whom Boyd, earl of Arran, was one, gratified him in this request; and this concession is thought to have proved fatal to the earl. Certain it is that his father was beheaded for treasonable practices alleged to have been committed long before, and for which he produced a parliamentary indemnity to no purpose; the earl himself was divorced from his wife, the king's sister, and obliged to live in perpetual exile, while the countess was married to another. In 1476 those misfortunes began to come on James which afterwards terminated in his ruin. He had made his brother, the duke of Albany, governor of Berwick; and had entrusted him with very extensive powers upon the borders, where a violent propensity for the feudal law still continued. The Humes and the Hepburns, then the most powerful subjects in those parts, could not brook the duke of Albany's greatness, especially after he had forced them, by virtue of a late act, to part with some of the estates which had been granted them in this and the preceding reign. The pretended science of judicial astrology, by which James was incredibly infatuated, was the most effectual engine that could work their purposes. One Andrew, an infamous impostor in that art, had been brought over from Flanders by James; and he and Schevez, then archbishop of St. Andrew's, concurred in persuading James that the Scottish lion was to be devoured by his own whelps; a prediction that, to a prince of James's turn, seemed of certain accomplishment. The condition to which James reduced himself by his belief in astrology was truly deplorable. The princes upon the continent were smitten with the same infatuation; and the wretches who besieged his person had no safety but by continuing the delusion in his mind. According to Lindesay, Cochran, who had some knowledge of architecture, and had been introduced to James as a master mason, privately procured an old woman, who pretended to be a witch, and who heightened his terrors by declaring that his brothers intended to murder him. James believed her; and the unguarded manner in which the earl of Mar treated his weakness, exasperated him so much, that the earl was arrested, and committed to the castle of Craig-miller; whence he was brought to the Canongate, a suburb of Edinburgh, where he suffered death. The duke of Albany was at the castle of Dunbar when his brother the earl of Mar's tragedy was acted; and James could not be easy without having him likewise in his power. In hopes of surprising him he marched to Dunbar; but the duke, being apprised of his coming, fled to Berwick, and ordered his castle of Dunbar to be surrendered to the lord Evendale, though not before the garrison had provided themselves with boats and small vessels, in which they escaped to England. He ventured to come to Edinburgh; where James was so well served with spies that he was seized, and committed close prisoner to the castle, with orders that he should speak with none but in the presence of his keeper. The duke had probably suspected and provided against this disagreeable event; for we are told that he had agents, who every day repaired to the castle, as if they had come from

court, and reported the state of matters between him and the king, while his keepers were present, in so favorable a light that they made no doubt of his soon regaining his liberty, and being readmitted to his brother's favor. The seeming negociation at last went on so prosperously, that the duke gave his keepers a kind of a farewell entertainment, previous to his obtaining a formal deliverance; and they drank so immoderately that, being intoxicated, they gave him an opportunity of escaping over the castle wall, by converting the sheets of his bed into a rope. Whoever knows the situation of that fortress will be amazed at the boldness of this attempt; we are told that the duke's valet, the only domestic he was allowed to have, making the experiment before his master, broke his neck; upon which the duke, lengthening the rope, slid down unhurt, and went on board a ship which his friends had provided, and escaped to France. In 1482 the king began to feel the bad consequences of taking into his favor men of worthless characters. His great favorite at this time was Cochran, whom he had raised from a low station to the dignity of earl of Mar. All historians agree that this man made a most infamous use of his power. He obtained at last a liberty of coinage, which he abused so much as to endanger an insurrection; for he issued a base coin called black money by the common people, which they refused to take in payments. His skill in architecture had first introduced him to James; but he maintained his power by other arts; for, knowing that the king's predominant passion was the love of money, he procured it by the meanest and most oppressive methods. James had other favorites still less worthy of the royal countenance; Hommil, a taylor; Leonard, a blacksmith; Torfifan, a dancing-master; and some others. The favor shown to these men gave so much offence to the nobility that, after some deliberation, they resolved to remove the king, with some of his least exceptionable domestics (but without offering any violence to his person), to the castle of Edinburgh; and to hang all his worthless favorites over Lauder bridge, the common place of execution. Their deliberation was not kept so secret as not to come to the ears of his favorites, who, suspecting the worst, wakened James before day-break, and informed him of the meeting. He ordered Cochran to repair to it, and to bring him an account of the proceedings. According to Lindesay, who seems to have had very minute information as to this event, Cochran rudely knocked at the door of the church, just after the assembly had finished their consultation; and, upon Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven informing them that the earl of Mar demanded admittance, the earl of Angus ordered the door to be thrown open; and, rushing upon Cochran, pulled a massy gold chain from his neck, saying, that a rope would become him better; while Sir Robert Douglas stripped him of a costly hunting horn he wore by his side, telling him he had been too long the hunter of mischief. Cochran, astonished, asked them whether they were in jest or earnest, but they soon convinced him they were in earnest, by pinioning dowr his arms with a halter. The

earl of Angus, with some of the chief lords, attended by a detachment of troops, then repaired to the king's tent, where they seized his other favorites, Thomas Preston, Sir William Rogers, James Hommil, William Torfifan, and Leonard, and upbraided him in rude terms with his misconduct in government, and even in private life. James only interceded for the safety of a young gentleman, Ramsay of Balmain. Cochran, with his other favorites, were hanged over Lauder bridge as proposed, and he himself was conducted, under easy restraint, to the castle of Edinburgh. Though confined, he here behaved with great spirit; and refused to pardon those who had confined him, or had any hand in the execution at Lauder. At last, however, he was relieved by the duke of Albany, at the queen's desire. He accomplished his deliverance, as some say, by surprising the castle of Edinburgh; others say the gates were opened, upon a formal requisition made by two heralds; the king then repaired to the abbey of Holyrood-house with his brother, who acted now as his first minister. All the lords who were near the capital came to pay him their compliments; but James was so much exasperated at what had happened that he committed sixteen of them prisoners to the castle. After his release James granted a patent to the citizens of Edinburgh, and enlarged their privileges. In 1487 he finished the secret negociations in which he had engaged with Henry VII. king of England. The principal articles agreed upon bebetween the two monarchs were, That king James's eldest son should marry Catherine, the third daughter of Edward IV., and sister to the princess Elizabeth, then queen of England; and that James, who was now a widower, should marry queen Elizabeth. A third marriage was also to be concluded between the duke of Rothesay and another daughter of Edward IV. To complete these treaties, and end all controversies concerning the town of Berwick, which the king of Scotland much desired to possess, a congress was to be held the ensuing year. In the mean time a most powerful confederacy was formed against the king; the origin of which was his passion for architecture. Being pleased with the situation of Stirling castle, he resolved to give it all the embellishments which art could bestow; and about this time made it the chief place of his residence. He raised within it a hall, which at that time was deemed a noble structure; and a college, which he called the chapel royal, endowed with an archdeacon who was a bishop, a subdean, treasurer, chanter, &c., and a double set of the other officers usually belonging to such institutions. The expenses necessary for maintaining these establishments were considerable, and the king had resolved to assign the revenues of the rich priory of Coldingham for that purpose. This priory had been generally held by the Hume family, who, through length of time, considered it as their property; they therefore strongly opposed the king's intention. The dispute seems to have lasted some years; for the former parliament passed a vote annexing the priory to the king's chapel royal; and the parliament of this year had passed a statute strictly prohibiting all persons, spiritual and temporal,

to attempt any thing directly or indirectly, contrary or prejudicial to the said union and annexation. The Humes resented their being stripped of so gainful a revenue, the loss of which affected most of the gentlemen of that name; and they united themselves with the Hepburns, another powerful clan in that neighbourhood, in an association, by which both families engaged to stand by each other, and not to suffer any prior to be received for Coldingham, if he was not of one of their surnames. The lords Gray and Drum. mond soon joined the association; as did many other noblemen and gentlemen, who had their own causes of discontent. Their agents gave out, that the king was grasping at arbitrary power; that he had acquired his popularity by deep hypocrisy; and that he was resolved to be signally revenged upon all who had any hand in the execution at Lauder. The earl of Angus, who was the soul of the confederacy, advised the conspirators to apply to old earl of Douglas to head them; but that nobleman was now dead to all ambition, and, instead of encouraging the conspirators, pathetically exhorted them to break off all their rebellious connexions, and return to their duty. Finding he could not prevail with them, he wrote to all the numerous friends and descendants of his family, and particularly to Douglas of Cavers, sheriff of Teviotdale, dissuading them from entering into the conspiracy, some of his letters to this effect are still extant. This great man survived the application but a short time; for he died without issue at Lindores, on the 15th of April, 1488; and in him ended the first branch of that noble house. He was remarkable for being the most learned of all the Scotch nobility of his time, and for the comeliness of his person.

James appears to have been no stranger to the proceedings of the conspirators; but, though he dreaded them, he depended upon the protection of the law, as they did upon his pusillanimity. His degeneracy in this respect is remarkable. Descended from a race of heroes, he was the first of his family who had been branded with cowardice. But his conduct at this time fully justifies the charge. Instead of vigorously supporting the execution of the laws in his own person, he shut himself up in his castle of Stirling, and raised a body guard; the command of which he gave to Bothwel, master of his household. He likewise issued a proclamation, forbidding any person in arms to approach the court; and Bothwel had a warrant to see the same put into execution. Though the king's proceedings in all this were perfectly agreeable to law, yet they were given out by his enemies as so many indications of his averson to the nobility, and served only to induce them to parade the country in more numerous bodies. The connexions entered into by James with Henry alarmed the conspirators, however, and made them resolved to strike the great blow, before he could avail himself of an alliance that seemed to place him above all opposition. The acquisition of Berwick to the crown of Scotland, which was looked upon to be as good as concluded; the marriage of the duke of Rothesay with the laughter of the dowager and sister to the consort

queen of England; and, above all, the strict harmony which reigned between James and the states of his kingdom, rendered them in a manner desperate. Besides the earl of Angus, the earls of Argyle and Lennox favored the conspirators; yet their success may be said to have been entirely owing to his English connexions; which they made use of to affirm that Scotland was soon to become a province of England, and that James intended to govern his subjects by an English force. These allegations inclined many, even of the moderate party, to their cause; and they soon took the field, and appointed their rendezvous; until all the south of Scotland was in arms. James continued to rely upon the authority of his parliament; and summoned, in the terms of law, the insurgents to answer at the proper tribunals for their breaches of the peace. The conspirators, far from paying any regard to his citations, tore them in pieces, buffeted and otherwise maltreated the messengers, and set the laws at open defiance. Even north of the Forth, the heads of the houses of Gray and Drummond spread the spirit of disaffection through the populous counties of Fife and Angus; but the counties north of the Grampians continued firm in their duty. The duke of Rothesay was then a promising youth about fifteen years of age; and the subjecting the kingdom of Scotland to that of England being the chief, if not the only cause urged by the rebels for their appearing in arms, they naturally cast their eyes upon that prince, as his appearance at their head would give strength and vigor to their cause; and in this they were not deceived. James, in the mean time, finding that the inhabitants of the southern provinces were either engaged in the rebellion, or at best observed a cold neutrality, embarked on board of a vessel which was then lying in the frith of Forth, and passed to the north of that river, not finding it safe to go by land to Stirling. Arriving at the castle, he gave orders that the duke of Rothesay should be put under the care of Schaw, of Sauche, whom he had made its governor, charging him not to suffer that prince on any account to depart from the fort. The rebels, giving out that James had fled to Flanders, plundered his equipage and baggage before they passed the Forth; and thus supplied themselves with a large sum of money, which proved of the utmost consequence to their affairs. They then surprised the castle of Dunbar, and plundered the houses of every man to the south of the Forth whom they suspected of being a royalist. James was all this time making a progress, and holding courts of justice in the north, where the great families were entirely devoted to his service, particularly the earls of Huntley, Errol, and Marshal. But every day brought him fresh alarms from the south. The conspirators, notwithstanding the promising appearance of their affairs, found, that in a short time their cause must languish, and their numbers dwindle, unless they were furnished with fresh pretexts, and headed by a person of the greatest authority. While they were deliberating who that person should be, the earl of Angus boldly proposed the duke of Rothesay; and an immediate application was made to Schaw, the young prince's

governor, who secretly favored their cause, and was prevailed upon by a considerable sum of money to put the prince into their hands, and declare for the rebels. James, having ordered all the forces of the north to assemble, hurried to Perth, where he appointed the rendezvous of his army, which amounted to 30,000 men. Among the other noblemen who attended him was the famous lord David Lindsay of the Byres (an officer of great courage and experience, having long served in foreign countries), who headed 3000 foot and 1000 horse, mostly raised in Fifeshire. Upon his approaching the king's person, he presented him with a horse of remarkable spirit and beauty, and informed his majesty that he might trust his life to his agility and sure-footedness. The lord Ruthven, who was sheriff of Strathern, and ancestor to the unfortunate earls of Gowry, joined James at the head of 3000 well armed men. The whole army being assembled, James proceeded to Stirling; but was astonished, when he was not only denied entrance into the castle, but saw the guns pointed against his person, and understood, for the first time, that his son was at the head of the rebels. Schaw pretended that the duke of Rothesay had been carried off against his will; but the king's answer was, "Traitor, thou hast deceived me; and if I live ĺ shall be revenged on thee, and thou shalt be rewarded as thou hast deserved.' James lay that night in the town of Stirling, where he was joined by all his army; and, understanding the rebels were advancing, he formed his line of battle. The earl of Athol, his uncle, who was trusted by both parties, proposed an accommodation; which was effected, according to Abercromby and other historians; but the terms are not recorded. The earl of Athol surrendered himself as a hostage into the hands of the rebels. James was sensible of the advantage which public clamor gave to his enemies; and he applied to the kings of France and England, and the pope, for their interposition. His holiness named Adrian de Castello for his nuncio on this occasion, and.the two kings threatened to raise troops for the service of James. But he, by a strange fatality, left the strong castle of Edinburgh, where he might have been in safety till his friends reassembled; and, crossing the Forth, made another attempt to be admitted into the castle of Stirling. Again he was disappointed, and informed that the rebels were at Torwood in the neighbourhood, and ready to give him battle. He was at this time in possession of the castle of Blackness; his admiral, Wood, commanded the Forth; and his loyal subjects in the north were upon their march to join him. Hawthornden says that, while he remained at Blackness, he was attended by the earls of Montrose, Glencairn, and lords Maxwell and Ruthven. To give his northern friends time to join him, he proposed a negociation; but that was soon at end, upon the rebels peremptorily requiring him to resign his crown to his son, that is, to themselves. The latter had been inured to war, and consisted chiefly of borderers, well armed and disciplined; in which they had the advantage of the king's Lowland subjects, who were unaccustomed to arms. The forces of James were at Falkirk; but they soon passed the Car

ron, encampel above the bridge near Torwood, and made such dispositions as rendered a battle unavoidable. He was encamped at a small brook named Sauchie-burn, near the same spot of ground where the great Bruce had defeated the English under Edward II. The earl of Monteith, the lords Erskine, Graham, Ruthven, and Maxwell, commanded the first line of the king's army. The second was commanded by the earl of Glencairn, who was at the head of the Westland and Highland men. The earl of Crawford, with the lord Boyd and Lindsay of Byres, headed the rear, wherein the king's main strength consisted, and where he himself appeared in person, completely armed, and mounted upon the horse which had been presented to him by Lindsay. The first line of the royalists obliged that of the rebels to give way; but, the latter being supported by the Annandale men and borderers, the first and second line of the king's army were beat back. The little courage James possessed had forsaken him on the first onset; and he put spurs to his horse, intending to gain the banks of the Forth, and to go on board one of Wood's ships. In passing through the village of Bannockburn, however, a woman who was filling her pitcher at a brook, frightened at the sight of a man in armor galloping full speed, left it behind her; and, the horse taking fright, the king was thrown to the ground, and carried, bruised and maimed, by a miller into his hovel. He immediately called for a priest to make his confession; and, the rustics demanding his name and rank, 'I was,' said he, 'your king this morning. The woman, running to the door, called in a priest to confess the king: being introduced into the hovel, he saw the king covered with a coarse cloth; and, kneeling by him, he asked James whether he thought he could recover if medically attended? James answering in the affirmative, the villain pulled out a dagger, and stabbed him to the heart. Such is the dark account given of this prince's unhappy end. The name of the person who murdered him is said to have been Andrew Borthwick, a priest, one of the pope's knights. Some pretend that the lord Gray, and others that Robert Stirling of Keir, was the regicide; and even Buchanan is uncertain as to the name of the person who gave him the fatal blow.

It is probable that the royalists lost the battle through the cowardice of James. Even after his flight his troops fought bravely; but they were discouraged on receiving certain accounts of his death. The prince, young as he was, had an idea of the unnatural part he was acting, and before the battle had given a strict charge for the safety of his father's person. Upon hearing that he had retired from the field, he sent orders that none should pursue him; but they were ineffectual, the rebels being sensible that they could have no safety but in the king's death. When that was certified, hostilities seemed to cease; nor were the loyalists pursued. The number of slain must have been considerable, as the earl of Glencairn, the lords Sempil, Erskine, and Ruthven, and other gentlemen of great eminence, are mentioned. As to the duke of Rothesay, who was now king, he appeared inconsolable when

he heard of his father's death; but the rebels endeavoured to efface his grief, by the profusion of honors they paid him as king. Seeing his remorse and anguish, in reflecting on the unnatural part he had acted, they became apprehensive indeed for their own safety. The catastrophe of James III., however, was not yet become public; and it was thought that he had gone aboard some of the ships belonging to Sir Andrew Wood. Willing to indulge the hope as long as possible, the prince desired an interview with the admiral; but the latter refused to come on shore, unless he had hostages for his safety. These being delivered, Sir Andrew waited upon the young king at Leith. He had by messages assured him that he knew nothing of his father; and had even offered to allow his ships to be searched: yet such was the anxiety of the new king that he could not be satisfied till he had examined him in person. Young James had been long a stranger to his father. When Wood, therefore, entered the room, he asked him, Are you my father?' 'I am not,' replied Wood, bursting into tears, but I was your father's true servant, and while I live I shall be the determined enemy of his murderers.' This did not satisfy the lords, who demanded whether he knew where the king was. The admiral replied in the negative; and upon their questioning him concerning his manœuvres on the day of battle, when his boats were seen plying backwards and forwards, he told them that he and his brother had determined to assist the king in person; but all they could do was to save some of the royalists. I would to God,' says he, king was there safely; for I would defend and keep him skaithless from all the traitors who have cruelly murdered him; and I think yet to see the day that shall behold them hanged and drawn for their demerits.' This spirited declaration, and the freedom with which it was delivered, struck the guilty part of the council with dismay; but the fear of sacrificing the hostages procured Wood his freedom, and he was suffered to depart. When he came on board his fleet, he found his brother preparing to hang the two lords who had been left as hostages; and this would certainly have been their fate, had the admiral been longer detained.

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The council now removed to Edinburgh, where James IV. was crowned on the 24th of June, 1487. In October this year the nobility, and others interested, converted themselves into a parliament, and passed an act by which they were indemnified for their rebellion against their late sovereign; after which the act was exemplified under the great seal of Scotland, that it might be produced in their justification, if called for by any foreign prince. They next proceeded to the arduous task of vindicating their rebellion in the eyes of the public; and so far did they gain upon the new king by flattery, that he consented to summon the lords who had taken part with his father, before the parliament, to answer for their conduct. In consequence of this, no fewer than twenty-eight lords were cited to appear at Edinburgh in the space of forty days. The first upon the list was lord David Lindsay of the Byres, who was called upon to answer for

the cruel coming against the king at Bannockburn with his father, giving him council to have devoured the king's grace here present; and to that effect giving him a sword and a good horse to fortify him against his son. Lord Lindsay was remarkable for the bluntness of his conversation and the freedom of his sentiments: being irritated by this charge, he delivered himself in such a manner, concerning the treason of the rebellious lords, as abashed the boldest of them; and, as they were unable to answer him, all they could do was to press him to throw himself upon the king's clemency; which he refused to do. His brother, Patrick Lindsay, undertook to be his advocate, and apologised upon his knees for the roughness of his behaviour; upon which Lindsay was released, on entering into recognizance to appear again at an appointed day: how ever, he was afterwards sent prisoner by the king's order, for a twelve-month, to the castle of Rothesay. The regicides now endeavoured to gain the public favor by affecting a strict administration of justice. The king was advised to make a progress through the kingdom, attended by his council and judges; while, in the mean time, certain noblemen and gentlemen were appointed to suppress all kinds of disorders in their own lands and those adjoining, till the king came to the age of twenty-one. The memory of the late king was branded in the most opprobious manner. All justices, sheriffs, and stewards, who were possessed of heritable offices, but who had taken up arms for him, were either deprived of them for three years, or rendered incapable of possessing them for ever. All the young nobility, who had been disinherited by their fathers for taking arms against the late king, were, by act of parliament, restored to their successions. At last, to give a kind of proof to the world that they intended only to resettle the state of the nation, without prejudice to the lower ranks of subjects, who did no more than follow the examples of their superiors, it was enacted, That all goods and effects taken from the burgesses, merchants, and those who had only personal estates, or, as they are called unlanded men, since the battle of Stirling, were not only to be restored, but the owners were to be indemnified for their losses; and their persons, if in custody, to be set at liberty. Churchmen, who were taken in arms, were to be delivered over to their ordinaries, to be dealt with by them according to the law.' The castle of Dunbar was ordered to be demolished; and some statutes were enacted in favor of commerce, and for the exclusion of foreigners. These last acts were passed with a view to recompense the boroughs, who had been very active in their opposition to the late king. However the lords, before they dissolved their parliament, thought it necessary to give some public testimony of their disapproving the late connexion with England. It was therefore enacted, That as the king was now of age to marry a noble princess, born and descended of a noble and worshipful house, an honorable embassy should be sent to the realms of France, Britanny, Spain, and other places, to conclude the matter.' This embassy was to be splendid and to consist of a bishop, an earl, or

lord of parliament, a secretary, clergyman, and knight. They were to be attended by fifty horsemen; and £5000 was allowed them for expenses: they were empowered to renew the ancient. league between France and Scotland; and, in the mean time, a herald, or, as he was called, a trusty squire, was sent abroad to visit the several courts, to find out a proper match for the king. One considerable obstacle, however, lay in the way of this embassy. The pope had laid under an interdict all those who had appeared in arms against James III.; and the party who now governed Scotland were looked upon by all the powers of Europe as rebels. The embassy was therefore suspended for a considerable time, and it was not till 1491 that the pope could be prevailed upon to take off the interdict. In the mean time the many good qualities which discovered themselves in the young king began to conciliate the affections of his people. Being considered, however, as little better than a prisoner in the hands of his father's murderers, several of the nobility made use of that as a pretext for taking arms. The most forward of these was the earl of Lennox, who with 2000 men attempted to surprise the town of Stirling; but, being betrayed by one of his own men, he was defeated, and the castle of Dumbarton, of which he was the keeper, taken by the opposite party. In the north, the earls of Huntley and Marshal, with the lord Forbes, complained that they had been deceived, and declared their resolution to revenge the late king's death. Forbes, having procured the bloody shirt of the murdered prince, displayed it on the point of a lance, as a banner under which all loyal subjects should enlist themselves. However, after the defeat of Lennox, the northern chieftains found themselves incapable of marching southward. The cause of the murdered king was next undertaken by Henry VII. of England, who made an offer to Sir Andrew Wood of five ships to revenge it. The admiral accepted the proposal; but the English behaving as pirates, and plundering indiscriminately all who came in their way, he thought proper to separate himself from them. Upon this James was advised to send for the admiral, offer him a pardon, and a commission to act against the English freebooters. Wood accepted of the king's offer; and, being well provided with ammunition and artillery, he, with two ships only, attacked the five English vessels, all of which he took, and brought their crews prisoners to Leith. This conduct of Wood was highly resented by the king of England. The Scottish admiral's ships had been fitted out for commerce as well as war, and Henry commanded his best sea-officer, Sir Stephen Bull, to intercept him on his return from a commercial voyage to Flanders. Wood had no more than two ships with him: the English admiral had three; and those much larger, and carrying a greater weight of metal. The English took their station at the island of May, in the mouth of the Frith of Forth, and, having come unawares upon the enemy, fired two guns as a signal for their surrender. The Scottish commander encouraged his men as well as he could; and, finding them determined to stand by him,