- 
 terest and inclination, answered what had been 
 said in the following manner : 
 
 " I should wonder that there were a single man 
 in Genoa, capable of the sentiments you have just 
 now heard, were not my wonder lost in the con- 
 sideration of what the commonwealth sufivrs. 
 When every body bears oppression with so abject 
 a submission, it is natural for them to hide their 
 complaints, and seek excuses for their weakness. 
 This insensibility is, nevertheless, a sign of the de- 
 plorable condition of the state ; and Vincent Cal- 
 cagno has very judiciously touched upon it, as the 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 167 
 
 symptom that gave the plainest proof of the vio- 
 lence of our distemper. But it seems to me very 
 unreasonable not to reap some advantage from the 
 knowledge we have of our disease, since nature 
 itself instructs us that we are obliged to make 
 use of that knowledge for the application of the 
 necessary remedies. The condition, however, of 
 this commonwealth is not yet so desperate, that 
 all its members are corrupted ; and the Count de 
 Fiesco, whom fortune has raised above the rest 
 of his countrymen, in greatness, riches, and birth, 
 carries his thoughts to those heights which the 
 narrow views of the Genoese cannot reach, and 
 rises by his courage above the general corrup- 
 tion. To examine whether a man be born for ex- 
 traordinary actions, it is not sufficient to consider 
 him with regard to the advantages of nature 
 and fortune, (since there have been many persons 
 possessed of both these advantages, who have, 
 notwithstanding, continued all their days to go 
 on in the common path of life) ; but we must 
 observe if a man of quality, when he finds himself 
 in unhappy circumstances, and in a country where 
 tyranny begins to take place, preserves still the 
 principles of virtue, and the good qualities which 
 nature has bestowed on him. For if he does not 
 lose them on these occasions, but resists the con- 
 tagion of those base maxims which infect the rest 
 of the world, and particularly the minds of great 
 people (because tyrants take the greatest pains to 
 corrupt them, as those of whom they are most afraid,) 
 we may then judge, that such a person's reputa- 
 tion will one day equal his merit, and that fortune 
 designs him for something great and wonderful. 
 This being the case, I believe there never was 
 
168 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 any one from whom the commonwealth could just- 
 ly expect such great things as from yourself. You 
 come into the world in times, which afford you 
 hardly any example of courage and generosity hut 
 what has been punished, and which present you 
 every day with instances of baseness and coward- 
 ice which have been rewarded. Add to this, that 
 you are in a country where the power of the house 
 of Doria keeps the hearts of the nobility oppressed 
 with the most shameful fear, or engaged by the 
 most sordid interest, and yet you are not infected 
 with this general contagion. You maintain the 
 noble sentiments with which your illustrious birth 
 has inspired you, and your mind forms enter- 
 prises worthy of your valour. Do not, therefore, 
 neglect these admirable qualities ; do not slight the 
 gifts of nature ; serve your country; judge by the 
 excellence of your inclinations of the great ac- 
 tions they may produce; consider that there is alone 
 wanting a man of your condition and merit to 
 restore the spirit of the Genoese, and inflame them 
 with their first love of liberty. Persuade yourself 
 that tyranny is the greatest evil that can befal a 
 commonwealth. The condition in which ours is 
 now, is of the nature of those distempers, which, 
 notwithstanding the dejection they occasion, raise 
 in the patient's mind a violent desire of a cure. 
 Answer the wishes of all the people, who groan 
 under the unjust authority of Doria. Second the 
 vows of the soundest part of the nobility, who 
 secretly deplore the common misfortune of their 
 countrymen, and think that, if weakness and cow- 
 ardice increase daily among them, the pride of 
 Giannetino Doria will not be so much blamed for 
 having occasioned it, as the want of resolution in 
 
III. THj: REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 169 
 
 the Count de Fiesco for havinj^ suffered it. The 
 great esteem your good qualities liare acquired 
 you, has already done half the work. Let none 
 speak of your youth as an obstacle to the success 
 of 80 glorious a design ;* yours is an age where 
 the heat of your blood, and the noble impulse of 
 your courage, can inspire you with nothing but 
 great designs ; and in extraordinary actions, we 
 have always more need of vigour and boldness, 
 than of the cold reflections of a timorous prudence, 
 wliich shows us all the inconveniences we have to 
 fear. Besides, your reputation is so well esta- 
 blished, that I may say without flattery, that with 
 all the charms by which youth naturally acquires 
 friends, you have gained that credit in the world 
 which is seldom obtained but in a more advanced 
 age. Wherefore you are under a happy obligation 
 to keep up the idea which the world has con- 
 ceived of your virtue. Knowing your perfect dis- 
 interestedness, I know not whether I ought to add 
 to the considerations of the misery of our com- 
 monwealth, some motives which respect you in 
 particular; but since there are some occasions 
 where interest is so closely linked with honour, 
 that it is almost as shameful not to regard it, as it 
 is sometimes glorious to despise it. I beg you to 
 cast your eyes on the condition in which you will 
 be placed, if the present government lasts much 
 longer. Those who join an uncommon merit to 
 an illustrious birth, have always two powerful ene- 
 mies, the envy of the courtiers, and the hatred of 
 those who are in the most considerable posts. It 
 is very difficult for those who have great fortunes 
 not to incur the first, but it is impossible for those 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
170 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 who have a great (]eal of courage, and are much 
 considered in tlie world, to escape the last. Pru- 
 dence and good manners may indeed diminish that 
 jealousy to which interest gives rise amongst equals, 
 hut they can never entirely remove from the minds 
 of superiors the umbrage occasioned by the care 
 they take of their safety. There are some virtues 
 80 beautiful, that they force even envy itself to do 
 them homage. But whilst they are gaining a vic- 
 tory over tiiis passion, they are increasing the 
 strength of the other passion which I have men- 
 tioned. Hatred grows greater as merit rises, and 
 virtue, under these circumstances, may be com- 
 pared to a ship in a storm, which has no sooner 
 overcome the fury of one wave, than it is attacked 
 by another more violent than the first. Can you 
 be ignorant that Giannetino Doriais gnawed with a 
 secret envy at your birth, which is by far supe- 
 rior to his ? At your riches, more honestly ac- 
 quired than those he possesses ? And at your re- 
 putation, which far surpasses any that he can ever 
 pretend to ? Wliat reason have you to believe 
 that envy, raised by these considerations, and ani- 
 mated by a violent ambition, will produce nothing 
 in the mind of that insolent man, but weak and 
 imperfect thoughts, and that it will not tend di- 
 rectly to your ruin ? Have you any ground to 
 hope, that if, by your prudence and the force of 
 your virtue, you had overcome this envy, you 
 could avoid that hatred with which the difference 
 of your humours inspires him against you ; and 
 that his haughty spirit (which the wisdom of his 
 uncle has hitherto kept within some bounds) could 
 any longer bear the man who is the only obstacle 
 to his designs ? For my part, I think the conse- 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 171 
 
 quences of it are inevitable, because you cannot 
 throw off those qualities which will draw his hatred 
 upon you, nor divest yourself of your nature, and 
 cease to be generous. But supposing it were iu 
 your power to conceal, under a modest appearance, 
 that greatness of soul which raises you so much 
 above the vulgar, can you imagine that Giannetino 
 Doria, suspicious as he is, like all his fellow ty- 
 rants, would not be in continual distrust of your 
 conduct ? All the marks of your moderation and 
 patience would seem to him artifices and snares 
 to undo him. He could not imagine that one 
 of the name of Fiesco could be capable of so 
 much meanness ; and, judging with reason of what 
 you would be, from wliat you ought to be, he 
 would make use, for your ruin, of that appear- 
 ance of submission which you would assume, 
 before him, for your safety. All the difference, 
 therefore, betwixt your present condition, and 
 that in which you might then expect to be placed, 
 would be, that you would then be certainly 
 assured of perishing with infamy ; whereas, by 
 following the generous sentiments which your 
 inclination prompts, you are assured that the 
 only misfortune which can befall you is to die 
 in a glorious enterprise, and to gain, by your 
 death, as great a share of honour as ever fell to 
 the lot of any private man. If you see these 
 things, as doubtless you may see them clearer than 
 I, it is needless for me to enlarge upon them any 
 longer. I only beseech you to draw from them two 
 very material consequences. The first is, to be 
 persuaded of the falsity of those maxims, which 
 forbid our preventing the stroke of an enemy who 
 designs to undo us, and which advise us to stay 
 
172 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 till he has undone himself. We deceive ourselves 
 if we think fortune has raised those whom we 
 hate to the highest pinnacle of happiness, on purpose 
 to give us the pleasure of seeing them fall. Grandeui* 
 is not always bordered with precipices ; usurpers 
 have not always been unhappy ; and heaven is not 
 always ready at hand, in the punishing bad men, 
 to aid the good, and free them from the violence 
 of their oppressors. Nature, more infallible than 
 politics, instructs us to prevent the evil which 
 threatens us, and which becomes incurable whilst 
 prudence is considering its remedies. To what 
 end should we so nicely examine the exam- 
 ples which have been proposed to us ? Do we 
 not know that too great a subtlety in arguing 
 softens our courage, and is often opposite to the 
 greatest actions ? All affairs bear two different 
 aspects ; and the same politicians who blame Poni- 
 pey for having strengthened Caesar's power by in- 
 censing him, have praised the conduct of Cicero 
 in ruining Catiline. The other benefit which you 
 ought to reap from these considerations is, that the 
 great abilities with which Nature has endowed 
 you, ought not to resemble those faint and ineffec- 
 tual fires which afford only a dim glimmering of 
 light without any heat, but ought to be like the 
 light of the sun, which produces what it enlightens. 
 Great thoughts should be followed by great effects, 
 and in the execution as well as in the forming of your 
 enterprise, nothing ought to hinder your courage 
 from being the subduer of monsters, the avenger 
 of injuries, the refuge of the distressed, the ally of 
 the greatest kings, and the umpire of Italy. But 
 if, at the moment I speak to you, the appeai'- 
 ance of liberty which still remains in our republic 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 173 
 
 makes any impression on your mind, I have rea- 
 son to fear that it will stop tlie course of your am- 
 bition ; for I know that one of so scrupulous a 
 disposition, and so jealous of honour as you are, 
 will hardly bear to be sullied with those terrible 
 names of rebel and traitor. Yet these mighty 
 scarecrows, which public opinion has framed to 
 frighten the minds of the vulgar, never bring any 
 shame to those who bear them for extraordinary 
 actions, when they are attended with success. 
 Scruples and greatness have ever been incompati- 
 ble, and the narrow precepts of common prudence 
 are fitter to be taught in the school of the people 
 than in that of great men. The crime of usurping 
 a crown is of so illustrious a nature, that it may 
 pass for a virtue. Every degree of men has its 
 peculiar reputation ; the common sort ought to be 
 esteemed for their moderation, and the great ones 
 for their ambition and courage. A poor pirate, 
 who used to take little vessels in the time of 
 Alexander, passed for an infamous robber ; whilst 
 that prince, who took whole kingdoms from their 
 rightful sovereigns, is to this day honoured as a 
 hero ; and if Catiline is blamed as a traitor, Caesar 
 is spoken of as the greatest man that ever lived. 
 In short, I need only set before your eyes all the 
 princes now reigning in the world, and ask you if 
 those from whom they hold their crowns were not 
 usui-pers ? But if these maxims are any way dis- 
 agreeable to the nicety of your principles ; if the 
 love of your country weighs more with you than 
 your private glory ; if you have yet any regard 
 left for the dying authority of the commonwealth, 
 let us examine what lionour will accrue to you 
 o 2 
 
174 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 from respecting it when your enemies despise it^ 
 and whether it will be any great advantage to you 
 to run the hazard of becoming their subject. Would 
 to God the state were in its first splendour ! nobody 
 should then dissuade you, more strenuously than I, 
 from the design to which I now excite you. If 
 this commonwealth, which now retains nothing of 
 liberty but the name, could preserve its authority, 
 weak as it is, in the condition in which it is now 
 placed, I own that there would be some reason to 
 bear our misfortune with patience ; and that if it was 
 neither safe nor useful, it would at least be gene- 
 rous, to sacrifice our own interests to the vain image 
 which is left us of liberty. But now that the artifices 
 of Andrew Doria have confined the councils of the 
 whole commonwealth to his single person, and the 
 insolence of Giannetino has put all its forces into his 
 hands ; at the instant that Genoa has reached the 
 period of its change, by that sacred but inevitable 
 fate which sets certain bounds to the revolutions 
 of all states ; now that the minds of the citizens 
 are too little united to live any longer under the 
 government of many ; in this extremity, I say, 
 when tyranny can be no longer resisted but by 
 establishing a lawful monarchy, what are we to 
 do ? Shall we offer our throats to be cut by those 
 murderers who would join our ruin to that of the 
 public liberty ? Shall Count John Lewis de Fiesco 
 look on with patience whilst Giannetino Doria in- 
 solently ascends the throne to which his fortune and 
 his ambition raised him, without any one quality 
 to deserve it ? No, no, my lord ; your virtue must 
 dispute with him an advantage due to none but 
 yourself. It is a thing as rare as it is much to 
 be wished for, to find cue's self in such a juncture, 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 175 
 
 as to be obliged, as you now are by the motive of 
 the public good, and your private glory, to set a 
 crown on your head. Do not fear that this action 
 should acquire you the name of an interested man. 
 On the contrary, nothing but the fear of danger, 
 which is the meanest of all interests, can hinder 
 your undertaking it ; and nothing but glory, which 
 is directly opposite to interest, is capable of prompt- 
 ing you to so great a design. If you are so nice that 
 you cannot bear the appearance of blame, what 
 will hinder you from restoring to your country 
 that liberty which you have acquired for it, and 
 from surrendering to it the crown which you will 
 80 well have deserved ? It will then be in your 
 own power to give a signal proof of the contempt 
 you have for all kinds of interest, when you can 
 part with it, and preserve your honour. The only 
 thing that remains for me to represent to you is, 
 that in my opinion you ought not to make use of 
 the French. Any intelligence with foreigners is 
 extremely odious ; but in the present juncture, that 
 which you propose cannot be useful to you, be- 
 cause, as Calcagno has observed, France is now 
 sufficiently employed in defending itself against 
 the Spanish and Imperial forces, which attack it 
 powerfully on all sides. But supposing you could 
 draw any assistance thence, consider that your 
 altering your condition would only be changing 
 your slavery ; that you would be a slave to France, 
 whose ally you may now become. Upon the 
 whole, determine whether it is fit for a man of 
 your abilities, merit, and quality, to resolve to suffer 
 every thing, and be a victim to Doria's insolence ; 
 or else, by hazarding every thing, to sliake off the 
 yoke of tyranny, to expose yourself without ne- 
 
176 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 cessity to the danger of becoming tlie slave of a 
 foreign power, and to confine yourself as before 
 within the bounds of a private gentleman's for-" 
 tune. " 
 
 Eaphael Sacco, who acted as judge within the 
 territories of the house of Fiesco, and who was the 
 third person called to this council, seeing that the 
 Count's inclinations were entirely conformable to 
 Verrina's sentiments, thought that it would be 
 to no purpose to contradict them ; and on the 
 other hand, judging that that action was extremely 
 hazardous, he would not ^.dvise him to undertake 
 it, and did not declare his opinion on that subject, 
 referring himself (as to the main design) entirely 
 to his master's will. Wherefore he applied him- 
 self only to maintain, that if it was absolutely re- 
 solved upon, it was necessary to make use of the 
 French, saying that it would be an extraordinary 
 piece of imprudence for the Count not to use all 
 his credit and his forces where he ventured his 
 whole fortune. That he could not understand 
 how they came to advise the Count, to oppose 
 himself singly to the arms of the Empire, Spain, 
 and Italy, which would certainly unite against 
 him ; that it was indeed possible to take a town 
 by surprise, but not to secure a state ; that tliis 
 last could not be done without a long series of 
 years, without troops and alliances ; and that the 
 thought of seizing upon the sovereignty of Genoa, 
 in the present disposition of the aiTairs of Europe 
 was a rash resolution, which was attempted to be 
 coloured under the name of a glorious undertaking. 
 Verrina opposed to the utmost of his power this 
 reasoning of Raphael Sacco, and reminded the 
 Count of the reasons he had urged on that sub- 
 
111. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 177 
 
 ject in his discourse ; by representing to him, 
 more strongly than before, that the friendsliip of 
 princes never outlived their interest, and that 
 though the favour of the House of Austria seemed 
 inseparably united to the Dorias, because they 
 were useful to that House, it would be at an end 
 as soon as they ceased to be so : whereas, if the 
 Emperor saw the Count in a condition to be either 
 useful or hurtful to him, he would soon forget the 
 services of the others, and seek his friendship ; but 
 that if he called in the French (besides that they 
 are easily tired with every thing, and that their 
 application to foreign att'airs is subject to be in- 
 tiuenced by the frequent revolutions which happen 
 within that kingdom, and depends on the genius 
 of those who govern), he must debar himself of 
 all means of an accommodation with the Emperor, 
 whose power in Italy was more considerable than 
 theirs ; that it would therefore be time enough to 
 seek the aid of France when he should see him- 
 self entirely excluded from an alliance with tho 
 Empire ; in which case, the interest of the French 
 would be so far concerned not to abandon him, 
 that they would not fail to succour him, because 
 the Count remaining master of Genoa, they would 
 always be in fear of his agreeing with their ene- 
 mies, if they refused him the assistance which was 
 necessary for his defence. That as to forces, there 
 were no need of any greater to succeed in this de- 
 sign, than those which he had of his own, since he 
 knew that there were but 230 soldiers in Genoa, 
 and that Giannetino Doria's galleys were entirely 
 disarmed. These reasons entirely determined the 
 Count, because they were agreeable to his natural 
 inclination for glory, and to that greatness of soul 
 
178 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 which made nothing appear difficult to him that 
 was honourable. In fine, he resolved to engage in 
 this undertaking in his own strength, and to em- 
 ploy none in it, but those friends and servants 
 which his high birth, his extraordinary courtesy, 
 his inexhaustable liberality, and his other good 
 qualities, had acquired for him. 
 
 There are many persons who have merit, cou- 
 rage, and ambition, and who form general ideas of 
 raising themselves and improving tlieir condition. 
 But it is rare to meet with such as, having formed 
 those ideas, know how to make choice of proper 
 means for their execution, and who are not re- 
 miss in the continual care which is necessary to 
 bring them to eflect ; or, when they take that pains, 
 they generally time it ill, and act with too much 
 impatience for the event. This is so true, that 
 in aflPairs of this nature, most men are too long 
 in taking their resolutions, but will never allow 
 themselves the necessary time for executing what 
 they have resolved. They do not think early 
 enough of disposing their actions to the end which 
 they have proposed to themselves, to direct all 
 their steps to the plan wliich they have once form- 
 ed, to establish a stock of reputation, to gain 
 friends, and finally, to centre all their views in the 
 execution of their first design. On the contrary, 
 we see them often change their views on a sud- 
 den, their mind appears disquieted and overbur- 
 dened with the secret and the weight of their en- 
 terprise ; and amidst the changes and irregularity 
 of their conduct, they always let slip something 
 that may give a hold to those who watch over 
 them, and ofience to their enemies. 
 
 The Count de Fiesco very wisely remedied 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUiNT FIESCO. 179 
 
 these inconveniences ; for, knowinnj that he was 
 naturally inclined to great things, and seeing that 
 he should one day he able to bring these general 
 inclinations to some particular and important de- 
 sign, which might tend to his own greatness, he 
 gave himself entirely up to that thought ; and as 
 he had of himself an incredible passion for glory, 
 and a great deal of art to increase his reputation, 
 he lived in such a manner, that all the great qua- 
 lities that were to be observed in him seemed to 
 proceed from his native disposition, and not from a 
 studied conduct. He had always the same open, 
 agi'eeable, and pleasant countenance : He was civil 
 to every one, though with proper distinctions, 
 according to different merit and quality. His libe- 
 rality was so great, that he prevented the wants of 
 his friends ; thus he gained the poor by his boun- 
 ty, and the rich by his civility. He always kept 
 his word religiously ; he had an unwearied desire 
 of obliging ; his house and table were open to all 
 persons ; he was magnificent in every thing, even 
 to profuseness ; and never was any one better per- 
 suaded than he, that covetousness, stiffness, and 
 pride, obscure the most shining qualities of great 
 men. But what gave an extraordinary lustre to 
 those he was possessed of, was the handsomeness of 
 his person, and the graceful and noble air with which 
 all his actions were accompanied, which were dis- 
 tinguishing marks of his illustrious birth, and which 
 attracted every one's respect and inclination. 
 
 Tliis conduct so secured for him the hearts of 
 his friends, that not one of those who promised to 
 serve him, failed either in his fidelity or discre- 
 tion, in an affair of so nice a nature ; which, in- 
 deed, is very extraordinary in a conspiracy where 
 
180 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 SO many actors and so much secrecy are required, 
 that, though it should happen that none should 
 prove treacherous, it is hard to imagine that none 
 should prove imprudent. But what was most 
 wonderful in this was, that his enemies, seeing his 
 open conduct, took no offence at it, because they 
 attributed what was too shining in his actions to 
 his natural temper, and not to a formed design. 
 
 This was without doubt one of the causes of the 
 contempt with which Andrew Doria received the 
 advices that were given him by Ferdinando Gon- 
 zaga and two or three others concerning this en- 
 terprise ; I say one of the causes, because, though 
 the conduct of the Count contributed to the taking 
 away the diffidence of this old politician, jealous 
 of his authority, there must nevertheless have been 
 some other reason for so great an infatuation. But 
 it is hard to find out that cause, unless we ascribe 
 it to Providence, which delights in showing the 
 vanity of human prudence, and in confounding the 
 pride of those who flatter themselves that they can 
 unravel the several windings of the hearts of men, 
 and that they have an infallible discernment for all 
 things in the world. This presumption is never 
 more ridiculous than in those great men whom 
 continual study, profound meditation, and long ex- 
 perience in affairs, have so raised above the vulgar, 
 and so intoxicated with a good opinion of them- 
 selves, that they rely on the confidence of their 
 own judgment in the most difficult affairs, and hear 
 the advice of others only to despise it. It is cer- 
 tain that most of those extraordinary men whom 
 othere go to consult like oracles, and who have so 
 quick a penetration in things which are indifferent 
 to them, are commonly blind in those which are of 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 181 
 
 greater importance to themselves. They are more 
 unhappy than others, because they cannot guide 
 themselves either by their own reason or by that 
 of their friends. 
 
 The act of generosity which gained the Count 
 de Fiesco many friends amongst the people, was 
 his bounty to the silk-spinners, who made a cou" 
 siderable body of the inhabitants of Genoa. They 
 were at that time extremely distressed by the 
 misery occasioned by the late wars ; the Count 
 liaving learnt their condition from their consul, ex- 
 pressed a great concern at their poverty, and, at the 
 vsame time ordered him to send those of them to his 
 palace who had most need of relief. He supplied 
 them abundantly with money and provisions, and 
 begged them not to make any noise about his pre- 
 sents, because he expected no other reward from 
 them but the satisfaction he felt within himself in 
 succouring the afflicted ; and accompanying these 
 things with his natural courteousness and civility, he 
 so gained the hearts of these poor people, that they 
 were from that time entirely devoted to his service. 
 But if, on the one hand, he gained the love and 
 esteem of the poorest amongst the people by his 
 liberalities, he did not forget, on the other, to 
 make himself agreeable to the most considerable 
 of them, by the promises of liberty which he art- 
 fully insinuated in his discourses, wherein he gave 
 them to understand, that though he was of the 
 body of the nobility, he was too reasonable not to 
 sympathize, with a great deal of sorrow, in the 
 oppression of the people. 
 
 There are some who accuse the republic of a 
 great deal of imprudence on this occasion, and 
 VOL. I. p 
 
182 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 maintain, that it was most imprudent in the 
 senate to suft'er the Count thus to obHge every 
 body, and to gain with so much care the hearts 
 of his fellow-citizens. I cannot deny that the 
 maxim, on which this opinion is founded proceeds 
 from the most refined politics ; for it seems that, 
 aiming at the keeping private people in a state of 
 mediocrity, its natural effect ought to be the safety 
 of the whole. But I am satisfied that it is very 
 unjust, because it corrupts the nature of good qua- 
 lities, which by that means become hurtful or dan- 
 gerous to the person that is possessed of them. 
 I think the maxim even pernicious, because, by 
 rendering merit suspicious, it chokes up all the 
 seeds of virtue, and so disgusts men from the love 
 of glory, that they never undertake great actions 
 but with fear ; and they even are diverted from 
 those which might be useful to the commonwealth, 
 to avoid giving umbrage to the government. It 
 happens also, that instead of keeping men of cou- 
 rage within the bounds of that equality which it 
 prescribes, it often inclines them to give a free 
 course to their ambition, and to take violent reso- 
 lutions to shake oflf the yoke of so tyrannical a 
 law. 
 
 The Count did not so absolutely rely on the 
 good will of the common people, as to neglect 
 securing the soldiery, who are chiefly necessary in 
 these enterprises. He left Genoa in the begin- 
 ning of the summer, in all appearance to visit his 
 territories, but in reality to observe what persona 
 fit for service might be found amongst his vassals, 
 and to use them to warlike exercises, under pre- 
 tence of the fear he feigned to be in of the Duke 
 of Placentia. He was also willing to give the 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 183 
 
 necessary orders for his design of secretly in- 
 troducing some men into Genoa, when occasion 
 should require it, and of assuring himself of the 
 sentiments of that Duke, who had promised him 
 2000 men of his hest troops. 
 
 The Count, returning about the latter end of 
 autumn, added to his usual conduct a profound 
 dissimulation in what related to the House of 
 Doria, expressing, on all occasions, a great vene- 
 ration for the person of Andrew, and a strict 
 friendship for Giannetino, in order to show all the 
 world that their past divisions were entirely laid 
 aside, and to give them all imaginable marks of 
 an union that might be securely relied upon. 
 
 If what he said on the very day that he exe- 
 cuted his enterprise be true, that he had long be- 
 fore been acquainted that his ruin had been re- 
 solved on by Giannetino Doria, and that that violent 
 and unjust man, who was only restrained by the 
 prudence of liis uncle Andrew, whom he found 
 subject to great distempers, had ordered Captain 
 Lercaro to rid him of all the family of Fiesco, the 
 moment that Andrew Doria should die ; that he 
 had letters beside him, which were convincing proofs 
 that Giannetino had endeavoured to poison him three 
 several times ; and that he was, l/esides, certainly 
 assured that the Emperor was ready to make him 
 sovereign of Genoa. If, I say, all these things 
 be true, I cannot think tliat the Count's dissimu- 
 lation can be justly blamed ; because, in affairs 
 where our own life and the general interest of our 
 country are at stake, sincerity is a virtue out of 
 season ; nature teaching us, by the example of 
 the instinct of the most inconsiderable animals, 
 that in these extremities the use of stratagems is 
 
184^ CONSriRACIES. 
 
 lawful to defend ourselves from violence and op- 
 pression. 
 
 But if the Count's complaints were only calum- 
 nies invented against the House of Doria, to give 
 the better colour to his design, and to exasperate 
 people's minds, it cannot be denied that these false 
 marks of friendship, which he so affectedly gave 
 them, were artifices unworthy of his great cou- 
 rage. And without doubt it would be difticult to 
 justify such a conduct, but by the necessity which 
 the insolence and power of Giannetino had imposed 
 on him to live in that manner. 
 
 The Count had purchased four galleys from the 
 Duke of Placentia, which he kept in the Pope's 
 pay, under the name of his brother Jerome. As he 
 judged that the most necessary thing to his design 
 was to make himself master of the port, he sent 
 for one of them to Genoa, under pretence of send- 
 ing it on a cruise to the Levant, and at the same 
 £ime took occasion to get into the city, without 
 suspicion, some of the soldiers which came to him 
 from his territories and from Placentia, whereof 
 some passed for people of the garrison, some for 
 adventurers that were seeking employment, some 
 for seamen, and a great many even for galley 
 slaves. 
 
 Verrina very artfully introduced amongst the 
 companies of the city fifteen or twenty soldiers, 
 who were vassals to the Count, and corrupted 
 others of the garrison. He obtained promises from 
 the most considerable and most enterprising among 
 the people, of all manner of assistance in the exe- 
 cution of a private design, intended, as he said, 
 against some of their enemies. Calcagno and Sacco 
 were, on their side, employing themselves with no 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 185 
 
 less diligence and industry ; and I think I cannot 
 better express the art with wliich these four per- 
 sons conducted this enterprise, than by saying that 
 they engaged in it above ten thousand people, 
 without discovering their true -design to any one. 
 
 Things being thus disposed, nothing was want- 
 ing but the choice of a day for the execution, in 
 which there happened some ditficulties. Verrina's 
 opinion was, that they should invite to a new 
 mass * Giannetino and Andrew Doria, and Adam 
 Centurioni, with those of the nobility who were 
 the best affected to that party. He offered to kill 
 them himself. This proposal was no sooner made 
 than rejected by the Count, who conceived so 
 much horror at it, that he cried out that he would 
 never consent to profane the most sacred mystery 
 of our religion to facilitate the success of his un- 
 dertaking. It was afterwards proposed to take 
 the opportunity of the marriage of a sister of 
 Giannetino Doria's with Julius Cibo, Marquis de 
 Masse, the Count's brother-in-law, and they judged 
 that the execution of their design would be easier 
 on that occasion, because the Count would have 
 the pretence of making an entertainment for all 
 the relations of that family, and thereby be fur- 
 nished with the means of cutting them all off at a 
 blow. But the Count's generosity moved him 
 again to oppose this black piece of treachery, as 
 many people assert, and it may easily be believed 
 of one of his disposition ; although Doria's friends 
 
 * A mass celebrated by some person of note the first 
 time of his officiating as a priest, to vvliich it is common 
 to invite people of distinction. 
 
186 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 have given out that he had resolved to make use 
 of tliat way, if au aflPair which caused Giannetino 
 Doria, on that very day, to take a short journey out 
 of Genoa, had not changed his mind. At last, 
 after several deliberations, the night of the second of 
 January was pitched upon for this enterprise, and 
 the necessary orders were at the same time given 
 out with a great deal of conduct, Verrina, Calcag- 
 no, and Sacco, disposing on their side of those 
 whom they had gained. The Count got a great 
 number of arms secretly conveyed into his palace, 
 and sent to observe the places of which they were 
 to make themselves masters ; he introduced by 
 small numbers, and without noise, into a part of 
 his palace, separate from the rest, the soldiers who 
 were destined to begin the execution : And the 
 appointed day being come, the better to cover his 
 design, he made a great many visits, and even went 
 towards evening to the palace of Doria, where 
 meeting Giannetino's children, he took them one 
 after another in his arms, and played with them a 
 long time before their father, whom he afterwards 
 desired to give orders to the officers of his galleys, 
 not to hinder the departure of the Count's galley, 
 which was that night to sail to the Levant : after 
 which he took leave of him with his usual civili- 
 ties, and in going home he called on Tomaso As- 
 sereto, with whom he met above thirty of those gen- 
 tlemen who were called popular, whom Verrina had 
 caused him to meet there, as by accident, whence 
 the Count canied them all to sup with him. When 
 he arrived at his palace, he sent Venina all over the 
 city, to the senate-house and to that of Doria, to 
 observe if they had no intimation of his design ; 
 and having heaid that all things were as quiet as 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT PIESCO. 187 
 
 usual, he ordered tlie doors of liis palace to be 
 8hut, with direction, however, to let in all those 
 who should desire it, but to let out no person 
 whatsoever. 
 
 As he perceived that his guests were extremely 
 surprised to find, instead of a feast prepared for 
 them, nothing but arms, strange faces, and soldiers, 
 he gathered them together in a hall, and expressing 
 in his countenance a noble assurance, he spoke to 
 them in this manner : 
 
 " We have, my friends, already suffered too 
 much, from the insolence of Giannetino, and the 
 tyranny of Andrew Doria. We have not a mo- 
 ment to lose, if we have a mind to secure our 
 lives and liberties from the oppression that threatens 
 them. Is there any one here that can be ignorant 
 of the pressing danger of the commonwealth ? 
 What can you imagine the twenty galleys which 
 besiege our harbour are intended for ? What is 
 the design of all the forces and the intelligence 
 which these two tyrants have prepared ? Behold 
 them ready to triumph over our patience, and to 
 build their unjust authority on the ruins of this 
 state. It is now no longer time to deplore our 
 miseries in private, we must hazard all things to 
 free ourselves from them. Since the evil is so 
 violent, the remedies must be so too ; and if the 
 fear of falling into the most shameful slavery has 
 any power over your minds, you must make a vi- 
 gorous attempt to break your fetters, and prevent 
 those that would load you with new ones ; for I 
 cannot imagine you any longer capable of bearing 
 the uncle's injustice, or the nephew's pride. I 
 cannot imagine, I say, that there is one amongst 
 you that will be content to serve those as masters, 
 
188 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 who ought to think themselves honoured enougfi 
 with being your equals. Were we insensible to 
 the interest of the commonwealth, we cannot be 
 so to our own. Every one of us has but too much 
 reason to revenge himself, and our revenge is both 
 just and glorious, since our private resentment is 
 joined to our zeal for the public good, and that we 
 cannot abandon our own interests without betray- 
 ing those of our country. It is now in your power 
 to secure its quiet and your own ; you want only 
 the will to be happy, to become so. I have pro- 
 vided for every thing which might obstruct your 
 happiness ; I have laid open to you a way to glory, 
 and am ready to lead you in it, if you are disposed 
 to follow me. The preparations you see here 
 ought at this time to encourage you more than 
 they have surprised you ; and the astonishment 
 which I at first observed in your faces, ought to 
 be changed into a glorious resolution of employ- 
 ing these warlike instruments with vigour, to work 
 the destruction of our common enemies, and the 
 preservation of our liberty. I should offend your 
 courage if I imagined you capable, at the sight of 
 these objects, to deliberate about the use of them. 
 That use is certain, by the good order which I 
 hope to put things into ; it is of the greatest ad- 
 vantage to you ; it is just, because of the oppres- 
 sion you suffer ; it is glorious, by th(; greatness of 
 tlie undertaking. I might prove by these letters, 
 that the Emperor has promised Andrew Doria the 
 sovereignty of Genoa, and is ready to fulfil his 
 promise. I could sliow you, by other letters I 
 possess, that Giannetino has three times attempted 
 to hire people to poison me. It would be easy for 
 me to prove to you, that he has given orders to 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 189 
 
 Lcrcaro to murder me and all my family, the mo- 
 ment his uncle should die ; but tlie knowledge of 
 all these iiorrid and infamous treacheries, would 
 add nothing to the horror you already have for 
 these monsters. Methinks I see your eyes sparkle 
 with the generous fire with which a just revenge in- 
 spires you ; I see you are more impatient than I 
 to express your resentment, to insure your estates, 
 your peace, and the honour of your families. Let 
 us then, my dear fellow-citizens, save the reputa- 
 tion of Genoa ; let us preserve our country's li- 
 berty ; and let us show the world, that there are 
 yet left in this state honest men who have the 
 heart to bring tyrants to destruction. " 
 
 The company were very much astonished at 
 these words ; but as almost all of them were zea- 
 lous friends to Count de Fiesco, and as some of 
 them joined to that friendship the exalted hopes 
 with which they flattered themselves, in case their 
 enterprise succeeded, and the rest feared his re- 
 sentment if they refused to follow his fortune, 
 they promised him all manner of service. There 
 were but two amongst that number, which was 
 pretty considerable, that begged of him not to en- 
 gage them in that affair ; whether their profession, 
 remote from dangers, and their humour, averse to 
 violence, rendered them incapable (as they said) 
 to be of any service in an action where many dan- 
 gers were to be mn, and many murders to be com- 
 mitted ; or whether they covered, under the ap- 
 pearance of a dissembled fear, the real affection 
 which they had for the House of Doria, or for some 
 of his party. It is certain that the Count pressed 
 thera no farther, and was satisfied with shutting 
 them up in a room, to take from them the means 
 
190 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 of discovering his design. His gentle usage of 
 these two persons, makes me disbelieve what se- 
 veral historians, prejudiced against his memory, 
 have published ; which is, that the discourse he 
 made in this assembly was filled with nothing but 
 threats against those who should refuse to assist 
 him ; and I believe that we may with reason form 
 the same judgment of the cruel and impious words 
 which they put into his mouth on the night of the 
 execution of his enterprise. For what likelihood 
 is there that a man of his condition, born with an 
 extraordinary passion for glory, should suffer him- 
 self to be transported to such expressions as can- 
 not be remembered without hoiTor, and could be 
 of no manner of use to his designs ? Be that as 
 it will, as soon as he had ended his speech to 
 those persons, and had informed them of the or- 
 der of his enterprise, he went into his lady's a- 
 partment, whom he found in tears, foreseeing that 
 the great preparations which were making in the 
 house, could not but be designed by her husband 
 for some dangerous undertaking. He, therefore, 
 thought it proper no longer to conceal the truth 
 from her, but he endeavoured to take away her 
 fears by all the reasons which he could think of; 
 and he represented to her how far he had engaged 
 himself, and the impossibility of retreating. She 
 did her utmost to dissuade him from that action, 
 and made use of the power which his love for her 
 gave her over his mind ; but neither her prayers 
 nor tears could shake his resolution. Paul Pansa, 
 who had been his governor, and for whom he had 
 a great veneration, joined with the Countess, and 
 left nothing untried that might bring him back to 
 the duty of a good citizen, or set before him the 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 191 
 
 hazard he ran in this occasion. The Count was as 
 little moved with his governor's exhortations, as he 
 had been with the fondness and tears of his wife. * 
 He had (as it is said of Caesar) passed the Rubi- 
 con, and returned to the hall where he had left his 
 guests. He gave the last directions for the exe- 
 cution of his enterprise. He ordered an hundred 
 and fifty men, chosen from his best soldiers, to 
 go into that part of the city called the borough, 
 whither he was to follow them, accompanied by 
 the nobility. Cornelius, his natural brother, had 
 orders, as soon as they came thither, to march 
 (with a detachment of thirty men) to the gate of 
 the arch, and to make himself master of it. Jerome 
 and Ottobon, his brothers, with Vincent Calcagno, 
 were charged to take the gate of St Thomas, when 
 they heard the cannon fired from the Count's gal- 
 ley, commanded by Verrina, which was ready to 
 shut up the mouth of the basin, and to invest that 
 of Andrew Doria. The Count was to get to that 
 gate by land, after he had left guards in his way at 
 the arches of St Andrew and St Donatus, and at 
 the Place des Sauvages, with the least noise pos- 
 sible. -|- Thomas Assereto was ordered to seize that 
 
 ♦ After trying in vain to soothe his Countess, whose 
 name was Leonora, of an illustrious Genoese family, 
 Fiesco, almost overcome by the feelings with which her 
 tenderness had inspired him, rushed from her, exclaiming, 
 as he quitted the apartment, " Farewell, you shall either 
 never see me more, or you shall behold to-morrow every 
 thing in Genoa subject to your power. '' Mascardi has 
 given the Countess' supposed expostulations in a very af- 
 fecting manner, which the Cardinal de Retz has omitted. 
 
 t It is to be observed that Genoa is built in ihc form 
 of an amphitheatre, and is enclosed by double walls, six 
 miles in circimifercncc. 
 
192 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 gate by giving the word, which he could easily 
 know, having an employment under Giannetino 
 Doria. As this action was the most important point 
 of the enterprise, because, if it failed, those who were 
 in the Count's galley could have no communication 
 with the rest of the conspirators, it was judged 
 proper, to render it still more easy, that Scipio 
 Borgognino, a vassal of the Count, and a reso- 
 lute soldier, should throw himself into the basin 
 with armed feluccas, and should laud on that side, 
 at the same time that Thomas Assereto should at- 
 tack that gate on the outside. It was also resolv- 
 ed, that the moment that Jerome and Ottobon de 
 Fiesco should be masters of St Thomas' Gate, 
 which was near the palace of Doria, one of them 
 should force that palace, and kill Andrew and Gian- 
 netino : And because there was some reason to ap- 
 prehend that Giannetino, being roused by the noise 
 which would be made at the gates, might get into 
 Lewis Giulia's felucca to come and give his orders, 
 they left three armed feluccas to prevent it. To 
 these orders there was added a general one, that 
 all the conspirators should call to the people in the 
 name of Fiesco, and cry out, Liberty, that those 
 of the city whose affection they were assured of, 
 might not be surprised, and that, seeing that the 
 Count was the author of this action, they might 
 join his people. 
 
 It is not easy to determine whether it had not 
 been more advantageous and safe to have made but 
 one body of all these troops which were separated in 
 so many different quarters, so remote from each 
 other, than to divide them in that manner ; be- 
 cause their number was considerable enough to 
 make it probable, that if they had all entered the 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 193 
 
 same way into tlie town, they had carried all be- 
 foi-e them, and had drawn the people to favour tlie 
 victorious party, wherever they had passed : where- 
 as, being divided, they could act but weakly, and 
 ran the risk of committing mistakes, and of being 
 all defeated one after the other. For it is certain 
 that a great deal of exactness is requisite to make 
 the times of several attacks agree, and a great 
 deal of good fortune for them all to succeed alike. 
 So many heads and hands are in these occasions 
 necessary to concur in the same action, that the 
 least fault in one of them often disconcerts all the 
 rest, as the disorder of a single wheel may stop 
 the motion of tfie greatest machine : and it is very 
 difficult to coniteive, that during the night and 
 amidst the tunmlt which generally accompanies 
 tliese kinds of enterprises, either the heart or the 
 judgment of some of the conspirators should not 
 fail them, and that thinking danger more terrible 
 when near than when afar oft', they should not re- 
 pent their engaging in such a design, l^ut when 
 they move all together, the example of others ani- 
 mates and emboldens the most timorous, who are 
 forced to suffer themselves to be carried away by 
 the multitude, and to do out of mere necessity 
 what the brave do out of courage. 
 
 Those who are of a contrary opinion, hold that 
 in these enterprises which are executed by night, 
 in a city where the conspirators liave a great deal 
 of intelligence, and are favoured by most of the 
 people, and vviiere they may make themselves 
 masters of tlie principal posts before their enemies 
 are in a condition to dispute those posts with them, 
 it is better to form several bodies, and make dif- 
 
 VOL. I. Q 6 
 
194? CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ferent attacks in a great many places ; because, by- 
 giving several alarms at the same time in different 
 parts, those who would defend themselves are ob- 
 liged to divide their forces, without knowing how 
 many are to be detached ; and the fright which 
 such sudden attempts commonly create, is much 
 stronger when the noise comes from all sides, than 
 when they are only to provide against the danger 
 in one single place. Besides, in narrow streets, 
 like those of Genoa, * a small number is equally 
 as serviceable as a greater, and that ten men, by 
 the help of a barricado, if they are attacked only 
 in front, may stop an hundred times as many of 
 the bravest men in the world, and give time to 
 those who are behind them to rally. Lastly, those 
 who are of the latter opinion, think that in an enter- 
 prise like this, it is less advantageous to the party 
 of the conspirators to join their forces in one body, 
 than to spread them in different parts of the city, 
 having the favour of the greatest part of the in- 
 habitants, because they raise them all at once, and 
 the citizens are more ready to take up arms when 
 they see themselves supported, and are more cap- 
 able of serving when they have regular troops and 
 people of credit at their head. 
 
 All these reasons being justly weighed on each 
 side, I think that the Count acted very judici- 
 ously ; for it seems to me that on this occasion, 
 the inconveniences which we have just mentioned 
 
 * The streets of Genoa, like all other ancient cities, 
 and especially sea-ports, were then extremely inconvenient, 
 and are to this day narrow and irregular, with the excep- 
 tion of three, the Sirada Bulbi^ the Strada Nuova, and the 
 Strada Ntiovissima, which were not then in existence. 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 195 
 
 in the way of acting which he made choice of, 
 were less to be feared than they commonly are, 
 because his party was not only composed of the 
 soldiery and nobility, but also of a gi'eat number 
 of the common people, of whose fidelity he was as- 
 sured. So that, having considerable forces in all the 
 quarters of Genoa, he had reason to think that the 
 garrison which was extremely weak, and those who 
 did not favour him, could be no great hinderance 
 to his designs, nor make any resistance sufficient 
 to disturb those who fought for him. Having, 
 therefore, left his palace, he divided his men ac- 
 cording to the order which he had resolved on ; 
 and at the same time that the cannon, which was 
 ordered for a signal, was fired from his galley, Cor- 
 nelius surprised the Gate of the Arch, of which he 
 made himself master without any trouble. Ot- 
 tobon and Jerome, the Count's brothers, did not 
 find so much facility with that of St Thomas, from 
 the resistance of Captain Sebastian Lercaro and 
 his brother, who maintained their post a con- 
 siderable time. But the latter having been killed, 
 and the other taken prisoner, some even amongst 
 their soldiers who had intelligence of the design, 
 by turning their arms in favour of the Fiescos, 
 made those of the guard run off, and abandon their 
 post to the enemies. Giannetino Doria, awaken- 
 ed either by the noise which was made at the gate, 
 or by the outcry which was made at the same time 
 in the harbour, rose in great haste, and being ac- 
 companied by none but a page who carried a flam- 
 beau before him, he ran to St Thomas' Gate, 
 where, being discovered by the conspirators, he 
 was killed as soon as he came. 
 
 The precipitancy of Giannetino saved Andrew 
 
196 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Doria's life, and gave him time to get on horse- 
 back, and to retire fifteen miles from Genoa ; * he- 
 cause Jerome de Fiesco, vvlio liad orders from his 
 brother to force Doria's palace as soon as he had 
 seized St Thomas' Gate, seeing* that Giannetino had 
 been killed by his own imprudence, preferred the 
 preservation of the immense riches which were in 
 the palace, and which it would have been difficult 
 to save from the soldiers, to the taking of Andrew 
 Doria, whom he no longer looked upon but as a 
 worn-out old man, whose ruin was indifferent. 
 Whilst these things were doing about St Thomas' 
 Gate, Assereto and Scipio Borgognino executed, 
 their orders with all possible success ; they killed 
 those who made any resistance at the gate next 
 the basin, and pushed tlie rest so vigorously, that 
 they did not give them time to rally, and at last 
 they secured that considerable post. 
 
 The Count having, in his passage, left parties 
 to guard those posts which he reckoned the most 
 important, got into the basin, the entrance of which 
 he found entirely open, and joined himself to Ver- 
 rina, who had already attacked, with his galley, 
 those of Andrew Doria. He found them almost 
 all disarmed, and easily made himself master of 
 them. Fearing, in this confusion, that the crew, 
 who were chiefly slaves, would mutiny, and relieve 
 the captain's galley, in which he heard a great 
 noise, he ran in haste to give his orders about it ; 
 but while doing so, the board on which he was 
 proceeding, overturned, and he fell into the sea. 
 
 * The Cardinal forgets, however, to mention, that the 
 elder Doria left Genoa with very great rcluctanee, and 
 was almost forced away by his friends. 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 197 
 
 The weight of his armour, and the mud, hindered 
 him from getting up again ; and he was drowned 
 at the very moment when victory had made him 
 master of Genoa. The darkness of the night, 
 joined to the confused noise that was made on all 
 parts, kept from his men the knowledge of this 
 accident ; so that, without perceiving the loss they 
 had sustained, they made an end of securing the 
 harbour and the gallies. 
 
 Ottobon, who was come to that place after he 
 had executed his first design, staid to command 
 there ; and Jerome, who had followed him, left 
 Vincent Calcagno at St Thomas' Gate, and left 
 the harbour with two hundred men, to stir up 
 the populace in the streets, and collect together as 
 many people as he could. Verrina, on the o- 
 ther hand, did the same thing ; and thus a great 
 number of persons being gathered about them, 
 nobody dared appear any longer in the streets 
 without declaring for Fiesco's party. The greatest 
 part of the nobility kept close at home during the 
 noise, every one fearing the plunder of his house. 
 The most courageous went to the senate-house * 
 with the Emperor's ambassador, who would have 
 run away from the city, had it not been for the 
 remonstrances of Paul LasagTia, a man of great 
 authority among the people. Cardinal Doria and 
 Adam Centunone went thither also, and resolved, 
 
 * II Palazza della Signoria. It was the palace of the 
 Republic, where those senators had the courage to assem- 
 ble, amid the general consternation. It was the ancient 
 palace of the Doge, and is at present one of the most re- 
 markable editiccs in Genoa. 
 
198 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 with Nicolas Franco, at that time head of the 
 commonwealth, there being then no Duke,* to send 
 Boniface Lomellino, Cristoplier Palavicini, and 
 Antony Calva, with fifty soldiers of the garrison, 
 to defend St Tliomas' Gate. But these having 
 met with a body of the conspirators, and being 
 abandoned by part of their men, were obliged to 
 retire into the house of Adam Centurione, where, 
 having met with Francis Grimaldi, Dominic Doria, 
 and some other gentlemen, they again took courage, 
 and returned to the same gate by a different way. 
 But they found it so well guarded, and were 
 charged so vigorously, that they left Boniface 
 Lomellino prisoner, wlio distinguished himself in 
 that action by his courage, and happily escaped 
 out of the conspirators' hands. 
 
 The Senate, finding tliat force had been tried 
 in vain, had recourse to remonstrances, and de- 
 puted another Jerome de Fiesco, f a relation of the 
 Count, and Jerome Canevale, to demand of the 
 Count the reason of t))at commotion ; and imme- 
 diately after Cardinal Doria, who was allied to 
 him, assisted by John Baptista Lercaro, and Ber- 
 nard Castagno, botli senators, resolved, at the de- 
 sire of the Senate, to go and confer with the 
 Count, and endeavour to soften liim. But see- 
 ing things in so great a confusion, that if he 
 went through the city he should expose his dig- 
 nity (to no purpose) to the insults of an incensed 
 l>eople, he would not go, but remained at the senate- 
 
 ♦ Or Doge. 
 
 f There were two relations of the Count of that name, 
 one of them, the reader will have perceived, v.as active iu 
 the conspiracy. 
 
Ill THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 11)0 
 
 house. So that the Senate gave that commission 
 to Augustino Lomellino, Hector de Fiesco, Ansaklo 
 Justinian!, Ambrose Spinola, and John Balliano, 
 who, seeing a troop of armed men coming towards 
 them, imagined it was the Count, and waited for him 
 at St Siro. As soon as the conspirators perceived 
 them, tliey charged them, and put Lomellino 
 and Hector de Fiesco to flight. Ansaldo Justi- 
 niani stood his ground, and, addressing himself to 
 Jerome, wiio was at the head of that party, he de- 
 manded of him, in the name of the commonwealth, 
 where the Count was. The conspirators had just 
 heard of his death. Verrina, having long sought 
 him in vain, was got into his galley in a despe- 
 rate condition, because the news from all quar- 
 ters of the town mentioned nothing of his appear- 
 ing any where. This made Jerome answer Justi- 
 niani boldly, and with the greatest imprudence, 
 that it was now no longer time to look for any 
 other Count than himself, and that he would have 
 the senate-house immediately surrendered to him. 
 The Senate having learnt by this discourse the 
 death of the Count, resumed their courage, and 
 sent twelve gentlemen to rally those of the guard 
 and of the people whom they could put in a pos- 
 ture of defence. Some, even of the hottest of 
 Fiesco's party, began to be surprised ; several, who 
 had neither tiie same affection for, nor the same 
 confidence in, Jerome, that they had for his brother, 
 dispersed themselves at the very report of his 
 death ; and confusion getting in amongst the con- 
 spirators, those in the senate-house perceived it. 
 and deliberated whether they should go and at- 
 tack them, or treat with them. Tiie first of these 
 was proposed as the most honouiable way, but the 
 
200 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 second was followed as the safest. Paul Pansa, 
 a man of the greatest consideration in the com- 
 monwealth, and ever attached to the house of Fies- 
 co, was chosen as the fittest man for that purpose. 
 The senate ordered him to carry a general pardon 
 to Jerome for himself and his accomplices. He con- 
 sented to this agreement at the persuasion of Pan- 
 sa. The pardon was signed at the same time, 
 and sealed with all the necessary formalities, by 
 Ambrose Senaregna secretary to the republic ; and 
 thus Jerome deFiesco left Genoa with all those of his 
 party, and retired to Montobio. Ottobon, Verrina, 
 Calcagno, and Sacco, who had made their escape 
 in the Count's galley, steered towards France, and 
 arrived at Marseilles, after having sent back to the 
 mouth of the Vere, without doing them any hurt, 
 Sebastian Lercaro, Manfredo Centurioni, and Vin- 
 cent Varcaro, whom they had taken at St Thomas' 
 Gate. The Count's body was found at the end of 
 four days, and having been left some time on the 
 banks of the harbour, without burial, it was at last 
 thrown into the sea by the command of Andrew 
 Doria. Benedict Centurioni and Dominic Doria, 
 were the next day deputed to Andrew to condole 
 with him in the name of the republic on the death 
 of Giannetino, and to bring him back into the city, 
 where he was received with all imaginable honours. 
 He went to the senate the day after, where he re- 
 presented to them in a vehement declamation, 
 which he took care to support with the credit of 
 his friends, that the commonwealth was not ob- 
 liged to stand to the agreement which they had 
 made with the Fiescos, since it had been conclud- 
 ed against all form, and signed (as it were) sword 
 in hand. He magnified extremely the danger of 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 201 
 
 suffci-ing subjects to treat in that manner with their 
 sovereigns ; and insisted that the impunity of a 
 crime of that consequence would be a fatal ex- 
 ample to the commonwealth. In short, Andrew 
 Doria so artfully covered his private interests un- 
 der the veil of the general good, and so well back- 
 ed his passion witii his authority, tliat although 
 there were many persons that could not ap- 
 prove of so great a breach of public faith, the se- 
 nate nevertheless declared all the conspirators 
 guilty of high treason, ordered the magnificent 
 palace of Fiesco to be razed to the ground, con- 
 demned the Count's brothers and the principal of 
 his faction to death, punished with a fifty years 
 banishment all those who had the least hand in 
 that enterprise, and ordered that Jerome de Fiesco 
 should be commanded to surrender the fortress of. 
 Montobio into the hands of the republic. This 
 last point was not so easy to execute as the rest, 
 and as the place^was strong by its situation, and 
 by its fortifications which they were continually at 
 work upon ; it was judged properest to try the 
 most gentle means to get it out of the hands of the 
 Fiescos, before they made use of force, the suc- 
 cess of which is always doubtful. Paul Pansa 
 had orders from the senate to go thither as soon as 
 possible, and to offer Jerome reasonable conditions 
 on the part of the commonwealth ; but they re- 
 ceived no other answer from him but reproaches 
 for breaking faith with his friends, and a pretty 
 haughty refusal to treat with the Genoese. The 
 Emperor, who feared that the French might nsake 
 themselves masters of that castle, which is of 
 the greatest importance for the safety of Genoa, 
 earnestly pressed the senate to besiege it, and fur- 
 
202 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 nished them with all necessary assistance for that 
 purpose, Augustine Spinola, a captain of repu- 
 tation, had that employment ; he invested the place, 
 which. he besieged for forty days, and at last ob- 
 liged those who were in it to surrender at discre- 
 tion. 
 
 Some historians accuse Verrina, Calcagno, and 
 Sacco, of having advised Jerome to so dishonourable 
 a capitulation, by reason of the cold reception they 
 had received in France, whence they were return- 
 ed, to throw themselves into that place. The ta- 
 king of it created new disorders in the common- 
 wealth, on account of the variety of opinions amongst 
 the senators touching the punishment of the pri- 
 soners. Many persons inclined to lenity, and 
 would have had a pardon for young Jerome, main- 
 taining that his family had been sufficiently pu- 
 nished by the death of the Count, and the loss of 
 all their estate. But Andrew Doria, exasperated 
 against them, once more overcame the senate's 
 clemency, and was the cause of the execution of 
 Jerome de Fiesco, Verrina, Calcagno, and Asse- 
 reto, and of the bloody arrest against Ottobon, 
 forbidding his posterity as far as the fifth genera- 
 tion to come near Genoa. 
 
 Let us stop here, and consider exactly what 
 happened in the execution of this great design. 
 Let us, if it be possible, draw fiom the infinite 
 number of faults, which we may observe in it, ex- 
 amples of human frailty, and let us own that this 
 enterprise, considered in its beginnings as a mas- 
 terpiece of courage and conduct amongst men, ap- 
 pears in the sequel of it full of the common ef- 
 fects of the meanness and imperfection of our na- 
 ture. For, after all, how shameful was it in An- 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 203 
 
 drew Doria to abandon the city at the first noise, 
 without making the least attempt to appease, by 
 his authority, that popular commotion ? * How 
 great an infatuation was it in him to neglect the 
 advices he received on all hands, of the Count's 
 enterprise ? How great an imprudence was it in 
 Giannetino to go alone, and in the darkness of the 
 night, to St Thomas' Gate, to remedy a disorder 
 which he had no reason to despise, being ignorant 
 of the cause of it ? How great a coward was Car- 
 dinal Doria, not to dare to leave the Senate, and en- 
 deavour to retain the people by the respect they 
 owed to his dignity ? How imprudent were the 
 Senate not to assemble all their forces, at the first 
 alarm, to stop at once the progress of the conspi- 
 rators in the principal posts of the city, instead 
 of sending only weak succours, which could be of 
 no considerable service ? And, lastly, what kind 
 of conduct was it to endeavour to reclaim by re- 
 monstrances a professed rebel, who had arms in 
 his hands, and who found himself the strongest ? 
 But, after a formal treaty, how pernicious a maxim 
 was it in that Senate to violate the public faith, 
 and to break a promise so solemnly given to Je- 
 rome and Ottobon de Fiesco ? For if the fear of 
 such usage may be useful to a state, by keeping 
 within the bounds of their duty those who might 
 
 • The Cardinal's admiration of this enterprise has made 
 him forget that the elder Doria could hardly be prevailed 
 on to leave the city. There is more reason in his second 
 question than in his first. It was not shameful in Doria 
 to leave Genoa. He was at this time seventy-nine years 
 of age, and could have made but a feeble resistance to the 
 conspirators, with whom his former autliority would have 
 been nothiu";. 
 
204 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 have any thought of revolting, it may also he very 
 pernicious to it, hy taking away from those who 
 have revolted all hopes of a pardon. And, indeed, 
 it is hard to comprehend how those politicians, who 
 were reckoned very ahle men, were not afraid, by 
 this example, of throwing into despair Jerome de 
 Fiesco, who still held the rock of Montobio, which 
 he could have put into the hands of foreigners, and 
 the loss of which was of the greatest importance 
 to the city of Genoa. But if those we have been 
 speaking of were guilty of remarkable faults in this 
 occasion, we may say that the conspirators commit- 
 ted still greater errors after they had lost their chief. 
 The Count's valour and good conduct, which were 
 in some measure the supreme intelligences which 
 governed all the motions of his party, failing by 
 his death, that party fell at once into a disorder 
 which completed its ruin. Jerome de Fiesco, who, 
 on many accounts, was obliged to conceal his 
 l)rother's death, was the first that published it, 
 and thereby gave his enemies a fresh courage, and 
 possessed the minds of his friends with fear. Ot- 
 tobon, Verrina, Calcagno, and Sacco, who had 
 made their escape in the galley, set at liberty, al- 
 most as soon as they had left Genoa, the prisoners 
 whom they had in their hands, without foreseeing 
 that they might become necessary to them for mak- 
 ing their accommodation. Verrina having heard 
 of the Count's death, retired in his galley, and 
 basely abandoned an afiair of that consequence to 
 the conduct of Jerome, who had neither experience 
 sufficient, nor authority enough amongst the con- 
 spirators, to finish it. That same Jerome made a 
 treaty with the Senate, and agi-eed to retui-n to the 
 condition of a private man, after having been on 
 
III. THE REVOLT OF COUNT FIESCO. 20b 
 
 tlie point of jjecominp^ a sovereign. He afterwards 
 made a shameful capitulation in Montobio upon 
 the promise of those who had already broke their 
 faitii with him. Verrina, Calcagno, and Sacco, 
 the principal actors in this conspiracy, and the most 
 criminal of all the Counts accomplices, persuaded 
 Jerome to that mean action, upon the hopes that 
 were given them of impunity, choosing rather to 
 run the hazard of dying by the hands of the exe- 
 cutioner, than to fall honourably in the siege. 
 
 Thus ended this great enterprise. Tlius died John 
 Lewis de Fiesco, Count de Lavagna, whom some 
 honour with the greatest encomiums, others load 
 with blame, and many excuse. If we consider the 
 maxim which advises us always to respect the exist- 
 ing government of the country to wliich we belong, 
 without doubt his ambition is criminal. If we re- 
 spect his courage and all the great qualities which 
 shone forth in the conduct of that action, it appears 
 noble and generous. If we regard the power of 
 the House of Doria, which gave him just cause to 
 apprehend the ruin of the commonwealth and his 
 own, it is excusable. But in which way soever we 
 speak of it, the most passionate tongues and pens 
 cannot disown but that the ill they can say of him 
 was common to him with the most illustrious men. 
 He was born in a small state, where all private 
 conditions were beneath his courage and his merit; 
 the natural turbulence of his countrymen, ever 
 prone to novelty ; the loftiness of his own mind, 
 his youth, his great estate, the number and flatte- 
 ries of his friends, the favour of the people, his 
 being courted by foreign princes, and, lastly, the 
 general esteem of every one, were powerful sedu- 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
206 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 cere to inspire with ambition a more moderate 
 mind than his. The sequel of liis enterprise was 
 one of those accidents which human wisdom can- 
 not foresee. Had the success been as happy, as 
 the conduct of it was full of prudence and vigour, 
 it is to be believed that the sovereignty of Genoa 
 had not bounded his courage or his fortune, and 
 that those who condemned his memory after his 
 death, would have been the loudest in his praise 
 whilst he lived. The authors who have blackened 
 him with so many calumnies to satisfy the passion 
 of the Dorias, and to justify the breach of faith 
 of the senate, had by a contrary interest made his 
 panegyric, and posterity had counted him amongst 
 the heroes of his age. So true it is, that good or 
 ill success is commonly the rule of the praise or 
 blame given to extraordinary actions. However, 
 I think we may say with all the equity required in 
 an historian that gives his judgment on the reputa- 
 tion of men, that nothing was wanting to that of 
 the Count de Fiesco but a longer life, and more 
 upright occasions of acquiring glory. * 
 
 • The preceding is a narrative of perhaps one of the 
 most extraordinary and daring enterprises ever attempted. 
 But it is almost impossible to agree with the Cardinal's 
 reflections in the concluding passage. He seems to ima- 
 gine that HO revolt or conspiracy is treasonable, if it prove 
 successful, simply because those who are loudest in its 
 condemnation when unsuccessful, would be the first to 
 applaud, if its contrivers were otherwise. This is a species 
 of reasoning with which no sound-thinking man will a- 
 gree. This note is inserted, merely to make the reader 
 aware of the sophistry which pervades the Cardinal's pero- 
 ration, which, were it practised, would lead to very danger- 
 ous and destructive consequences. 
 
IV. 
 
 THE 
 
 DEATH OF DON CARLOS; 
 
 SON OF 
 
 PHILIP II. OF SPAIN, 
 A. D. 1588. 
 
DEATH OF DON CARLOS, 
 
 SON OP 
 
 PHILIP IL OF SPAIN, 
 
 A. D. 1588. 
 
 To Flanders, Pisa, straight my letters send. 
 Tell them the injured Carlos is their friend, 
 And that to head their forces I design, 
 To vindicate their cause if they dare mine. 
 
 Otway's Tragedy of Don Carlos. 
 
 The story of Don Carlos, son of Philip II. of 
 Spain, is one of those mysteries which it is difficult 
 to unfold. An ohscurity attends it, which pro- 
 bably originated with Philip himself, in order to 
 restrain any inquiry into the melancholy fate of 
 his son ; and hence, this obscurity has afforded a 
 theme for numerous romancers, who have execrat- 
 ed the conduct of Philip, while setting forth the 
 disappointed attachment of Don Carlos and his 
 step-mother. 
 
 Our story will be brief. Every one knows the 
 remarkable manner in which Charles V, the father 
 of Philip II, retired from the world, and resigned 
 his vast possessions both in the Old and New World 
 to his son. The transition from a throne to the 
 2 R 
 
210 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 gloomy seclusion of the monastic cett, from pos- 
 sessing the chief influence in Europe, and main- 
 taining a brilliant rivalship with his contempora- 
 ries, to that of obscurity, listlessness, and content- 
 ment amid the austere rites of the Catholic faith, 
 afforded a striking instance of the vanity of hu- 
 man gi-eatness, of theii- innumerable cares, and 
 harassing intrigues. The schemes of glory and 
 ambition which Charles V. buried in his convent, 
 he would, indeed, have gladly seen Philip pui*sue ; 
 and, notwithstanding his own retirement, and con- 
 viction of the burden which he himself had found 
 intolerable, the Emperor still wished to secure an 
 accession of his own greatness to his son, to urge 
 him to the pursuit of glory, and to consolidate his 
 widely extended dominions, which he knew well 
 conferred rather the appearance of strength than 
 the reality. 
 
 When Charles V. abdicated the throne, though 
 disappointed in his schemes, his son Philip II. was 
 still the most powerful monarch of his age. It 
 was, however, before that event, that the character 
 of Philip was strikingly contrasted with that of his 
 father. At the age of sixteen he married Mary, 
 a princess of Portugal, who died two years after- 
 xerwards in childbed, after having given birth to 
 Don Carlos. Nine years afterwaids, in 1554, 
 when he was in the twenty-seventh year of his 
 age, he married the Princess Mary of England — 
 a marriage which had been negotiated by his fa- 
 ther the Emperor ; and Charles himself, it is said, 
 if Philip had declined this alliance, had thoughts of 
 offering himself to Mary, not wishing to lose such 
 an opportunity of augmenting his power. But 
 Philip was as ambitious as liis father, and ho readi- 
 ly consented to marry a princess of thirty-seven, 
 
IV. THE DEATH OF DON CARLOS. 211 
 
 (fwagreeable in her manners, cruel in her disposi- 
 tion, destitute of every female charm, who even 
 excelled him in bigotry and zeal for the extirpation 
 of heresy. 
 
 With this part of Philip's liistory, as also of his 
 fitting out the famous Spanish Armada, and of the 
 descent he meditated on Ireland in the reign of 
 Elizabeth, every one is familial". Mary died child- 
 less, and Don Carlos was as yet the heir of the 
 Spanish crown. The early history of the Prince 
 is involved in obscurity ; but it is generally agreed 
 that he closely resembled Philip himself in many 
 particulars. Deformed in his person, his temper 
 was violent and irascible ; nor did he ever give any 
 remarkable indication that his understanding was 
 profound, or that he had any capacity for govern- 
 ment. As a proof of his disposition, it is said, 
 that on one occasion, as be and his governor, Don 
 Garcia de Toledo, who was greatly attached to 
 him, were riding togetlier in a retired place, the 
 latter having expostulated with him on his con- 
 duct, the Prince drew his sword, and would have 
 slain Don Garcia, had he not escaped by the swift- 
 ness of his horse. Yet he had scarcely arrived at 
 the years of manhood, before he evinced the ut- 
 most restlessness to be admitted into a share of 
 the government, which Philip as steadily opposed, 
 either from jealousy, or from a knowledge of his 
 incapacity to discharge any important trust. Don 
 Carlos was not of a disposition to endure this op- 
 position, and the proceedings of his father in va- 
 rious matters still farther excited his disgust. 
 
 The superstition which predominates in Spain, 
 wanted not a zealous patron in the person of Phi- 
 lip II. He established the Inquisition in his do- 
 
212 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 minions, — a tribunal which he found often of con- 
 siderable importance to his affairs, and which, for 
 more than two centuries afterwards, scourged that 
 kingdom. In the year 1559, on a visit to Valla- 
 dolid, he resolved to give a proof of his zeal for 
 the Church and his detestation of heresy, by pre- 
 siding at an Auto-da-fe. One of these acts had 
 been recently performed before his arrival in that 
 city, on which occasion a number of Protestants 
 had been committed to the flames. There were 
 still, however, upwards of thirty remaining in 
 the dungeons of the Inquisition, against whom 
 the same dreadful sentence had been denounced. 
 As Philip, on one occasion, had solemnly dedicat- 
 ed his reign to the defence of the Roman faith, 
 and the extirpation of heresy, he desired the In- 
 quisitors to appoint a day for the execution of 
 these unhappy victims, and he resolved to be him- 
 self a witness of their agonies. The dreadful 
 ceremony was accordingly conducted by the In- 
 quisitors with all the pomp and solemnity which 
 they could devise ; and Philip, attended by his 
 sister, Don Carlos, and a number of the nobles, 
 exulted in the atrocious spectacle. After a ser- 
 mon had been preached by the Bishop of Zamo- 
 ra, he again swore a solemn oath, administered to 
 him by the Inquisitor-General, that he would sup- 
 port the tribunal, and compel his subjects every 
 where to abjure the heresies of Luther. The in- 
 human sacrifice then commenced. Among the 
 victims was a nobleman named Don Carlos di 
 Sessa, who, when conducted to the stake, turned 
 his streaming eyes towards the King, and, with 
 uplifted hands, exclaimed, " Canst thou thus, O 
 King, witness the torments of thy subjects ? Save 
 
IV. THE DEATH OF DON CARLOS. 213 
 
 US from this cruel death, for we deserve it not." 
 " No," replied Philip, " I would myself carry 
 wood to burn my own son were lie such a wretch 
 as thou." And he sat unmoved, and beheld the 
 spectacle. 
 
 From such a father, Don Carlos could only 
 look for the most summary treatment, if found 
 engaged in intrigues. Mutual disgusts had arisen 
 between them, accelerated by the violent impetu- 
 osity of Don Carlos, and Pliilip behaved towards 
 him with distance and reserve. The former was 
 mortified still farther, when he beheld the royal con- 
 fidence enjoyed by noblemen towards whom he en- 
 tertained an unconquerable aversion, partly on that 
 account, and partly because he considered them as 
 spies set over his conduct. These were the fa- 
 mous Ferdinand Alvarez, Duke of Alva, renown- 
 ed as a general, but not less famous for his cruel- 
 ty, lluy Gomez de Sylva, and Spinoza, President 
 of the Council. Towards the former, indeed, Don 
 Carlos did not conceal his resentments ; and on 
 more than one occasion he had threatened the Duke, 
 and even attempted his life, for accepting the go- 
 vernment of the Netherlands, to which Don Car- 
 los himself aspired. 
 
 But there was another cause sufficient to rouse 
 the spirit of Don Carlos, and which probably ex- 
 asperated him still more against Alva, as he was 
 the person who carried on the negotiation. While 
 Philip, Iiis father, was engaged in making over- 
 tures of marriage to Elizabeth of England, and 
 had actually taken some steps to procure a dis- 
 pensation from the Pope to that effect, being mis- 
 led by the artful conduct of that princess towards 
 his ambassador at London, the Duke of Feria, 
 
214< CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Don Carlos himself had contracted, during the 
 lifetime of Mary of England, an alliance with 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II., the son of Francis 
 I. of France ; and, according to some writers, the 
 prince had been so far successful as to gain her 
 affections. But when Elizabeth of England found 
 herself securely seated on her throne, and refused 
 the alliance of Philip, which was one cause of his 
 unfortunate invasion by the Spanish Armada, the 
 King, thougli knowing well the sentiments of his 
 son, turned his attention towards France, and 
 made overtures to Henry, which were accepted ; 
 and Elizabeth became his third queen. She was 
 espoused at Paris by the Duke of Alva, in the 
 name of his master ; and it was on this occasion 
 that the splendour of the ceremony was defeated 
 by an event fatal and unexpected. Tilts and tour- 
 naments were celebrated on the occasion ; and 
 Henry, who was no novice in martial accomplish- 
 ments, entered the lists to break a lance with the 
 Count de Montgomery, who, at the command of 
 his sovereign, complied with great reluctance. The 
 first encounter was furious on both sides, and the 
 Count's lance having broken against the King's 
 helmet, he attacked Henry with the stump. It 
 was fatal to the King ; a splinter entered his right 
 eye ; the monarch fell to the ground, and was in- 
 stantly conveyed to his palace, where he soon ex- 
 pired, transmitting Jiis sceptre to the young and 
 feeble Francis II., the husband of IMary Queen of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Don Carlos, irritated by jealousy, rejoiced at 
 this calamity, and at first hoped that a sudden turn 
 of affairs would render the marriage of his father 
 nugatory. But the ministers of Francis II,, and 
 
IV. THE DEATH OP DON CARLOS. 213 
 
 his motlier Catherine de Medicis, of the House of 
 Guise, insisted on the fulfilment of the treaty, 
 and the Princess Elizabeth was conducted by the 
 King of Navarre to the French frontiers, where 
 she was received by the chief of the Spanish nobi- 
 lity, and a splendid retinue. She was conducted 
 to Toledo, where Philip resided, in which city the 
 marriage was celebrated with royal magnificence ; 
 and a princess, young, beautiful, and amiable, was 
 consigned to the arms of a husband, whose dispo- 
 sition, morose, gloomy, and forbidding, had never 
 known the tender sentiments of domestic life, and 
 who was totally incapable of appreciating her ex- 
 cellence. 
 
 Whether there be any truth in the assertion, 
 that Elizabeth, having felt an attachment for Don 
 Carlos, still retained the recollection of her former 
 suitor, which was even heightened by the austerity 
 of her husband, it is impossible, from the mystery 
 which conceals it, positively to say ; it may be 
 truth ; it may be the mere dream of poets and 
 romancers : but if it be truth, he must have begun 
 early in these adventures, as he was then not much 
 more than fourteen years of age. It is agreed, 
 however, that this disappointment, and his father's 
 displeasure, transported him beyond the bounds of 
 prudence ; nor did he attempt to conceal his re- 
 sentment. The severe government of Philip gra- 
 dually provoked his subjects, who were no less 
 afraid of his zeal for exterminating the Protestant 
 faith. In no country was this fear more apparent 
 than in the Low Countries, or the Netherlands, 
 which were then under the Crown of Spain. The 
 inhabitants became disgusted with the conduct of 
 Philip during his residence among them, both on 
 
216 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 account of their attachment to the reformation of 
 religion, and the continuance of foreign troops in 
 their provinces. Numerous disturbances arose ; 
 and Don Carlos, when in his twenty-first year, 
 was intriguing with the malcontents, and was en- 
 tertaining a design of withdrawing into Flanders, 
 to put himself at their head. The prince had al- 
 ready held secret interviews with the Marquis of 
 Mons and the Baron de Montigny, two noble- 
 men connected with the Low Countries, the object 
 of which was that the prince should assume the go- 
 vernment. It would appear that Philip knew 
 something of these intrigues between his son and 
 the malcontents, but he pretended for the present 
 to disregard them. Enraged, however, at the 
 turbulence of the Low Countries, and exasperat- 
 ed against the Prince of Orange, he resolved to 
 send against them a man whose disposition to 
 cruelty was well known, and who, while he pos- 
 sessed the most consummate knowledge of a ge- 
 neral, would rule them with a rod of iron. 
 
 The Duke of Alva, the inveterate enemy of 
 Don Carlos, was appointed, in 1767, to the go- 
 vernment of the Netherlands ; and the conduct of 
 the prince on this occasion evidently proves that 
 Alva's appointment frustrated all his ill-concerted 
 plans. So exasperated he was, that when Alva 
 waited upon him to take his leave before his de- 
 parture, he drew his dagger, and would proba- 
 bly have killed the Duke, had he not been re- 
 strained by his attendants, who carried him ont of 
 the apartment by force. Alva proceeded to his 
 government, and his arrival spread consternation 
 over the provinces. He established a council, 
 which he called the Council of Tumults^ hut 
 
IV. THE DEATH OF DON CARLOS. 217 
 
 wliich rather deserved the epithet which the Fle- 
 mings bestowed on it, the Council of Blood. A 
 series of atrocities followed, which have few pa- 
 rallels in modern history. Some months iiad 
 hardly elapsed, when upwards of 1800 persons suf- 
 fered by the hands of the executioner ; yet his 
 thirst for blood, and his fury towards the Protest- 
 ants, were not satisfied. A black catalogue of 
 crimes marks Alva's infamous career in the Low 
 Countries, and rendered him a fit representative 
 of a monarch who could sit unmoved, and behold 
 the lamentable spectacle of an Auto-da-Fe. 
 
 The Prince of Orange, against whom the ha- 
 tred of Philip was particularly directed, had fore- 
 seen the impending storm, and withdrawn into 
 Germany. Don Carlos, in the mean while, was 
 not idle in the court of Spain ; but unfortunately 
 the disaffected in the Low Countries wanted an 
 agent of greater ability and penetration. The 
 marriage of Elizabeth with his father had made lit- 
 tle alteration on his sentiments ; and it is main- 
 tained by many writers, that his conduct roused 
 the jealousy of Philip. As many of the friends of 
 Don Carlos had consulted their safety by a preci- 
 pitate flight from the Netherlands into Germany, 
 a correspondence was commenced between him 
 and the refugees. Nevertheless, as a pretence, 
 for whether he was sincere or not is doubtful, he 
 became desirous of marrying his cousin, Anne of 
 Austria. To this proposal Philip, though he did 
 not give it a decided negative, evinced no parti- 
 cular anxiety that it should be concluded ; and 
 Don Carlos consequently imagined, what indeed 
 was extremely probable, that hia father intended 
 
218 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 to set aside his succession. He now formed the 
 design of retreating into Germany ; and for this 
 purpose wrote to some of the Spanish nobles to 
 aid him in his enterprise. 
 
 The designs, however, of Don Carlos, whatever 
 were their nature and importance, were all disco- 
 vered to Philip by some persons connected with 
 the Court. The projects of this unfortunate 
 prince ought to have awakened emotions of pity 
 in the bosom of his father ; but to these Philip 
 was a stranger. He convened the Inquisitors to- 
 gether, who were his chief counsellors, at Madrid ; 
 and it was resolved to commence the punishment 
 of the Prince, by depriving him, in the first in- 
 stance, of his liberty. Don Carlos had, indeed, 
 given previous indications of fear, by keeping a 
 chest of fire-arms in his apartment, and by sleep- 
 ing with loaded pistols under his pillow. He had 
 also contrived a lock for his apartment of a pe- 
 culiar construction, by which he might be easily 
 alarmed if any attempt should be made to surprise 
 him. This the King knew, and he was also 
 aware, that Don Carlos would not hesitate to de- 
 spatch even himself in his own apartment, if he 
 had time to grasp his fire-arms. But, attended by 
 some of the Inquisitors carrying dark lanterns, he 
 effected an entrance into the apartment, while Don 
 Carlos was asleep, and rousing him, he ordered 
 him instantly into custody, reproaching him for 
 his conduct, and telling him that he had come to 
 administer parental chastisement. The unfortu- 
 tunate prince was then arrayed in a mourning ha- 
 bit, though not without great difficulty, for he 
 frequently attempted to kill himself, and even threw 
 
IV. THE DEATH OF DON CARLOS. 219 
 
 liimself into the fire of an apartment into which 
 he was led. 
 
 For six months after his arrest, Don Carlos was 
 kept a close prisoner in the hands of the Inquisi- 
 tors. Dming this confinement, he became insane. 
 He sometimes fasted for several days, then ate 
 voraciously, and attempted to choke himself by 
 swallowing unchewed victuals. Many interces- 
 sions were made for his release by the principal 
 nobility of Spain, but Philip was inexorable. His 
 fate is involved in mystery, and there are different 
 accounts of his death. Some have maintained, 
 that he was strangled, others that he was bled to 
 death ; and the friends of Philip have maintained, 
 that he died a natural death, about six months 
 after his imprisonment, having received his father's 
 forgiveness, and the sacrament of the church. 
 But it appears undeniable, that a sentence dicta- 
 ted by Philip himself, and emanating from the In- 
 quisition, terminated the existence of Don Carlos, 
 and that he died by the administration of poison 
 in the month of February 1568. 
 
 It is doubtful whether the death of Don Carlos 
 resulted from his father's rage, on account of his 
 turbulence and correspondence with the discon- 
 tents of the Low Countries, or his jealousy for the al- 
 leged intrigue the prince canied on with the Queen. 
 The latter opinion is the favourite theme of ro- 
 mance ; but, however much it may have been mag- 
 nified, it is not improbable, and it is certain the 
 Queen died soon after, not without strong suspi- 
 cions of being poisoned. That Don Carlos was 
 engaged in a treasonable correspondence, which 
 might have ripened into a formidable conspiracy, 
 there is every reason to believe ; but his tragical 
 
220 CONSFIRAXJIES. 
 
 fate was more severe than he merttec^l^ as his con- 
 duct was not distinguished by that caution and 
 prudence which mark the progress of daring and 
 dangerous enterprises. Whatever may be the cre- 
 dit assigned to his fate at the present time, or 
 whatever may be the opinion concerning it, it was 
 currently believed in the reign of Philip ; and in 
 the Netherlands, in particular, the voice of the 
 multitude failed not to impeach him for the stern 
 and unnatural sentence. And, after all, tiie hus- 
 band of Mary of England, who in a manner sanc- 
 tioned the cruelties of her short and inglorious 
 reign, the master of the Duke of Alva, who heard 
 the recital of that nobleman's atrocities without 
 one emotion of pity, or expression of disapproba- 
 tion, can have little claim to generosity or clemen- 
 cy. His viewing the execution of the Protestants 
 by the Inquisition with unconcern, might have been 
 ascribed to superstition ; but his cruelty to his son, 
 whose conduct, although unjustifiable, he could 
 have effectually restrained, by keeping him in du- 
 rance, admitted of a different interpretation. " It 
 was considered by all the world," observes a writer, 
 " as a proof that his heart was dead to the senti- 
 ments of natural affection and humanity, and his 
 subjects were everywhere filled with astonishment. 
 It struck terror, in a paiticular manner, into the 
 inhabitants of the Low Countries, who saw how 
 vain it was to expect mercy from a prince, who had 
 so obstinately refused to exercise it towards his 
 own son, whose only crime, they believed, was his 
 attachment to them, and his compassion for their 
 calamities. " 
 
V. 
 
 THE 
 
 GOWRIE CONSPIRACY, 
 
 A. D. 1600 ; 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 THE RAID OF RUTHVEN, 
 1582. 
 
THE 
 
 GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN- 
 
 — — « Mere sentinels are kings, 
 And at the post of danger more cxix)scd, — 
 Sliields that between the people and their foes 
 Are interposed. " 
 
 Musqrave's Ignez dc Castro. 
 
 Much has been said and written on the Gowrie 
 Conspiracy, which has remained a mystery to the 
 present moment ; nor am I so vain as to presume, 
 though I am so bold as to adventure among the 
 many writers who have discussed the subject, that 
 I shall be able to unfold the mystery, and establish 
 this remarkable event of history in its true and 
 legitimate aspect. But the subject is still inter- 
 esting ; and something yet remains to be said on it, 
 from certain documents, some of which have been 
 recently published ; at least, I shall endeavour to 
 concentrate the most important facts connected 
 with it, which I shall adduce to establish my own 
 conclusions. 
 
224 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 But, in order to understand rightly the nature 
 and objects of tliis Conspiracy, it is necesary to 
 go fartlier hack into history, tlian tlie few years 
 which it immediately preceded. As it is from the 
 assassination of David llizzio in the presence of the 
 sovereign, that we are to look for all the subse- 
 quent mur(!ers, factions, and conspiracies, which 
 before the accession of James VI. to the crown 
 of England continually occurred, we may perhaps 
 find the origin even of the Gowrie Conspiracy in 
 that daring insult to the sovereign. The first who 
 stabbed that unfortunate minion, heedless of his 
 cries, the expostulations of Mary, and her delicate 
 situation, was Lord Ruthven, grandfather of the 
 last Earl of Gowrie, who, pale and ghastly, 
 scrupled not to rise from a bed of sickness, to 
 commit a murder in the private apartment of his 
 Queen. After this event, what crimes are not re- 
 corded in the Scottish annals ! The murder of 
 Damley; the deep-laid schemes and hypocrisy of 
 the Earl of Murray; the dark intrigues and factious 
 cabals of his minions and associates ; the expulsion 
 of Mary from the throne ; Murray's assassination, 
 the death of the Earl of Mar, Kirkaldy of the 
 Grange, Maitland of Lethington, and the Earl of 
 Morton, not to mention others of lesser note, and 
 other circumstances, — all characterize the age as 
 one of turbulence, crime, and sedition. Add to 
 these the religious disputes which succeeded the 
 Reformation ; the conduct of the Presbyterian 
 ministers ; their arrogance, and their high preten- 
 sions ; their being invariably found connected with 
 almost every faction ; their seditious sermons, 
 and their bold denunciations against legitimate au- 
 thority, not to mention the extravagant powers 
 
r. THB RAID OF RUTHVEN. 225 
 
 which tliey assumed, and I venture to say, that 
 the annals of few countries present such a dark 
 catalogue of crimes, treason, and sedition, as those 
 of this, at that time poor, and comparatively insig- 
 nificant, northern kingdom. 
 
 At the period when James VI. assumed tl»e 
 reins of government, which was in 1580, Scotland 
 was harassed hy various parties whose turbulence 
 originated under the pretence of religion. The 
 three parties into which the nation was soon di- 
 vided, were the Roman Catholics, whose esta- 
 blishment had been overthrown by the reformers 
 with more zeal than knowledge, inasmuch as it 
 was accompanied by uncalled for ebullitions of 
 fury and devastation ; the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, which the King washed to establish in the 
 room of the ancient ecclesiastics ; and the Presby- 
 terian preachers, whose theology and notions on 
 church-government were imported from the school 
 of Geneva, and who had established themselves. 
 The first party prevailed greatly in the northern 
 counties, under the especial influence of the Eaii 
 of Huntly, and other powerful cliiefs ; the second 
 prevailed also in the north, and to a limited ex- 
 tent, among the inhabitants of the Lowland coun- 
 ties, being supported by the court, a considerable 
 number of the nobles, the landholders or lairds, and 
 many of the well informed of the middle classes ; the 
 third, and the most numerous, was supported almost 
 exclusively by the inferior and lowest ranks, aided 
 by a few of the nobles, some of whom adhered to it 
 more from policy than principle. To the honour 
 of the ancient church, it must bo remarked, that, 
 after its final annihilation in 1507, few insurrec- 
 tions of any note are recordwl, and its adherents 
 
226 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 were cliiefly active during the lifetime of the vm- 
 fortunate Mary, to wliom they were attached, as 
 much from tlie principles of respect due to le- 
 gitimate authority, as from congeniality in religion, 
 being frequently aided and encouraged })y various 
 of tlie reformed peers, who joined or opposed the 
 Queen's party, as the occasion suited their af- 
 fairs. But the murder of Mary at Fotheringay 
 annihilated their hopes, and ended the associa- 
 tion. The Protestant Church, on the other hand, 
 being sanctioned by the State, having no occasion 
 to be turbulent, existed peaceably, through much 
 suffering and insult from the third party, the Pres- 
 byterian preachers, headed by Andrew Melville, 
 who, animated with the most inveterate liatred to 
 whatever savoured not of the Calvinistic polity, 
 as if truth had taken up her abode nowhere else 
 but in a single city of Switzerland, thundered their 
 anathemas from the pulpit against the King, the 
 court, and all those who favoured not their party; 
 as if real religion was to be found only among 
 them, and nothing but heathenism among their op- 
 ponents, alarming the people by fierce declama- 
 tions respecting their national liberty, interpreting 
 every measure of the government into an act of 
 tyranny and oppression, and teaching them that 
 the church of the great, and learned, and enlight- 
 ened Englisli nation, was as lieretical and errone- 
 ous as that of Rome. 
 
 It will thus be seen, that I connect the Gowrie 
 Conspiracy in some degree with religion ; and this 
 I shall endeavour to prove as I proceed. Inflamed 
 by this spirit, and animated by these resentments, 
 rendered more furious by grievances real or ima- 
 ginary, the supporters of this last party, having 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 227 
 
 contrived to take along with them the rabble,, were 
 a most formidable faction. The bold pretensions 
 of the ministers, who, being in possession of the 
 pulpits, had excellent opportunities for inculcating 
 their favourite opinions, which they hardly if ever 
 failed to improve, and the influence which they 
 contrived to establish over the people, were ad- 
 mirable auxiliaries in the hands of a party whose 
 safety depended on popular clamour. As tlie Pres- 
 byterian ministers had been always the mortal ene- 
 mies of Mary, whose very religion was crime 
 enough in their eyes, the assassination of David 
 Rizzio, or " Siguior Davie, " as they termed him, 
 was applauded by them as a noble act;* and they 
 scrupled not to give countenance to the malicious 
 report, which is unblushingly maintained by one 
 of their great champions, Buchanan, and darkly 
 
 * That John Knox was privy to this assassination can 
 hardly be doubted. When James VI,, on one occasion, 
 censured Knox's memory for approving of that atrocious 
 act, a minister replied, " that the slaughter of David, 
 so far as it was the work of God, was allowed by Mr 
 Knox, and not otherwise. " Calderwood MS., quoted 
 by Dr M'Crie, Life of Knox, p. 309. We need not be 
 surprised at this, for Knox had previously exulted in the 
 rriurder of Cardinal Beaton, and actually sanctioned 
 it, by afterwards joining the murderers. With respect 
 to Itizzio's murder, which no sound-thinking person can 
 ever justify, and Knox's share in it, I presume the reader 
 will peruse the following set-oft" by Dr M'Crie with 
 considerable surprise, narrated by the reverend author 
 quite in the spirit of Knox, as if it were a second godli/ 
 fact. " There is no reason," says he, " to think that he 
 (Knox) was privy to the conspiracy that proved fatal to 
 Rizzio. But it is probable that he expressed his satisfac- 
 tion at an event which contributed to the safety of re- 
 ligion and the commonwealth, if not also his approbalion of 
 the conduct of the conspitators/ " 
 
228 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 alluded to by John Knox, that lUzzio had unlaw- 
 ful intercourse with Mary. The authors of t!iat 
 atrocity were invariably extolled ; and Lord Ruth- 
 ven, who died in exile at Newcastle, was held as 
 a godly professing nol)lenian. Tliis peer, who has 
 found a place among Walpole's " Royal and Noble 
 Authors, " for having written a narrative of Rizzio's 
 murder, in which there is not one expression of 
 regret, or the least symptom of repentance, for a 
 crime as dishonourable as it was barbarous, was 
 succeeded, in 1566, by his second son William, 
 fourth Lord Ruthven, and first Earl of Gowrie, 
 who having married Dorothea, second daughter of 
 Henry Steuart, Lord Methven, became not very 
 remotely connected with the royal family. * He 
 had been actively engaged with liis father in the 
 association against Rizzio, and had fled with him 
 into England ; but lie found means to procure a 
 pardon from Mary, through the interposition of 
 the Eail of Morton, and returned to Scotland. 
 Having thus had an example of faction and insult 
 to his sovereign set before him in his earliest 
 years, and being indeed connected with it, hia 
 future life, till liis execution at Stirling, may be 
 easily explained. He early connected himself, 
 moreover, with the Presbyterian ministers, who 
 
 ♦ The first Earl of Gowrie was, however, connected 
 with the royal family without that alliance. His grand- 
 father, WiHiam, second Lord Ruthven, married Janet Ha- 
 liburton, eldest daughter and coheiress of Patrick Lord 
 Haliburton of Dirleton, in East-Lothian, by which he ob- 
 tained that barony. This lady was of royal extraction, 
 as Lord Haliburton's ancestor, Sir WaUer Haliburton, 
 married Lady Isabel Stuart, eldest daughter of Robert 
 Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, and third son of 
 King Rol>ert IL 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN\ 229 
 
 appear to Iiave looked upon it as a part of their 
 privilep^e to insult the government, and who in- 
 variably expressed themselves in a manner not 
 very courteous towards every one who was pre- 
 sumptuous enough to difl'er from them. The 
 rank and influence of the family of Gowrie ren- 
 dered their accession to that party a matter of no 
 small importance ; and, before the affair which is 
 the subject of these pages took place, the House of 
 Gowrie had been held as the acknowledged leaders 
 of James' enemies and opposers. As the first 
 Earl of Gowrie, or, to speak properly. Lord Ruth- 
 ven (for he had not then been raised to the earl- 
 dom), had begun early in life to oppose the go- 
 vernment, of which his father had set before him 
 no inconsiderable example, he repaid Mary's ge- 
 nerosity in recalling him from exile and grant- 
 ing him a pardon, by the basest ingratitude, "and 
 was actually one of those who waited on her in 
 the Castle of Lochleven, in which she had been 
 imprisoned by Murray's faction, where they com- 
 pelled her, after behaving with the greatest rude- 
 ness and indecency, to sign her abdication, by 
 threatenings which professed to affect her life. * 
 Thus united with the party who, to accomplish 
 Murray's schemes, had openly insulted their royal 
 mistress, Ruthven was appointed Treasurer of 
 Scotland for life in 1571, and an Extraordinary 
 Lord of Session in 1578. By his smooth address, 
 
 • The Author of Waverley makes Mary thus address 
 Lord Ruthven on that occasion, after she had encountered 
 the indecent rudeness and blunt usage of Lord Lindsay, 
 with whom she contrasted him, " Farewell, my Lord of 
 Ruthven, the smoother but the deeper traitor. " — Abbot. 
 
 VOL. I. T 7 
 
230 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and the share which he had in procuring the con- 
 demnation of the Earl of Morton, he insinuated 
 himself into the favour of James after he assumed 
 the government ; and accordingly, in the Parlia- 
 ment of 1580, he was created Earl of Gowrie ; 
 and the barony of Gowrie, which formerly be- 
 longed to the monastery of Scone, was erected 
 into an earldom by royal charter, dated "2 0th of 
 October that same year, f 
 
 Gowrie, thus owing his elevation to the turbu- 
 lence of the times, and to the zeal which he mani- 
 fested for the popular party of religionists, to-wit, 
 the preachers, was henceforth their acknowledged 
 leader, one of their " godly professors, " and de- 
 fenders of what they rather singularly, yet grave- 
 ly, termed the " Universal Kirk of Scotland. " 
 The characteristic features of the " professors " of 
 that period were rather peculiar ; and though they 
 had departed from Rome, they nevertheless af- 
 forded a striking illustration of the adage, that 
 extremes frequently eft'ect a collision. The Roman 
 Pontiff claimed the supremacy over temporal so- 
 vereigns as universal Bishop ; in like manner, the 
 Presbyterian of the " Universal Kirk" stoutly 
 denied that he had any dependence upon them, 
 and placed the head of his Church whom he chose 
 at a very convenient distance. As in the days of 
 the ancient ecclesiastical splendour and power, it 
 w^as declared that no churchman could be sum- 
 moned before a lay tribunal ; in like manner, the 
 Presbyterians of Scotland at this period maintain- 
 ed, that their doctrines and opinions were cog- 
 nizable only by a court composed of themselves, 
 
 * Douglas' Peerage, folio, vol. i. apud Earls of Gowrie. 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTH VEX. 231 
 
 called the Prcshyteinj, and that wore even treason 
 or sedition taught from the pulpit, the civil power 
 could in no case decide upon it, till it was dis- 
 cussed in the said Presbytery, of which, it must 
 be recollected, the supposed preacher of treason or 
 sedition was a member, and not likely to be the first 
 person who would admit his errors.* Nay, the Pres- 
 byterian ministers of that period went so far as to 
 maintain, that their General Assembly was supe- 
 rior to the Parliament — that no acts ought to be 
 passed without their previous consultation, deli- 
 beration, and concurrence ; and they have been 
 known to set aside acts of Parliament, and to 
 have declared them of no effect, when these acts 
 were displeasing to their fancies, f The analogies 
 between some of the leading features of Popery, 
 and the opinions of the ministers in the reign of 
 James VI., migiit be carried farther ; but enough 
 has been said to show the nature of their prac- 
 tices and opinions. It is necessary merely to keep 
 in view, what cannot be denied, that they invari- 
 ably opposed the sovereign, and constioied his 
 every act, whether trifling or important, into a 
 measure of tyranny, an attack on their liberties, 
 and that, too, accompanied frequently by con- 
 duct not in remarkable harmony with their office 
 as ministers of a religion of peace. 
 
 An imperium in impcrio of the above descrip- 
 tion was not likely, from its bold and extravagant 
 pretensions, to be the promoter of harmony and 
 civil order. Accordingly, in 1582, a new de- 
 
 * For tlicsc and other remarkable illustrations, the 
 reader may consult Caklerwood, pj). 103, IIO, 1 H, 193- 
 10(5. Spottisuoode, pp. 316, 317, 318, 222, 323. 
 t James VI. Pari. 12. cap. 111. 
 
232 CONSFIRACIES. 
 
 fiance of the royal power connected with the 
 Gowrie family, and in which the ministers, by 
 their subsequent conduct, evinced that they were 
 deeply interested, took place. It was in this 
 year that a confederacy was formed among cer- 
 tain of the most influential persons of the no- 
 bility, attached, or pretending to be attached, 
 to the Presbyterian interest, the supporters of 
 which were beginning to perceive that the King 
 was by no means so zealous in behalf of that sys- 
 tem of ecclesiastical polity as they had at first an- 
 ticipated. The leaders in this conspiracy were 
 the Earls of Gowrie, Mar, Athol, Rothes, and 
 Glencairn, Lords Lindsay, the Master of Glara- 
 mis, the Abbots of Dryburgh, Cambuskenneth, 
 and Paisley, * with others of their friends, f In 
 concert with these were the chief Presbyterian 
 ministers, at the head of whom was the celebrat- 
 ed Andrew Melville. :j: 
 
 While the motives which induced this formid- 
 able faction to coalesce, were simply the lessen- 
 ing of the regal power to exalt their own, many 
 circumstances occurred which were likely to ren- 
 der an enterprise successful. The inclination of 
 
 * Or commendaton:, for they were laymen, having seiz- 
 ed the temporalities of these abbeys at the Reformation. 
 To the above may be added the Abbot or Commendator of 
 Dunfermline and the Prior of Pittenweem. Historie of 
 King James the Sext, -ito, Edinburgh, 1825, p. 189. 
 Printed by the Bannatyne Club. 
 
 f In the sentence of i'orfeiture there appears, in addi- 
 tion, Lords Oliphant and Boyd, the Lairds of Lochleven, 
 Clcish, and Easter Wemyss, the Lord Justice Clerk Bel- 
 lenden, and the Constable of Dundee. There are also 
 two noble ladies, the Countess of Gowrie, and the Countess 
 of Cassillis. 
 
 J Historie of King James the Sext, ut sup. p. 186. 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 233 
 
 James for favourites had been early manifested, 
 and at this period he liad two, vvlio mortally hated 
 each other, Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and 
 cousin-germ an of James' father, and .James Stew- 
 art, Earl of Arran, who, by a series of intrigues, 
 and even crimes, had been elevated to that dig- 
 nity at the expense of the House of Hamilton, 
 which had been by him unjustly deprived of that 
 earldom. The former, who has been most de- 
 servedly described by Dr Robertson as gentle, hu- 
 mane, and candid, * the only amiable favourite 
 whom James ever adopted, was eventually driven 
 from Scotland by a faction who pretended to be- 
 lieve him a Papist and an emissary of Rome ; the 
 latter is described as being of " a prowd and ar- 
 rogant mynd, and thoght na man to be his equal." 
 The disputes between those two noblemen, at first 
 resulting from private jealousy, became at length 
 public, and were productive of innumerable feuds. 
 While Lennox was supported by the court party, 
 Arran contrived to interest the Presbyterian mi- 
 nisters in liis quarrel, by affecting an outrageous 
 zeal against Popery, and by opposing the King's 
 measures with regard to the government of the 
 church, to which they had an invincible hatred. 
 It must be here observed, that the period of the 
 Reformation in Scotland was xha j)eriod of crimes \ 
 — that conspiracy followed conspiracy in quick 
 succession, — which must invariably be the case, 
 when any great and essential change in a state is 
 effected by the mob. 
 
 The Raid of RutJiven thus partly originated 
 
 * History of Scotland, 4to edit. vol. il. p. 70—94*. 
 f Caledt»nia, vol. iv. p. 858. 
 T 2 
 
234 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 from two causes ; the private quarrel of Lennox 
 and Arran, and the intrigues of the ministers. A 
 circumstance, illustrative of the latter, occuired at 
 this time, which induced the ministers more readily 
 to co-operate in exciting a popular ferment. After 
 the death of John Douglas, the first Protestant 
 Archbishop of St Andrew's, Patrick Adamson, a 
 scholar and a pcet, had been appointed to the pri- 
 macy. As he would not submit to the General 
 Assembly, lie was most violently denounced by 
 Andrew Melville, and almost all the ministers. 
 The clamour which they excited, however, and 
 the fear of the excommunication they threatened, 
 induced Adamson to tender them a kind of sub- 
 mission not very consonant to his dignity. But 
 this did not satisfy them. They summoned him 
 before them, industriously propagated a report, 
 that he had consulted the devil for the recovery of 
 his health ; and were the means of procuring an old 
 woman, named Alison Pearson, to be imprisoned, 
 and afterwai'ds burnt as a witch, for recommending 
 to the Archbishop some simple medicines, not of 
 the most palatable kind, in his illness. * 
 
 • This fact is narrated with great gravity by Calder- 
 vvood, (p. 14-0.) It appears from his account, that Alison 
 Pearson made Iier escape from prison, by the aid of the 
 Archbishop ; but such were the tender mercies of the 
 ** Presbiterie, " that she was apprehended four years after- 
 wards, and actually executed on the Castlehill of Edin- 
 burgh, being " wirreit at ane staik" and " brint in as- 
 sis." The trial is given in tlie First Part of Mr Pit- 
 cairn's Criminal Trials before the Court of Justiciary in 
 Scotland _; and Alison's alleged cure of the Archbishop 
 gave rise to the satire entitled, « The Legend of the 
 Bischop of St Androis, " where his Grace's trafficking 
 with witches is recorded wiM) the keenest hatred It is, 
 however, a very contemptible production. 
 « 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. S35 
 
 As Lennox advised James to support the Arch- 
 bishop, and to oppose the *' newly erectit societie 
 of ministers caliit the Presbiterie, " * he became 
 no less odious to them than to Arran ; and as tlie 
 " Presbiterie " liad the ear of the people, the con- 
 duct of the ministers of Edinburgh being' imitated 
 by the inferior grade in the country parishes, they 
 were found to be most important auxiliaries in 
 Arran's practices. Tiiere was, however, another 
 case somewhat similar to Archbishop Adamson's, 
 in which Lennox was more immediately con- 
 cerned, and which fomented the popular outcry 
 against him. The See of Glasgow had been va- 
 cant since the flight of Archbishop James Beaton 
 to Paris, who had refused to accede to tlie Re- 
 formation. Lennox's friends conceived, that if an 
 Archbishop were to be appointed in the Duke's 
 interest, it would be a good opportunity for him 
 to obtain an influence in that city, as Glasgow was 
 dependent on the Archbishop, he being ex officio 
 lord of the regality. Accordingly, Robert Mont- 
 gomery was induced to accept it, in a manner 
 not very lionourable either to his patron or him- 
 self. He promised to cede to Lennox all the 
 lands and revenues belonging to the See, and to 
 content himself with 500/. Scots (about 70/. Ster- 
 ling), and some trifling immunities, f Montgo- 
 mery, unfortunately for himself, had formerly been 
 a keen opponent of Episcopacy ; and as his con- 
 duct was viewed by his quondam friends as a 
 flagrant apostasy, they proceeded more rigorous- 
 ly against him than against Adamson. It is a 
 
 * Historie of King James the Scxt, ut sup. p. 186. 
 f Spottiswoodo, however, says that the sum was 1000/. 
 Scots, about IIO/. sterling. History, p. 310. 
 
236 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 curious circumstance, however, that in the vari- 
 ous altercations which ensued on the suhject, 
 tlie}'^ oraitted altogether the most important mat- 
 ter — namely, tlie simoniacal contract, to which 
 charjre Montgomery liad certainly rendered him- 
 self liahle ; and it is probahle, that liad they ma- 
 naged tlie affair in a moderate manner, and found- 
 ed their opposition on that circumstance, it might 
 have terminated very differently. But, on the 
 contrary, they drew up a sort of very modest 
 charge against the Archbishop, to the following 
 effect, — that he had maintained, in a sermon at 
 Stirling, that women were circumcised in the fore- 
 head — that lie had called the Presbyterian ministers 
 men of curious brains — that he had disdainfully 
 asked in what passage of Scripture they found a 
 bishop for a thousand pounds, horse, corn, poultry, 
 &c. — that lie had termed the ministers lovers of 
 sedition, and saitl that they ouglit to wear crowns 
 — that he termed the ministers liars, bachhiters^ 
 and writers of infamous libels. While tlie process 
 against the Archbishop was depending, James more 
 tlian once threatened Melville, and his " newlie 
 erectit societie callit the Presbiterie, " with the 
 pains and penalties of treason ; but Montgomery 
 was nevertheless found guilty of unsound doctrine, 
 dissoluteness of life, contempt of the church's sen- 
 tence, falsehood, lying, perjury, inciting to sedi- 
 tion ; and was ordered to be cast out of the church, 
 under the sentence of excommunication. 
 
 Tliese rigorous proceedings somewhat intimi- 
 dated the Archbishop, and he endeavoured to make 
 Iiis peace with his enemies by professing to sub- 
 mit to their autherity, and to have no farther 
 connexion with the See of Glasgow. Finding, 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 237 
 
 however, tliat this eubmission had displeased the 
 King, he retracted it, and proceeded to Glasgow 
 to take possession of the See. On the 8th of 
 March 1582, the Archhisliop entered tlie cathe- 
 dral, and seeing a minister in the pulpit, he order- 
 ed him out. Tiie preacher replied, that he was 
 placed there by the Kirk, and refused to come 
 down ; whereupon he was forcibly ejected, and 
 even buffeted by the followers of the Laird of 
 Minto. Another minister named Howison, who 
 pretended to be moderator of the Presbytery, was 
 imprisoned by the Provost of Glasgow, being for- 
 cibly pulled out of the chair, for certain seditious 
 speecnes which he was holding forth. 
 
 The ministers and their adherents were now 
 sufficiently exasperated. They ordered a fast to 
 be observed throughout the nation ; the pulpits re- 
 sounded with invectives against the Duke of Len- 
 nox ; and Balcanqual, one of the preachers, pub- 
 licly gave out this significant threat in a sermon at 
 Edinburgh, that " if his Grace continued in op- 
 posing himself to God and his word, he would 
 come to little grace in the end. " Montgomery 
 was modestly found guilty of " heresy, popery, 
 common blasphemy, adultery, incest, fornication, 
 slaughter, theft, common oppression, common 
 drunkenness, usury, non-residence, absence from 
 bis kirk," 8cc.* was at length actually excommu- 
 nicated with anathemas and denunciations, and 
 finally delivered over to the devil by a man named 
 Davidson. 
 
 The King was somewhat startled at their oppo- 
 sition, but not so the Duke of Lennox. He still 
 continued to entertain the Archbishop, which gave 
 • Calderwood, p. 124'. 
 
238 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 mortal offence to liis enemies. Havinp: deputed 
 two of tlieir number to intimate to tlie Duke the 
 prelate's excommunication, as also the penalties 
 wliich those incurred who kept company with ex- 
 communicated persons, Lennox fiercely asked them, 
 whether the King or they were to be superiors ; 
 and also gave them to understand, that the Arch- 
 bishop was entertained by him at the King's com- 
 mand, and lie would continue to do so wliiie he 
 pleased, in defiance of their censures. The King 
 had also declared the excommunication illegal; and 
 a list of grievances was agreed upon by the minis- 
 ters, which they resolved to present to James him- 
 self in September 1582. 
 
 But various proceedings in the interval, which 
 fall now to be recorded, materially altered the as- 
 pect of affairs. Arran, Lennox's mortal enemy, 
 observed with exultation that James was intimi- 
 dated by this opposition ; and he resolved not to 
 lose the opportunity to rid himself and his own asso- 
 ciates of a rival. Being sure of the support of the 
 ministers, who were ready to engage in any conspi- 
 racy agiiinst their sovereign and the Duke, Arran 
 pretended great subn)ission to James, and offered 
 to resign his office as Captain of the Guard, which, 
 being accepted, was, to his infinite mortification, 
 bestowed on Lennox. He then craved permission 
 to retire from court, which was also granted ; with 
 the stipulation, however, that he should fix his re- 
 sidence in the metropolis. 
 
 All this tended to exasperate Arran and his 
 friends ; but their policy induced tliem to submit 
 to these things witli seeming acquiescence, l^ut 
 this pretended compliance was merely a covert to 
 their designs. A powerful confederacy was form- 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 239 
 
 ed, which had for its pretended object, the defence 
 of the religion and the liberties of the kingdom, 
 but, in reality, to procure the ruin of Lennox, and 
 possession of the King's person. This confederacy 
 was not managed with so great caution, as to pre- 
 clude it from reaching the ears of the Duke ; but 
 an apparent reconciliation, which was eff'cted be- 
 tween him and Arran, tended to throsv him oft" his 
 guard, while the confederacy in secret was equally 
 opposed to Arran, whose ruin was also meditated 
 by some of its members, after they had accom- 
 plished that of Lennox. The liunting-season was 
 advancing, when James prepared himself to parti- 
 cipate in a sport of which he was passionately 
 font!. For this purpose, he proceeded to Athol, 
 leaving his two rival favourites at their respective 
 residences ; Lennox at Dalkeith, in Mid-Lothian, 
 and Arran at Kinneil, near Borrowstounness, in 
 Linlithgowshire ; and accompanied only by two 
 noblemen, the Earls of Athol and Gowrie. The 
 district of Athol at that period possessed peculiar 
 attractions to those devoted to the pastimes of the 
 chase; and the numerous clansmen of the chief 
 frequently graced the retinue of the Scottish sove- 
 reigns, when they visited those sequestered dis- 
 tricts. Thither the young monarch proceeded, to 
 forget for a while the feuds of his factious and tur- 
 bulent subjects. 
 
 It was at this season that the confederates re- 
 solved to commence their operations against both 
 the favourites of the King. The inclinations of 
 James were in favour of Lennox, whose mildness 
 of disposition and urbanity of'manners had render- 
 ed him exceedingly popular with all save Arran, 
 the Presbyteriau preachers, and their admirers 
 
240 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 among the rabble. The popular party was at this 
 time engaged in a treavsonahle correspondence with 
 Elizabeth, and it was soon industriously circulat- 
 ed by them that Lennox was a Papist, and in 
 league with the Duke of Guise, simply because 
 he happened to be a Frenchman by birth. In the 
 execution of his office, moreover, ,as Lord Cham- 
 berlain, an office which had been suffered to fall 
 into desuetude, he found the proprietors of lands 
 strongly disposed to dispute their feudal tenures, 
 which made him exact the duties with the utmost 
 rigour ; and thus, though he did no more than he 
 was warranted by law, he raised up against him- 
 self a number of enemies. The boroughs were also 
 under the jurisdiction of the chamberlain, and the 
 proceedings of Lennox were by no means popular 
 with those who managed their affairs, inasmuch as 
 he had resolved to revive that jurisdiction, which 
 the carelessness of his predecessors had caused 
 them to neglect. 
 
 But, however much Lennox erred in his pub- 
 lic proceedings, and however falsely he was slan- 
 dered by a faction who affected to believe him 
 a Papist, and in the interest of the unfortunate 
 Mary, his errors were those of the head, not of 
 the heart, as being a man too easily counselled by 
 ambitious and designing adventurers. It was not 
 so with the Earl of Arran, whose infamy the page 
 of history has faithfully recorded. This nobleman 
 was Captain James Stewart, son of Lord Ochiltree, 
 who, in 1581, had accused and brought to the 
 block the Regent Morton, as being concerned in 
 the murder of Dainley. Having thus commenced 
 liis career in blood, it was not to be expected that 
 
V. THE BAID OF RUTHVEN. 241 
 
 he would be too scrupulous as to principle. With 
 jjieat dexterity he procured the guardianship of the 
 young Earl of Arran, who, from repeated mortifi- 
 cations and disappointments, had become deranged. 
 No sooner had Stewart obtained possession of that 
 young nobleman, at one time beloved by the Re- 
 iformers, than he seized his estates, assumed his 
 title, and kept his ward in custody, where he was 
 treated with barbarous cruelty. Being as cunning 
 as he was unprincipled, he had the address to in- 
 sinuate himself into the favour of the King, whose 
 juvenile passions he flattered and humoured, and 
 whose mind he endeavoured to poison by de- 
 bauchery and dissipation. While he was enter- 
 tained at the house of the Earl of March, the 
 King's grand-uncle, he scrupled not, in open de- 
 fiance of the laws of honour, gratitude, and hos- 
 pitality, to seduce the wife of his benefactor, a la- 
 dy young and beautiful, but of the most violent 
 and profligate passions. Impatient of restraint in 
 their guilty connection, and wishing to legitimatise 
 the offspring of their adulterous commerce, the la- 
 dy, by the advice of Arran, petitioned to be di- 
 vorced from her husband on grounds which no 
 modest woman would ever plead in a court of jus- 
 tice. By the influence of Arran she was success- 
 ful ; — a sentence of divorce was passed, which was 
 instantly followed by marriage with her paramour. 
 Nay, so utterly unprincipled was this man, that 
 when the King, then only sixteen years of age, 
 was at his seat of Kinneil, he carried his sister in 
 his arms by force, and undressed, into the King's 
 apartment, and told his sovereign to use her in the 
 devil's name. Such was the man who industrious- 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
242 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ]y i'omouUid the report that Lennox was a Papist, 
 who affected to regard the Protestant religion iu 
 danger, and with whom the Presbyterian ministers 
 hesitated not at times to act, in their zeal to esta- 
 blish their favourite system of church- go vern- 
 merit. 
 
 But Arran, as well as Lennox, was viewed with 
 hatred by the confederacy, though not with the 
 same feelings, inasmuch as the French connections 
 of the latter operated powerfully against him. The 
 confederacy, as has been observed at the outset, 
 consisted of the Earls of Gowrie, Mar, Glencairn, 
 Athol, and Rothes, Lords Lindsay, Boyd, Oliphant, 
 the Master of Glammis, the Lairds of Lochleven, 
 Cleish, Easter Wemyss, with several other barons 
 and gentlemen of distinction. The King proceeded 
 to Athol ; and, after having enjoyed his pastime, 
 prepared to return to the metropolis with a small 
 number of attendants. He accordingly left the forest 
 of Athol, and, on the 22d of August 1582, was pro- 
 ceeding on his journey southwards, when he was in- 
 vited by Govv'rie to Rutbven Castle, which lay iu 
 his way. * James accepted the invitation, little 
 conceiving that there was any design against him, 
 though, when he entered the Castle, he felt some 
 uneasiness at the multitude of strangers. This 
 alarm, however, he thought it prudent to conceal, 
 although he had sufficient grounds for alarm, as his 
 own attendants were few, and as the retainers of 
 the confederated nobles were armed, to the num- 
 ber of 1000 and upwards, and dispersed through- 
 
 * Now called Hunting Tower Castle, and belonging 
 to the Duke of Athol. It is in the parish of Tipjjernniir, 
 Perthshire, and consists of two ancient square towers, con- 
 nected by buildings of a more recent date. 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 243 
 
 out the npighbourhood. Durin? the night, no in- 
 dication of violence appenred ; but on the, follow- 
 ing morning, when the King summoned his at- 
 tendants, and was about to leave the apartment, 
 the Master of Glamrais appeared at the door, and 
 told him that he must stay. Thougli the King's 
 fears had now increased, he nevertheless appeared 
 to be at ease, and inquired at the Master the rea- 
 son of his interruption. He was told in reply that 
 he would know it soon. The associated Lords then 
 appeared, and presented a remonstance against 
 Lennox and Arran, which James received with 
 the complaisance necessary in his situation. Still 
 he was impatient to be gone, and made an effort 
 to leave the room, but was rudely prevented. 
 Finding himself a prisoner, he expostulated, en- 
 treated, and threatened ; and at last, finding no 
 chance of escape, he burst into tears. The Mas- 
 ter of Glammis, however, fiercely exclaimed to his 
 companions, " No matter for his tears : better 
 children weep than bearded men. " This ex- 
 clamation made an impression on James, which 
 lie never afterwards forgot or forgave. They 
 immediately placed the King under severe re- 
 straint ; dismissed all liis followers, whom they 
 impeached, and allowed no one to have access to 
 him but those of their own party. 
 
 This exploit was soon noised abroad ; and on 
 the following day, Arran and his brother set out 
 for lluthven witli about forty horsemen, to escort 
 the King to Edinburgh. He depended much on 
 the friendship of the Earl of Gowrie, to whom he 
 was allied, and who had co-operated witlf him in 
 the prosecution of the Regent Morton. He hatl 
 accordingly with his party proceeded as far as 
 
244 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 DupUn, where he separated from his followers, 
 and with two attendants proceeded to the Castle 
 of Ruthven, charging his brother to keep the high- 
 way with the rest. Arran arrived at the gate, and 
 demanded admission to the King ; but the wrath 
 of the conspirators arose to such a pitch, at the 
 sight of a man who was now odious, that instant 
 death would have been the penalty of his rashness, 
 had not the friendship of Gowrie intervened. He 
 was sent a prisoner to Stirling Castle. His fol- 
 lowers, under the command of his brother, were 
 attacked by the Earl of Mar with a superior force. 
 They were soon routed ; his brother was taken 
 prisoner, severely wounded, and sent to the Cas- 
 tle of Duplin. 
 
 For six days the King was kept in close con- 
 finement, but treated, nevertheless, with respect. 
 Lennox, in the mean time, was not idle. He des- 
 patched some noblemen in his interest to inquire 
 into the condition of the King, and to ascertain 
 whether or not he was detained against his will ; 
 for if so, as was strongly rumoured, he would en- 
 deavour to set him free. They were not permit- 
 ted, however, to see the King, except in presence 
 of the associated nobles ; and when they had ex- 
 pressed their opinions, James immediately exclaim- 
 ed that he was a prisoner, which he desired them 
 to proclaim to all his subjects, hoping that the 
 Duke would exert himself to effect his rescue. 
 The ringleaders denied that he was a captive ,• and 
 after expressing an invective against both Lennox 
 and Arran, declared to the noblemen sent by the 
 former, that they were resolved to persist in their 
 course at the hazard of their lives and fortunes ; 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 245 
 
 and with this declaration, thoy forcibly ejected the 
 messengers of Lennox from tlie Castle. 
 
 When the news of this exploit readied the me- 
 tropolis, nothing could exceed the consternation of 
 the public mind. In Edinburgh the influence of 
 Lennox was considerable, and he made himself 
 particularly active by Ids endeavours to excite tlie 
 citizens. The conspirators, however, the day after 
 his captivity, suffered James to proceed to Perth, 
 in order to preserve appearances, hut vigilantly 
 guarded by their own associates. James now 
 found it necessary to yield to circumstances. Tiie 
 remonstrance which the ringleaders had presented, 
 abounded with the most furious invectives against 
 the two ftivourites, the Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 the Bishop of Ross, and various others who were 
 attached to the unfortunate Mary. Thus situated, 
 and more apprehensive for the safety of Lennox 
 than for liis own, he agreed to issue an extorted 
 proclamation, setting forth, that his residence at 
 Perth was his own fiee choice, and commanding 
 all associations which had been formed for his res- 
 cue to dissolve within six hours from tlie date of 
 the proclamation, under the penalties of treason. 
 This proclamation bore date the 28th of August, the 
 eighth day after the capture of the King. Lennox 
 was by this time at tlie iiead of a considerable force ; 
 and we are also informed by Sir James 13alfour, 
 that another association was formed to liberate the 
 King, consisting of the Earls of Iluntly, Crawford, 
 Argyle, Montrose, Marischall, Sutherland, and 
 Caithness, Lords Home, Seton, Ogilvy, Maxwell, 
 lierries, Sinclair, Livingstone, and Newbottle, with 
 all the gentlemen of Merse and Lothian. Whe- 
 \j2 
 
246 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 ther or not those noblemen coalesced with Lennox, 
 it is impossible to say ; but it is probable that he 
 would have paid little attention to the proclama- 
 tion, as he knew that the King was a prisoner, 
 and that it had been extorted from him by force, 
 had he not received a private letter from the King, 
 exhorting him to leave the kingdom before the 
 20th of September. This letter he communicated 
 to his friends, who advised him in the mean time 
 to retire to Dunbarton, where they would after- 
 wards deliberate whether he should depart for 
 France, or attempt the rescue of the King. At 
 Dunbarton, however, so many noblemen and othei-s 
 espoused his cause, that the confederates took the 
 alarm, and procured an order from James, com- 
 manding all the Duke's attendants, with the ex- 
 ception of forty, to depart from Dunbarton within 
 twelve hours after notice, and to desist from ap- 
 proaching the Duke's residence while he was in 
 Scotland. Lennox lost all hope after this intima- 
 tion, and sent Lord Herries with two gentlemen 
 to demand assurance of his own safety, if he com- 
 plied with that order. After mature deliberation, 
 his enemies sent him a peremptory order ; * and 
 while Lennox was considering it, AiTan was exa- 
 mined in prison, but the result was not made 
 known. George Douglas, also, the same who had 
 aided Mary in her escape from Lochleven, was 
 arrested at Stirling, and examined concerning the 
 intended plot to associate Mary with the King in 
 the government. He confessed that he had heard 
 the report, but denied that he had concern in it, 
 nor could he inform them who were its contrivers. 
 
 • Moyes» p. 64, C5» 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 247 
 
 Gowrie and the noblemen who detained the 
 King began to diacover, that all their pretended 
 representations about the public good had no effect 
 in quieting the uneasiness of the people. He was 
 accordingly brought to Edinburgh ; and his recep- 
 tion, on entering the city, was highly characteristic 
 and picturesque. James was met by the Presbyterian 
 ministers, who formed part of the procession, and 
 proceeded along the streets, singing the 124th Psalm, 
 beginning, " Now Israel may say, " &c. * A con- 
 vention of the Estates was called, which of course 
 consisted solely of the associated peers. The 
 ministers loudly extolled the detention of the King ; 
 they passed an act of their assembly, declaring the 
 conspirators " to have done good and acceptable 
 service to God ; " and threatening those with ex- 
 communication who opposed the good cause. The 
 act of their assembly they caused to be read in 
 all the churches of the kingdom, " to the offence, " 
 observes Spottiswoode, " of many good men, who 
 were grieved to see a bad cause thus coloured and 
 defended. " 
 
 The plans of the conspirators were successful with 
 regard to Lennox. Arran was set at liberty, and 
 compelled to reside northward of the river Spey, but 
 Lennox was commanded to leave the kingdom. As 
 to the Duke, he continued to lurk about Blackness, 
 Dunbarton, Callender, and other places, where he 
 could find shelter, still hoping that circumstances 
 might occur which would cause an alteration in his 
 affairs. But the hatred of his enemies was impla- 
 cable. Though often destitute of the common 
 necessaries of life, and even of clothing, he was 
 
 * Spottiswoode, p. 322. 
 
248 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 reluctant to depart from the kingdom without tak- 
 ing leave of his sovereign. This was denied him ; 
 and he at length departed for France, where he 
 (lied on the 2yth of May the following year, of a 
 broken lieart, as was reported, but not without 
 strong suspicions of being poisoned. James la- 
 mented his deatli sincerely, and ever afterwards 
 showed kindness to his children. A few hours 
 before his death, which happened at Paris, some 
 priests came to him to administer the last rites of 
 the Romish Church, but he v/ould not admit them, 
 and declared that he would die in the faith of the 
 Church of Scotland. This fact was publicly made 
 known by James, that the people might see the 
 injury he had sustained by his enemies during hia 
 residence in Scotland. 
 
 An ambassador, in tlie meantime, from Eliza- 
 beth, at whose instance, indeed, the whole busi- 
 ness bad been conducted, procured the recall of 
 the Earl of Angus, who had been exiled for his 
 turbulence, and forfeited in the Parliament of 1581. 
 In the beginning of December, Arran so far set at 
 nought liis restraint as to have a meeting with the 
 Earls of Crawford, Athol, and Montrose, after 
 which the Court was daily distracted by rumours 
 of conspiracies and intended assassinations. The 
 King was still as much a prisoner as he had been 
 when in the Castle of Rutliven ; and he was doom- 
 ed to repeated mortifications and insults from the 
 ministers and their adherents. Two ambassa- 
 dors, who came from France to negotiate with 
 James respecting his mother's affairs, and to re- 
 monstrate with the confederates on the King's 
 imprisonment, were publicly insulted by them. 
 Their sermons abounded with declamations against 
 
V. THE RAID OP HUTHVEN. 249 
 
 them : they were termed ambassadors of the hloody 
 murderer, meaning the Duke of Guise, who, they 
 maintained, had caused them to he sent hitlier. 
 One of them happened to be a knight of the Holy 
 (ihost; and, consequently, the white cross of the 
 order which he wore was pronounced to be the 
 badge of Antichrist. The ambassadors pitied a 
 monarch whose life was embittered by those men ; 
 and seeing all hope of a negotiation vain, they 
 petitioned for their dismissal, to return to France. 
 This was granted ; but the King, wishing to treat 
 them with some respect, on account of the alli- 
 ance which had formerly existed between France 
 and Scotland, made arrangements with the magis- 
 trates of Edinburgh to give them an entertain- 
 ment before their departure. This also gave of- 
 fence to the ministers ; and, in order to frustrate it, 
 they proclaimed a solemn fast to be held on the 
 very day of the festival. On that day, in ordec 
 to detain the people in the church, three of them 
 successively preached sermons in St Giles' Church, 
 the object of which was to excite the rabble to fall 
 on the ambassadors ; and their curses were more 
 than ordinarily vehement against the magistrates 
 and the nobility who waited on the foreigners. 
 Nor was this all; it was with the utmost difficulty 
 that the ministers, after the ambassadors had de- 
 parted, were restrained from excommunicating the 
 magistrates for not observing their fast, which, 
 from the motives by which it was proclaimed, was 
 in reality an insult to Heaven, and treason against 
 the King, they having no authority to institute any 
 such observances. 
 
 The King was obliged to submit to these and 
 innumerable other insults in silence, and thus the 
 
250 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 faction soon became emboldened to take greater 
 liberties witb tlie royal power. They scrupled 
 not to J^et aside acts of Parliament which did not 
 coincide with their wishes ; and they actually en- 
 acted laws in their illegal assemblies, which being, 
 as they pretended, enacted in the name, and by 
 the authority of Christ, the head of the Cburcli, 
 were not only binding on all the estates of the 
 kingdom, but were to l3e implicitly obeyed under 
 the penalty of excommunication. But James was 
 determined to endure the bondage no longer than 
 was necessary ; and various circumstances occur- 
 red which induced him to watch for a sufficient 
 opportunity. The principal object of alarm with 
 the associated Lords, was the fear that negocia- 
 tions would yet be concluded to secure the crown 
 to Marj'^ in conjunction with the King. Yet, 
 though they guarded James most sedulously night 
 and day, they could not prevent the access of cer- 
 tain noblemeu to the King, who hated the associa- 
 tion, and to whom James spoke without reserve, 
 informing them that he was resolved to hazard 
 every thing to recover his fieedom. The return 
 of two ambassadors from England, the one mak- 
 ing a report different from the other, made James 
 more anxious than ever to obtain his deliverance. 
 As the confederated Lords were in league with 
 Elizabeth, whom they secretly assured, by one of 
 the above ambassadors, tliat they would never 
 consent to the association of INIary with James in 
 the government, an assurance which was liigbly 
 gratifying to the English Queen, they feared that, 
 if James regained his liberty, bis filial regard 
 would, stimulate him to exertions in the cause 
 of his motlier. It was their interest, tlierefore, to 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 251 
 
 keep James under reGtras'iit, uritil Elizabetli was 
 able to accomplish her designs ; and the King was 
 thus compelled to coincide with what, through 
 their machinations, he could not otherwise avoid. 
 
 There cannot be the slightest doubt that this 
 was one of the intentions of those who contrived 
 the Raid of Kuthven. Whether or not they knew 
 the catastro})he which was destined for Mary, it 
 was evidently their design to render the King 
 powerless and inefficient, by endeavouring to effect 
 the ruin of all those noblemen who were inclined 
 to pity the unfortunate Queen, and by stimulating 
 the senseless and furious preachers to excite the 
 vulgar who attended them in shoals, that they 
 might secure adherents among the nobles. James 
 knew all this well, and, as the report of Lennox's 
 death had been clearly ascertained, conceiving that 
 they were now freed from a dangerous enemy, 
 they guarded the King with less care than when 
 they were daily under apprehensions that the 
 Duke would suddenly return. As for Arran, he 
 was so universally obnoxious, that he caused little 
 uneasiness. The King was accordingly enabled to 
 arrange a plan for liis escape with the Earls of 
 Argyle, Marischall, Rotlies, and Montrose, and he 
 appointed a convention of the estates, to be held at 
 St Andrew's in May 1583, to which these noble- 
 men were specially summoned. Few of the con- 
 federated nobles were then at court; and James, in 
 the meaavvjjile, left Edinburgh, with the intention 
 of making a journey through Fife and the neigh- 
 bouring counties, before the meeting of the con- 
 vention. He first proceeded to the palace of 
 Falkland, wliere he communicated his plan of 
 escape to William Stewart, Captain of the Guard, 
 
252 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and received the hearty co-operation of that officer. 
 It was arranged, that the King should set out for 
 St Andrew's, under the pretence of paying Jiis 
 uncle, the Earl of March, a visit, while the noble- 
 men, who were privy to the King's plans, were to 
 take up their residence in the castle of that city. 
 A few days before the convention met, the King 
 left Falkland, and he was joined at Dairsie in his 
 progress by some barons who were opposed to the 
 confederacy. Exulting at his escape, James amus- 
 ed himself with hawking by the way ; and he ar- 
 rived at St Andrew's without interruption. Yet 
 Lis joy at having regained his liberty seems to have 
 been imprudently expressed, and almost to have 
 thrown him off his guard ; for he slept the first 
 night in one of the inns of St Andrew's, where 
 he had little protection from surprise by his late 
 keepers. Next day, James entered the Castle of 
 St Andrew's, where he was attended by the Earls 
 of Marischall, Montrose, and other noblemen. The 
 gates were ordered to be shut, and Stewart, the 
 Captain of the Guard, was intrusted with the 
 command. A new privy council was appointed ; 
 and the Earl of Gowrie, although the most active 
 of those concerned in the Raid of Ruthven, con- 
 trived to be admitted into favour. This was done 
 at the intercession of Stewart, though not without 
 great difficulty. Gowrie was compelled to ask 
 pardon on his knees, and humbly to profess his 
 sorrow for the share he had sustained in the cap- 
 ture of the King. Even Arran, though at first 
 also refused, was permitted to come to Court; 
 and we shall afterwards see the share he took in 
 public affiiirs. 
 
 It was not to be expected that the King would 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 253 
 
 allow this bold exploit to pass unnoticed ; nor yet 
 was Arran inclined to loolc with friendly feelings 
 on those who had attempted to ruin him with tho 
 King. Yet few princes in James' situation, con- 
 sidering the insults and provocations he had re- 
 ceived, could have behaved wit!) greater clemency 
 and wisdom than he did on this occasion. He 
 published a declaration, in which he expressed 
 how sensible he was of the treasonable attempt 
 on his person at Ruthven ; yet, willing to forgive 
 all past offences, if the actors in, and defenders of 
 that exploit, would show themselves penitent, cravo 
 pardon in due time, and not provoke him by any 
 farther unlawful actions, to remember that trea- 
 sonable attempt. This proclamation, however, 
 had little effect. Arran was determined to revenge 
 himself on his enemies, who were both numerous 
 and powerful, and he contrived to accompany this 
 act of indemnity by certain conditions, which, in 
 effect, defeated the ends of the proclamation. As 
 they expected little good, therefore, from Arran, 
 they scrupled not to set at nought the declaration, 
 and to employ themselves in making the best pro- 
 vision they could for their own safety. The most 
 turbulent of them were accordingly confined to va- 
 rious places ^throughout the country ; but as they 
 chose also to disobey the charge, with the excep- 
 tion of the Earl of Angus, they were denounced 
 as rebels, and proclamations issued against them. 
 Various other proclamations followed, which were 
 sufficiently severe. The convention which assem- 
 bled at Perth made it a capital crime for any one to 
 deny that the Duke of Lennox had not died a sincere 
 Protestant. A second decree recapitulated all 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
254 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 the circumstances attending t)ie seizure and deten- 
 tion of the King's person at Ruth^en ; and a third, 
 which was levelled against the nobility who had 
 disregarded the first proclamation and indemnity, 
 ordered all loyal subjects, between the ages of six- 
 teen and sixty, within the sherifi'dom of Fife, to 
 attend the King at Falkland on the 24th day of 
 August 1583, well armed, and carrying with them 
 provisions for fifteen days, under the penalties of 
 death, and forfeiture of lands and goods. 
 
 While the King and his advisers were thus en- 
 gaged in restraining the seditious practices of the 
 associated Lords, it was not likely that the minis- 
 ters would view these transactions with indiifer- 
 ence. They held a General Assembly on the 
 10th of October, in which they proceeded to draw- 
 up certain articles to be presented to the King, in 
 which they set forth all their grievances, real or 
 imaginary. Among other individuals whom they 
 attacked were the King of France, the Duke of 
 Guise, " and other Papists there," the Earls of 
 Huntly, Crawford, and others in this country, 
 whom they characterized as " apostates," " sworn 
 enemies to Christ," " traitors," " maintainers of 
 idolatry," " wicked and obstinate Papists," " traf- 
 fickers against God." * Various other griev- 
 ances, of a more personal nature, were also enu- 
 merated, and laid before the King. But the 
 reception those articles met with from James, 
 did not satisfy them. It was in vain that they 
 were reminded, that alliances and treaties might 
 be made with foreign princes, without the dif- 
 ference of religion making them unlawful, and 
 
 * Culderwood, p. 142. 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 255 
 
 that they had no l)usiuess to interfere ; they were 
 oh.stinate in tlieir opinions, and moderation was 
 with them equivalent to open contempt of religion. 
 Tlie ministers, indeed, liad heen more than or- 
 dinarily active in their justification of the llaid of 
 Ruthven, and, in particular, the famous Andrew 
 Melville liad made no secret of Ins opinions. This 
 individual, who first introduced Preshyterianism 
 into Scotland, liad, ever since his arrival from Ge- 
 neva, kept the kingdom in a continual turmoil. 
 His zeal transported liim heyond the hounds of 
 prudence and moderation, and frequently led him 
 to act in a manner which no well-constituted go- 
 vernment could tolerate. Honest and sincere he 
 douhtless was in his religious notions, but his irri- 
 table temper hurried him into the most extrava- 
 gant excesses. It has been already observed, that 
 the ministers were leagued with Gowrie and the 
 associated Lords in their seditious attempt upon 
 tiie King's person at Kuthven, and it was their 
 interest to justify the whole plot to the people in 
 their pulpit lucubrations. In 1583, Melville preach- 
 ed a sermon on the famous fast-day which tiie mi- 
 nisters had appointed to be held when they insult- 
 ed the Irench and)assadors ; and as the Presby- 
 terian preachers of that age generally harangued 
 their hearers from the most violent passages in the 
 JewisJj Scriptures, Melville's sermon was founded 
 on the fourth chapter of the l^rophecy of Daniel, 
 which narrates the catastrophe of Belshazzar, as 
 indicated by the famous hand- writing on the wall, 
 interpreted by the I'rophet himself. The sermon 
 was preached at St Andrew's; but it was so vio- 
 lent and seditious, that Melville was summoned 
 to appear before the Council. At the time ap- 
 
256 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 pointed he obeyed the summons, but formally ten- 
 dered ills protestation against the charge ; main- 
 taining, moreover, that " what was spoken in the 
 pulpit, ought first to be tried and judged by the 
 Presbytery ; and that neither the King nor Coun- 
 cil could, i7i prima instantia, meddle therewith, 
 though the speeches were treasonable." * This 
 logic, however, made little impression on the King, 
 who was present, or the Council, who were irri- 
 tated at his insolent behaviour. But Melville 
 cared little for the presence or the person of his 
 sovereign. " You are too bold," said he, " in a 
 regular Christian church, to pass by the pastors, 
 prophets, and doctors, and to take upon yourselves 
 to judge the doctrine, and controul the ambassa- 
 dors and messengers of a greater than any here. 
 But that ye may see your own weakness and rash- 
 ness in taking upon ye that which ye neither ought 
 nor can do, there," (taking a small Hebrew Bible 
 from his pocket, and laying it down with violence 
 before the King and Chancellor,) " there are my 
 instructions and warrant, and see if any of you 
 can controul me, or say that I have exceeded 
 my injunctions." This deplorable and insolent 
 language astonished the Council. " Sir," said 
 Arran, who was Chancellor, taking up the Bible 
 and presenting it to the King, " he scorneth your 
 Majesty." " Nay," replied Melville, " I scorn 
 not, I am in good earnest." After various exami- 
 nations he was dismissed, and ordered to enter 
 himself at the Castle of Blackness within twenty- 
 four hours ; but Melville, conscious that he had 
 justly oft'ended, fled that night to Berwick. Pro- 
 
 * Spottiswoode, p. 830. Calderwood, ut nip. 
 
V. THE RAID OF IIUTHVEX. 257 
 
 l)al>ly lie feared to en tor tlio. Castle of Blackness, 
 as it was held by Arran's dependents. Imme- 
 diately .ifter his fligljt, all the seditious preachers 
 sounded his ]>ruises, aiid extolled his pretended 
 sufferings as if lie had become a renowned martyr 
 for truth. Otiiers of the preachers were also 
 sought after by the Court, who had less ability 
 a^id influence, but who were fully as seditious. 
 They contrived, however, to escape punishment, 
 by a timely retreat into England. * 
 
 l>ut while the government was thus occupied 
 with the ministers, the haiiinhed noblemen were 
 not inactive. A tew of those who were concern- 
 ed in tlie Raid of lluthven, had left the kingdom 
 according to the tenf)r of the proclamation against 
 them ; but anew conspiracy was formed, of a more 
 daring nature than the former. Of this consjiiracy, 
 the Karl of Gowrie again was the great leader. 
 Tlio Earl of Mar and the Master of Glammis liad 
 retired to Ireland, and some of their associates had 
 retreated into England, in direct violation of the 
 security which tliey gave to the government, that 
 they would leave the kingdoms of Scotland, Eng- 
 land, and Ireland, and not return within tlie same, 
 without the King's special permission, f Lord 
 Boyd, with the Lairds of Lochleven and Easter 
 Wemyss, proceeded to France, while others of less 
 influence were confined within certain bounds in 
 Scotland, Gowrie had obtained permission, not- 
 withstanding his reconciliation with Arran, to pro- 
 ceed to France in virtue of the royal proclamation, 
 
 * Caldcrwood, p. 144 — 147. Spottiswoode, p. 330. 
 Stevenson's History, vol. i. p. }5k 
 
 f Moves' Memoirs of tlie Atlairs of Scotland, p. 8a. 
 X 2 
 
258 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and under the pretence of finding a vessel to con- 
 vey liim thither, he went to Dundee, where he 
 lurked about longer than the time assigned him 
 for his departure, under various pretences ; even 
 for four or five months after the departure of Mar 
 and Glammis, he was found lingering, pretending 
 that he would depart " this day and that day. " * 
 The time specified for the final departure of Gow- 
 rie was the last day of March 1584, with an in- 
 timation to him, and those of his associates who 
 had not obeyed the royal proclamation, that if they 
 failed, they would be apprehended and punished 
 as rebels. Gowrie had previously joined in con- 
 demning the Raid of Ruthven, in which he had 
 been a distinguished actor ; but finding that this 
 admission did not mitigate his punishment, he 
 again recanted, and corresponded with his former 
 associates, f It was not his intention, however, 
 to leave the country, as he had for some time held 
 a correspondence with Mar and Glammis in Ire- 
 land, the substance of which was, that they should 
 return home, and a second time attempt to sur- 
 prise the King's person. :j: 
 
 The Court, by some means or other, got notice 
 of this new confederacy, or, at least, of Gowrie's 
 concern in the correspondence with Mar and 
 Glammis ; § and he was accordingly charged on the 
 
 * Historie of Kin,;? James the Sext, p. 199, 202. 
 
 f Calderwood, p. 143. 
 
 I Spottiswoode, p. 330. 
 
 § It is asserted, however, by Sir James Melville, (ISIc- 
 moirs, p. 155), that INIar, Glammis, and the other insur- 
 gents, had arranged the whole matter before Gowrie was 
 l)arty in it, and that he wonld have left the country, though 
 he was « of nature over-slow, " had not the " desioight " 
 
V. THB RAID OF RUTHVE^r. 259 
 
 second of March to leave the kingdom withtn fifteen 
 days, while a message was despatched to Elizal)eth, 
 entreatinij; Jier to command Mar and Glammis to 
 leave Carrick-Fergus in Ireland, where they had 
 chosen to reside. Govvrie, however, by sljifts and 
 evasions, continued to disregard the proclamation, 
 and resided at Dundee, where he found means to 
 arrange the projected enterprise. It was concluded 
 that Mar and Glammis, with their friends, should 
 return from Ireland, and proceed to Stirling, where 
 they would be joined by Gowrie and the Earl of 
 Angus, the latter of whom had been recently re- 
 called from exile, but confined on his parole to his 
 own house in the North. Mustering their friends 
 and forces at Stirling, they were thence to send 
 a supplication to the King, setting forth the ima- 
 ginary dangers which then threatened both church 
 and state. In the meanwhile, Mar and the Mas- 
 ter of Glammis were to surprise the Castle of 
 Stirling, after they had been joined by Gowrie and 
 Angus. Several other noblemen were connected 
 with this conspiracy, though at the time they re- 
 mained neutral, particularly the Earl of Bothwell, 
 and Lord Lindsay. 
 
 Such was the plan which Gowrie and his as- 
 sociates had adopted for the recovering of their 
 influence and power ; and there can be little doubt 
 that he had induced the banished noblemen to take 
 part in this entei*prise, as they seem to have been 
 guided solely by his representations. In pur- 
 suance of the plan which had been regularly 
 concocted in this treasonable correspondence, Mar 
 
 he entertained tow.iids Arraii " moved him to sttij- and 
 take part with them." 
 
260 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and Glammis arrived in Scotland in tlie month of 
 April, and, with the aid of Angus, began to collect 
 their followers for the attack on Stirling. But the 
 vigilance of the King gave the first hlow to the 
 confederacy. On the 16th of April, only two days 
 before the intended surprise of Stirling Castle, 
 Go^Tie was apprehended at Dundee, by Stewart, 
 Captain of the Royal Guard, specially deputed for 
 that purpose. Gowrie, who was completely aware 
 of the treasons in whicli he was engaged, made a 
 brave resistance before he was taken prisoner, and 
 held out his house in Dundee for some hours in 
 defiance of the royal commission, and the soldiers 
 under Stewart's command. * 
 
 The confederacy, however, had been amply ma- 
 tured before Gowrie's apprehension, which, it 
 would appear, had been etiected very unexpected- 
 ly, f as there is every reason to conclude that his 
 associates were not aware of tlie fact. He was 
 apprehended on the 16th of April ; and had they 
 received intelligence of the activity of the govern- 
 ment, they would certainly have paused before 
 they proceeded to extremes. In full reliance, 
 however, on Gowrie's assistance, more especially 
 as he was residing in a district in which he had 
 numerous friends and followers, Mar, Angus, the 
 Master of Glammis, the Commendators of Dry- 
 
 * Sir James Balfour's Annals, vol. i. p. 377, 378. 
 Moycs, p. 86. 
 
 t We arc informed by Arclibishop Spottiswoode, (Hist. 
 p. 330), that Govvrie was unexpectedly surprised by Stew- 
 art, " as lie Jay in the house of William Drummond, bur- 
 gess in Dundee. " He pretended to hold out the house ; 
 *' but the town concurring wiih ihc Caj)tain, he was forced 
 to yield. " 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 261 
 
 burgh and Cambuskonnetli, with others of tho 
 leaders, attackod Stirliiig on the IStli, and forcibly 
 took possession of the town. * Hiey easily got 
 possession of the Castle, and, erecting their stand- 
 ard, they published a manifesto, professing that 
 they were compelled to this extremity on account 
 of the unhappy state of the government. This 
 manifesto, which, according to Calderwood, was 
 Issued on the 22(1 of April, was not very remark- 
 able for its moderation. After a long preamble, 
 in which they affected to be actuated by motives 
 of pure patriotism, they indulged in bitter invec- 
 tives against those who were then at the Court, 
 terming them " an insolent company, manifest and 
 avowed Papists, Atheists, and excommunicated 
 persons, enemies to the religion and state, favour- 
 ers of the bloody Council of Trent, as appeareth 
 by banishing the most learned of the ministers," 
 &c. Arrau was charitably termed "a tyrant," a 
 "godless and bloody atheist, and seditious Ca- 
 tiline, " " the chief disturber of the country, pa- 
 tron of all kinds of rice and iniquity. " They con- 
 cluded by maintaining that they alone had " the 
 fear of God before their eyes. " f 
 
 Intelligence of this bold exploit having reached 
 the metropolis, where the King then resided, and 
 roused the government to activity, a proclamation 
 was speedily issued by James, commanding his 
 subjects to follow him to Stirling, with provision 
 for thirty days, while a few of the nobles at court 
 who were suspected, were placed under restraint. 
 
 * Cakk-rwooJ, (History, p. liO), says it was on the 
 17tli. 
 t lb. p. U9, 150. 
 
262 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 The citizens of the metropolis evinced a remark- 
 able zeal for the King, and the town-council even 
 advanced money to pay soldiers who would en- 
 list. * It was on the 1 9th of April that informa- 
 tion of the surprise of Stirling Castle was received; 
 and before the 24th, two days after the insurgents' 
 manifesto had appeared, a considerable army was 
 in readiness to march against the rebels, amounting 
 to nearly 20,000 men. The tidings of these ac- 
 tive preparations soon reached the insurgents, but 
 already had they become disheartened. The ap- 
 prehension of Gowrie had dissipated their hopes, 
 as they imagined that it was a mere pretence on 
 Lis part to betray them, he having deserted them 
 once before. Their friends and followers also 
 were more tardy in espousing their cause titan 
 they were led to anticipate ; while Elizabeth, wlio 
 had been the clsief exciter of the exploit, had ne- 
 glected to fulfil her promise by sending them the 
 expected supply of money. They had possession 
 of the fortress but a few days, wlien they were 
 disheartened and irresolute. They had only 300 
 men with tliem to oppose the royal army, which 
 was commanded by their implacable enemies. 
 
 The King, having put his army in motion, and 
 sent out a detachment under the command of Stew- 
 art, who had apprehended Gowrie, advanced in 
 person towards Stirling. Tiie near approach of 
 the royal army stmck them with dismay ; and, iind- 
 ing it impossible to hold out against a superior 
 force, Angus, I\Iar, and Glammis, abandoned the 
 fortress, and fied into England. The Master of 
 Livingstone was sent with a party to surround the 
 
 * Spottiswoode, p. 330. 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 263 
 
 Castle ; but the fortress was sun-endered to th® 
 King at t!ie first summons. We are informed by 
 Calderwood, that there were only twenty-eight 
 men in the garrison, and of these the captain and 
 three others were executed. * The command of 
 the Castle was given to Arran, and " this rash 
 and feeble attempt produced such effects as usually 
 follow disappointed conspiracies. It not only hurt 
 the cause for which it was undertaken, but added 
 strength and reputation to the King, confirmed 
 Arran's power, and 'enabled them to pursue their 
 measures with more boldness and greater suc- 
 cess." f 
 
 The government now turned their attention to 
 the principal agitators. Of these Gowrie was the 
 only one of rank in custody, and as he had be- 
 come incorrigible from his inveterate propensity to 
 turbulence and mischief, it was resolved to bring 
 him to trial. He had been brought by sea to 
 Leith, and thence had been removed to the me- 
 tropolis, where he remained a prisoner. At the 
 King's command he was removed to Stirling, 
 where the Court continued to reside after the re- 
 covery of the Castle. He was accordingly re- 
 moved thither ; and on the fourth of May, 1584, he 
 was put on his defence before a jury of his peers 
 for high treason. There were also tried at the 
 same time two of the persons engaged in the^ af- 
 fair, Archibald Douglas and John Forbes. The 
 charges against him were four, and of a singular 
 import, "1st, That he nitended and had begun a 
 new conspiracy against the King, whom he hail 
 also kept prisoner in his house some time before. 
 
 * Calderwood, p. loO. 
 
 f liobc-rtsoa's History, Svo. edit. ISOG, \ol. ii. p. 1-?. 
 
264 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 2(1, That be conferred by niglit with the servants of 
 Angus, to seize the towns of Perth and Stirling. 
 3d, That he had resented the King's authority at 
 Dundee, and had conceived a conspiracy against 
 the life of the King and his mother. 4th, That he 
 had consulted a certain woman, who was a notori- 
 ous witch, respecting the success of his conspi- 
 racy and enterprises. " * 
 
 The persons who presided at Gowrie's trial were 
 John Graham, who acted as judge; and to him were 
 joined Gordon of Lochinvar, the Master of Living- 
 stone, Edmonstone of Duntrath, and Bruce of 
 Airth ; and it is remarkable, that two of them 
 who were specially nominated by the King him- 
 self, were connected with Gowrie's family, Gor- 
 don was married to Isabel, one of Gowrie's own 
 daughters, and the Master of Livingstone was 
 also his relation, Sir William de Ruthven the 
 fii-st Lord Ruthven, who died in 1528, having 
 
 * Sir James Balfour's Annals, vol. i. p. 279, But in 
 IMaiUand's History of Scotland, folio, vol. iii. p. 1170^ 
 1177, tlie charges are given in a more plausible man- 
 ner. '« 1st, That in the beginning of February, one Da- 
 vid Hume, a servant of Mar's, had, privately at Perth, 
 communicated to him the treasonable device of surprising 
 that burgh and Stirling, at least o)ie of them, to which he 
 agreed. 2(1, That he had used every means to get himself 
 introduced to one Erskine, knowing him to be agent for the 
 Earl of Mar, and had conferred with him about surprising 
 Stirhng Castle, and the supplying it with men and ammuni- 
 tion, ^d, That having been commanded to surrender him- 
 self to the Chancellor, Lord Pittenween, &:c. he had stood 
 out for tlu-ee hours, after calling on the people of Dun- 
 dee to assist him. And lastly, that though he was bound 
 to maintain his sovereign's life, honour and crown, he had 
 treasonably concealed an affair which concerned his safety, 
 and that of the Queen hia mother, and had as yet hid the 
 pniculars. The reader will find the authentic Indictments 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 265 
 
 married Isabel, a daughter of Lord Livingstone of 
 Saltcoats, in the county of Haddington. * The 
 jury of peers consisted of the Earls of Arran, Ar- 
 gyle, Crawford, Montrose, Glencairn, Eglinton, 
 Marischall, Lords Saltoun, Somerville, Doon, Liv- 
 ingstone, Drummond, Ogilvy, Oliphant, the Laird 
 of Tullibardine, and the Master of Elphingstone. 
 Of these, Montrose, Livingstone, Drummond, and 
 Ogilvy, were connected by relationship with the fa- 
 mily of Ruthven, -|- and from that circumstance it 
 has been concluded that the King wished to save 
 Gowrie, otherwise he would not have placed so 
 many of his relations among his judges. 
 
 Wiiile Gowrie remained at Edinburgh, before 
 his arrival at Stirling, he was examined by the 
 Earl of Montrose, Lord Doon, and Sir Robert 
 Melville, to whom he confessed that he had cor- 
 responded with the exiled noblemen, but positive- 
 ly denied that he intended to seize the King's per- 
 son. Indeed, he admitted almost the whole of the 
 charges, and confessed that the Earls of Maris- 
 chall and Bothwell, Lord Lindsay, and some of 
 the Western Barons, were connected with the con- 
 federacy — that they expected a supply from Eng- 
 land — and that Elizabeth intended to induce the 
 
 in Mr Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, of which the above, how- 
 ever, is the substance. Gowrie was found guilty of " not 
 onlie maist innaturallie and treasonablie committing maist 
 hie treasoun, in conceling of ane purpois of sa wechtie im- 
 portance, bot also persisting in the said treasoun, the con- 
 tinouance of his silence, and not declaring of ye said pur- 
 pos, tending to ye perrill of his Maiestie's lyf and estate." 
 
 * The Treasonable Conspiracies of the Earls of Gowrie, 
 by George Earl of Cromarty, 8vo. Edin. 1714-, p. 12, 13. 
 
 f Ibid, ut sup. 
 
 VOL. I. Y 8 
 
266 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Hamilton8 to join them. His request for an au- 
 dience of the King, which he made by letter ad- 
 dressed to James himself, was denied ; and as he 
 had added, in a postscript, that it was not the con- 
 cealing of treason of which he intended to speak 
 to the King, but " the revealing of a benefit, " this 
 expression was made a part of the indictment 
 against him. 
 
 It is not to be denied, however, that the trial 
 proceeded in a very summary manner, and that 
 though the fact of treason was indisputable, Cow- 
 rie's judges were by no means disposed to allow 
 him the benefit of the law. He objected to Gor- 
 don of Lochinvar, on account of some family dif- 
 ferences existing between them, which objection 
 was overruled. He observed, secondly, that the 
 noblemen who examined him had given a solemn 
 pledge, that whatsoever he confessed would not be 
 alleged against him ; whereas, what he then ad- 
 mitted was now made part of the indictment. To 
 this it was answered, that those noblemen had no 
 power to give him any such assurance. Thirdly, 
 he maintained, that as he was charged with trea- 
 son, he ought to have had a citation of forty days 
 notice, and his accuser specified ; but it was re- 
 plied, that in matters of treason, the King could ar- 
 rest the person at all times. Fourthly, he raised 
 an objection on the merits of his license to leave 
 the country, which was also repelled. His last ob- 
 jection was, that what he had offered to reveal to 
 the King was not connected with the charges, but 
 for the King's own benefit ; and to this it was re- 
 plied, that his concealing of the affair was criminal, 
 and suspicious. 
 
 The objections being thus overruled, the jury 
 
V. THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. 267 
 
 found Gowrie guilty of high treason, and, with his 
 two companions, of being engaged in a conspiracy 
 against the King and Government. Gowrie was 
 accordingly sentenced to be beheaded at the mar- 
 ket-cross of Stirling, and his body to be dismem- 
 bered as a traitor. The other two were ordered 
 to be hanged. 
 
 On the evening of the same day, betwixt the 
 hours of eight and nine, Gowrie was led out to 
 execution. Douglas and Forbes had been execut- 
 ed immediately after their sentence. He made a 
 long speech on the scaffold, which was much ex- 
 tolled by the Presbyterian ministers, on account of 
 its piety and spirit of resignation. He professed 
 that all his actions were intended for the benefit of 
 the King, and endeavoured to free the other nobles, 
 and the Presbyterian ministers who were engaged 
 in his practices, from any charge or intention of 
 treason. He observed, in conclusion, as is usual 
 in these circumstances, that had he served God as 
 faithfully as he had done the King, he would not 
 have come to that end. He conducted himself 
 with the utmost resolution. He calmly laid his 
 head on the block, and it was severed from his 
 body at one blow. The other part of the sentence 
 was remitted, and his servants were allowed to 
 inter his body. * His estates were seized, and an 
 act of attainder and confiscation was passed by the 
 government, f 
 
 * ♦' His servants," says Sir James Balfour, '< did sow 
 his head to his body, and incontinently buried the same. " 
 |- Moyes's Memoirs, p. 89. Spottiswoode, p. o3>?, 
 333, Calderwood, p. lol. Melville's Memoirs, p. \dii. 
 Sir James Balfour, vol. i. p. 378. The Earl of Ctomar- 
 tv's Account, &c. p. 23. Memorabilia of Perth, p. 113. 
 the Historic of King James the Sext, p. 203, 204.. 
 
268 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Thus perished on t!ie scaffold the first Earl of 
 Gowrie, a nobleman whose life had been a con- 
 tinued scene of intrigues, factions, and cabals. 
 Two days after his execution, on the 6th of May, 
 the King departed for Edinburgh, having given the 
 government of Stirling Castle to Arran. Elisto- 
 riaus agree in assigning to Gowrie a very high cha- 
 racter for ability, but unquestionably he had given 
 no great indications of superior talents. He appears 
 to have been a man of great irresolution, and sensible 
 of his rashness when it was too late to retrieve his 
 errors. Connected as he was with the more violent 
 of the Presbyterian ministers, whose sole study it 
 was to insult and oppose the King, he of course 
 received from them the incense of applause, and 
 was held by them as one of the greatest patriots 
 of his age. But although much may be said in 
 extenuation of Gowrie, neither the violence of 
 party nor the keenness of partisanship can free 
 him from the charge of his being a dangerous sub- 
 ject in a rude and turbulent age. 
 
VI. THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. 269 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 II. THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 The King is Paler Patrice, a chief 
 Ofttimes is born for all his kinne's mischief, 
 And more, I know was never heart nor hand 
 Did prosper, which that King did e'er withstand. 
 
 Adamson's Muses Tlirenodie. 
 
 Various attempts were made, after this period, to 
 seize the person of the King, wlio soon ohtained his 
 majority. Francis, Earl of Bothwell, nephew to 
 the murderer of Darnley, aided by some of the 
 Popish barons, with a number of retainers, assem- 
 bled shortly afterwards at Quarry-Holes, near the 
 villas^e of Restalrig, and about a mile distant from 
 the Palace of Holyroodhouse, for the purpose of 
 seizing the King and overthrowing the Protestant 
 religion. The same Earl of Bothwell, with some 
 others, in 1591, surprised the Palace of Holyrood- 
 house, while the King and Queen were at supper, 
 killed one of the royal attendants, called for lire to 
 consume the doors which were barred against 
 them, and, perhaps, would have carried their riot 
 to the greatest excesses, had they not been repuls- 
 ed by Sir James Sandilands and others, who se- 
 y 2 
 
270 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 cured eight of the rioters, who were hanged nex* 
 morning before the palace-gate. This same Earl 
 of Bothwell, in the following year, with the Mas- 
 ter of Gray and others, entered into a treasonable 
 correspondence with the Court of Spain, and ac- 
 tually assaulted the Palace of Falkland at mid- 
 night, in which they would have been successful, 
 had they not been vigorously opposed by the in- 
 mates of the palace, and some of the neighbour- 
 ing inhabitants. They betook themselves to flight, 
 but not before they had plundered the royal sta- 
 bles and the park of the horses. Several of those 
 conspirators were also slain or hanged. In the 
 year 1596, a most outrageous attack was made 
 on the King and Council when assembled in the 
 Tolbooth, by the rabble of Edinburgh, excited by 
 the ministers, one of whom had prepared them for 
 it, by edifying them with a sermon in Haddo's Hold 
 Church on the story of Haman. There were num- 
 erous other attempts of less note ; and it is some- 
 what remarkable, as has been observed by a very 
 competent judge, that " nobles of the Popish and 
 Presbyterian religion frequently united in the same 
 conspiracies." * 
 
 William, the first Earl of Gowrie, left twelve 
 children, and though forfeited, his eldest son James 
 was restored to the eaildom in 1586, and died in 
 1588, aged fourteen years. He was succeeded by 
 his brother John, who, with his brother Alexander, 
 called improperly the Master of Ruthven, were the 
 contrivers of what is known by the name of the 
 Gowrie Conspiracy, f They were both born at 
 
 • Arnot's Criminal Trials, p. 35, 36, 37. 
 f In Douglas's Peerage, vol. i. p. 663, we have an ac- 
 count of the other children of the first Earl of Gowrie. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 271 
 
 Gowrie-House, in the town of Perth ; the former 
 was baptized on the 25th September 1575, and 
 was therefore in the twenty-fifth year of his age at 
 the time of liis death. His brother Alexander 
 was baptized on the 22d of January 1580-1, and 
 was only nineteen. * 
 
 Both the brothers had resided for a considera- 
 ble time in Italy. The Earl of Gowrie was at the 
 University of Padua, and left that place in 1599, 
 on his return to Scotland. During his residence 
 there, he had pursued the advantages which bis 
 high rank aflbrded him ; he was skilled in every 
 martial accomplishment, and he had received an 
 education which his talents enabled him to im- 
 prove. His external appearance, too, was noble, 
 and the qualities of his mind are said to have 
 equalled the handsomeness of his person. Possessed 
 of no inconsiderable influence, his return, of course, 
 was hailed with rapture by the ministers, as the 
 head of a house with which they had been long 
 
 William Ruthven, the fourth son, went abroad, and be- 
 came famous as a chemist. Patrick Ruthven, was a phy- 
 sician, and was confined many years in the Tower of Lon- 
 don. He was released in 1619. His daughter married 
 Vandyke, the famous painter. Lady Margaret Ruthven 
 married James, tlie fourth Earl of Montrose, and was the 
 mother of the great Marquis. Lady Mary married the 
 Earl of Athole. Lady Sophia married Ludovick, second 
 Duke of Lennox. Lady Jean married Lord Ogilvy of 
 Airly, and was mother of the first Earl of Airly. Bea- 
 trix, one of the Maids of Honour to the Queen, married 
 Sir John Home of Coldingknows. Isabel married first Sir 
 Robert Gordon of Lochinvar, and secondly, Lord Lou- 
 doun, who was a famous Covenanter in 1638, being in- 
 cited by her to the " good cause," though himself a man 
 of very loose morals. Dorothea married Wemyss, the 
 Laird of Pittencrieff, in Fife. 
 
 * MS. Register of Deaths at Perth, p. 59. 
 
272 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 connected, and whose father they pretended had 
 died a martyr for their cause. It is to be observ- 
 ed, too, that one of the most popular preachers 
 had been preceptor to Gowrie and his brother, as, 
 indeed, he had been to all the first Earl's children. 
 This was Robert Rollock, appointed Principal and 
 Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, 
 at which University Gowrie had received the degree 
 of Master of Arts, who had failed not to enforce the 
 favourite topic of his brethren, and had instilled into 
 the minds of Gowrie and his brother the alleged 
 injustice of the sentence which had deprived their 
 father of his life. It would be unfair, however, to 
 insinuate, that Gowrie's preceptor, or the minis- 
 ters in general, were the contrivers of his enter- 
 prise, or incited him to the rash adventure. But 
 it is clear, that the idea of his father having been 
 murdered, aided by his youthful ardour, his natu- 
 rally bold disposition, his popularity with the mi- 
 nisters, his ambition, and his connexions both with 
 England and the popular party, as well as his near 
 affinity to the royal family, must have deeply im- 
 pressed his mind, and made him view the King 
 with no very kindly feelings of loyal attachment. 
 
 The earldom of Gowrie, as has been already 
 observed, had been restored after the forfeiture of 
 the first Earl, in the person of his eldest son, who, 
 at the time of his death in 1588, was in the four- 
 teenth year of his age. His brother John suc- 
 ceeded to the honours and estates, at that time a 
 mere youth ; and it is to be observed, that had 
 James intended, as has been alleged, to destroy 
 the Ruthven family, it is not likely that he would 
 have removed the attainder, when he had them 
 completely under his power. On the contraiy, the 
 
VI. THE GOWIUE CONSPIRACY. 273 
 
 King seems to have been anxious to make all 
 the reparation possible for the manner of the first 
 Earl's deatlf, as if he had been actuated by a sort 
 of compunction on account of the manner of it ; 
 for, besides restoring to the family all their pos- 
 sessions and honours, Alexander lluthven was 
 made one of tiie Royal Bed-chamber ; his sis- 
 ter, Lady Beatrice, was appointed INIaid of Ho- 
 nour to the Queen ; and 8pottiswoode observes, 
 that James " had a purpose to advance the Earl 
 himself to a principal office in the kingdom." 
 These facts incontestably prove, that James could 
 have no secret hatred towards a family with whom 
 he was nearly allied even in relationship. 
 
 Gowrie, after the decease of his brother, had 
 proceeded to the Continent in ISQ-i, under the 
 care of William Rhynd, who is "mentioned as the 
 first Rector of the School of Perth, and who after- 
 wards was one of the witnesses in the investiga- 
 tion of the enterprise. He was Rector of that 
 School in March 1390, and was a man of con- 
 siderable learning. In 1594, he attended Gowrie 
 and his brother to Padua, but he returned in 1597, 
 three years before the Earl. He does not appear 
 to have been connected with the enterprise of the 
 two brothers, as will appear from his depositions, 
 and other facts in the sequel. In Padua, Gowrie 
 greatly distinguished himself ; he was chosen Rec- 
 tor of the University on one occasion, and his name 
 and arms were emblazoned in the College-hall. 
 While he was on the Continent, he visited Geneva, 
 and resided tiiree months with the celebrated Theo- 
 dore Beza, to whom he had letters of recommenda- 
 tion from his preceptor Rollock, who, it is said, 
 " loved him so dearly, that he never made mention, 
 
274 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 nor heard of his death, but with tears ; " and so great 
 was Beza's attachment to the family, that, a year 
 after Gowrie's death, and when the family was 
 proscribed and exiled, he wrote to his two bro- 
 thers, Patrick and William, and offered them an 
 asylum at Geneva, if they chose to accept his in- 
 vitation. 
 
 While Gowrie was at Padua, he received a let- 
 ter from the King, which appears to have been 
 complimentary, and written in James' usual good- 
 natured manner. He wrote an answer to this let- 
 ter, dated Padua, 24th September 1593, the origi- 
 nal of which is preserved in the University of 
 Edinburgh.* In the year 1599, he left Padua, 
 and visited the court of Henry IV. at Paris, where 
 he was received with marked distinction. From 
 Paris he proceeded to England, and Elizabeth en- 
 tertained him in a manner which was flattering to 
 his pride, and gratifying to his ambition. " She 
 ordered that guards should attend him ; that all the 
 honours should be paid to him which were due to 
 a Prince of Wales, and to her first cousin ; and 
 that he should be entertained at the public expense 
 all the time he should remain at her court." '\ It 
 is impossible to say what might have been concert- 
 ed between him and Elizabeth, but those marked 
 distinctions were extremely injudicious ; nor need 
 we wonder at his haughty demeanour towards the 
 King, when he waited on James at Edinburgh af- 
 ter his arrival from the English Court in 1600. Be- 
 
 ♦ This letter was published by Lord Hailes, in his Re- 
 marks on this Conspiracy, and also by Mr Scott of Perth, 
 in his History of the Gowrie Family. 
 
 t MS. quoted by BIr Scott of Perth, in his History of 
 the Gowrie Family, p. 118, 119. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 275 
 
 fore his arriral, his friends and partisans had made 
 known his intention of passing through Edinburgh 
 on his way to Perth, and multitudes resorted to 
 see the young Earl of Gowrie enter the city. It 
 is said, that beholding the crowd as he passed 
 along the streets, he peevishly observed, " There 
 were as many people who conveyed his father to 
 the scaffold at Stirling." 
 
 It is not my intention here to insert all the 
 stories which have been told respecting Gowrie 
 and the King, his brother Alexander, his sister 
 Beatrice, the alleged intrigue of the Queen and 
 Alexander Ruthven, all of which stories have 
 been raked together by the admirers of Gowrie, 
 without considering whether they were true or 
 false, for the purpose of proving James' hatred 
 to the Ruthven family. Some of them may be 
 true ; perhaps they are all idle traditions ; but cer- 
 tainly they are extremely silly, and do not in the 
 slightest degree elucidate the enterprise of Gowrie, 
 or bear against the character of the King. It 
 was on the 20th of May 1600, that the Earl 
 of Gowrie arrived at Perth. A contemporary 
 chronicler has related with minuteness the very 
 hour of his anival at his palace in Perth call- 
 ed Gowrie House, which was " at six hours in 
 the evening, with a large retinue. " * The state 
 of the country at the close of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, though apparently tranquil, was not much 
 better than it had been in the preceding year of 
 turbulence ; religious disputes still agitated the na- 
 tion ; and the King had sufficiently exasperated 
 the Presbyterian ministers by his marked dislike 
 
 * Mercer's Chronicle, MS. Advocates' Library. 
 
^78 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 of, and indiflPerence to, their order and pretensions. 
 The arrival of a nobleman, in the flower of liis 
 youth, the friend of Theodore Beza and other 
 Genevan theologians, whose family had been long 
 viewed as the head of the party attached to Eng- 
 land and the Presbyterian interest, whose accom- 
 plishments were considerable, whose ambition was 
 doubtless more aspiring on account of his royal 
 descent, and whose influence over his extensive 
 estates gave him additional importance, could not 
 fail to be gratifying to the popular pai'ty. It is 
 admitted by all, too, that Gowrie made very gi-eat 
 pretensions to religion ; and his virtues and his 
 principles were afterwards celebrated with more 
 than ordinary panegyric. If it could be proved 
 that Gowrie, during his absence, corresponded 
 with the Presbyterian ministers, or any of their 
 leaders, it would throw very considerable light on 
 this affair ; but although it cannot be alleged with 
 certainty, the fact is not improbable ; nay, it is al- 
 most certain, that he would, from time to time, 
 receive communications from his friends in Scot- 
 land, relative to the state of the country, religion, 
 and the court, and these would contain many al- 
 lusions to his father's fate. That he corresponded 
 with Logan of Restalrig, during his absence, is 
 almost certain, as will appear in the sequel ; and 
 this of itself, perhaps, is sufiieient authority for the 
 preceding conjecture. The zeal of his preceptpr 
 would also aggravate these representations, while 
 they would become additional excitements to Gow- 
 rie's ambition. Thus, two principles, ambition 
 and revenge, would in process of time be enter- 
 tained by Gowrie ; and there can be little doubt 
 that the enterprise in which he was so soon after- 
 
Vr. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 277 
 
 wards engaged Iiad been formed in his mind before 
 Iiis arrival in Scotland ; — at least, that he had de- 
 termined to be guided by circumstances. It must 
 not be forgotten, too, that the fanatics of that pe- 
 riod frequently reproached James with bastardy, 
 in their zeal to vindicate the murder of Rizzio ; 
 and of course this would operate powerfully with 
 Gowrie, inasmuch as certain expressions in the 
 letters of Logan of Restalrig hint that he aimed 
 at the crown ; and it is well known that he pro- 
 pagated a rumour that his mother was descended 
 from the Princess Margaret of England, daughter 
 of Henry VII., and widow of James V., who had 
 married Lord Ruthven ; which report was believed 
 by the vulgar about Perth. ^ However ridiculous 
 Gowrie's ambition may appear, as the House of 
 Hamilton and other great families interposed be- 
 tween him and the crown, it is more than probable 
 that he entertained these notions in the ardour of 
 youth, supported as he was by the " newlie erec- 
 tit societie callit the Presbiterie, " having a repu- 
 tation for sanctity and courage, and held by that 
 party as the most ardent of those who fortified 
 the " chief block-house of the Lord's Jerusalem, " 
 and not one of those who were " worthie to be 
 accursed, and not to brook the name of Scottish 
 men, but to be esteemed enemies to God, religion, 
 and his Highness, that would not willingly subscribe 
 thereunto, " namely, " solemne covenants and 
 bands (the word of God and prayer going before), 
 betwixt God and the King, God and the people, 
 
 * Scott's History of Scotland, folio, p. 553. 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
278 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 and betwixt the King and the people. " * Of 
 Gowrie's private habits, however, we have pretty 
 good information furnished by contemporary writ- 
 ers ; by which it appears, that notwithstanding 
 the " sanguine hopes of the early virtues " of him 
 and his brother, he was not without his own share 
 of superstition, as was proved from various papers 
 which were found in his possession after his death. 
 " This Erie of Gourie, " says one author, " at his 
 being in Italie, advysit with a mathematician ther, 
 and to knaw of him what suld becum of himsel ; 
 wha gave this responce, that he sould be extreim- 
 lie Weill lovit, unmarreit, wherfore he salbe me- 
 lancolious, he sail have gret commandement, he 
 sail die in honour be the sworde, and efter his 
 deceis it salbe sayd, that be fraud and decept he 
 hes attened that dignitie. This was fand amang his 
 secret papers." f It would appear, however, that 
 the fortune-tellers with whom Gowrie consulted, 
 differed considerably from each other in their opi- 
 nions about his future fortunes. In a letter from 
 Nicolson to Secretary Cecil, dated 22d November 
 1600, there is the following passage : — " One 
 Colvil hath sent the King the collection of the for- 
 tune to befall Gowrie upon his securitie, written 
 with the Earle's hand in French at Orleans, and 
 there found, containing that he should return, be 
 in great credit, seek for a wife, and yet die with 
 his own hand, before he should be married. " 
 
 (jowrie had been chosen Provost of Perth in 
 1592 ; and so great was the favour of the town 
 towards him, that he was continued in that office 
 
 * Calderwobd, p. 41-7. 
 
 I Historic of King James the Sext, p. 375. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 279 
 
 even while he was in Italy. The town of Perth, 
 at that period, and for centuries previous, yield- 
 ed, perhaps, only to the metropolis in point 
 of importance ; in it many of the principal no- 
 bility had houses, and it had often been the fa- 
 vourite residence of the Scottish monarchs. It 
 was then called St Johnstoun, from the name of 
 its tutelary patron, St John. In several of the 
 public records or writs in the time of James VI., 
 it is called a city, and it still has some pretensions 
 to that title, though never the seat of a bishop or 
 of the government. 
 
 In the Memorabilia of Perth, under the year 
 1394, there is the following notice respecting the 
 election of Gowrie as Provost : — " On the 6th 
 of August, this year, the Earl told the council that 
 be was to go abroad for his education ; they un- 
 animously entered into a resolution to elect him 
 Provost next Michaelmas, and became bound for 
 their successors in office to elect him annually un- 
 til he returned. This agreement is signed by the 
 whole town-council, in presence of Mr Patrick 
 Galloway, minister of Perth, the King's chaplain, 
 and Henry Elder, town-clerk. " 
 
 Gowrie, as we have seen, arrived at Perth, 
 on the 20th of May 1600. On the 28th of June 
 that year, there is a notice of his proceedings iu 
 6ne of his own courts, as lord of the regality. 
 " David Drummond was executed for the slaugh- 
 ter of George Ramsay's man. He was condemned 
 in the first justice court that ever John Earl of 
 Gowrie held after his return. " * The Earl, it 
 appears, kept himself at Gowrie House, and cau- 
 
 * Mercer's Chronicle, MS. 
 
280 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 tiously pretended to take no part in the measures of 
 the court. But while he was thus residing in a re- 
 tired manner at his own house in Perth, he was by 
 no means inactive in the great enterprise he con- _ 
 templated. In the immediate vicinity of Edin- 
 burgh resided Robert Logan, who possessed the 
 estate of llestalrig, which extends between the 
 Frith of Forth and the city ; a turbulent baron, 
 whose intrigues, schemes, and noted profligacy, 
 were eventually the cause of his forfeiture. This 
 baron had been deprived of a considerable part of 
 his estate during the minority of James for his 
 conduct, he being rather a troublesome neighbour 
 to the citizens of Edinburgh ; and at this period 
 his affairs were almost desperate. The family had 
 made a considerable figure in the early history of 
 the country, and were connected with some of the 
 first nobility. With this baron, Gowrie was him- 
 self remotely allied. Patrick, sixth Lord Gray, and 
 father of the famous Master of Gray, married Bar- 
 bara Ruthven, sister of Patrick, Lord Ruthven, who 
 assassinated David Rizzio ; and that lady was the 
 aunt of William, the first Earl of Gowrie. Agnes 
 Gray, sister of the sixth Lord Gray, and aunt of 
 the Master, married Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, 
 whom John Knox characterizes as a man " neither 
 fortunate nor prudent ; " and that baron was the 
 father of Robert Logan, the correspondent and as- 
 sociate of Gowrie. * 
 
 After Gowrie's return from the Continent, a con- 
 nexion was formed between him and Logan, as ap- 
 t^ai's from his letters, discovered eight years after- 
 
 * Arnot's Criminal Trials, p. 14. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 281 
 
 wards, by one George Sprot, a notary public at 
 Eyemoutli, who was himself executed for his share 
 in Gowrie's enterprise, and who confessed that he 
 knew well that Logan was in the plot. Hardly had 
 eight weeks elapsed after Gowrie's return, when a 
 correspondence took place between him and Logan, 
 by means of one James Bour, familiarly called 
 Laird Bour, a servant of the latter, and of whose 
 fidelity he entertained a very high opinion. Alex- 
 ander Ruthven, the brother of Gowrie, appears to 
 have been the only other person in the secret at 
 that time. After many personal interviews, the 
 object of which was to concert a plot for an at- 
 tack on the King, a plan was devised to that ef- 
 fect, which was intended to be put into execution 
 on one of the King's hunting expeditions. Logan 
 was then residing in Fastcastle, a castle or fort, 
 now in complete ruins, situated in the parish of 
 Coldingham, and county of Berwick, on the sea- 
 side, and, from the steepness of the rock on which 
 it is built, inaccessible on all sides, except by a 
 narrow neck of land a few feet in breadth. At 
 this period it belonged to the Logans of Restalrig, 
 and the recollection of this fact will tend to throw 
 considerable light on the history of this daring en- 
 terprise. In a letter from Fastcastle, dated 10th 
 July 1600, to a person whose name was never dis- 
 covered, Laird Bour is introduced for the first time 
 by Logan to his friend, who is styled right honour- 
 able Sir ; and he endeavours to prepossess his cor- 
 respondent with the same opinion which he held 
 himself, respecting the worthy Laird. " Pleis zow 
 onderstand, " says Logan, " my Lo. of Gowrie, 
 and soDie utheris his Lo.'s freinds and vveillvvillaris, 
 z 2 
 
282 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 quba tendaris his Lo.'s preferment, ar vpoun the 
 resolutioun, ze knaw, /or the revenge of tliat caus. " 
 He then mentions a meeting which was to take 
 place between him and Alexander Ruthven on the 
 ensuing week, " and be as warrie, " he says, " as 
 zow can. " — " I pray zow, sir, think nathing al- 
 thocht the berar onderstand it [the conspiracy], 
 for he is the special secretar of my lyfe : his name 
 is Laird Boure, and wes auld Maunderstoune's 
 man for deid and lyfe, and ewin sa for me. And 
 for my pairt, he sail knaw of all that I do in this 
 warld, sa lang as euer we live togidder, ffor I mak 
 him my houshalde man ; he is weill worthie of 
 credite, and I recommend him to zow. " The fol- 
 lowing extract relates to the plan of the conspiracy. 
 " I think best for oure platt, that we meet at my 
 hous of Fastcastle, ffor I have concludit with M. 
 A. R. [Mr Alexander Ruthven], how, I think, 
 sail be meitest to be convoyit quietest in ane boitt 
 be sea ; at quhilk time vpoun sure aduertesment, I 
 sail haue ye place verie quiett, and iveill provydit,^* 
 On the same day, Logan had despatched a let- 
 ter to Laird Bour, dated from the Canongate, by 
 which it appears that he had left Fastcastle on 
 that very day, and had arrived at his house in 
 the Canongate, where he required the Laird's pre- 
 sence ; for, says he, " I haue ressauit ane new let- 
 ter from my Lord of Gowrie concerning the pur- 
 pose that I\Ir Alex, his Lordship's brother spak to 
 me befoir, ' — " I beseich zow, be at me be mome 
 at even [to-morrow evening], for I assurit his Lo.'s 
 servand, that I sail send zow ouer the watter with- 
 in thrie dayes, with ane full resolutioun of my will, 
 anent all purpoises ; and I sail indeid recommend 
 
Vr. THE.GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 283 
 
 zow and zour trustines till his Lordschip, as ye 
 sail find ane Ijouest recompens for zour pains. " 
 
 In a third letter to the " richt honorable " per- 
 son, dated from the Canongate, 27th July 1600, 
 Logan expresses his resolute determination " to 
 interpryse with my Lord of Gowrie, " although 
 " the skaftald were set up ; " and he intimates, that 
 he had expected a visit of Gowrie and his brother 
 at Fastcastle, in terms of letters he had written 
 to them both. In this letter he also says of his 
 friend the Laird, that " howbeit he be hot ane 
 sillie aid gleyit carle, I will answer for him that 
 he sail be verie true. " Two days after this let- 
 ter, namely, on the 29th of July, Logan wrote to 
 Gowrie, when the plot began to be arranged, in- 
 forming him that he wished a meeting of the con- 
 spirators in Fastcastle, but that it would be well 
 for him to have a previous interview with the Earl 
 and his brothers. In this letter, there are expres- 
 sions which cannot be misunderstood. After ad- 
 vising Gowrie to conduct himself with caution, 
 Logan says, " I doubt not, hot with Godis grace, 
 we sail bring oure materis till ane fyne [conclu- 
 sion], quhilk sail bring the contentmentt to ws all 
 tliat ever loissedfor the revenge of the machavalent * 
 
 * Machiavellian, from the famous Nicholas Machiavel, 
 a celebrated political writer and historian who died in 
 1527. He wrote a piece entitled " Del Principe," which 
 has been generally regarded as the tyrant's manual, and 
 on this account the epithet of Machiavellian is always ap- 
 plied to express every tiling which is perfidious and base 
 in politics. The epithet was very common in James' reign, 
 and it was more than once applied to James himself by 
 the ministers in the pulpit. We shall sue in the sequel 
 that Gowrie had been diligently employed in studying a 
 
284 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 massacaring of our dearest freindis. I doubt not 
 but Mr A. zour Lordschip's brothir, hes iiiformit 
 zour Lordschip quhat course I layit doun to bring 
 zour Lordschipis associatis to my hous of F. [Fast- 
 castle] be sea, quhair I suld haue all materiallis in 
 redines for thir saif ressaveing on land and into my 
 house, making, as it war, bot a maner of passing 
 tyme in ane boit on the sea in this sommertyde, and 
 nane utheris stranger is to hant my hous quhill we 
 had concluditon the laying [contrivmg] of oureplat, 
 quhilk is alreadie devysit be Mr Alexander and 
 me." — " I protest, my lord, befoir God, I wische 
 natliing with a better heart nor to atchieve to that 
 quhilk zour Lordschip wald fane attene unto. " 
 Gowrie also receives an invitation to meet Logan at 
 Restalrig, but not to let Mr W. R.<, his Lordship's 
 " auld pedagog," know of the visit, by whom he 
 means William Rhind, who was at that time rec- 
 tor of the School of Perth. It is to be observecl, 
 however, that both Logan and his servant Laird 
 Boury whose name was James, the " sillie auld 
 gleyit carle, " were not present when the plot was 
 attempted by Gowrie ; nor, to the ingenuity of the 
 said Laird be it added, would his share of the 
 transaction have been discovered at all, had not 
 Sprott given the evidence of his guilt. * 
 
 treatise entitled " De Coujurationibus adversus Princi* 
 pes," which was a Latin translation of Machiavel's Dis- 
 courses upon the Fir^^t Decade of Livy. 
 
 * It will be seen that I assume the letters of Logan to 
 be genuine documents. As I shall have occasion to men- 
 tion them more particularly in the sequel, 1 merely ob- 
 serve here, that fortunately every doubt as to their authen- 
 ticity is now at aa end, by the discovery of the originals in 
 Lojjan's own hand-writing. They were recently discover- 
 ed in the Register -Office, Edinburgh, and were politely 
 
VI. THE COWRIE CONSPIllACY. 285 
 
 The cause of tliis treasonable correspondence 
 may be easily conceived from the preceding nar- 
 rative, and from the allusions in Logan's letters. 
 It was a tender point to remind Gowrie of the 
 " INIachiavellian massacring of his dearest friends," 
 when it had been religiously inculcated on him by 
 his preceptor and others, that his father had been 
 unjustly condemned — when the Presbyterian mi- 
 nisters had declared the treasons of that nobleman 
 *' good and acceptable services to God and the 
 Church, " — and when the proceedings of James 
 had already alienated or dissatisSed no inconsider- 
 able portion of the nation. There is no evidence 
 to prove that James hated the Gowrie family. 
 Had he done so, it was not his interest to restore 
 their honours and estates, and to distinguish them 
 by many and repeated favours, as if he wished to 
 make all the reparation possible for a sentence 
 which had been executed in his minority, and of 
 which, perhaps, he did not privately approve ; for 
 he might have still retained their sentence of for- 
 feiture, and even exile, and thus at once rid him- 
 self of a family whose power and influence he 
 might dread. But there is another very important 
 circumstance which ought not to be forgotten. As 
 Cowrie's father was Lord Treasurer of Scotland, 
 
 shown to me by Mr Pitcairn, the able editor of the 
 « Criminal Trials before the High Court of Justiciary 
 in Scotland," in course of publication. These originallet^ 
 ^ers, with fac-similes and Logan's own signature, will be 
 inserted in Part III. of INIr Pitcairn's valuable work, — a 
 work which is truly national, and which will be encourag- 
 ed by every man of learning, as supplying a very import- 
 ant desideratum, and as furnishing a vast collection of in- 
 teresting records heretofore little known, save to the anti- 
 quarian. 
 
;286 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 by some means or other, the King was indebted to 
 him the sum of 196,465/. ISs. 6d. Scots money, 
 including the accumulated principal and interest ; 
 and the greater part of this sum had been proba- 
 bly advanced to the King by Gowrie out of his 
 own private purse, for it is well known that James 
 was in the habit of borrowing from every person who 
 would lend him money. Now, had the King wish- 
 ed to destroy the Gowrie family, he would never 
 have restored them to their former rank, and ac- 
 tually ratified to the son that sum of money he 
 owed his father. This, however, he did. The 
 King was indebted to the Earl, as representing his 
 father ; and it appears, from the state of the ac- 
 counts rendered on the 10th of May 1583, that 
 the balance claimed by Gowrie amounted to 
 48,063/. 45. 8d. Scots, " which," observes Arnot, 
 " as Scottish money was greater, by the lialf, at 
 that time than it is now, was 72,094/. 175. of our 
 present Scottish money of principal, besides seven- 
 teen years (from 1583 to 1600) interest, at the 
 then rate of 10 per cent. " James restored the 
 family by a solemn act in December 1585, and 
 at the same time ratified the debt he owed to 
 the first Earl ; but from the King's well-known 
 indigence, he was unable to pay it in 1600, after 
 Gowrie's return from Italy ; and as the Scottish 
 Peers, before the Union, were liable to be ar- 
 rested for debt, the young Earl was considerably 
 embarrassed in his circumstances, doubtless by the 
 clamorous conduct of his creditors. What kind 
 of application may have been made to the King 
 by Gowrie does not appear ; but on the 20th of 
 June, the Earl got a personal protection from the 
 King and the Court of Session, to prevent his be- 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 287 
 
 ing arrested. This was exactly forty-six daya 
 from his death ; " and from the common law, " 
 observes Amot, " as well as the silence of the 
 public records, it is probable the Earl's creditors 
 were never paid. " * 
 
 To proceed, however, with the narrative. It is 
 inexplicable how it was that Logan and his agent, 
 Laird Bour, kept aloof from the active part of the 
 conspiracy ; but doubtless it had been all arranged, 
 and probably Logan had betaken himself to his re- 
 sidence of Fastcastle, there to receive the King, 
 after he had been secured by Gowrie and his bro- 
 ther ; for it will be recollected, that such was part 
 of the plot of the conspirators. It was on the 5th 
 day of August 1600, that Gowrie, knowing that 
 the King was then at Falkland Palace in Fife, 
 which is an easy ride of between two and three 
 hours from Perth, despatched his brother Alex- 
 ander, to invite James to Gowrie House, under 
 the pretence that a person had been secured who 
 was a Jesuit, and who pretended that he was pos- 
 sessed of a quantity of gold ; but that it was neces- 
 
 * The writer of the Traditional Account in the Town of 
 Perth, of the death of John Earl of Gowrie, whose name 
 was Duff, minister of Tibbermuir, sets out with this flou- 
 rishing paragraph: — " After the King had come to the 
 full years of majority, he found the Gowrie Family under 
 John, the third Earl, who was a younger son of the said 
 William [the first Earl], possessed of wealth and power 
 beyond the other nobility of the kingdom ; and, growing 
 apprehensive," «S:c. But the reader will be able to form a 
 tolerable idea of Gowrie's actual wealth, when he knows, 
 from the above facts, that he was in so embarrassed cir- 
 cumstances, that he had actually to get a personal protec- 
 tion for arrest from the Court of Session, on the 20th of 
 June 1600, otherwise he would have been exposed to 
 what in Scotland is called the diliscncc of his creditors. 
 
288 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 sary for the King to examine him in person, as he 
 (Gowrie) suspected him to be an emissary of Rome ; 
 but this will be more particulary narrated in the 
 sequel. 
 
 When the Earl had sent his brother to Falk- 
 land, which was early on a Tuesday morning, he 
 proceeded to arrange his plans in Gowrie House. 
 And the better to conceal his designs, as he was 
 an " earnest professour, " he attended sermon in 
 St John's Church in the morning, there having 
 been always service in Perth every Tuesday and 
 Thursday since the year 1393. There is a story 
 told by the author of the Traditional Account, in- 
 serted in the Memorabilia of Perth, about the Earl 
 having on that day attended a marriage, " betw^een 
 a young man of the name of Lamb, and a young 
 woman called Bell, the daughter of a respectable 
 citizen of Perth," when he received intelligence, 
 " that the King, and a company with him, had 
 come to his house, on which Earl Gowrie's coun- 
 tenance changed, and he appeared to be a good 
 deal perplexed ; and being asked by the bride's fa- 
 ther, in whose house he was, what ailed him, he 
 said, he was distressed for a dinner to the King 
 and his retinue, who had come upon him unex- 
 pectedly. Mr Bell urged him to accept of the 
 dinner that was prepared for the wedding ; and, it 
 is believed, he did accept of it." Now, this fool- 
 ish and improbable story, which the worthy writer 
 imagined to be a wonderful authority in support of 
 his own hypothesis — namely, that James had gone 
 to Perth purposely to murder Gowrie, is just the 
 reverse. He tells us only a few sentences before, 
 in the commencement of his traditionary (or fa- 
 bulous) naiTative, that John, the third Earl of 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 289 
 
 Gowrie, was " possessed of wealth and power be- 
 yond the other nol)ility of the kingdom ; " and it 
 is not likely, that his Lordship, if this were the 
 fact, would deprive a common citizen of a dinner 
 prepared for a special occasion, and get the whole 
 eatables removed from the house of the said 
 Mr Bell to Gowrie Palace, for the use of the 
 King and his retinue, as if the inmates of Gowrie 
 House had been previously on a limited allowance, 
 and its pantry completely empty ; or as if every 
 thing in Perth had been purchased for the marriage 
 dinner, prepared by the said Mr Bell; nor yet had 
 Gowrie any right to conclude that the King want- 
 ed his dinner, and " to be a good deal perplexed" 
 on that account, since, on the showing of the 
 writer, he knew nothing at all of the King's move- 
 ments, and, for any thing he knew, might have 
 got only a passing call from James and his retinue. 
 It accords rather ill with the Earl's so much boast- 
 ed wealthy that he was compelled to be obliged to 
 a common citizen for a dinner to the King, mere- 
 ly, forsooth, because James " had come upon him 
 unexpectedly ! " The story, which has lost nothing 
 by tradition, has, however, some foundation in truth. 
 Gowrie did not deprive Mr Bell of the wedding 
 dinner, because he was not present at such an oc- 
 casion, but in his state of excitement at the time, 
 he was not remarkably well provided, and, it ap- 
 peared afterwards, in the investigation of the rash 
 enterprise, that he had sent some of his servants to 
 purchase jtecessaries in the town, and the very shop, 
 which had some pretensions to sell covfectionaries^ 
 was discovered where the purchases were made. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 a 
 
290 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The people set high price upon such names, 
 They ring well in the land. 
 Your father's virtue was a rich inheritance, 
 Which you've augmented richly. — What's the need 
 Of noblemen ? Let us achieve the task ! 
 
 Schiller. 
 
 GowRiE, as has been already observed, was at the 
 forenoon sermon, or exercise, as it is called, dur- 
 ing the time his brother Alexander was at Falk- 
 land. It is of importance, however, in order to 
 make the narrative complete, to give a minute de- 
 scription of Gowrie House, as it then stood ; for 
 it has now disappeared from the " fair town of St 
 Johnston, " and has supplied materials for the jail 
 and county buildings. The house, or palace, was 
 originally built by the Countess of Huntly in 1320, 
 and was situated at the south end of the street 
 called the Watergate, which was next to, and is 
 parallel with, the river Tay, and at the east of 
 South Street, or Shoegate, as it was then called, 
 and is so termed in the depositions. The house 
 stood within the ancient walls of Perth, and at 
 the south-east angle of the town, a very short dis- 
 tance fi'om the river Tay, which formed the east- 
 ern boundary of the large garden pertaining to the 
 
VI. THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. 291 
 
 house. In the soutli-east corner of the garden 
 stood the Monks' Tower, washed by the river, 
 which was connected with the town-wall, the ori- 
 gin of the name of which Tower is thus conjec- 
 tured by the late Rev. Mr Scott, with more sim- 
 plicity than ingenuity. " The monks, " says he, 
 " who had been disorderly, were sometimes con- 
 fined here, in order to do penance ; " — a conjecture 
 not very probable, as it respects the name. * To 
 the west of the Monks' Tower, beyond the street 
 now called Canal Street, stood the ancient and 
 strong-built Spey or Spy Tower — a fort which 
 guarded the south gate of tlie town. The town- 
 wall extended due west and east from the Spey 
 Tower to the Monks' Tower ; and it is supposed, 
 that at the time of this memorable event, the 
 greatest part of the ground between South Street 
 and the town-wall was appropriated for gardens. 
 
 The House or Palace formed nearly a square, 
 the most modern part being on the north and west. 
 
 • Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xviif. p. 529. 
 It is there added, that in the 17th century, " the Earl of 
 Kinnoul, who was Cliancellor of Scotland, and possessed 
 Cowrie House and garden, built the uppermost room of 
 this tower to be a summer-house. " The above conjecture, 
 however, of the author of the Statistical Account, is merely 
 hypothetical. The Monks' Tower was built in 1336, by 
 the command of Edward I., at the expense of the monas- 
 teries of Lindoris, Balmerinoch, Aberbrothick, and Cu- 
 par Angus ; and Fordun says, tliat the expense almost 
 ruined those monasteries. Hence, some have supposed, 
 says Grose (Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 2-i.3. ), that it received 
 its appellation from that circumstance. Fordun also add<, 
 that John de Gowrie, prior of St Andrew's, paid 280 
 merks towards its erection. The Monks' Tower seems 
 to have been used as a banqueting-house, and was, after 
 Gowrie House >Yas converted into a barracks, used as a 
 magazine for gunpowder, connected with the artillery. 
 
292 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 That part in which the conspiracy was attempted, 
 was on the south and east. The princif>al stair- 
 case was in the south-east angle of the court, and 
 there was another smaller one, called in the depo- 
 sitions of the witnesses the Black Turnpike. * 
 The principal building contained two stories or 
 flats, besides the kitchen and other offices on the 
 ground floor, and the attics. The apartments of 
 the family, and the bed-rooms, were chiefly in the 
 eastern division, and were surmounted on the 
 north by two turrets. 
 
 The windows of the dining-room looked into 
 the garden, and commanded a splendid view of 
 the river Tay, and the glorious scenery which 
 adorns its banks. The principal hall was no- 
 ble and spacious, and communicated with the 
 ordinary hall, and with the great staircase which 
 led to the courtyard. On the east side of the 
 hall, on the right, was a door which communi- 
 cated with the dining-room, and led to the gar- 
 den. The greater part of the second floor, above 
 these apartments, consisted of a gallery, which 
 extended over all that part of the first floor oc- 
 cupied by the hall and dining-room. This *' fair 
 gallery, " as it is called, is frequently noticed in 
 the depositions of the witnesses. It had been or- 
 namented with paintings and figures by the first 
 Earl of Gowrie, whose taste in the fine arts, it is 
 said, would have done honour to a more enlight- 
 ened people than were the Scots at that time, and 
 
 * The word turnpike is very common in Scotland, to 
 denote a small winding staircase. The turnpike in ques- 
 tion, with a turret at the west end of this wing of the 
 building, was removed about the beginning of the last 
 century. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSriRACY. 293 
 
 to a more refined age. At the west end of the 
 ji^allery was the gallery chamber, often mentioned 
 in the depositions, which was separated from the 
 gallery by a partition, and entered by a door in 
 that partition. At the west end of this chamber, 
 in a corner on the right, was the staircase leading 
 down from it to the court called the Black Turn- 
 pike. There was also a turret in the south-west 
 corner of the chamber, in which, if it was built 
 like the other turrets, there must have been two 
 windows opposite each other, the one looking into 
 the court-yard, the other looking towards the space 
 near South Street, or, as 4t was then called, the 
 Shoegate. * 
 
 * The chief part of the foregoing minute description 
 of Govvrie House is taken from the first and only volume 
 hitherto published of the Perth Antiquarian Society's 
 Transactions, in which the description is accompanied by 
 plans of Gowrie House, and of the various floors of that 
 part of it in which the atfray took place. It may be here 
 mentioned, that after Gowrie's confiscation his estate be- 
 came the property of the town of Perth. Before the 
 year 174.5, the house frequently changed masters, but at 
 that time it was again in the hands of the town, and the 
 worthy Whig Town-Council of Perth, in the excess of 
 their loyalty, thought proper to present it to a personage 
 whose memory Scotland has no great occasion to venerate, 
 William Duke of Cumberland, to express their gratitude 
 for the wonderful victonj he had achieved over a hand- 
 ful of ill-armed Highlanders at Culloden. Tiiat fortu- 
 nate hero, who saw no occasion for having a house in a 
 country, and especially so near the Iliglilands, where 
 he was any thing but popular, and in which he never in- 
 tended to reside, sold it to Government, who employed 
 this famous palace of the Earls of Gowrie as a barracks. 
 At the beginning of the present century, the town of 
 Perth again acquired the property ; and the spirit of inno- 
 vation, or, as it is sometimes called, improvement, having 
 
294 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 On the evening of the 4th of August, which 
 liappened to be a Monday, Gowrie summoned 
 Alexander Henderson, chamberlain of Scoon, one 
 of his domestics, to attend him at Gowrie House on 
 particular business. Henderson went accordingly, 
 and was ushered into an apartment, where he 
 found the Earl and his brother Alexander Ruth- 
 ven. The former asked him what he intended to 
 do on the following day ; to which Henderson re- 
 plied, that he proposed liding to Ruthven (now 
 called Hunting Tower), to look after the tenants. 
 " No, " said Gowrie, " you must ride with my 
 brother to Falkland, and when he sends you back, 
 see that you return with all diligence, if he send 
 a letter, or any other command with you. " * 
 
 James was then at the Palace of Falkland in 
 Fife, with only a very few attendants, enjoying the 
 pleasures of the chase, among whom were Ludo- 
 vic Duke of Lennox, (son of Esme D'Aubigney, 
 cousin to the King's father. Lord Darnley, and 
 who had been banished to France after the Raid of 
 Ruthven), the Earl of Mar, Thomas, James, and 
 George Erskine, the Earl's cousins-german, John 
 Ramsay of the Dalhousie family, James, second 
 son of Lord Drummond, abbot or commendator 
 of InchafFray, and Patrick Leslie, commendator 
 of Lindores, second son of the Earl of Rothes, 
 To this hunting expedition at Falkland, Gowrie 
 had been previously invited by James, but he beg- 
 ged leave to decline the invitation, f Not antici- 
 
 seized the Magistrates, it was a few years ago levelled 
 with the ground. The Jail and County Buildings are 
 erected on the site of Govvrie House. 
 
 * Deposition of Andrew Henderson at Falkland, 2()th 
 August 1600. 
 
 f Scott's History of the Family of Gowrie. 
 
VI. THE GOVVRIE CONSPIRACY. 295 
 
 pating a visit of this nature from either of the 
 Gowries, on the follovvini^ morning, Tuesday, Au- 
 gust 5th, a hunt was to take place in the parks of 
 Falkland, and the royal party was on the point of 
 proceeding to the spot, when Alexander Ruthven 
 arrived at Falkland. He had left Perth in com- 
 pany with Henderson, and a relative named An- 
 drew Ruthven, at four o'clock in the morning, and 
 arrived at Falkland at seven. Having proceeded 
 to a retired house or " lodging, " near the palace, 
 Alexander Ruthven sent Henderson to ohserve the 
 movements of the King, who soon returned, and 
 informed Ruthven, that his Majesty was setting 
 out for the chase. Ruthven immediately proceed- 
 ed to the party, and found the King in the act of 
 mounting his horse, his attendants with their horses, 
 and the huntsmen with their hounds, suiTounding 
 the King on the lawn or green. Ruthven made a 
 low oheisance on his knee, and desired to have a 
 moment's private conversation with the King, on 
 an affair which he pretended was of great import- 
 ance. James, whose curiosity was always remark- 
 able, perceiving young Ruthven's apparently ear- 
 nest and serious demeanour, felt considerably in- 
 terested, and allowed himself to be drawn aside. 
 Having thus excited the curiosity of the King, 
 Ruthven informed him, that, in an evening walk, 
 he had met a suspicious looking person, his face 
 almost concealed by a cloak, lurking about the 
 by-paths and suburbs of the town ; and on ques- 
 tioning him as to his name, his occupation, and 
 what his intentions were in thus lurking about in 
 unfrequented paths, he hesitated, and appeared 
 confused ; — that he then examined his person 
 closely, and perceived something concealed under 
 
296 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 his cloak, which he discovered to he a quantity of 
 gold in a pot or jar, consisting of various coined 
 pieces ; — that at this discovery, he secured the per- 
 son, who, it was pretended, was a Jesuit, and had 
 got him privately into Gowrie House, without the 
 knowledge of any individual, where he had se- 
 cured him till his Majesty's pleasure was known ; 
 and he requested that the King would proceed 
 forthwith to Perth as privately as possible, and 
 examine the man, who was at that time confined 
 in Gowrie House, without the knowledge even of 
 his own brother. 
 
 James, " curious by nature, and sufficiently in- 
 digent to be inquisitive after money, " * felt some- 
 what interested in this plausible story, more espe- 
 cially as it was told with great apparent earnest- 
 ness and sincerity. He thanked Ruthven, but 
 observed, that he would not meddle in the matter, 
 as he could deprive no man of his property, nor 
 did the treasure appertain to the King, unless, ac- 
 cording to the law, it had been found hid under 
 ground. To this Ruthven replied, that this was 
 of no consequence, for the man had confessed to 
 him that he intended to hide it, but that he had 
 no leisure to inquire minutely on the subject. The 
 King still scrupled at this logic ; and Ruthven 
 immediately replied, that he thought his Majesty 
 too hesitating in a matter which might tend so 
 much to his advantage and profit, but that if he 
 refused to have any concern in it, it was very pro- 
 bable that his brother the Earl and some others 
 would make it a business of their own, and thus 
 lieprive him of no inconsiderable sum of money 
 
 * Tales of a Grandfather, First Series, vol. iii. p. 294 • 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSTIRACY. 297 
 
 whicli lie mi^ht otherwise have possessed. The 
 Kiiit^'s curiosity was now roused ; and conceiv- 
 ing that the man might be a Jesuit in disguise, 
 sent as an emissary from some Popish kingdom on 
 the Continent, to excite disturbances in tlie coun- 
 try, by endeavouring to corrupt or bribe some of 
 the nobles (a procedure of which James had suffi- 
 cient experience previously), he asked Ruthven 
 what kind of money it was, and the appearance of 
 the man in whose possession he had discovered it. 
 To this Ruthven replied, that he had not had 
 Butficient time to examine it, but the money 
 appeared to consist of foreign pieces ; and that al- 
 though the man was evidently a Scotsman, he had 
 never, to his knowledge, seen him before. This 
 reply confirmed the King that the money must 
 have been sent from some foreign Papists, and 
 that the man was most likely a Scottish Jesuit or 
 Seminary Priest, from one of the Scottish Col- 
 leges on the Continent, to whom it had been 
 intrusted as the person most capable of furthering 
 the object in view. 
 
 This story of the man with the gold, which 
 Alexander Ruthven told the King, is not so im- 
 probable, nor was the King so foolish for believing 
 it, as many assert. Nor yet is the freedom which 
 Ruthven used, although he was said to be out of 
 his wits, * that is, deranged, is at all extraordinary. 
 His connection with the court, and the office he 
 held in it, brought him often into the King's pre- 
 sence ; and indeed it is asserted, that he was pur- 
 posely commissioned by his brother as a sort of han- 
 ger on there to convey to him intelligence, which 
 
 * Adamson's Muses Thrcnodie, vol. i. p, 186. 
 
298 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 he could easily do, on account of his ewn situation 
 and that of his sister Beatrice, who was one of the 
 Maids of Honour. I reject, of course, Mr Pinker- 
 ton's argument, that there was an intrigue between 
 Alexander Ruthven and the Queen, and that 
 James was stimulated by jealousy (with which, by 
 the way, he was never much troubled) to destroy 
 the Gowrie family. But the traditionary stories 
 which the supporters of that theory maintain to 
 be the evidence of the fact, certainly prove that 
 young Ruthven was a favourite at court, and was 
 accustomed to indulge in considerable freedom of 
 speech. It would be rash, perhaps, to maintain 
 that no intrigue existed between Ruthven and the 
 Queen ; but it is evident, that even the doubtful 
 traditions, originating from unknown authorities, do 
 not establish the alleged fact. It appears, there- 
 fore, that since James expressed no surprise at 
 Ruthven's visit, nor at his story, that he was ac- 
 customed to the familiarity of the Master ; and it 
 must be observed, that the manners of the court, 
 and of courtiers towards their sovereign, pai'took 
 not of the refined politeness of modern times. But 
 the story was calculated to make a very great im- 
 pression on James, whose thoughts immediately 
 reverted to the intrigues of the Seminary Priests. 
 And that James had good cause to dread the in- 
 trigues of foreign papists, is placed beyond a doubt. 
 It was only in 1592, that the Earl of Both well and 
 the Master of Gray had assaulted the King in the pa- 
 lace of Falkland, those two personages being in the 
 interest of the Court of Spain, who, exasperated at the 
 defeat of the Armada, had never ceased in attempt- 
 ing to excite disturbances and conspiracies in Eng- 
 land and Scotland. Accordingly, on the 3th of 
 
VI. THE GOVVRIE CONSPIRACY. 299 
 
 January 1592-3, six months after the exploit of 
 Bothwell at Falkland, which was on the 28th of 
 June 1592, a proclamation was issued against "the 
 coverit and bissy trauellis of Jesuitig, seminarie 
 priestis, borne subjectis of this realme, and sum v- 
 theris, strangearis, and their tressonahle conspiracie 
 for inbringing of strangearis Spanzeartis, in this 
 realme, this next spring or somer. " * On the 5th 
 of February that same year, the Earls of Huntly, 
 Errol, and Sir Patrick Gordon, were denounced 
 as rebels, on account of their connection with 
 Bothwell in his intrigues with Spain; and on 
 the 9th of March a commission was given to the 
 Earl Marischall, constituting him the King's com- 
 missioner within the sheriffdoms of Kincardine, 
 Aberdeen, and Banff, to " pas, searche, seik, and 
 tak, " those noblemen and their associates where- 
 ever they could be found within his jurisdiction. 
 It is worthy of remark, too, as illustrative of Lo- 
 gan of Restalrig's conduct, that he also was en- 
 gaged in this adventure; for on February 12th 
 1592, he was denounced as a rebel for not having 
 appeared to answer " vpoun his tressonnable con- 
 spiring, consulting, trafficquing, and diuising with 
 Frances sumtyme Erll Bothuill, in sundrie tres- 
 sonnable purpoissis against his Maiesteis persone 
 and authoritie. " f It was in the year 1594, 
 
 • Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, Part II. p. 281. 
 
 f It is worthy of remark, also, that on the 13th of June 
 1594', Robert Logan of Restalrig was again denounced 
 as a rebel, for not appearing before the King and Coun- 
 cil, to answer a charge at the instance of Robert Gray, 
 burgess of Edinburgh, " makand mention, That quhair 
 vpoun the secund day of Aprile last, he being passing in 
 peccable and quiet maner to Beruik, for doing of cer- 
 
300 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 that the intrigues of the Spaniards with An-, 
 gus, Erroll, and Huntlie, were again tliscover- 
 ed ; * and in the following year, on the 21st of 
 February, there was another proclamation issu-r 
 ed regarding " the Spanishe preparatioun to ar- 
 ryve in this island. " In short, the history of 
 that period, previous to the death of Queen Eliza-f 
 beth, proves, that James, like that princess, was 
 continually harassed by the intrigues of the se- 
 minary priests, aided and abetted by the Popish 
 nobles in the north, and it was, indeed, as plausible 
 a story as Alexander Ruthven could contrive, to al- 
 lure the King to Gowrie House, by telling him that 
 he had accidentally secured a Scottish Jesuit or 
 seminary priest in disguise, lurking about the by- 
 
 taine his lessum efFearis and busynes, lippyning for na 
 trouble nor injurie of ony persones ; treuth it is, that Johnne 
 alias Jokkie Houldie and Petir Craik, seruatides to Ro- 
 bert Logane of Restalrig, with three vtheris thair complin 
 ceis, vmbesett his hie way and passage, besyde the Bowy- 
 rod ; quha not onlie reft and spuilzeit fra him ni/ne hun- 
 dreth andfftie punds money quhilk he had vpoun him, 
 bot alswa maist cruellie and barbarouslie invadit and per- 
 sewit him of his lyfle, hurte and woiindit him in th^ 
 heid, and straik him with diuers vtheris bauck straikes 
 vpoun his body, to the graite danger and perrill of his 
 lyffe, " &c. Logan failed to appear and present those per- 
 sons who had committed this outrage. — Pitcairn's Trials, 
 Part II. p. 335, 336. 
 
 • Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, Part II., p. 310, et seq, 
 and in particular the mysterious story of the " Scottish 
 Blanks," in the pamphlet reprinted by Mr Pitcairn in 
 Part II., entitled " a Discoverie of Vnnaturall and Trai- 
 terous Conspiracies of Scottish Papistes against God, his 
 Kirk, their native country, the Kinges Maiesties persone 
 and estate. Set down as it was confessed and sub- 
 scrived bee Mr George Ker, yit remaining in prison, and 
 David Grahame of Fintrie, iustly executed for his treason 
 in Edin., the 15. of Februarie 1592. " 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 301 
 
 paths of Perth, with foreign gold concealed about 
 his person. 
 
 The King gave implicit credit to Ruthven's 
 tale, but proposed that he should send one of his 
 own servants to Perth, with the Master, in order 
 to receive both the pretended Jesuit and the 
 money ; but to this Ruthven stoutly objected, pro- 
 testing, that if his brother, or the magistrates of 
 the town, knew any thing of the matter, the King 
 would have a very bad chance for a share. Ruth- 
 ven farther declared, that the only thing which 
 induced him to ride straightway to Falkland and 
 apprise his Majesty, was the very great love and 
 affection he bore towards his sovereign, and the 
 zeal he had for his service. 
 
 This and similar discourse took place " before 
 the stables " at Falkland, * during which time, the 
 huntsmen had mounted, the buck had started, and 
 the sport was about to commence ; but the King 
 was so well pleased with Ruthven, that he fre- 
 quently leaned on him, and "clapped him on the 
 shoulder, " exciting considerable interest among 
 the attendants. At length James, seeing every 
 thing ready, told Ruthven that he would consider 
 of it during the hunt, and determine when it was 
 over. This was by no means pleasing to Ruth- 
 ven, who remonstrated at the delay, more espe- 
 cially as the King would have a good opportunity 
 to investigate the business without attracting any 
 notice if he set out instantly, as " the wliole town 
 would be at the sermon." But the King mounted 
 his horse, and the hunt commenced. Ruthven, 
 
 ♦ Deposition of the Duke of Lennox. 
 VOL. I. 2 B 9 
 
302 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 however, who saw that he had made some impres- 
 sion on James, still lurked about, and immediately 
 told Andrew Henderson, one of his attendants, to 
 ride to Perth with all the speed he could make, as 
 he loved the Earl of Gowrie, and inform him that 
 he hoped he would prevail with the King to be at 
 Perth in the course of a few hours ; adding, " Tell 
 my Lord, my brother, to prepare a dinner for us." 
 Henderson asked him if he would ride presently, 
 to which Ruthven replied, " No, stay a little, and 
 follow me while I speak with his Majesty again." 
 The King, during the hunt, appeared frequently 
 thoughtful and perplexed , and after a short time, 
 finding a person riding beside him, he told him to 
 call Ruthven, who having speedily appeared, when 
 there were only a very few of the royal attendants 
 present, James informed him that he had at length 
 resolved to ride to Perth after the hunt. On this 
 intimation, Ruthven ordered Henderson to depart 
 with the utmost speed, and inform his brother of 
 the King's resolution. 
 
 Henderson immediately departed, and in the 
 meantime the hunt continued. It lasted from a- 
 bout seven in the morning till after eleven ; during 
 which time Alexander Ruthven scarcely left the 
 Kirg for a moment, continually exhorting him 
 to finish the chase, that they might get " the 
 sooner to St Johnfetoun. " The stag being killed, 
 the King hardly stayed to witness what is called 
 the deaths but, mounting the horse on which he 
 had hunted (for he did not get a fresh one till he 
 was more than a mile from Falkland), he sum- 
 moned the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Mar, the 
 Abbots of InchafFray and Lindores, and some o- 
 thers, and told them he intended to set out instant- 
 
Vr. THE GOVVRIE CONSPIRACY. 303 
 
 ly to Perth, as he had some business with the Earl 
 of Gowrie. Lennox and his friends immediately 
 sent for fresh horses, and their swords ; but the 
 King^ took no sword with him, observing that he 
 intended merely to ride to Perth, and would be 
 back before the evening. While Lennox and the 
 others were changing their horses, Kuthven got 
 into conversation with the King, and was still ad- 
 dressing him, when Lennox rode up. By this 
 time they were on their journey, some of the at- 
 tendants having changed their horses, while others, 
 who rode back to Falkland for that purpose, did 
 not overtake the King till he was within a few 
 miles of Perth ; and it was imagined by many of 
 them, that the object of the King's expedition was 
 to apprehend the Master of Oliphant, who had 
 been recently exciting disturbances in Forfarshire. 
 During the progress of the royal party, the 
 King rode aside to the Duke of Lennox, and said 
 to him, in his usual colloquial style, " Ye cannot 
 guess, man, what errand I am riding for : I am 
 going to get s. pose * at Perth, and Mr Alexander 
 Kuthven tells me that he has found a man who 
 has a pot full of gold of divers coins. " The King 
 then asked Lennox what manner of person he con- 
 ceived Alexander Kuthven to be, who answered, 
 that he " knew nothing of him, but thought him 
 an lionest and discreet young gentleman. " The 
 King now began to tell Lenox the history of the 
 pose^ when the Duke answered, " I like not that, 
 your Majesty, it is not likely. " Kuthven, how- 
 ever, who had perceived, with great uneasiness, 
 the King and Lennox conversing together, and 
 
 * Anglice, a hidden treasure. 
 
304 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 had already expressed himself dissatisfied that so 
 many attendants followed, now rode up to them, 
 and earnestly requested the King to inform no one 
 of the business, nor suffer any one to go with him 
 till he had seen the man, and his treasure. 
 
 According to the account of this enterprise, pub- 
 lished by authority, Riithven's conduct on the road 
 bad excited some suspicions in James, more especi- 
 ally as Ruthven appeared peculiarly uneasy at the 
 presence of Lennox and Mar. James therefore 
 informed him, that he would trust the Duke and 
 the Earl in more important matters than the pre- 
 sent, and in a jocular manner observed, that, as he 
 was *' a bad teller of money, he behoved to have 
 some one with him to help in that business." Ruth- 
 ven's reply was, " that he would suffer no one to 
 see it first hut the King himself ; afterwai'ds, how- 
 ever, be (the King) might call in whom he pleas- 
 ed. " Nevertheless when the royal party were 
 at the Bridge of Erne, the King whispered to the 
 Duke, what had passed, but added " tak tent 
 [[take heed] when I go with Alexander Ruthven, 
 and be sure to follow me. " He made the same 
 observation to Lennox, when they arrived at Gow- 
 rie House. 
 
 It was observed, that when the King had left 
 Falkland behind for a few miles, Ruthven sent his 
 other attendant, Andrew Ruthven, in great haste 
 to Perth before him, to inform the Earl how far 
 they were on their journey, and when they would 
 airive. Henderson, the first courier, arrived in 
 Perth about ten in the forenoon, where he found 
 Gowrie anxiously waiting for him, in company 
 with two persons of the name of Hay. Gowrie 
 took him aside, and asked him what intelligence 
 
Vr. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 305 
 
 he had brought from his brother, or if he had 
 brought a letter. Henderson said he had brought 
 no letter. " What answer then," asked Gowrie, 
 " has he to me ? " Henderson replied, that he was 
 commanded by his brother to inform his Lordship, 
 that the King would be there anon, and that he 
 was to prepare a dinner for his Majesty ; upon which 
 Gowrie took him into a private apartment, and exa- 
 mined him more closely. He asked him how the 
 King had received his brother, and Henderson re- 
 plied that it was in a kind manner, and that he had 
 often laid his hand on his shoulder. Gowrie next 
 asked how many persons were at the hunt. Hen- 
 derson replied, that he could not exactly say, but 
 there were some of his own friends, and some Eng- 
 lishmen. He was next asked what noblemen were 
 present, and he replied, that he saw none but " my 
 Lord Duke." He was then dismissed, and order- 
 ed to return to Gowrie- House within an hour, 
 during which time his Lordship probably went to 
 the sermon, or " exercise." 
 
 At the time appointed, Henderson returned, 
 and was admitted into Gowrie's presence, who or- 
 dered him to put on a coat of mail and other ar- 
 mour. Upon inquiring for what purpose, he receiv- 
 ed from Gowrie the summary answer, " I have a 
 Highlandman to secure in tlie Shoegate." Hender- 
 son accordingly went to his own house, and, in obe- 
 dience to his master's orders, arrayed himself in ar- 
 mour, and returned to Gowrie- House about half past 
 twelve o'clock, when he was ordered by the Earl 
 to carry up his (the Earl's) dinner, on account of 
 the illness, real or pretended, of one of his servants 
 named Craigengelt. Shortly afterwards Gowrie 
 2 E 2 ' 
 
306 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 sat down to dinner in company with three geni- 
 tlemen, John MonciiefF, Laird of Pitcrieff, James 
 Dnimmond, and Alexander Peebles, Laird of 
 Findoune. It was after the first service during 
 which Henderson was in attendance, that Andrew 
 Ruthven, who had left the King's retinue with a 
 second message to Gowrie from his brother, en- 
 tered the hall, as if lie had just dismounted, and 
 whispered something to the Earl. Henderson 
 soon after left the room, to bring up the second 
 course ; and while he was doing so, Alexander 
 Ruthven entered the diuing-hall. 
 
 It is necessary here to return to the royal party, 
 who were during this time on their progress to 
 Perth. It will be recollected, that the hunt at 
 Falkland was not finished till after eleven o'clock, 
 and that the Earl sat down to dinner at half past 
 twelve, consequently it would be between the hours 
 of one and two when the King arrived. When 
 the King was within a mile of Perth, Alexander 
 Ruthven left the party, and rode on before, to ad- 
 vertise the Earl of the King's approach.* He en- 
 tered Gowrie House with a person named Blair, 
 just as Henderson was ordering the second course ; 
 and immediately the Earl, and those that were with 
 him, rose from the table, f Henderson was desir^ 
 
 * Deposition of the Duke of Lennox, 20th August 
 1600. 
 
 f As it cannot be denied, that Gowrie was at dinner in 
 his own house when his brother arrived, it is surprising 
 that some writers should have strenuously insisted on the 
 wedding-feast, at which Gowrie is said to have been pre- 
 sent, and the surprise which he evinced, when he was told 
 that tlie King was at Perth, On the contrary, the Earl 
 appears to have evinced the utmost coolness and self-pos- 
 session. It is rather singnlar, that he did not delay his 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 307 
 
 ed to put on his steel cap and gauntlet, though in 
 complete ignorance of the purpose, except the ex- 
 planation that Gowrie had formerly heeu pleased to 
 give; for no one, it would appear, knew that the King 
 was at hand, save the Earl and his brother. Gowrie 
 now left his house, followed by Henderson ; but in- 
 stead of directing his course to the Shoegate, he 
 proceeded towards the plain or common termed the 
 Inch, which was on the road to Falkland. On per- 
 ceiving this, Henderson threw his gauntlet into the 
 kitchen, on the ground floor of the building, and 
 sent home his steel cap ; after which he followed 
 the Earl to the Inch. There Gowrie met the 
 King, Lennox, Mar, and the other royal attend- 
 ants, and they all proceeded to Gowrie House. 
 The Earl when he met the King, was attended by 
 a number of persons on foot, between thirty and 
 forty, whom he had collected for the purpose, 
 among whom was Alexander Ruthven. The King's 
 retinue hardly amounted to twenty in all. 
 
 The Earl conducted the King into the hall, at- 
 tended by Lennox, Mar, and others. The first 
 
 dinner till the arriYal of the King ; hut this may be ac- 
 counted for from the circumstance, that the three gentle- 
 men who were with him might be unexpected visitors, and it 
 was not his interest to appear as if there had been any plot 
 in contemphition. It is worthy of remark, that one of 
 these gentlemen, jMoncrieflT, Laird of Pitcriett", gave evi- 
 dence against the F.arl ; and from his deposition it ap- 
 pears, that Gowrie had excused himself from attending a 
 meeting of the town-council that day, and, even after the 
 appearance of his brother, theEarlhad never said that he ex- 
 pected any person, though he must have known of theKing's 
 approach from Henderson and Andrew Ruthven. Mon- 
 crieff grounds his evidence, doubtless, on Henderson's de- 
 position ; but it is to be recollected, that he was present 
 at some of the facts to which Henderson dopones. 
 
308 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 thing James called for was somethinp^ to drink, as 
 he was fatigued by his ride in a sultry day ; and 
 it appears, from the evidence of the Duke of Len- 
 nox, that it was not very expeditiously produced, 
 probably on account of the confusion in the house, 
 by the King's arrival. It was a full hour before 
 dinner M^as ready. " The langsomeness of pre- 
 paring the same, and badness of the cheer, " ob- 
 serves the account published by authority, " being 
 excused upon the sodeine comming of his Majestic."* 
 While the dinner was in preparation, the King 
 wished the Master to conduct him to the place 
 where the pretended Jesuit was confined ; but he 
 was told that it would be soon enough after din- 
 ner, and this reply was accompanied by a recom- 
 mendation not to appear over anxious about it, 
 lest it should excite suspicion. From the Earl, 
 the King, though he addressed him on various sub- 
 jects, " could get no direct answer of him, but 
 only halfe wordes, and imperfect sentences. " 
 
 The dinner was at length produced, during 
 which time the Earl was observed in a thoughtful 
 state, frequently whispering to the servant, and 
 
 ♦ Patrick Galloway, a very excellent clergyman, in his 
 sermon preached at the Cross of Edinburgh on the occasion, 
 thus speaks of the dinner the King got from Gowrie. " The 
 King gets his dinner, a cold dinner, yea, a veiy cold din- 
 ner, as they know who were there." — Note, apiid Muses 
 Threnodie, vol. i. p. 195. Cant ridicules the reality of 
 the conspiracy from this circumstance. '' But Gowrie, " 
 observes Sir Walter Scott, *' might have many reasons to 
 avoid appearing to expect the royal visit. The splendour 
 of preparations for the King's reception must necessarily 
 have attracted a degree of general attention luifavourable 
 to the execution of any treasonable plan. " Notes on 
 Lord Somcrs' Tracts, vol. i. p. 313. 
 
Vr. THE COWRIE CONSPIRACy. 309 
 
 sometimes going in and out of the room. The 
 King dined in the principal dining-room, the en- 
 trance to which was hy the main staircase. This 
 room, as has already been mentioned, was in the 
 south-east corner of the buihling on tlie first floor, 
 and its windows looked into the garden and com- 
 manded a view of the river. Adjoining to it was 
 the hall, at the north-west side of which, near a 
 large apartment, not destined to any particular 
 use, was the Black Turvpike^ leading into the 
 court-yard. In this hall, it appears that Lennox 
 and others of the King's attendants dined when 
 the dessert was on the King's table. 
 
 No sooner had the King sat down to dinner, 
 than Alexander Ruthven asked Henderson, for 
 the key of the gallery-chamber, which was on the 
 second floor, extending above the dining-room and 
 great hall. Henderson said, that he had not seen 
 it since his Lordship had come home ; but the 
 Master told him to get it from William Rhynd, 
 which he did, and gave it to Ruthven, who de- 
 parted with it. Meanwhile, Henderson, it would 
 appear, waited on the King as one of the do- 
 mestics, until the Earl told him in a whisper to 
 go to the gallery-cliamber to his brother. He 
 proceeded thither, followed by the Earl through 
 the " fair gallery "^ to the chamber, where they 
 found the Master. Here Gowrie told Henderson 
 to remain with his brother, and to do as he order- 
 ed him ; then left the apartment, and returned 
 to the King. Henderson now inquired what the 
 Master wanted him to do, when the latter said, 
 " You must go in Iiere, and remain till I come 
 back, for I will take the key with me ; " and he 
 pointed to the turret, which was^ at^the north- 
 
310 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 west corner of the apartment. No sooner had 
 Henderson got into this turret, than he was locked 
 up by the Master. * 
 
 Let us now return to the first-floor. The King- 
 had finished his dinner, and was rising from the 
 table, when the Master entered the dining-hall, 
 and whispered in his ear, that it was now time 
 to go and examine the treasure ; but that he want- 
 ed to get quit of the Earl, his brother, and beg- 
 ed his Majesty would send him into the hall, to 
 entertain his guests. The King now called for a 
 pledging cup, and observed jocularly to the Earl, 
 that although he had seen the customs of other 
 countries, yet he (the King) would teach him a 
 Scottish custom, as he was a " Scottish man ;" for 
 since he had forgotten to pledge his sovereign, 
 and had not sat with his guests at table, he (the 
 King) would pledge his own welcome. Gowrie 
 was then desired to go into the hall, and pledge 
 the company. The King now left the dining-room, 
 and proceeded through the hall, where his atten- 
 dants were drinking, and as he passed, he desired 
 Sir Thomas Erskine to follow him, but this was 
 forbidden by the Master. The King was then led 
 by the Master up the Black Turnjnke to the gal- 
 lery-chamber, the latter taking care to lock every 
 door behind him, till he came to the gallery, the 
 door of which remained open ; and he was over- 
 heard to say, as he locked these doors — *' Now I 
 have him secure, 1 think." He was at last led to 
 the turret^ in which Henderson was placed, the door 
 of which being unlocked by the Master, the King 
 
 • Henderson says in his second deposition, that he now 
 " suspected some mischief was to be done, and he kneeled 
 and pi'ayed to God.'' 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 311 
 
 pntered leaning on his arm, where the first object 
 he saw was Henderson in complete armour, and 
 was perfectly astounded at the sight. The door 
 was now locked by the Master, who putting on his 
 hat, and, turning fiercely on the King, said, " Sir, 
 you are my prisoner ; remember my father s death. 
 Submit to me without resistance or outcry, or this 
 dagger shall instantly avenge my father's death ;" 
 and he snatched Henderson's dagger, and present- 
 ed it to the King's heart. * Astonished and ter- 
 rified at this sudden attack, the King attempted 
 to speak ; hut was interrupted by Ruthven. " Hold 
 your tongue, Sir," said he, " or by Christ you 
 shall die ! " The King was without a weapon of 
 any kind, and had merely his hunting-horn sus- 
 pended from liis breast ; but he at length said 
 to Ruthven, " Mr Alexander, you and I were 
 very great [intimate,] together, and as for your 
 father's death, man, 1 was then a minor, and 
 my council would have done what they pleas- 
 ed: f And farther, man, although you bereave 
 me of my life, ye will not be King of Scotland, 
 for I have both sons and daughters, and there 
 are those in this town who will not leave it unre- 
 venged." According to the King's account, he also 
 reminded Ruthven how he had not only restored 
 to his family " al their landes and dignities, but 
 
 * Henderson, in his first deposition, says, that lie threw 
 the da^iger out of the IMaster's hand, otherwise tlie King 
 would certainly have been slain. He omits this fact in his 
 second ; but it is of little consequence, and does not in- 
 validate his general testimony, which, fortunately, he gave 
 both times with wonderful clearness and precision. 
 
 f The KiiijT was only seventeen years of age when the 
 first Earl of Gowrie was beheaded. 
 
312 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 also had nourished arid had tlie upbrint(ing of two 
 or tliree of liis sisters, as it ivere in his own bo" 
 some, by a continual attendance uppoa his Ma- 
 jestie's dearest bed-fellow in her privy chamber." 
 He also reminded him of the instructions he had 
 received from that " holie man, Mr Robert Rol- 
 locke," assuring him that one day " the said Master 
 Robert's soule would accuse him that hee had 
 never learned of him to practise such unnaturall 
 crueltie;" and he craved permission to leave 
 the place, assuring the Master, on the word of 
 a prince, that if he allowed him to go free, he 
 would not mention to any one living his con- 
 duct at that time. Ruthven, however, answered, 
 with an oath, that it was neither his life nor his 
 blood which he wanted. Then, said the King, 
 " Why do not you take off your hat, " which 
 Ruthven then did. " What is it ye want, man, " 
 asked the King, " if ye crave not my life ? " — 
 " Sir, " replied the Master, " it is but a promise." 
 " What promise, man ? " asked the King. " My 
 Lord, my brother nnll tell you," said he. " Then," 
 said the King, " bring hitlier your brothei'. " In 
 this state of irresolution, the Master said, " I will ; 
 but, Sir, you will not cry, nor open the window 
 till I come again. " The King promised that be 
 would not, and the Master left the turret, care- 
 fully locking the door behind him ; first saying to 
 Henderson, " I make you here the King's keeper 
 till I return, and see that ye keep him upon your 
 peril ; ' and to the King, " You must be content 
 with this man as your keeper till I return. " • 
 
 * Second Deposition of Andrew Henderson. A Dis- 
 course on the Unnatural Conspiracies, &c. 
 
Vr. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 313 
 
 Durin<? this time, and while the King was in 
 this distracting situation, his attendants below 
 were heconiing impatient. Cowrie had gone into 
 the hail, as he was desired by the King ; and when 
 the King's lieaith was pledged, Lennox rose to 
 follow him, as he had been commanded ; but he 
 was told by tlie Earl, that his Majesty ivas gone 
 quietly vpon some private errand. Calling for the 
 key of the garden, he conducte(i his guests thither 
 by a staircase, which led, l.>y a flight of steps from 
 the south-east corner of the hall, adjoining the 
 dining-room, into tlie garden. By this manoeuvre, 
 he conducted them to a different quarter altoge- 
 ther from that part of the large building in which 
 was the King, they being at the east, and he be- 
 ing in the south-west angle of the house. As the 
 King had declared that he was to return to Falk- 
 land that night, they had all their liorses in readi- 
 ness ; and while they were in the garden, one Cran- 
 stoun, a friend of Cowrie, who was afterwards ex- 
 ecuted for this desperate enterprise, came to them, 
 and informed them that the King had gone to 
 Falkland ; upon which ihey all nished, with Cow- 
 rie, up the flight of steps into the hall, and, cross- 
 ing it, ran down the staircase into the court-yard — 
 calling for their horses. Cowrie also exclaimed, 
 " Horse ! horse ! " when Cranstoun said to liim, 
 " Your horse is at Scone ; " but Cowrie took no 
 notice of this, continually exclaiming, " Horse ! 
 horse!" Here they were joined by the Earl of 
 Mar, and Wemyss of Pittencrieft", Cowrie's bro- 
 ther-in-law; for those two, instead of accompany- 
 ing Lennox and the others into the garden, had 
 gone up the principal staircase into the " Fair Cal- 
 
 voL. I. 2 c 
 
314 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 lery," on the second floor (at the upper end of 
 which was the gallery-chamber, and in the round 
 or turret where the King was locked up), and had 
 remained there for some time, admiring its noble 
 and spacious appearance. * 
 
 Gowrie now said, " I am sure the King is al- 
 ways first ; stay, my Lords, and drink, and I shall 
 no into the house and ascertain if he be really 
 gone." He then crossed the court or close, and went 
 up the principal staircase ; but soon reappeared, 
 telling them that the King had really gone forth 
 to Falkland by the South Inch ; and, in the utmost 
 hurry, called for their horses. By this time they 
 were all near the front street, or Shoegate, be- 
 fore the chief entrance to the house ; but some 
 doubts having arisen, the Duke of Lennox asked 
 Robert Christie, Gowrie's porter, if the King were 
 really gone; to which he answered, " No." The Earl 
 of Mar then said to the porter, " Billy [friend], 
 tell me truly whether his Majesty is gone or not." 
 Christie answered, " In truth, my Lord, he is not." 
 Gowrie turned fiercely upon him, and said, " You 
 lie, he went by the back gate, and across the 
 Inch. " " My Lord, " replied the porter, " that 
 cannot be, for I have the key of the back gate, and 
 all the gates of the place, in my pocket. " They 
 all went out of the gate, into the street, deliberat- 
 ing and looking about for the King, when sudden- 
 ly they heard a voice, as if proceeding from a strug- 
 gle. " That is the King's voice, " said Lennox, 
 " be where he will. " 
 
 Leaving Lennox, Mar, and the other attendants 
 of the King in this state of surprise, let us return 
 
 * Peitli Antiquarian Society's Transactions, vol. i. 
 p. 97. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 315 
 
 to the turret in tlie gallery-cljamber, where tlie 
 Kintr was locked up, after the departure of the 
 Master. No sooner had Ruthven left the turret 
 with the intention of consultinp^ his brother, than 
 the King turned to the man in armour, whom lie 
 had never before seen, and who stood almost mo- 
 tionless at the Master's outrageous conduct. " How 
 came you here, man ? " asked the King. Hender- 
 son replied, " As God lives, I am shot [thrust] 
 in here like a dog, a short time before your Ma- 
 jesty's coming." " Will my Lord of Gowrie do 
 me any evil, man ? " asked the King. " I vow 
 to God, " said Henderson, " I shall die first. " 
 The King then desired Henderson to throw open 
 one of the windows, and give the alarm ; and 
 he accordingly ran to the one which looked to- 
 wards the Speygiite ; but the King exclaimed, 
 " Fie ! the wrong window, man ! " This ex- 
 pression has been held by the sceptics in this 
 enterprise, as quite conclusive that the plot was 
 devised by the King, but when we recollect the 
 situation of the tuiTet, and the direction of the 
 windows, every objection is visionary. The one 
 to which Henderson ran first, looked directly 
 away from the court-yard or close where the King 
 certainly wished to give the alarm, towards the 
 Spey-gate, in the direction of the Spey or Spy 
 Tower, whereas the other looked directly towards 
 the quarter where assistance could alone be pro- 
 cured. At the very moment when Henderson was 
 attempting to open the right window, Alexander 
 Ruthven entered the turret, and making towards 
 the King, said, " By God ! there is no remedy : 
 you must die ! " and having a (jarter or cord in his 
 hand, he sprung upon the King with the intention 
 
316 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 to bind his hands. James was unarmed, yet he 
 scorned to submit to that indignity, and, closing 
 with the Master, a struggle endued. " I am a 
 hee prince, man ! " he cried to Ruthven, *' I will 
 not be bound. " While thus grappling with the 
 assassin, he extricated his left hand, and Hen- 
 derson pulled away the garter from Ruthven. 
 The King " loupit free, " and made towards the 
 window, but the Master again grappled him by the 
 craig, (throat) with his left hand, and placed his 
 right Jieeve (hand) on the King's mouth. Hender- 
 son drew away his right hand from James' mouth, 
 and, reaching over the King's shoulder, threw up 
 the window ; and at this time the King's voice 
 was heard in the court-yard below. When Ruth- 
 ven perceived this, he exclaimed to Henderson, 
 " Wo betide thee, villain ! is there no help 
 from ye ? We shall all die. " He then attempt- 
 ed to draw his sword ; but the King laid his 
 hands on the hilt, and grasped firmly the hands of 
 Ruthven, who drew back from the window, drag- 
 ging the King to the middle of the turret. During 
 this struggle, Henderson ran, and unlocked the 
 closet, and also the door of the gallery-chamber at 
 the head of the Black Turnpike, which the Mas- 
 ter had also secured ; and hearing a noise, and a 
 rushing up the turnpike, he stood aside, the King 
 and the Master still grappling each other. 
 
 When the King's voice was first heard by Len- 
 nox, Mar, and others, in the court-yard, all eyes 
 turned to the quarter whence it proceeded. Look- 
 ing up towards the window, they perceived the 
 King wanting his hat, his face red, flushed, and a 
 hand grasping his cheek and mouth. His cries 
 were at that moment quite audible — " Treason ! 
 
VI. THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. 317 
 
 treason ! — lielp, my Lord Mar, lielp ! help ! I am 
 murdered I " and a general rush took place from 
 the court- yard towards the house. The Duke of 
 Lennox, Mar, and some others, ran up the great 
 staircase towards the hall, hut there tiiey found 
 the door secured. Seeing; a ladder, they got hold 
 of it, and attempted to hurst open tlie door, hut 
 it broke ; and though they sent for hammers, these 
 were of no avail. James Erskine laid hands on 
 Gowrie himself in the street, and Sir Thomas 
 Erskine also grappled with him, saying, " Traitor ! 
 this is thy deed : thou shalt die ! " But Gowrie 
 answered, " I know nothing of the matter. " A 
 scuffle ensued, when the Earl, who carried two 
 swords, or perhaps a dagger and sword, drew them 
 both, exclaiming, " I will either be at my own 
 house, or die at the gate ! " tlten followed by a 
 number lie ran into the court-yard. 
 
 While Lennox, Mar, and others, were battering 
 the doors in the principal staircase, and assailing 
 them with their utmost fury. Sir John Ramsay ran 
 up the Black Turnpike, calling on Sir Thomas 
 Erskine to follow him to the very top. Erskine 
 was followed by Sir Hugh Herries, failed Dr Ilcr- 
 rics, and others. Ramsay having ascended the turn- 
 pike, and, forced open the door, f<»uiid himselt in the 
 gallery-chamber, the King struggling with Ruthven, 
 and the man in armour standing at a distance mo- 
 tionless. By this time Erskine, Herries, and others, 
 had entered ; and Herries cried, " This is the trai- 
 tor, strike him ! " Ramsay accordingly made towards 
 Ruthven, when the King, exhausted by the struggle, 
 said, " Strike him lai(/h [low], for he has ane pi/nc 
 doublet * upon him." Ramsay, who was one of the 
 
 * " ri/ne d lublet was an under coat of defence, made of 
 2 c 2 
 
318 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 royal pages, had a hawk on his arm, but he cast 
 the bird from him, drew his sword, and stabbed 
 the Master twice, while the King, making an ex- 
 ertion, threw him down the stairs of the turnpike. 
 The rash youth fell, weltering in blood, exclaim- 
 ing, " Alas ! I was not to blame for this matter. " 
 His body was found by Erskine, Herries, and o- 
 thers, who attacked him with their weapons, and 
 speedily despatched him. During the confusion, 
 Henderson took the opportunity to escape. 
 
 At this very moment Gowrie appeared in the 
 gallery-chamber, where the King had been res- 
 cued, w^ith two swords in his hand, and a knap" 
 scliaw or helmet on his head, preceded by his ser- 
 vant Thomas Cranston, and some others. Erskine, 
 Herries, and Ramsay, attempted to stop their en- 
 trance when a scuffle ensued, during which Erskine 
 was wounded in the right hand by Cranston; 
 but Sir John Ramsay attacked the Earl, and 
 stabbed him through the heart. Gowrie reeled, 
 leaned on his sword, fell to the ground dead, and 
 it was noted as a singular circumstance, that no 
 blood came from his wound till his belt was re- 
 moved ; in which, when his person was riffled for 
 papers, there was found concealed a number of do- 
 cuments containing magical characters. After the 
 Earl fell, Cranston and the rest of his followers 
 effected a retreat. 
 
 The King, thus rescued from the assailants, 
 descended from the apartment where the affray 
 had happened. But no sooner was it known 
 in Perth that Gowrie was slain, than multi- 
 wire, to shield from tlie point of a dagger. It was worn 
 by ino)xs or foot soldiers." Note fl;»urf Arnot, p. 2i\. 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIEACY. 319 
 
 tttdes of persons coHected before the gate of 
 GowTie House ; some for the King's relief, o- 
 thers attracted by the disturbance, and by the 
 ringing of the town bell. The retainers of Gow- 
 rie rioted on the streets for several hours in the 
 evening, and even after the King's rescue, made 
 " certain irreverent and undutiful speeches against 
 his Majesty. " * Alexander Ruthven of Forgun, 
 called out to the King, " Come down, thou son of 
 Signior Davie [Rizzio] ; thou hast slain an honest- 
 er man than thyself ;" and Craigengelt, exclaimed 
 before the citizens, " Give us out our Provost, or 
 the King's green coat shall pay for it. " The 
 King, however, showed himself to the people from 
 the famous turret, and, by repeated assurances of 
 his safety, endeavoured to restrain the disorder. 
 The town's-people, we are toki, knew nothing of 
 the matter till the bell rang, but it would appear 
 that the tidings of the affair had speedily reached 
 Dundee; (twenty miles distant) ; for " the town of 
 Dundee, being advertised, came all upon arms, 
 thinking to have spoyled the burgh of Perth, but 
 praised be God, the King knew the town of Perth's 
 part to be free. " f 
 
 The riot on the streets continued for some 
 hours, principally excited by Gowrie's servants, 
 who appear to have been well armed, and those 
 of the citizens who were attached to him. While 
 one party were exclaiming " The King is slain ! " 
 and calling for " ane sight of the Kingis face ; " 
 and " giff his Maiestie wes weill ; " the uproar 
 
 * Act of Privy Council, requiring the magistrates and 
 town-council of Perth to appear before the King at Lin- 
 lithgow, 16th September 1600. 
 
 f Mercer's Chronicle, MS. 
 
320 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 was most clamorous with the other party, by 
 whom Gowrie was much beloved. Some vocife- 
 rated, " Traitouris and Thievis ! " others, " God 
 send ane drap of grace to his Maiestie ! " It appears 
 from the depositions afterwards taken, when no 
 fewer than tliree hundred and fifty-five persons, 
 citizens of Perth, who were alleged to have heen 
 concerned in the tumult, were examined, that 
 Alexander Ruthven of Forgun was seen running 
 up the Water-gate, and before the House, with a 
 drawn sword, exclaiming, " False traitouris ! fy for 
 powder ! he is deid ! he is slane ! Thieves ! 
 ye are unworthie of sic ane Provost ! and giflf he 
 leive, he sail remember on this day ! " One calUd 
 out, " Green-coats, he have committed murder ! *' 
 and when he was reproved for this remark, he 
 replied, " Ye are nocht gude nychtbouris in 
 ane toune, that helpis nocht zour Prouest ! " 
 Others vociferated, " The Prouest is slane ! thair 
 is ane nobill man tynt [lost] this day ! Wo 
 worth this day forever ! " A woman named Vio- 
 let Ruthven, probably a relative of the Gowrie fa- 
 mily, was observed by several of the witnesses 
 examined, as being particularly active, and loud in 
 her denunciations against the King, exclaiming, 
 " Bludie boitscheouris ! Tratouris ! Wo worth 
 [befall] zour green cottis ! Bludie traitouris! 
 that lies murderit thay innocentis ! " Other wo- 
 men called out, " Gowrie had anew to tak meit 
 and drink fra hame, hot he hes nane to revenge 
 his deid." These and similar exclamations re- 
 sounded through the streets, while the loyal par- 
 ties were equally violent and anxious in their in- 
 quiries after James. Andrew Roy, one of the magi- 
 strates, who afterwards gave his deposition, was 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 321 
 
 particularly active in endeavouring to repel the dis- 
 order. It was he who commanded the common- 
 hell to be rung. At length the loyalists succeeded 
 in causing the populace to disperse, partly by 
 threats, entreaties, and assurances that the King 
 was safe. 
 
 As it would have been dangerous for James, 
 during the continuance of this disorder, to have 
 appeared in the public street, he departed about 
 seven in the evening for Falkland, by a private 
 door or gate towards the river, after having direct- 
 ed the magistrates of Perth to take charge of the 
 bodies of Gowrie and his brother. It was late 
 in the evening when the King arrived at Falkland ; 
 but no sooner was the fact communicated to the in- 
 habitants, than they all turned out of their houses, 
 and welcomed their sovereign by the greatest de- 
 monstrations of joy and attachment. On the follow- 
 ing day, August 6th, the privy-council in Edin- 
 burgh received an express from the court, and no- 
 thing could exceed the astonishment which perva- 
 ded the kingdom, when this daring conspiracy was 
 made known. In Edinburgh, in particular, the ci- 
 tizens vied with each other in their expressions of 
 loyalty for the King's deliverance. Cannons were 
 fired, the houses were illuminated, bone- fires were 
 lighted. On the top of Arthur's Seat a great fire 
 was kindled ; the church-bells of the city sent 
 forth their sonorous peals ; and all concurred in 
 the public joy at the King's deliverance, save the 
 ministers of Edinburgh, who not only refused to 
 hold a public thanksgiving for the defeat of the 
 enterprise, but even obstinately maintained, that 
 there was no conspiracy at all. 
 
 The King arrived at Edinburgh from Falkland 
 
322 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 on the 11th of August, and was joyfully received 
 at Leith by a great concourse of people, and he 
 now turned his attention towards an investiga- 
 tion of the conspiracy. 
 
 As Henderson had escaped from Gowrie House 
 during the disturbance, and had not been recog- 
 nised by any one, a free pardon and a consider- 
 able reward were offered to the individual who 
 would confess that he was the unknown person 
 in the turret. Henderson immediately came for- 
 ward, and acknowledged that he was the man. 
 He was imprisoned, and retained as a witness in 
 the future proceedings. 
 
 On the 22d of August, a warrant was issued 
 by the Justiciary Court, to bring Gowrie's three 
 servants, George Craigengelt, Thomas Cranston, 
 (brother of Sir John Cranston of that Ilk), and 
 John Macduff, to trial at Perth. It appears 
 that Cranston had been previously examined at 
 Perth on the 6th of August, and Craigengelt at 
 Falkland on the 16th. They were according- 
 ly served with an indictment, and being found 
 guilty as " airt and pairt'' in the conspiracy, were 
 executed on the 23d of that month. The charge 
 proved against them was, that they drew their 
 swords in defence of Gowrie against the King, 
 during the disorder at Gowrie House ; but they 
 denied to the last that they had any knowledge of 
 the conspiracy. On the 20th of August, a pre- 
 cognition of the conspiracy was taken at Falkland, 
 when Lennox, Mar, the Abbots of Inchaffray, 
 and Lindores, Sir Thomas Erskine, Sir John 
 Ramsay, Andrew Henderson, and twenty-five other 
 witnesses, gave their depositions. On the 22d Sep- 
 tember, an investigation was made at Perth in the 
 
VI. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 323 
 
 " New Kirk, " by the magistrates and council, in 
 obedience to the King's writ produced by Sir Ro- 
 bert Melville and Sir David Murray. Almost 
 every individual of any consequence in Perth, was 
 summoned to attend this investigation. It continu- 
 ed five days, and no fewer than three hundred and 
 fifty-five persons were examined. They chiefly 
 deponed to the riot on the streets, an account of 
 which has already been given from their evidence.* 
 It may be observed, that one Francis Tennent was 
 executed in October for writing " pasquils " on the 
 subject against the King, addressed to the well- 
 known Robert Bruce and another preacher named 
 Davidson. On the 1st of November, Gpwrie and 
 Iiis brother were tried according to the Roman law, 
 which held that persons guilty of high treason 
 might be tried after death ; which practice was ex- 
 tensively fel lowed by the Scots. Of course, it 
 was a mere formality. 
 
 The various acts of the government afterwards, 
 it is needless to recapitulate. The family of Cow- 
 rie, and various of their connections, were de- 
 clared forfeited ; and the surname of Ruthven 
 was ordered to be abolished forever. Andrew 
 
 * Some of their depositions are curious. One declared 
 that he '< was measuring coals all the time in the South Inch," 
 a second turned out " at the soond o' the bell, bot stayed 
 not;" a third was, '* nocht that day in the toon,; " a 
 fourth was, " nocht thair ; " a fifth " cam nocht ; " a sixth 
 was *< sleeping at the time. " Some said they were at varia 
 ous places in the country ; others were at the riot, but knew 
 nothing about it ; others, again, were pursuing their own 
 aftairs ; a few described themselves as " auld men, " and 
 that they " couldna gang out;" some deponed that they 
 were thair, but that they were ordered hamc by the magis- 
 trates, who threatened to " break their hcids. " No far- 
 ther explanations could be given of the matter. 
 
324 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 Henderson was set at liberty, and restored to his 
 office of chamberlain or factor ; and, on the 19th 
 of November, the bodies of the Earl and his 
 brother were brought to Edinburgh, and hanged, 
 drawn, and quartered, at the cross. Their heads 
 wei'e set up in Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, and 
 Stirling; it was enacted, that it would be high 
 treason for any person to intercede for the Gowrie 
 family ; and the 5th day of August was appointed 
 to be held ever afterwards as a day of public thanks- 
 giving. 
 
 Thus the matter rested, without any elucida- 
 tion of the mystery, till nine years afterwards, 
 when an accident as strange as the plot itself oc- 
 curred. One George Sprot, a notary in Eye- 
 mouth, having boasted among some of his friends, 
 that he knew several particulars connected with 
 the Gowrie Conspiracy, information was conveyed 
 to George Home, Earl of Dunbar, who apprehend- 
 ed him at the instance of the Lord Advocate. Af- 
 ter having been repeatedly examined by the Privy 
 Council, Sprot gave in a declaration that he knew 
 perfectly of the conspiracy, and of the correspon- 
 dence between Gowrie and Logan. On that oc- 
 casion, the letters of Logan of Kestalrig, al- 
 ready alluded to, were produced. *" Both Logan 
 and his agent. Laird Bour, were dead, but the 
 same course was taken against the former, as a- 
 gainst Gowrie and his brother. His bones were 
 
 * Sprot confessed that he had known both Logan and 
 Laird Bour, from the latter of whom he had received the 
 first intimation of the conspiracy. It is curious to remark, 
 that Logan's letters to Gowrie, which were found in Sprot's 
 possession, appear to have been worn in the pocket for a 
 considerable length of time. 
 
VI. THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. 325 
 
 (lug up ; he was tried for high IreaRon ; his estate 
 was forfeited ; his posterity declared infamous. Jt 
 does not appear that any proceedings were insti- 
 tuted against Laird Bour, who was probahly too 
 insignificant to attract attention. Sprot himself 
 was hanged on the 12th of August 1G09, at the 
 Cross of Edinburgh, and his head placed on the 
 Tolbooth beside those of Gowrie and his brother. 
 Archbishop Spottiswoode, Dr George Abbot, (af- 
 terwards Archbishop of Canterbury), many noble- 
 men, and the magistrates and ministers of Edin- 
 burgh, were present at his execution. He conduct- 
 ed himself on the scaffold with great penitence and 
 devotion ; he informed the spectators tliat when 
 he was thrown over the ladder, he would verify 
 by a signal the truth of his confessions ; and ac- 
 cordingly, he thrice clapped his hands when he 
 was suspended on the gibbet. 
 
 Fortunately, at tiie present day, we can reason 
 and investigate facts, without those excitements 
 of passion which characterized the turbulent and 
 stormy reign of James iu Scotland. It has been 
 conjectured, tliat there was perhaps a double plot 
 on the part of the Ruthvens ; and it may be safely 
 concluded, that while the Master seems to have 
 been stimulated by a determination to revenge his 
 father's death, with Gowrie himself it was evident- 
 ly a wild scheme of unprincipled and ill-concerted 
 ambition ; and, tliough it would be rash to maintain 
 that they intended to slay the King, they cannot he 
 freed from the charge of concerting violence on his 
 person. Indeed since the authenticity of Logan's 
 letters are now placed beyond all question, it cannot 
 be doubted, that the first object of tlie Earl and his 
 brother was to secure the person of the King, by 
 
326 CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 conveying him to Fastcastle, that the whole influ- 
 ence of the Crown might be transferred into their 
 hands. 
 
 But never was there a charge more atrocious, 
 I would observe, in concluding this nanative, than 
 that of ascribing to James the invention of the 
 plot in order to accomplish the niin of the Ruthven 
 family. " Besides the placability and gentleness of 
 his disposition, " observes Sir Walter Scott, " and 
 besides the consideration, that no adequate motive 
 can be assigned, or even conjectured, for his per- 
 petrating such an inhospitable murder, it ought to 
 be recollected, that the King was naturally timor- 
 ous, and could not even look at a drawn sword 
 without shuddering ; so that it is contrary to all 
 reason and probability to suppose that he could 
 be the deviser of a scheme in which his life was 
 repeatedly exposed to the most imminent danger." 
 *' It has become fashionable, " says Mr Pitcairn, 
 " to ridicule the pusillanimity of James VI. ; but 
 it is hard to conceive how far the bravest man could 
 have here surpassed him in courage, or could have 
 displayed more coolness and address than did the 
 King, throughout all this transaction. Although 
 constitutionally and habitually timid, and this weak- 
 ness aggravated in no small degree by the constant 
 broils and conspiracies in which he was involved, 
 James, on many occasions, showed, when per- 
 sonally placed in difficult emergencies, that he was 
 not unworthy of the royal blood from which he 
 was descended. " 
 
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