HISTORY OF SCOTLANDSCOTLAND, HISTORY OF.

Sect. I.— Roman Period. It will not be expected that in such a sketch of the history of Scotland as is alone suited to this work, we should enter into the great controversy concerning the origin of the Scottish people, a subject upon which much needless acrimony, and many unprofitable volumes, have been thrown away.^[1. The reader is referred to Innes’s Critical Essay on the ancient Inhabitants of Scotland, as the best work yet written on this subject. Its arrangement is defective; but its good sense, and the authenticity of the documents upon which its deductions are founded, are highly praiseworthy. Pinkerton’s Dissertation on the Scythians or Goths, Dr. Jamieson's Dissertation on the Origin of the Scottish Language, and the first volume of the laborious work of Chalmers, entitled Caledonia, may be consulted with the greatest advantage. In their pages, the critical student who may desire to pursue the subject, will find ample references to all the noted works upon this question. ] It will be more suitable to mark the progress of the great events in our national history, and to pass over its minor features; to fix the attention upon results rather than to perplex it with details; to establish a series of points by which an intelligent reader may guide his memory and direct his studies; and occasionally to note those authors from whose pages he may fill up the picture.

It is well known, that our first authentic knowledge of Britain comes from Julius Caesar. Fifty-five years before the Christian era, this extraordinary man invaded the island from Gaul; but his operations were attended with little success, his stay was brief, and it is certain that he knew nothing of Scotland. It was not till nearly a century and a half after Caesar’s descent, and during the reign of the emperor Vespasian, that Julius Agricoa, at the head of a Roman army, penetrated into the northern parts of Britain. The details of his various campaigns, the resistance which he encountered, and the vestiges of his progress which yet remain, have furnished matter of laborious investigation to our antiquaries. Among their conflicting accounts, it seems certain that he first pushed his conquests as far as the Friths of Forth and Clyde; that in succeeding campaigns he penetrated northwards; and that in his last great expedition, during which his army was accompanied by a numerous fleet, which sailed along the coast, he was opposed by a barbarian chief named Galgacus. A sanguinary battle was fought between this leader and Agricoa, the exact site of which has been keenly disputed. There seems to be little doubt, however, that previously to its occurrence the Roman general hail passed the Frith of Tay, and that although victorious over the fierce and undisciplined multitudes which opposed him, he experienced a check which compelled him to desist from any further aggression. Two great events marked the last years of the government of Agricoa. He explored the northern coasts of Scotland by his fleet; and to him the Roman world, in all probability, owed its first certain knowledge that Britain was an island. He endeavoured, in the second place, to secure his conquests from future attack by a chain of forts connecting the Friths of Forth and Clyde. Having completed these defences, he was recalled by the jealousy of Domitian, and left Britain in the year 85.

From this time till the reign of Hadrian, a period of thirty-six years, we hear little of the Romans, either in southern or northern Britain. Early in the second century, (a.D. 121), this emperor in person made an expedition into Scotland; and about twenty years later, Lollius Urbicus, the Roman governor under the emperor Antoninus, distinguished himself by the courage and ability which he displayed against the turbident and warlike tribes which inhabited the northern parts of the island. Two facts, however, are admitted by the Roman writers, which demonstrate how uncertain was the tenure by which these masters of the world held their northern possessions in Britain. The emperor Hadrian, apparently distrusting the sufficiency of the line of forts already formed by Agricoa, constructed a wall or fortified rampart from the Tyne to the Solway. It has been supposed by some antiquaries, that the emperor entirely abandoned to the barbarians the wide country between this new defence and the more ancient Vallum which united the Friths of Forth and Clyde; but the discovery of a succession of coins along the line of this last rampart, belonging to the intermediate emperors, appears to indicate the contrary.^[2. - Chalmers’s Caledonia, p. 116. ] From the adoption of this measure it is however evident, that the courage and successes of the barbarians had given much annoyance to the Romans; and this is corroborated by the second fact to which we allude, namely, that between the period of Hadrian’s death and the succession of Antoninus Pius, (a. D. 138), the wall between the Forth and Clyde had been so completely destroyed, that Lollius Urbicus entirely reconstructed it. This fact is proved by inscriptions, which the reader may consult in Horsley’s Britannia Homana. ^[3. Horsley’s Britannia, Rom. I. i. c. 10; Innes’s Critical Essay, vol. i. p. 12. The remains of the wall are popularly called Grim’s Dyke. Grym in Welsh and Cornish, signifies strung, and is used perhaps metaphorically, as Chalmers conjectures, for a “strength or a rampart." Caledonia, vol. i. p. 129. ] 3 During the remaining years of his government, this able officer devoted himself to opening up the country by roads; to the construction of various camps and fortalices, of which the site has been traced with much industry and success by the latest writer on the subject; and to the introduction of those useful arts which were best calculated to raise and humanize the character of the northern barbarians.^[4. We may here refer the critical reader to Chalmers's dissertation on the actions of Lollius Urbicus, contained in the first volume of his Caledonia. ] His administration in Britain appears to have terminated with the death of his master, Antoninus Pius, a.d. 161.

From this period till the beginning of the third century, all is dark in Britain. But in the year 207, the emperor Severus received intelligence that the Caledonians had invaded the Roman provinces; and with a vigour and alacrity which, considering the distance of the seat of war, and the barren prize to be contested, is not easily explained, he hastened in person to reduce the insurgent Caledonians. This expedition, making every allowance for the exaggeration with which the exploits of an emperor were usually recorded, must have been an extraordinary one. In the comparatively civilized country which extended between the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus, he could meet with little opposition; but when he left this last line of defence, and conducted his army into the wild regions beyond the Frith of Forth, ultimately penetrating into Moray, we must suppose him to have encountered very formidable obstacles. The savage and uncleared state of the country, the extent of the forests, the unhealthy and[7:19:696] interminable marshes, the mountainous ranges which presented such formidable obstacles to the march of a regular army, the rivers, of which the fords were unknown, and the want of subsistence for his troops, except what he carried along with him, must have combined to throw infinite difficulties in his way. The classical writers who have described his campaign inform us, in general terms, that he was obliged to fell the forests, to drain the marshes, to open up the country by roads, and to construct bridges; and they affirm that the Roman emperor did not retrace his steps till he had proceeded so far north, that the soldiers remarked the extraordinary length of the days and shortness of the nights, in comparison with those of Italy.^[5. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 186, 187. ] There seems good reason to believe that the spot where the Roman eagles terminated their flight in this memorable expedition, was the promontory separating the Cromarty and the Moray Friths. Here, according to Chalmers, the Caledonians sought for peace, surrendered their arms, and relinquished a portion of their country.^[6. ! The son of Severus is indeed affirmed to have fought on the banks of the Carron with the heroes of Ossian; but much has yet to be proved before we venture to transplant these shadowy contests into the field of history. ] The critical student must pardon the vagueness of these expressions, as the historians of the time do not enable us to be more definite.

Severus retired to York in a feeble state of health; but it was not to repose upon his laurels, for scarcely had he reached that station when news arrived that the Caledonians were again in arms. Irritated by disappointment and disease, he determined instantly to renew the war; intrusted the leading of the army to his son Caracalla; and issued orders to spare neither age nor sex. But death happily arrested these inhuman projects. The emperor expired at York, and the son does not appear, on any good evidence, to have executed the orders of the father.

Previously to his celebrated northern campaign, Severus is said to have reconstructed the rampart originally built by Hadrian between the Tyne and the Solway; a circumstance from which there arises a strong presumption that the Caledonians had encroached upon the Roman provinces, and regained much of the intermediate country between the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus.

From this period, (a.d. 211), which marks the commencement of the third, to nearly the middle of the fifth century, (446), the Romans appear to have abandoned all thoughts of extending their conquests. The vast fabric of their empire was now, as is well known, in a state of melancholy feebleness and decay; attacked on every side by those fierce tribes who were destined to destroy it; and unable to retain provinces far nearer and more important than those in Britain. For some time, however, an effort was made to defend the northern Romanized Britons from the repeated incursions of the Caledonians. In the commencement of the fourth century, (a.d. 306), Constans revisited Britain for this purpose; in the year 368, after a sanguinary and destructive invasion of the barbarians, a temporary tranquillity was restored by the arms of Theodosius; in 398, Stilicho, alarmed by new excesses and increasing weakness in the northern provinces, sent such effectual aid as enabled the Roman governors once more to repel the enemy; and, lastly, in the year 422, the emperor Honorius, having in vain endeavoured to rouse the provincial inhabitants to a vigorous effort in their own defence, sent a legion to their assistance, by whose efforts the fortifications of the two walls were repaired, and the barbarians once more driven back into their more northern seats. But this was the last relief which could be wrung by her miserable children from a parent who was herself expiring; and it secured for them but a brief period of tranquillity. Imperial Rome, with a tardy and ostentatious justice, conferred freedom on the southern Britons; and restoring a country which she was no longer able to hold, informed them that henceforth they must trust to their own efforts for the defence of their independence. Having given this parting advice to men who appear to have been little able to follow it, the Romans abandoned Britain for ever.

Sect. II.— The Pictish Period.

In the brief sketch which has been given of the Roman dominion in north Britain, which extended from the year 85 to 446, a period of little more than three centuries and a half, we have seen that the Romanized Britons were constantly exposed to the invasions of their more northern neighbours, who threatened at last to wrest from them the whole of the country, which had been fortified by Roman skill and mainly defended by Roman soldiers. The question now arises, who were these fierce and indomitable tribes? And to this inquiry, in which antiquaries have spilt almost as much ink as the Romans did blood, the research of a laborious writer enables us to give a satisfactory answer. It appears from the investigation of Chalmers that “at the epoch of Agricoa’s invasion, the ample extent of north Britain was inhabited by one-and-twenty tribes, who were connected by such slight ties as scarcely to enjoy a social state. These were the Ottadini, who appear to have occupied the whole extent of coast from the southern Tyne to the Frith of Forth;^[7. Including the half of Northumberland, the eastern portion of Roxburghshire, all Berwickshire, and East Lothian. ] the Gadeni, whose seats lay in the interior country, from the Tyne on the south to the Frith on the north; the Selgovae, whose western boundary was the Dee, and their southern limit the Solway Frith; the Novantes, who inhabited the midland and western parts of Galloway; and the Damnii, who possessed the shires of Ayr, Renfrew, and Stirling, with a portion of Dunbarton and Perth. Such were the five tribes,” says this author, “which occupied, during the first century, that ample region extending from the Tyne and the Solway on the south, to the Forth and the Clyde on the north, varying their limits with the fluctuations of war, conquest, or internal dissensions, during the succession of many ages.”^[8. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 62. ] * Beyond the Forth we find the Horestii, the Venricoes, the Taixali, the Vacomagi, the Albani, the Attacotti, the Caledonii, the Cante, the Logi, the Carnabii, the Catini, the Merte, the Carnonacae, the Creones, and the Epidii. The names of these twenty-one original tribes, which are taken from Chalmers, are by him transcribed from the account of Ptolemy, checked by the ancient treatise and map of Richard of Cirencester.^[9. It ought however to be stated, that some grave doubts bang over the genuineness of this early writer. Dr. Stukeley's account of him is vague, and the story told by Professor Bertram regarding his discovery of the manuscript and the map is still more suspicious. I have abstained from giving from Chalmers the exact limits of the possessions held by the last sixteen tribes, who inhabited the whole extent of country beyond the Forth to the extremity of Caithness. The research and erudition which he has displayed is entitled to all praise; but it is difficult to believe that the boundaries of these remote, fierce, and wandering aborigines should be ascertainable with us much precision after the lapse of eighteen centuries as the marches of Middlesex or Yorkshire. Two points, however, and these of leading importance, Chalmers conceives that he has established: the first, that Britain, from its extreme southern to its most remote northern point, was peopled from Gaul; and the second, that the aborigines over the whole island were a Celtic race. ] Of the manners of this ancient people, it is impossible, in the absence of all authentic documents, to speak with certainty. From the general account given by Caesar, they were little removed in the scale of social life or of civil government[7:19:697] from the rudest savages. They led a pastoral life, living on the milk of their flocks, or the produce of the chase; they were polygamous and idolatrous; their religion, which was Druidical, was stained with human sacrifices; and their rude form of civil government was intimately connected with their religion. They were armed with slight shields, short spears, and daggers; and sometimes fought in small cars, which were drawn by little spirited horses. They raher burrowed in huts than lived in houses, went naked from choice, were brave to excess, capable of enduring all sorts of privation and fatigue, and had such loose ideas of property, that Dio does not hesitate to call them robbers. This character, with the exception of their Druidical form of worship, exhibits little more than the general features of every savage people; and there seems no reason to believe that the lapse of three centuries created any great change in those fierce and indomitable tribes which, inhabiting the more northern parts of the island from the Forth to Caithness, and latterly wresting from the Romans the provinces which they had subdued, were never brought under the yoke, or humanized by the arts of that great people.

At the period of the Roman abdication, we find that north Britain was inhabited by the descendants of the Caledonian clans which we have enumerated, who, under the name of Picts or Picti, became for four centuries the predominating nation in Scotland. Among these we must be careful to distinguish the five Romanized tribes who possessed Valentia, or the country between the walls of Agricoa and Antoninus, not as a race of different descent, but of improved civilization, while their fiercer brethren beyond the Forth bore fresh upon them all the stamp of barbarian life. The name of Picti is conjectured to be derived from Peithi, a British word which characterises those that are without, or the people of the open country.^[10. Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i. p. 203. ]

It would be a vain, and in a sketch of this nature, an idle labour, to enter upon the obscure and sanguinary annals of the Pictish period; an era upon which, to use a quaint expression of Chalmers, archaeology is loquacious, and history silent. From an ancient manuscript, first printed by Innes,^[11. Innes’s Critical Essay, vol. ii. Appendix. ] and which had belonged to Lord Burleigh, this author has given us a list of their kings, from Drest, who succeeded in the middle of the fifth century, (a. D. 451), to a prince named Bred, who died about the middle of the ninth century, (a. D. 843). During the four centuries which elapsed between the accession of the first and the last of these monarchs, thirtyeight Pictish kings are enumerated. Of their authentic history there is scarcely a vestige; but the blank has been filled up by the fables of Boyce, which unhappily were afterwards embalmed in the elegant Latinity of Buchanan.

Some points in this period, however, have been ascertained, and they are well worthy of notice. We have already seen, that on the entire abdication of Britain by the Romans, the five tribes which inhabited Valentia were declared independent. They were no longer provincial subjects of Rome, but a free, though an effeminate people. The constant attacks of the Picts rendered it necessary for them to unite in their own defence; and from this union arose a new kingdom, denominated by ancient authors sometimes the Ileg-num cumbrense, or more frequently the kingdom of Strath-clyd. It appears to have included the present Liddesdale, Teviotdale, Dumfries-shire, Galloway, Ayrshire, Renfrew, Strathclyde, the midland and western parts of Stirlingshire, with the largest portion of Dunbartonshire.^[12. Caledonia, vol. i. pp. 237, 238. ] “The metropolis of this kingdom,” says Chalmers, “was Alclyd, a city which they still retained when the pen dropt from the hand of the venerable Bede, in 734, and which is situated on the north bank of the Clyde, at the influx of the Leven. The descriptive name of Alclyd, which signifies the rocky height on the Clyde, was applied to the bifurcated rock, on the summit of which these associated Britons had a strong hill fort, which formed a secure residence for their reguli or kings. To this fortress the Scoto-Irish subsequently applied the name of Dun-Briton, signifying the fortress of the Britons, an appellation which, by an easy transition, has in modern times been converted into Dunbarton.^[13. ‘ Caledonia, vol. i. p. 238. ] Among the little kings who reigned over Strathclyd, there are none whose names or exploits are worthy of preservation, with the single exception of the semi-poetic Arthur. It is sad that the severer hand of history should strip this glorious “Childe” of his many-coloured robes, and reduce him to the cold reality of a Cumbrian Pendragon. At the commencement of the sixth century, Arthur, the chief military leader or Pendragon of the Cumbrian Britons, expelled his sovereign, Huail or Hoel, from Strathclyde, and commenced a reign of which it is impossible to separate the facts from the fictions with which they have become incorporated.

But the Pictish period is not only distinguished by the rise of a new kingdom, it is marked by the arrival in Scotland of a new people, the Saxons, a race of Gothic origin, who invaded and finally effected a settlement in Lothian. This remarkable event, so important in its remote consequences upon our national history, took place in the middle of the fifth century (a. D. 449). It was not difficult for the Saxons, a people who certainly were far their superiors in courage and in arms, to subdue the feebler race of the Ottadini. They do not at first appear to have attempted to push their conquests to the northward of the Forth, but contented themselves with the occupation of a portion of the province of Valentia. After the lapse of a century, however, Ida, one of the boldest and most adventurous of the sons of Woden, landed at Flamborough, and brought an important accession to the strength and numbers of his countrymep. It was by this great chief that the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was founded; nor was he arrested in his victorious career, till he had extended his dominions from the Humber to the Forth. Ida was succeeded in the Northumbrian kingdom by AElla, and AElla by Ethelred, under whose reigns occurred no event of importance; but Edwin his successor, who came to the throne in the beginning of the seventh century, appears to have added essentially to the extent of the Saxon conquests, and to have impressed not only the southern Britons, but his fiercer and more northern neighbours the Picts, with the terror of his arms. There appears little doubt that Edinburgh or Ed-winsburgh, the present capital of Scotland, owes its foundation to this energetic Saxon chief.^[14. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 254. ]

Hitherto, in speaking of the northern inhabitants beyond the Forth, we have designated them by the single appellation of the Picts. We must now mark the arrival of a different people, although probably sprung from the same ancient stock.

At the commencement of the fourth century, we find that the ruling or dominant people in Ireland were the Scots, a Celtic race; and although there is no sufficient evidence that they had formed any permanent settlement in Britain previously to the abdication of the island by the Romans, it is certain that in the year 360 they invaded the Roman provinces in that kingdom, and were repelled by Theodosius. In the beginning of the sixth century, three Irish chiefs, Loarn, Fergus, and Angus, sons of Erc, king of Dalriada, by which we are to understand the province of Ulster, led a colony into the ancient province of the British Epidii, and effected a settlement upon the promontory of Kentire.^[15. Ibid. 274. ] ® As far as any light is afforded by the Irish annals, in this occupation of Kentire the Scoto-Irish met with but feeble opposi-[7:19:698] tion; and a long period of obscurity succeeds, in which little: more is distinguishable, except the fact that a series of: Scoto-Irish kings, or reguli, are found in Scotland, from the commencement of the fifth century, (503), when Fergus held the throne, till the accession of Kenneth, the son of 4lpin, who reigned from the year 836 to 843, under whom the ascendancy of the Scoto-Irish or Scotch, appears to have been established. Upon this portion of our history we are tempted to transcribe the following observations of Chalmers.

“In the records of time, there scarcely occurs a period of history so perplexed and obscure, as the annals of the Scoto-Irish kings and their tribes. The original cause of this obscurity is the want of contemporaneous writing. An ample field was thus left open for the contests of national emulation. Ignorance and ingenuity, sophistry and system, have all contributed to make what was dark still more obscure. The series and genealogy of the kings have been involved in peculiar perplexity by the contests of the Irish and Scottish antiquaries, for pre-eminence in antiquity, as well as in fame. And Cimmerian darkness has overspread the annals of a people too restless for the repose of study; too rude for the elaboration of writing.”^[16. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 276. ] After such an acknowledgment, it would be idle labour to follow this indefatigable inquirer into the twilight-history of these times; but this period is distinguished by one great event which shines brightly amidst the surrounding gloom, namely, the conversion of northern Britain to Christianity.

Already the Romanized Britons of the South had received the true faith, and the Scoto-Irish appear to have been converted to Christianity by St. Patrick, previously to their establishment in Kentire. St. Ninian, himself a Briton, though educated as a monk at Rome, had, in the commencement of the fourth century, founded a monastery in Galloway; and in the sixth century, St. Kentigern signalized himself by his pious labours among the Britons of Strathclyde; but the conversion of the northern Picts was reserved for St. Columba. This great and good man was born in Ireland, in the year 521. His descent was royal, and his education was at first carefully conducted under the best masters which his native island, long before this converted to Christianity, could supply. Of these the most noted was St. Ciaran, the apostle of the Scoto-Irish of Kentire; and from him, in all probability, Columba imbibed his first desire to introduce the gospel into the desolate and barbarous dominions of the northern Picts. It was in the year 568, that embarking with twelve of his friends, in a boat of wicker work which was covered with hides, he set out upon his benevolent mission, and landed in the Island of Hy, or Iona, which was situated near the confines of the Scottish and Pictish territories. The difficulties which he had to encounter on his first arrival, were of the most formidable kind. He found a people so barbarous that his life was attempted; the king, when the holy man first approached his residence, ordered its gates to be shut against him; the priests, who were druids, and possessed much influence, employed all their eloquence to counteract his efforts; and the nature of the country, woody, mountainous, and infested with wild beasts, rendered travelling most dangerous and painful.^[17. Smith’s Life of St. Columba, pp. 6 to 17 inclusive. ] It is also said that at first the saint required an interpreter to make himself intelligible, although after a short residence he appears to have found little difficulty in conversing with the barbarians. But none of these obstacles was sufficient to baffle the zeal and courage of Columba; and so blest were his labours, so rapid the effects produced by the example of his virtues, that in a few years the greater portion of the Pictish dominions was converted to the Christian faith; churches were erected, monasteries established, in various places, and Columba, as primate, became an object of the utmost love and veneration among the barbarous tribes, and fierce and warlike princes whom he had called from darkness into light. At that time his monastery was perhaps the chief seminary of learning in Europe. It was from this nursery, that not only all the monasteries, and above three hundred churches which he himself had established, were supplied with learned pastors, but which also gave divines to many of the religious establishments among the neighbouring nations.^[18. Smith's Life of St. Columba, pp. 18, 19. ] Columba died in the year 597, in the seventy-seventh year of his age; a man not less distinguished by his zeal and labour in the dissemination of the gospel, than by the simplicity of his manners, the sweetness of his temper, and the holiness of his life.

We have already observed, that it would be foreign to the object of this historical sketch, to involve our readers in the dark and wholly uninteresting annals of the Pictish kings. But one remarkable event must not escape our notice, we mean the disappearance of the Pictish people after the middle of the ninth century. There seems every reason to believe, that the story of the total extermination of the Picts by the sword of the victorious Kenneth Macalpin, is a fable invented at a later period, and certainly supported by nothing approaching to contemporary evidence. A more rational and intelligible account ascribes this event, not to the destruction, but to what may more correctly be denominated the absorption of the Picts by the predominating nation of the Scots. Both were probably a people of the same race, speaking a similar language, and little different in their manners and civil government. Both were animated by the emulation of outstripping each other in power and extent of territory; and this led to protracted struggles, in which the Picts maintained their independence with difficulty, and the Scots, gradually enlarging their dominions, acquired a predominating influence. Such being the relative condition of the two nations, an event took place which united in one person the claim to the Pictish and the Scottish throne.^[19. Caledonia, vol. i. pp. 299—302. ]

Achaius or Eocha, king of the Scots, who died in the year 826, had married Urgusia, a Pictish princess, the sister of Constantine and Ungus, successively kings of the Picts. His grandson was Kenneth Macalpin, a prince of great hardihood and ambition, who succeeded to his paternal throne in 836. On the death of Uven, the Pictish monarch, in 839, Kenneth asserted his claim to the Pictish throne, in right of his grandmother, Urgusia. The feeble state of the nation, and the incapacity of the true heir, combined to favour his ambitious designs; and after a struggle of three years, he succeeded in uniting the two crowns in his own person.^[20. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 304. ] The observations of Chalmers upon this event, and the important consequences which it drew after it, are well worthy of notice. “During such confusions,” says this author, “amidst a rude people, whose forms of government were little fixed, and whose laws were less regarded, the loss of a battle, or the death of a king, was an adequate cause of an important revolution. Of all these events, Kenneth dexterously took advantage; and finding a feeble competitor, he easily stept into the vacant throne. In his person a new dynasty began. The king was changed, but the government remained the same. The Picts and Scots, who were a congenial people, from a common origin, and spoke cognate tongues, the British and Gaelic, readily coalesced; yet has it been asserted by ignorance, and believed by credulity, that Kenneth made so bad a use of the power which he had adroitly acquired, as to destroy the whole Pictish people in the wantonness of his cruelty. To enforce the belief in an action which is in itself unknown, and so inconsistent with the interest of a provident sovereign, requires[7:19:699] stronger proofs than the assertions of uninformed history, or the report of vulgar tradition. The Picts continued throughout the succeeding period (from 843 to 1097) to be mentioned by contemporary authors, though they were governed by a new race, and were united with a predominant people.”^[21. ' Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i. p. 833. ] Sect. III.— The Scottish Period.

The union of the two nations of the Picts and the Scots, under one powerful prince, forms the commencement of the third great division of Scottish history, which extends from the middle of the ninth century (843) to the expiration of the eleventh (1097), a period of two centuries and a half.

For ages before the time of this union, the Pictish dominions were confined by the Forth on the south, Drum-alban on the west, and the German Ocean on the east and north; while at the period of its occurrence the Scots possessed the whole western coast, from the Clyde to Loch Torridon, with the extensive kingdom of Argyle, which stretched its arms from the Clyde on the south to Loch Eir and Loch Maree on the north, and reached from the sea on the west to Drumalban^[22. Drumalban, the ridge of mountains which separates the rivers running into the sea on the west coast of Inverness-shire and Argyll from those which run into the sea of Norway. Macpherson’s Geographical Illustrations. ] on the east. These extensive dominions were now united; the name of Scotia, as marking the whole kingdom, gained ground over that of Pictavia; and from the tenth century (934), when the Saxon Chronicle first mentions Scotland as invaded by Athelstan, this distinctive appellation for the kingdom of North Britain gra-ually gained ground till it excluded every other.

It has been observed by Sir Walter Scott, “that the descendants of Kenneth Macalpine pass us in gloomy and obscure pageantry, like those of Banquo in the theatre and it might have been added, that the impression left upon the mind by the perusal of their various reigns is as shadowy and unsubstantial. To fatigue and perplex the reader, by a detail of historical passages, which led to no great results, is not the purpose of this sketch, but to mark the features which prominently distinguish the period. Nor were these either few or unimportant.

1. The first event which demands our notice, is the commencement of those invasions by the Danes, which for several centuries continued to be the greatest scourge of Scotland. It was under the reign of Constantine, the second monarch in succession from Kenneth, that these fierce pirate leaders, known under the name of Vikinghr, or sea-kings, first made their appearance in North Britain. Having established a settlement in Ireland, they soon became acquainted with the commodious havens of the Scottish coasts; and after a partial visit in 866, a more formidable armament sailed from Dublin, under Anlaf and Ivar, in 870. During this invasion, they took Alcluyd, or Dunbarton, ravaged the whole extent of North Britain, and returned glutted with slaughter and b∞ty to Ireland. These sea-wolves having once tasted blood, were not slow to return. Thrice under the same reign were their vessels seen on the coasts of the devoted country, in 871, 875, and 876; and at last, in 881, the Scottish monarch met his death on the banks of the Forth, in an ineffectual attempt to defend his people, and repel their ravages. Reappearing under the reign of Donald, who succeeded to the throne in 893, they were defeated on the banks of the Tay, in the vicinity of Scone, and again, in 904, repulsed by the same prince, who lost his life, after he had slain their leader. This, however, did not prevent their return in 907, and afterwards, in 918, under the reign of Constantine the Third, who, with the assistance of the northern Saxons, encoun tered and repulsed them at Tinmore; a check which appears for a considerable period to have given repose to the kingdom.

In 961, under the reign of Indalf, who had succeeded to the throne in 953, the Vikinghr made a descent in the bay of Cullen, in Banffshire; and this monarch with difficulty defeated them in a desperate action, in which he lost his life. In 970, Kenneth the Third, who is represented as a monarch of extraordinary vigour and ambition, succeeded to the throne, and under his reign the Danes reappeared with a numerous fleet in the Tay; but after a sanguinary struggle, in which they at first succeeded, were ultimately defeated by the bravery of the Scots, commanded by Kenneth in person. This contest, which appears to have been attended with an enormous loss on both sides, took place at Luncarty, where many tumuli still remain, to mark the field of battle.^[23. Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol.i. p. 394, 393. ]

After this the country enjoyed a quiet of nine years; but in 1003, the Norsemen, who had now for some time permanently settled themselves in Orkney, again made their appearance in great strength upon the coast of Moray. They seized and fortified the promontory known by the name of the Burgh-head of Moray, where they found a commodious harbour, and from which, in 1010, they led an army to plunder that fertile region. But they were met and defeated with great slaughter by Malcolm the Second, in the battle of Mortlach, where the king, in gratitude for his victory, endowed a religious house, which became the seat of the earliest Scottish bishopric.

These repeated repulses checked and disheartened the pirate kings; but they disdained to relinquish the contest. Their last efforts appear to have been made on the coast of Angus and Buchan, where they were repulsed in successive conflicts, fought at Aberlemno, Panbride, and Slaines Castle. At length a convention, or pacific treaty, was entered into between Malcolm, and Sweno, king of Denmark, in the year 1014, which was followed by the evacuation of the Burgh-head of Moray, and the final departure of the Danes. Thus, after a severe struggle, which at various intervals, and with various success, appears to have continued for nearly a century and a half, (866 to 1014), the energy of the Scots ultimately triumphed over the efforts of the Norsemen; and while the Danish rovers established themselves in some of the finest countries in Europe, and in England alternately fixed themselves as permanent settlers, or extorted an odious tribute as the price of their absence, Sweno, though one of their most powerful princes, found himself at last compelled to desist from the contest.

2. The second event of importance which marked this period, was the enlargement of the Scottish provinces of Malcolm the First, by the pacific acquisition of Cumberland from Edmund the Saxon king of England. Against this young prince, the Danes, who had established themselves in the northern part of his dominions, declared war, and calling the Norwegians to their assistance, threatened to subdue the whole country. Edmund opposed them with great courage and success, reduced Northumberland, then a Danish province, and next turned his arms against Cumbria, or Cumberland. After wasting this little country, then inhabited by the Britons, under their king or chief leader, Dunmail., the English prince, aware perhaps of the difficulty of retaining his new acquisition, delivered it up to Malcolm the First, under the condition that he would become his associate (medwertha) in war, or, as the terms are explained by Matthew of Westminster, “that he would de-[7:19:700] fend the northern parts of England from the invasions of his enemies, whether they came by sea or by land.”^[24. Matthew of Westminster, p. 867. Brady's Compleat History of England, p. 120. ] It is to be remembered, that this transaction was entered into between two independent princes, the one of Saxon, the other of Celtic race, more than a century before the feudal usages or tenures were introduced into England by the Normans; an observation which might have been deemed unnecessary, had not some ingenious writers affected to detect in the stipulations of Malcolm the acknowledgment of feudal dependence. In this manner did Cumbria, in the middle of the tenth century, become a portion of the Scottish dominions.^[25. ! Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol. i. p. 389. ]

3. This treaty was followed by the reigns of Indulf, Duf, and Culen, a dark and sanguinary period, occupied by domestic war and civil commotion; but under Kenneth the Third, who came to the throne in 970, occurred another event of no little moment in the history of the country. This was the conquest of the ancient British kingdom of Strath-cluyd by the arms of that monarch. We have seen this independent state arise, in the middle of the fifth century, from a union of the Romanized British tribes, who, on the desertion of the island by the Romans, were drawn together by the ties of common danger and mutual defence. From this time, (446), they had, under various reverses and multiplied attacks, enjoyed a precarious independence for upwards of five centuries; nor did they permit themselves to be incorporated in the Scottish monarchy without a determined struggle. The arms and the energy of Kenneth, however, were successful; and one of those gleams of romantic light, which sometimes soften the gloomy annals of these ages, fell on the ruins of Stratheluyd. Dunwallon, the last of its kings, after exhibiting the utmost courage and resolution in defence of his people, assumed the religious habit, travelled to Rome, and died a monk.^[26. Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol. i. p. 389, 393. ]

The last prominent feature which marks this period, was the further enlargement of the Scottish dominions, by the acquisition of Lothian, hitherto a part of England. It took place in 1016, under the reign of Malcolm the Second, the son of Kenneth the Third, to whose conquest of Stratheluyd we have just alluded. It was this same Malcolm whose courage we have seen victorious over the Danes at Mortlach, and to whose convention with Sweno Scotland owed its freedom from the ravages of the pirate kings. In the beginning of the eleventh century, (1018), this warlike prince engaged in hostilities with Ughtred, earl of Northumberland. Their forces met at Carham, near Wcrk, on the southern bank of the Tweed, and a sanguinary battle was fought, which effectually checked the Scottish prince. Ughtred, however, having been assassinated, was succeeded by his brother Eadulph, a feebler ruler, who, from a dread of a second invasion, was induced to purchase the friendship of Malcolm, by the cession of the whole of Lothian.^[27. Ibid. vol. i. p. 402. Simeon of Durham, apud Twysden, vol. i. p. 81. ]

Such are the great features which distinguish the early history of Scotland, from the middle of the ninth to the commencement of the eleventh century, (843 to 1018), and upon which it is both wiser and easier to fix the mind than to crowd and burden it with lists of barbarous and forgotten kings. We see a people, still rude, ignorant, and, except for the sweetening influences of Christianity, little removed from savage life; but we find them able not only to vindicate their freedom against those incessant and cruel invasions, which broke, and for a time subdued the neighbouring country of England, but animated by an ambition which, under successive princes, largely extended their dominions, by the successive acquisitions of Cumberland, Strathcluyd, and Lothian. Nor is the remaining portion of the Scottish period, from 1018 to 1097, unmarked by some great events. In 1031, under the reign of Malcolm the Second, Canute, the Danish king of England, invaded Scotland. This prince, the most powerful monarch of his time, as he possessed not only England, but Denmark and Norway, led an army against Malcolm. The cause of the war is involved in much obscurity. It was however connected with some claim or dispute regarding Cumberland, and it terminated in Malcolm retaining the possession of that province, and performing the conditions upon which it had been transferred to him.^[28. • Ibid. vol. i. p. 402. ]

In the historical romance of Boyce, and the classical pages of Buchanan, Malcolm the Second figures as the first and one of the greatest of Scottish legislators. It was referred for the learning and acuteness of Lord Hailes to detect his apocryphal laws as the forgery of a much later age.

Malcolm the Second, whose severe and vigorous reign had been marked by many sanguinary domestic feuds, not necessary to be detailed, was succeeded in 1033 by his grandson Duncan, the “gracious Duncan” of Shakspeare, whose imperishable drama is founded upon a fictitious narrative, which Holinshed copied from Boyce. Let us for a moment, in a spirit rather of homage than of criticism, disentangle the dross of fact from the ore of fiction. Lady Macbeth was the Lady Gruoch, and had regal blood in her veins. She was the grand-daughter of Kenneth the Fourth. Her husband, Macbeth, was the son of Finlegh Maormor, or the supreme ruler of Ross. The real wrongs of the Lady Gruoch, the root of her implacable revenge, were even more deep than those of her mighty counterpart. She had seen her grandfather Kenneth dethroned by Malcolm, her brother assassinated, and her husband burned, griefs amply sufficient to turn her milk to gall. Macbeth, on the other hand, had wept a father slain also by Malcolm; and thus revenge and ambition were equally roused in both their bosoms. The purpose which had been arrested by the superior vigour and courage of Malcolm, was executed on his more feeble grandson. Duncan, in 1039, was assassinated at Bothgowanan, near Elgin;^[29. Ibid. vol. i. p. 405. ] and Macbeth seized the sanguinary sceptre, which he held with a vigorous grasp for fifteen years, until he was defeated and slain by Macduff, in 1054.

On his death, a contest for the throne arose between Lulach, the son of the Lady Gruoch, and great-grandson of Kenneth the Fourth, and Malcolm Ceanmore, great-grand-of Malcolm the Second; and this struggle terminated in son 1057, by the defeat of Lulach, and the accession of his rival, Malcolm, who was contemporary with Edward the Confessor.

The accession of Malcolm Ceanmore to the Scottish throne was soon afterwards followed by an event, which, although taking place in the sister country, produced the most important effects upon the history of Scotland. This was the invasion and conquest of England by the Normans, and the establishment of an entirely new dynasty in that country. The first consequence of this change was favourable to Malcolm, as it led to his marriage with a Saxon princess, whose character had a marked and favourable influence upon the ruder manners of her husband and his people. This lady was Margaret, who was the sister of Edgar AEtheling. It is imponant to trace her lineage. Canute, the Danish king of England, had banished Edwin and Edward, the children of Edmund Ironside, the last of the pure Saxon dynasty, for Edward the Confessor was half a Norman. They found a retreat in Hungary, where Edwin died; but from this country Edward, in 1057, was recalled by Edward the Confes[7:19:701] sor. This prince had three children, a son, Edgar, commonly called Edgar AEtheling, the heir of the Saxon line, and two daughters, Margaret and Christian. On the conquest of England, the nobles of Northumberland, who were principally of Danish origin, led by two chiefs, named Maer-leswegen and Gospatric, becoming disgusted at the Norman tyranny, fled to the court of Malcolm, taking with them Edgar and his two sisters. Edgar was weak, almost to imbecility; and in the event of his dying, or being found incapable of filling the throne, his claims as heir of the Saxon line descended to his sister. She was beautiful, accomplished, and pious; and a union which perhaps, at a distance, had been suggested to Malcolm by ambition, on a nearer view was perfected by love.

The marriage of the Scottish monarch was soon followed by an invasion of England, in which Malcolm mercilessly ravaged the bishopric of Durham. The manner in which this predatory inroad was conducted marks the ferocity of the times. Malcolm and his subjects were Christians; yet even the churches were destroyed and burnt, while the unhappy persons who had fled to them for sanctuary were massacred, or consumed in the flames. During the occurrence of these savage scenes in England, Gospatric, one of the most powerful of the Northumbrian barons, whose assistance William the Conqueror had secured, swept through Malcolm’s territory of Cumberland, and laid waste the country in a miserable manner, upon which the Scottish prince returned home, leading captive, says an English historian, such a multitude of young men and maidens, “that for many years they were to be found in every Scottish village, nay, even in every Scottish hovel.”^[30. Simeon of Durham, 201. Translated by Lord Hailes, vol. i. p. 1. ] *

There seems to be little doubt that this expedition of Malcolm was intimately connected with the determined stand made against William the Conqueror by the Northumbrian earls who had carried Edgar AEtheling into Scotland. Combining in 1069 with their brethren, the Danes, who brought a powerful fleet to their assistance, they advanced as far as York, where they put the Norman garrison to the sword; and here it is probable they expected to be joined by Malcolm, but being disappointed in their hope, they made peace with William, who had the address to dissolve the confederacy. Malcolm alone continued faithful to the cause of the Saxon prince; and, though deserted by his confederates, yet by invading England fulfilled his agreement.

This inroad led to a dreadful retaliation on the part of William. “To punish the revolt,” we use the words of Lord Hailes, “and to oppose a wilderness to the invasions of the Danes, he laid entirely waste the fertile country which lies between the Humber and the Tees.” “At this time,” says William of Malmesbury, “there were destroyed such splendid towns, such lofty castles, such beautiful pastures, that had a stranger viewed the scene he might have been moved to compassion, and had one inhabitant been left alive, he would not have recollected the country.” Of this fine district the inhabitants seem to have been almost wholly exterminated. Many who escaped the sword died of famine, many sold themselves for slaves, while those of higher quality, Norman as well as Saxon, sought an asylum in Scotland, and found at the court of Malcolm a favourable reception.

William having secured peace at home, prepared an armament against Scotland, and in 1072 he invaded that country, both by sea and by land. Malcolm wisely met superior power by an offer of submission. He sought and obtained peace, gave hostages, and performed homage. So far all is certain; but a question arises, for what was this homage performed? The answer may be given in the words of one of the most able inquirers upon the subject: “According to the general and most probable opinion, this homage was done by Malcolm for the lands which he held in England.”^[31. ’ Hailes’s Annals, vol. 1. p. 13. ] *

We have already met with Gospatric, the powerful Northumbrian earl who fled from the Conqueror to the court of Malcolm, bringing with him the heir of the Saxon line, with his sisters. Proving treacherous to Malcolm, Gospatric obtained from William the government of Northumberland; but on his return from his successful expedition against Malcolm, the Norman conqueror, from jealousy or disgust, degraded his Northumbrian ally, who once more fled to the Scottish king. Malcolm, on his part, not only forgave him, but presented him with the lands and castle of Dunbar, and the castle of Cockburnspath. He who held these estates, lying on the borders between the two countries, might be said to have the keys of Scotland at his girdle; and the circumstance is worthy of remembrance, not only as marking the origin of a potent family, destined to act a leading part in the future history of the country, but as indicating the policy of Malcolm, who, conscious of the inferiority of his own Celtic race, manifested a wise anxiety to prevail on strangers, whether Normans, Danes, or Saxons, to settle in his dominions.

The remaining portion of the reign of this energetic prince (1079-1093), is chiefly distinguished by a struggle with William Rufus, who, upon the death of the Conqueror, had succeeded to the English throne. This prince appears to have withheld from Malcolm part of the English possessions to which he claimed a right; and with the view of compelling a surrender of them, the Scottish king invaded England, and penetrated as far as Chester, on the Were. Rufus led against him a superior force; and Malcolm, aware of his approach, prudently declined a contest, and by a timely retreat, secured his plunder and his captives.

This appears to have taken place in May 1091; and in the autumn of the same year, the Norman prince, having equipped a fleet, and levied a numerous land force, led his army in person against Scotland. He continued his march to the shores of the Forth; but here his progress was stayed, in consequence of his receiving intelligence that his fleet had been destroyed by a tempest. There were no vessels to transport his troops across the Forth. The Scots, with a policy which they early learned, and repeatedly practised, had driven away their cattle, and cleared the country of its provisions; and at this crisis, when his soldiers were perishing from famine, Malcolm led his army against the English, crossed the Forth, and advanced into Lothian; a territory originally, as we have seen, acquired from the Angles, and therefore esteemed a part of England, although now subject to the Scottish king. Here having chosen a strong position, he encamped, and avoiding a battle, harassed the enemy, proposing to cut off his supplies, and expel him by famine. While both parties were thus situated, Edgar AEtheling, now with Rufus, and Robert, the king’s brother, exerted themselves to conciliate a peace. The English monarch, notwithstanding his fiery temper, knew how to bend his fury to his interest; and Malcolm, perceiving that he could obtain his purpose by treaty, wisely preferred this to the risk of a battle. It is important to mark the conditions of the agreement. William Rufus, we find, consented to restore to Malcolm twelve manors, which the Scottish prince had held under the Conqueror, and to make an annual payment to him of twelve marks of gold.^[32. Simeon Dunelm., apud Twysden, vol. i. p. 216. ] Malcolm, on his part, consented to do homage to William, and to hold his lands under the same tenure of feudal service and obedience to him, as he had formerly paid to his father the Conqueror.

Here pausing for a moment upon a subject which has[7:19:702] given rise to some discordant opinions, and which, now that the bitterness of national rivalry is at an end, may, we trust, be calmly considered, we would remark that, taking the testimony of English historians as our guide, all as yet seems clear, as to the much debated subject of homage. Simeon of Durham expressly declares that Malcolm agreed to obey William Rufus on the same conditions as those on which he had obeyed William the Conqueror. Under the Conqueror it is certain that Malcolm held twelve manors in England. These Rufus had seized; but he now restored them, and Malcolm renewed his obligation of homage. On a former occasion when, as we have seen, the Scottish king, in 1072, paid his homage to the Conqueror in person, the ground upon which he paid it is equally clear. Previously to the battle of Hastings, the Scottish monarchs had obtained from the Saxon kings some possessions in England. This was before the introduction of the strict feudal tenures, which came in with the Normans; but there is no doubt that these possessions were held under the condition of aiding the Saxon princes in repelling the incursions of the Danes.^[33. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 394. ] When William the Conqueror established himself in England, Malcolm, as we have seen, considered him as a usurper of the rights of his brother-in-law, Edgar AEtheling; and, on this ground, as well as perhaps from an indisposition to embrace a system which must have been new to him, he had at first refused to pay his homage for the lands he held in England. Circumstances, however, made him change this resolution. The prevailing power of William, the acquiescence of the English under his government, and the inactivity and imbecility of Edgar AEtheling, his brother-in-law, induced him to desist from a conflict in which he ceased to have an interest. A more intimate acquaintance with the feudal tenures introduced into England taught him that, in the acknowledgment of superiority for the lands which he held in that country, there was no sacrifice of dignity as an independent monarch, and as all idea of restoring Edgar was abandoned, he paid his homage to the conqueror.^[34. In this account of the expedition of William Rufus into Scotland, and in the remarks on the disputed point of the homage, we have been induced to treat the subject a little more in detaII., availing ourselves of some manuscript notes of the late David Macpherson, a writer of great research and judgment. This seemed the more necessary, as the subject of Rufus's invasion of Scotland, and Malcolm’s stipulated homage, bas been considered by high authority as one involved in extreme obscurity. ]

The point of homage seemed thus prudently settled; but the proud and fiery temper, which appears to have been an infirmity of both princes, soon led to a new contest between Malcolm and Rufus. A jealousy of the incursions of the Scots had formerly led the Conqueror to build two strong castles, the one at Durham, the other at Newcastle. To these bis successor now added a third at Carlisle; a barrier which, however necessary, might possibly be considered as encroaching on the freedom of the lands which Malcolm held in Cumberland. A dispute arose, and a personal interview between the two kings having been considered the best mode of settling their differences, Malcolm repaired to Gloucester, where Rufus met him and proposed that he should do homage in presence of his English barons. This the Scottish monarch refused; although he was ready, he said, to perform his homage on the frontiers of both kingdoms, as had been the ancient usage. The reply was angrily received, and the two kings having parted with expressions of defiance, Malcolm assembled an army, and advancing with a speed whetted by the indignity with which he had been treated, burst into Northumberland, which he wasted with fire and sword. Sweeping onwards to Alnwick, he was about to possess himself of the castle, when the Scottish army was attacked by Robert de Mowbray. In the battle which ensued Malcolm was slain, and Edward, his eldest son, shared the fate of his father.

We have already observed that the mild and gentle dispo sition of his queen, St. Margaret, had an admirable influence over the fierce and impetuous character of this prince. Of her life we have an interesting account from the pen of Turgot her confessor; and we cannot resist borrowing a few touches from this early specimen of biography. When the king set out on his last expedition against England, Margaret was suffering from a fatal and lingering complaint. She only lived to hear of the death of her husband and her son. Her last moments are thus described by that faithful minister, who related what he saw: “During a short interval of ease, the queen devoutly received the communion. Soon after, her anguish of body returned with redoubled violence; she stretched herself upon her couch and calmly waited for the moment of her dissolution; cold, and in the agonies of death, she ceased not to put up her supplications to heaven. These were some of her words: ‘ Have mercy upon me, O God; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out mine iniquities; make me to hear joy and gladness, that so the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.’ At that moment,” continues Turgot, “her son, Edgar, returning from the army, approached her couch. ‘ How fares it,’ said she, ‘with the king and my Edward?" The youth stood silent. ‘ I know all; I know all. By this holy cross, by your filial affection, I adjure you to tell me the truth.’ He answered, ‘ your husband and your son are both slain.’ Lifting up her eyes and her hands to heaven she then said, 'Praise and blessing be to thee, Almighty God, that thou hast been pleased to make me endure so bitter anguish in the hour of my departure, thereby, as I trust, to purify me in some measure, from the corruption of my sins; and thou, Lord Jesus Christ, who, through the will of the Father, hast enlivened the world by thy death, oh deliver me.’ While pronouncing the words ‘ deliver me,’ she expired.”^[35. ’ Hailes’s Annals, vol. i. pp. 40, 41, 4to edit. We have availed ourselves of Lord Hailes’s translation of the passage from Turgot describing the queen’s death. ]

“In reviewing the reign of Malcolm the Third,” says Lord Hailes, “we may discern a character of steady persevering courage. From his early youth to his last invasion of England, his conduct was uniform. He maintained his throne with the same spirit by which he won it. Though he was the ruler of a nation uncivilised, and destitute of foreign resources, and had such antagonists as the Conqueror and William Rufus to encounter, yet, for twenty-seven years, he supported this unequal contest, sometimes with success, never without honour. That he should have so well asserted the independency of Scotland is astonishing, when the weakness of his own kingdom, and the strength and abilities of his enemies are fairly estimated.”^[36. Ibid. vol. i. pp. 25, 26, 4to edit. ]

Malcolm’s eldest son had fallen, as we have seen, with his father. His remaining sons, Ethelred, Edmund, Edgar, Alexander, and David, were all under age; and his brother Donald, who, on the usurpation of the throne by Macbeth, had taken refuge in the Hebrides, appears to have remained in that distant retreat during the whole reign of the late king. These islands were then independent of the Scottish crown. They were inhabited by a warlike race, whose chiefs yielded to the Norwegian king a fluctuating subjection; and many of these leaders having joined him, Donald, with a powerful flcet, invaded Scotland and seized the crown; but it was for a very brief season. Duncan, a son of Malcolm, but illegitimate as is generally believed, had, in 1072, been delivered to William Rufus as a hostage for his father’s fidelity. He had received bis education at the Norman court, and having been knighted by the English monarch, was retained in his service. With permission of William, he now invaded Scotland, and assisted by a band[7:19:703] of English and Norman adventurers expelled Donald Bane. He, in his turn, after a reign of little more than a year, was assassinated, and Donald once more ascended the throne, from which, in 1097, he was again expelled by William Rufus, who dispatched Edgar AEtheling with a powerful army into Scotland. By this prince the aged usurper was defeated, and Edgar, the son of Malcolm and Margaret, the nephew of Edgar AEtheling, ascended the throne. This event took place in the close of the eleventh century; and, with the captivity and death of Donald Bane, who is the last of the race of Scoto-Irish kings, the Scottish period expires.

And here, after having passed over a portion of our history which extends from the middle of the ninth to the end of the eleventh century, let us pause to say a few words on the condition of the church, the state of the laws, and the manners of the people. To every critical student of this period one thing appears certain. Throughout its whole extent, we find the predominant people a Celtic race. The laws were Celtic, the government Celtic, the usages and manners Celtic, the church Celtic, the language Celtic. “If,” says Chalmers, “Malcolm Canmore, a Celtic prince, who did not arrogate the character of a lawgiver, had been disposed to effect a considerable change in this Celtic system, he would have found his inclination limited by his impotence. The Scottish kings, during those times, seem not to have possessed legislative power. Whenever they acted as legislators, they appear to have had some coadjutors; either some maormors, a term by which we are to understand the chief civil ruler of a district, or some bishops.” We shall see, when we pursue our inquiry into a later period, that the children and grandchildren of this Celtic monarch, when they attempted to introduce new maxims of government, were opposed in Galloway and in Moray by frequent insurrections.

Looking now first to that most important and interesting point, the state of the church, we have already seen that, at the commencement of the Pictish period in 446, Christianity had been introduced into North Britain. Of the exact constitution, discipline, and orders in the early Scottish church, from the conversion of the Scots to the commencement of the Scoto-Pictish period (843), much has been written; and it is well known that the advocates of episcopacy and the supporters of presbyterianism have each endeavoured to deduce, from an examination of these remote ages, irrefragable arguments for their peculiar opinions. Into this discussion it belongs not to our plan to enter. We deal with general results, and dare not embark in controversy; but we may be permitted to observe, from the authentic monuments which still remain in our own times, and it seems difficult to avoid the conclusion, that the primitive and most ancient form of church government in Scotland was episcopal. At the memorable epoch of the union of the Picts and the Scots, we find a bishopric of Lindisferne extending far into Lothian. In Lothian itself, the religious houses of Melrose, Coldingham, Tyningham, Pefferham, and Abercorn, had been long established. In Galloway, the bishopric of Whithorn, which we have seen founded by St. Ninian, had fallen soon after the commencement of the ninth century. Looking beyond the Friths, we find that, at the same period, various religious cells had been settled by the disciples of Columba; and that not long afterwards, Kenneth Macalpin, anxious to testify his respect for the relics of this apostle of the Scots, removed his relics from Iona to Dunkeld, where he built a church, which became not only the seat of a bishop, (849), but, till supplanted by St. Andrews, the seat of the primate of the Scottish church. There is an ancient legend quoted by Spottiswood from the register of St. Andrews, which, if any credit is to be attached to it, gives the honour of founding the see of St. Andrews to Hungus king of the

Picts, who died in 833. This prince, it appears, had invaded Northumberland, and upon his return was overtaken by Athelstan, king of the West Saxons, at the head of a powerful army. “Having given order for battle against the next day,” says the historian, “Hungus betook himself to prayer, spending most part of the night in that exercise. A little time before day, falling into a slumber, it seemed to him that the apostle St. Andrew stood by him and assured him of the victory, which vision being related to the army, did much encourage them. The history addeth that, in the joining of the battle, there appeared in the air a cross in the form of the letter X, which so terrified the enemies as presently they gave back, king Athelstan himself being killed. Hungus, to express his thankfulness for the victory, gave to the church of Regulus, now called St. Andrews, divers rich gifts, as chalices, basons, the image of Christ in gold, and of his twelve apostles in silver. He gave likewise a case of beaten gold for preserving the relics of St. Andrew, and restored to the spirituality the tithe of all corn, cattle, and herbage within the realm, exempting them from answering before any temporal judge; farther, he did appoint the cross of St. Andrew to be the badge and cognizance of the Picts, both in their wars and otherwise, which, as long as that kingdom stood, was observed, and is by the Scots as yet retained.”^[37. Spottiswood’s History of the Church of Scotland, p. 23. ]

This extract we have given radier as a curious example of the earliest tradition as to the national emblem of the cross of St. Andrew, than from any high opinion of the authenticity of king Hungus’s devotion. The following list of the Scottish bishoprics, according to the date of their foundation, is taken from Keith’s Catalogue. It is to be observed, however, that in some of its dates we must regard it rather as an approximation to the truth, as far as it can be ascertained from authentic sources, than as fixing the exact years of the erection.

Δ.D. a.d .

1. See of the Isles 447 7. See of Ross 128

2. See of Galloway 450 8. See of Brechin 1150

3. See of Glasgow 560 9∙ See of Caithness.... 1150

4. See of Dunkeld 729 10. See of Dunblane....1160

5. See of St. Andrews.. 892 11. See of Moray 1162

6. Mortlach, afterwards 12. See of Argyle 1200

Aberdeen 1010

Of these episcopal sees, the reader will observe, that only the bishoprics of the Isles, Galloway, Glasgow, Dunkeld, St. Andrews, and Mortlach, afterwards Aberdeen, belong to the period of which we now treat, from 843 to 1097; although the remaining sees are added, to afford to the reader some idea of their comparative antiquity. “The united kingdom of the Picts and Scots,” says Chalmers, “was formed under the regimen of parishes, though neither the times nor the circumstances of this formation can be clearly ascertained amid the gloom which hangs over the Scotican church during the Scottish period. We may easily suppose that those ecclesiastical districts were gradually established subsequent to the great epoch of 843. They were pretty generally settled during the Scottish period, though they were inconveniently large. They were established by private persons, rather than by public authority. But that parishes existed during the reign of Malcolm Canmore, is certain from unquestionable records. Thus, in the charter of David the First to the monastery of Dunfermline, this monarch uses these words: Preterea pater meus (his father was Malcolm the Third,) et mater mea dederunt ecclesiae Sanctae Trinitatis parochiam totam de Fotheriff.^[38. Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol. i. p. 432. ] It seems equally certain,” he continues, “that when churches were erected, parishes laid out, and parochial duties statedly performed, ecclesiastical dues must have been incident-[7:19:704] ally paid. In the charters of Alexander the First, and of David, tithes are mentioned as if they were familiarly known, and had been long established. It is clear that tithes were paid to the clergy during the reign of Malcolm Canmore, and probable that such ecclesiastical dues were payable as early as the commencement of the tenth century (910,) when Constantine the king, and Kellach the bishop, solemnly vowed to observe the faith, discipline, and rights of the churches.”^[39. lnnes, p. 785. Chronicle. Codex Colbertinus. See also Innes, 603. ] During the reign of Malcolm Canmore, according to the high authority of Innes,^[40. Mem. p. 588. ] several national councils were held in Scotland for the establishment of ecclesiastical discipline, and the reformation of the rude and fierce manners of the people. Some extracts from the canons passed in these councils are inserted by Turgot, the confessor of Malcolm’s pious consort St. Margaret, in the interesting life which he has given us of this princess.^[41. ’And here having spoken of St. Margaret, we cannot refrain, in these brief remarks on the early state of the Scottish church, from allud ing to a beautiful picture preserved by this same worthy Bishop Turgot, in which be describes the love of Malcolm for St. Margaret, and the influence which the mild piety of the Saxon princess acquired over the fiery temper of her Celtic husband. “Malcolm,” says he, (we use Lord Hailes⅛ translation), “respected the religion of his spouse, was fearful of offending her, and listened to her admonitions. Whatever she loved or disliked, so did be. Although be could not read, he frequently turned over her prayer-books, and kissed her favourite volumes. He had them adorned with gold and precious stones, and presented them to her in token of bis devotion. She instructed him to pass the night in prayer, with groans and tears. I must acknowledge, that I often admired the works of the divine mercy, when I saw a king so religious, and such signs of deep compunction in a layman.”—Hailes, vol. i. p. 15. ]

During this obscure period, we meet with frequent mention of an order of religious men named Culdees, who first appear in the beginning of the ninth century. They seem to have been a kind of secular presbyters or monks, the Gaelic term Culdee meaning a recluse or hermit. With the exception of the form of the tonsure and the rule of observing Easter, they professed the same rites and ceremonies as the rest of the church. It has been erroneously pretended that the Culdees rejected bishops. So far was this from being the case, that we have repeated instances of the colleges of these Celtic monks having been instituted and ordained by the bishops themselves, while they, wherever they had a college about the see, possessed a vote in the election of the bishop.^[42. Goodal’s Introduction to the History and Antiquities of Scotland, p. 117. ] Of this distinct order, we find that there existed in North Britain, during the Scottish period, religious houses at Abernethy, Dunkeld, St. Andrews, Dunblane, Brechin, Mortlach, Aberdeen, Monymusk, Lochleven, Portmoak, Dunfermline, Scone, and Kirkcaldy.^[43. Chalmers, vol. i. p∙ 134. ]

It remains to say a few words on the laws, manners, and language of the Scottish period. To affect to speak with certainty upon the laws which regulated the government, restrained the crimes, or directed the succession of a fierce and barbarous people who have left no written muniments, would betray presumption and ignorance. As far as can be conjectured, we find the crown neither strictly hereditary nor strictly elective, but directed in its descent by what has been termed the law of Tanistry ,∙ an institution by which the person in the family of the reigning prince who was judged best qualified, whether son, brother, or even more remote relative, was chosen under the name of Tanist, to lead the army during the life of the king, and to succeed to him after his death. Chalmers has asserted, that, at this era, the tenure of land throughout the country determined with the life of the possessor; an opinion requiring some modification, as it indicates a state of barbarism even greater than is discovered by the few glimpses of light which sometimes shoot athwart this twilight of our history. By a custom which the Scots evidently brought with them from Ireland, denominated in Irish gabhail-cine, meaning literally family settlement, it appears, that the fathers of families divided their lands among their sons, sometimes in equal, sometimes in unequal portions, and strictly excluded females from any share in this appropriation. As to their legislative code, there seems to be little doubt that the nearest approach we can make to the laws or usages of Celtic Scotland, must be by the study of such fragments as remain to us of the brehon laws of Ireland. “This brehon law,” says Cox, “was no written law, it was only the will of the brehon or lord; and it is observable that their brehons or judges, like their physicians, bards, harpers, poets, and historians, had their offices by descent and inheritance. These hereditary judges or doctors,” continues he, “were but very sad tools. The brehon, when he administered justice, used to sit on a turf or heap of stones, or on the top of a hillock, without a covering, without clerks, or indeed any formality of a court of judicature.” This state of law, observes the author of Caledonia, may be traced among the Scoto-Irish in Scotland till recent times. Every baron had his mote-hill, whence justice was distributed to his vassals by his baron bailie.^[44. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 308. ] β There seems to be little doubt that Malcolm, from his marriage with a Saxon princess, and his frequent intercourse with the Saxon and Norman people, was an admirer of their superior civilization, and anxious to introduce their usages among his own ruder subjects. But that he succeeded to any material degree is extremely problematical; and the notion that he introduced the complicated system of the feudal law into Scotland, has been long ago exploded. .

In a rapid sketch of this nature, little room can be given to any detailed description of the manners of the people during the Scottish period. The natural state of the Celtic tribes in Scotland was similar to that which we find existing among them in Ireland, namely, a state of constant war; and to those who consider how slow is the progress of improvement, and how strong the principle of imitation and tradition among a savage people, it will be no subject of wonder that we find little change produced by the lapse of centuries upon the manners of the ancient British, whether we look to Wales, Ireland, or North Britain. Their marriages, their mode of burial, their dress, their war cries, were similar. Armorial bearings, during this whole period, were unknown; seals, and coined money they had none; and it has been remarked by Chalmers, that the Gaelic people of Scotland borrowed their very terms for the several denominations of money from the Scoto-Saxon inhabitants. Thus, the Gaelic feorling, farthing, is from the Saxon feorthing; the Gaelic peighin, a penny, is from the Saxon penig.

In those rude ages of which we now write, stones of memorial were frequently employed, and many of them still remain; yet as they are found without inscriptions, and only occasionally ornamented by rude hieroglyphics, the memory of the events which they describe has perished, and the field is left open to antiquarian conjecture. Inaugural stones also were used by them, upon which not only the Irish and Scottish kings were placed on their accession to the crown; but the chiefs of septs or petty reguli, were accustomed on the same to take the oaths to their vassals, when they succeeded to the power of the former chief. To the same class of inaugural stones belongs, as is well known, the famous coronation stone of Scotland. Tradition reports this singular relic to have been brought from Ireland by Kenneth; it was undoubtedly carried off from Scone by Edward the First, who inserted it into a chair, which he placed before the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey. It is almost impossible to speak with any precision of the state[7:19:705] of society in this remote period, yet a few incidental gleams of light are reflected from the lives of the early saints. Thus, in Adomnan’s life of Columba, which was written only eighty years after the saint’s death, we find frequent mention of houses of wattle, similar probably to those which the Constable Richard de Moreville, in a charter of the twelfth century, denominates claiae niscatoe. ^[45. Liber de Melroιe, vol. i. p. 95. ] 1 Even the abbey of Iona was built of the same rude materials. The clothing of the monks seems to have been often composed of the skins of beasts, though latterly they had woollen stuffs and linen; the first probably manufactured by themselves, the linen imported from the continent. Venison, iSsh, milk, flesh, and wild fowl, were the common food of the people. “The monks of Iona,” says Chalmers, “who lived by their labour, cultivated their fields, and laid up corn in their garners.” But it is to be recollected that the monks were every where, for ages, the improvers themselves, and the instructors of others in the useful arts. Even Iona had its orchards in the rugged times of the ninth century, till the Vikinghr, or pirate kings, ravaged and ruined all. Looking to their shipping, we find that their little vessels were constructed by covering a keel of wood and a frame of wicker work with the skins of cattle and of deer. These were denominated currachs. Afterwards they were enlarged and made capable of containing a respectable crew. It was in a vessel of this description, a wicker boat covered with hides, that Columba, accompanied by twelve of his friends, embarked from Ireland, in the year 563, and landed in Iona. With these few remarks, we close the Scottish period of our national history.

Sect. IV.— Scoto-Saxon Period.

We have already seen, that the death of Malcolm Canmore at Alnwick gave rise to a temporary usurpation of the throne by Donald his brother, that he was expelled by Duncan, an illegitimate son of Malcolm, who had been educated at the court of William Rufus; and this Duncan having been assassinated, Edgar Atheling led an English army into Scotland, and placed Edgar, the son of Malcolm Canmore', on the throne.

Edgar’s reign wasbrief, pacific, and of little interest; but his successor, Alexander the First, the eldest surviving son of Malcolm, was a prince of a powerful and vigorous character. From his accession to the throne, in the commencement of the twelfth century, (1106), to the death of Alexander the Third (1285), in the close of the thirteenth, a period little short of two centuries, the nation was progressive and prosperous in a degree unequalled during the whole course of its future history. Under a succession of six monarchs, Alexander the First, David the First, Malcolm the Fourth, William the Lion, Alexander the Second, and Alexander the Third, it maintained its independence against foreign aggression, and not only preserved the integrity, but extended the boundaries of its dominions. Its commerce, its manufactures, its agriculture, and all the arts which improve and humanize an ignorant and fierce people, were encouraged; and throughout this long period, in the personal characters of each of these successive princes, though varying in their shades, there was that ingredient of energy and boldness which communicated itself to their people, and maintained the nation at the standard to which each ruler in his turn had raised it.

Let us for a moment pursue our system, and like a traveller gazing from a mountain height, and noting the landmarks of a new country, endeavour to detect the leading and influential events in this division of our national history. In the character of Alexander the First, every thing seems to have been in excess; but happily the qua lities which were so overcharged, were most of them of the better sort. He is traditionally remembered by the epithet of the fierce; and though humble and courteous to his clergy, whom he deemed entitled to this homage as God’s servants, not his, he was, to use the words of an ancient and authentic writer, “terrible beyond measure to his subjects.” The leading event of his reign was the struggle which he maintained for the independence of the Scottish church against the pretended rights claimed, first by the see of York, and afterwards by that of Canterbury. On the election of Turgot, a monk of Durham, to the bishopric of St. Andrews ( 1109,) the archbishop of York insisting on his having the right of consecrating him. To this the Scottish king declared he would never agree; and a compromise having taken place, by which the point was left undecided, Alexander, on the death of Turgot, altered his ground, and chose for his successor Eadmer, a monk of Canterbury. The same right of consecration, and founded on the same ground of the alleged dependence of the Scottish church upon the primacy of England, was now advanced by Canterbury; but it was still more haughtily and peremptorily refused by Alexander. A compromise again took place. Eadmer accepted the ring from the king, and took the pastoral staff from the altar, as if receiving it from the Lord; but finding his authority weakened, and the countenance of the monarch withdrawn from him, he intimated his resolution of repairing to Canterbury for advice. This Alexander violently opposed, declaring that as long as he lived, the bishop of St. Andrews should never be subject to that see. Nor did he fail here, as in all his other enterprises, to keep his word; Eadmer remained an elected but unconsecrated bishop. At length weary of the contest, and trammelled in his usefulness, he desired permission to resign, restored the ring to the king, replaced the pastoral staff on the high altar, and returned to Canterbury. Robert, prior of Scone, was elected to fill the vacant see, and the king’s determined efforts to maintain the independence of the Scottish church were crowned with success. It had continued for fourteen years, and Alexander survived its termination only a single year. He died in 1124, leaving no children by his wife Sybilla, a natural daughter of Henry the First, and was succeeded by his brother, David the First.

Edgar, the brother of this prince, had, on his death-bed, bequeathed to him that portion of Cumberland which was possessed by the Scottish kings. The legacy had two good effects. It called the young prince early to the cares and labours of administration; and it removed him from Scotland to a country where he became acquainted with a more advanced civilization and with better regulated government. These advantages were not thrown away upon David. His natural dispositions were excellent; his love of justice, his capacity for labour, his sense of the national honour and independence, his affection to every class of his people, his tenderness to his children, his piety to God, were all so conspicuous in his character, that Buchanan, an author who cannot be suspected of adulation, pronounces him the perfect exemplar of a good king; and the progress made by the country during the twenty-nine years of his reign goes far to justify the assertion.

His reign was contemporary with that of Henry the First and of Stephen in England, and it opened with many difficulties. The question of the independence of the church was again started; and before it could be brought to a termination, the forcible seizure of the English crown by Stephen, who deposed Matilda, the daughter of Henry the First, involved him in a war with that usurper. During the life of Henry the First, David and Stephen had sworn[7:19:706] favourable notion of this young prince. It had been a promise of the English monarch made to David the First, in 1149, that if he succeeded to the crown of England, he to maintain the right of Matilda; and the Scottish monarch, in obedience to his oath, invading England, compelled the barons of the northern portion of that kingdom to swear fealty to this princess. His efforts however were more honourable than successful; and after a war which lasted three years, David was ultimately defeated in the great battle of the Standard, fought on Cutton Moor, in the neighbourhood of Northallerton. Peace was now concluded, and the terms to which Stephen consented, indicate that, although defeated, the Scottish king was but little humbled.

The earldom of Northumberland, with the exception of the two castles of Newcastle and Bamborough, was ceded to Prince Henry, David’s eldest son. As an equivalent for these fortresses, lands were granted to him in the south of England; the barons of Northumberland were to hold their estates of Henry the Prince of Scotland, reserving their fealty to Stephen; and in return, David and all his people became bound to maintain an inviolable peace with England.

The remaining years of the reign of this wise monarch were pacific and prosperous. The war had convinced him that the English were far superior to his people in arms and discipline; it had been undertaken in fulfilment of his oath to Henry, not from any love of conquest, and having satisfied his conscience, he devoted his life to the arts of good government. “During the course of his sage administration,” says Lord Hailes, “public buildings were erected, towns established, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce promoted. The barbarities of his people in their invasions of England, had affected him with the deepest anguish, and believing that religion was the only agent which could humanize and improve the savage multitudes whom he had led, but could not restrain, he endowed the church with new privileges, enriched it with extensive grants of land, founded various bishoprics, built many monasteries, and exhibited in his own person so fine an example of royal greatness, chastened and purified by Christian humility and devotion, that it could not fail to have the best effects upon his people.”

Towards the close of his reign, it was his misfortune to lose his eldest son, Prince Henry, just as he had reached manhood, and exhibited many of the excellent qualities of his father. The blow sunk deep into his heart; but David’s first care had been for his people, and he roused himself to provide for the pacific succession of his grandson, Malcolm, a child in his twelfth year. By his orders, this boy, the son of Prince Henry, was carried in a progress through his dominions, to receive the homage of the barons and the people, and was solemnly proclaimed heir to the crown. Having performed this wise but mournful duty, the aged king within a year followed his son to the grave. It is a remarkable and beautiful circumstance, that he was found dead in an attitude of devotion. “His death had been so tranquII.,” says Aldred, who knew him well, “that you would not have believed he was dead. He was found with his hands clasped devoutly upon his breast in the very posture in which he seems to have been raising them to heaven.”

The reign of Malcolm the Fourth, which lasted only twelve years, offers little for our observation. It began with those evils which so invariably attend a minority; war without, and insecurity within the kingdom. Somerled the thane of Argyle, strengthened by the naval powers of the Isles, invaded Scotland, and for some years continued to harass the country by repeated attacks, which at length terminated in an amicable agreement. The transactions of Malcolm with Henry the Second of England impress us with an un would cede to Scotland for ever the territory between the Tyne and the Tweed. Instead of insisting on this, Malcolm, overreached by the superior sagacity of Henry, or betrayed by the treachery of his councillors, abandoned to England his whole possessions in the northern counties, and received in return the honor of Huntingdon; a measure which created universal discontent in the nation. These feelings of disgust were imprudently increased by an expedition of the young prince into France, where he joined the army of Henry, claimed from him the distinction of knighthood, and outraged the feelings of national jealousy, by forgetting his station as an independent prince, and fighting under the banner of the English monarch. A deputation from the Scots was sent into France to remonstrate against this conduct, nor did they hesitate in bold language to reproach their king for the desertion of his duty. Galloway rose into rebellion; the inhabitants of Moray about the same time threw off their allegiance; and Somerled the thane of Argyle invaded the country with a formidable fleet. Although the obstinacy of the king had brought these disasters upon himself, his energy and decision met and overcame them. He hurried from France, conciliated his nobles, invaded and subdued Galloway, repulsed Somerled, and after suppressing the rebellion in Moray, adopted the extraordinary measure of dispossessing its ancient inhabitants, compelling them to settle in more distant parts of his dominions, and planting new colonies in their room. These energetic measures were his last, for he died immediately after, at an early age, and was succeeded by his brother William the Second, son of Henry, prince of Scotland, and grandson of David the First.

The administration of this prince presents us with the longest reign in the range of Scottish history, extending from 1165 to 1214, nearly half a century. In this protracted division, the most important event was, the disgraceful surrender of the national independence to Henry the Second in 1174, and its recovery by William in 1189. Both transactions require our serious notice. It was the weakness of William to be guided by impulse. Smitten with an admiration for the warlike qualities of Henry the Second, and uninstructed by the misfortunes of his predecessor Malcolm, he first courted this prince, and being disappointed in his object of procuring from his justice the restitution of Northumberland, he imprudently defied him. War ensued; and the king of the Scots having advanced with his army to Alnwick, was surprised, made prisoner, and shut up in the castle of Falaise in Normandy. His impatience under captivity, and the longing of the barons and clergy for their king, led to a pusillanimous treaty, which will ever remain a blot upon the national honour. With consent of his barons and clergy, given at Valogne on the 8th of December 1174, William agreed to become the liegeman of Henry for Scotland, and all his other territories; to deliver up to the English monarch the castles of Roxburgh, Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling; to give his brother David and some of his chief barons as hostages, and to receive in return his liberty. In this treaty, it is remarkable, that while little care was shown as to the independence of the people, a prudent, and, as it has been well denominated, a memorable clause was introduced, which left entire the independence of the Scottish church; and this clause, the bishops and clergy took the first opportunity of asserting before the Papal legate in a council held at Northampton (1176).

On his return to his dominions, William appears to have devoted himself with much energy and success to the cares of government. His dominions were weakened and distracted by repeated insurrections in Ross and in Galloway. In these wild and remote districts, the native chiefs claimed almost a royal sway; and the people, ferocious in their habits, and jealous of all intercourse with England, were ready, upon the slightest provocation or encouragement, to[7:19:707] rise in rebellion. A pretender to the crown also appeared in Galloway, in the person of Donald, the grandson of Duncan, commonly called the bastard king of Scotland. This adventurer having seized Ross, and wasted Moray, William led an army against him; nor was it till after a desperate struggle that Donald fell near Inverness, and by his death restored tranquillity to the country.

We have already seen how firmly the Scottish church had renounced the idea of any dependence upon the metropolitan sees of York or Canterbury; we have adverted to that careful reservation of their rights at the moment when the king and the nobles bartered away what was not theirs to give, the national independence. In this resolute conduct the clergy were supported by the king; and in 1188, Clement the Third pronounced a solemn decree, by which he declared the “church of Scotland to be the daughter of Rome, and immediately subject to her; and that to the Pope alone, or his legate de latere, should belong the power of pronouncing any sentence of excommunication against that kingdom.”

This important declaration was soon followed by another event still more memorable, in which the kingdom recovered its independence. On the death of Henry the Second, Richard Coeur de Lion, his successor, then intent upon collecting money for his expedition to the Holy Land, invited the king of Scotland to his court, and upon William’s engagement to pay to him the sum of ten thousand merks, agreed to restore his kingdom to its independence, reserving the homage formerly due by the Scottish kings for the lands which they held in England. The instrument by which this transaction was completed, declares, that Richard had delivered up to William king of Scots, his castles of Roxburgh and Berwick, had granted to him an acquittance of all obligations which had been extorted from him by Henry the Second, in consequence of his captivity, and had ordained the boundaries of the two kingdoms to be re-established as they existed at the date of William’s imprisonment. The Scottish king was at the same time put in possession of all his fees in the earldom of Huntingdon; and all the charters of homage done to Henry the Second by the Scottish barons were delivered up, and declared to be cancelled for ever. We are to ascribe it to the wise regulations of this treaty, and the fidelity with which they were observed on both sides by its authors and their successors, that for a century after its date, there occurred no national quarrel or hostilities between the two countries. The remaining portion of the reign of William demands little notice. During the latter years of it, the succession of John to his brother Richard the First threatened to dissolve the pacific relations between the two countries; but war was happily averted, and the Scottish monarch reserved his energies for the pacification of his own realm, disturbed by a rebellion in the northern counties. In 1214, the king died at Stirling, after a reign of forty-eight years, the longest, as already stated, in Scottish history. His name of William the Lion was probably owing to the circumstance, that, before his time, none of the Scottish kings had assumed a coat armorial. The Lion rampant first appears upon his shield.

William was succeeded by his son Alexander, a youth of seventeen, to whom the Scottish barons had sworn homage in 1201, and who was one of the wisest of our kings, whether we regard the justice of his administration, the seasonable severity with which he subdued all internal commotions in his kingdom, the firmness exhibited in his maintenance of the rights of the church, or the wisdom, forbearance, and vigour which marked his policy towards England. His reign was one of constant action, and full of incident. It commenced with his joining the English barons who resisted the tyranny of John. This conduct drew down upon him and his kingdom a sentence of excommunication (1216); but the papal terrors appear to have been little dreaded at this time; and in 1218, Honorius not only abrogated the sentence pronounced by his legate, but confirmed the liberties of the Scottish church.

On the accession of Henry the Third to the English throne, Alexander, who was occupied with quelling the repeated insurrections in the northern parts of his dominions, showed every disposition to cultivate amity with England; and his marriage to the princess Joanna, sister of Henry, had a favourable effect in strengthening the ties between the two monarchs.

One of the striking features which mark the reign of this monarch, is the gradual increase that is to be observed in the power of the nobles, and the corresponding decrease in the authority of the crown; but if this had injurious effects upon the general prosperity of the kingdom, and distracted it by internal private feuds, it encouraged a feeling of independence, and fostered that warlike spirit, which proved the best safeguards against the encroachments of their more powerful neighbours. This was strikingly shown on the occurrence of a rupture between England and Scotland in 1244. Some time before this, Alexander had claimed from Henry, in right of inheritance, the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland; and although the English king did not grant him his full demand, he admitted its justice, by transferring to him an equivalent in certain lands, which he accepted in full of all claims. For these lands the Scottish king did homage; and both monarchs remained on friendly terms for some years, when jealousies suddenly arose, and Henry, alleging that homage had been unjustly withheld, led an army against Scotland. Under these threatening circumstances, the Scottish king, although he had recently experienced the resistance of his nobles to his personal requests, found himself strongly supported by the same barons against the meditated attack of England. They raised in a short time an army of a hundred thousand foot, and a thousand horse, and this demonstration of the national strength had happily the effect of restoring peace without bloodshed. It is worthy of notice, that when a papal legate visited Scotland under this reign, and held a provincial council in the capital, the king manifested the same jealousy of such a proceeding as had been exhibited by his predecessors. He seemed afraid lest the admission of a papal messenger, whose message regarded England alone, should be deemed derogatory to the independence of the Scottish church; and although, at the request of the nobility of both countries, he consented to his coming into the kingdom, he declined a personal meeting, and stipulated that this permission should not be drawn into a precedent.

Having engaged in a maritime expedition against Angus of Argyle, one of those petty island chiefs, whose dubious allegiance, in those remote times, oscillated between Norway and Scotland, Alexander had conducted his fleet as far as the Sound of Mull, when he was seized with a fever, and died in a small island there named Kerraray, in the 35th year of his reign. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander the Third, a boy in his eighth year; and the kingdom, which had enjoyed under his father’s wise and vigorous administration, an uncommon degree of prosperity, became immediately exposed to the many evils of a minority. Two parties divided the nobility; the one led by Walter Cornyn, earl of Menteith, the other by Durward the high Justiciar; and Henry the Third secretly wrote to the Pope, requesting him to interdict the coronation of the young king. Scotland, he said, was a fee of England, Alexander his vassal, and his permission as superior had not been obtained. The Pope appears to have rejected his demand with promptitude, as derogatory to the rights of a sovereign Prince; and the ceremony of the coronation was performed at the abbey of Scone, the coronation-oath being read first in Latin, and afterwards in Norman-French.

Alexander soon afterwards, in fulfilment of a former treaty,[7:19:708] espoused Margaret, the youthful daughter of Henry, at York, and exhibited a spirit and intelligence superior to his years, in refusing to pay homage for his kingdom of Scotland. “I came,” said he to the artful monarch who made the proposal; “I came into England on a joyful and pacific errand, not to answer to an arduous question, which belongs to the states of my kingdom.” He at the same time made no objection to take the oath of fealty for the lands which he held in England.

Defeated in this attempt to overreach a minor sovereign, Henry commenced a series of intrigues with the Scottish nobles, with the object of obtaining an entire control over the affairs of the sister kingdom; and the country was divided and distracted by two factions, the one acting under English influence, and the other more honestly contending for the freedom of their prince and the independent administration of the government. These scenes of civil faction and foreign interference continued till the monarch, having arrived at manhood, and developing a character of much energy and judgment, took the reins into his own hand, and compelled his nobility to respect the laws and support his measures.

Scarcely had this happy change occurred, when the kingdom, which had already suffered from the vicinity of the fleets of Norway, was threatened with invasion by Haco, one of its most warlike princes. The dispute which led to this menace originated in a circumstance already noticed; the precarious homage paid by the petty piratical chiefs of the Western Isles, who, as circumstances pressed on the one side or the other, acknowledged a feudal dependence on Scotland or on Norway. To support them in their independence on Alexander, Haco made a descent on the western coast of Scotland with a mighty fleet, but sustained a signal defeat at Largs, and on his return with the shattered remains of his ships, sickened and died at Orkney. The results of this victory were highly favourable to Scotland. It fixed the chiefs of the Western Isles in their allegiance, secured to Alexander the homage of the king of Man, and convinced Norway that Scotland was not to be so easily subdued or overawed as its piratical princes had anticipated.

The remainder of this reign was prosperous, as far as the circumstances of the kingdom are considered, but unfortunate for the monarch, who found himself suddenly deprived by death of all his children. His eldest son, Alexander, died soon after his marriage, and his only daughter Margaret, the wife of Eric, king of Norway, was cut off in childbed, leaving an infant daughter, Margaret, commonly called the Maiden of Norway, the heiress of the Scottish throne. These calamities induced the king, who was a widower, to make a second marriage. Having selected Ioleta de Coney, daughter of the Count de Dreux, the nuptials were celebrated at Jedburgh; and the nation, under a wise monarch still in the prime of life, flourishing at home and at peace abroad, looked forward to a long season of prosperity, when all its hopes were overcast in a moment. Alexander, when riding in a dark night, on the brink of a dangerous rocky ledge near Kinghom, was precipitated from the top to the bottom, and killed on the spot.

The death of the king was deeply lamented, and not without cause, for he left the kingdom in most difficult circumstances, exposed to the ambition and attack of Edward the First, one of the ablest princes who had ever reigned in England, and its happiness at home dependant upon the precarious life of an infant. To fill the cup of Scotland’s calamity, this child, Margaret, the Maiden of Nonvay, when on her passage from that country to take possession of her throne, sickened and died in Orkney; and on her death arose that celebrated competition for the Scottish crown, which threatened to plunge the kingdom into all the miseries of civil war.

The moment was favourable to the designs of Edward the First, who determined to make himself master of Scotland. While in that country the various competitors collected their forces and prepared to support their claims, the English monarch having given orders for assembling the strength of his kingdom by a certain day, invited the nobility and clergy of Scotland to meet him at Norham, for the purpose of deliberating upon the succession to the crown. It has been made a subject of dispute, whether Edward was invited by the Scottish people to be umpire in the contest for the crown, or whether he proposed himself as judge, and the subject is involved in some obscurity. It is by no means improbable, that English intrigue and a regard to their own interest, had induced some of the competitors, if not to invite, at least most readily to accept the mediation of the English monarch; but it is equally true, and the point is of far greater importance, that there is no evidence to prove that there was any invitation of this kind, either by the people of Scotland, or even by à majority of its nobles and clergy. Be this as it may, the competitors for the crown, with a large proportion of the nobility and clergy of Scotland, accepted the mediation of Edward, and met this monarch at Norham, (May 1291).

Of these claimants for the crown the two principal were John Balliol and Robert Bruce. It was quite apparent that the question lay between them, the rights of the other competitors being evidently inferior to theirs. The title of these two chiefs arose out of the circumstance, that on the death of all descendants of Alexander the Third, the crown reverted to the descendants of David, earl of Huntingdon, brother of king William the Lion. This David left three daughters, Margaret, the eldest, who married Alan, lord of Galloway; Isabella, the second, who married Robert Bruce, father to the competitor Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale; and Ada, the third daughter, who married John de Hastings. It was evident, therefore, that the question lay between Balliol and Bruce. Balliol pleaded that he was entitled to the crown as the descendant of the eldest daughter, being great-grandson to David, earl of Huntingdon. Bruce admitted that he sprung from the second daughter, but contended that, being grandson of the earl of Huntingdon, and therefore a degree nearer, his claim was superior.

Edward’s scheme against the independence of Scotland was now ripe for execution; and announcing his determination to give a just decision, he, to the dismay of many present, required the Scottish barons to swear fealty to him as their Lord Paramount. It was in this character alone, he said, that he was entitled to give, and as such alone that he would pronounce, a judgment. The scene which now ensued was a humiliating one. The right of Edward was admitted; and Bruce, Balliol, the remaining competitors, the barons and the clergy, set their hands to an instrument, in which they acknowledged that the English king was feudal superior of Scotland. There can be little doubt that they knew this claim of Edward to be untenable upon any ground of truth or justice, but they saw it ready to be enforced by a determined prince at the head of the whole strength of his dominions, and they did not dare to resist it. Edward, accordingly, having received their oaths of homage, proceeded to investigate the contending claims, and awarded the crown to John Balliol.

It was probably part of the plan of the English monarch to quarrel with his vassal king. It is at least certain, that he availed himself of the earliest appearance of spirit and resistance in this unfortunate prince to summon him, in terms of reproach and indignity, to his court in England, and at last goaded him and his people into what he termed rebellion. In the war which ensued, Edward found it an easy matter to overrun a kingdom unprepared to resist so formidable an enemy. The town of Berwick was carried by storm;[7:19:709] Dunbar, the key of the borders, surrendered; Balliol was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower; while the English prince concluded what he deemed the conquest of Scotland, by removing from Scone to Westminster the sacred stone upon which the long line of its kings had been crowned and anointed. But at this sad moment Scotland, which in vain looked for a deliverer amongst its feudal nobles, found one in a man of far inferior rank.

William Wallace was the son of Sir Malcolm Wallace, who held the estate of Ellerslie, near Paisley. Having been outlawed by the English for an alleged murder, committed on one by whom he had been grievously injured, he fled into the fastnesses of his country, and assembling round him a small band of followers, who were weary of their servitude, commenced that kind of predatory warfare, which led from one success to another, till he saw himself at the head of a formidable force. With this he boldly descended into the low country, and after having defeated the English in the sanguinary battle of Stirling, was soon after chosen Governor of Scotland. This title he only accepted as acting in the name of John Balliol, whom he had always acknowledged as his hereditary king. Into the exploits and career of this great man it is impossible, within our limits, to enter; but making every allowance for the passionate admiration of his countrymen, and regarding him as reflected in the cold glass of history, rather than invested with the brilliant hues of romance, there will still be found all that constitutes a heroic character, if the accomplishment of the greatest results with the most confined means, an entire devotion to his country, a contempt of power for its own sake, unextinguishable hatred of oppression, and a personal courage which nothing could shake for a moment, were ever entitled to such an epithet.

It was however impossible for Wallace, with all his great qualities, to reconcile the Scottish nobles to his envied elevation, or to compose the feuds and jealousies which divided and weakened their efforts. Edward, who had been absent in Flanders when his officers were defeated at Stirling, hurried back to England, and once more invading Scotland at the head of an immense army, encountered and defeated Wallace in the battle of Falkirk. The result of this victory was the temporary subjugation of a country, whose allegiance expired the moment its invaders retired. Wallace voluntarily resigned the office of Governor, Robert Bruce and John Cornyn were chosen Guardians, and for five years the war was continued with various success; but Edward, who in this interval had thrice invaded the kingdom, by these unceasing efforts and superior numerical strength, at last subdued the spirit, and appeared to have completed the conquest of this devoted people. The Guardians submitted and were pardoned; sentence of outlawry was pronounced against Simon Fraser and the few followers of Wallace who still held out; and at last this great chief himself was betrayed into the hands of the conqueror, and executed at London. It was at this crisis, which seemed to seal for ever the fate and liberty of the Scottish people, that a deliverer arose in the person of Robert Bruce.

Section V.

a.d . 1306 to 1436.

Nothing could be more extraordinary, or apparently more unpropitious to the cause of freedom, than the circumstances which led to this great result. Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, and grandson of the competitor for the crown, had acted a dubious and interested part during the years that Wallace, and the few patriotic barons who adhered to him, made their stand for the independence of their country. He inherited, with vast landed estates, the right to the crown possessed by his grandfather; but, had he urged his claim, it might have been at the risk of the forfeiture of these possessions, which made him one of the most powerful barons in Scotland; and, although, in his early career, we can detect occasional outbreaks of the patriotic feeling, he preserved his allegiance to Edward the First, and appears to have been treated with confidence by that monarch.

The injuries inflicted on the country seem at last to have aroused both Bruce and Cornyn, and they formed a secret agreement to rise against the English. But Comyn’s heart failed him. He betrayed the purpose to Edward, and meeting Bruce, who had been made aware of his treachery, in the church of the Grey friars at Dumfries, that proud baron reviled him as an informer, and stabbed him to the heart on the steps of the high altar. He was instantly proclaimed a traitor by Edward, excommunicated as a sacreligious murderer by the Pope, a price set upon his head; and from the first and most influential noble in the kingdom, he felt that he must either assert his right to the crown, and trust to his sword for its defence, or he content to sink into the condition of an outlaw and a fugitive. His decision was instantly taken. He rode with his little band to Scone, and was there solemnly crowned; but being aware of the advance of an English army, he hastily concentrated his forces, and after ravaging Galloway, marched against Perth, then in possession of Edward.

But the early portion of Bruce’s career was disastrous; and those military talents, which afterwards conducted him through a course of unexampled victory, were nursed amid incessant defeat and hardship. He was put to flight at Methven, his small army dispersed, and he himself driven an almost solitary wanderer through Lennox and Kintyre, to seek an asylum in Rachrin, a little island on the northern coast of Ireland. Here he remained during the winter, unaware of the execution of his faithful followers, who had fallen into the hands of Edward; of the imprisonment of his queen and daughter, and the extraordinary severity with which the English monarch seemed determined to rivet the fetters upon his native country.

In the spring he passed over from Rachrin to Arran, accompanied by his brother Edward Bruce, Sir James Douglas, and about three hundred men. His own castle of Turnberry, on the coast of Carrick, was then occupied by Lord Percy, an officer of Edward. Bruce attacked it, put the English garrison to the sword, and, after a variety of minor enterprises, in which, although often repulsed, he and his followers gained experience and confidence, he ventured, although at the head of only six hundred spearmen, to meet the earl of Pembroke, with three thousand cavalry, at Loudon Hill, (May 1307). The result of this conflict, owing to the admirable dispositions of Bruce, was the entire defeat of the English; and from this point, the crisis of his fortune, to the hour when the liberty of his country was for ever secured on the field of Bannockburn, the career of this extraordinary man presented an almost continued series of success.

It was perhaps fortunate for Scotland that he was opposed, not by Edward the First, who had died when on his march to Scotland, (1307), but by his son, Edward the Second, a prince of far inferior talent; yet the military resources of England were so formidable, and the barons who wielded them such experienced leaders, that Bruce, who had to struggle against domestic enemies, as well as foreign invasion, may well be praised for the admirable judgment with which he wielded the strength of his little kingdom. It was his policy to avoid a general battle, and to starve and distress the formidable armies which England repeatedly sent against him, by wasting the country, retiring slowly before his enemies into the woods and fastnesses, and when they were compelled by famine or the season to retreat, by hanging on their rear, and cutting them off in detail. Convinced that, from the[7:19:710] poverty of Scotland, it was in vain to attempt to rival the mounted chivalry of England, he turned his whole attention to the formation and discipline of his infantry. They were armed with a spear eighteen feet in length, a sword and battle-axe at their girdle, a short cut-and-thrust dagger, a steel bonnet, and a back and breast-piece buckled over a tough leather jerkin. They were trained to form sometimes in squares, sometimes in circles, more or less deep, according to the nature of the ground and of the service. Such was the main army of Bruce, his pikemen; but after he had restored peace and security to his kingdom, and began in his turn to act upon the offensive, he often employed the only kind of cavalry which Scotland could raise, the border prickers, who, lightly armed, mounted on hardy little horses, and carrying as their provisions a bag of meal slung at their saddle-bow, darted upon the richest districts of England, or stripped them of their wealth, and scoured like a whirlwind across the border, ere the force of the country could be raised in its defence.

To pursue the details of his obstinate contest with England, is impossible. It was during the first years a war of defence, in which Bruce struggled for existence. This secured, it became aggressive; but his efforts were confined to the recovery of his dominions out of the hands of those Scottish barons who had embraced the service of the enemy, or his castles from the English governors to whom they had been entrusted. At last, when Edward the Second, at the head of an army a hundred thousand strong, composed of the flower of his kingdom, and led by his most experienced officers, had penetrated into the country, Bruce found himself driven from his favourite maxim, and compelled to hazard a battle. On the field of Bannockburn, near Stirling, thirty thousand Scottish foot, and five hundred horse, led by the king in person, and under him commanded by Douglas, Randolph, and the Steward of Scotland, encountered and entirely defeated the formidable array of England. Edward fled from the field to Dunbar, and the broken remains of his army, in dispersed bodies, made their retreat in much disorder into England, (June 24, 1314).

In this memorable victory it may be said, without exaggeration, that a lesson in the history of liberty was taught, not only to Scotland, but to the world; to every people who have felt the misery of servitude, or tasted the sweets of freedom. It proved that a country may be, as Scotland was under Edward the First, brought by oppression and cruelty to the very brink of despair; its cities sacked, its fields laid waste, till famine was the consequence; its best leaders executed or imprisoned, its hearths left desolate, its very offerings of praise proscribed, and its refuge in religion attempted to be cut off; but that, till exterminated, a free-born people cannot be said to be subdued.

The immediate effects of this great victory upon the spirit of the respective countries, were not less remarkable. It convinced the Scots, that, with a good heart and skilful leaders, their squares of infantry, with their long pikes, were a match for the English horse, however superior in arms and numbcrs; it taught the king, that what he had most to dread was the discharge of the English bowmen; and admonished him, that, however complete had been the defeat, however glorious the consequences of the victory, his favourite military maxim, to avoid a general battle, was still his best and safest course. It affords a striking view of the character of this great man, that his success at Bannockburn led neither to presumption, nor, much as he had suffered, and deeply as he had been injured in his tenderest relations, to a cruel retaliation. On the contrary, it was followed up by Bruce with an immediate proposal for peace; but he would consent to treat only on the footing of an independent king, and the offer was rejected.

From 1314 to 1328, an interval of nearly fourteen years, the war was continued with almost uninterrupted success on the part of the Scots; while a series of reverses were endured by England, which are chiefly to be ascribed to the pusillanimous character of the monarch, and the great military ability not only of Bruce, but of the officers whom he had trained, Sir James Douglas, Randolph earl of Moray, the young steward of Scotland, and many others. It may convey some idea of Bruce’s incessant occupation in the field, when it is mentioned, that during this interval, England was twelve times invaded, either by the king in person, or by his officers, its border counties were exposed to ravages, and on frequent occasions the fires which marked the Scottish march were seen burning beside the gates of York; nor were the Scottish king’s proposals for a peace accepted, till the English districts, which were compelled to purchase safety by the payment of a heavy tribute, threatened in their misery, to throw themselves into the arms of Scotland. At last, on the first of March 1328, an English parliament assembled at York. Bruce was acknowledged king of Scotland, Scotland itself recognised as a free and independent kingdom, and peace established, after a sanguinary war of twenty years.

This great consummation was not long survived by him to whom, under God, the result was chiefly due. The king, whose constitution had been broken by the fatigues and exposure of his early life, began to droop soon after he saw the liberty of his country permanently established; and he died at Cardross on the 7th of June 1329.

The death of Bruce was a severe trial to Scotland. His only son David, who succeeded him, was a boy of six years old; and while the nation was thus exposed to all the evils of a long minority, Edward the Third, one of England’s most warlike monarchs, was just commencing his career, which soon developed uncommon talents, and great ambition. Randolph indeed, who was chosen Regent, and the good Sir James Douglas, with other veteran officers, still remained; but Douglas was slain in Spain, whither he had proceeded on his way to Jerusalem with his master’s heart; and the earl of Moray only survived the death of Bruce for three years. To add to these calamities, the monarchs who successively filled the Scottish throne, and on whose personal character, in these rude times, much of the success and vigour of the government depended, were little similar to their great predecessor. From the death of Bruce till the reign of James the First, the first prince who in any measure was worthy of a comparison with him, a period of nearly a century elapsed,^[46. We date not from the birth of James, but his rerιιm from captivity in England. It may be proper to mention, that the authorities for this sketch, from Alexander the Third to the reign of Mary, are the same as those followed by Mr. Tytler, in his History of Scotland, now in the course of publication. ] in which the sceptre passed into the hands of three princes, David the Second, Robert the Second, (the first sovereign of the house of Stewart, being the son of the Steward of Scotland, by Marjory, Bruce’s only daughter,) and, lastly, Robert the Third. Contemporary with these Scottish princes were Edward the Third, Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth, and Henry the Fifth, all, with one exception in Richard, wise, warlike, and fortunate monarchs. The odds, therefore, were infinitely against Scotland, a country far inferior in its population and resources to England, and torn by domestic feuds; and yet against reiterated attacks it maintained the contest for its liberty. Unable to descend into minute detail., we take a summary of the larger portion of this calamitous interval of Scottish history, from another work. “A period of sixty-four years elapsed between the death of Robert Bruce and the birth of James the First, during which time, although torn by anarchy and domestic faction, the country maintained a remarkable struggle for its liberty. It[7:19:711] was in this period, eight times invaded by a foreign force; it was betrayed and deserted by David the Second, the unworthy son and successor of Bruce; it saw, on many occasions, the most powerful of its nobles enlisted under the banner of its enemies; it had to struggle against the military genius and political talents of Edward the Third, and Henry the Fourth and Fifth; and yet, with limited resources, and divided councils, so tenaciously did the people cling to their liberty, that, though sore oppressed, they were never conquered. Amid almost constant war, and its dreadful accompaniments, famine and the pestilence, they still preserved their freedom, preferring the prospect of living in a country reduced by repeated invasion to a solitude or a desert, or even the last alternative of being totally exterminated, to the most flattering offers of being united to England, when coupled with the condition that they should renounce their national independence.”^[47. Life of James the First, pp. 203, 204, in Lives of Scottish Worthies. ] We have above alluded to the degeneracy of David the Second, whose long reign of forty-two years was divided into a minority, the greater part of which was passed in France; a captivity in England, the result of his calamitous defeat in the battle of Durham; and a train of subsequent reverses all occasioned by his headstrong character and devotion to his selfish pleasures. But the darkest stain upon David, was his intrigues with Edward the Third, in which he hesitated not to sacrifice the independence of the country, to swear homage to the English prince for his kingdom of Scotland, and even to propose to his parliament, that the order of succession solemnly settled by his heroic father, should be altered in favour of an English prince. It is needless to say that so degrading a proposal was indignantly repelled, and that the death of the prince who had offered the insult was regarded as a national deliverance.

In Robert the Second, who succeeded him as the first of the house of Stewart, and his son, Robert the Third, the nation, though still exposed to the repeated attacks of England, experienced a short breathing time, owing to the death of Edward the Third, and the incapacity of Richard the Second; but neither of these Scottish princes possessed the vigour or the talents requisite to wield the sceptre with success, in the midst of the difficulties by which they were surrounded. The second Robert came to the crown when age had chilled his vigour; and his son and successor, Robert the Third, was of too indolent and gentle a character to hold his part against a fierce feudal nobility, led by his brothers, the Earls of Fife and Buchan, the first a man of great ambition, the second a monster of crime, who gave himself up to every species of lust and rapine, and has been traditionally remembered as “the Wolf of Badenoch.”

All this led to great disorder. The king, unwilling to burden himself with the cares of government, devolved the administration upon his son, the duke of Rothsay, a young man of violent passions, though of considerable ability, who had made himself particularly obnoxious to his uncle, the earl of Fife. This led to a fatal collision. Fife, whose authority was increased by his being made duke of Albany, proved too strong for the young prince. His father, the king, was persuaded that the excesses of his son required restraint, and the unhappy youth was hurried to Falkland, and shut up in a dungeon, where he was intrusted to the care of two ruffians, who starved him to death. It was at first reported that he had been cut off by a dysentery; but the horrible tale of his sufferings soon after transpired. “A poor woman in passing through the palace garden, had been attracted by his groans, and had found means to support him by thin cakes which she slid into the grated window of his prison, and it is said by her own milk, conveyed through a reed; but she was detected, and put to death by his keepers; and after fifteen days, the body of the miserable captive was found in a state too shocking to be described. In the extremities of hunger, he had gnawed and tom his own flesh.”^[48. laves of Scottish Worthies, vol. ii. p. 212. ] Robert, depressed by this calamity, and incapable of exertion, committed the whole cares of the government to the duke of Albany; and the power of that daring man was increased by another event which completely broke the spirit of the king, and was probably the cause of his death. This was the seizure by the English of his eldest son James, then a youth in his fifteenth year, and on his passage to France. The consequences were very fatal to the country. The prince was carried to the Tower; the father did not long survive the captivity of the son; and on his death, which took place in 1406, his brother, the duke of Albany, succeeded to the prize which had long been the object of his ambition, the undisputed regency of the kingdom.

The young king, James the First, was a captive, and Henry the Fourth knew too well the value of the prize to part with him. For nineteen years he was detained in England; and, during this long interval, Albany became the uncontrolled governor of Scotland. It has been suspected that the intrigues of this able and unprincipled man with the English monarch, had led to the seizure of the young king. That they prolonged the period of his captivity, there can be no doubt.

It was clearly the best policy of the regent to cultivate peace with England, and to conciliate Henry the Fourth, as this prince could at any time put a termination to his authority, by restoring James to his kingdom; and the same desire to retain the power which he had so nefariously usurped, induced Albany to cultivate the friendship, and overlook the crimes and excesses of the great feudal barons. All this led to dreadful confusion in Scotland, which, although freed for a time from the incessant invasions of its more powerful neighbour, was torn by private war, whilst the lives and property of its people were exposed to the attack of every unprincipled feudal baron who sheltered himself under the protection of the regent.

This miserable state of things was at length terminated by the return of James to his dominions; a prince whose character presented a striking contrast to that of his father and grandfather. During the nineteen years in which he had been unjustifiably detained in that country’, he enjoyed advantages which almost repaid him for his captivity. Henry the Fourth, a prince who well understood the art of government, had made it his generous care that James should receive an excellent education; and he had the advantage of being instructed in war, by accompanying his victorious successor, Henry the Fifth, to France. On his return to his own dominions, he was in the prime and the vigour of manhood. His character, formed in the school of adversity, was one of great power. He found his kingdom a scene of lawless excess and rapine; a condition to which it had been reduced from the want of a firm hand to restrain oppression and enforce the laws. Since the death of Bruce the power of the aristocracy had been on the increase, while that of the crown had proportionally lost ground, and fallen into contempt. His object, as can be clearly discerned through the history of his brief reign, was to restore the kingly authority, to rescue the commons from oppression and plunder, to give security to property, encouragement to the industry and pacific arts of his people, and to compel his barons to renounce their ideas of individual independence, and become good subjects.

The regency of Albany, his uncle, and of his son Murdoch, who had succeeded him, was naturally and justly regarded by James as little else than a long usurpation. He was mortified that Albany, against whom, as the murderer of his brother, he entertained the deepest resentment, should have escaped his merited punishment; and the royal[7:19:712] vengeance fell with a proportionably heavier force upon Murdoch, his son and successor; nor is it possible to deny that James’s retribution was cruel and excessive. Murdoch, the duke of Albany, his two sons, the earl of Athole, and Alexander Stewart, with his father-in-law, the earl of Lennox, a venerable nobleman, eighty years of age, were tried, condemned, and executed. James, the duke’s youngest son, having escaped, collected a band of freebooters, and after sacking and plundering Dunbarton, took refuge in Ireland; but five of his men fell into the king’s hands, and were torn in pieces by wild horses. So horrid a punishment, and the exterminating severity exhibited to all connected with the house of Albany, can admit of no justification; and there is every reason to believe, that the early and miserable death of the monarch, is to be traced to the deep feelings of revenge with which some of his nobles from that moment regarded him. Neither is it possible to believe that the king in this instance carried along with him the feelings of the people. Yet looking at the state of things in Scotland, it is easy to understand his object. It was his intention to exhibit to a nobility, long accustomed to regard the laws with contempt, and the royal authority as a name of empty menace, a memorable example of stern and inflexible justice, to convince them that a great change had already taken place in the executive part of the government; to furnish also a warning to the people, of the punishment which awaited those who imagined that fidelity to the commands of their feudal lord was paramount to the ties which bound them to obey the laws of their country.

Having given this severe and sanguinary lesson, the next efforts of the monarch were addressed to the internal administration of his kingdom. From without he had nothing to dread; he was at peace with England, and his marriage with Jane Beaufort, the niece of Cardinal Beaufort, had, from her near relationship to the English monarch, strengthened the ties between the two countries. France was the ancient ally of Scotland; and the Netherlands profited too much from the Scottish trade not to be anxious to preserve the most friendly relations. The king could therefore direct his undivided attention to his affairs at home. His great principle, and it was one worthy of so wise a prince, seems to have been a determination to govern the country through the medium of his parliament. Of these convocations of the national legislature, which had been rarely held under the regencies of the two Albanys, no less than thirteen occurred during his brief reign, which, dating from his return in 1424, lasted only thirteen years. It is to him that Scotland owes the first clear recognition of the principle of representation by the election of the commissaries for shires; it was by him that one of the greatest improvements was introduced into the administration of justice, by the institution of a court of law known by the name of the Session. Nor was this all. Previously to his time, the laws and the acts of parliament had been published in Latin, and the great majority of the inferior judges to whom their execution was entrusted, were unable to understand them. To remedy this grievance, the king commanded the acts of parliament to be drawn up in the spoken language of the land; an improvement so important, that it forms an era in our legislation. Other points of almost equal interest occupied his attention. By his personal presence in the Highlands, and by the military force which he brought along with him, when he visited those remote districts of his dominions, he introduced laws and order where there had formerly been little else than feudal licence and contempt for all authority. Although he cultivated the arts of peace, he did not forget that its surest preservative was an attention to the military strength of his country. Weapon-shaioings, or military musters, were held periodically; and having witnessed, when resident in England, and in the war of

Henry the Fifth with France, the great superiority of the English over the Scottish archers, he made it his earnest care that his subjects should cultivate this warlike accomplishment. In many of the acts of the various parliaments of this monarch, we can also trace an attention to the encouragement of agriculture, to the interests of foreign trade and domestic manufactures, to the state of his shipping and navy, to the prices of labour, and the melioration of the condition of the labourers of the soil., which clearly demonstrates the high and important objects that occupied the king’s mind, although the means he employed were not exactly those which should have suggested themselves to the experience of a more advanced age. Amid these severer duties, James gave an example to his rude barons of the cultivation of intellectual accomplishments. He was himself a poet; and the king’s book, or King's Quair, composed during his captivity in England, is still read by many with delight and enthusiasm. He was a reformer of the language of his country; he composed pieces of music, and sang and accompanied himself on various instruments. It is probable, however, that these employments were rather the solace of his tedious confinement in England, than objects of serious pursuit after his return.

Having so zealously devoted himself to the best interests of his kingdom, James had the satisfaction to see his measures attended with success, and all seemed secure and prosperous, when he suddenly became the victim of a dark conspiracy. Under circumstances of extreme ferocity he was assassinated in the monastery of the Blackfriars at Perth, by Sir Robert Graham, the earl of Athole, and some accomplices who had been dependants of the house of Albany, The court was then at Perth, and James had taken up his residence in the Dominican monastery beside the town. The king was betrayed by his chamberlain, who facilitated the entrance of the conspirators, by removing or damaging the locks of the royal apartments. When the alarm was given, it is said that a lady who waited on the queen, named Catherine Douglas, thrust her arm into the staple of the door, and thus, before it was broken, heroically afforded a brief interval in which the king contrived to conceal himself in a small vaulted chamber, where for some time he evaded discovery. The conspirators, under the idea that he had escaped, had dispersed themselves through the palace, and the unfortunate monarch might have been safe, if he had not prematurely attempted to leave his concealment. The noise which he made recalled one of the ruffians, who shouted to his companions; and springing down into the vault, they threw themselves upon their defenceless victim and murdered him, after a desperate resistance. Although considerable obscurity hangs over the ramifications of the plot which ended thus fatally to the king, there exists no doubt that it owed its origin to indignation at the fate of Albany, and those deep feelings of feudal revenge which had been long cherished by the friends of that unhappy house; affording a terrible lesson to princes of the reaction which may take place, when justice forgets her calmer mood, and pushes her punishments beyond example into revenge.

The death of James the First was a severe calamity to the country, exposing it for the third time since the death of Bruce to all the evils of a long minority. His eldest son, who succeeded to the throne by the title of James the Second, was a boy only six years old; and although the character of the queen-mother was marked by considerable talent and vigour, these qualities were feeble substitutes for the masculine wisdom, the determined courage, and the unwearied care of the husband whom she had lost. Her first duty was the arrest and punishment of his murderers; and this she executed with speedy and immitigable severity. But the death of the king once more gave a licence, and offered to the feudal nobles an opportunity of recovering their power of which they were not slow to avail themselves.[7:19:713] Graham, the principal murderer of the late monarch, in the midst of the cruel tortures which preceded his death, had avowed that the day was at hand when the Scottish nobles would venerate his memory for having rid them of a tyrant; and these proud and powerful barons, when they remembered the magnitude of James’s plans, and the stern and sometimes unjust severity with which he carried them into execution, could not but feel that now was the time to recover the privileges which they had lost, and to provide some strong and permanent barrier against all future encroachments of the crown.

This observation is the key to the history of the country, not only during the reign of this monarch, but for the next century. It unfortunately happened, that with the exception of James the Fourth, who on his accession was a youth of seventeen, Scotland was visited by a series of minorities in James the Second, James the Third, James the Fifth, and Mary, which occupied the long interval between 1436 and 1560; and during this period of more than a century, the extraordinary increase in the power of the nobles, the diminished respect for the crown, and its proportionate weakness against attack and encroachment, are too prominent features to escape notice. We see events, the same in character, and merely varied in name and minor incidents, occurring during the whole time: a monarch of greater or of less energy, emerging from his minority, and making an effort to recover the power which he had lost; a band of turbulent and selfish nobles leagued against him, and only detached from their brethren, and persuaded to act with the crown, by an appeal to their interest and their fears. These remarks were strikingly exemplified in the scenes which took place during the minority of James the Second.

Immediately after his coronation, a struggle commenced for the possession of the chief power in the government. In a parliament held at Edinburgh, the queen-mother was entrusted with the custody of the young king, while Archibald earl of Douglas and duke of Touraine, was appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, a title probably including all the powers of a military governor. In civil matters the chief authority seems to have fallen into the hands of the chancellor Crichton, who had the command of Edinburgh Castle, in which the queen-mother, with the young prince, had taken refuge soon after the murder of her husband. This princess, however, soon found that Crichton turned the possession of the royal person into an engine for his own advancement, and refused to her that frequent intercourse with her son which she had expected, and to which she was entitled.

Having combined therefore with Sir Alexander Livingston, a baron who had been in favour with the late king, she contrived, by stratagem, to possess herself of the person of the young king, whom she shut up in a large wardrobe chest, and carried as her luggage to Leith, from whence she hastened to Stirling Castle, which had been assigned to her as a jointure-house.

The kingdom was now divided between three factions, that of the queen and Livingston, who possessed the person of the king, Sir Alexander Crichton the chancellor, and thirdly, the earl of Douglas, whose immense estates in Scotland, and his foreign wealth and influence as duke of Touraine, rendered him by far the most formidable baron in the country. From this moment to the period when James, having attained majority, began to act for himself, an interval of thirteen years, the history of the nation presents little else than one uniform scene of civil anarchy and of unpunished crime. “The young monarch beheld his kingdom converted into a stage on which his nobles contended for the chief power; whilst his subjects were cruelly oppressed, and he himself handed about, a passive puppet, from the failing grasp of one declining faction, into the more iron tute lage of a more successful party in the state.” In this melancholy drama the chief parts were played by Crichton and Livingston, who, deeming it for their interest to crush the overgrown power of the house of Douglas, inveigled the young earl and his brother into the Castle of Edinburgh, brought suddenly against them a charge of treason, and put them to instant death.

It was fortunate for the country, that when thus torn by domestic factions, its foreign relations were of a pacific character, England, France, and the Netherlands, being all animated with the most friendly dispositions, while the young king, as he advanced from boyhood into maturer years, developed a character of prudence, vigour, and intelligence, which appeared destined to restore a better state of things to his kingdom. Having married the daughter of the duke of Gueldres, he assumed the government, and selected as his principal councillor, Kennedy, bishop of St. Andrews, a prelate of great wisdom and integrity, whose rank as head of the church, invested him with an authority to which the people, amid the general corruption, looked with much reverence and affection. It was probably by his advice, that James, whose passions were naturally violent, and who viewed with indignation the arrogance of the earl of Douglas, engaged in a systematic plan for the reduction of his overgrown power. Without attempting at once, and by any arbitrary exertion of strength, to deprive this potent chief of his high offices, a measure which might have been followed by extreme commotion, he gradually withdrew from him his countenance and employment; surrounded himself by able and energetic councillors, whom he promoted to the principal places of trust; and thus weakened the authority of the proud baron, rather by the formidable counterpoise which he raised against it, than by any act of open aggression. This conduct was attended with the best results. The earl of Douglas, finding his consequence decreasing, and his power on the wane, retired for a while from Scotland, and respect for the character of the monarch increased with the feeling of security derived from an improved administration of the government. During the absence of the chief, James had time to reduce the minor barons who were his dependants, to attach his own friends more powerfully to his interest, and to concentrate a strength, which, on Douglas’s return from Italy, convinced him that he must consent to play a second part to his prince. The result was what might easily have been anticipated. A collision took place between this haughty potentate and the young sovereign whose commands he had so often defied. Douglas, naturally rash and fearless, had consented, under a safeconduct bearing the royal signature, to visit James in the Castle of Edinburgh. After the royal feast, the king remonstrated with his guest; disclosed to him the proofs he possessed of his combinations against the government; reproached him for the frequent murders of his subjects committed by his order; and condescended to intreat him to forsake such dangerous courses, assuring him of his pardon and favour. Douglas, instead of embracing the offer, replied to it with haughtiness and insolence; and James, losing all command of himself, and braved to his face, drew his dagger and stabbed him to the heart. Falling at his feet, he was instantly despatched by the nobles, who, hearing the commotion, rushed into the apartment.

This atrocious murder was followed by a struggle between tire royal party and the friends and vassals of the unfortunate baron, in which the king was completely successful. Sir James Douglas, who succeeded his brother in the earldom, attempted to brave the monarch, renouncing his allegiance, and throwing himself into the arms of England; but his projects against his country were defeated. He was equally unfortunate in his alliance with the Lord of the Isles, whose naval force he directed against the west of Scot-[7:19:714] land; and at length, in a fruitless effort to regain his lost power by invading the Merse along with the earl of Northumberland, he was totally routed by the earl of Angus, and driven a landless fugitive into England.

The remainder of this reign was employed by the king in an endeavour to complete the work which he had begun; by strengthening the power of the crown, and giving security to the persons and property of his subjects; by attaching to his party the great and influential body of the clergy, carrying into effect various parliamentary enactments for the defence of the borders against the attacks of England, and cultivating the warlike character of his people. Amid these kingly cares, he unwisely suffered himself to be entangled by the contests between the Yorkists and Lancastrians; and having espoused the party of Henry the Sixth, levied an army, and met his death by the bursting of one of his own guns at the siege of Roxburgh. He was succeeded by his son James the Third, a boy in his eighth year.

The death of a sovereign thus cut off in the prime of his manhood and usefulness, leaving an infant successor, would have been a deep calamity at all times, but it was especially so at this moment. James the Second had with uncommon vigour and judgment reduced the overgrown power of his nobles; but he died before his plans were matured, leaving the nation at war with England, the seeds of civil disunion lurking in his kingdom and ready to spring up, and the more northern parts of the realm held by fierce chiefs, who were disposed, on the slightest provocation, to throw off their allegiance. With these island lords, Edward the Fourth entered into a strict alliance; and the banished Douglases, now become English subjects, agreed to assist him in a confederacy, the object of which was nothing less than the conquest and partition of Scotland. It was to be expected that the favour shewn by that country to the expatriated monarch Henry the Sixth, should have deeply incensed his rival; but the facility with which he purchased his instruments, and found them in the ranks of the Scottish nobles, who became the vassals of England, is a mortifying fact.

From these general remarks it is easy to anticipate the history of this reign, and the scenes which it presented. Into their minuter details it is impossible to enter. For a while the energy of the queen-mother supported the government. On the news of the death of her husband, instead of giving herself up to unavailing grief, she repaired with all speed to the camp before Roxburgh, carrying with her her infant son, now king; him she presented to the nobles, and urged them for him and his father’s sake to press forward the siege. She was obeyed, and Roxburgh was taken; but fatal disputes soon succeeded to this success, and it required all the vigour of the queen, with her chief minister, Bishop Kennedy, a man of high character and talent, to struggle against the difficulties which' surrounded them. In the northern parts of the kingdom all was unsettled; and the earl of Ross espousing the cause of Edward the Fourth, proclaimed himself king of the Hebrides, while the earl of Angus, on whom, after the fall of the house of Douglas, a large share of their power had devolved, undertook to support the party of Henry the Sixth, contrary to the wishes of the queen and Bishop Kennedy. At this crisis, the young sovereign lost his mother Mary of Gueldres; and, after a few years, Bishop Kennedy followed her to the grave; events which deprived the government of its best, or rather of its only support. Yet amid all these complicated dangers, it is remarkable, that for fifteen years, the interval occupied by the minority of this prince, the affairs of the country were prosperous.

On the death of Bishop Kennedy, the chief power in the government had fallen into the hands of William Lord Boyd, the high Justiciar, a baron hitherto little known, but whose power rose, in a few years, to a height which almost rivalled that of the once formidable Douglases. He became governor of the king’s person; filled every office with his dependants; married his eldest son, who was created earl of Arran, to the king’s sister; and acquired so much influence over the young king, rather, it would seem, by terror than by love, that he appeared completely subservient to his wishes. The decay of this family was as sudden as its rise. A marriage had been negociated between the king and Margaret princess of Denmark, and scarcely was it concluded, when a faction of the nobles, at the head of whom was the monarch himself, suddenly attacked the Boyds, arraigned them of high treason, seized and confiscated their large estates, and brought to the scaffold their principal leader. A divorce was instituted against the earl of Arran and his wife, the princess Mary, sister to the king; and she was compelled to give her hand to Lord Hamilton, a favourite of the young monarch. It was through this marriage that the family of Hamilton, which now rose into great power upon the ruin of the Boyds, became, in the subsequent reign of Mary, the nearest heirs to the crown.

James had now attained majority, and in assuming the full administration of the government, he found his kingdom more opulent, more secure, and more powerful, than could have been anticipated from the struggles of his minority. The important isles of Orkney and Zetland had been acquired with the daughter of Denmark; the rich town of Berwick, and the border fortress of Roxburgh, had been occupied by the Scots; the earldom of Ross had been annexed to the crown; the independence and liberty of the Scottish Church established by the erection of St. Andrews into an archbishopric; and, lastly, a marriage treaty with England, by which the youngest daughter of Edward the Fourth was betrothed to the king’s eldest son, seemed to promise security and peace in this formidable quarter. If such had already been the success of this reign, it seemed not unreasonable to look forward to still greater prosperity in after years; and yet the history of the country, from the moment when the monarch attained his majority, presents a melancholy contrast to this beginning. This reverse we are inclined to ascribe partly to the personal qualities of the king, partly to some changes in the power and dispositions of the great body of the feudal nohles, which are discernible at this period, not in Scotland only, but in all the feudal kingdoms of Europe.

Some of our historians have represented James the Third as a compound of indolence, caprice, and imbecility; but their opinion seems rash and unfounded. His character was different from that of the age in which he lived, and in some respects it was far beyond it. The times were rude, warlike, and unintellectual. The king was fond of repose, and addicted to a seclusion in which he might devote himself to pursuits which bespoke a refined and cultivated mind: a passion for mathematics, and the study of judicial astrology, a taste for architecture, a love for the science and practice of music, and a generous disposition to patronize the professors of literature and philosophy, rather than to surround himself with a crowd of fierce retainers, were the prominent features in the mind of this unfortunate prince; tastes which have been reprobated by contemporary historians, but which, if duly regulated, were rather praiseworthy than the contrary. Unfortunately, however, this due regulation was wanting. James had the weakness, not only to patronize, but to confer feudal rank, and distinctions, hitherto appropriated to the nobles, upon the professors of his favourite studies. Architects, musicians, painters, and astrologers, were admitted to the familiar converse of the sovereign, while the highest nobles found a cold reception or a positive denial of access. Is it any subject of surprise, that a fierce nobility should have been disgusted with such conduct, and that the king’s warlike brothers, the earls of Albany and Mar, should have been regarded as the chief support of the state?[7:19:715] But in studying the history of this reign, we shall detect other causes of the sanguinary scenes in which it concluded. Not only were the feudal nobility of Scotland induced by the neglect and favouritism of the king to long for a change, but it is worthy of remark, that for some time previous to this period, the feudal nobility of Europe had been in a state of extraordinary commotion and tumult; and events had occurred which diminished in the eyes of the aristocracy and of the people the respect entertained for the throne. The revolution in, England under Henry the Fourth, the subsequent history of that kingdom during the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, the political struggles in France under Louis the Eleventh, the relative condition of the greater nobles in Germany and of the rights of the imperial crown under the emperor Sigismund, the dissensions which divided the Netherlands, and the civil factions which agitated the government in Spain, all combined to render resistance so common, and so lucrative in the eyes of the feudal nobility in Europe, that its frequency can be a subject of little wonder; and if, when we take into account the frequent communication between Scotland and the continent during the period of these commotions, we may easily imagine their effect upon the still ruder and more independent nobility of that country. We have been tempted to throw out these general observations, because the reign of James the Third is in one respect most remarkable. It is the era from which we may date the rise of a republican spirit, and the first propagation of those popular principles, of which the operation can be traced, in a greater or less degree, through the whole course of its subsequent history.

To return from such remarks to the events of this reign, we find the king engaged in a contest with his two powerful brothers, Albany and Mar. To the first had been entrusted the wardenship of the east marches, the government of Berwick, and the castle of Dunbar, the principal key of the kingdom; and there seems no doubt that he had abused his high powers to an extent which bordered upon treason. Against Mar was brought a still more atrocious charge. He had plotted, it was said, to cause the king’s death by magical arts; and being convicted by the evidence of his wizard accomplices, was imprisoned, and, according to one account, secretly executed. Another story ascribes his death to the consequences of a fever, for which having a vein opened, he in an excess of phrensy tore off his bandages and bled to death. Against Albany the king proceeded with unusual vigour. He attacked him in Dunbar, made himself master of the fortress, and would have seized his person, but the rebellious prince availed himself of the situation of the castle, which was open to the sea, and fled first to England, and afterwards to France.

At this moment, Louis the Eleventh was at war with Edward the Fourth, and he unfortunately possessed such influence over the Scottish king, that he brought about a rupture between James and Edward. It was a step signally impolitic. Albany, the king’s brother, returning from France, threw himself into the arms of England; the nobility were full of complaints against the government; the Lord of the Isles embraced the interests of Edward; and after a long interval of peace had softened the national animosity between the kingdoms, it was a miserable sight once more to witness the renewal of hostilities.

This contest led to some extraordinary scenes. Albany having openly avowed his purpose to dethrone his brother, assumed the title of Alexander king of Scotland, and entered into a treaty with Edward, by which he basely consented to sacrifice the independence and dismember some of the finest portions of the kingdom. To effect his designs, he had the address not only to secure the co-operation of the banished earl of Douglas, with the Lord of the Isles and his northern vassals, but he detached from James’s service Angus,

Gray, Huntly, Lennox, and many others of the leading nobility in Scotland. A conspiracy was formed against the monarch and his favourites; the conjuncture of his assembling his army, preparatory to his invasion of England, was deemed the most favourable moment for the execution of their purpose; and in the camp at Lauder its success was equally sudden and terrible. The nobles, led by Angus, seized Cochrane, James’s favourite, who, from a mean station, had been promoted to high rank and enriched with the earldom of Mar; they then broke into the king’s tent, made him prisoner, arrested the band of ignoble associates who shared his confidence, and proceeded to inflict summary vengeance on them all. Cochrane was hanged over the bridge of Lauder; Rogers, a musician, Hommel, Leonard, Preston and others, shared his fate; and the unfortunate monarch, having been conveyed to the capital, was shut up in the castle of Edinburgh. The result of this success was what might have been expected. Albany, who all along had acted from motives of personal ambition, having once possessed himself of the king’s person, ruled the government at his will.

But usurpation of the supreme power was not the full extent of his treachery. He attached Edward the Fourth to his service by the sacrifice of the national independence. In a secret treaty, the English prince engaged to assist Albany, who hitherto had only assumed the title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, in placing the crown on his own head; and as the base price of this assistance, the new king and his nobles agreed to withdraw their oaths from king James, and to live under the sole allegiance of the king of England. It may give us some idea of the low estate to which the nobles of Scotland had fallen, when we men-ation, that not only the earl of Douglas, now banished and living in England, but the earls of Angus, Buchan, Athole, and many others, were willing parties to this wanton sacrifice of their country.

The plot, however, was defeated, and happily a party yet remained among the nobles, who, though their vengeance had been directed against the king’s favourites, were friends to the crown and to the country. They had joined Albany with the object of sacrificing Cochrane and his associates, but had been kept in ignorance of his ultimate intentions; and the moment these became apparent, they united with the king and overwhelmed the opposite faction. And here, in the manner in which Albany was treated, is to be found the cause of all the subsequent misfortunes of the king. His brother deserved punishment, and ought to have met with no pity. He had been guilty of open and repeated treasons, had levied war against his prince; and imprisoned his royal person, leagued himself with his enemies, sold the independence of his country, and assumed the title of king. His guilt and ambition had seduced from their allegiance a large party of the nobles; and if ever there was a time in which a great example was to be made, that time was now come. Yet, instead of this wholesome severity, the duke of Albany was treated with a lenity for which it is impossible to account. On acknowledging his manifold treasons, and laying down his office of lieutenant-general, he not only received a full pardon, but was permitted to retain not only his vast estates, but his wardenship of the marches, and was simply interdicted from coming within six miles of the court, or continuing his illegal combination with Angus, Athole, and Buchan.

Whether we are to ascribe this misplaced mercy to the king’s attachment to his brother, or to a suspicion that he was not strong enough to inflict a more exemplary punishment, it is difficult to decide; but the result demonstrated what has been so often taught, the folly of a misplaced lenity. In a few weeks Albany was again in rebellion. At his invitation, an English army invaded Scotland; Dunbar, the most important castle in the kingdom, as the key of the eastern[7:19:716] borders, was delivered up by this base person to the enemy, while he himself fled into England, and organized with Edward the Fourth the plan of a more formidable invasion. At this crisis occurred the death of the English monarch, and the seizure of the crown by Richard the Third; events which gave James an interval of rest, in which he acted with unusual firmness and energy. He assembled a parliament at Edinburgh, in which the sentence of forfeiture was pronounced against the duke of Albany and all his adherents; he entered into an intimate alliance with Charles the Eighth of France, and he concluded a truce with Richard the Third, who was too much occupied with his own complicated affairs, to have leisure or inclination to continue the war with Scotland. Thus strengthened, the king found it no difficult matter to resist the last effort of Albany and Douglas, who having once more invaded Scotland at the head of a small force, were completely defeated at Lochmaben; an event followed not long after by the death of Douglas, in the abbey of Lindores. where he had been confined, and of Albany, who was slain in a tournament in France.

It might have been expected that James, who was thus delivered from his most powerful enemies, would have been permitted to reign in peace. But he was destined to be unfortunate; and, although his nobles had refused to alter the succession in favour of his ambitious brother, they soon after appear to have entered into intrigues with England for the purpose of placing the crown on the head of his son, the prince of Scotland, who was then a youth in his sixteenth year. Much obscurity hangs over the origin of this conspiracy. Advances seem first to have been made by the faction of the prince to Richard the Third, who, although he was animated by an anxious desire to remain at peace with Scotland, did not scruple to hold out secret encouragement to James’s enemies. To what extent such secret negociations proceeded, it is not easy to discover; but after the death of Richard they were renewed, and his successor, Henry the Seventh, showed as little scruple as his predecessor in encouraging the malcontents.

Five years had now elapsed since the death of Cochrane the king’s favourite, and the dreadful scenes exhibited in the camp at Lauder. Since that time a change appears to have taken place in James’s character. His devotion to study and retirement had given way to a sense of duty; he had exhibited not only capacity for government, but unwonted resolution in the attack and discomfiture of his enemies; and, although the impolitic lenity with which he had treated Albany was rather a weakness than a virtue, it was believed that he was now convinced of his error, and had resolved that the laws against treason should no longer slumber or be despised. These reflections filled the barons who had been conspirators at Lauder with the greatest alarm. They were well aware that a sentence of treason hung over their heads. They knew themselves guilty of aggravated offences; they had imprisoned the king, usurped the government, and without regular trial or conviction, had put his favourites and councillors to death. As long as the chief power had remained in their own hands, they felt tolerably secure, but circumstances had once more restored the king to his wonted authority; and the dread of the retaliation which might be inflicted, with the certainty that, at all events, their power would be abridged, appears once more to have driven them into rebellion. Such at least seems to be the most probable way of accounting for the rise of that conspiracy in which this unfortunate prince lost his crown and his life. The worst feature in the story is the unworthy part acted in it by his son, afterwards James the Fourth, over whom the malcontent barons gained a fatal influence, and who, seduced by the prospect of a crown, lent himself a tool to the dethronement of his father. When once organized, the plot proceeded to its maturity, and thence hurried on to its catastrophe with an appalling rapidity.

The two parties of the king and the conspirators first tried their mutual strength in a Parliament. It was proposed by the popular faction that an amicable adjustment of all disputes should take place between themselves and the sovereign, and that such barons as were still obnoxious to a charge of treason, should receive a full pardon. To this the party of the king peremptorily refused their consent. James, aware of the unworthy conduct of his son, the heir apparent, created his second son duke of Ormond, and seemed to point him out as his successor. He at the same time rewarded the principal barons who had espoused his interest, and took decisive measures, by the appointment of vigorous officers, to have the laws against treason severely administered. These steps convinced his opponents that their proceedings had been discovered; and without giving the monarch time to assemble an army, or even take measures for his personal defence, they threw off the mask, broke out into open rebellion, declared that James the Third, by his crimes and oppressions, had forfeited all title to the throne, and proclaimed his son, by the title of James the Fourth.

Even now, had not the king suffered himself to be misled by his paternal feelings, the conflict might have concluded in his favour; for it is evident that a large class of the nobility, and the whole body of the people, were against these nefarious proceedings. So strong was this feeling, that James, who, on the advance of the rebels to the capital, had taken refuge in the northern part of his kingdom, soon found himself at the head of a formidable army, and advanced instantly against the insurgents, whom he found stationed at Blackness, near Linlithgow.

It was now the time for action, the time for a determined execution of those laws which late years had seen so constantly treated with contempt. But whether the affectionate heart of the monarch sickened at the sight of his subjects in mortal array against each other, or some symptoms of disaffection breaking out in his own force rendered him apprehensive of their fidelity, James not only consented to an accommodation, but offered terms to the prince and his associates, which were culpably lenient. He permitted the son who had usurped his kingly name and prerogative, and the subjects who had defied the authority of the crown and the laws, to negociate with arms in their hands on a footing of equality. On the part of the misguided prince, now no longer a boy, no petition for forgiveness, no expression of penitence was suffered to escape. In the pacification at Blackness, the youth spoke throughout, not as a son conscious that he had offended, but as a sovereign transacting a treaty with his equal. The treaty, in truth, was a triumph to the discontented nobles. The prince and his friends who had encouraged him to resistance, agreed to become obedient subjects on receiving the king’s forgiveness, while the monarch not only consented that their lives, honours, and estates, should be preserved, but that the household of the heir apparent should be maintained, and his friends and adherents supported with due dignity. It required little penetration to foresee that the tranquillity which was established on such a foundation could not long subsist. It was a confession of weakness pronounced at a time when firmness at least, if not severity, was the only guide to the permanent settlement of the convulsions which agitated the kingdom.

The consequences which any person of ordinary judgment might have anticipated, were not long of occurring. James retired to his capital, his army was dismissed, the northern barons, whose valour had saved his crown, were permitted to return to their estates, and James, anticipating a continuance of tranquillity, proceeded to reward his friends and re-organize his court, when he received intelligence that his son the prince, with the same fierce borons[7:19:717] who had so lately sworn allegiance, were again in arms, and in more formidable numbers than before. In this emergency, indeed, the king acted with courage and promptitude; but having disbanded the strongest division of his army, which consisted of his northern barons and their vassals, the force which he mustered was much inferior to that of his opponents. It was therefore determined to await in the capital the arrival of the northern barons; but unfortunately this resolution was abandoned, and the monarch with inferior numbers, attacked the insurgents, who were commanded by the prince his son, at Sauchy Burn, within a mile of Bannockburn. The consequences proved most calamitous. The royal forces, after an obstinate struggle, gave way to their opponents; and James, flying from the field, was murdered by an unknown hand, at a little hamlet called Miltown, a few miles distant from the field of battle. He perished in the prime of life, and it is said his youthful successor was seized with overwhelming remorse on being informed of the miserable fate of his father. However this may be, he was immediately proclaimed king, and the homage of his barons, the early possession of a sceptre, and the lustre of a court, soon stifled his repentant feelings.

The character of James the Third has been represented by Boyce, Buchanan, and those writers who have been contented to follow their authority, as a compound of weakness, wilfulness, and crime; a character contradicted by the history of his reign. It must indeed be admitted, that James’s indulgent treatment of his rebellious subjects, and of the prince his son, partook of weakness, although there are few father’s hearts in which he will not find an advocate; but in other respects the best refutation of the ideal pictures of Buchanan is to be found in the real history of the reign. James’s misfortunes are, in truth, to be attributed more to the extraordinary circumstances of the times in which he lived, than to any flagrant vices or defects in the monarch himself. At this period, in almost every kingdom in Europe with which Scotland was connected, the power of the great feudal nobles, and that of the sovereign, had been arrayed in jealous hostility against each other. The time appeared to have arrived when both parties seemed convinced that they were on the confines of a great change; that the power of the throne must either sink under the superior strength of the greater nobles, or the independence and tyranny of these feudal tyrants receive a blow from which it would not be easy for them to recover. In the different countries of Europe indeed, the result was not uniform, but in all the same elements of faction were seen arrayed against each other. Thus, in France, the struggle under Louis the Eleventh had terminated in favour of the crown; yet the lesson to be derived from it was not lost upon the Scottish nobility, who were in constant communication with this country. In Flanders and the states of Holland, they had before them the spectacle of an independent prince deposed and imprisoned by his son; and in Germany the reign of Frederic the Third, who was contemporary with James the Third of Scotland, presented one constant scene of struggle between the emperor and his nobility, in which this capricious potentate was uniformly defeated.

There is yet one other observation to be made upon this remarkable revolution, by which, for the first time in Scottish history, a king was solemnly deposed by a faction of his own subjects. Although the barons who led the successful faction represented themselves as the friends of liberty, driven to a resistance of royal oppression, the middle classes and the body of the people took no share in the struggle. Many individuals belonging to these classes, who were feudal vassals of the great lords, must no doubt have been compelled to serve under them; but as far as they were represented by the commissaries of burghs who sat in Parliament, they appear in this struggle to have joined the party of the sovereign and the clergy, by whom, during this reign, frequent efforts were made to introduce a more effectual administration of justice, and a greater respect for property and the rights of individuals.

Laws, mingled with alternate threats and exhortations, are to be found upon these subjects in the records of each successive Parliament of this reign; but the offenders continued refractory, and these offenders were the very men, whose offices, if conscientiously administered, ought to have secured the rights of the great body of the people. It was the nobles who were the justiciars, chancellors, chamberlains, sheriffs; and these, it was well known, were often the worst oppressors, partial and venal in their administration of justice, severe in exacting obedience, and opposed to every right which interfered with their own power. Their privileges as feudal nobles came repeatedly into direct collision with their duties as servants of the government, and they made no scruple to sacrifice the last to the preservation of the first; duty to privilege and self-interest. It is from this cause that we discern an honourable distinction between the clergy and the feudal nobles, in the struggle between the crown and the faction by which it was attacked. In this contest, wherever the greater offices in the government were in the hands of the clergy, it will be found that they generally supported the sovereign; when they were entrusted to the nobility they almost uniformly combined against him.

When James the Fourth succeeded to the throne left vacant by the murder of his father, he was in his seventeenth year; but his character at that early age had vigorously developed itself, and although it has sometimes been asserted, there is no reason to believe that the prince had been an unwilling assistant, or a passive tool in the hands of the conspirators. Their first care was to hold at Scone the ceremony of the coronation; their next to conclude a three years’ truce with England, then under the government of Henry the Seventh; their third, to assemble a Parliament and provide for their own safety, by the forfeiture of their enemies and the rewards distributed to their friends.

And here it is not unimportant to mark the course which they artfully pursued. If any party in the state were at this time liable to a charge of treason, it was evidently the friends of the young king, and not the barons who had continued faithful to his father; but the difference consisted in this, that the treason of the prince’s party had been accompanied with success, whereas the resistance of the friends of his father had been overwhelmed, and himself dethroned and murdered. They who now were in possession of the supreme power, therefore boldly turned the tables, summoned their opponents on a charge of treason, and as the facts were notorious, pronounced sentence against them. They next voted their own acquittal in strong and significant terms; and considering under whose dictation the act was drawn up, it is difficult to read, without a smile, the compliments pronounced upon their treason, when they declare that their sovereign lord, and his true barons, who served with him in the field, were innocent of the late battle and pursuit, and had no blame in exciting the disturbances which had terminated so fatally.

The innocence of these barons was however far from being generally admitted; and the Parliament had scarcely risen, when Lennox, Huntly, Marischal, and other powerful chiefs, rose in arms to avenge the death of their king. Lord Forbes, who had joined them, marched through the country, bearing the bloody shirt of the unfortunate prince suspended from a spear; and had it not been for the promptitude with which their opponents met the enterprise, the movements of Lennox, who advanced upon Stirling, might have delivered the country from their domination. But this chief, betrayed by some of his followers, was surprised and completely routed by Lord Drummond at Fal-[7:19:718] lamoss; Dunbarton, Lennox’s strongest hold, surrendered, and the defeat added new strength to the young king and his friends.

Tranquillity being restored, James, as he approached manhood, exhibited signs of considerable ability, and energy in following up his purposes. Amid a love of pleasure, which had never been restrained by early discipline, and often hurried him into foolish and criminal excesses, he did not so far forget himself as to neglect his higher duties. He cultivated amicable relations with England, renewed the league with France, entered into a commercial alliance with Denmark, and in a Parliament held in the capital, directed his earnest endeavours to the establishment of good order, and the administration of equal justice throughout the kingdom. Happily the character of Henry the Seventh, his caution, sagacity, command of temper, and earnest desire for peace, were well calculated to check the ardour and impetuosity of the Scottish prince; and for twenty years, with the exception of a brief effort made by James in favour of Perkin Warbeck, the country enjoyed the blessing of repose.

This interval was wisely occupied by the monarch in reducing the northern portion of his dominions to obedience, and in an attempt, by the frequent convocation of his parliament, to promulgate useful laws, and, which proved a more difficult task, enforce their observance. It was evident, that as the king grew older, he became convinced of the fatal errors of his early years, and upbraided himself for having lent himself to a selfish and unprincipled faction, who, unless he consulted their wishes and gratified their ambition, might be disposed to treat him as they had treated his father. Aware that they were too powerful to be quelled, he prudently adopted a safer course, by gradually recalling to confidence and power the friends and ministers of his father. Among these, one of the ablest was Andrew Wood of Largo. This remarkable man, whose genius for naval adventure was combined with a powerful intellect in civil affairs, rose by degrees to be one of James’s most confidential servants, and appears to have been almost exclusively trusted in his financial concerns. We find in him many qualities apparently inconsistent, when judged by modem notions. He was originally nothing more than an enterprising merchant; but at this time all merchant ships were armed, and generally acted on an emergency as ships of war. Wood, therefore, in the course of a life devoted to mercantile and commercial adventure, had become a skilful naval commander; and in the commencement of this reign, when the English privateers infested the narrow seas and attacked the Scottish shipping, had signalised himself by the capture of five vessels, and the subsequent defeat of a second squadron, commanded by Stephen Bull a London merchant. These successes endeared him to the king, who had a passion for naval enterprise, and lost no opportunity of encouraging such a taste in his nobles. The advice of such a councillor as Wood, was of essential service to James. His travels in different countries had enlarged his mind, and made him ready to adopt their improvements in various points in which Scotland was behind her neighbours. He had been an affectionate servant of the late king; and to his advice we are perhaps to trace the coldness and severity with which James now began to treat some of the leaders in the late rebellion. Yet, while the monarch endeavoured to keep their power in check, he showed his prudence in abstaining from such severe measures as might have driven them into open opposition; and combining firmness with gentleness, he contrived to reconcile the opposite factions among his nobles, and to maintain his own authority over them all.

In the midst of these cares, the state of the Highlands occupied his special attention, and the principles of his policy were certainly wise and salutary. He endeavoured by every means in his power to attach to his interests the principal chiefs of these remote districts; he contrived, through them, to overawe and subdue the petty island princes who affected independence; he carried into their territories, which had been hitherto too exclusively governed by their own capricious and often tyrannical institutions, a more regular and rapid administration of civil and criminal justice, making them obedient to the same laws which regulated his lowland dominions; and lastly, he repeatedly visited the Highlands in person. In 1490, on two different occasions, the king rode from Perth across the “Mount,” a term applied to the chain of mountains which extends from the Mearns to the head of Loch Rannoch, accompanied by his chief lords and councillors. In 1493, he twice penetrated into the Highlands, and in the succeeding year thrice visited the isles.

One of these voyages, undertaken in 1494, during the spring months, was conducted with great state. He was accompanied by his chief ministers, his household, and a considerable fleet, many of the vessels composing which were fitted out by the nobles at their own expense. The pomp of the armament was well calculated to impress upon such wild districts an idea of the wealth and military power of the prince; while the rapidity of his progress, the success with which he punished all who braved his power, his generosity to those who sued for mercy, his familiarity with the lower classes of his subjects, and his own gay manners, increased his popularity, and confirmed the ties of allegiance. On arriving in this voyage at Tarbert in Kentire, James repaired the fort originally built there by Bruce, established an emporium for his shipping, transported thither his artillery, and by such wise and energetic precautions, ensured peace to districts which formerly had derided the royal vengeance. The chiefs, aware that the king could carry hostilities at a short warning into the heart of their territories, submitted to a force which it would have been vain to resist. One only, the Lord of the Isles, had the folly to defy the royal vengeance, and soon repented his temerity. He was summoned to take his trial for treason, pronounced guilty, stripped of his almost regal power, and his lands and possessions forfeited to the crown.

We must now advert for a moment to a singular episode in the history of the country. Perkin Warbeck, whose mysterious story still offers some field for historical scepticism, after his first unsuccessful attempt upon the English crown, took refuge in Scotland in the year 1495. There seems strong ground for suspecting that James, at the request of the duchess of Burgundy, had embraced the interests of this adventurer at a much earlier period than is generally suspected; but whether he really believed him to be the prince whose name he assumed, or whether he was induced to espouse his cause as a means of weakening England, is not easily discoverable. It is certain, however, that in 1494, the Scottish king had projected an invasion of England in favour of the duke of York, and that the plan miscarried by the treachery of Perkin’s friends.

On the arrival of the mysterious stranger at his court, James at once received him with royal honours, gave him in marriage a lady connected with the royal family,^[49. Catherine Gordon, the daughter of the Earl of Huntly. ] collected an army, and, attended by Warbeck, invaded Northumberland. But the proceeding was rash and impolitic; and its author found, within a short time, that the cause of Perkin was unpopular in England, and the war unacceptable to his own subjects. So deep was the national antipathy between the two nations, that the English no sooner saw the claimant of the crown invading their country at the head of a Scottish force, than they suddenly cooled in[7:19:719] their enthusiasm; and the desolating fury with which James conducted hostilities, supported by a body of foreign mercenaries, completed their disgust. It was evident to the king that Henry the Seventh held his crown by a tenure too firm to be shaken by so feeble a hand as Perkin’s; and having drawn back his army, he soon after concluded a truce with England, and refusing to deliver him to Henry, took measures for his quiet and amicable retreat from his dominions.

These negotiations having been concluded, James had leisure to attend to his affairs at home. He was aware that the chief errors of his father’s reign were to be traced to his neglect of the great body of his nobility. To reign without their cordial co-operation was impossible, as long as Scotland remained a feudal kingdom; and it was happy for this prince that the course of conduct which his own disposition prompted him to pursue, was the best calculated to render him a favourite with this influential body. Under the reign of his father the nobles had little intercourse with their prince. They lived in gloomy independence at a distance from court, resorted thither only on occasions of state or counsel; and when parliament was ended, or the emergency had passed away, they returned to their castles full of complaints against a system which made them strangers to their sovereign and ciphers in the government.

All this was happily changed under the present monarch. Affable in his manners, a lover of magnificence, and a still greater lover of mirth and pleasure, the prince delighted to see himself encircled by a splendid nobility. He bestowed upon his highest barons those offices in his household which ensured their attendance upon his person; his court became a scene of perpetual amusement, in which his nobles laboured to surpass each other in extravagance and revelry; and while they impoverished themselves, they became more dependent upon the sovereign. In this manner the seclusion of their own castles became irksome to them; as their residence on their estates was less frequent, the ties which bound their vassals to their service were loosened; and the consequences proved in every way favourable to the royal authority.

James now turned his principal attention to his navy. It is well known that at this moment the maritime enterprises of the Portuguese, and the discoveries of Columbus, had created a wonderful sensation throughout Europe. Even the cautious and calculating spirit of Henry the Seventh had caught fire at the triumphs of naval enterprise; and an expedition which sailed from England under the command of John Cabot, a Venetian merchant, and his son Sebastian, was rewarded by the discovery of North America. These successes roused the adventurous spirit of the Scottish king, and as Scotland had hitherto been deficient in any thing approaching to a navy, he became eager to supply the want, and maintain his place with other continental kingdoms. With this view, he paid great attention to his fisheries, and to foreign commerce, the best nurseries of seamen; and those enterprising merchants and hardy mariners who had hitherto speculated solely on theirown capital, found themselves encouraged by the king and the government..

In a former parliament, complaints had been made of the want of boats to be employed in the fisheries, and of the wealth lost to the country from the few ships to be found in its sea-ports. It was now provided, that vessels of twenty tons and upwards, should be built in all the principal seaports, and that all stout vagrants found in these districts should be impressed, and compelled to learn the trade of mariners. Among his merchants and private traders were many men of ability, whom the king treated with favour. He exhorted them to extend their voyages, to arm their trading ships, to import artillery, and to build ships of force at home. Nor was this all. He studied the subject of his navy, and made himself personally familiar with its details; he practised gunnery, embarked in little experimental voyages, conversed with his mariners, and visited familiarly at the houses of his merchants and sea officers, by whom his fame was carried to foreign countries. All this was useful. The best foreign artizans being sure of a generous reception, flocked to Scotland from France, Italy, and the Low Countries; and if the king’s credulity sometimes encouraged impostors, his enthusiasm also collected round him men of real knowledge and experience.

While we advert to these laudable exertions of the king, the labours of an enlightened prelate for the dissemination of useful learning, ought not to be passed over. Scotland, at this period, possessed only two universities, St. Andrews, founded in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and Glasgow, founded in 1453. To these Elphinstone, bishop of Aberdeen, now added a third. The papal bull was issued in 1494, but the buildings of King’s College were not completed till about the year 1500. It supported professors of divinity, of the civil and canon law, of medicine, and of classical literature, in which its first principal, Hector Boece or Boyce, was no contemptible proficient. Soon after this, James married the princess Margaret of England, daughter of Henry the Seventh; a wise and politic alliance, although in the marriage treaty the diplomatic skill and penurious habits of her father seemed to have gained a victory over the Scottish commissioners.

From the public rejoicings that followed his nuptials, the king was called to repress a rebellion in the north, which appears to have been excited by an imprudent alteration in the policy hitherto pursued in these quarters. This had led to a confederation of the Highland chiefs, who determined to reinstate in his insular sovereignty the grandson of the last lord of the Isles; and so deep was the discontent, that it required the utmost efforts of the prince to restore these remote districts to tranquillity. In this he at last succeeded, divided them into new sheriffdoms, repaired and garrisoned the castles in the hands of the crown, and sent Wood and Barton, two of his best officers, with a small squadron to co-operate with Arran, his lieutenant-general, in reducing the insurgent chiefs. Having adopted these measures, which were soon followed by the complete re-establishment of tranquillity, James, at the head of a considerable force, visited the border districts, and, assisted by Lord Dacre, the English warden, compelled the Armstrongs, Jardines, and other powerful septs, to forsake their habits of plunder, and respect the laws. He then proceeded by negotiations to strengthen his pacific relations with France, and the Netherlands; while he prudently resisted the solicitations of Pope Julius the Second, who endeavoured to detach him from his alliance with Louis, and to induce him to join the emperor and the Venetians in their attempt to check the successes of the French in Italy.

Not long after this, occurred the death of Henry the Seventh, an event unfavourable to Scotland. The proud, capricious, and tyrannical character of his son and successor Henry the Eighth, rendered him little qualified to respect or preserve the pacific relations with that country, which had been wisely cultivated by his father; and it soon appeared that the Scottish prince, a spirited monarch, jealous of his own dignity, and little accustomed to dictation, was not disposed to submit to it from bis brother-in-law.

Matters proceeded smoothly for some time; but when Henry the Eighth engaged in war with France, the ancient ally of Scotland, James at once warmly espoused the party of Louis, and although against the best interests of his kingdom, suffered himself to be drawn into the quarrel. The history of the war is well known. Julius the Second having, in conjunction with Ferdinand of Spain, gained all he wished, by the league of Cambray, became alarmed at the progress of the French in Italy, and to check their arms, prevailed upon Henry the Eighth, whose imagination had[7:19:720] lately been dazzled by dreams of Edward the Third and Henry the Fifth, to invade France. Louis, on the other hand, negotiated with James the Fourth, and to embarrass the king of England, induced him to declare war against Henry the Eighth. It was a fatal resolution; but the Scottish prince was beloved by his people, and so popular with the great body of his nobles, that his appeal to arms was answered by the muster of one of the most numerous and best equipped armies, and one of the most formidable fleets ever fitted out by the country.

The fleet amounted to twenty-three sail., of which thirteen were large ships, the rest small armed craft. Of this armament the destination was Ireland, but its command was entrusted to the earl of Arran, an officer of no experience in naval affairs; and the result was its total dispersion and discomfiture. The land army, on the other hand, which was led by the king in person, amounted to a force little short of a hundred thousand strong, with which James invaded England, and after some slight successes, encamped in a strong position on the hill or rising ground of Floddon, one of the last and lowest eminences which detach themselves from the range of the Cheviots. It was a strong position, impregnable on each flank, and in front defended by the Till, a deep and sluggish stream, which is tributary to the Tweed.

Henry the Eighth, before passing with his army into France, had entrusted the defence of his kingdom to the earl of Surrey, a brave and experienced officer, who lost no time in collecting a force with which, although it did not amount to half the number of the Scots, he did not hesitate to march against the king. But what he wanted in numbers, Surrey supplied by military experience and coolness; while James, blind, obstinate, and attending only to the dictates of his personal courage, threw away his advantages both of numbers and position. The result was one of the most calamitous defeats ever experienced before or since by Scotland. Surrey was permitted by the king to cross the Till in the face of his army. Contrary to the remonstrances of his veteran officers, he would suffer no one to attack him; although the moment was so favourable that, if Angus, Lindsay, and Huntly had been allowed to charge with their men, nothing less than a miracle could have saved the English earl. To the entreaties of Borthwick, the master of his artillery, he was equally obstinate. Had the guns been brought to bear upon the enemy when crossing the bridge of the Till, they must either have been beaten back or thrown into such disorder as would have exposed them to immediate rout; but this too the king would not suffer. With amazing folly he renounced the use of his artillery, that arm of war which, with so great care and expense, he had strengthened or rather created, at the very moment it became serviceable, and might have saved himself and his army. What James’s motive was in this, unless the indulgence of some idle chivalrous punctilio, it is impossible to discover; but its consequences were grievous. Surrey completed his arrangements, passed the ford and the bridge, marshalled his army at leisure, and placing his entire line between James and his country, advanced by an easy ascent upon the rear of the Scottish army. Upon this the king set fire to the huts and temporary booths of his encampment, and descended the hill with the object of preoccupying an eminence on which the village of Branksome is built. His army was divided into five battles, some of which had assumed the form of squares, some of wedges, all being drawn up in a line about a bow-shot distance from each other. The enemy were divided into two battles, each of which had two wings. The English van was led by lord Thomas and lord Edmund Howard, Surrey himself commanded the centre of the host, Sir Edward Stanley and lord Dacre the rear and the reserve. On the side of the Scots, Huntly and Hume led the advance, the king the centre, and the earls of Lennox and Argyll the rear. The battle commenced at four in the afternoon, and after an obstinate contest, which continued till nightfall, concluded in the total defeat of the Scots. Among the slain was the king himself, who, surrounded by a circle of his nobles, had fought with desperate courage, besides thirteen earls, and fifteen lords and chiefs of clans. The loss of common soldiers was estimated at ten thousand men. Of the gentry it is impossible to say how many were slain. Scarcely a family of note could say that they had not lost one or more relatives, while some had to lament the death of all their sons. Whether we regard this miserable slaughter of the sovereign with the flower of his nobility and country, or look to the long and sickening train of national calamities which it entailed upon the kingdom, it is not too much to pronounce the battle of Floddon the greatest national misfortune ever endured by Scotland.

The character of the unfortunate monarch who thus perished in the prime of life, for James had not completed his forty-second year, was marked by very contradictory qualities. Although devoted to his pleasures, wilful, and impetuous, he was energetic and indefatigable in the administration of justice, a patron of all the useful arts, and laudably zealous for the introduction of law and order into the remotest parts of his dominions. The commerce and the agriculture of the country, the means of increasing the national security, the navy, the fisheries, the manufactures, were all subjects of interest to him; and his genuine kindness of heart, and accessibility to the lowest classes of his subjects, rendered him deservedly beloved. Yet he plunged needlessly into all the miseries of war, and his thirst for individual honour, and an obstinate adherence to his own judgment, led to the sacrifice of his army and his life, and once more exposed the kingdom to the complicated evils of a minority.

The news of defeat always flies rapidly, and the full ex-tentof the national calamity soon became known in the capital, which was seized with the utmost sorrow and terror. The magistrates, with the forces of the borough, had joined the king’s army, and many of them shared his fate; but the merchants, to whom their powers had been deputed, acted with much firmness and spirit. They armed the townsmen, published a proclamation, enjoining the women who were seen waiting in the streets to cease their lamentations, and repair to the churches, where they might pray for their lords and husbands, and took all the necessary precautions to defend the city in the event of any immediate attack. Soon afterwards the welcome intelligence arrived that Surrey, having suffered severely in the battle, had disbanded his host, and a breathing interval was allowed. The infant king was crowned at Scone, the castle of Stirling appointed as his residence, the government of it entrusted to lord Borthwick, and the archbishop of Glasgow, with the earls of Huntly and Angus, selected to be the councillors of the queen-mother, till a parliament should assemble. At the same time suspicions βeem to have arisen that too much influence in the government ought not to be given to this princess, whose near connection with England might subject her to foreign influence; and a secret message was dispatched to France inviting the duke of Albany, the next heir to the throne, to repair to Scotland and assume the office of regent.

It was necessary, in the mean time, to consider the best schemes for the restoration of tranquillity and the preservation of order under the shock which a defeat so terrible had given to the country; and the prospect which presented itself, on taking a general view of the condition of the kingdom, was discouraging. The dignified clergy, a class of men who were undoubtedly the ablest and the best educated in Scotland, from whose ranks the state had been accustomed to look for its wisest councillors, were divid[7:19:721] ed into factions among themselves occasioned by the vacant benefices. The archbishop of St. Andrews, the prelates of Caithness and the Isles, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, had fallen in the field of Floddon; and the intrigues of the various claimants for these high prizes distracted the church and the council. There were evils also to be dreaded from the character and youth of the queen-mother. Margaret had been married at fourteen, and was now only twenty-four. Her talents were excellent, as we know from the testimony of such able judges as Surrey, Dacre, and Wolsey; but in some points she too nearly resembled her brother Henry the Eighth. She was hasty in her resentment, headstrong, and often ready to sacrifice her calmer judgment to her passion or her pleasure; and in her thirst for power or personal gratification she sometimes cared as little for the purity of the means by which these objects were accomplished. Soon after the death of the late king this princess gave birth to a son, who was named Alexander, and created duke of Ross; and in a parliament, which met after her recovery, she was confirmed in the office of regent, and entrusted with the custody of the young king and his brother.

At this moment the most powerful nobles in Scotland were the earls of Angus, Home, Huntly, and Crawford. Angus wielded the whole strength of the house of Douglas; Home was chamberlain, and commanded the eastern borders; while Huntly and Crawford ruled the northern districts. The earl of Arran, in the mean time, arrived from France along with the Sieur de la Bastie, who had been a favourite of the late king, and brought a message from the duke of Albany. Arran was nearly related to the royal family, and entitled, by his high birth, and the office of Lord High Admiral which he held, to act a leading part in the government; but his talents were of an inferior order, and unable to compete with the trying circumstances in which the country was placed.

Scarcely had the queen recovered from her confinement when she married the earl of Angus, a nobleman of great accomplishments and personal attractions, but, in the words of lord Dacre, “childish, young, and attended by no wise councillors.” Had the princess entered into a second marriage after due consultation had been held with the council assigned to her by parliament, and after a decent interval, no one could have blamed her. She was yet in the bloom of her best years, and from her youth, as well as her high rank and the important duties entrusted to her, she required the protection of a husband; but the precipitation with which she hurried into the match with Angus was scarcely decorous, and certainly unwise, nor was it long before she bitterly repented her choice.

The first effects of this unfortunate step was to increase the bitterness of the pre-existing feuds amongst the nobles. Home and Angus marshalled themselves and their vassals against each other; Arran, assisted by Lennox and Glencairn, aspired to the regency; Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, an intriguing prelate, supported the interests of Albany and the French faction; while Huntly, lord Drummond, and the earl Marischal gave their influence to Angus and the queen, who courted Henry the Eighth, and took the name of the English party. At this unfortunate crisis the country received a new blow in the death of Elphinstone, who had been nominated archbishop of St. Andrews. For the vacant primacy there were three competitors; Gawin Douglas, uncle to the earl of Angus, Hepburn, prior of St. Andrews, and Forman, bishop of Moray, respectively nominated by the queen, the chapter, and the pope. These ambitious ecclesiastics scrupled not to muster their armed vassals, and to vindicate their claims by an appeal to the sword, an indecent spectacle, which could not fail to lower the church in the eyes of the people.

It was under this deplorable state of things that Henry the Eighth carried to perfection a base system already be gun by his father, that of keeping in pay a number of spies and pensioned supporters. He bribed the Scottish nobles, entertained a constant correspondence with the queen his sister, and even went so far as to propose her flight with the young king and his brother to the English court. It may give us some idea of the loose principles of some of the leading men, that Angus and his uncle, Gawin Douglas, who ranks higher as a poet than a politician, did not hesitate to give their countenance to a plan which amounted to nothing short of treason.

In the midst of these scenes the duke of Albany arrived from France, and assumed the regency; but unfortunately his determined predilection for the French interests was as unacceptable to many of the wisest and best men in the country, as the queen and Angus’s devotion to England. At this moment Scotland required an upright and vigorous governor, animated by a sincere love of his country, and who could hold the balance with judgment between contending parties. But Albany was ignorant of the constitution, of the language, and of the manners of the country. His family also made him an object of suspicion, his father having traitorously attempted to seize the crown. He was the son of a French mother, had married a French woman, and having his chief estates in France, constantly styled the French king his master; nor does it appear that either his talents or his temper were calculated to counterbalance such disadvantages.

On his assumption of the government the effects of all this were soon perceived. The queen refused to give up the custody of the infant monarch; Home, the chamberlain, threw himself into the arms of England; Angus, guided solely by selfishness and the ambition of becoming chief ruler, deserted his wife, the queen. France, instead of assisting her ancient ally to defeat the intrigues of Henry the Eighth, which were carried on by his able minister lord Dacre, first betrayed strong symptoms of a change of policy, and at length refused to renew the alliance with Scotland; and although Albany, amid these difficulties, acted with considerable spirit and ability, it was impossible for him to compose the jarring elements, or restore tranquillity and order to the country.

Dissatisfied and dispirited, he retired for a few years to France, and returned to Scotland only to find the dangers which threatened the kingdom more imminent, and the task of encountering them more difficult. In his absence De la Bastie, the person who enjoyed his chief confidence, and to whom he had entrusted the offices of warden of the marches and deputy governor, was murdered by the Homes in the most savage manner. The Highlands and Isles, long deprived of regular government, were torn by various factions, and exhibited scenes of the wildest excesses. And Angus, whose feudal power was far too great for a subject, had acted in open defiance of the laws, and domineered in the most tyrannical manner over all who dared to oppose his commands. The arrival of Albany compelled this chief to fly from the capital, and the regent exerted himself with the utmost vigour to put down the despotism of the Douglases. He was forthwith reconciled to the queen, received from her the keys of the castle of Edinburgh, and with them the custody of the young king; he assembled a parliament, summoned the Douglases to answer a charge of treason, and, although thwarted in his administration by the intrigues of lord Dacre and the treachery and venality of the Scottish nobles, he compelled Angus, his principal enemy, to leave the kingdom.

It would be difficult, and if easy, uninstructive, to enter into the history of this period, when the country was torn by contending factions, and exposed to all the miseries incident to a feudal minority. Albany’s worst enemies were lord Dacre and the Anglo-Scotican party which he kept in his pay. It was his policy to throw distrust and suspicion up[7:19:722] on every measure of the regent and the queen; to represent the regent as avaricious and tyrannical, to accuse him of a design to seize the crown, and to insinuate that the king’s life was not safe in his custody. All of these tales are to be found in his correspondence with his master, Henry the Eighth, and there can be little doubt that the greater portion of them were false, and the whole grossly exaggerated. So at least we must judge from the conduct of the Scottish Parliament, which treated a message, soon afterwards sent by Henry the Eighth, and founded upon these idle accusations, with a calm and resolute denial. This monarch, acting upon the impulse of the moment, and thwarted by the politic measures of the Regent, had dispatched a herald, who conveyed a severe reprimand to the queen, and, at the same time, insisted that the Scottish nobles should instantly dismiss Albany. Their reply to this haughty communication was spirited and dignified. They derided the fears expressed for the life of the young king, declaring that Albany was a faithful servant of the country, and had been invited by themselves to assume the regency. “Here it is our pleasure,” said they, “that he shall remain, nor shall he be permitted or enjoined to depart at the request of your grace, or any other sovereign prince. And as to the threat of hostilities, (thus they concluded their answer), if, because we assert our own rights, we should happen to be invaded, what may we do but trust that God will espouse our just quarrel, and demean ourselves, as our ancestors have done before us, who, in ancient times, were constrained to fight for the conservation of this realm, and that with good success and honour?”

This answer was followed, on the part of Henry, by an immediate declaration of war. The earl of Shrewsbury, at the head of the force of the northern counties, invaded Scotland on the side of the Merse and Teviotdale; an English fleet ravaged and laid waste the coasts of the Frith of Forth; and Albany the Regent retaliated by breaking into England at the head of a large army. He was driven to this solely by a desire to vindicate the national honour; for he seems to have been conscious of the disadvantages which attended a war with England, and he knew that the majority of the nobles were animated by the same feelings. Under these circumstances he wisely determined to follow Bruce’s principles as to war with this country, to avoid any protracted invasion, not to hazard a general battle, and while he showed a determination to maintain the independence of the country, and to resist any foreign dictation, to evince at the same time his readiness to conclude an honourable peace.

The same disposition being evinced by lord Dacre, the minister to whom Henry entrusted the management of Scottish affairs, a truce was concluded; but Albany, on disbanding his army and resuming his civil duties, found himself surrounded with difficulties. Nothing indeed could be more complicated or irksome, than the various contending interests which he had to understand and reconcile. His engagements with France prompted him to continue the war with England; his better judgment admonished him to remain at peace. Amid the universal corruption and selfishness which infected the body of the nobles, many of whom were in the pay of England, he looked in vain for any one to whom he could give confidence, or entrust with the execution of his designs, while the queen-mother, with whom he had hitherto acted, betrayed him, and corresponded with Dacre.

The impossibility of overcoming these intricate evils without a more powerful military force than he could at present bring into the field, induced the Regent once more to pass into France, for the purpose of holding a conference with Francis the First, on the best method of reducing the English faction. A council of regency was appointed, consisting of Huntly, Arran, Argyll, and Gonzolles, a French knight, in whom Albany placed great confidence; and after an absence of some months, during which the war again broke out with great fury, he revisited Scotland, bringing with him a fleet of eighty-seven small vessels, in which he had embarked a fine body of six thousand foreign troops.

With this strong reinforcement he hoped to gain a preponderating influence over the nobility, and to decide the contest with England; but he was miserably disappointed. The presence of foreign troops, always unacceptable to a people jealous of their rights, was particularly so to the Scots, who were poor, and had to support the foreigners at a great expense. This rendered the war unpopular with the great body of the nation; the queen-dowager was devoted to England; and the nobles, although prepared to assemble an army for the defence of the borders, were opposed to any invasion of England upon a great scale, or to a war of continued aggression. As many of these barons, however, were at that moment receiving pensions from France, the payment of which any too decided demonstration might have interrupted, they artfully concealed their repugnance. An army of forty thousand men mustered on the Bcrough-moor beside Edinburgh, and Albany, taking the command in person, advanced to the borders; but on arriving at Melrose the mask was dropped, the leaders showed symptoms of insubordination, the soldiers catching the infection, murmured against the foreign mercenaries, and discontent gathering strength, at last broke out in an open refusal to advance. No entreaties or threats of the Regent could overcome this resolution; and after a short season, news arrived that the earl of Surrey, having assembled an army, was advancing against them. The intelligence of his speedy approach strengthened the Scottish nobles in their determination not to risk a battle. So completely had the majority of them been corrupted by the money and intrigues of Dacre and the queen-dowager, that Albany did not venture to place them in the front, but formed his advance of the French auxiliaries and his artillery, the single portion of this army which had acted with spirit. To have attempted to fight Surrey with these alone, would have been the extremity of rashness, to have awaited the advance of the English earl with an army which refused to proceed against the enemy, might have rendered defeat inevitable. In these critical circumstances, Albany, who has been unjustly attacked by some ill-informed writers, adopted the only alternative which was safe or honourable. He disbanded the Scottish portion of his army, and he himself retreated with his French auxiliaries and his artillery to Eccles, from which, after a short season, he returned to the capital, and here he assembled the parliament.

Its proceedings, as might have been anticipated, were distracted and impeded by mutual accusations and complaints. The Regent could not conceal his animosity to those leaders who had so recently deserted him almost in the presence of the enemy. The nobles recriminated; they blamed him for squandering the public treasure, and notwithstanding the inclement season of the year, insisted on his dismissing the foreign troops, whose residence had become burdensome. All this was calculated to disgust and mortify the governor; and he requested permission to retire once more to France, for the purpose of holding a conference with Francis the First,and inducing him to grant him further assistance against the designs of England. His request was complied with, on the condition that if he did not return to Scotland within a limited period, the league with France, and his own regency, should be considered as at an end. In the mean season, the custody of the king’s person was entrusted to the lords Cassillis, Fleming, Borthwick, and Erskine, while the chief management of affairs was committed to a council., composed of the chancellor, the bishop of Aberdeen, and the earls of Huntly and Argyll. Having made these arrangements, the duke of Albany quitted the kingdom, convinced, in all probability, of the impossibility of reconciling the various factions and interests by which it was torn in pieces. Although he gave hopes that his absence[7:19:723] should not exceed three months, there is strong reason for believing that when he embarked it was with the resolution, which he fulfilled, of never returning to Scotland.

On the departure of Albany, it soon became apparent that a secret understanding had for some time been maintained between two of the most powerful factions in the country, and that his leaving the kingdom was the signal for the breaking out of an important revolution. The chief actors were the earl of Arran and the queen-mother, and there is ample evidence that their proceedings were agreeable to England. The young king was now in his thirteenth year, and his mother and Arran, having gained to their interest the peers to whom his person had been entrusted, carried him from Stirling to Edinburgh, proceeded to the Palace of Holyrood, declared in a council that he had assumed the government, and issued proclamations in his name. The peers of Margaret’s party then tendered their allegiance, abjured their engagements lately made with Albany, declared his regency at an end, and promised to maintain henceforth the authority of their sovereign.

It was the evident object of the queen and Arran to obtain, by this revolution, the entire command of the government. The measure was remonstrated against, in the strongest manner, by the bishops of St. Andrews and Aberdeen. They represented the utter folly of conferring the supreme power on ahoy of twelve years old, and they stated, with truth, that Albany was still the Regent; but Margaret, supported by her brother Henry the Eighth, who hoped, through her, to govern Scotland, proved too strong for these prelates, and for a while her schemes succeeded. It was, however, only for a short season. Jealousies arose between her and Arran, who, from his near relationship to the crown, aspired to the chief power. The queen, whose love for Angus, her husband, had long since turned into hatred, fixed her affections on Henry Stewart, a son of lord Evandale, raised him to the office of treasurer, and could she obtain a divorce, determined to marry him; and Henry the Eighth, who began to find her demands too importunate, and her obedience problematical, recalled the earl of Angus from France, with the design of making him an instrument in his projects for the reduction of Scotland. This baron appears to have increased in experience and talent for intrigue, by his residence in that country, but not in public principle; and his first step was to sell himself to Henry in a secret treaty, by which he engaged to support the English interests in Scotland. In return, he and his brother, Sir George Douglas, hoped, by Henry’s aid, to place themselves at the head of the government, and to be restored to the vast estates and power which they had lost.

The arrival of Angus in his native country, was the signal for immediate hostilities between him and the queen-mother, his wife, who had raised Henry Stewart to the office of chancellor, and detested her husband, in proportion to the progress of her avowed and indecent attachment to this favourite. Hitherto she and her supporters, Arran, Lennox, and the master of Kilmaurs, had been supported by pensions from the English court, and in return, had favoured the views of Henry the Eighth; but the principles of this venal association were of course capricious and selfish, and the arrival of Angus, who now wielded the power of the Douglases, threatened to break it to pieces.

The country, indeed, presented a miserable spectacle; a minor sovereign deserted by those who owed him allegiance and support, while his kingdom was left a prey to the rapacity of interested councillors, and exposed to the attacks of a powerful neighbour, whose object was to reduce it to the condition of a dependant province. In such circumstances it is certainly a matter of wonder that it retained its liberty.

Three factions struggled for the pre-eminence, and tore the country in pieces. The first was that of Albany, the late regent, which was supported by French influence, and conducted by the chancellor Beaton; the second had for its leaders the earl of Arran and the queen-regent, who held the king’s person, and possessed the chief executive power; at the head of the third were the earl of Angus and his able brother George Douglas, who were wedded to the interests of the English government. It is impossible, within our limits, and it would be uninstructive, to enter into a detail of the continued plots and intrigues which constitute the sickening history of this period. It soon became apparent that the party of the queen-mother was the weakest. Arran, a capricious man, deserted her; her private conduct rendered her disreputable in the eyes of the people; and soon afterwards a coalition between Beaton the chancellor and Angus, carried the whole power of Albany’s party to a union with the house of Douglas. Margaret sunk under this, and consented to a negotiation. She resigned the custody of her son to a council of peers nominated by parliament, and, strippedof her power, consented to a reconciliation with Angus, her husband, in whom, along with the chancellor Beaton, the chief power in the government now centered. A feeble effort indeed was made by Arran to destroy the influence of the united factions; but the armed force with which he advanced to Linlithgow was dispersed by the prompt attack of Douglas, and the address of this politic baron soon afterwards prevailed on Arran to join his party.

The earl of Angus had now gained a complete triumph over his enemies. He possessed the person of the young king, he was assisted by the talents and experience of the chancellor Beaton, he had witnessed the gradual decay of the faction of Albany and the French monarch, and he had been joined by Arran, who, although personally a weak man, from his high birth and great estates possessed much power. His first step was wise and temperate. A pacification for three years was concluded with England; and it was hoped that this might be followed by a marriage between the young king and Henry’s daughter, the princess Mary a measure which, if guarded so as to preserve the independence of Scotland, might have been attended with the happiest results.

The country, so long distracted by border war and internal anarchy, might now, under a judicious administration, have looked forward to something like tranquillity. Had Angus been reconciled to the queen, his wife; had he been contented with his recovery of greater power than he had lost, and been willing to administer the government with justice and moderation; there was every reason to hope for the maintenance of peace, security, and good order. The French party in Scotland had completely sunk. Dr. Magnus, Henry’s English minister, who, during his residence in Scotland, had been an object of great jealousy to the people, was recalled; and lord Dacre, whose money and intrigues for so many years had corrupted the Scottish nobles, and introduced disunion and treachery into all their councils, was removed by death from the scenes of his mischievous activity. All these things were favourable; and the well affected, who sighed for the blessings of peace and good government, anticipated a period of repose.

It was a vain expectation, destroyed by the precipitate folly of the queen-mother, and the grasping ambition of Angus. That powerful baron had hitherto aimed at one great object, which he now deemed himself on the very point of attaining: to accomplish are conciliation with his wife, the queen-mother, and, possessing her estates, with the custody of the young king’s person, to engross the whole power of the government. At this crisis Margaret, so far from becoming less hostile to Angus, gave herself up more inconsiderately than before, to her passion for Henry Stewart, and procuring a divorce from a husband whom she hated, espoused her paramour with a precipitation which disgusted the people.[7:19:724] This imprudent step determined Angus to change his ground, and a dread of some counter revolution threw him upon new and more violent courses. By a successful stroke of policy, he procured the passing of an act of Parliament which annulled the authority of the secret council., the only power which stood between him and absolute dominion. At the same moment, the parliament declared that the minority of the young king was at an end, and that having completed his fourteenth year, he was to be considered as an independent sovereign. While the youthful monarch thus nominally assumed the government, that provision which entrusted the keeping of the royal person to certain peers in rotation, remained in force; and as Angus had artfully summoned the parliament at that precise time, when it belonged to himself and the archbishop of Glasgow to assume their periodical guardianship of the king, the consequence of this state manoeuvre was to place the whole power of the government in their hands.

A new secret council was nominated, composed solely of the creatures of Angus; the great seal was soon after taken from Beaton, the young king was watched with the utmost jealousy, and compelled to give his consent to every thing proposed to him by his new masters. An act of parliament was passed, granting a remission to the heads and followers of this all-powerful faction for the crimes, robberies, or treasons, committed by them during the last nineteen years; every office of trust or emolument in the kingdom was disposed of to the one or other of its supporters, and the ancient tyranny of the house of Douglas once more attained ade-gree of strength which rivalled, or rather usurped the royal power. At this unhappy period, as has been observed in another work, “the borders became the scene of tumult and confusion, and the insolence of the numerous vassals of this great family was intolerable; murders, spoliations, and crimes of varied enormity, were committed with impunity. The arm of the law, paralysed by the power of an unprincipled faction, neglected to arrest the guilty; the sources of justice were corrupted; the highest and most sacred ecclesiastical dignities became the prey of daring intruders, or were sold to the highest bidder; and the young king, carried about through the country by Angus, apparently in great state, but merely a puppet in the hands of his masters, sighed in vain over a captivity to which there appeared no prospect of a termination.”^[50. Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. v. p. 201. ] An attempt indeed was made for his deliverance, first by the laird of Buccleugh, one of the most powerful of the border barons, and afterwards by the earl of Lennox, who deserted the party of the Douglases, and to whom the young monarch was much attached. But Buccleugh was routed with considerable loss, and Lennox defeated and slain.

These unsuccessful attempts only strengthened the power of Angus. He entered into a more strict alliance with Henry the Eighth, obtained the friendship and support of Beaton, the archbishop of St. Andrews, and unchecked by ’any opposition, ruled all things at his will. Nothing indeed could be more miserable than the picture presented by the country; a monarch in captivity, a nobility in thraldom, a people groaning under the most complicated oppressions, yet with their hands tied, and compelled by the miserable system under which they lived to serve their oppressors. It may be asked, what was the secret history of this enormous power, this degraded and implicit obedience? The answer is to be found in the fact, that the Douglases were masters of the royal person; they could compel the king to affix his signature to any deeds or letters which their tyranny or their caprice might dictate. Angus, the supreme lord of all this misrule, was chancellor, and the great seal at his command; his uncle, Douglas of Kilspindy, was treasurer, and commanded the whole revenues of the country; the law, with all its terrible feudal processes of treason arid forfeiture, could be wielded by them at pleasure. So long as the king remained in their hands, this powerful machinery was all theirs; the moment he escaped, the system broke to pieces, and their power was at an end.

Of all this James, who had now entered his seventeenth year, was perfectly aware; and as every hour of his captivity made the Douglases more hateful to him, his mind became intently occupied with projects for his escape. Nor was it long Ere he effected it. With an address superior to his years, the king had either succeeded in lulling the suspicions of his keepers, or a continuance of unchecked power had made them careless. James was at Falkland. Angus, Douglas his brother, and Archibald his uncle, were absent on their private affairs; only Douglas of Pathhead,the captain of the royal guard, remained. The young monarch called for the park-keeper, and, as had been his wont, proposed to hunt next morning. Therefore, says a graphic old chronicler,^[51. ’ Lindsay of Pitscottie, pp. 218, 219. ] he “caused him to warn all the whole tenants and gentlemen thereabouts who had the speediest dogs, that they would come to Falkland wood on the morn, to meet him at seven hours, for he was determined he would slay a fat buck or two for his pleasure; and to that effect caused warn the cooks and stewards to make his supper ready, that he might go to his bed the sooner, and to have his desjeune (breakfast) ready by four o’clock, and commanded James Douglas of Pathhead to pass the sooner to his bed, and caused bring his collation, and drank to James Douglas, saying to him, that he should have good hunting on the morrow, bidding him be early astir. Then the king went to his bed; and James Douglas, seeing the king in his bed, wist that all things had been sure enough, and passed in like manner to his bed. When the watch was set,” continues Pitscottie, “and all things in quietness, the king called on a yeoman of the stable, and desired him bring one of his suits of apparel, hose, cloak, coat, and bonnet, and putting them on, slept forth as a yeoman of the stable, and was unperceived of the watches, till he had passed to the stables, and caused saddle a horse for himself, and one led, and took two servants with him, namely, Jocky Hart, a yeoman of the stable, and another secret chamber boy, and leapt on horse, and spurred hastily his journey to Stirling, and won there by the breaking of the day, over the bridge, which he caused to be closed behind him, that none without licence might win that passage. After this he passed to the castle, and was received there by the captain, who was very glad of his coming, and prepared the castle with all things needful. Then he caused shut the gates, and let down the portcullis, and put the king in his bed to sleep, because he had ridden all that night.”

Having thus regained his liberty, James’s first act was to summon a council., and issue a proclamation, interdicting Angus and the Douglases from all approach within six miles of the court, under pain of treason. Nor did they venture to disobey it. On discovering the flight of the king, Angus, Archibald, and Sir George, had hastily assembled a few followers, thrown themselves on horseback, and were riding to Stirling, when they were met by the herald, who read the act, and commanded them in the king’s name to halt. For a moment they hesitated, but it was only for a moment. Their sovereign was free; the weapons which but a day before they had wielded with such irresistible force, were now ready to be employed against themselves. A single step forward, and they were guilty of treason, their property and their lives at the mercy of the crown. All this rose rapidly and fearfully before them; and aware how vain it would be at such a moment to meet the power of their enemies, they retreated to Linlithgow.

The monarch, who now took the government into his own[7:19:725] hands, had not completed his seventeenth year; but he had been nursed in the school of difficulty, and his character had acquired a consistency and vigour far superior to his age. This was the more to his credit, because the Douglases had neglected his education; and while they gave him no opportunities of cultivating the qualities which might have made him a blessing to his people, permitted him to indulge in that love of pleasure and tendency to dissipation which was incident to his temperament and time of life. Happily his character, although it did not escape the pollution of such a base system, survived it; and, with some great faults, the king possessed at the same time not a few of the highest qualities which became a wise and good prince. Strict and scrupulously just, unwearied in his application to business, earnest in his endeavours to remove the complicated burdens which, under the tyranny of the late oligarchy, had oppressed the people; generous, though somewhat warm in his temper, easy of access, a stranger to pride, and fond, almost to a fault, of mingling familiarly with all classes of his subjects; he soon rendered himself, young as he was, an object of respect to his nobles, and of affection to his people.

The principles which regulated his future government sprung naturally from the circumstances of his early life. The sternest resentment against Angus and the house of Douglas, was combined with a determination to assert and regain the rights of the crown, and to abridge the power of an aristocracy, which had grown intolerable during a long minority. Towards his uncle, Henry the Eighth, it was impossible that his feelings could be any other than those of resentment and suspicion. It was by this prince that there had been introduced into Scotland an organised system of corruption, of which his able and unscrupulous minister, lord Dacre, had been the author. Many Scottish nobles had become the pensioned agents of the English government; paid informers swarmed in the court and through the country. All idea of conquering Scotland by force of arras had been long since abandoned; but a more insidious expedient was adopted, by which the English king, maintaining the Douglases in their usurped dominion, received in return their homage and fidelity, and administered the government at his pleasure.

James’s great objects, which we can trace through the whole remaining period of his reign, were to put an end to this system of foreign dictation; to restore its ancient and constitutional prerogatives to the crown; to bridle the exorbitant power of the great nobles, raising up as a check upon them the large and influential body of his clergy; to encourage the mercantile and commercial classes of his people; and to facilitate the administration of the laws, and insure equal justice to the lowest orders of the community.

For the accomplishment of such ends, it was first necessary to exhibit a wholesome example of retributive justice upon those who had been the greatest delinquents. It was declared treason for any person to hold intercourse with Angus, and every Douglas was commanded to leave the capital on pain of death. Angus himself was commanded to remain beyond the waters of the Spey, and required to deliver his brother Sir George Douglas, and his uncle Archibald, as hostages, for his answering to his summons of treason. Having haughtily disobeyed these orders, a parliament assembled. He was proclaimed a traitor, and his lands nominally divided among those nobles to whom James owed his late success. It was easier, however, to promulgate than to execute such decrees against so powerful a baron; nor was it till after repeated attacks upon Tantallon, some of them led by the king in person, that the arch-offender was reduced, and compelled to seek an asylum in England.

James next directed his attention to the state of the borders; and in an expedition which was long remembered for the vigour, dispatch, and severity of the royal vengeance, inflicted punishment upon the greatest offenders, among whom was the noted freebooter, Johnnie Armstrong, and reduced the district into a state of tranquillity. Scarcely was this accomplished, when the Orkneys were threatened to be torn from the crown by the rebellion of the earl of Caithness; and the Isles became the scene of a fierce struggle between the earl of Argyll and Alexander of Isla, one of the most powerful chiefs of that remote region. The judgment and energy of the monarch were shewn in the speedy re-establishment of peace in both quarters; and the people, aware that the sceptre was once more in a firm hand, readily and gratefully co-operated with their sovereign in all his labours.

England and France were now at peace, and Henry the Eighth and Francis the First united in a. strict alliance, which had for its object to bridle the increasing power of the emperor Charles the Fifth. Under these circumstances, Henry proposed a matrimonial alliance with Scotland, and the design was encouraged by France; while the emperor, jealous of the power which so near a connexion with James might give to his enemies, offered in marriage to the young prince his sister, the queen of Hungary, or his niece, the daughter of Christiern, king of Denmark, with Norway as her dowry.

For the present, however, all these offers were declined, and the monarch appeared wholly engrossed with the prosecution of his various plans for the melioration of his kingdom. Finding himself thwarted by the nobles, he was compelled to adopt decided measures, and to promote the clergy to those offices which had been filled by temporal barons. Argyll was thrown into prison, the earl of Crawford stripped of a large part of his estates; the determination that no Douglas should ever bear sway in Scotland became a more stern and obstinate principle than before; and while the archbishop of Glasgow, the abbot of Holyrood, and the bishop of Dunkeld, were principally consulted in affairs of state, many of the nobles who had hitherto enjoyed the royal confidence saw themselves treated with coldness and distrust.

It was at this time, that the king carried into effect two important measures, the one affecting the commercial interests of his kingdom, the other of still higher moment, as an endeavour to secure to all classes of his subjects an equal and speedy administration of justice. A commercial treaty between Scotland and the Netherlands had been concluded by James the First, for the period of one hundred years. It was now approaching its termination, and an embassy was dispatched to Brussels, which renewed the league for another century. His second measure was the institution of the College of Justice, a court consisting of fourteen judges, one half selected from the spiritual, the other from the temporal estate, of which the idea is commonly believed to have been suggested by the parliament of Paris. The principal design of this new judicature was to put an end to the delay and partiality arising out of the barons’ courts; in other words, to remove the means of oppression out of the hands of the aristocracy; but as it was provided, that the king might at his pleasure send three or four members of his council to give their votes, it was evident that the subject was freed from one grievance, only to be exposed to the hazard of another, whenever his rights might happen to come in collision with the crown.

During these transactions, the Douglases and their adherents were driven upon violent and discreditable courses, in proportion as their prospect of reconciliation to the king became more hopeless and remote. The earl of Bothwell, also a powerful border baron, whose excesses James had severely punished, entered into a traitorous alliance with Henry the Eighth, in which he engaged, if properly supported, to dethrone his sovereign, and to “crown the English king in the town of Edinburgh within a brief time[7:19:726] while the earl of Angus did not hesitate, in the extremity of his resentment, to sell himself to England; and in an original writing which yet remains, engaged to “make unto Henry the oath of allegiance, to recognise him as supreme lord of Scotland, as his prince and sovereign.”^[52. MS. British Museum, Calig. B. I. 128. ]

In consequence of these base engagements, war was once more kindled on the borders, and carried on by the Douglases and Henry’s captains with such desolating fury, that James was compelled to call out the whole body of the fighting men in the country. These he divided into four armies, to each of which in rotation the defence of the marches was entrusted. The measure effectually checked the power of the English, and there was little prospect of Bothwell fulfilling his threat, of crowning Henry in the capital; but peace seemed more distant than ever, and nothing could be more deplorable than the picture presented by the country. The flames of villages and granges, the destruction of the fruits, and the cessation of the labour of the husbandman, the stoppage put to the enterprise of the merchant, the increase among the people of the spirit of national antipathy, the corruption of the nobles by the money of England, the loss among such pensioned adventurers of all affection for the sovereign, and the decay of the healthy feelings of national independence; all these lamentable consequences sprung out of the continuance of the war, and made the king desirous of securing peace, even if it should be at some sacrifice. -

This he at length accomplished. James agreed that the Douglases, by which was meant Angus, his brother George, and his uncle Archibald, should remain unmolested in England, supported by Henry as his subjects, on condition that Edrington castle, the only spot which they held in Scotland, should be surrendered, and reparation made for any expedition which they or the English king might hereafter conduct against Scotland. On these conditions a pacification was concluded, for the period of the lives of Henry and James, and a year after the death of him who first deceased; and soon after its ratification, the young monarch, whose firmness and talent in the management of his government made him an object of respect to the European princes, received the Garter from England, the order of St. Michael from France, and the Golden Fleece from the emperor.^[53. Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland, p. 19. ]

James was now in his twenty-second year, and his marriage was earnestly desired by the country; but he had hitherto shewn little inclination to gratify the wishes of his people. With all his good qualities, he unhappily inherited from his father an extreme devotedness to pleasure, which had been rather encouraged than restrained by the Douglases; and his passions getting the better of his prudence and principle, sought their gratification in low intrigues, carried on in disguise, and in pursuit of which he not unfrequently exposed his life to the attacks and revenge of his rivals. It was now full time that he should renounce these disreputable excesses; and having evaded an offer made by the Spanish ambassador, of the hand of the princess Mary of Portugal, and declined a similar proposal of Henry the Eighth, who pointed to his daughter the princess Mary, he dispatched an embassy to France, for the purpose of concluding a matrimonial alliance with that crown.

It now becomes necessary to attend to a great subject, (the rise of the Reformation in Scotland,) the principles of which had been for some time silently making their progress among the people, but which from this period exercised a marked and increasing influence over the history of the government and of the country. It was now nearly six years since Patrick Hamilton, abbot of Ferne, the friend and disciple of Luther and Melanchthon, having renounced the errors of the Roman Catholic church, and embraced the doctrines of these leading reformers, had been delated of heresy, and condemned to the flames. The cruel sentence was carried into effect at St. Andrews in 1528, under the minority of James, and while the supreme power was in the hands of the earl of Angus. On taking the government into his own hand, James, although decidedly inimical to the principles of Angus in all other things, unhappily followed his determination to persecute those whom he esteemed the enemies of the truth. David Straiten and Norman Gourlay, who were disciples of the reformation, were tried for heresy, condemned, and brought to the stake, on the 27th of August 1534; and the intolerant and cruel conduct of the king compelled some who had embraced the same opinions to fly for safety to England.

About this time Henry the Eighth exerted himself to the utmost to prevail upon the Scottish king to imitate his own conduct, and shake off the yoke of Rome. He endeavoured to open his eyes to the tyranny of the pope's usurpations, sent to him the treatise entitled the “Doctrine of a Christian Man,” and dispatched Dr. Barlow and Lord William Howard to request a conference with his royal nephew at York; but the remembrance of the injuries he had sustained, resentment for Henry’s intrigues with his discontented subjects, and an attachment to the faith of his fathers, indisposed James to listen to these overtures; and when Paul the Third deputed his legate Campeggio to visit Scotland, the embassy found it no difficult matter to confirm the Scottish monarch in his attachment to the Catholic church. At the same time he addressed him by the title of which Henry had proved himself unworthy, Defender of the Faith, and presented to him a cap and sword which had been consecrated by the pope upon the feast of the nativity.

A parliament which assembled about this time, made two provisions which deserve attention. The importation of the works of Luther, which had been proscribed by a former act, was again strictly forbidden; any discussion of his opinions, unless for the purpose of proving their falsehood, was prohibited; and all persons who possessed any treatises of the reformer, were enjoined, under the penalty of confiscation and imprisonment, to deliver them up to the ordinary within forty days. The second act, which is well worthy of notice, related to the boroughs, in this dark age the best nurseries of industry and freedom. Hitherto feudal barons had been elected to the offices of magistrates and superintendents over the privileges of these corporations; an unwise practice, by which the provosts, aldermen, or bailies, instead of being industrious citizens, interested in the protection of trade, and the security of property, were little else than idle and factious tyrants, who consumed the substance and invaded the corporate privileges of the burgesses. A law was now made, that no person should be elected to fill any office in the magistracy of the borough, but such as themselves were honest and substantial burgesses, and although not immediately or strictly carried into effect, the enactment evinced the dawning of a better spirit.

War still continued between Francis the First and the emperor, a circumstance which induced the French king to continue an amicable correspondence with England; and being aware that Henry the Eighth was intent upon accomplishing a marriage with Scotland, Francis did not care to disgust this passionate monarch by any very speedy attention to James’s desires to unite himself to a French princess. To obviate this, the Scottish king himself took a voyage to France, and landing at Dieppe, proceeded from thence in disguise to the palace of the duke of Vendôme. Here, being received only as a noble stranger, he saw, for the first time, but did not approve of his affianced bride, Marie de Bourbon, the duke’s daughter, and transferred his affections to Madeleine, the youngest daughter of the French king, to[7:19:727] whom he was soon after married in the church of Notre Dame. In the circumstances in which Scotland was then placed, the church of Rome was inclined to consider this union as one of great importance; and it has been noted that seven cardinals surrounded the altar. Nor were these anticipations disappointed. James remained for nine months in France, and having returned to his own kingdom, it was soon evident that some great changes were on the eve of taking place.

Francis the First, although still nominally at peace with Henry, had become alienated from him by the violent and dictatorial tone which he assumed. The pope, who considered his own existence as involved in the contest with England, had neglected no method by which he might first terminate the disputes between the emperor and the French king, and then unite them in a coalition against Henry, as the common enemy. We have already noticed the success of the court of Rome in flattering the vanity of James; and it appears that, in 1537, these intrigues were so far successful, that a pacification was concluded between Francis and the emperor. From this moment the cordiality between France and England was completely at an end, while every argument which could have weight in a young and ardent mind was addressed to James, to induce him to join the projected league against Henry.

Nor had the conduct of Henry, during James’s absence in France, been calculated to allay those resentful feelings which already existed between them. He had sent into Scotland Sir Ralph Sadler, a crafty and able diplomatist, for the express purpose of completing the system of secret intelligence introduced, as we have seen, with pernicious success by lord Dacre. This minister was instructed to gain an influence over the nobility, to attach the queen-mother to his interest, to sound the inclinations of the body of the people on the subject of peace or war, an adoption of the reformed opinions, or an adherence to the ancient faith. The Douglases were still maintained with high favour in England. Their power, although nominally extinct, was far from being destroyed; their spies penetrated into every quarter, and had even followed the young king to France, whence they gave information of his most private motions; finally, those feudal covenants, termed bonds of manrent, still bound to their interest many of the most potent of the nobles, whom the vigour of the king’s government had disgusted or estranged.

From this description we may gather the state of parties at the return of James to his dominions after his marriage. On the one hand was seen Henry the Eighth, the head of the protestant reformation in England, supported in Scotland not only by the still formidable power and unceasing intrigues of the Douglases, but by a large proportion of the nobles, and the talents of his sister, the queen-mother. On the other hand stood the king of Scotland, assisted by the united talent, zeal, and wealth of the Roman Catholic clergy, the loyalty of some of the most potent peers, the co-operation of France, the approval of the emperor, the affection of the great body of his people, upon whose minds the doctrines of Luther had not yet made any very general impression, and the cordial support of the papal court. The course of events, into which we cannot enter minutely, but which we shall touch in their principal consequences, illustrated strikingly these opposing interests.

In the mean time, scarcely had the rejoicings ceased for James’s return to his dominions with his youthful queen, when it was apparent that she was sinking under a consumption, which in a short time carried her to the grave. Although depressed by this calamity, the king did not permit it to divert his mind from that system of policy on which he had resolved to act; and an embassy to France, was entrusted to David Beaton, afterwards the celebrated cardinal, who requested for his master the hand of Mary of Guise, the widow of the duke of Longueville, and sister to the cardinal of Lorraine. To this second union, the court of France joyfully assented and the marriage took place at St. Andrews, within a year after the death of the former queen. At this moment the life of the king was twice endangered by conspiracy; and although much obscurity hangs over the subject, both plots were probably connected with the intrigues of the house of Douglas. At the head of the first was the master of Forbes, a brother-in-law of Angus. The chief actor in the second was the lady Glammis, his sister, who, only two days after the execution of Forbes, was accused of an attempt to poison her sovereign, found guilty and condemned to be burned; a dreadful sentence, the execution of which she bore with the hereditary courage of her house.

An event now happened, which drew after it important consequences. James Beaton, archbishop of St Andrews, died, and was succeeded in the primacy by his nephew, cardinal Beaton; a man far his uncle’s superior in talent, and still more devotedly attached to the interests of the Roman Catholic church. It was to him, as we have seen, that James had committed the negotiation for his second marriage; and so great appears to have been the influence which he acquired over the royal mind, that the king henceforth selected him as his principal adviser.

Beaton’s accession to additional power was marked by a renewed persecution of the reformers; and it is worthy of observation, that most of the converts to the reformed faith belonged to the order of the inferior clergy. Keillor, Forret, Simson, and Beveridge, were arraigned before an ecclesiastical tribunal, and soon afterwards Kennedy and Russell, out of which number three, Kennedy, Forret, and Russell, suffered at the stake with great meekness and courage. There can be little doubt that such inhuman executions operated in favour, rather than against the progress of the reformation.

The coalition between Francis the First and the emperor was now completed under the auspices of the papal court; and Henry the Eighth, aware of the great efforts made to induce James to join the league against him, dispatched Sir Ralph Sadler into Scotland. The object of this able negotiator was to rouse James’s jealousy against the increasing power of the clergy, to prevail upon him to throw off his allegiance to the pope, to imitate his example by suppressing the monasteries, and to urge him to maintain the peace with England. To the last request the Scottish king replied, that if Henry’s conduct was pacific, nothing should induce him to join any hostile league against him; but he assured Sadler that he found his clergy his most loyal and useful subjects; and although he would be anxious to see a reformation in the general morals of this body, he did not exactly see how that could best be effected by renouncing the authority of his holy father the pope, the terrestrial head of the church, and thus setting an example of rebellion and confusion.

James had for some time meditated an important enterprise, which he now executed; a voyage to the most northern parts of his dominions conducted by himself, and on a scale such as had not been attempted by any of his predecessors. His fleet consisted of twelve ships, fully armed and provisioned. He was attended by Beaton, and the earls of Huntly, Arran, and Angus; and these barons bringing with them their armed vassals, formed a force which, united to the royal suite and attendants, was equal to a little army. Lindsay, a skilful hydrographer, accompanied the expedition, and his maps and charts, the first rude essays in this science ever attempted in Scotland, are preserved at the present day.^[54. In the Harleian Collection, British Museum ] The king first coasted Fife, Angus, and[7:19:728] Buchan; he next visited Caithness, crossed the Pentland frith to the Orkneys, doubled Cape Wrath, steered for the Lewis, crossed over to Skye, circumnavigated Mull, swept along the shores of Argyle, and passing Kintyre, inspected Arran and Bute, whence he sailed up the Clyde to Dunbarton, where he concluded his labours.

The effects of this royal progress were salutary and decisive. The force with which James was accompanied secured a prompt submission to his commands, and inspired these remote districts with a wholesome dread of the royal name. Some of the fiercer and more independent chiefs, who affected a show of resistance, were seized and confined in irons on board the fleet; others, more gently treated, were yet compelled to accompany the monarch as hostages for the pacific behaviour of their followers; and all were convinced that any attempt to brave the power of the crown, must for the present be vain and ruinous.

This exhibition of increasing energy in the king only exposed him the more to the jealousy of those nobles whose power had been nourished by long intervals of license, and who now clearly perceived, that unless they were prepared to resign their rights, a struggle between them and their sovereign could hardly be averted. A proof of this was shown on James’s return to court from his northern voyage, when a conspiracy against his life was detected, the third which had occurred within no very long period. Like the rest it is involved in obscurity; but the proof was considered as sufficient, and its author, Sir James Hamilton, commonly called the bastard of Arran, was tried, convicted and executed. It is said that the king was thrown into a state of great despondency and gloom by the discovery of this plot; that it opened his eyes to the manifold dangers which surrounded a prince at variance with his nobles; and that he began to feel that he was engaged in a contest in which they might prove too strong for him.

Whatever credit we may attach to these reports, the conduct of James gave decided proofs that he was determined to continue the struggle; and in a Parliament which soon afterwards assembled in the capital, he strengthened his own hands by annexing to the crown the whole of the Hebrides, by which we are to understand the isles north and south of the two Kintyres. But this was not all. To these new acquisitions were added the Orkney and Zetland isles, many extensive lordships, Jedburgh forest, and the demesnes of Angus, Glammis, Liddaldale, and Evandale.

In the want of contemporary evidence, it is difficult to decide upon the strict justice of this sweeping measure. It is possible that, by rigidly investigating the history of former rebellions, and present treasons, James may have persuaded himself that he was entitled to the forfeiture of all these large estates and principalities; but in such circumstances it had been the practice of former monarchs to parcel out the forfeited lands among his nobles who had preserved their loyalty; and in the measure now adopted, of annexing the whole to the crown, the aristocracy saw little else than their own intended ruin. It was in vain that the measure was followed by the publication of a general act of amnesty for all former treasons. The earl of Angus, Sir George Douglas, and the whole of their adherents were excepted; and men observed that while the king’s generosity was vague and capricious, his aversion to those who had once injured him, was stern and immutable.

It is not easy to discover James’s exact opinions regarding the progress of the reformed doctrines, which now began to create great alarm in the Roman Catholic clergy. On the one hand he seems to have become convinced of the necessity for a reform in the church, and to have looked with a severe eye upon the idleness, corruption, and ignorance of a large portion of the clergy. He encouraged Sir David Lindsay, whose satire upon the three estates contained a bitter attack upon the prelates; and being himself much in volved in debt, there is reason to believe he regarded the overgrown possessions and extraordinary wealth of the clergy with certain longings to appropriate some portion of it towards the exigencies of the state. Yet, in the Parliament to which we have just alluded, it was made a capital offence to argue against the supreme authority, or the spiritual infallibility of the pope; the discussion of religious questions in private meetings was interdicted; a law was passed against the demolition of the shrines and images of saints; and it was evidently the opinion of the king that the reformation should be made by the church itself, within itself, and under the sanction of its head the pope.

Such seems to have been the feelings and the policy of the sovereign. Those of another influential body in the state, the clergy, are easily detected. To counteract the intrigues of Henry the Eighth, and to check any incipient feelings of favour towards the reformation, the great reliance of cardinal Beaton and the Roman Catholic party was in the prospect of a war with England. To accomplish this, they had unfortunately ample materials to work upon. Henry the Eighth was violent and dictatorial; James proud, and jealous of his independence. The English king had espoused the interests of the banished house of Douglas, and fomented discontent among the rest of the Scottish nobles. James was animated by an unrelenting animosity to the earl of Angus, the head of the house of Douglas, and to all who bore the name. Henry, instigated by the utmost hostility to the Roman sec, eagerly desired that his royal nephew should imitate his example, suppress the religious houses, and proclaim his independence; but the instructions to his ambassador, Sadler, upon this subject, contained expressions so personally insolent to James, that if obeyed, his mission must have occasioned disgust rather than conciliation. The English king requested a personal interview at York; and James, after a promise to meet him, broke the appointment with Henry, who had proceeded to that city in expectation of his arrival.

At this crisis, the Scottish king evidently dreaded being prematurely hurried into war. He was in debt, he suspected the fidelity of his nobles, he was well aware that a feudal monarch at variance with his barons, the sinews of his strength, was likely to be dishonoured and defeated. He had lately lost his only children, Arthur and James, and he believed that Beaton’s anxiety for war was dictated by selfish motives, and influenced by his intrigues with Rome. Under these circumstances, public policy and personal feeling alike made him dread any immediate hostilities with England, and he endeavoured by an embassy to avert the rupture; but Henry, from the moment of his disappointment at York, would listen to no message of conciliation. War was resolved on, the cast and middle marches were put into a state of defence, Berwick inspected, musters raised in the north, and soon afterwards Sir James Bowes, with the force of the east marches, marched across the border. The banished Angus, his brother Sir George Douglas, and a large body of the retainers of the Douglases, had joined him; but they were encountered, and completely defeated by Huntly and Home.

This, however, was merely a preliminary outbreak; and as such border outrages had frequently occurred without drawing after them more serious consequences, James made a last effort to avert the storm, by sending commissioners first to York, and afterwards to meet the duke of Norfolk, who, at the head of an army of forty thousand men, had crossed the Tweed, and already given many of the granges and villages to the flames. It was in vain, however, to attempt negotiation; and aware that the crisis had arrived, the Scottish king commanded Huntly and Home, upon whose fidelity he had most reliance, to watch the progress of Norfolk, while he himself assembled the main force of his kingdom on the Borough-moor near Edinburgh.[7:19:729] With this army, which mustered thirty thousand strong, he advanced to Fala-moor, and when encamped there, received the welcome intelligence that Norfolk, compelled by the want of supplies and the severity of the winter, was in full retreat. It was now the time to retaliate, and James issued orders for an immediate invasion of England. But the nobles felt their own strength. They had long regarded the measures of the court with distrust, some even with indignation and a desire of revenge; they recalled to mind the proceedings of the monarch, the threatening attitude lately assumed by the crown towards the whole body of the aristocracy; and when commanded to cross the borders, they haughtily and unanimously refused. It was in vain that James, stung with such an indignity, threatened, remonstrated, and even entreated them, as they valued their own honour and his, to proceed against the English. The feeling of attachment to their prince, or revenge against the enemy seemed to be completely extinguished in a resolution to assert their power, and procure a redress of their grievances; and the sovereign was at last compelled to disband the army, and return outbraved and defeated to his capital.

There can be no doubt that so mortifying a reverse sunk deep into the heart of James, but his pride, and the natural vigour of his character supported him. Though deserted by the majority, he had still some powerful friends among the nobles, the clergy were unanimously in his favour, and it was resolved to make a second effort to re-assemble the army for the invasion of England. Its success, though partial, once more gave a gleam of hope to the monarch. A force of ten thousand men was collected chiefly by the exertions of Lord Maxwell; with this it was resolved to break across the western marches, and the king took his station at Caerlaverock, where he eagerly awaited the result of the expedition. A distrust of his nobles, however, still haunted him; and secret orders were issued, that as soon as the army reached the river Esk, his favourite, Oliver Sinclair, should be intrusted with the chief command. Nothing could be more unwise than this resolution. It was received with murmurs of discontent; and when the new general exhibited himself to the camp, and a herald attempted to read the royal commission by which he was appointed, the whole army became agitated, disorderly, and almost mutinous. At this crisis, Dacre and Musgrave, two English officers, advanced to reconnoitre at the head of three hundred horse, and approaching near enough to perceive the condition of the Scots, boldly charged them. The effect of this surprise was instantaneous and fatal. Ten thousand Scots fled from three hundred English cavalry, with scarcely a momentary resistance. In the panic the greater number escaped, but a thousand prisoners were taken, and among them many of the leading nobles, Cassillis, Glencairn, Maxwell, Somerville, Gray, Oliphant, and Fleming.

This second calamity completely overwhelmed the king. He had eagerly awaited at Caerlaverock the first news from the army, and he anticipated a victory which should efface the late dishonour, and restore the feelings of cordiality between himself and his barons. In an instant the hope was blasted, and gave place to the most gloomy despondency. For their unheard-of conduct, James could find no solution but in the persuasion that his nobles had secretly conspired to betray him to England, and to sacrifice the independence of the kingdom to the gratification of their personal revenge. This idea preyed upon his mind. The feeling that his army had exposed themselves, their sovereign, and the Scottish name to contempt, took entire possession of him. He became the victim of a low fever, which had its seat in a wounded heart, and from a proud monarch, lately in the vigour of his strength and the prime of his age, he sunk into a state of silent melancholy. When in this hopeless condition, the news arrived that his queen had given birth to a daughter.

He had already lost his two sons, and clung to the hope that his next might be a boy. But here too he was met by disappointment; and wandering back in thought to the time when the daughter of Bruce brought to his ancestor, the steward of Scotland, the dowry of the kingdom, he received the intelligence with the melancholy remark, “It cam wi' a lass, it will gang wi’ a lass “It came by a girl, and will go with a girl.” As he said this, a few of the most faithful of his nobles and councillors stood round his bed; and as they strove to comfort him, he stretched out his hand for them to kiss, and regarding them with great affection, closed his eyes, and placidly expired. He died in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-ninth of his reign.

Somewhat more than two centuries and a half had elapsed since the death of Alexander the Third had left the country under circumstances of calamity and danger strikingly similar to those in which it now found itself in losing James the Fifth. Alexander had been bereft of all his sons, and the crown descended to an only grand-daughter, the Maiden of Norway. James had been visited by a like bereavement. His sons, Arthur and James, had been cut off, and his only daughter, Mary, an infant eight days old, was now queen. On the death of Alexander, the kingdom saw itself exposed to the ambitious designs of Edward the First, who immediately conceived the project of marrying the queen of Scotland to his eldest son. On the death of James, Henry the Eighth, a monarch far inferior in talent to Edward, but equally ambitious, and, where the rights of others were concerned, still more unscrupulous, at once embraced the design of marrying his son the prince of Wales to the infant Mary. Edward, when disappointed of his first object by the death of the infant queen, resorted to intrigue and force to accomplish his purpose; and Henry having been baffled in his ambition, not indeed by the death, but by the betrothment of Mary to the dauphin, resorted to the same weapons to effect his designs. One point of the parallel, and that the most mortifying of all, remains. In the days of Edward, Scotland was basely deserted by her leading nobility, and owed her liberty to the inherent love of freedom and the persevering courage of her people. It was the same under Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth. The lapse of two centuries and a half found the great majority of the Scottish nobles as selfish, wavering, and unprincipled as their ancestors in the days of Edward,— supported by the money of England, ready to sacrifice the independence of their country to their individual ambition; and if Scotland preserved her liberty as a separate kingdom, which, by the blessing of God, she did, the agents selected for her deliverance were the great body of her people, and the numerous and influential classes of the clergy. From these general remarks let us return to our historical sketch.

The rout at the Solway Moss, followed, as we have seen it, by the death of the king, gave an alarming advantage to Henry the Eighth. The earl of Angus, Sir George Douglas, and the numerous supporters of this house, still powerful though in banishment, had been long devoted to his interests, in the support of which they saw the only sure hope of their own restoration. To these were added the prisoners of highest rank who were taken in the late disgraceful flight. To them the English monarch now proposed an alternative, trying indeed, but in the choice of which no citizen of a free country ought to have hesitated. On the one hand, they were threatened with imprisonment in the Tower, to which they had been conducted immediately after their being taken. On the other, they were promised freedom, and a return to their native country, but coupled with extraordinary conditions. A bond was drawn up which they were required to sign. By it they acknowledged Henry as lord superior of the kingdom of Scotland; they promised to exert their influence to procure for him the government of the kingdom, and the[7:19:730] resignation into his hands of all its fortresses; they engaged to have their infant queen delivered to his keeping; and they solemnly stipulated, that if the parliament of Scotland resisted such demands, they would employ their whole feudal strength to co-operate with England in completing the conquest of the country. To this engagement they were required to swear fidelity; and if they failed in accomplishing the wishes of the king, the penalty was to be their immediate return to their prisons in England. It must have been apparent to the Scottish prisoners that such an engagement virtually annihilated the existence of their country as a separate kingdom; and yet it is mortifying to add that it was embraced by the earls of Glencairn and Cassillis, with the lords Maxwell, Somerville, and Oliphant. These were among the chief prisoners taken in the rout of Solway Moss; the rest were of inferior rank, and remained in captivity, while Angus, Sir George Douglas, and the strength of their house, cordially co-operated with Henry.^[55. Sadler's State Papers, vol i. pp. 69, 81. ] '

It was the policy of these lords on their return to Scotland, to conceal the full extent of their engagements, and to proceed with great caution. On their arrival they found the country divided into two factions. On the one side, was cardinal Beaton the chancellor, supported by the queen-mother Mary of Guise, the whole body of the clergy, the Roman Catholic nobility, and the interest of France. On the other stood the earl of Arran, nearest heir to the crown, a weak and indolent man, who leaned to the reformed opinions; all the nobles who had forsaken the ancient faith, the adherents of the house of Douglas, and many who, ignorant of the unjust and degrading demands of Henry, considered a marriage with England, under due safeguards, as a wise and politic step. As to the great body of the people, by which we must chiefly understand the middle and commercial classes, their feelings, as far as they can be detected, were somewhat discordant. Many favoured the reformation, and from hostility to the cardinal, gave a virtual support to Henry the Eighth and the English faction; but their feeling of national independence was so strong, that on the slightest assumption of superiority, it was ready to exhibit itself in determined hostility.

Into the details of the struggles between these opposite factions, it belongs not to our plan to enter. We must touch only the great leading events; but these, even in their most general form, are full of interest. On the death of the king, Beaton produced a will which appointed him chief governor of the realm, and guardian to the infant queen; but the paper was thrown aside as a forged instrument; Arran, the nearest heir to the crown, was chosen governor; and the cardinal having contented himself with securing the interest and support of France, prepared for a determined struggle with his opponents. At this moment, the Douglases and the Solway prisoners arrived, of which party Sir George Douglas, brother to Angus, and father of the celebrated regent Morton, was the leader. Their first act was bold and successful. Beaton was arraigned of a treasonable correspondence with France, and hurried to prison; a parliament was summoned for the discussion of the proposed alliance with England; and as the governor, Arran, appeared to be completely under English influence, it was confidently expected that Henry's schemes of ambition were not far from their accomplishment. But they were defeated by his own violent and intolerant conduct. He insisted on having the cardinal delivered up to be imprisoned in England; he upbraided the Douglases for their delay to surrender the fortresses of the kingdom; and instead of being contented with the proceedings of the parliament, which agreed to the marriage between the Scottish queen and his son, he expressed the most violent resentment, because the estates insisted that their country should preserve its liberties as a separate and independent kingdom.

Amidst these collisions the secret treachery of the Douglases and the Solway lords began to transpire. Beaton nearly about the same time recovered his liberty, and after an ineffectual attempt to secure a matrimonial alliance with England on just and equal grounds, he placed himself and the great party of which he became the leader in determined hostility to Henry. A last effort, however, was made, and a Scottish embassy sought the English court. In a personal interview, the ambassadors explained to the king the conditions on which the country would agree to the marriage. To their astonishment, the monarch, overcome by passion, proclaimed himself lord paramount of Scotland, and insisted that the government of that kingdom, and the custody of its infant sovereign, belonged of right to him. This disclosure, which was made in a moment of passion, and against the earnest entreaties of the English faction, produced an instantaneous effect. It was received in Scotland, as had been predicted, with a universal burst of indignation. It gave the cardinal and the French party an immediate ascendancy; the governor, Arran, and his friends joined their ranks; and the people became so exasperated, that Sadler, the English ambassador, could not safely shew himself in the capital.

To counteract all these effects, Sir George Douglas exerted himself with indefatigable activity. Henry was prevailed upon to renounce the most obnoxious part of his demands. Arran, with his characteristic caprice, deserted his new friends; and in a convention of the nobles, which was not attended by the opposite faction, the treaties of marriage and pacification with England were finally arranged. Yet although, as far as it was promulgated to the people, the negotiation now concluded, preserved entire the rights and liberties of Scotland, a paper has lately been discovered, drawn up at the same time, and entitled a secret Device, in which the earls of Angus and Glencairn, with lord Maxwell, Sir George Douglas, and the rest of their party, once more tied themselves to the service of the English king, and promised that, if he did not accomplish the full extent of his designs, he should at least have the dominion on this side the Forth.^[56. Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. v. p. 339. ]

To fulfil this treaty, however, was found no easy matter. It was averred by the opposite faction, that it had been carried through by private influence, unsanctioned by the highest nobles, unauthorized by any parliament, contrary to the wishes of the people; and at this very crisis the cardinal obtained possession of the person of the infant queen, who had hitherto been strictly guarded by the governor and the Hamiltons. To balance this success, Arran, whose character had hitherto been only weak, became alarmed at the success of the cardinal; and, flattered by a proposal of the English king to make him sovereign of Scotland beyond the Forth, declared his readiness to co-operate with an English army for the entire subjugation of the country. In the mean time, he held a convention of the nobles in the abbey church of Holyrood, and in his character of governor of the realm, ratified the marriage treaty with England, unmindful of the protestations of Beaton and his party, that they were no parties to such a transaction, and would not hold themselves bound by a decision contrary to the opinion of the majority of the nobles and the wishes of the people.

Henry the Eighth, enraged by this opposition, acted with his wonted impetuosity and want of principle. He intrigued against the life and liberty of the cardinal, but his plots to get possession of the prelate were unsuccessful; he seized the ships of the Scottish merchants which were in English ports, a measure which was deeply resented; and he assumed that tone of haughty defiance, which, when united to his[7:19:731] hostile preparations, made it apparent that war could not be long averted. France now offered her assistance to her ancient ally. The earl of Arran, ever wavering and irresolute, once more threw his whole influence into Beaton’s hands; and this minister, availing himself of an accession of strength, proceeded with a vigorous hand to suppress heresy, and to inculcate determined resistance to England.

Henry, who was thoroughly unprincipled, and cared not^[57. ’ Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. v. pp. 388, 889. ] what means he used to rid himself of his opponents, attempted to remove the cardinal, by hiring Brunston, Grange, Rothes, and some of the opposite faction, to seize or assassinate him; but he once more failed in this nefarious project, and, foiled and irritated, let loose his vengeance in the shape of a naval invasion. An English fleet of a hundred sail., under lord Lisle, high admiral, appeared suddenly in the Forth, and disembarked a force which plundered Leith, sacked Edinburgh, which had been deserted by its inhabitants, ravaged the adjoining country with merciless cruelty, and left upon land a considerable force, which, in its retreat, was as remorseless in its devastations as the fleet had been in its attack. Such was Henry’s mode of wooing, of which it was well observed by lord Herbert, that he did too much for a suitor, and too little for a conqueror.

It might have been expected that the rival leaders and factions in the state, all of whom had suffered by this invasion, would have had their eyes opened to the necessity of saving the country, by uniting their strength; but in vain the cardinal strained every effort to effect so desirable a result. Mutual jealousies, feudal quarrels, renewed intrigues with England, private bonds or covenants among themselves, all co-operated to destroy any cordial union; and the earls of Lennox and Glencairn, two of the most powerful of the Scottish barons, seized this opportunity to sell themselves to Henry, and to conduct a hostile expedition into the heart of Scotland.

It was at this moment, when all was gloom and despondency, that the earl of Angus, who, with his brother, had been lately restored to his estates, and absolved in Parliament from the sentence of treason, encountered and totally defeated Sir Ralph Evre and Sir Brian Layton at Ancram Muir. These English leaders had procured from Henry a grant of all they could conquer in Teviotdale and the Merse, where Angus’s estates chiefly lay; and penetrating at the head of five thousand men to Melrose, they not only ravaged that district, but plundered the abbey, and wantonly defaced the tombs of the house of Douglas; an insult which Angus revenged in the most signal manner, by attacking the English in their retreat, dispersing their force, with the slaughter of eight hundred men, leaving Evre and Layton dead on the field, and making a capture of one thousand prisoners.

This victory, although resulting not from patriotic principle, but personal revenge, had a good effect in restoring confidence to the people; and it was followed up by the resolution of Francis the First to equip a fleet for the invasion of England, and to assist Scotland by an auxiliary force. Beaton, encouraged by this expected aid, having concentrated his party, prevailed upon the majority of the nobles, in a convention held in the capital, to refuse every advance of the English monarch, and to declare the treaty of peace and marriage at an end; while Henry, enraged to the utmost pitch by this success, eagerly encouraged a second plot of the earls of Cassillis, Angus, and Glencairn, for the murder of the cardinal. The king, however, enjoined Sir Ralph Sadler to propose the assassination, as coming from himself, and the conspirators at this moment would not act without Henry’s direct approval. 1

In the midst of these dark plots, a French fleet arrived in Scotland with three thousand men. This led to decisive measures. A Scottish army was assembled; but torn as usual by internal dissensions, and betrayed by the Douglases, who held a principal command, its operations were insignificant, and its retreat almost immediate. This was followed by a cruel invasion of the English, in which the earl of Hertford, at the head of an army, whose numbers rendered opposition fruitless, invaded Scotland, and after a desolating progress, sent word to his master, that for three hundred years there had not been such ravages committed. Seven monasteries and religious houses, sixteen castles and towns, five market towns, two hundred and forty-three villages, thirteen mills and three hospitals, were burned down during this atrocious expedition; and there still exists a characteristic letter, in which Henry, on receiving some French deserters into his service, enjoins them to show their attachment by some notable exploit, such as the “trapping or slaying the cardinal.” He, at the same time, engaged the earl of Lennox, and Donald, lord of the Isles, to attack Scotland on the west coasts; and having heard that Beaton, his able and indefatigable enemy, meditated a visit to France for the purpose of subsidising a large auxiliary force for the continuance of the war, he determined to make a last effort to cut him off, and with this view, resumed with the laird of Brunston the plot for his assassination.

Into the details of this remarkable conspiracy, and the various parties whom Henry contrived to bring together for the execution of his sanguinary purpose, we cannot here enter.^[58. The whole of the plot, as it is to be traced in authentic letters in the State Paper-Office, will be found detailed in Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. V. p. 387—391, and in an Appendix to that volume, untitled,” Historical Remarks on the Assassination of Cardinal Beaton.” ] Fanaticism of the sternest kind, which had been worked up into action by the cardinal’s cruel execution of George Wishart, commonly called the martyr, united itself to more mercenary motives with some of the conspirators, and with others, to the desire of private revenge; and on the morning of the 28th of May, a band of desperate men, who are now known to have been in the pay of England, and some of whom had been on former occasions urged by the English king to the commission of the murder, broke into the cardinal’s apartments in the castle of St. Andrews, beat down the barricades with which the miserable man had attempted to defend the door, and putting him instantly to death, hung out his naked and mangled body over the window of his bed-chamber, in savage and brutal triumph. They then seized the castle, dismissed unharmed the household servants of the cardinal, sent off a messenger to the English court to inform Henry of their success; and being soon afterwards joined by John Knox, and a considerable band of his friends, who considered the death of Beaton as favourable to the reformation, they determined to defend the castle for Henry against any force which might be brought against them.

These confident anticipations were, for a time, overthrown by the death of Henry the Eighth, an event soon followed by that of his rival Francis the First; but the accession of Edward the Sixth in England, and that of Henry the Second in France, did not materially alter the policy of either kingdom towards Scotland. In England, the protector Somerset, who was placed at the head of the government during the minority of his royal nephew, considered himself bound to enforce the observation of the marriage treaty between Edward and the young queen of Scots; while in France, Henry the Second, devoted to the cause of the Catholic church, and directed in his affairs by the Guises, foresaw at once the necessity of an intimate union with Mary of[7:19:732] Guise the queen-dowager, and the governor Arran; his policy being to arrest the spread of the reformed opinions, and to weaken England in the quarter to which Somerset looked for an easy triumph.

For nine years after the assassination of Beaton, the earl of Arran continued at the head of the government; and during that period some events took place which drew after them important effects. The warlike preparations of Somerset induced the French government to anticipate his motions; and a French fleet of sixteen armed galleons having entered the Frith, bombarded and carried the castle of St. Andrews, in which the conspirators against Beaton, and Knox the Scottish reformer, had deemed themselves secure.

It was when shut up in St. Andrews, that this extraordinary man first assumed the office of a minister of the reformed religion; but having capitulated with the rest, he was embarked with his associates for France, and on his arrival there, kept a prisoner in chains on board the galleys. He remained on the continent till 1550, when he he returned not to Scotland, but to England, and became one of the chaplains to Edward the Sixth.

Immediately after the siege of St. Andrews, the protector Somerset invaded Scotland at the head of an army of fourteen thousand strong, and supported by a fleet of thirty-four ships of war. He was met by Arran, the governor, at Musselburgh, or Pinkey-cleugh, within about six miles distance from the capital, where an army considerably more than double the number of the English had encamped in so strong a position on the banks of the Esk, that with proper military skill on their part, any attempt to dislodge them might have brought ruin on their assailants. The inexperience and folly of Arran, the governor, threw away this advantage. He mistook a movement of Somerset, in which the English leader meant to possess himself of an adjoining height, for an intention to communicate with his fleet and reimbark his army; and contrary to the remonstrances of his best officers, he gave orders for the whole army to strike their tents and cross the river on which he had encamped. The order was at first resisted, at last unwillingly and imperfectly obeyed; and in the midst of the confusion which ensued, the English attacked the Scottish divisions in detail., and after a sanguinary conflict, gained a complete victory. Fourteen thousand were slain in the battle and in the chase, while the English loss was comparatively trifling.

Since the fatal day of Floddon, Scotland had sustained no defeat in the least degree approaching to this at Pinkey, and had it been followed up by the Protector, the consequences must have been of the most serious kind, perhaps fatal to the liberty of the country. But happily Somerset, at the very moment of his victory, received accounts of a conspiracy which his enemies at the English court had organized against him; and impatient to confront them in person, his measures were hurried, confused, and ill-digested. After a brief stay in the capital, he commenced his retreat through Teviotdale, and the fleet at the same time weighed anchor and returned to England.

The consequences of the defeat at Pinkey, and the effects of a subsequent and cruel inroad into Annandale by Lord Wharton and the earl of Lennox, were to exasperate the feelings of national antipathy, and to throw the governor and the queen-mother more decidedly into the arms of France. A convention was held at Stirling, in which it was determined to request the immediate assistance of a French force, and to send Mary, the young queen of Scots, to be educated at the court of Henry the Second. Soon afterwards, the Sieur Montalembert, commonly called Monsieur d’Esse, one of the ablest officers in the service of that country, arrived in Scotland with six thousand men. In a parliament held at Haddington, the marriage of the French dauphin to the queen of Scots was finally determined; and the infant Mary, then in her sixth year, took her voyage to France, accompanied by lords Erskine and Livingston, her governors, and arrived in safety at the court of St. Germain, in August 1548.

It belongs not to an historical sketch of this kind, to enter into the details of that sanguinary and obstinate war which now took place between England and the united strength of France and Scotland. The slaughter at Pinkey, the burning of their sea-ports and shipping, and the pitiless severity with which the repeated invasions of their country were accompanied, had at length animated the Scots with a common feeling of revenge, which gave to the contest a character of peculiar ferocity, and manifested itself in shocking excesses. Happily the struggle did not continue long. The peace of Boulogne, between France and England, led, in 1550, to a cessation of hostilities in Scotland, where for some time before, the tide of success had run in favour of the governor and his foreign auxiliaries; and thus, after a war which had lasted for seven years, dating it from the year 1543, when Henry the Eighth determined to enforce the observation of the treaty, the English saw themselves obliged to abandon the extravagant project of compelling the Scots into a matrimonial alliance.

This war, for the accomplishment of the marriage, was not long afterwards followed by the still more important and eventful struggle for the establishment of the reformation, the history of which may properly be divided into the war of opinion, which extended from the arrival of Knox in Scotland in 1555, to the attack upon Perth in 1559; and the actual war between the Congregation and their opponents, which was comparatively of short duration, and concluded in the treaty of Edinburgh and the triumph of the party of the Congregation, in 1561. How difficult is it, in the narrow compass allowed us for this picture, to do justice even to its prominent outlines? The queen-dowager, Mary of Guise, a woman, by the confession of her enemies, of good judgment, and sincere and upright principles, succeeded in procuring the retirement of Arran and her own nomination to the regency, (April 1554). She was enabled to accomplish this chiefly by the influence of France, then high in Scotland; but she was assisted also by the leaders of the protestant party, whom she courted and attached to her interest. Her possession of the supreme power was soon followed by the death of Edward the Sixth and the accession of Mary, a princess, as is well known, sincerely devoted to the ancient faith; but these changes were not accompanied by any important political events. The queen-dowager, indeed, when she saw England and Spain engaged in Italy in a struggle with France and the pope, deemed it her duty to support her country and attack England; but although the Scottish barons assembled an army, it was only to act on the defensive; they refused to cross the border, and the Regent, hitherto on the most amicable terms with the nobles, dismissed them with undissembled resentment.

To make up for this disappointment, the marriage between the young queen of Scots and the dauphin was concluded with much solemnity at Notre Dame; and in a parliament held at Edinburgh, it was agreed that the youthful husband should bear the title of king of Scotland during the continuance of the marriage, that all letters in Scotland should run in the joint names of Francis and Mary, and that the arms of both kingdoms should be quartered in the great seal and the current coin of the realm. These transactions had not been long concluded, when Mary of England, brokenhearted by the loss of Calais and the neglect of Philip, sunk into the grave; and Elizabeth’s accession to the throne was hailed with ιmiversal delight by the protestant party in Europe.

When the English queen placed herself at the head of the reformation, this great moral revolution had made no inconsiderable progress in Scotland. The return of Knox to his native country in 1555, and the influence which his[7:19:733] fiery zeal and popular eloquence soon gained over the Congregation, determined them to make a formal separation from the Catholic Church; and although the reformer was once more compelled, probably by fears for his life, to retreat to Geneva, the danger appears soon to have passed, and the leaders of the Congregation, conscious of increasing strength, entered into that memorable bond or covenant, by which they engaged to establish the word of God, to maintain the gospel of Christ, to labour to have faithful ministers, and to execute judgment upon what they termed the superstitions and abominations of the ancient faith.

This bond was little less than an open declaration of war against the established religion; and lest it should be misunderstood, the lords of the Congregation at the same time passed a resolution, declaring, that in all parishes the common prayer, by which was meant the service book of Edward the Sixth, should be read in the churches by the curates, if qualified to perform this service, if not, by others in the parish who were qualified. It was resolved at the same time, that doctrine, preaching, and the interpretation of Scripture should be used privately, until it pleased God to move the prince to grant public preaching by faithful ministers.

The Roman Catholic clergy received such a denunciation of the national faith with alarm and indignation; and resort-ingonce more to those weapons which had already so deeply injured their cause, they deemed it expedient to hold up an example which should strike terror into the new converts. Walter Mill, a priest who had embraced the reformation, was seized, tried, delivered over to the secular arm and burned at St. Andrews. The people, however, only execrated the cruelty of which he was the victim, and his last words were never forgotten. “I am now fourscore and two years old, and could not have lived long by the course of nature; but a hundred better shall rise out of the ashes of my bones, and I trust in God I am the last who shall suffer death in Scotland for this cause.” A pathetic declaration, and happily prophetical.

Against this cruel execution, the lords of the Congregation, Glencairn, Argyll, Morton, Erskine of Dun, and others, presented a remonstrance to the queen-dowager. It was impossible, they said, that her Grace could be ignorant of the controversy which had arisen between them and the popish clergy, concerning the true religion and the right worshipping of God. They denounced the power which was claimed by these priests of dictating their creed under the penalty of fire and faggot, and declared, that although hitherto they had remained quiescent under such abuses, they now were persuaded, that they, “as part of that power which God had established in the land,” were bound to defend their persecuted brethren. They proceeded still more boldly to state, that a reformation of abuses was necessary, not only in religion, but in the temporal government of the state; and after claiming for themselves the free right of assembling in public or private, hearing common prayers, and having the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper administered in the vulgar tongue, they concluded by declaring that they were willing that the controversy between themselves and the Catholic priesthood should be determined by a reference to the New Testament, the writings of the fathers, and the laws of the emperor Justinian. This declaration was soon after followed by a supplication to parliament, in which they requested that all statutes by which churchmen were empowered to proceed against heretics, should be suspended until the controversies in religion were determined by a general council of the church.

This petition was received by the queen-regent with concealed dissatisfaction, by the great body of the Roman Catholic clergy with undisguised scorn and reprobation. It suited however the regent at this moment to dissemble. She required the aid of the protestant lords to carry her favourite measures in this parliament, the obtaining the crown-

matrimonial and the title of king of Scots for the dauphin; and intreating the lords of the Congregation to withdraw their petition and articles for a season, she promised them her protection, and a favourable consideration of their demands. To this they agreed, but under a protestation which was publicly read in parliament. It proved by the manner in which it was worded that they knew their own strength; and, in the event of a refusal, were prepared to enforce their demand for liberty of conscience and a thorough reformation of the church.

It was at this crisis, when the lords of the Congregation had taken their stand on the ground which they never afterwards deserted, and when the queen-regent, having obtained her wishes, considered herself independent of their support, that Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, and Knox, who soon after his first return had left Scotland, again arrived in his native country. Both events produced the most important effects. It was one of the great principles of Elizabeth’s policy to increase her own security by weakening her neighbours; to accomplish which, she invariably fomented a secret faction which opposed itself to the existing government. We have already seen how lightly the feudal nobility of Scotland were accustomed to regard the power of the crown or the laws of the realm, if they interfered in any prominent manner with their personal freedom or privileges; and the history of the country, from the rebellion in the reign of James the Third, to the moment when they so recently refused to lead their forces against England, had exhibited little else than the total destruction of any balance between the fierce unbridled license of the aristocracy, and the decreasing influence of the crown and the laws.

Of those nobles who had been ready, without any feelings of shame, to renounce their allegiance to their country, and to be bought over by England, many had embraced the principles of the reformation. To men so long accustomed to make their personal interest the measure of their duty, and to think and act as they pleased, a revolution which contended for liberty of conscience and the license of private judgment, must have warmly recommended itself; and when they considered the history of the English reformation, and the appropriation of the church lands by Henry and Edward, they could not, we may believe, be totally dead to the lesson. The church of Rome in Scotland was comparatively as rich as her sister had been across the border; and if the reformation was to be as complete in their own country as in England, it was not difficult for these shrewd barons to persuade themselves that they might imitate, perhaps improve the example.

Over an aristocracy of such a character, Elizabeth and her ministers at once perceived how easy it would be to acquire an influence. Her policy at home was to avoid war, and to enforce in every department of the state the most rigid economy. Her policy abroad, as already observed, was to give her neighbours full employment within their own realm, by secretly encouraging every faction which rose against the government. From the first moment of her accession, therefore, she favoured the leaders of the Congregation, directed their measures, supported them with money, and received from them in return a respect and deference superior to that which they paid to their own sovereign.

But if the effects of the accession of Elizabeth upon the body of the Scottish nobles, were important in reference to the reformation, the consequences of Knox’s re-appearance were not less momentous upon the character of the people. Hitherto the healthy patriotic feeling, the resolution to defend their independence as a separate kingdom from foreign domination and attack, had existed almost exclusively in the middle and lower orders, the commercial classes, and the labourers of the soil. But among these, the principles of the reformation had taken a deep root. They had adopted[7:19:734] them, not like many of the nobles, from interest, but from conviction; and upon their minds the popular eloquence of Knox, his fiery zeal, his denunciations of superstition, his sarcastic attacks upon the ignorance and the vices of his opponents, produced a powerful impression. Till this period they had been wont to regard France as their ancient ally, and England as their ancient enemy. But France was now held forth to them, in the discourses of their favourite preacher, as their bitterest foe, because the enemy of their soul’s health; while England was the land of gospel light, and its queen the princess to whom, as the bulwark of the truth, they ought to look with affection and admiration.

Such were the feelings of the Scottish nobles, and the great body of the people, with reference to the momentous struggle between the reformation and the Roman Catholic faith, which was now about to convulse the country. Had the queen-dowager continued to act with the same judgment and caution which had distinguished the commencement of her government, it is possible that the struggle might have been for a time averted; but at this moment the powerful princes of the house of Guise deemed it expedient to join the league which had been concluded between the pope, the king of Spain, and the emperor, for the destruction of the protestants, and the re-establishment of the catholic faith in Europe. They immediately communicated with their sister, the regent, in Scotland; and such was unfortunately their influence over her mind, that after a feeble resistance she joined the papal coalition.

This fatal step was followed, as might have been expected, by an immediate collision between the two parties. In a convention of the clergy which was held at Edinburgh, in March 1559, the lords of the Congregation, in addition to the demands which they had already presented, insisted that bishops should not henceforward be elected without the consent of the gentlemen of the diocese, nor parish priests except by the votes of the parishioners. These proposals were met by the queen with a determined refusal. A proclamation was issued, commanding all persons to resort daily to mass and confession. It was declared that no language but the Latin could be used in public prayers, without violating the most sacred decrees of the church; and the protestant ministers who had acted in defiance of these injunctions, were summoned to appear at Stirling, and there answer to the accusations which should be brought against them.

They accordingly did appear; but it was with Knox at their head, and surrounded by crowds of their devoted followers, who were led by the principal barons of Angus and Mearns. On reaching Perth, however, it was judged expedient to attempt a measure of conciliation; and Erskine of Dun, a gentleman of ancient family, and grave experience, leaving his brethren, proceeded to the court at Stirling, where he was admitted to an interview with the regent. He assured her that their single demand was to be allowed to worship God according to their conscience, and to secure liberty for their preachers. She replied, that if he would prevail on the Congregation to disperse, their preachers should be unmolested, the summons discharged, and their grievances redressed.

To this Erskine consented. He communicated the agreement to his brethren; the people were disbanded; and when the reformers looked for toleration and redress, the queen-dowager, with a perfidy which was as base as it was unwise, reiterated the summons, and on their failure to appear, denounced the ministers as rebels. Such conduct inflamed the resentment of the Congregation to the utmost degree; and Knox having seized the moment to deliver a stern and impassioned sermonagainstidolatry,the people were wrought up to a state of high excitement. Observing a priest about to celebrate mass, after the preacher had retired, they burst in upon the altar, tore down its ornaments, shivered the shrines and relics, and speedily demolished every monument which seemed to savour of idolatry. From that moment the fate of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland was decided. Having once broken through restraint, and found their own strength, the multitude rushed to the religious houses of the Black and Grey friars, and inflicted on them an equally summary vengeance. They then attacked the charter-house or Carthusian monastery, which experienced a similar fate; and the infection of tumult and destruction spreading throughout the country, many excesses of the same kind were committed in the provincial towns. That Knox or his disciples directly advised such spoliation cannot be proved; that the principles which he laid down, and his stern denunciations of his opponents as idolaters, led to these excesses, is certain.

The effects of such scenes on the queen-dowager, were to rouse her to instant activity, and to array the two parties in determined opposition to each other; for although some of the protestant leaders, disclaiming all intentions of rebellion, disapproved of the late violence, and still acted with the regent, their neutrality was so short-lived that it scarcely demands attention. It had the effect, however, of producing a momentary spirit of conciliation. The protestants presented an address to the queen, to the nobility, and to the Roman Catholic clergy. In the first they professed their loyalty, deprecated her injustice, and demanded liberty of conscience, and the right of hearing their own preachers. In the second they vindicated their conduct to their brethren of the Roman Catholic nobility from the charge of heresy and sedition, while they upbraided those who first espoused and now deserted their cause. The third epistle to the Roman Catholic clergy, whom they broadly stigmatized as the generation of antichrist, was a denunciation of war, composed in that spirit of coarse and abusive railing which unfortunately marks the style of the early reformers. Such accusations were little calculated to produce pacific feelings; but the queen-regent, who had assembled her army, finding it inferior in strength to the Congregation, proposed an armistice, which on certain conditions was accepted. The Congregation having bound themselves to each other in a new covenant, disbanded their forces, and for the second time, as they allege, were overreached by the treachery of the dowager, who, against a solemn stipulation, occupied Perth with a body of French soldiers, expelled the magistrates who favoured the reformation, and garrisoned the town with troops in the pay of France, though in reality Scots.

This unwise and unjustifiable duplicity had the worst effects. The lord James, afterwards the regent Murray, a young man of great talents and ambition, who had hitherto adhered to the regent, though professing reformed opinions, deserted her. Argyll, a powerful and influential nobleman, followed his example; and, faithful to their renewed covenant, the army of the Congregation assembled in strength at St Andrews. Knox in the mean time, whose voice, Sadler, the English ambassador, compares in his letters to the sound of a thousand trumpets, set out on a preaching tour through the country. Directing his powerful and popular eloquence against the evils of superstition, and the misery of the thraldom which, by means of foreign mercenaries, the house of Guise were attempting to fix upon their country, he so powerfully excited the people, that they determined to take the reformation into their own hands, and levelled with the ground the monasteries of the Franciscan and Dominican orders. It was in vain that the regent exerted herself to check these popular outrages. The phrensy gained strength; the nobles and leaders of the Congregation felt proportionally encouraged, and advancing with their forces upon Perth, they opened a cannonade, and in a short time made themselves masters of the town. Stimulated to a high pitch of excitement by such success, the[7:19:735] multitude, contrary to the entreaties of Knox, attacked and destroyed the abbey church and palace of Scone; after which, a portion of the army of the Congregation, under the lord James and Argyll, made a rapid march upon Stirling, which they occupied, hastened afterwards to Linlithgow, and having in both towns pulled down the altars, destroyed the shrines, and, as they said, purged the places of idolatry, they compelled the regent to make a rapid retreat to Dunbar, and entered the capital in triumph, in June 1559.

This last success, while it gave the highest courage to the party of the reformation, convinced the queen-regent that every hope to avoid a civil war must be abandoned, and that the crisis called for her most determined exertions. She instantly communicated her dangerous situation to Trance, and received in return a large reinforcement of French troops, whose discipline, skill, and equipment, being superior to the common feudal militia which the Congregation brought into the field, at once gave her a superiority. The reformers, on the other hand, threw themselves upon the protection of England; and Elizabeth, although she scrupled to send them either money or troops, encouraged them with general promises of approval, and, in case of extreme danger, with some hopes of support. In addition to this, her minister Cecil hinted in his letters the expediency of using their present power to “strip the Romish church of its pomp and wealth,” and, as he termed it, “to apply good things to good uses while the terms in which the Congregation replied, seem to point to a more secret communication, in which this unscrupulous politician had advised the deposition of the regent, and a change of the government. It is certain that the necessity of such a measure had been for some time contemplated by the Congregation, but it was to be resorted to as the last extremity. In a letter from Kirkcaldy of Grange, one of their principal leaders, addressed to Sir Henry Percy, (lst of July 1559), and explanatory of their intentions, he declared that if the regent would consent to a reformation conformable to the pure word of God, cleanse the popish churches of all monuments of idolatry, suffer the book of common prayer published by Edward the Sixth to be read, and send away the French troops, they were ready to obey and serve her, and to annex the whole revenues of the abbeys to the crown.

For the queen-dowager to have agreed to this would have been equivalent to the giving up of the whole question, and would have been to establish protestantism on the ruins of what she esteemed the true church. She accordingly met the demands of the Congregation by a peremptory denial. In return they withdrew from her their allegiance, and in the name of their sovereign, whose authority they unscrupulously assumed, suspended her from the high office which she had abused.

The war now broke out with a violence proportioned to the exasperated feelings of either faction. The Congregation, at first intimidated by the superiority in the discipline of the French troops, began to dread a calamitous result; but they soon saw themselves strengthened by the arrival of an English fleet, while a land force under the duke of Norfolk advanced to Berwick, and after a negotiation with the reformed leaders, pushed forward into Scotland, and was joined at Preston by the army of the reformers.

It belongs not to this sketch to enter into details of hostilities, and happily for both countries the war was of brief duration. The queen-dowager, sinking under a broken constitution, died at Edinburgh, on the 10th of June 1560. The Congregation, disheartened by some reverses, and weakened by disunion among their principal leaders, felt no inclination to prolong the struggle; and Elizabeth having offered her services as a mediatrix between the two parties, a meeting of the English, French, and Scottish commissioners took place at Edinburgh, by whom a treaty of peace was concluded, having for its basis the withdrawal of the French troops from Scotland, and a recognition of the validity of the treaty of Berwick between Elizabeth and the party of the congregation. Into this last proviso the French commissioners sent over by the young queen of Scots and her husband the dauphin, were entrapped by the diplomatic skill of Sir William Cecil., one of the English commissioners, contrary to their express instructions; and its validity was never admitted by the Scottish queen; but in the mean time it greatly strengthened the hands of the Congregation. At the same moment the leaders of this party presented to the commissioners certain “articles” concerning religion; but Elizabeth had directed Cecil and Woolton to decline all discussion upon the subject; and the reformers, who looked to the convention of Estates for the settlement of the question, did not press the point.

A parliament accordingly assembled at Edinburgh, on the 10th of July 1560. The lesser barons who had for some time suffered their rights of sitting in the convention of estates to fall into disuse, were mostly attached to the doctrines of the reformers, and looked with deep interest to the debates which were about to take place on the subject of religion. They accordingly met, claimed their right, and after some opposition, were allowed to take their place. This threw a preponderating weight into the party of the Congregation; and the “Confession of Faith,” together with a “Book of Discipline,” which embodied the great principles of a reformed church, and protested against the errors, abuses, and superstitions of the Roman Catholic faith, was submitted to Parliament. The Confession of Faith passed with little opposition. This remarkable paper, or rather treatise, professes to be a summary of Christian doctrine founded on the word of God; and although drawn up by Knox and his brethren in a very short space, embodied the result of much previous study and consultation. It is worthy of observation, that at this early period, the church of Scotland, in explaining the articles of its faith, approaches indefinitely near to the Apostles’ creed, and the articles of Edward the Sixth; and that where it differs, it leans more to the side of catholicism than ultra-protestantism.

Three acts followed the adoption of this Confession of Faith. The first abolished for ever in Scotland, the power and jurisdiction of the Pope; the second repealed all former statutes passed in favour of the Catholic church; the third inflicted the highest penalties upon any who thenceforward should dare to say or to hear mass.

All this met with little opposition; but the Book of Discipline, by which the future government of the church was to be determined, gave rise to the keenest debates. “Some of the nobles and barons at once refused to sign it; others did sign, but eluded its injunctions; others mocked at its provisions, and called them devout imaginations.”^[59. Tytler’s History of Scotland, vol. vi. p. 219. ] The cause of this is attributed by Knox to its interfering with the privileges and property of many powerful barons who had already “griped the possessions of the church.” It also discouraged other expectants, “who thought they would not lack their part of Christ’s coat.”^[60. Knox’s History, p. 276. ] The first class, according to the same authority, had no remorse of conscience, nor intended to restore any thing of that which they had long stolen or reft. The second were no doubt afraid, that if the ministers were first provided for, little or nothing would be left for them.

In considering its provisions it is material to notice, that it committed the election of ministers solely to the people, using, however, the precaution that the minister so chosen, before he was admitted to the holy office, should be examined and approved of by the ministers and elders, upon all points of controversy between the church of Rome and the[7:19:736] Congregation; after which he was to be considered an ordained minister, without any further solemnity, it being observed that although the apostles used the imposition of hands, it was intended to impart, and did impart miraculous powers, and “the miracle having ceased, the using the ceremony was judged henceforth unnecessary.” The country was divided by it into ten dioceses, over which ten ministers, named Superintendents, were appointed, whose duty it was to be ambulatory preachers, and to inquire, in the course of their progress, into the lives of the clergy, the provision for the poor, and the proper instruction of youth. It is in this last clause that we meet with the first proposal of that admirable institution of parish schools, to which Scotland has since owed so much of her prosperity. Having thus established their reformation, the Parliament appointed an interim provisional government, confirmed the treaty of Berwick which had been entered into between Elizabeth and the Congregation, and proposed that as a basis of perpetual amity between England and Scotland, there should be a marriage between queen Elizabeth and the earl of Arran, heir apparent to the crown. In conclusion, they dispatched Sir James Sandilands of Calder to carry an account of their proceedings to their sovereigns in France, while Sir William Maitland of Lethington, with the earls of Morton and Glencairn, were sent on a similar mission to Elizabeth.

It was not to be expected that their youthful sovereign, educated in the bosom of the Roman Catholic church, and accustomed to look for direction and guidance to the advice of her uncles the Guises, could possibly ratify the extraordinary proceedings of this parliament. It had, by a few sweeping acts, abolished the national faith, confirmed the treaty which a faction of her subjects whom she had all along treated as rebels, had entered into with England; and by sending an embassy to Elizabeth, composed of men of higher rank and greater influence than Sandilands, who was deputed to wait upon their sovereign, it was intimated pretty significantly, that the Congregation were determined to treat the English princess with equal if not superior deference to that with which they regarded their own queen. She accordingly received the Scottish enfroy with coldness, and peremptorily refused to ratify the treaty of Edinburgh.

At this moment Mary had the misfortune to lose her husband, Francis the Second, the young king of France; an event which made it necessary for her to return to her own kingdom, and at once threw her from a condition of much contentment and prosperity into circumstances of extraordinary trial and embarrassment. She had been educated in the most brilliant and accomplished, but, it must be added, one of the most profligate courts in Europe. From her infancy, as queen of Scotland, and presumptive queen of France, she had been flattered and caressed; and as she was extremely beautiful, possessed of amiable manners, highly accomplished, generous, and kind-hearted, she had received from every class of her French subjects the unaffected homage of their admiration and regard. All was now to be changed; and on turning her eyes from France to her own country a melancholy contrast soon presented itself.

As soon as the king’s death was known in Scotland, a parliament assembled at Edinburgh, of which the proceedings appear to have been overruled by the Congregation. It was resolved to invite their sovereign to return to her kingdom, and for this purpose to send the lord James to France, while the Roman Catholic party dispatched Lesley, afterwards the celebrated bishop of Ross, on the same errand. The lord James, afterwards the regent Murray, was the natural son of James the Fifth by lady Margaret Erskine, who afterwards married the laird of Lochleven. From his earliest years he had exhibited marks of an extraordinary ambition, and a genius for affairs of state. His apparently blunt and careless manner, disposed men to treat him with confidence, and enabled him, when he was least suspected, to carry on the most deep-laid and ambitious designs. At this moment he was regarded as the leader of the reformed party; and it is a remarkable proof of his talents, that, on his arrival in France, although at first suspected by Mary, he acquired an extraordinary influence over her character.

It was the misfortune of the queen of Scots, who was now only eighteen, that she was surrounded by difficulties which would have required to meet them a matured experience, and the most attached and faithful councillors. Elizabeth, who saw her opportunity, and was determined not to lose it, dispatched the earl of Bedford to demand the confirmation of the treaty of Edinburgh; and when this was refused, she exhibited her resentment by declaring that Mary, who had at first intended to pass through England into her own realm, should receive no safeconduct; a circumstance which made her resolve to sail at once from Dieppe to Leith. But Elizabeth was at least an open opponent, and the young queen, aware of her enmity, could secure herself against it. Murray, on the other hand, to whom she too heedlessly gave her confidence, had already visited the English court on his passage to France, communicated his plans to Elizabeth, and received his instructions from Cecil., her prime minister. On his return from Paris he again passed through England, consulted with the English queen on the best methods of detaining Mary in France, and actually carried his double dealing so far as to devise means tor intercepting her, should she persist in her determination and set sail. This she at last determined to do at all risks; and having had the good fortune to escape the English cruisers, which were directed to be on the look out, she arrived at Leith, and was received with the utmost enthusiasm by all classes of her subjects, (August 19, 1561).

These happy indications were of short duration; and when the young queen considered the state of parlies in Scotland, the difficulties of her situation appeared complicated and disheartening. She was herself a conscientious Roman Catholic, warmly attached to France and the Guises her uncles. This of itself rendered her an object of suspicion and aversion to Knox, the great leader of the protestant clergy, and to the powerful nobles who had espoused the reformation. She had already peremptorily refused to sanction the proceedings of the Parliament, which had confirmed the treaty of Berwick, abolished the papal supremacy, and substituted the protestant doctrines and worship for the ancient faith. This drew upon her the enmity of England, and the English party in Scotland, led by Murray and Lethington; and as the influence of Knox and the preachers over their congregations was strong and universal, the feelings of the ministers were communicated to the great body of the people, and checked those sentiments of loyalty which manifested themselves upon her arrival. If, from such opponents, Mary turned to the body of her Roman Catholic nobles, among whom the most powerful and influential was the earl of Hιmtly, she found them animated indeed upon one great subject, by a community of sentiment; but then they, in common with all the nobles, had been so long accustomed to independence, and looked so constantly to the preservation and increase of their own power that, as a party, they were extremely difficult to manage. Lastly, looking to the great body of the Roman Catholic clergy, there was no one who, since the death of Beaton, had possessed that vigour of character and talent for state affairs, which were absolutely necessary in any minister to whom the queen should give her confidence, if we except Lesley, afterwards bishop of Ross.

It was necessary for her, however, to decide upon a line of policy; and after deliberate consideration, the queen determined to make the lord James her chief minister, and to secure the friendship and good offices of Elizabeth. In this[7:19:737] way she hoped to attach to herself the great body of her people, who were mostly protestants; and as from France, torn at this moment by civil and religious dissensions, she could expect little assistance, she deemed it the more necessary to preserve peace with England. Events of much interest now succeeded each other with a startling rapidity, and the history of Mary, in the brief circle of six years, presented an appalling tragedy, of which we can only give the outline.

The first point on which the two queens came into collision was on the delicate subject of marriage. Mary’s subjects wished her to marry, and she considered it wise and necessary that she should gratify their wishes. She was in the bloom of youth, extremely beautiful, and of manners so engaging and attractive, that few could see her without sentiments of admiration and regard. She was queen of Scotland, and, after Elizabeth, undoubted heir to the English throne; though this queen, from her morbid jealousy upon the subject of the succession, had never recognised her right. Mary’s great object, at this moment, was to marry with her approbation, and to procure a declaration of her right of succession to the throne, failing Elizabeth’s issue. She accordingly declared that she would regard her advice upon this subject as that of a mother, and consulted her sister of England with an openness and devotion which, if not perfectly prudent, appears to have been perfectly sincere.

In return for this confidence, the conduct of the queen of England was marked by that insincerity, selfishness, and want of truth which too frequently characterised her policy. She was determined that, if Mary did marry, she should lower herself by the alliance; but she would have been still better pleased could she have so ordered matters that she should not marry at all; and, guided by this ungenerous object, Elizabeth commenced a system of intrigue, the sole object of which was mystification and delay, and in which she enjoyed the satisfaction, not only of deceiving Mary and her councillors, but of setting her own ministers at fault, and rendering it impossible for them to decipher her real intentions. In the course of these negotiations, after objecting to every foreign alliance, the English queen at last proposed her own favourite, Leicester, and held out as a bait to Mary, who justly deemed such an alliance beneath her rank, the promise that the issue, if any, of this marriage should succeed to the English throne. Nothing can be more certain than that she had no such intention; but the farce was so well acted, that not only Mary and the lord James, now earl of Murray, but Randolph, the English ambassador at the Scottish court, were deceived; and when at last the bubble broke, and it was discovered that, from first to last, Elizabeth had been playing her usual dark and double game under the mask of friendship, the indignation of the sufferers was roused, as might have been expected, to the highest pitch.

An almost immediate and violent re-action took place. Mary had hitherto confided in Elizabeth, and consulted her upon the marriage. She now trusted her no longer, and determined, without delay, to follow her own inclination. Since her arrival in her dominions, she had favoured the protestants and rather repressed the Roman Catholics. She was now disposed to reverse the system. She had hitherto chosen Murray and Lethington as her chief ministers, had entrusted to the first almost regal power, loaded him with estates and honours, and placed him at the head of her nobility; and it was by Murray and Lethington’s advice that she had shaped her policy towards England; but the road they marked out for her had led to insult, mortification, and defeat. Was it possible then, that she could continue to those two men, or to the protestant party, whom they represented, the confidence with which she had regarded them? or rather, was it not natural that, when she discovered their devotedness to Elizabeth, who had deceived and injured her, she should regard them with suspicion and distrust?

Under these circumstances, and when agitated by such feelings, Mary saw the lord Darnley, the eldest son of the earl of Lennox, who, with his father, had lately returned to Scotland. This young nobleman could boast of a royal descent, his grandmother being a sister of Henry the Eighth, and he himself, next to Mary, the nearest heir to the English throne. He was now in his twenty-first year, and had not yet discovered that weak intellect and propensity to low-vices which betrayed themselves soon after his marriage. It was the misfortune of the Scottish queen that she acted under impulses. She had been deceived by Elizabeth, and she determined to shew her that she could choose for herself. Without giving herself time to study his disposition, and purposely abstaining from any previous communication of her intentions to England, she selected Darnley as her future husband, and dispatched Lethington to Elizabeth, not, as before, to ask her counsel, but to inform her of her resolution.

The consequences of this step were extraordinary. Darnley and his father were strongly suspected of being Roman Catholics. Murray and Lethington saw in this alliance little else than the demolition of their own power; the party of Knox and the kirk anticipated the restoration of the ancient religion; and Elizabeth not only declared herself hostile to the alliance, but bitterly accused the Scottish queen, insisted that Lennox and Darnley were English, not Scottish subjects, and sent them orders to repair instantly to her court. It was hardly to be expected that so ridiculous a command should be obeyed, and the opposition of England only rendered Mary more determined upon the marriage. A convention of her nobility was held at Stirling; it was numerously attended; the queen communicated to them her intention of marrying Darnley; the measure was approved without a dissentient voice; and although Murray, and the faction with whom he acted, attempted to instigate the people to opposition and rebellion, the endeavour was signally unsuccessful, and the queen carried her wishes into effect. She was married to Darnley in the chapel of Holyrood, on the 29th of July 1565.

Previously to the queen’s marriage, Murray, Argyll, Lethington, and the party of the kirk had been encouraged by Elizabeth to rise against their sovereign; and had they received from the English queen the substantial assistance which she promised, the result might have led to the dethronement of her whom they represented as the oppressor of her nobility, and the bitter enemy of the truth. But their schemes were defeated by the energy and promptitude of the Scottish queen and the timid parsimony of her sister of England. It was in vain that Murray and his brother insurgents reminded Cecil of their desperate situation, and the necessity of speedy assistance both in money and in soldiers. Neither the one nor the other could be wrung from Elizabeth. They were proclaimed traitors, driven from one position to another by the queen of Scots, who herself headed the forces which she led against them, and were at last compelled to fly to England and throw themselves upon the protection of Elizabeth. To their dismay she disowned and repulsed them; upbraided Murray as a traitor to his royal mistress; and, although herself the encourager of their revolt, compelled them publicly to declare that she knew nothing of the matter. They were then dismissed from the queen’s presence, and permitted to retire to Carlisle, where the earl of Bedford received secret instructions to supply their wants during their banishment.

While such was the course of events in England, Mary’s satisfaction in the triumph over her rebels was grievously diminished by discovering that her husband was weak and profligate, the dupe of every artful companion whom he met, and unworthy of the confidence and affection with which she had treated him in the first ardour of her passion. To entrust him with any responsible share in the government[7:19:738] was impossible; and Murray’s friends who remained at court, and watched the increasing estrangement between the Queen and her husband, determined to turn it to their advantage.

It was the misfortune of the Scottish queen that she had few or no servants whom she could trust. Her secretary, Maitland of Lethington, had betrayed her interests to Elizabeth, and was in disgrace, and, in the mean time, the queen had availed herself of the services of Riccio, her foreign secretary. This person had entered her service at first as a singer in her band, but afterwards, by his skill and fidelity, he raised himself to this confidential employment, much to the annoyance of the young king, who regarded him with peculiar aversion; and, incredible as it may appear, Darnley having persuaded himself that he had stolen from him the affection of the young queen, resolved to assassinate him. Nor was it difficult, among a fierce and unscrupulous nobility, to find associates in his flagitious schemes. His father the earl of Lennox, Morton the lord chancellor, Lethington the ex-secretary, Murray and his friends who were in banishment, and many of the stern supporters of the reformation, who suspected Riccio of intriguing with the papal court, willingly joined in the conspiracy. The parliament was at hand in which it was intended to pronounce sentence against the banished lords: it had been reported that measures were in preparation for the establishment of the Roman Catholic faith; and it was determined to arrest both the one and the other by striking the blow against Riccio. Accordingly, when Mary, who was then six months gone with child, sat at supper in a small cabinet adjoining to her bed-room in the palace of Holyrood, the king led the conspirators up a secret stair which communicated with the apartment, while the earl of Morton and a band of armed soldiers seized the gates of the palace. The countess of Argyll, Erskine, captain of her guard, the comptroller of her household, Riccio her secretary, and one or two domestic servants formed the queen’s party, some sitting at table and others being in attendance. Indeed, the little closet or cabinet was so small that three or four persons could with difficulty have seated themselves. But its narrow dimensions prevented escape and favoured the ferocious purposes of the conspirators. Led by the king they burst into the cabinet, overturned the table, and threw themselves upon Riccio, who sprung for protection behind the queen. In a moment his fate was decided. One ruffian threatened Mary with his dagger, another held a pistol to her breast, a third, snatching the king’s dagger, stabbed Riccio over her shoulder; and at last tearing him from the closet, amidst the shrieks of the women, and the shouts and execrations of the conspirators, they dispatched him, or rather cut him to pieces in an adjoining apartment, with fifty-six wounds.^[61. Keith's History of Scotland, p. 283, ]

After this atrocious murder, which, considering the situation of the queen, might have cost her and her infant their lives, the conspirators detained her as a prisoner in her palace, permitted no one but the king and their own party to hold any communication with her; and having been joined next morning by the earl of Murray and the exiles from Carlisle, it was determined to make a complete change in the government. Darnley, weak and profligate as he was, they rewarded by placing at the head of their new system, being well aware that he would soon be their tool. The queen was to be confined in Stirling till she should consent to the full establishment of the reformed religion; and the earl of Murray and his associates were to be restored to their former favour and power. In a single day all these intentions were overturned. Mary, left alone with her husband, regained her ascendancy over him; she convinced him of the perfidy of Morton, Ruthven, and his associates, obtained from him a confession of all the secrets of the conspiracy, escaped with him to Dunbar, and being instantly joined by eight thousand men, advanced with such rapidity against the conspirators, that they fled ip dismay to Berwick, and solicited the protection of Elizabeth.

Darnley, in his confessions to Mary, had betrayed his brother conspirators whilst he solemnly asserted his own innocence; but Morton and his associates produced in their own defence various bonds and letters, which were signed by the king, and fully established his guilt; and Mary saw, to her inexpressible grief and disgust, that the cruel outrage was planned by her husband. From this moment this miserable prince became an object of contempt and aversion to all. His conduct had been a tissue of cowardice, cruelty, falsehood, and weakness: to treat him with confidence, or to entrust to him any share in the government was impossible; and the unhappy queen, without a stay to rest on, fell into a state of the deepest despondency. Whom indeed could she trust? Murray and his party had but recently been rebels; Morton and his associates were stained by the blood of her confidential servant, murdered at her knees; the king was the chief conspirator, the queen of England had deceived her, the party of Knox and the Scottish church regarded her with avowed aversion; and even the Roman Catholics were somewhat estranged by the preference which at first she had given to their opponents. Under these complicated difficulties, the queen pursued the course which she deemed most likely to ensure success. She broke with none, pardoned some of the conspirators, affected to believe her husband, hoping even against hope, and restored Murray to some portion of the power of which he had been deprived. Such was the state of things, when, the period for her confinement having arrived, she gave birth to a son in the castle of Edinburgh. The child was named James Charles, and on the death of Elizabeth succeeded to the English throne.

When her recovery permitted Mary to attend to the affairs of the country, it was apparent that unless immediate steps were taken to establish something like a strong government, the kingdom would fall to pieces; and yet such was the weakness and treacherous nature of the king, that to admit him to a share in it was impossible. She next turned to her nobles. Of these the most powerful were Murray, Bothwell, Huntly, Argyll, Lennox, Morton, and Lethington; but there had long existed a feud between Murray and Bothwell, while Morton, Lethington, Lennox, and their partizans were still in disgrace for the murder of Riccio. It was necessary to make an effort, and the queen succeeded in reconciling Murray to Bothwell: Huntly was made chancellor, Lethington was pardoned and restored to his office of secretary; while Murray, Argyll his brother-in-law, and Bothwell, were entrusted with the chief management of affairs.

Enraged at his exclusion from power, the king sullenly retired from court, threatened to murder the earl of Murray, and at last declared he would leave the kingdom. It was in vain that his father remonstrated against his resolution; in vain that the queen herself, leading him before her council., conjured him to detail his grievances, and if she had injured him in any respect, to accuse her without reserve. He declared she had herself given him no cause of complaint; but afterwards, in a letter, he complained that he had no power in the state, that he was neglected by the nobility, and would bear it no longer. Soon after this the unhappy princess was seized by a fever at Jedburgh, during which her life was despaired of. Her enemies ascribed it to the injurious effects of a rapid ride which she took from Jedburgh to visit Bothwell, who had been wounded in a skirmish with some border thieves; it had more probably its origin in that anxiety which followed the conduct of Darnley; but be[7:19:739] this as it may, she recovered only to be the victim of more aggravated sufferings. Partial reconciliations were followed by no revival of affection or confidence; and in the anguish of a wounded spirit, she sometimes lamented that she had not died at Jedburgh.

It was in this season of depression and despair that Murray and Maitland proposed to her a divorce from the king. They had previously confided their project to Huntly, Argyll, and Bothwell; and at first Mary seemed inclined to follow their advice, provided the divorce could be lawfully procured, and without prejudice to her child. But after weighing the whole matter her opinion changed, and when Maitland urged that means could be found to free her of Darnley without injury to her son, declaring that Murray would look on and say nothing against it, she broke off the conference. “I will,” said she, “that ye do nothing through which any spot may be laid to my honour or conscience; let the matter be in the state it is, abiding till God of his goodness put remedy thereto.”

Having failed in this device, a conspiracy for the murder of the king was entered into by Maitland, Bothwell, Huntly, Argyll, and Sir James Balfour. It has been disputed whether Murray was, or was not, a party to this atrocious design. It is certain that he did not sign the bond, by which, according to the custom of this age, the conspirators bound themselves to each other. There is a strong presumption, however, that he knew of its existence; and the deed was communicated to Morton and his associates, who signed it, and agreed to support the conspirators in the execution of their purpose. Such was the state of matters when the baptism of the young prince took place at Stirling. From this ceremony the king obstinately absented himself, alleging in excuse the neglect and rigour with which he was treated. Soon after« ards he left the court and retired to Glasgow, where he was seized with the smallpox, and appeared in imminent danger. His situation appeared to awaken the tenderness of the queen. She sent her own physician to wait on him, and soon after visited him herself, and ministered to his wants. When his convalescence permitted him to be removed, she returned with him to Edinburgh, and placed him, for the benefit of the air, in a house in the suburbs called the Kirk-of-Field. It was here that the conspirators determined to carry their dreadful purpose into effect. At the solicitation of Elizabeth and the French king, Morton had been pardoned and permitted to return; and in a secret interview between him, Maitland, and Bothwell, the particulars of the murder were arranged. Bothwell undertook the chief part, and his men having obtained access to the cellars of the Kirk-of-Field, undermined the foundation, and placed gunpowder in the cavities which they had formed. According to another account, they deposited it in the queen’s bed-chamber, which was immediately under that of the king. While all this had been secretly carrying into effect, Mary continued her attendance upon Darnley: their reconciliation appeared to be perfect, she often slept in the house, and on the evening of the 9th of February, when she took leave of him to attend a marriage of one of her servants, which was to be held at the palace, it was remarked that she embraced him tenderly, took a ring from her finger, and placed it on his. On that night, after she had retired to her chamber in the palace, a sudden and terrific explosion was heard, which shook the city, and it was soon discovered that the Kirk-of-Field was blown up. The dead bodies of the king and his page were found at a little distance in the garden. It is well known that this miserable catastrophe has given rise to a celebrated historical controversy, in which authors of great name and talents have taken different sides; some insisting that the queen was cognizant of the plot for the murder of her husband, and others as positively asserting the contrary. The limits of this historical sketch render it impossible that we should enter into its details.^[62. The reader who wishes to make himself master of the controversy should consult for the Queen’s innocence, the work of Goodall, and that of William Tytler, with the volumes of Stuart, Whitaker, and Chahners; against her, the Histories of Hume and Robertson, with the Dissertation by Mr. Malcolm Laing. ] In the preceding narrative we have carefully avoided the introduction of a single controverted fact; in the sequel we shall as sedulously follow the same rule.

Scarcely were the citizens of the capital recovered from the horror and dismay which was incident to such a calamity, when bills appeared on the walls of the Tolbooth, which accused Bothwell of the murder, and added that the queen had assented to it. Soon afterwards, the earl of Lennox, the unhappy father of the late king, earnestly required the imprisonment of the persons named in the anonymous handbills, and Bothwell declaring his innocence, demanded an instant trial. It was granted, and Lennox received due notice of it; but on the day of trial Bothwell appeared surrounded by upwards of four thousand of his friends and adherents; and Lennox, intimidated by the array, or finding it impossible to collect sufficient proof, requested an adjournment. This, however, was peremptorily refused, and the accused was acquitted by the jury, who considered it established by sufficient evidence that Bothwell could not have been at the Kirk-of-Field when the explosion took place.

Soon after this acquittal the Parliament assembled, and the majority of the nobility prevailed upon the queen to consent to an act by which all the grants of crown property which had been made during the present reign were confirmed, and herself and her successors deprived of all power of revocation. In the same assembly of the estates, the verdict passed upon Bothwell, which many accused as informal, was declared just and legal, and soon afterwards a bond was drawn up by twenty-four of the principal peers. It affirmed in solemn terms the innocence of this profligate baron, whom the public clamour still denounced as the murderer of the king; recommended him as a proper husband for the queen; and bound its authors, as they should answer to God, to defend him from all danger, and to promote this unhallowed marriage to the utmost of their power and ability. The tragedy now hurried on to its conclusion. Bothwell, at the head of a thousand men, intercepted the queen on her way from Stirling to Edinburgh, and carried her captive, with the slender suite by whom she was accompanied, to Dunbar castle. Among her attendants were Huntly, Maitland, and Melville, but the first two were in Bothwell's interest, and had signed the bond. The last was completely in his power, and so was the unfortunate queen. He proposed marriage, and on her refusal exhibited the bond signed by her nobles. She still, it is said, resisted his request, and hoped for a rescue; but it was a vain expectation. He became more peremptory, and if we may trust the expressions of Mary, corroborated by Melville and her enemies, he compelled her by fear, force, and other unlawful means, to yield to his wishes, and admit him to her bed. From Dunbar he now carried his victim to Edinburgh. A divorce was procured from his wife on the ground of adultery, and the process having been hurried through the court, and the sentence passed, Bothwell was married to the queen at Holyrood, within a month after his acquittal of the murder of her husband, (May 15, 1567.)

Events of the deepest and most tragic interest now crowded on each other. The nobles who had advised the marriage, who had acquitted Bothwell, and abetted him in his career of ambition and outrage, at once dropped the mask, assembled their forces, and declared their determination to separate the queen from the murderer of her husband. As[7:19:740] they advanced and occupied Edinburgh, the earl and the queen retired; but in a few days they found themselves strong enough to confront their enemy on Carberry hill, near Musselburgh. Both factions, however, seemed anxious to avoid a battle, and an extraordinary agreement took place. Bothwell, whom they had declared their determination to seize and punish as the murderer of his sovereign, was permitted, without molestation, to ride off the field. The queen was assured of their unshaken fidelity; and so completely did she credit their asseverations, that she gave her hand to Grange, and suffering him to lead her to his associates, was conducted by them to the capital.

Within an hour she discovered that she had surrendered herself to her mortal enemies. On her entering the city, afurious mob assailed her with execrations, and displayed before her a broad banner bearing the figure of her murdered husband. Amidst these indignities she was carried to a house, where she was so strictly guarded, that not even her maids were allowed access. And on the succeeding evening she was conveyed by the lords Lindsay and Ruthven a prisoner to Lochleven, a strong castle in the middle of a lake, from which all escape seemed hopeless.

From those who had thus shamelessly broken their solemn engagement, little else could be looked for but additional indignity and outrage. Mary was soon visited in her prison by lord Lindsay of the Byres, whose fierce temper and brutal manners peculiarly fitted him for the mission on which he was sent. He presented to her three written instruments. By the first she was made to resign the crown in favour of her son; by the second, the earl of Murray was nominated regent during the king’s minority; by the third, a temporary regency was appointed to act until Murray returned from the continent. When Lindsay threw these deeds on the table, he plainly informed the queen that no alternative was left, but either to sign them without delay, or prepare for death, as the murderer of her husband. We are not to wonder that, aware that her life was in the hands of her bitterest enemies, Mary instantly obeyed.

The young king was now crowned, and Murray having arrived from France, assumed the regency, and entered upon the cares of government. He had not, however, for many months enjoyed the sweets of power, when the queen, by the assistance and ingenuity of a youth of sixteen, named Douglas, escaped in the night from Lochleven, and riding first to Seaton, and next day to Hamilton, soon found herself surrounded by a band of her nobles, and at the head of six thousand men. Mary was desirous to avoid war, and addressed repeated pacific proposals to the regent, who was then at Glasgow. She offered to call a free parliament; she was ready to deliver up to justice all whom he accused as guilty of the murder, provided those whom she arraigned of the same crime were also delivered up. This was peremptorily refused, her messengers were arrested, her adherents denounced as traitors; and the queen, aware that it must come to the decision of the sword, determined to await the arrival of additional forces, when she was hurried into an engagement with the regent, who threw himself in her way at Langside, as she was on her march from Hamilton to Dunbar. The result was calamitous. Her army was completely defeated, and εhe herself compelled to fly from the field with a slender train, who rode to Dundren-nan, a distance of sixty miles, before they drew bridle. Next day she intimated her resolution of throwing herself on the protection of Elizabeth. From this step her friends passionately dissuaded her; but she declared she would trust to the assurances which she had received fromber good sister; and crossing the Sol way, she proceeded through Cockermouth to Carlisle. The return for this act of generous confidence and devotedness is well known. Elizabeth refused to see her, gave orders that she should be detained, kept her in prison a miserable and heart-broken captive for fourteen years, and at last brought her to the scaffold.

From the imprisonment of Mary, (1568,) till the accession of James the Sixth to the English throne (1603,) there is an interval of thirty-five years. It is occupied by the successive regencies of Murray, Lennox, Mar, and Morton, after whose execution we have that portion of the reign of James which extends from 1581 to 1603. With a rapid review of the most interesting and influential events during this period, we shall conclude our labours.

The imprisonment of Mary left Murray the undisturbed possessor of the supreme power in Scotland; but the queen strenuously and indignantly asserted her innocence of the atrocious crimes of which she was accused; and as the English queen could bring forward no possible justification of her conduct in detaining Mary, except her alleged accession to the murder, it was evident that an investigation of the circumstances, if demanded by the accused party, could not in justice be refused. Mary offered to hear the accusation of her enemies in the presence of Elizabeth, and in the same presence to undertake her defence; but this was denied her. It was then proposed by the English ministers that she should consent to a public trial; but this she rejected as beneath the dignity of an independent sovereign. It was lastly suggested that her enemies should be summoned to produce their proofs before certain English and Scottish commissioners, and that the cause should be left to their decision.

A commission was accordingly held at York, but it led to political intrigues rather than judicial investigation. After some interval Murray was summoned to hold a private interview with Elizabeth at Westminster; and Mary again demanded to be admitted to the same presence, and confronted with her accuser. This was denied, while the English queen permitted Murray to bring forward his charge, and to attempt to substantiate it by letters, affirmed to be in the queen’s hand-writing, addressed to Bothwell, and conclusive, as he contended, of her guilt. Again Mary demanded by her commissioners to be heard personally in her defence; and this being refused, they protested against further proceedings, and declared the conference at an end. Cecil., however, insisted that the inquiry should proceed; and having procured all the evidence which he judged necessary, he attempted to persuade the Scottish queen, as the only way of avoiding an ignominious exposure, to resign her crown. Her reply disconcerted him. “They have accused me,” said she, “of the murder of my husband. It is a false and calumnious lie. It was themselves that counselled and contrived themur-der, some of them were even its executioners. Give me what I am justly entitled to, copies of the letters they have produced; let me see and examine the originals, and I pledge myself, in presence of the queen, to convict them of the atrocious crime they have had the audacity to impute to me.” This bold and unexpected tone embarrassed Elizabeth; and Mary having repeated her charge, insisted on having copies of the letters produced against her. The English queen evaded the request, and advised her to resign her crown. To this she declared that no persuasion would ever induce her; and under such circumstances the conferences were abruptly terminated. Murray, with his associates, received permission to return to Scotland. He carried away with him those alleged original letters, which the party whom they inculpated was never permitted to examine; and he left behind him copies, which were also concealed from Mary and her commissioners. It is from these copies, which the accused was never permitted to compare with the originals, that future authors have been obliged to infer the guilt or innocence of the queen; and certainly, if the opinion of Elizabeth is entitled to weight, it is clear that she considered the proof as defective. She and Murray shrunk from a public challenge of Mary; and however suspicious or inexplicable some of the[7:19:741] steps taken by this unfortunate princess may have been, her friends alleged that victory in the conferences at York and Westminster was on her side. Yet was she detained a captive by the very princess who had virtually declared her guiltless. All this might however have been anticipated; and no one who knew any thing of the unscrupulous policy of Elizabeth could have dreamed, that having once possession of the queen, she would ever permit her to return to her dominions. In her detention, she possessed the means of rendering Murray subservient to her wishes, of checking the Roman Catholic party, confirming the ascendancy of the protestants, and destroying the French interest and intrigues in Scotland. These were advantages with which no considerations of the individual guilt or innocence of her royal captive were likely to interfere.

The subsequent career of Murray was bold and brief. He found himself called to a contest with a party, headed by the duke of Norfolk in England, and by Maitland and Grange in Scotland, whose object was, the restoration of the Scottish queen, and her marriage to Norfolk. The project had been encouraged by the Regent, whether at first sincerely or for selfish and ambitious purposes, is not clear; but in the end he betrayed the plot to Elizabeth, and was the main instrument in bringing this unfortunate nobleman to the scaffold.

The principles upon which his government was conducted were entirely protestant and English; and Elizabeth, who knew well and valued so able an assistant, cordially co-operated with him to overwhelm the queen’s friends, and to extinguish all hopes of the Roman Catholic party in either country. But the task was more difficult than had been anticipated. She succeeded indeed in extinguishing the great rebellion, led by the earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland; but Murray found it impossible to prevent the intrigues of such men as Maitland, Grange, and their associates, who had known him long, and having assisted to raise him to the supreme power, were indignant to find themselves treated with severity or neglect. It was in the midst of this struggle between the regent and his former associates in ambition and guilt, that he was assassinated in the streets of Linlithgow, by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, who was incited to this act of revenge by a private injury, of which Murray was only the remote cause.

His death found Scotland divided between two parties. On the one side were the Protestants who adhered to the young king, and regarded Elizabeth as their protector; on the other the queen’s friends, who, being animated with the utmost rancour against their opponents, prepared instantly to appeal to the sword. Previously to this, however, they assembled a parliament at Edinburgh, and fulminated denunciations of treason against their enemies; while the protestants in their turn having chosen the earl of Lennox regent, convoked the estates at Stirling, and soon afterwards having made themselves masters of Dunbarton by a successful night attack, they took prisoner the archbishop of St. Andrews, who had shut himself up in the fortress, and executed him on the instant, without even the semblance of a trial. This outrage led to retaliation, and a civil war, remarkable for its ferocity, began to spread havoc through the country. On Mary’s side were the duke of Chastelherault, the earls of Argyll, Athole, Huntly, Crawford, Rothes, and Cassilis, the lords Seton, Boyd, Gray, Livingston, Fleming, with the lairds of Buccleugh, Fernihirst, and many others; to whom we must add the able and crafty secretary Maitland, and the experienced soldier Kirkaldy of Grange. Of the king’s party the nobles were neither so numerous nor so powerful. Lennox, Morton, Mar, and Glencairn, lords Lindsay, Glammis, Semple, Methven, Ochiltree, Catheart, Ruthven, and some others, espoused this side; but if inferior in numbers, they were confident in the assistance of England, and in the support of the church, the commons, and the boroughs.

Such was the general comparative strength of each faction. Into the details of the contest we cannot enter; and indeed it had lasted but for a short time, when Lennox was slain in a skirmish at Stirling, and the earl of Mar, one of the most upright-minded and honourable noblemen in Scotland, was chosen to supply the vacant regency. To promote a reconciliation between the two factions, and to restore peace, order, and security of property, to a country distracted by intestine war, was the single purpose to which the new governor devoted himself; but he was thwarted by the ambition of Morton, and many of the higher nobles. These had so long been accustomed to derive individual advantage from public misery, that they laboured as earnestly to increase the contentions of the two parties, as Mar to remove them; and the governor, at last worn out by the struggle, and hopeless of effecting a reconciliation, sank into the grave.

He was succeeded in the regency by the earl of Morton, a man who has been justly described as possessing all the faults, some of the talents, but none of the good qualities of the regent Murray, of whom he was an old and tried ally. Sordid and selfish, implicitly devoted to the service of Elizabeth, whose countenance and support he felt necessary to enable him to retain his power, a venal judge, a cruel unrelenting soldier, a hypocrite in religion, and a profligate in private life, it is difficult to find a single virtue to relieve the dark monotony of his vices. Yet Morton had some of the great qualities which distinguished the house of Douglas. He was brave, decisive, politic; and he possessed that rapid power of discerning the instant to act with success, and that deep insight into human character which is commonly acquired by men of talent, bred up in scenes of civil commotion.

On his accession to the supreme power, the regent found the friends of the imprisoned queen still able to make head against him. The duke of Norfolk, who had been pardoned by Elizabeth, resumed his project of marrying Mary, and engaged in a correspondence with her. The duke of Chastelherault, and the earl of Huntly, lord Claud Hamilton, the lairds of Buccleugh and Fernihirst, with the indefatigable Maitland, and Grange, who was reputed the best soldier in Scotland, still supported her cause. Morton, however, strong in his own resources, and supported by Elizabeth, continued the war with success, and at last triumphed over opposition. Norfolk was brought to the scaffold, and the earl of Northumberland, treacherously delivered up by the Scottish regent, shared a similar fate. At last the castle of Edinburgh was invested by Sir William Drury, who joined the Scottish army with a formidable battering train. In this fortress, the single remaining hope of the queen of Scots, Kirkaldy of Grange commanded; and he held it bravely till the walls were destroyed, his guns silenced, and his provisions exhausted. Under these circumstances he surrendered, with his companion Maitland. To this step, Drury had induced him by a promise of favourable terms; but the English queen disregarded the stipulation, and handed over the prisoners to Morton. Kirkaldy and his brother were immediately executed, and Maitland only escaped the same scaffold by taking poison.

Morton now deemed himself so strong as to be independent of all parties, and his avarice and spoliations knew no bounds. He oppressed the church, of whom he had formerly affected to be the steadiest patron; and treated the young king and the nobles with so much haughtiness and severity, that he soon became an object of universal dread and hatred. James was now twelve years old, and it was not difficult for a faction of the nobles, who detested the regent, to persuade the young monarch that he ought no longer to be treated as a child. Acting by their advice, he accordingly summoned a parliament. It was numerously attended; and Morton, to the astonishment of all, the moment he learned the king’s wishes, declared his willingness[7:19:742] to carry them into effect, and instantly resigned his regency.

This ready and implicit submission was rewarded by the passing of an act of indemnity, which included a general pardon for any alleged transgressions, and ratified his whole conduct as regent. It is in his anxiety to procure this, that we are to find the secret of his sudden relinquishment of the supreme power; and scarcely was it procured when this extraordinary man, by means of a successful intrigue with a portion of the family of Mar, found means again to become master of the king’s person, and re-emerged into as great power and ascendancy as before. His usurpation, however, was this time more short lived. Atholl, Argyll, and some of the most powerful nobles, assembled their forces, and declared their resolution to liberate the sovereign from his ignominious captivity. Instead of a battle, however, the opposite factions came to a compromise, by which the veteran tyrant was shorn of a large part of his power, and the young king recovered something of his independence.

James began now to show that strong propensity to favouritism which marked his future career; and the effects of this weakness were seen in the sudden rise into power of Esmé Stewart, duke of Lennox, and captain Stewart, second son of lord Ochiltree, and afterwards the notorious earl of Arran. Of these, the first was a high-born nobleman, of graceful address, amiable feelings, and common-place understanding; but the second, of birth and connections much inferior to Lennox, was ambitious, intriguing, daring, and unprincipled, and soon managed to gain an influence over both the young king, and the duke his favourite. With these advantages, an overwhelming opposition was soon raised against Morton; and as his exactions and cruelty had made him universally odious, it was in vain that his steady friend, the English queen, interposed to save him. Her interference indeed rather accelerated his fate, and the news that she meditated an invasion, roused the spirit of the young king and of his people to instant opposition. When Elizabeth, however, received intelligence that a Scottish army was assembled, she prudently withdrew from the contest; and Morton abandoned to his fate, was arraigned as an accomplice in the king’s murder, at the instance of captain Stewart, who had recently been created earl of Arran. Of his guilt there can be little doubt, and he himself, after the jury brought in their verdict, and he had received sentence of death, acknowledged that he was privy to the intended murder. But his trial was conducted, even in those days of prostituted justice, with a reckless disregard of every form of law; and all were aware that the jury, of whom many were his bitter enemies, would, under any circumstances, have found him guilty. He died as he had lived, boldly, expressing a calm contempt of death, and exhibiting all the outward marks of repentance.

The death of Morton was followed by the nominal accession of the young king to the supreme power, but by the actual transmission of that power into the hands of his favourites, Lennox and Arran. This last nobleman, owing to the weak and flexible character of Lennox, soon came to rule all, and his rapacity, profligacy, and open defiance of public opinion, completely disgusted the nation. The result was a conspiracy for his ruin, headed by the earl of Gowrie. This nobleman and his associates having contrived to make themselves masters of the king’s person, at the castle of Ruthven, and having removed Lennox and Arran from all authority in the state, directed the government as they judged best for their own interests. But the character of the king, although full of many strange contradictions, began now to exhibit a greater degree of talent and energy than his opponents were aware of; and although compelled to dissemble, and showing no symptoms of discontent with this change of masters, James was really disgusted with the durance in which he was held by Gowrie and his faction. With an ability which proved the more successful, because his adversaries were unprepared for it, he contrived to organize a party, and free himself from his servitude; but it happened unfortunately that at this crisis the earl of Arran regained his liberty, and returning to court, soon resumed his baneful influence over the fond and facile monarch. It was by his advice that the king, who had first been inclined to use his victory over the faction of Gowrie with moderation, exchanged this wise resolution for vindictive measures; and although Elizabeth strongly remonstrated against it, he brought Gowrie to the scaffold, and drove his associates into banishment.

Arran was now supremely powerful; but the venality, tyranny, and abuses of his government, soon became intolerable, and worked their own cure by producing a counter-revolution, in which the despotic favourite, after having first courted, and then quarelied with the Scottish church, in vain attempted to recover his influence by means of the English queen, and was at last chased from court by the associated lords, who made themselves masters of the king’s person. A government, upon a model which admitted the principal nobility to a share in the councils of the state, was now established; and Arran, deserted by all parties, sank into insignificance.

It was impossible that Mary, who had been detained a captive by Elizabeth, contrary to every principle of honour and justice, should not have exerted herself to regain her freedom; and the Roman Catholic party in England were not only interested in her success, but regarded her as their best security against Elizabeth and the Protestant faith. This led to a succession of intrigues, which were discovered by the penetration and activity of Elizabeth’s ministers, the discovery only serving to increase the rigour of her confinement. At last the Scottish queen having been arraigned (unjustly as afterwards appeared) of an accession to the conspiracy of Babington, the object of which was the assassination of Elizabeth, and the restoration of the ancient religion, she was brought to trial before a commission, whose jurisdiction she at first peremptorily declined as an independent and sovereign princess. It was unfortunate for Mary that she did not continue in this resolution; but in the idea that a refusal might be construed into an admission of guilt, at last condescended to plead. The consequence was, what might have been expected from the nature of the evidence, the constitution of the court, and the supreme authority of Elizabeth. Mary was found guilty of having compassed divers matters tending to the death of the queen; and after many affected delays, and an atrocious attempt to induce her keeper, Paulet, to dispatch her secretly, Elizabeth signed the warrant for her execution, which was carried into effect on the 7th of February 1587. The meekness with which she received the intimation of her sentence, and the admirble and saintly fortitude with which she suffered, formed a striking contrast to the despair and agony which not long afterwards darkened the death-bed of the English queen.

It might have been expected that if any thing could have roused the king of Scots, it would have been the cruelty and injustice to which his mother had fallen a sacrifice; and for a moment there was an ebullition of indignant feeling. But Elizabeth sent him an artful apology. The blame of the execution was laid upon Davison, her secretary, an innocent and upright man, who simply obeyed heir orders; and with that unscrupulous falsehood which this princess seldom hesitated to employ when necessary to carry through her designs, the unfortunate statesman was sacrificed, that his royal mistress might escape. But the English queen had still a firmer hold over the young king of Scots. He regarded the succession to her throne as his undoubt∣ed right, and dreaded to irritate her personal feelings, or alienate her Protestant subjects, by appearing to place himself at the head of the Roman Catholic party, who burned to avenge the death of their royal mistress. In vain, therefore, they[7:19:743] looked to the king, who, after a short interval, relapsed into his usual pacific frame of mind, and celebrated his entrance upon majority, by an attempt to abolish those sanguinary feuds amongst his nobility, which had increased to an alarming height, and threatened to pull the country to pieces.

This laudable endeavour, which did not meet with the success it merited, was followed by James’s marriage to the princess Anne of Denmark; an alliance which Elizabeth, with her usual jealous and capricious policy, endeavoured to prevent. But the Scottish king, with unwonted spirit and energy, sought his bride in person in her father’s court, and having solemnised his marriage at Upslo, returned with her to Scotland.

During his absence the kingdom had been unusually prosperous and happy ;but it was soon afterwards embroiled by the intrigues and ambition of the earl of Bothwell, who, leaguing with the Roman Catholic faction, attacked the palace of Holyrood with the design of seizing the king’s person, and placing himself at the head of the government. A second attempt of the same kind at Falkland was not more successful; and yet such was at this time the impotent state of the law, and the weakness of the royal authority, that these repeated treasons escaped unpunished, and Bothwell lived not only to defend but to repeat them.

Scotland at this moment presented a melancholy picture. The intrigues of Philip the Second had encouraged the Roman Catholic faction, which was led by the earls of Huntly, Errol, and Angus; and James, aware of the great power possessed by the Romanists, both in Scotland and England, was fearful of treating them with severity, lest he should raise a formidable opposition to his right of succession, which must open on the death of Elizabeth. But this was not the only source of disquiet. The excessive lenity of the king had fostered the feudal quarrels among his nobles, impunity led to new excesses, and the turbulent and audacious Bothwell once more appeared upon the scene, and made repeated attempts to seize the royal person, and administer the government at his pleasure. To these sources of disquiet, were added the interference of Elizabeth, which roused the jealousy of the king, and the intolerant spirit of the protestant ministers, who, horror-struck by the discovery of the intrigues of the Roman Catholic lords, recommended their being treated with the utmost severity.

These combined causes transformed the kingdom into a scene of almost perpetual tumult and bloodshed; but the monarch at last becoming convinced of the treasonable purposes of the popish earls, assembled an army, and reduced them to the last extremity of distress. Bothwell, too, was driven into exile, and the country began to breath anew, when James found himself involved in a contest with the protestant ministers. The cause of this dispute was the king’s wish to lean to the side of mercy in his conduct to the popish lords. It was reported that Huntly, their leader, had been admitted to a secret interview. The clergy, alarmed to the utmost, appealed to their congregations; they defended the conduct of Black, a minister who had openly attacked the court and the queen, in a seditious harangue; they haughtily declined the authority of the privy council; and by their violence, they excited a tumult in Edinburgh, which compelled the monarch to retire to Linlithgow. Under these trying circumstances, the king acted with extraordinary energy, and jealous of so bold an interference with his prerogative, restored tranquillity to the capital, punished the insurgent citizens, compelled the ministers to fly to England, and, according to his original intentions, extended his forgiveness to the popish lords who made a recantation of their errors.

James, who had been alarmed at the late violence exhibited by the presbyterian clergy, now became intent upon a plan for new-modelling the church; but aware, that if the measure originated in any other quarter than that of the clergy themselves, it would inevitably miscarry, he artfully prevailed on the General Assembly to second his views. The commission appointed by this ecclesiastical council were induced to complain that the church was the only body not represented; and the king, whose object it was to restore episcopacy, procured an act to be passed, by which those ministers upon whom he had conferred the vacant bishoprics and abbeys were entitled to sit in parliament. When this measure came again to be debated in the General Assembly, it encountered great opposition. “Deck these intruders as you will,” exclaimed one of the most zealous presbyterians, “under all their disguise I see the horns of the mitre.” Yet after a long debate, a majority of the General Assembly declared in its favour; and it was resolved that ministers might lawfully accept a seat in parliament, and that fifty-one members should be chosen as representatives of the church in the supreme court of the country. When, however, the question arose regarding the spiritual jurisdiction which should belong to these persons, the General Assembly so effectually shackled and abridged their powers, that they remained wholly dependant upon this great ecclesiastical council., and exercised no separate spiritual jurisdiction. It was James’s hope, that, in the course of time, they would shake off these fetters, but, in the mean time, they could claim none of the privileges belonging to the episcopal order.

When the monarch was thus employed, and his kingdom was enjoying a degree of tranquillity to which it had been long a stranger, the minds of the people were suddenly agitated by a sudden and mysterious attempt made at Perth upon the life of the king by the earl of Gowrie and his brother, Alexander Ruthven. These young men were the sons of that earl of Gowrie who had been executed for treason, and it is probable that a desire to revenge their father’s death led to their miserable and ill-concerted enterprise; but much obscurity hangs over the whole transaction. It is certain that Ruthven induced the king, by a feigned story, to accompany him with a slender train from Falkland to his brother’s house at Perth. Here he contrived to separate James from his attendants, and leading him into a remote apartment, threw himself upon him, seized him by the throat, and drew his dagger. The king struggled to get to the window, and calling out treason, alarmed his nobles, who rushed into the room, stabbed Ruthven to the heart, and when Gowrie attempted a rescue, put him also to death on the spot. Both these unfortunate men being slain, the utmost pains were taken to detect their associates, to unravel the plot, and to ascertain their precise object, but with so little success, that to this day the mystery is not solved.

The queen of England, now in her seventieth year, began soon after this to droop, and her constitution, hitherto uncommonly vigorous and unimpaired, was evidently breaking up. Of all this James was well aware. He had secured the friendship and good offices of Sir Robert Cecil., her chief minister, who, unknown to his mistress, carried on a secret correspondence with the Scottish king; and acting by his advice, he had employed every effort to conciliate the affections of the English people, and to acquire the support of the most powerful of the English nobility. These judicious precautions were attended with the wished for result. James was Elizabeth’s undoubted heir; and on the death of this princess, an event which took place on the 23d of March 1603, he succeeded, with the unanimous consent of the nation, to the throne of England. This great and auspicious event closes the history of Scotland as a separate kingdom.
[7:19:744]

STATISTICS.

Scotland , the northern division of Great Britain, is situated between 54° 38' and 58° 41' north latitude, and between 1° 47' and 6° 7' west longitude from Greenwich; having the sea on all sides, except the south, where it is separated from England partly by the Tweed and other streams, and partly by a line supposed to be drawn along the high grounds in that quarter. The longest line that can be drawn in about the same parallel of longitude is from the Mull of Galloway in Wigtonshire to Cape Wrath in Sutherland, a distance of about 274 miles, though Dunnethead in Caithness-shire, is the most northerly point; while its breadth is extremely various, ranging from 147 miles to about 30. The greatest breadth is between Buchanness on the coast of Aberdeenshire, and the Rowanmoan Point on the west coast of Ross-shire. There are other points where the width is not much less; while between Alloa on the Frith of Forth and Dunbarton on the Clyde, the distance is only 32 miles, and between Lochbroom and the Frith of Dornoch, it is rather less than 30. The area of Scotland, calculated from Arrowsmith’s map, and as given in the General Survey of Scotland, contains 25,520 square miles, and 494 square miles of fresh water lakes. This is the extent of the mainland only, exclusive of the islands on the west, known by the name of the Hebrides or Western Isles; and those of Orkney and Zetland on the north, which altogether are computed to extend over 4224 square miles, of which 144 consist of fresh water lakes. Including these islands, the northern limit of Scotland stretches beyond the 61st degree of latitude, and its longitude lies between the meridian of London and 8°18' west; its area being computed to comprehend 30,238 square miles, of which the fresh water lakes occupy 638 square miles, or about l-48th part of the whole.

Table Shewing the total extent of the several counties of Scotland, thirty-three in number, including Buteshire, and the county of Orkney and Zetland, in square miles, and English stature acres; specifying the extent of Land and of Fresh Water Lakes in each county.
[table]
[7:19:745]

From what has been already said respecting the extreme variation in the breadth of Scotland at different places, the fact may be inferred, that the outline on the sea-coast is exceedingly irregular, and of great extent, the sea penetrating to a great depth, both on its eastern and western sides. Of these arms of the sea, the most considerable are the Firths of Forth and Tay, and the Moray and Dornoch Firths, on the east; and the Firth of Clyde and the Luce and Wigton Bays, on the west and south-west; whilst there are a very great number of smaller inlets, called lochs, such as Loch Fyne, Loch Long, Loch Etive, Loch Lynnhe, Loch Broom, &c., which indent the country in all directions, to an extent varying from ten to seventy miles. With this irregularity of outline is combined a surface generally rugged and mountainous. With the exception of narrow tracts along its principal rivers, there is very little of the country flat or level, or what would be regarded as productive land in more favoured regions. “To such a degree,” says Mr. M'Cullocb, “is this the case, that, estimating the whole extent of the country, exclusive of lakes, at 19,000,000 acres, it is doubtful whether so many as 6,000,000 be arable; whereas, taking the extent of England and Wales at 37,000,000 acres, the arable land certainly exceeds 29,000,000; so that, while in Scotland, the proportion of the cultivable to the entire land is less than one-third, in England it exceeds three-fourths. With the exception, indeed, of a few tracts of rich alluvial land, (carses), Scotland has no very extensive vales; the surface of the rest of the country being, even where most level, considerably varied with hill and dale.”^[63. Statistical Account of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 239. ] In the south of Scotland, a tract of mountainous country, known by various names, stretches in a south-west direction, from the Cheviot hills in Roxburghshire, on the borders of England, to the Irish channel, sending off branches on both sides, whilst detached hills prevail over the whole of the contiguous districts. These high grounds, however, are for the most part clothed in green, almost to their summits, and have little of that wild, romantic, and desolate character, which distinguishes many of the mountains of the Highlands. Northward from the isthmus formed by the Firths of Forth and Clyde, the low grounds constitute but a small proportion of the whole. Here, in latitude 57°, the Grampians extend from sea to sea, with a breadth of from forty to sixty miles; and parallel to them, to the south, is another chain, called the Siedlaw, Ochills, and Campsie hills. Between these two ranges lies the fertile valley of Strathmore; whilst, farther north, cultivation is mostly confined to the sea-coast, the banks of the larger rivers, and the narrow glens between the mountains. On the north-west, beyond the line of the Caledonian canal, the country is, with few exceptions, singularly rugged and sterile; consisting of lofty mountains, either covered with heath, or presenting a mass of naked rocks, interrupted only by deep and dark ravines, lakes, and precipitous streamlets. But the eastern coast of Ross-shire is comparatively level and fertile; and Caithness, the north-eastern county of the mainland of Scotland, is generally low, marshy, and unproductive.

Scotland is divided into Highlands and Lowlands. “Those countries, whose inhabitants speak a different language, and wear a different garb,” says Mr. Home, in his History of the Rebellion, 1745,^[64. Home’s Works, vol. iii. 385, 386. ] ^ “are not separated by firths or rivers, nor distinguished by northern or southern latitude. The same shire, the same parish, at this day, contains part of both; so that a Highlander and Lowlander (each of them standing at the door of the cottage where he was born) hear their neighbours speak a language which they do not understand.” The line which separates the Highlands from the Lowlands is by no means well defined; but it may be described as beginning at Dunbarton, on the Firth of Clyde, and proceeding northward by Crieff, Dunkeld, and Blair gowrie, it runs through the forest of Morven, in the heights of Aberdeen, to Carron, in Banffshire; from Carron it stretches due west by Tarnoway, in Morayshire, to the town of Nairn; from Nairn the line is continued to Inverness; and from this latter place, it proceeds in a tortuous direction, to Dunistra, on the south side of the Firth of Dornoch, where the line of separation may be said to terminate, the country to the north of this firth being altogether Highland, except a narrow stripe of land along the shores of the German Ocean, which washes the east coast of Sutherland and Caithness. To the west of this line lie the Highlands, which, including the Hebrides, constitute in superficial extent nearly one-half of Scotland, although the inhabitants of this division do not form an eighth part of the population of that kingdom. The face of the country is wild, rugged, desolate, and mountainous. In almost every strath, valley, or glen, there glitters a stream or lake; and numberless firths, or arms of the sea, penetrate the land. The passes into the Highlands lie in deep ravines or glens, so narrow, and soover-hung by mountains, that they admit of being very easily defended, and till recently, when roads have been made, they were impracticable almost to every one except the natives. To this must principally be ascribed the successful resistance opposed by the Highlanders to the attacks of the Romans and the Saxons; and hence, also, these northern people still form a distinct race, the lineal descendants of the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the country, and differing essentially in language, dress, and manners, from the Lowlanders..

The climate of Scotland, as may be expected, from its insular situation and high latitude, is cold, cloudy, and humid. This is its general character, as compared with the greater part of England; yet, even in the south of England, frost is sometimes more intense, and snow falls more copiously than in Scotland. Corn, however, and most of the fruits and vegetables common to both divisions of Great Britain, attain maturity about three weeks earlier in the south of England than in Scotland; and some plants, such as hops and a few others, cannot be profitably cultivated at all in the latter country. The mean annual temperature of Scotland is very high for the latitude, being about 46 ½ ° in places near the level of the sea. In the more southerly parts of the kingdom, the climate differs but little from that of the northern parts of England. Sir David Brewster states the mean annual temperature to be 48 36 at Leith. At Edinburgh, which is elevated from 300 to 400 feet above the level of the sea, and situated two miles from it, the annual temperature is 47∙8, and this may be taken as a near approximation to the general average of Scotland; the mean temperature of winter being 38∙6, of spring, 46∙4, of summer, 58∙2, of autumn, 48∙4, the coldest month being 38∙3, and the warmest 59·4.^[65. Ibid. ] The observations published in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, and in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, closely approximate to the above estimate. In the parish of Inch, Wigtonshire, the mean temperature for the year 1837 was 48∙41. At Applegarth Manse, in the interior of Dumfriesshire, the average annual temperature for seven successive years, ending in 1831 inclusive, was 47Ί2; that of the spring being 40∙31, of the summer, 56∙86, the autumn, 54∙18, and of winter, 39·92. At Wick in Caithness the mean annual temperature is 46∙7, that of the winter being 40∙35, the spring, 44∙4l, the summer, 5377, and the autumn, 48·82; whilst at Sumburgh-head, the most southerly promontory of the Shetland Islands, in latitude 59° 52', the mean annual temperature is 45 ∙5, that of the winter being 40, the spring, 43·29, the summer, 50∙60, and the autumn, 47∙48. The range of the barometer is 2∙82 inches, or from 30·92 to 28· 10 inches; and in the Orkney and Shetland Islands it is somewhat more, or about three inches. The fall of rain is very diffcr-[7:19:746] ent in different districts; but the average is about 31 inches. The quantity which falls on the east coast of Scotland ranges from 22 to 26 inches; whilst, on the west coast and in the Hebrides, it is nearly double, varying, according to situation, from 35 to 46 inches. The number of fair days throughout the year is, on the west coast, only 160; whilst on the east it is 230. The mean annual fall of rain at Edinburgh for the years 1824 and 1825, was 23 ½ inches; at Glasgow, for an average of thirty years, it was 30 inches; whilst, still farther west, at Mount Stewart, in the Isle ofBute, it was, on an average of seven years, 46∙6 inches, the mean average of the whole country being, as just stated, 31 inches. The prevailing winds throughout Scotland are from the westerly points; but on the east coast it blows from the easterly points about a third of the year. Easterly winds generally prevail in March and April., and often in May and part of June, and not only check vegetation, but are attended with slightly unfavourable effects on the health of the inhabitants, particularly such of them as are nervous, dyspeptic, consumptive, or rheumatic. But the climate of Scotland is eminently salubrious. There are, properly speaking, no fens or marshes. The low grounds are, in general, highly cultivated. From whatever point the wind may blow, except the east, a wide expanse of sea is passed ever; and the air, though moist, is purified from injurious emanations, which are readily absorbed by the ocean. Hence it has been affirmed, that the mean duration of life is greater in Scotland than in almost any other country.^[66. Malthus, i. cap. x. ] “We are pretty confident, from extensive observation in different countries, that the proportion of the population that reaches seventy or eighty years of age, and the vigour then remaining, are greater in Scotland than almost any where else.”

The mountains of Scotland consist either of detached groups, more or less closely wedged together, or of ridges or chains. These latter may be characterized as running in a north-east and south-west direction. The most celebrated chain, the Grampians, mentioned by Tacitus,^[67. Agricoae Vita, c. 29. ] extend from the south-eastern boundaries of Argyleshire, with a more or less defined line, to the heart of Aberdeenshire. This chain may be regarded as a natural rampart, forming the south-eastern boundary of the Highlands. With the exception of Ben Nevis, the highest mountains in Scotland arc comprehended in the Grampian range. Another chain, to the south of the Grampians, and nearly parallel to them, stretches from Montrose to the Clyde, in Dunbartonshire; but being intersected by the Tay and the Forth, it is divided into three distinct portions, which bear different names. From Montrose to the Tay, this chain is called the Siedlaw hills; from the Tay to the Forth, it is known by the name of the Ochills; and the remainder passes under the names of the Dundaff, Fintry, and Campsie hills. The low-country, or strath, which separates this range of hills from the Grampians, is called Strathmore, or the great valley. There is also a chain of mountains in the south of Scotland, stretching from the Cheviot hills, on the borders of Northumberland, to Loch Ryan, in Wigtonshire. There are other smaller ranges, such as the Monagh Lea mountains, which run parallel to and along the western side of the Spey; the Lomond hills in Fifeshire; the Pentland hills in Mid-Lothian, and others. The altitude and situation of the principal hills and mountains in Scotland having already been given under the head of Physical Geography, it is unnecessary to repeat the information here.

In the neighbourhood of the village of Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, 1564 feet above the level of the sea, is the highest cultivated land in Scotland. In Aberdeenshire, the plough sometimes reaches the height of about 1300 feet; but, with few exceptions, an elevation of 600 feet seems to be the limit of the tillage lands of Scotland. None of the Scottish mountains ascends to the line of perpetual congelation; yet snow may be found all the year round in some of the dark recesses, on which the sun never shines.

From the rugged and mountainous character of the surface of Scotland, the vales or level tracts cannot be expected to be extensive or numerous. They are, indeed, when compared with England, very much the reverse. Of these vales, called sometimes straths or carses, the following are the most important The vale or carse of Stirling and Falkirk is a tract of low alluvial land, which extends on both sides of the Forth, with little interruption, and to a greater or less width, from Borrowstonness to about twenty miles north of Stirling, including the vales of the Teith and the Allan, two tributaries of the Forth. These lands are peculiarly fertile, and produce the richest crops of wheat and other grain. The vale of the Earn, a tributary of the Tay, known by the name of Strathearn, is of a similar character, but of comparatively limited extent. The carse of Gowrie, which lies on the north of the Tay, from Dundee to Perth, is incomparably the most fertile and productive district in Scotland, and is thought not to be surpassed in these respects by any other district of equal extent in the united kingdom. Strathmore stretches from Lawrencekirk in Angusshire to the neighbourhood of Perth, lying between the bases of the Siedlaw hills and the Grampians. This valley is not entirely flat, but is characterised by occasional gentle eminences. The Merse, or level lands of Berwick shire, stretch from the confluence of the Leader and the Tweed to the town of Berwick, occupying most of the low and generally level part of the country, or nearly the half of its surface. The carse of Baldoon, lying south of the river Bladenoch, and on the east shore of the bay of Wigton, is of limited extent, but of nearly equal fertility to the carse of Gowrie. There are other less important straths or carses, such as those along the Teviot in Roxburghshire; Tynedale, or the vale of Tyne, in East Lothian; and the Howe, or vale of Eden, in Fifeshire. These lands are either loamy or alluvial.

By this term we mean tracts of land composed of morasses, intermixed with rocks, lakes, and peat-moss. The moor of Rannoch, lying between Schehallion, Ben Cruachan, and Ben Nevis, is one of the most lonely, wild, and dreary districts in Scotland. It may be said to be entirely devoid of value, and would not of itself bring any rent. It is not inhabited, and very seldom visited. There is a tract about ten miles inland on the west coast of Sutherlandshire, not very dissimilar, but, though more rugged, it is not quite so dreary as that of the moor of Rannoch. The flow of Glenluce lies between Newtonstewart and Luce Bay, stretching along the public road for about ten miles, composed chiefly of peat and morasses, and forming one of the bleakest and most dreary rides in Scotland.

From the rugged and mountainous nature of the country, the rivers of Scotland are characterised by a more rapid course, are more diversified by rocks and cataracts, and are more limpid than those of England. Their course is also necessarily shorter, and few of them are navigable, at least to any great extent. Being generally mountain streams, they are peculiarly liable to sudden overflowings, their rise and fall being equally sudden. From a very tedious and elaborate set of experiments, it is computed that they carry out to the sea, on an average, about 1 / 2000 the weight of their waters in mud; that is, a film of about 1 / 50 of an inch annually, or one inch in fifty years over the whole surface from which they draw their waters.

The principal rivers of Scotland, with the single exception of the Clyde, are exclusively confined to the east. Three inconsiderable rivers flow in a south-easterly direction, the[7:19:747] Dee, which falls into the Solway Firth about six miles south of Kirkcudbright, and is navigable for small vessels two miles above that town; the Nith, which rises in the north of Dumfries-shire, and falls into the Solway Firth more than seven miles below Dumfries, being navigable to within two miles of that place; and the Annan, which rises on the south side of Hartfell, near Moffat, and falls into the same estuary at the town of Annan. The last is not navigable beyond this burgh. The rivers which flow in a northerly or north-easterly direction are the Ness, which flows from Loch Ness, and, after a short course, falls into the Moray Firth near Inverness; the Findhorn, which, rising in the Monagh Lea mountains, falls into the same estuary at Findhorn, after a winding course of upwards of 50 miles; and the Spey, the most rapid of the Scottish rivers, which flows from Loch Spey towards the west of Inverness-shire, and, after receiving innumerable tributaries, and traversing the best wooded portion of the Highlands, falls into the Moray Firth. The course of the Spey is nearly 100 miles; it drains above 1300 square miles of country, but is not navigable. With the exception of the Ayr, which is likewise not navigable, and falls into the sea at the town of the same name, the only river on the west coast worth mentioning, is the Clyde, (the Glotta of Tacitus), which, in a manufacturing and commercial point of view, is the most important stream in Scotland. It rises on the west of the Moffat mountains, and, after a circuitous course of nearly eighty miles, falls into the Firth of Clyde below Dunbarton. It receives various tributaries, and is navigable to Glasgow, passing in its course the principal manufacturing and commercial towns in Scotland; Glasgow, Hamilton, Lanark, Paisley, Port-Glasgow, and Greenock. The navigation of the Clyde was formerly much obstructed; but under the management of a Parliamentary board, called the River Trust, these obstructions have been nearly removed, and the channel rendered so deep and straight that vessels of 400 tons can now resort to the Broomielaw at Glasgow. The falls of Clyde, which are about 30 miles south-east of Glasgow, are very striking and celebrated. The first considerable fall is that of Bonnington, its height, including that of a little one immediately above it, being about thirty feet. The second is Corra Linn, where the water dashes from one shelving rock to another, its perpendicular height being about seventy feet. Dundaff fall is only ten feet in height; whilst that of Stonebyres, which includes three distinct falls, is not less than seventy-six feet.^[68. Naiamith’s Survey of Clydesdale, p. 19, &c. ] All the other rivers are on the east coast, namely, the Tweed, the Forth, the Tay, the North and South Esk, the Dee, and the Don. The Tweed rises near the sources of the Annan and Clyde, and running past Peebles through a beautiful pastoral country, falls into the German ocean at Berwick-upon-Tweed, after a winding course of about a hundred miles. The descent from its source to its embouchure is about 1500 feet; and it is navigable only to Berwick. The Forth, (the Bodotria of Tacitus), rises on the east of Ben Lomond, and receiving the waters of the Teith and the Allan, it becomes a considerable stream at Stirling, to which the tide flows, and to which it is navigable for vessels of about seventy tons. From Stirling to Alloa is only six miles by land, but the stream of the Forth is so tortuous that it is no less than sixteen by water. The river may here be said to terminate in the Firth, which extends to the German ocean, a distance of forty miles. Its width is various. At Queensferry, eight miles west of Edinburgh, it is two miles; at Leith it is six; and thence it gradually expands till it is lost in the open sea. It is navigable for vessels of 300 tons as far as Alloa. The only low water pier of which it can boast is that of Granton, about a mile and a half west of Leith. The Tay rises to the north of Loch Lomond, and expanding into the romantic sheet of water called Loch Tay, it flows in a circuitous route past Dunkeld and Perth, and falls into the Firth of Tay at the confluence of its waters with the Earn, about twenty miles from the mouth of the estuary. It is navigable to Dundee for vessels of 500 tons burthen, and to Perth for those of 100 tons. It receives many tributaries, of which the Earn, just mentioned, is the most important. The Tay is the largest of the Scottish, and, in respect to the volume of water it conveys to the sea, even of the British rivers. The North and South Esk have their source in the Grampians, and fall into the sea at Montrose, within three miles of each other. The South Esk is navigable to Montrose, about a mile and a half from its mouth. The North Esk is not navigable. The basin of Montrose, through which the South Esk flows, and which bounds the town on the west, comprehends about 2000 acres of land; it is covered by water at full sea, and exhibits nothing but bare sand at ebb tide. This expanse, it has been calculated, might be reclaimed at a gross cost of L.11,938.^[69. Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, March 1838. ] The Dee and the Don have also their rise in the Grampians, and fall into the sea, the former at New Aberdeen, and the latter at Old Aberdeen. The Dee is navigable for about a mile from its mouth; the Don is not navigable.

The Scottish rivers, as stated at the beginning of this head, are of such a character, that there is no room for reclaiming waste land from their channels. This is prevented by the rapidity of their streams and by their rugged course. But several attempts have been made to reclaim lands from innundation on the shores of the Firths of Forth and Tay. Without entering into particulars the following results may be given:^[70. ’ ibid. for December 1837. ]
[table]

In addition to this, it has been stated that the extent of land now in process of being reclaimed, on different estates on the shores of the Tay, may be computed at 1140 acres, at a gross cost of L.50 per acre. The following extract, on the subject of embankments, from a work just published,^[71. New Statistical Account of Scotland, part xxiii. p. 631. ] contains minute and interesting information; “About 68 Scots acres of land have been here, (the parish of St. Madoes,) at different times reclaimed from the Tay by embankments. In 1826, in consequence of an arrangement between Sir John Richardson, the proprietor, and Mr. R.W. Rannie, tenant, Pitfour Mains, by which the latter agreed to raise an embankment at his own expense, and after being allowed to take the first crop free, to pay L.4, 10s. annually, per Scots acre, for the reclaimed land, during a lease of nineteen years; operations were commenced, which resulted in the complete reclamation of 50 acres during the autumn of that year. The whole expense of embankments, sluices, levelling, water cuts, and trenching amounted to L.1530. So productive, however, did the new soil turn out, that Mr. Rannie has been amply rewarded for his enterprise. According to his own account, he has had, before liming and manuring, on some parts of a field, about 60 bolls of potatoes per acre, the average produce being from 40 to 50 bolls. After liming and manuring, he has had, on some parts of a field, 70 bolls per acre, the average being from 50 to 60 bolls, of 32 stones Dutch to[7:19:748] the boll. He has had of oats, before liming and manuring, from 10 to 11, after liming and manuring, from 12 to 13 quarters per acre; and of wheat from 6 to 7 quarters per acre. He commenced liming in 1829 and manuring in 1835, the rotation, up to that period, being potatoes, and wheat, or oats, alternately. In 1833, Sir John Richardson reclaimed 18 acres more at an expense of L.1200; and, by means of head-dikes, break-waters, and other contrivances, which he is from time to time throwing out into the river, for the purpose of accommodating silt, upwards of 150 acres more may ultimately be added to the parish; of these, from 15 to 20 may be banked off in the course of two years.”

From a table already given, under the head of Superficial Extent, we have already found that the fresh water lakes in Scotland occupy an area of 638 square miles, or cover an aggregate extent of 408,320 English statute acres. The only counties that are devoid of lakes are those of Berwick, Clackmannan, the Lothians, and Peebles; whilst those of Roxburgh amount to only 320 English acres. The greatest extent of lakes are in Inverness-shire, (84,480 English acres,) Argyleshire, exclusive of islands, (38,400,) Ross-shire, (38,400,) Perthshire, (32,000,) and Sutherlandshire, (30,080.) The lakes, generally speaking, occupy the valleys or ravines amongst the mountains, and are thus distinguished for their length, their breadth being comparatively trifling. The only Lowland lakes worth specifying are Loch Leven, St. Mary’s Loch, and Loch Ken. The first, situated in Kinross-shire, is four miles in length by two in breadth, having the Lomond hills on its east, and Benarty hill on its south; whilst the towns of Kinross and Milnathort lie on its western margin. This lake is remarkable for a peculiar species of red trout, which is highly valued;^[72. Statistical Account of Scotland. ] * and it also produces char, perch, pike, and other species of fish. The fishery is let for a considerable sum; and it is a remarkable fact that Loch Leven is the only Scottish lake that yields any revenue to its proprietors. There is not even an attempt made to derive any profits from any other lake; nay, they are not fished for the domestic consumption even of the neighbouring inhabitants. But Loch Leven is principally celebrated for an island in the lake in which are the picturesque ruins of a castle, where Queen Mary was confined by her subjects, and from which she effected her escape (1568) a few days previous to the fatal battle of Langside. There are other small islands in the lake, the principal of which is St. Serf’s, where was once a famous monastery, of which Andrew Winton, author of the Chronykil of Scotland, was prior. St. Mary’s Loch, a most beautiful and picturesque sheet of water, three miles in length by from half a mile to a mile in breadth, is in Selkirkshire. Loch Ken is formed by the expansion of the river Ken in Kirkcudbrightshire, and forms part of the river. It is ten miles in length by rather less than a mile in breadth. The other lakes are all north of the Firths of Clyde and Forth. Loch Lomond is the most celebrated as well as the largest lake in Scotland; indeed, it is the largest in the British dominions. This noble sheet of water is above twenty-four miles in length, its greatest breadth is ten miles, but, towards its upper part, it is not more than half a mile. Its depth varies from twenty to a hundred and twenty fathoms, and its greatest depth is towards the north. It is studded with numerous and richly wooded islands, some of them being very small, but the largest, Inchmurrin, is two miles in length and one in breadth. Some of them, particularly Inchmurrin, are stocked with deer. Both sides of the lake are flanked by high and rugged mountains, among which “the lofty Ben Lomond” stands conspicuous, its height being 3195 feet above the margin of the water. The surface water of Loch Lomond is from three to five feet higher in winter than in summer; but its mean height is about twenty-two feet above the level of the sea at Dunbarton. Its surplus water is convey ed to the Clyde, a distance of six miles, by the river Leven. Loch Katterin, so celebrated in Sir Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake, lies in the district of Menteith, Perthshire, and is one of the most romantic in Scotland. Its length is eight miles, and its greatest breadth less than one. It does not seem necessary to give a minute description of the other lakes; but the following table, taken from the General Report of Scotland, will shew their number, dimensions, and situation.
[table]

In a general point of view, Scotland may be separated, geologically as well as geographically, into three portions. By passing a line on the map nearly straight from Stonehaven, through Dunkeld, to the middle of the Isle of Bute, and thence with a slight curve to the Mull of Cantyre, we shall have traced the southern boundary of the primary nonfossiliferous system of rocks. Another line, but much more irregular than the former, drawn from St. Abb’s Head in Berwickshire, passing near Peebles, Sanquhar, and New Cumnock, to the south of Girvan on the western coast, will form a general parallelism with the former line, and will contain the old greywacke, now named the Cumbrian system, lying to the south, and extending to the boundary between England and Scotland, whilst the land included between the two lines comprehends the old red sandstone, and great central basin of Scotland.

That extensive tract of Scotland which constitutes the northern division, is composed chiefly of gneiss, mica slate, chlorite slate, and clay slate, with subordinate masses of hornblende slate, talc slate, and primitive limestone. These, with granitic centres, often rise into magnificent mountains, of which the Grampians form a part. In many of these deposits, particularly in the mica slate, garnets of a brown colour are very abundant. In the primary deposits no organic remains have ever been discovered.

These, however, are not the only stratified formations which constitute this extensive district. The old red sandstone fringes the extremities of the land, commencing near the[7:19:749] Moray Firth, extending on both sides of Loch Ness till within a short distance of Fort Augustus, and then proceeding northward, expanding the whole breadth of Caithness, and constituting the principal formation of the Orkney Isles. On the western site of the mainland, the old red sandstone is deposited in numerous patches on the gneiss formation, as at Loch Broom, Gairloch, and Applecross.

The new secondary rocks have been but sparingly observed in Scotland; yet it is a curious fact that the few patches that have been discovered are superimposed on the old red sandstone, and have not been reposing in uninterrupted order in the secondary series. Thus the has shales, highly micaceous, and some of the upper beds of the oolitic system, occur at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth, from Dunrobin Castle to the ord of Caithness, Applecross, and other points on the mainland, and in the Western Islands, on the borders of Mull, the south and east of Skye, and near to the rocks of Arran. The equivalent of the fresh water deposits of the wealds of Sussex, geologically situated above the oolitic group and below the chalk, is seen in Moray and Skye. In the central and southern divisions of Scotland, these newer groups of rocks have not been detected. In this division of Scotland very few metallic ores have been found. Lead mines were formerly wrought at Tyn-drum, to the west of Loch Tay. Lead mines are at present wrought at Stronbean in Argyleshire, at which place the carbonate of strontian was first discovered. At Glen Strath-fairer, in Inverness-shire, there have been detected veins of plumbago running between the laminae of the mica slate.

We may here briefly refer to the geological character of the Western Isles. Dr. M'Culloch^[73. Western Islands of Scotland, Vol. II. ] calls the Long Island, consisting of a series of islands lying in a south-west and north-east direction, the gneiss island, from the predominance of that species of rock. Another group, embracing Skye, Rum, Canna, Mack, Egg, and Mull, he denominates the trap islands. There are five basaltic islands off the north-west side of Mull, of which the smallest but the most celebrated is Staffa, which is well known for its basaltic columns and cavern, called Fingal’s cave. This cave, one of the most remarkable natural excavations in the world, is formed of the columnar bed of basalt, where it declines to the level of the sea, which washes the feet of the columns, that are like the pillars of an immense cathedral, placed close to each other, the sea forming the floor. The top of the arch, at the entrance, is 66 feet; but it gradually declines to 40 at the extremity, at the distance of 227 feet. The breadth of the cave is about forty feet. There are other similar caverns of less note on the island. The basalt of which the columns in Staffa are composed, is similar to that of the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland; and it is probable that they are both of submarine origin, having been raised by the sea. St. Kilda,the most western of the Hebrides, is composed of several varieties of the trap rock. Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, even to the top of the highest mountains, is principally granitic.

In tracing the geological features of the country in the ascending order of the groups, we come next to the transition or greywacke system, now divided into two principal sections, the lower or Cumbrian, and the upper or Silurian. As far as has hitherto been ascertained, the Silurian division is unknown in Scotland; and the Cumbrian rocks, destitute of organic remains, cover the greater part of the area of the south of Scotland. These greywacke strata stand at high angles of from sixty to ninety degrees, and consist chiefly of coarse slatystrata, seldom divisible into thin roofing slates, and often alternating with arenaceous and coarse conglomerates. Amongst them, limestone is seldom found, and, when it is, the quality of it is inferior. In the division of which we now treat, coal and its accompaniments are known in few places; it is, however, wrought at Canonby, near Langholm, and at the Carter Fell. The only other rock formation, found in connexion with the old transition group here, with the exception of igneous rocks, is a red sandstone, ascertained, in some situations, to be the old red, but in others, considered as the new red sandstone, particularly in Dumfries-shire.

In the third geological division of Scotland, namely, the centre of the kingdom, is placed the great coal basin; but, adhering to our rule of marking the successive formations in the ascending order, we shall first treat of the old red sandstone, the most ancient rock in this subdivision of the country. This rock abuts against the line of the primary rocks, and stretches across the whole country from the German Ocean to the Atlantic, pursuing, like the mountain ranges, a south-westerly, or north-easterly direction. Its line forms a long, uninterrupted, extensive, and fertile valley. In the north-western part, it rises into hills, on the sides of one of which, east of Menteith, are deep and hideous fissures, the effect of some convulsion of the earth.

The formation appears to be of vast thickness, especially towards the north, and may, it is supposed, be divided into three portions; the lower, the middle, and the upper beds. In what are considered as the lower strata, the remains of fishes have been found in a high state of preservation. The well known Arbroath pavement belongs to the old red sandstone series.

But the most important group in this central district is the coal formation, consisting of limestone, ironstone, freestone, coal, and clays. The extent from east to west is bounded only by the extremities of the land. To the north, it is cut off from the old red sandstone by a range of trap hills, crossing the country from east to west. On the south, it is bounded by the greywacke and the old red sandstone. Its breadth, extending on both sides of the Forth and Clyde, averages forty miles, and its length about seventy miles.

The mountain limestone forms generally the basis of the group, although it is frequently found interstratified with other members of the series, and abounds with great numbers of organic remains. Below the mountain limestone, however, but belonging to the same group, a bed of limestone is worked at Burdie-house, near Edinburgh, in which the organic remains differ essentially from those which have been just named. These remains consist of many of the plants which distinguish the coal formation; but that alluded to includes also the teeth, scales, and other bones of fishes which partake of the reptile character, some of which must have been of gigantic dimensions. Small fishes are also found in a fine state of preservation. The same limestone has been found in other parts of the country, and is of superior quality to the common limestone, for mortar, plaster, and the smelting of iron.

The clay limestone is found in beds and nodules, the workable kind containing from twenty-seven to forty-five per cent. of iron. The kind termed black band is in high request. From this ore is smelted vast quantities of pig iron. The iron works in Scotland have been increasing beyond all example; at Carron, Gartsherrie, Shotts, Cleland, Airdrie, Clyde, and other places. The quantity of iron produced in Scotland in 1830 amounted to 37,500 tons. But tour years afterwards, in 1834, the latest date of which we have any correct accounst, the quantity had nearly doubled, being about 72,000 tons. These works are generally within ten or a dozen miles of Glasgow.

The coal is found in beds varying from a few inches to forty feet in thickness, is extracted in great quantity, and is used as fuel, both for domestic and manufacturing purposes. One variety, cannel coal, is of superior quality for[7:19:750] the preparation of gas. From the fire clay are manufactured fire brick and gas retorts; and the sandstone furnishes an inexhaustible store of substantial and beautiful material for building.

These several deposits contain in abundance the impressions of the vegetables which distinguish the carboniferous period; and, what is remarkable, the remains of animals, the same as occur in the Burdie-house limestone, are found in the shales, and even in the coal itself. In the island, no strata newer than the carboniferous system is known to exist. All is covered over with accumulations of clay, gravel, sand, and soil.

Until after the middle of last century’ there was scarcely a good road in Scotland. Soon after the rebellion of 1715, Government began to open up the country by roads made by the military, hence called military roads, which extended in all about eight hundred miles; but these being confined for the most part to the Highlands, intended for military purposes, and formed with little or no regard to such ascents and descents as do not impede the passage of an army, were of little advantage in an economical point of view. It is in the recollection of persons still living, when corn, coals, and other heavy articles, were usually carried upon the backs of horses, even in the southern counties of Scotland; the roads, or rather the tracks, being for the greater part of the year unfit for wheel-carriages. But so great a change has been made in this respect, particularly within the last forty years, that mail-coaches, and other carriages, now run day and night at the rate of from eight to ten miles an hour through every part of the country, from the borders of England to the northern extremity of Great Britain.

The only funds formerly applicable to the making and the repairing of the roads in Scotland were what is called the Statute Labour, or the labour of the occupiers of the land, for six days annually, upon the roads passing through their respective parishes, and a small assessment imposed upon the proprietors. This labbur, which has been converted into payment in money, and also the sums raised by assessment on the proprietors, under the name of road and bridge money, are now applied to bye-roads, or such as communicate with the great turnpikes. Almost every county has procured an act of Parliament which fixes the rate of these assessments; but this varies in different counties according to circumstances.

The turnpike roads and bridges in the Lowlands have, for nearly a century, been made, and are kept in repair by means of tolls exacted from those who use them, under the authority of private acts of Parliament. The first of these acts was obtained in 1750, at which time the roads were so bad that the journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow, a distance of forty-two miles, occupied 1 1 / 2 days, whereas it is now effected in from 4 ½ to 5 hours. The trustees named in these acts are commonly empowered, whether wisely or not, to borrow money upon the security of the funds to be received; by which means the work is more speedily executed. The board of trustees consists of the sheriff-depute, his substitute, and the justices of the peace in the county, together with all individuals, and their eldest sons, who are owners of estates worth L.100 Scotch a-year, and upwards, of valued rent. The result of this is, that “in consequence of the excellent materials which abound in all parts of Scotland, and of the greater skill and science of Scotch trustees and surveyors, the turnpike roads in Scotland are superior to those in England.”^[74. Sir H. Parnell's Treatise on Ronds, p. 313. ]

In the Highlands, the nature of the country, and the state of the population, did not admit of the same system as in the Lowlands. The military roads had not only been made, but were kept in repair at the public expense, for which L.5000 a-year was usually granted by Parliament; but a great many new roads and bridges were required; and, in 1803, an act was passed, proceeding upon “a survey and report of the coasts and central Highlands of Scotland,” by which Parliament agreed to provide half the estimated expense of the necessary roads and bridges, the other half to be defrayed by the landed proprietors; and Commissioners were named to carry into effect the beneficent intentions of the Legislature. It appears from the report just referred to, that, under this act, the Commissioners had, in 1821, expended, on 875 miles of road, and several large bridges, upwards of L.450,000, of which L.240,000 was granted by Parliament, and the rest defrayed by the counties through which the roads passed; and that L.100,000 more had been laid out by them upon harbours, of which L.50,000 was paid out of the funds arising from the forfeited estates in Scotland, and the remainder raised by the burghs, and by the contributions of individuals. If, to these sums, we add the amount of the losses sustained by the contractors, as stated in the Report, and the expense of the new roads made at the sole cost of the proprietors, to communicate with the Parliamentary roads, together with the charges of repairs, the whole amount expended within these twenty years upon the roads, bridges, and harbours of the Highlands of Scotland, may not be too highly stated at a million sterling. The Commissioners have under their charge both the maintaining of their own roads, and part of the military roads, the extent of the whole in 1821 being 1183 miles; and about L.10,000 a-year, of which L.5000 is granted by Parliament, was considered to be necessary for this purpose, including all charges of management.^[75. Anderson’s Guide to the Highlands, &c. p. 6. Ninth Report of the Commissioners for Highland Roads and Bridges. ] The military roads have been in many instances allowed to fall into disrepair; but nearly three hundred miles of them are still kept up.

Summary Statement as to the Turnpike Roads in Scotland in 1829.^[76. Parliamentary Papers, No. 703, 1833, p. 176. ]

Length of turnpike roads 3,666 miles.

Number of turnpike trusts.. 190 Acts of Parliament, 391

Debt L 1,495,082

Income from all sources 167,584

Expenditure 181,028

Excess of income over expenditure 6,556

The Caledonian Canal, the greatest work of the kind ever attempted in Great Britain, stretches south-west and northeast across the island, from a point near Inverness to Fort-William, a distance of 60 ½ miles, including Lochs Ness, Oich, and Lochy, by which nearly two-thirds of it are formed. The excavated or artificial part is tw enty-three miles; and there are in all twenty locks. The depth in some places is only seventeen feet, but it was originally meant to be twenty. As it is, however, frigates of 32 guns, and merchant ships of 1000 tons can pass through it. It is 50 feet wide at the bottom, and 122 at top. But with all its magnificence, it has been found to be an improvident speculation. The total cost of the canal, up to 1822, when it was opened, was L.905,258; and the aggregate outlay to the first of May 1839, was no less than L.1,023,628. Besides, the Commissioners have incurred a debt, including cash advanced by the bank, and outstanding claims, of L.39,146. Nor has the income ever met the expenditure. In the year ending on the first of May 1839, for example, the expenditure was L.4170, whereas the income, though above the average, was only L.2532. It has, therefore, become a question with government whether the undertaking should be maintained or abandoned. The Lords of the Treasury, accordingly, em-[7:19:751] ployed Mr. James Walker, engineer, to institute a minute investigation of the entire works, and to report. The report was presented to the House of Commons in 1838; and a select Committee was appointed to take the whole subject into consideration. The result of their investigations was, a recommendation that steam tugs should be employed in the locks, so as to ensure a speedy navigation, and that a sum not exceeding L.200,000 be placed at the disposal of the government, to be expended in the repair and improvement of the canal, under the authority of an act of Parliament, which should be procured for the purpose.^[77. See Thirty fourth Report of the Canal Commission, Mr. Walker’s Report, and Report of Secret Committee. ] ’ This recommendation will, it is hoped, be acted upon. (Navigation, Inland ). The Crinan canal is situated in Argyleshire, and is intended to afford a communication between Loch Gi!p and the Western Ocean, so as to avoid the difficult and circuitous passage round the Mull of Cantyre. It was originally undertaken in 1793 by subscription of share-holders; but the sum subscribed(L.108,000) being quite insufficient for the completion of the work, the government advanced the money, and the canal was transferred on mortgage to the Barons of Exchequer in Scotland. The management has since 1817 been lodged in the hands of the Commissioners of the Caledonian Canal. It is nine miles long, and twelve feet deep, admitting vessels of 200 tons burden. The income scarcely covers the expenditure.^[78. Ibid. ] The Forth and Clyde Canal, sometimes called the Great Canal, though begun in 1768, was not finally completed till 1790. The length from Grangemouth on the Forth to Bowling Bay on the Clyde, is 35 miles, and, including the lateral branch to Port-Dundas, Glasgow, 38 ½. Its depth is ten feet; and it has in all thirty-nine locks. Though iron swift boats and other lighters ply upon it, its staple trade consists in the transit of sailing vessels of 120 tons and under. The Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, which was finished in 1822, stretches from Port-Hopetoun, Edinburgh, until it joins the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port-Downie, near Falkirk, a distance of 31 ½ miles. Its depth is only five feet, so that its traffic is quite limited. The Monkland Canal stretches from Glasgow to Woodhall, about two miles south-east of Airdrie, a distance of twelve miles, and communicates by a lateral branch with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port-Dundas. The Glasgow, Paisley, and Ardrossan Canal has not been completed; indeed it is not now intended to complete it. The progress of railways seems partially to supersede the use of canal communication. The canal in question has been constructed from Port-Eglinton, near Glasgow, to the village of Johnstone, a distance of eleven miles, and was opened in 1811. It was on this canal that the experiment was made in rapid travelling by canals, demonstrating that it was practicable for a properly constructed boat, carrying passengers and goods along a canal, to go at a rate of nine or ten miles an hour, without injury to the banks. These light boats are now common on canals suited for such travelling. The Aberdeenshire Canal, completed in 1807, stretches from the harbour of Aberdeen to Inventury. The length is 18 1 / 4 miles, and the number of locks is seventeen.

The first act obtained, in 1808, for a railway in Scotland, was for that between Kilmarnock and Troon, a distance of 9 1 / 2 miles. The Monkland and Kirkintilloch railway connects the rich coal and ironstone district of New and Old Monkland, and, within fourteen miles of the city of Glasgow, with the Forth and Clyde Canal, near Kirkintilloch. The Ballochney railway, which has been in operation for about ten years, is merely an elongation of the last mentioned line, four miles eastward into the interior. The Glasgow and Garnkirk railway stretches eight miles west from Glasgow, till it communicates with the Monkland and Kirkintilloch line, forming a direct communication with Glasgow, and avoiding the circuitous route of that line. The Wishaw and Coltness railway, which is meant to connect the Monkland and Kirkintilloch branch with the rich coal and ironstone beds of Wishaw, Coltness, and Allanton, has not yet been completed, though the act was passed in 1829. The Slamannan railway, which is in progress of construction, is to extend from the eastern termination of the Ballochney line to the Union Canal, within a mile of Linlithgow, a distance of 12 1 / 2 miles. An act has been passed (1837) for forming a branch to the town of Bathgate. The Pollock and Govan railway, which was meant to connect these two places, which lye on the south of Glasgow, with that city, an interval of three miles, is in the same unfinished state. The Paisley and Renfrew railway, which extends from Paisley to the river Clyde at Renfrew ferry, a distance of 3 ½ miles, was opened in 1837. The Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock railway is meant to connect Glasgow and Greenock by way of Paisley. It runs nearly parallel with the Clyde, and is meant to be completed in 1840. The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr railway is intended to connect these towns and the adjacent districts. The line from Glasgow to Paisley is declared to be common to the latter line, and that of the Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock railway, and to be executed at the joint expense of both companies. The Glasgow and Paisley railway is to send branches out to the different towns in the district through which it passes. An act was obtained in 1838 for constructing a railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The line is to run nearly on a parallel with the Union Canal, past Ratho, Winchburgh, Linlithgow, and Falkirk, to pass that canal near Port-Downie, and to proceed onward to Glasgow by a line nearly parallel to the Great Canal. The distance will be forty-six miles. The capital of the company is L.900,000. Twenty-nine miles of the line have already been contracted for, and the work will be completed at farthest in 1842. The Edinburgh and Dalkeith railway was opened in 1832. It extends to Dalhousie Mains on the South Esk, but a private branch has been carried over that river by a viaduct, and extends southwards for upwards of a mile. The Dalkeith line is about to be carried over the North Esk, in order to connect extensive coal fields in that quarter with the city of Edinburgh. There are also branches to Leith and Fisherrow. On this railway upwards of 100,000 tons of goods, and 300,000 passengers are annually conveyed. The Edinburgh, Leith, and Newhaven railway is only meant to extend 2 1 / 2 miles. It is to commence at Canal Street, at the cast end of Princes Street gardens, and proceed by a tunnel of 2800 feet, or rather more than a fifth of the whole line, under St. Andrews Street, St. Andrews Square, Duke Street, Drummond Place, &c. to the foot of Scotland Street, and thence to Newhaven in nearly a straight line, with a branch along the north side of the Water of Leith, to the wet docks at Leith. The work has been begun, but when it will be completed is uncertain. If the terminus of the line were to be united with that of the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, much advantage would accrue to both speculations. But, according to act of Parliament, a mile intervenes at present between the dépôts of the two. The Dundee and Newtyle railway is eleven miles in length, but branches are in progress to Cupar-Angus and to Glammis. There are on the line three inclined planes, and a tunnel of 340 yards. The Dundee and Forfar railway was opened in

1838. Its length is 16 ¾ miles. The Arbroath and Forfar railway is just completed. The distance is 15 ¼ miles.

About the middle of the seventeenth century, the lands of Scotland were valued, with a view to ascertain what proportion of the land-tax and others should be paid by each county; and this valuation, called the “valued rent,” which had been undertaken by the authority of Cromwell, was afterwards[7:19:752] established by an act of the Scottish Convention in 1667.^[79. Burton's Manual of the Law of Scotland, p. 120. ] l It is still the standard by which the counties, and the estates of each county, are assessed for payment of the land tax,^[80. By the Union, the land tax was limited to L.48,000, deducting all expenses. In 1797, it was limited to L.47,954, 1s. 2d., and made perpetual, but liable to be redeemed by the proprietor, for stock in the three per cents. equal in annual value to one tenth more than the tax. ] * and all local imposts on land. The “valued rent” of the whole Scottish counties, as it stood in 1674, was L.3,804,221 Scots, or L.3l7,018, 8s. 4d. sterling. In 1811, the landed property of Scotland was subdivided as in the following proportions,^[81. ’ General Report of Scotland, iii. appendix, p. 4. ] and there is every reason to believe that the document is not very far from the truth at the present time:

Description of the Estates. Proprietors.

Large properties, or estates above L.2000 of valued rental, 396

Middling properties or estates from L.2000 to

L.500 of valued rental, 1077

Small properties, or estates under L.500 of valued rental 6181

Estates belonging to corporate bodies, 144

Total, 7798

The total extent of land in Scotland, exclusive of lakes, is 18,944,000 acres, but of this quantity only a fourth part, or 5,043,450 acres, are susceptible of cultivation.^[82. The least proportion of cultivated land is in the counties of Selkirk, Sutherland, and Orkney, being only about six acres in the hundred; the greatest is in the county of Haddington, or East Lothian, where not quite a fourth remains uncultivated. ] But even of this small proportion, nearly a half, or 2,489,725 acres, are estimated to be in grass. The following table^[83. • Statistical Account of British Empire, i. p. 537. ] will shew the distribution of the land in tillage, with the quantity and value of the crops:
[table]

T

produce.

Wheat,

Barley,

Oats,

Beans &

Pease, Potatoes, Turnips,..

Flax,

Gardens,.... Fallow,

220,000

280,000

1,275,000

100,000

130,000

350,000

16,000

32,000

150,000

3 qrs.

£5,5s

8,0s

13,0s

...

660,000

980,000

5,737,000

...

S.

50

30

25

...

...

L.

1,650,000

1,470,000

7,171,875

2,520,000

128,000

416,000

Such are the average quantity and value of the lands actually in tillage. But the average value per acre of the arable soils in pasture is estimated in the General Report at L.2; and on this hypothesis, the produce of 2,489,725 acres of pasture, will be L.4,979,450. But there still remains 14,000,000 acres of mountain pasture, waste land, and plantations,^[84. The total extent of woodland was estimated in the General Report of Scotland (ii. p. 321,) at 913,695 acres, of which 501,469 were natural woods, and 412,226 plantations. the quantity of the latter has since increased, so that the total of woodland cannot be less than 950,000 acres. ] which, at an average rent of 3s. per acre, will be L.2,100,000. Hence the total annual value of the land produce in Scotland will be,

Value of crops and garden, L.13,355,875

... pasture land 4,979,450

... mountain pasture land, &c 2,100,000

Total,.... L.20,435,325

This is the value of the gross produce of the soil. Most of the land is rented by tenants, only about a tenth part being supposed to be farmed by the landowners. The exact amount of the rental of Scotland cannot be known. The rental for 1810, including mines, fisheries, quarries, and the like,^[85. ’ General Report, i. p. 123. ] was ascertained to be L.4,851,404; and it is supposed that, though considerable variations have taken place in different districts, the rental of Scotland continues at nearly the same amount; for although many of the rents contracted for, during the last years of the late war, have been greatly reduced, yet others, from the falling in of the older leases, have been proportionally advanced. As the common duration of the lease in Scotland is 19 years, the average term of the current leases must be between 9 and 10 years; so that half the leases current in the beginning of 1810 must have been entered into in the first year of the century, at a period previous to any great enhancement of land having taken place. Hence it is that we regard the rental of 1810 and of the present time as nearly equal to each other. It is conjectured by an eminent authority, that the rental of the 14,000,000 acres of mountain pasture, including wood and waste lands, does not exceed L.850,000, or, in other words, that it averages 1 1 / 7 s. per acre, whilst he estimates the rental of the arable portion at an average of 16s. an acre.^[86. Statistical Account of the British Empire, p. 539. ] Rent, we may here remark, has advanced more in Scotland during the last seventy years, than perhaps in any old settled country during a similar period. The entire rental of Scotland is not supposed to have exceeded L.l,000,000, or L.1,200,000, in 1770. In 1795, it is believed to have been at least L.2,000,000; and since that time it has a good deal more than doubled.

It is here worthy of remark, that both the law and the practice of Scotland are favourable to agricultural enterprise. What in England are termed “tenants at will,” or tenants without a lease, are unknown in this portion of the empire. Leases in Scotland may be said to be universal, extending to 15, 19, or 21 years. It was not uncommon, indeed, about fifty years ago, and before that time, to give liferents, or leases for twice nineteen years, or even longer, a circumstance highly favourable to enterprise on the part of the tenant. With the exception of some districts in the Highlands and Islands, the system of small farms has been abandoned, and has given way to farms of great extent, rented by persons of intelligence and capital. There are no tithes. Poor-rates are entirely unknown in about three-fourths of the parishes of Scotland; and where this assessment does exist, it is of comparatively trifling amount. Besides, so large are the farms, that, exclusive of owners who cultivate their own property or portions of it, there are supposed to be only about 40,000 tenants in Scotland. And as farms are large, so they cannot be divided or sublet without the consent of the landlord. This consent is seldom or never granted; so that in point of fact no such subdivision ever takes place. A lease, moreover, is heritable; and on the death of a tenant, it is not parcelled out amongst his children, but descends entire to his oldest son, or heir at law. All these circumstances combined afford great encouragement to agricultural improvement and enterprise.[7:19:753] Table, shewing the extent of Land (exclusive of Lakes), in the several counties of Scotland in imperial stature acres, the extent of cultivated and uncultivated acres in each; the total rental of the land, including mines, fisheries, &c~, in 1810, according to the returns under the Property Tax Act; the rent per acre in the same year; and the valued rent in Scotch money.
[table]

Judicial Establishments of Scotland.

In a remote, and what may be termed the aboriginal period of our judicial annals, the king was chief justice of the kingdom; and, with his council., made progress through the realm for the administration of public justice. At that time, indeed, the king executed in person the principal duties of government; and it was not till comparatively recent times that the different departments of the state began to be exclusively assigned to distinct and responsible officers.

As late as the middle of the fifteenth century, an act was passed, in which “the three estates concluded, that our sovereign lord ride through the realm incontinent, after there be word sent to his council., where any rebellion, slaughter, huming, reif, or thieft happens; and there to call the sheriff of the shire, and ere the king depart out of that shire, to set remeid of the harm, or gif ony sik sall happen to be done, whether the default be in the officers or in the doers, to be punished by the king; the quhilk conclusion and ordinance, all the barons of common assent and consent are obliged to assist baith with their power in bodies and gudes.” This act was passed in the third parliament of king James the Second; and in the fifth parliament of his successor, when the courts of justice were regulated by statute, there was a special proviso to the effect that, “nevertheless, it sall be lawful to the kingis highness to take decision of ony matter that comes before him, at his compleasance, like as it was wont to be of before,” 1469, c. 26. Two centuries afterwards, Charles the Second claimed a like power and prerogative; and “in a dutiful and humble recognisance thereof,” the estates of parliament declared, that notwithstanding of any jurisdictions or offices whatsoever, “his sacred majesty may, by himself or any commissionated by him, take cognisance and decision of any cases or causes he pleases,” all government and jurisdiction within the kingdom originally residing in him, 1681, c. 18. Such a right, however, formed one of the grievances complained of at the Revolution; and since that event it has been deemed a settled part of the constitutional law of the land, that the king has committed all judicial power to the judges, and cannot himself administer justice in the courts.

The justiciar (justiciarius) was anciently the king’s more,[7:19:754] immediate and principal officer. He seems to have been 'derived from Normandy; and agreeably to the mixed constitution of that country, he was here, as in England, caput legis et militiae, at the head both of the law and of the military force of the kingdom. He accompanied the king in his progresses through the realm, or represented him in his absence; and he had thus powers and jurisdiction as universal in their nature as they were unlimited in extent. We find, accordingly, repeated instances of the military prowess as well as judicial firmness of our early justiciars; and, not to mention other instances, in the middle of the thirteenth century, Durward, when thwarted in the project he had conceived of securing the throne to his descendants, joined Henry the Third in France, and served in his army, till, by the influence of the English monarch, he was re-instated in his high office of lord justiciar.

It does not appear, however, that the justiciar ever became here the formidable officer which he proved to be in England, where he was at one time a terror both to the king and to his subjects. Various circumstances concurred to limit his power. The chief of these, no doubt, was the influence of his adversary, the Lord Chancellor, as the head and organ of the ecclesiastics; but much also was owing to the early partition of the office into a justiciary of ancient Scotland, or the territory north of the Forth, and of Lothian, or the territory south of the Forth. This partition of the office, indeed, is observed in the very earliest notice of our justiciars. The series begins in the reign of Malcolm the Fourth, and from that time we have distinct and separate justiciars for Scotland and for Lothian. In neither of these was Galloway comprehended, that district enjoying its own peculiar laws and customs;^[87. Stat. Alex. II. c. § 1. fin. ] but in 1258 it also got a separate justiciar. This state of matters continued till the invasion of Scotland by Edward the First.

In 1296, Sir William de Ormesby, a justice of the common pleas, and justice in ayre in England, was constituted lord justiciar of Scotland by Edward, who also associated with him William de Mortimer, an English justice of assize; and the next year the same king made Roger de Skotre, an English lawyer, justiciar of Galloway. But ip 1299, John earl of Buchan was justiciarius Scotiae; he was son of the last regular justiciar of Scotland, Alexander earl of Buchan, who was upwards of thirty years in office previous to his death in the year 1289. In 1305, however, Edward again put down the Scotch; and thereupon distributed the kingdom into four districts, appointing for each district two justices, an Englishman and a Scotchman. These officers were of the nature of the English justices of assize; and when we take into consideration the nature of the appointments which were at the same time made in the counties, the object in view cannot be mistaken. Edward evidently contemplated putting the whole island under one judicial system, which had shortly before been introduced into England, namely, that of having annual or temporary sheriffs with a limited jurisdiction, and confining the law business of the country to a few courts and judges; a system very different from that which previously existed both in England and Scotland, where the great object was to bring justice home to every man’s door in permanent local courts. The project, however, was stopped by Edward’s death; the justiciars of Scotland and Lothian were then displaced, and permanent sheriffs restored. Robert the Second also restored to the people of Galloway their ancient laws.^[88. Rob. I. c. 35. ] Matters appear to have generally continued in this state till the disastrous battle of Flodden. On that event, which united all classes of the community, the office of lord justiciar, or, as he was now styled, lord justice general, (in contradistinction to the special justiciars now frequently appointed, as well for particular trials as for particular places and districts,) came into the hands of a single individual, and comprehended the whole kingdom. The High Court of Justiciary also began to be settled at Edinburgh, and from that time commence the regular series of its books of adjournal.

The Justiciar or Justice-General might now have become formidable; but circumstances again concurred to reduce his power. The office fell into the noble family of Argyll, where it continued hereditary for a century; the Court of Session was established with a universal civil jurisdiction; and as that court was co-ordinate with it on the land, the admiral of Scotland came to be co-ordinate with it on the seas. By statute 1587, c.82, eight senators or advocates of the College of Justice, were appointed as justiciar-deputes for the different quarters into which the realm was then divided; and by 1672, c. 16, instead of the justice-deputes, five lords of session were constituted commissioners of justiciary, along withthelord justice-general,and the justice-clerk, which latter was now made vice-president of the court. By statute 1681, c. 16, too, the high admiral was declared the king’s lieutenant and justice-general on the seas. By a recent act, however, the Court of Justiciary re-acquired a jurisdiction in crimes at sea; and by Will. IV. c. 69, which entirely abolished the court of admiralty, the office of lord justice-general was made to devolve on, and remain with that of lord-president of the Court of Session. The effect of this seems to have been to place the justice-general at the head of the administration of the law; and thus, by a singular revolution, to restore him, after the lapse of three hundred years, to his former situation as lord chief-justice of Scotland.

It may, in conclusion, be remarked here, that in the Court of Justiciary, which, being a superior or at least co-ordinate tribunal, was but indirectly affected by the changes in the law introduced by the Court of Session, several usages of our most ancient common law have been preserved to this day. The court meets about eleven o’clock, which was the hour of cause of old, (1587, c. 87) whereas the Court of Session, in direct contrast, rose at that time, meeting, agreeably to the early hours of the ecclesiastics, at eight in the morning, (1537, c. 49). So also, jury trial, when laid aside by the other courts, continued here; the verdict is still by a majority; and in the assizes oath, we may trace at once the original character of a jury as an inquest of the vicinage, and also the rhythmical measures of our old legal formulae. The circuits of the Court of Justiciary were arranged in their present form by the act 1587, c. 82. Previous to that time the justiciar made a progress through the realm, from shire to shire, successively; but, by the above act, the realm was divided into four districts, or quarters. The present circuits are, besides the Lothians or home circuit, the southern, western, and northern circuits. The assize towns of the south, are Jedburgh, Dumfries, and Ayr; those of the west, Glasgow, Inverary, and Stirling; those of the north, Perth, Aberdeen, and Inverness.

The Court of Session, that is to say, the first court so called, was erected in 1425, the year following King James the First’s return from his long captivity in England. It was composed of the “chancellor, and with him certain discreet persons of the three estates, chosen and depute by the king and was to have a like jurisdiction as that exercised by the king and his council. It was, however, but of short duration; for, on the king’s death, or rather on that of Bishop Wardlaw of St. Andrews, by whose influence it was in all likelihood erected, Bishop Cameron, the chancellor, was removed from office, and the court of the session expired. Attempts were afterwards made to revive it by Bishop Horse-wood, secretary to king James II.; and, thirty years afterwards, by Bishop Elphinstone, whose zeal for the establishment of[7:19:755] the Roman law is well known. Accordingly in 1503, the court of daily council., which was essentially a revival of the former court of the session, was established by means of Bishop Elphinstone. And at length, whilst the kingdom was yet in a state of distraction from the fatal losses at Flodden, the present Court of Session or College of Justice was instituted; and of the numerous attempts of the clergy to establish the Roman law as the common law of the land, this was the last and most successful.

According to the simple principles of our old law, all suits originated by plaint, claim, or summary application to the judge, setting forth the cause of action; and the judge was bound of common right to administer justice therein. But afterwards, a maxim was introduced that the judges were substitutes of the crown, and consequently should take cognisance only of what was specially referred to them. Brieves or mandatory letters from the king to the judges were then invented; and the chancel of the royal chapel became the great officina justitiae, the shop or mint where the king’s writs were framed, and sold out to parties injured, according to the exigency of the case. These writs issued out from the chancel or chancery until the institution of the College of Justice, when the chancellor and clergy, who were the principal judges there, began a mint or shop of their own in the Bill chamber of the court, so called because the brieves, or, as they are here termed letters, issue out, not on the oral application of the party, but on his “bill” or written supplication. This course of proceeding was adopted from the court of Rome; and it is observable, that in both cases the language employed is sometimes identical. Thus, when the request or prayer of the bill is granted, the judgment is, Fiat ut petitur, which are the very words used by the Pope in the like case; and tire odd phrase, “Finds the letters orderly proceeded,” is but a verbal translation of the Male appellatum et bene processum of the papal court. The names of the letters are also the same, letters of advocation ion, suspension, and reduction, being equally well known in both places; and letters of horning, caption, and relaxation, have their papal origin impressed upon them. The comparison might be carried through our whole process to its minutest technicality, and also to the style and habit of the judges. After the manner of the ecclesiastical tribunals, too, the judges deliberated in secret conclave with shut doors, parties and their counsel, and all others being removed (1537, c. 66); and there was no report of the judges’ opinions, or of the reasons of the judgment, but only of the vote or sentence. At the Revolution, however, the court was thrown open; but so powerful is custom over all men, that to this day the great body of the practitioners continue to walk the Outer House.

In modem times the court has been altered in almost every particular; its constitution and jurisdiction, the number of the judges, the distribution of the business, and the forms of proceeding. The machinery was indeed bad, but the spirit which pervaded it was worse; and the best antidote to this would perhaps be the full force of public opinion, that is, perfect publicity, not merely of hearing and judgment, but of every step in the administration of justice.

According to its first institution, the court consisted of a president and fourteen ordinary lords, half of the temporal estate and half spiritual, of which the president likewise was one. The Lord Chancellor, who was also an ecclesiastic, was made principal of the college, as it was termed, and as such had a vote with the judges; and there was a reserved power to the king to appoint, at his pleasure, three or four extraordinary lords, a power which the crown always exercised, and also sometimes greatly abused. It was the Reformation which gave the first blow to the court. From that event it began to lose its ecclesiastical, which had been its earliest and most distinguishing feature. The Revolution followed, and opened up to the public eye the heretofore secret tribunal. And at the union with England it ceased to be supreme, though this last peculiarity, and that by which the Lords became so formidable in the country, was long struggled for, and is yet perhaps but imperfectly given up by the court. These important changes, however, affected the spirit and character of the court, rather than its external form, which remained much as it was before. But they prepared the way for alterations there too; and during the last thirty years, a great number of public statutes have been passed, altering the details of the court, and otherwise regulating the administration of justice throughout the kingdom.

In 1808, the commencement of the period just referred to, the court was formed into two divisions; or, in effect, two communicating but equal and independent courts. The reason assigned for this change, was the greatly increased number of lawsuits from the great extension of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and population, and the consequent multiplication of transactions in Scotland. There is every ground to believe, however, that much of the supposed business was caused by the tedious methods of proof and written pleadings adopted by the court, and its endless judgments and rehearings; for in the degree in which these have been abolished, the court has been able to absorb and dispatch the business of the other superior courts, and still to allow a decrease in the number of its judges. These are now only thirteen in all. Each division is composed of four judges; the Lord President, who is properly head of the whole court, presiding in the First Division, and the Lord Justice-Clerk presiding in the Second. The remaining judges sit separately in the Outer House, as Lords Ordinary. This term was originally given to all the judges under the president, and they served in the Outer House by rotation; but amongst other recent changes, the five junior judges were at first made permanent Lords Ordinary, as attached to a particular division of the Inner House, but now without any such relation. The junior or youngest Lord Ordinary of all is Ordinary on the Bills, and has a peculiar class of cases assigned to him. But it is to be observed, that from him, and from the other Ordinaries, an appeal lies, or a proceeding in the nature of an appeal, to the Inner House; which, besides this appellate, has also some original jurisdiction. It is not necessary to add, that there is much imperfection in this whole system of judicature. There appears to have been little unity of design in its formation; there is considerable complexity in its actual working, and there is no great satisfaction in its results.^[89. In the year 1800, the number of causes enrolled in the Outer House, was 2413; in 1810, it was 2643; in 1820, it was 2069; and in 1831, it was 1056. In the years 1836 and 1837, the business stood thus :— [table] ]

Let us now turn our attention to the local courts throughout the kingdom.

In early times the realm was divided into provinces, clanships, or counties, in each of which was a maormor, maor, mayor or mair, as the king’s executive and ministerial officer; and in every county or province there were divers judges, each exercising judicial functions. The provinces and judicial districts of those times, however, are now but imperfectly known; and, as might be expected, the series of mayors and judges cannot by any means be made out. With re-[7:19:756] spect to the latter, viz., the Celtic judge, we have not traced him to a later period than the beginning of the fourteenth century. He was in all probability extinguished during king Edward’s invasion of Scotland in the unhappy times which followed on the death of king Alexander the Third. The sheriff was then universally established; and as that officer engrossed to himself the functions both of the judge and mair, the former disappeared entirely from our annals, whilst the latter gradually degenerated into the sheriff's officer, with whom, accordingly, he is, to the present day, found mixed up in some of the northern counties.

The most ancient sheriff was certainly the comes or earl. There is no direct evidence to that effect, however; and from a remote time, the officer so called was the vice-cornes. The office was not a century in existence amongst us, when, falling into the hands of the great local proprietors, it began to descend to heirs with the paternal estate. The sheriffship of Ayr, which was erected in the year 1221, out of the bailiaries of Kyle, Carrick, and Cuningham, was from the first hereditary. It is not surprising that the hereditary vice-cornes should soon cense to perform in person the duties of his office; these were accordingly devolved on a deputy or sub-vice-comes. The earliest officer of this sort we have met with, is Alan de Pilch, or Alan of the hairy garment, sub-vice-comes de Inverness, temp. Robert I.;^[90. Robertson’s Index, p. 29. ] but sheriff-deputes are mentioned much earlier,^[91. Stat. Will. c. 14. Stat. Alex. II. c. 14. ] and to such an extent was the abuse of deputation carried, that in some counties, that of Cromarty for instance, the district was partitioned into various deputy-sheriffships, and individuals appointed, such as officers of the army, medical men, and others, in situations of life perfectly incompatible with the due discharge of the office. The office also in many instances became hereditary; and another was required to execute the active duties of the place, or pro-sub-vice-cornes. Thus, at the time of the jurisdiction act in 1747, there were in most or all of the counties, omitting the comes, count or earl, a sheriff-principal or high sheriff, and sheriff-depute, and a sheriff-substitute. All these were continued by the above act; but the judicial powers were confined to the two last, whose duties and qualifications have also been repeatedly regulated. It would undoubtedly have been more agreeable to principle, however, to have abolished offices which grew out of the abuses of the times, and assigned to every sheriff a reasonable district in respect of extent and population, with constant residence therein, and the exercise of judicial functions only. In determining the number, character, and situation of courts in a country, the great problem evidently is, so to distribute them as to secure two things, namely, to bring justice home to every man’s door, and to mature a sound and fixed system of jurisprudence. In England, the latter object appears to have been principally regarded since the days of Edward the First, before whose time England and Scotland were equally distinguished for their local courts. But what, we may ask, avails the best system of law, if it be remote or difficult of access? The end is in such case sacrificed to the means; and a multitude of petty courts, with a few practitioners in each, would prove the ruin not only of the legal profession, but of the law itself.

The sheriff-principal, or high sheriff, is lord lieutenant of his county, and appointed at pleasure by the crown. The sheriff-depute, so called, is also appointed by the crown; but he is quite independent of the high sheriff. He must be an advocate of at least three years’ standing; he holds his office during life, or good behaviour; and he receives a salary, varying, according to the shire, from L.350 to L.1200 a-year. The sheriff-substitute must be of the profession of the law, though not necessarily a member of the bar. He is named by the sheriff-depute of the shire, but paid by the crown, and is otherwise an independent officer. In every county there is a high sheriff or lord lieutenant. The same may be said of the sheriff-depute, except as to the united shires of Clackmannan and Kinross, Elgin and Nairn, Ross and Cromarty. Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, were originally parts of the great shire of Inverness; but in the seventeenth century they became disjoined, and were erected into separate shires. By the jurisdiction act, however, Ross was put under the same sheriff with the ancient shire of Cromarty, and has continued so ever since. Sutherland and Caithness were then also re-united; but in 1806 these were again separated. Kinross was originally part of Fife; but it was afterwards separated, then re-united, and in 1807 disjoined again, and united to Clackmannan. With respect to the sheriff-substitute, in every shire there is at least one; but Edinburgh, Fife, Forfar, Perth, Renfrew, and Sutherland, have each two, Kirkcudbright and Argyle have each three, Lanark and Inverness have each four, and in one of the districts of Ross there is a sort of assistant substitute.

The jurisdiction of the county courts was originally most extensive; and as to civil suits in particular, there seems to have been scarcely any limitation. It was the policy of the Court of Session, however, to make itself the great law court of the kingdom; and as it gradually absorbed the civil jurisdiction of the justiciary, so, by a bold stratagem, it stripped the sheriff of all power to decide upon questions of real property. Such questions were formerly tried under the brieve of right, a judicial writ so named, because issued to try what was esteemed the highest right, that of property in land; and it is clear that this brieve was in viridi observantia, and competent to sheriffs, till within a very few years of the institution of the Court of Session. This is clear from the act 1503, c. 95, which was passed to regulate it; and it is familiarly referred to by the poet Dunbar, in his Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins, where, speaking of the occupations of the damned, he says,

Yet the Court of Session was scarcely established, when it boldly adjudged this brieve “nocht to have bene, nor yet to be thir mony yeires in use ;”^[92. Skene voce Breve de recto. ] and having thus, by repressing the writ, ousted the sheriff of his real jurisdiction, Boon took it to itself exclusively,^[93. Bishop of Aberdeen v . Ogilvy, 3d July 1563. ] by letters prepared for the court in its own Bill-chamber. The sheriff, however, still continued competent to possessory actions; and by a recent statute, his jurisdiction has even extended to all actions and proceedings relative to nuisance or damages, arising from an undue exercise of the right of property, and also to questions touching the constitution or exercise of real or judicial servitudes, which is so far a restoration of his ancient powers. Besides the ordinary jurisdiction, civil and criminal, of the county court, the sheriff is empowered to decide summarily in questions of debt, when the sum in dispute does not exceed eight pounds. These small debt courts were instituted in 1825, with a view to extend and improve the like jurisdiction, which had been conferred upon justices of the peace about thirty years before. The summary redress which such courts afford is of the greatest benefit to trade and to good neighbourhood, in consequence of the little sacrifice of time, money, and feeling they require; and they are accordingly now extensively established, not only in this[7:19:757] country, but in England. There can be no doubt, however, that they had their origin in Scotland.^[94. The following table, from official returns, of causes brought for the five years preceding 1882, will give an idea of the working of the ordinary civil courts of the sheriffs in some of the principal counties. [table] The following table, from official returns, will show the working of the small debt courts, and at the same time point out the preference given to the sheriff, or to the justices of the peace, in the counties named. Number of Small Debt Causes decided in the year 1832. [table] ]

The courts we have now adverted to comprehend the public and general courts of the kingdom, which have a public and general jurisdiction; but besides these, there are, or rather were, some whose jurisdiction was limited to particular sorts of causes only. We allude to the Court of Exchequer, and the ecclesiastical and maritime courts.

With respect to the first of these, the old Scotch court, composed of the treasurer and lords auditors of exchequer, was superseded at the union by a Court of Exchequer, composed of a lord chief-baron and four puisne barons; and in addition to certain ministerial powers continued from the old court, it had the like authority, jurisdiction, and course of procedure as the Court of Exchequer in England, after which generally it was modelled. It was an absurdly large and expensive establishment. It had comparatively nothing to do; and as the judges might be, and some of them commonly were, English barristers, it never could be opened up, like the exchequer of England, to the ordinary law business of the country. Accordingly the barons were gradually reduced, and the business is now transacted by a lord of session sitting as a judge in exchequer.

The Commission of Teinds, which was first erected at the Reformation, was in like manner remodelled at the Union. It was formerly vested with powers for the planting of churches, assigning and modifying stipends, and the valuation and sale of teinds. But by a recent statute, all actions for the valuation or sale of teinds, all actions of suspension or reduction of localities, and all actions of declarator or reduction connected with teinds, must be brought and decided in the Court of Session.

In times of popery, causes ecclesiastical were tried by the archdeacon’s official, the bishop’s commissary, and the auditor or official principal of the province; from which last an appeal lay to the pope, who generally determined the matter by commission. But at the Reformation, commissaries named by the crown were appointed in every commissariat; and a Commissary Court, with original and appellate jurisdiction, was also established at Edinburgh, of which Sir James Balfour, the former official of St. Andrews, within the archdeaconry of Lothian, was the first chief-judge. The commissary courts continued till recent times, when the office of the local commissaries was abolished, and soon afterwards the Commissary Court of Edinburgh, their powers and jurisdiction being transferred to the Court of

Session, and, in as far as regards confirmation pf testaments, to the sheriff or county courts.

The jurisdiction of the Admiralty cannot perhaps be traced to an earlier period than the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the office of lord justiciar, who was of old the supreme judge in all manner of causes, became hereditary in the noble family of Argyll, and the authority of the Admiralty was also long very limited. It was confined to seafaring causes, and in these it had no exclusive jurisdiction.^[95. See Leg. Burg. c. 27; Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. part i. p. 129, and part ii. p. 83; and A. S., 16th January 1554. ] The earliest collection of maritime laws in Scotland, is that contained in Balfour’s Practicks, and entitled “The Sea Laws, collectit furth of the Actis of Parliament, the prac-tiques and lawis of Oberon, and the lawis of Wisbeig, and the constitutions of Francois, king of France, 1543, 1557.” This we conceive was the Lib. Kintor. referred to by Balfour, and the work of David Kintore, then judge of the Admiralty. Towards the end of the same century, Alexander King, advocate, filled the same office; and from the date of his Treatise on Maritime Law, apparently the first regular treatise on that branch of jurisprudence in Great Britain, the court of Admiralty rose into importance. By the act 1609, c. 15, it was declared a sovereign judicatory, and letters of homing were allowed on its decrees; and the reputation of the court being afterwards sustained by a succession of eminent judges, such as Acheson of Glencairney, Roberton of Beidlay, and Lyon of Carse, all of whom became lords of Session, it began to extend its jurisdiction generally to mercantile, and not, as before, to mere seafaring causes. The above act was then ratified by that of 1681, c. 16, by which the ground of the court was farther cleared and enlarged; the admiral being now also styled the high admiral, and declared the king’s lieutenant and justice-general on the high seas. By a later statute, provision was made for a stated salary of L.100 to the judge of the Admiralty. This was renewed by the act 1704, c. 8; and by 26 Geo. III. c. 47, the salary was made L.400, which was afterwards raised to L.800 a-year. The court, however, did not long enjoy this flow of prosperity By the 6 Geo. IV. c. 120, jurisdiction in prize and capture was withdrawn, and vested in the Admiralty of England; and by a later statute the court was altogether abolished, and its remaining jurisdiction transferred to the Court of Session, and Sheriff courts; the High Court of Justiciary having also previously re-acquired, as of old, a co-ordinate jurisdiction in crimes at sea.

An ancient species of exempt territory was that of sanctuary. The first of the sort were probably churches; and[7:19:758] in regard to them we find a rescript of Pope Innocent III. to the king of Scots,^[96. Decret. Greg. 46 3. Tit. 49. c. 6. ] and thereupon the statute Alex. II. c. 6, which is among the earliest regulations on the subject in the Scotch law. There were of old divers sanctuaries, or, as they were termed, girths, (1469, c. 35; 1535, c. 23; 1555, c. 31), and mostly ecclesiastical; there being a constant rivalry at all times between the sovereign power and the ecclesiastical. But the only one now in use, is the sanctuary of Holyrood, which, besides usage, has two main foundations, namely, a religious house, and a royal palace, especially the former, the precincts being usually called the sanctuary of Holyroodhouse, and the court there the Abbey court. The jurisdiction of the place is administered by a bailie, who holds a court for debt, and other civil obligations, where the debtor dwells within the precincts.

Regalities were another species of exempt territory. They were rights of exclusive power and jurisdiction, civil and criminal, real and personal, granted by the crown to the higher nobility;^[97. * Regales, Cod. Theod. vii. 1, 9. ] and though the impolicy of such grants had long been perceived, yet they were not altogether abolished till the passing of the jurisdiction act, in the middle of last century. By 1455, c. 43, it was enacted that all regalities in the king’s hands should be annexed to the royalty and made subject to the king’s courts and officers. It was about the date of that act that the great district of Kirkcudbright fell to the crown by the forfeiture of its lord; and a senes-challis being thereupon appointed, it has ever since remained the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. But neither this nor the islands of Orkney and Zetland, which were also erected into a stewartry,^[98. • See 1669, c. 13. ] differs materially from a shire; each having a court perfectly of the nature of a sheriff or county court. Besides these, there were other stewartries, such as Strath-em and Menteith in Perthshire, and Annandale in Dumfries; but by the jurisdiction act, they merged into their respective shires.

Burghs form yet another species of exempt territory; the principal character of a burgh being its separate jurisdiction and independent government, but upon reasons altogether different from either sanctuaries or regalities. They arise neither from superstition nor princes’ favours. They have their origin in the wants and social tendencies of our nature; they are the chosen seats of civilization and the arts of life; and the distinction between them and shires pervades the entire political constitution of the country. There are three sorts of burghs, namely, burghs of barony, burghs of regality, and burghs of royalty or royal burghs; and in establishing these last, it would seem to have been the general policy of government to divide the realm into districts, in each of which a royal burgh was placed. Several of the burghs are counties of themselves, or counties corporate, such as Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen, and Inverness; and these obviously contain within themselves all the elements of government and judicature. But it has unfortunately happened, that none of the burgh courts has kept pace with the advance of intelligence, the progress of trade, or the increase of commercial transactions. Justice continues to be administered there just as it was centuries ago. The consequence is, that the peculiar feature of the burghs as independent jurisdictions has in many cases given way; the burgh courts have been forsaken for the sheriff and justice of peace courts; and it seems to have become a public question of policy, whether they should not be altogether abolished. The same causes, however, which gave origin to burghs, remain; and therefore it would seem to be the wiser policy to improve the burgh courts, rather than to abolish them; to improve them, by relieving the magistrates of all, or at least the more important judicial duties, and to devolve these upon fixed and qualified judges.

The superintendence of the royal burghs was in the king’s chamberlain, who held ogres, or itinerant courts, at which the magistrates and burgesses of burghs were bound to give attendance, and where he heard and determined all charges made against them. He was also in use from the earliest times, to hold, in the southern part of the kingdom, courts of four boroughs; which were so called because composed of delegates from the four burghs, originally of Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick, and Roxburgh, but afterwards of Edinburgh, Stirling, Lanark, and Linlithgow. These delegates assembled before the chamberlain, and formed for appeals from the chamberlain ayres, and the different burgh courts, a tribunal which was to burgesses what the high court of parliament was to the other inhabitants of the kingdom, the last and highest court of appeal. The northern burghs had been long under a peculiar government of their own. They formed a sort of Hanseatic league; for as early as the reign of William the Lyon, a royal charter was granted to the king’s burghers of Aberdeen and of Moray, and all beyond the Grampians, to hold their free “ansum” or hanse, as freely, quietly, fully, and honourably, as their predecessors had done in the time of the granter’s royal grandfather.^[99. Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen, vol. i. p. 8. ] In the beginning of the fifteenth century, a court of four boroughs was holden at Stirling, where it was resolved that deputies from each of the royal burghs south of the Spey should convene yearly to consider and conclude on all matters affecting the commonweal of the royal burghs, their liberty and court. This convention was in all likelihood formed in imitation of the northern Hanse. The inconvenience of having two separate yet similar assemblies in the kingdom, however, must have been quickly felt; and, at the same time, the ease and propriety of uniting them, and thus assimilating the regimen of all the burghs, obvious. Accordingly, in the end of the same century, an act of parliament was passed, (1487, c. 3.) appointing deputies from all the royal burghs, “baith north and south" to meet in convention yearly, thus forming the convention of royal burghs which has been ever since continued. The place of meeting was fixed at Inverkeithing, on the north of the Forth, probably from its central situation; but the convention soon removed to Edinburgh, which had long been the seat of the court of four boroughs, and was now become the metropolis of the kingdom. On the institution of the Court of Session, the court of four boroughs and the chamberlain ayres quickly fell into disuse, their judicial, and many of their ministerial functions having been engrossed by that court; and from the time of Malcolm lord Fleming, who fell at Pinkey in 1547, the office of chamberlain, or, as he was now styled, lord great chamberlain, ceased to be exercised. The convention, however, continued its yearly meetings; indeed, its records begin only at this time, when the Lord Provost of Edinburgh became by devolution its standing preses, and the Town-Clerk of Edinburgh its standing clerk.

Let us now return to the general and ordinary courts of the kingdom; the Court of Justiciary and Court of Session, the Sheriff Court, and the Bailie Courts of burghs.

The Court of Justiciary was originally the great pattern followed in the administration of justice throughout the kingdom; but soon after the institution of the Court of Session, an act passed (1540, c. 72.) requiring all sheriffs and other temporal judges to copy the proceedings, not of the justices, as before^[100. Stat. Rob. III. c. 33. ] but of the Lords of Session; and the principle of this enactment was adopted in the recent judicature act regulating the forms of process in civil matters. The course of proceeding in ordinary actions is now generally as follows. The defendant, or, as he is called, the defender, is first summoned on the original writ to compear in court peremptorily[7:19:759] on a day named, the intervening days being held as inducite legales. If, when the cause is called, the defender do not appear, decree in absence may pass against him. If he appear, he is allowed certain days, termed inducite deliberatoriae, to see the original writ and productions, and determine whether and how he shall proceed. He then puts in his defence and plea, admitting or denying the facts alleged, stating any other facts which he offers to prove, and subjoining a summary of the pleas in law on which he means to found. The defences and all subsequent steps of procedure must be drawn by counsel; and after the defences are given in, every order in the cause must be moved for in court and determined by the judges. If the parties choose they may go to judgment on the summons and defences; but commonly more specific pleadings are ordered, such as a condescendence and answers, or mutual condescendences, which are similar to the responsive allegations of the ecclesiastical courts, and both are borrowed from the articuli et responsiones of the papal process. These papers being revised by the parties, the record, ready to be closed, is transmitted to the judge for private consideration; after which, it is put out by him for debate. Parties are then heard in court by their counsel, and the judge may thereupon either give judgment at once, or, as is commonly the case, take the proceedings to chambers again for consideration, and there write out his decision; or, if any difficulty occur in the determination of the case, he may report the point to the Inner House for their direction or decision; or again, if the cause involves details or difficulties, he may order cases, that is to say, full argumentative pleadings, and then either decide the cause or report it to the Inner House. When the Lord Ordinary gives an interlocutor or judgment, it may be carried to the Inner House by reclaiming note, upon which counsel are heard, and the decision of the Lord Ordinary either altered or adhered to, and with or without cost, as the court may determine.

In jury causes, that is to say, causes appropriated for trial by jury, or in which jury trial is to take place, the course of proceeding now pointed out is but partially followed. In such causes a record is made up in the manner described; but as the system of pleading adopted in the Scotch courts does not, as in the common law courts of England, bring out the issue whether of fact or law, issues must be prepared. This is done by an officer of court, and in settling issues there is frequently considerable difficulty. In the proceedings of sheriff and bailie courts, however, there is something like an approach to the English system, an answer or reply to the defence being allowed. But here the analogy ends. There is no rejoinder unless ordered; and from the multitude of pleas pleadable in each paper, a single issue, or indeed any issue, in the technical sense of the term, is never produced. It is also to be observed, that jury trials in civil causes gradually fell into disuse in the local courts after the institution of the Court of Session, where such mode of trial was unknown till recently introduced by statute; and it has not been re-established except in the Court of Session. The details of a jury trial, when it does take place, need not be specified here, though they differ in some few particulars from the like proceeding in England.

Of the several methods of defence and proof in criminal cases, the earliest, and at the same time the rudest, was battle, in which the parties litigant put the truth of their averment on the issue of a judicial combat.^[101. Quon. Att. c. 61, Leg. Burg. c. 24. ] This method of trial, so truly barbarous, was termed the judgment of God, though that appellation came more peculiarly to designate another method of a different origin, but no less uncertain as a criterion of truth. This was ordeal, which, if not introduced, was at least continued and countenanced by the ecclesiastics. It was of various kinds, but those known in Scotland were water, fire, and iron;^[102. Stat. Will. c. 7, 15; Stat. Alex. II. c. 7∙ ] and accordingly, as the accused was able to bear applications of these, so accordingly was he judged guilty or innocent. Another method of trial used also instead of battle, was that by compurgators, where the defendant exculpated or purged himself of the guilt imputed to him, by declaring his innocence on oath, and also producing a number of persons to swear that they believed he swore truly, which they did in general on their knowledge of his character.^[103. ’ Quon. Att. c, 5, §. 7; Leg. Burg, c. 24, ] But all these methods of trial have been abolished, or have gradually become obsolete, which leads us to notice the course of proceeding now in use in ordinary cases.

The first step is to commit the accused for examination, when, if no case is made out, he is dismissed, otherwise he is committed for trial. From that moment he may sue out and “run his letters,” a proceeding analogous to the habeas corpus. Trial being determined on, the accused is summoned to the day fixed, being at the same time served with a duplicate of the indictment or criminal letters, and lists of the assize (jurors) and witnesses on his own behalf. On the day of compearance, he must appear personally, (otherwise he is outlawed,) and stand at the bar or pannel whence he is termed the pantiel; but in all cases he is allowed counsel and agent. If, on arraignment, he has no special matter to plead, the libel is read to him, and his confession, if made, is recorded. If any special plea on the relevancy is offered, it is determined by the judges on oral or written argument. Issue being joined, the evidence on both sides is laid before the court and jury, which are now impannelled for that purpose. The jury are then addressed by the pannel or his counsel, and the evidence is afterwards summed up by the presiding judge, with adirection in law to the jury; when the jury, after deliberation, return, unanimously, or by a majority, a verdict of guilty, not proven, or not guilty, as the case may be. A verdict of not guilty declares the prisoner’s innocence; a verdict of not proven indicates suspicion, but insufficient proof of guilt; and in the case of a verdict of guilty, but in that only, sentence is pronounced. The nature of the sentence depends not only on the crime, but also on the public prosecutor; for of a long time past that officer has been in use to exercise a power to restrict the pains of law. This important power is commonly exercised with great discretion; yet undoubtedly it is a dangerous one to hold, and to it more, perhaps, than to any other cause whatever, is to be ascribed the singularly lax state of the criminal law of Scotland in reference to the punishment for crime.

There seems little doubt but that in early times the king was public prosecutor, as he was also generalissimo and chief justice of the kingdom. His great officer, the justiciar, who followed him, as we have seen, in the two latter capacities, followed him likewise in the capacity of public prosecutor; and what the justiciar did throughout the realm generally, the same did the sheriff in his particular county. Accordingly, we find it enacted in our early law that if any stranger remained in a town longer than a night without finding a pledge or surety for his good behaviour, “the justiciar or the sheriff shall accuse him;"^[104. Quon. Ate. c. 63. ] and so late as the middle of the fifteenth century it was enacted “that all mairs and serjeants arrest at the sheriff’s bidding, albeit na party follower be, all trespassers, and that the sheriff follow said trespassers in the king’s name, gif na party follower appears,” (1436, c. 140.) In process of time however, as the principles of civil liberty and the elements of our constitution came to be better understood, distinct officers were appointed to the different departments of the State; and this office of public prosecutor naturally devolved upon the crown counsel. The principal of these is the lord advocate, and next to[7:19:760] him is the solicitor-general, an officer derived from the English courts, and probably not known in Scotland earlier than the union of the crowns in the beginning of the seventeenth century. There are also four standing deputies to the lord advocate, or “advocate deputes,” as they are termed, who had their origin by the act 1587, c. 82, which divided the realm into circuits for the administration of criminal justice. The procurators fiscal of the county and burgh courts, who are the public prosecutors in their respective districts, may also be regarded as deputies of the lord advocate. It is true they do not derive their authority from him; but they communicate with him in the prosecution of criminals, and in that department have generally the same powers and duties. The following table will shew the great importance of public prosecutor.

Number of Indictments and criminal Letters issued from the Justiciary court.
[table]

Of both which there were at the instance of the

Lord Advocate.

The following statement will also give some idea of the working of the criminal jurisdictions of Scotland. It relates to the year 1836. In that year there were 2922 persons charged with crime in the several counties and burghs of Scotland. Of these 289 were discharged without trial, and 219 from other causes; and of the remaining 2414, there were tried by the Justiciary, 574, (viz. 173 in the high court, and 404 on circuit); by sheriffs, 1325,(viz.547with jury, and 778 without jury); and5l5 by burgh magistrates, justices of the peace, and others. Of the above 2414 also, 2152 were convicted; in 194 cases the charges were found not proven; 30 were declared not guilty; 36 were outlawed, and two were found insane on arraignment. And finally, of the 2152 convicted, 1647 were sentenced to imprisonment of different periods, 305 were condemned to transportation for different periods, 187 were punished by fine, 6 were discharged on sureties, 2 had sentence of death, 1 was executed, and 5 received no sentence.

Next in dignity to the crown counsel is the dean of faculty, facultatis juridicae decanus; or rather we should say that between these learned personages there has been a contest waged, the latter claiming precedence of the former. This claim, however, seems to be just a residuum of the once greater claims of the whole college of justice, and the dispute but a continuation of the conflict formerly maintained by the court against all power except its own. The place of dean of faculty has been held by some of the first men of the kingdom; and in the course of the last two hundred years there have been no less than three instances of elevation from it at once to the presidentcy of the Court of Session, Sir George Lockhart, Sir Hugh Dalrymple, and Mr. Blair. But in all the common elements of rank there cannot be a doubt of its inferiority to that of crown counsel.

According to the original constitution of the Court of Session, the members were associated into a college, with a view to a collegiate or common life; the judges or lords of Session being “senators” of the college, and the advocates the facultas juridica, or faculty of law, subordinate to whom were the students of law, or “servitors,” as they were termed, who were attached to particular advocates as their pupils in the study of the law. The celebrated Sir Thomas Hope was in early life a “servitor” to Sir Thomas Nicoson. The term “servitor” was a college term, well known in the University of Oxford; but it has gone out of use with us, those formerly so designed being now termed “advocates’ first clerks.” But to what extent such intention was ever carried out, or whether any thing existed here in the nature of the English laws of court or Doctors Commons, does not appear. At present there is nothing of the sort. The original entry money to the Faculty was L.40 Scotch, and so it continued till 1672, the year in which the statute for the regulation of the judicatories passed, when the sum was raised to 200 merks. In the beginning of last century it had advanced to L.40 sterling, and now, after repeated advances, the fees of entry are upwards of 250 guineas besides extras. The number of the Faculty which, forty years ago, was about 260, is at present about 470, averaging of late about twelve in the year; but a fourth part only are in attendance on the courts.

The distinction of counsel and agents in Scotch practice is of modern origin. The earliest agents properly so called, or practitioners below the bar, were the “servitors” above mentioned, or advocates’ first clerks in the Court of Session; and all others were forbidden to act as agents.^[105. See AS. 13th July 1596, Stat. 1672, c. 16, and AS. '26th February 1678. ] By the injunctions of their chief officer, the Secretary of State, in 1594, Writers to the Signet were also prohibited from acting as agents; and by a bye law of the body itself in 1676, every member who should take it upon him to act as an agent, was made liable to be prosecuted. They came at length, however, to act likewise as agents, and are now a large and influential body. Sixty years ago they were not more than 100; but about forty years ago they were 280. At present they are upwards of 700 in number, and almost all of them resident in Edinburgh; and the average entries yearly are the same in proportion as into the Faculty. There is another class of agents, the Solicitors before the supreme courts, enrolled under AS. 9 July 1754, and AS. 1772. They are upwards of a hundred in number, which is somewhat more than the enrolled number of advocates’ first clerks, a body which has remained much about the same for the last forty years.

With respect to the procurators of the inferior courts, they appear to have generally continued, till recent times, on the same close footing on which the practitioners of all the courts stood previous to the institution of the Court of Session; nor are they to this day admitted by the supreme court, or marshalled, like the bar, into one body, but are severally admitted, on varying qualifications, by the respective courts throughout the kingdom. They are of course restricted to the particular court so admitting them; whereas the advocates of the College of Justice form the proper bar of Scotland, and being admitted by the supreme court, may practise in any court of the kingdom. The same principle might be extended with evident advantage; and the local courts opened up to the talent and practical skill of the agents of the Court of Session. The present arrangements are very plainly imperfect, and incapable of maturing a uniform and settled system of jurisprudence in the country. There is not a tenth part of the law business of the country conducted by the counsel and agents of the supreme court. Unless a different provision is made, both the law and the legal profession of Scotland will inevitably suffer.

In the style of the procurators of Aberdeen, there is a peculiarity which may here be taken notice of and explained. They are styled advocates, which name is otherwise appropriated to the advocates of the College of Justice. The truth is that the appellation of advocate is amongst the earliest which we find in our records applied to practitioners[7:19:761] Statistical Table of the Judicature of Scotland.
[table]

of the law, (1424, c. 45); and it appears that persons so designated were formerly’ in every court of the kingdom, (1424, c. 45, 1429, c. 11G—125.) The term was used synonymously with procurators; and at the institution of the Court of Session both terms were applied together, (1537, c. 64.) The sheriff court of Aberdeen was the earliest county court regulated subsequent to the erection of the Court of Session; and in the act of court then passed, the two names were used promiscuously. Hence has arisen the common use of the style of advocate; but the advocates of Aberdeen form no part of the proper bar of Scotland, any more than the practitioners of any of the local courts whatsoever. The entry of procurators of Edinburgh was not regulated by the sheriff till 1765, and for fifteen years more they remained unincorporated. It was still later before the procurators of Glasgow were erected into a corporation; and it was not till above thirty-five years ago that the procurators of Paisley were incorporated.

We have now a word or two to say with respect to the garb of the profession. The proper habit of the bar is the long robe which now characterises the profession, and which seems to have been adopted by the advocates of the College of Justice as the ecclesiastical array. Anciently, however, a sort of cloak or tabard of green was worn, (1455, c. 45.) which colour it will be recollected, was symbolical of learning amongst the ancient Britons; and accordingly that class of their priesthood called Ovats, and who professed the liberal arts, wore habits of green. In the burgh court of Edinburgh the cloak was worn till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the procurators were required to wear gowns instead.

It remains to advert shortly to the executive officers of the law. These are, properly speaking, the sheriffs in their respective counties, and the magistrates in the burghs; and in the criminal warrants of the superior courts this is clear. But the ordinary civil process of the Court of Session is exe cuted by the messengers and other officers at-arms; and the like process of the sheriff and bailie courts is executed by the sheriff and burgh officers respectively. The messengers-at-arms amount to upwards of two hundred in number, and are distributed throughout the different shires and districts of the kingdom. They are all associated, however, under the Lyon herald, king of arms, who, as head of the office or college of arms, has authority and jurisdiction over all the members and officers of the establishment. In this respect the Lord Lyon may be regarded as essentially at the head of the civil branch of the executive department of the law; and accordingly it might deserve consideration whether it would not be expedient, with a view at once to give unity of management to the entire department, and also to relieve the sheriff of all but judicial duties, to devolve upon the Lord Lyon and his officers the execution of process of every kind, and the whole ministerial powers of the sheriff, in as far as these are executive, or auxiliary to the courts of law.

In order to give a clear and concise view of the manner in which justice is distributed throughout Scotland by means of the circuit courts of justiciary, and the courts of the sheriffs-depute and sheriffs-substitute, not including the burgh and justice of peace courts, the following Tables are subjoined.

The great divisions of the realm in early times were Lothian, Galloway, and Scotland. In the first of these, justice-ayres were holden at Edinburgh, Peebles, and soon afterwards Glasgow; and if we credit the Reg. Mag. lib. ii, c. 20, the loca capitalia Scotiae were, Scone for Gowry, Cluny for Stormonth, Rait for Athole, Dalguish for Fife, Perth for Strathearn, Forfar for Angus, Aberdeen for Mar and Buchan, and Inverness for Ross and Moray. The judicial districts assigned by king Edward I., in 1305, were Lothian, Galloway, beyond the Forth to the Grampians, and beyond the Grampians. At the institution of the Court of Session in 1532, the realm was divided, for the purposes of civil judicature, into four quarters, as follows :—

Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Forres, Naim, Inverness, Cromarty.

Edinburgh, Haddington, Linlithgow, Berwick, Roxburgh, Peebles, Selkirk,

Dumfries, Annandale, Kirkcudbright, Ayr, Wigton, Lanark, Renfrew, Stirling,

Dunbarton, Argyle, Bute, Clackmannan, Kinross, Fife,

Perth.

By 1587, c. 82, the realm was divided, for the purposes of criminal judicature, into four quarters, of seven shires each, but these are not stated.
[7:19:762]
[table]

Area square miles.

Popula tion.

1831.

Number of

Sheriff

Substi tutes.

Number of

Procuators in each.

Inverary,

Campbelton,...

Tobermory,....

72,621

23,801

Falkirk,; Clackmannan,.

Kinross,

7

7

71

6

Dunblane,

Forfar,

177,657

48,604

Elgin,

Nairn,

Nairn,

Inverness

Fort William,..

25

4 5

Skye

Newton,

Dornoch,

Tongue,

Caithness,

∫ Kirkwall,

The divisions which are recognized under this head are counties or shires, and parishes. Of the counties, the origin of which is very ancient, and has not been ascertained, a list, and other particulars respecting them, have already been given. They are thirty-three in number, but most of them are subdivided by local acts of parliament into two or more districts, for the purpose of police and internal economy; and several of them comprehend a variety of territorial divisions, founded on the natural circumstances of the country. Thus the county of Berwick is popularly divided into the three districts of the Merse, Lauderdale, and Lammermuir; Lanarkshire into the upper, middle, and lower wards; Ayrshire into Kyle, Cunningham, and Carrick; and in the extensive Highland counties, the subdivisions are still more numerous. There is no trace in Scotland of the minor divisions of the English counties, called hundreds, wapentakes, and the like. Of the judicial divisions of Scotland an account will be found in this article under the head of Judicial Establishments. Respecting the date of the erection of parishes, there have been various conjectures. They were purely an ecclesiastical regulation, and could not have been formed till the Christian system had been generally received, and its preachers become numerous; and as this division, and the necessary previous ecclesiastical establishment, infer no inconsiderable degree of civilization, it is highly probable that it did not take place before the ninth or the tenth century.^[106. Murray's Literary History of Galloway, 2d edit. 1832, p. 7. ] Mr. Chalmers supposes that parishes were gradually formed after the year 843; but that they existed in the time of Malcolm III., who died in 1093, is ascertained by authentic records.^[107. Caledonia, vol. i. p. 23. ] The number of parishes has not been uniform. Previously to the Reformation the bishops possessed the power of uniting or disjoining parishes. Between this period and the Union, in 1707, the authority was transferred from the bishops and vested in several successive commissions of the Scottish parliament. In 1707, parliament vested this power in the Court of Session, but confined the power of the court to cases where consent had previously been given by persons possessing three-fourths of the valued rental of the parish; and this is the existing law. The disjoining or union of parishes is, therefore, attended with considerable difficulty, and very rarely takes place, except in cities where the consent of the municipal authorities, if patrons of the parish, and of the presbytery of the bounds, is sufficient for the purpose. Hence in Edinburgh five new parishes have been erected out of the parish of St. Cuthbert’s, within the last forty years. The number of parishes is at present 916, exclusive of what arc commonly called quoad sacra parishes. These latter parishes have been formed in either of the two following ways. First, owing to the inconvenient extent of parishes in the Highlands, and the consequent distance of many of the people from the parish church, missionaries[7:19:763] supported by a royal grant, were appointed to certain localities with the privileges quoad spiritualia of parochial clergymen, except that they could not be constituent members of any of the church courts, and could not even have sessions of their own. But in the year 1833, these localities were, by an act of the General Assembly, converted into parishes quoad sacra, and their ministers declared to be constituent members of the ecclesiastical courts. The number of these new parishes is forty-one. Secondly, from the many difficulties attending the erection of new parishes, means have been introduced, in addition to the establishment of the new quoad sacra parishes referred to, to supersede the necessity of such a step; and this object was accomplished by the institution of “chapels of ease,” or subsidiary places of worship, without any assigned locality. These parishes, the first of which was erected in 1798, amounted in 1834 to sixty-six, when the General Assembly conferred on them the same rights and privileges which belong to parish ministers, and appointed them a certain defined locality quoad sacra. Since that period they have greatly increased in number, and are yearly increasing, so that it would be both difficult and unnecessary to ascertain the exact amount. But they do not affect the original parishes in any way, except in regard to the spiritualities.

Church of Scotland. The reformation from popery began at an early period in Scotland, but was not triumphant until the year 1560, when popery was abolished, and the protestant religion established by act of parliament in its stead. But whilst popery was abolished, the protestants could not agree amongst themselves as to the system of ecclesiastical polity which should be established in its place. Episcopacy, or the government of the church by bishops, received the support of the king and of many of the most powerful families; whilst presbytery, or the polity introduced by Knox from Geneva, where he had studied under Calvin, was embraced by the great body of the people. But amidst the struggle for pre-eminence, the presbyterians, who constituted five-sixths of the protestant population, took matters into their own hand, and embodied their ecclesiastical system in a work entitled The Second Book of Discipline, ^[108. The First Book of Discipline was presented by the reformers to the parliament of 1560, which abolished popery; but it was not ratified by the legislature, though it was subscribed by a great many of its members as private individuals. But the parliament, though it did not give the sanction of its authority to The First Book of Discipline, accepted and confirmed the Confession of Faith drawn up by the protestants, the object of which being not so much to establish any particular set of doctrines as to abjure popery; and hence it is called the Negative Confession. Another Confession of Faith, or National Covenant, as it was called, was drawn up in 1580, and subscribed by the king, his household, and by persons of all ranks in the state, but not confirmed by parliament. (Knox’s History of the Reformation. Peterkin's Compendium of the Law of the Church of Scotland.) ] 1 which was ordered by the General Assembly that met in 1581, to be engrossed in the registers of the church as ecclesiastical law, and which has ever since formed the basis of the polity of the established presbyterian church of Scotland. This Assembly first divided the country into presbyteries and Synods.^[109. Cook’s History of the Church, I. chap. iv. ]

But whilst presbytery was thus the religion of the people, it did not receive the sanction either of the Privy Council or Parliament. On the contrary, in 1584, episcopacy was established as the national church; presbytery was declared illegal; and the presbyterian clergy were exposed to much obloquy and persecution. But the public voice again got the ascendancy; and presbytery was for the first time ratified by act of parliament, in 1592, as the national church. But not being acceptable to the king and the court, this polity was superseded by episcopacy in 1606; nor did it again obtain the supremacy till the famous General Assembly, held at Glasgow in 1638, which abolished prelacy, and restored the presbyterian form of worship. The proceedings and acts of this Assembly were afterwards confirmed by the king and the parliament. But in 1660, on the restoration of

Charles II., presbytery was compelled again to give way to episcopacy, which maintained the predominance till the Revolution. The act of William and Mary, re-establishing presbytery, was passed in 1690.^[110. Cook’s History; Baillie's Letters and Journal; and acts of General Assembly. ] Standards of the church. To the celebrated Assembly of Divines that met in Westminster in 1643, the presbyterian church of Scotland, which was represented in that meeting by commissioners chosen by herself, is indebted for her standards both as to her formularies and her doctrines. To the deliberations of this assembly she is indebted for a Directory of Public Worship, a Form of Ordination, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Confession of Faith; all which were adopted by the General Assembly, and confirmed by the Scottish parliament, as agreeable to the word of God.^[111. Baillie, passim; and Murray’s Life of Samuel Rutherford, chap, viii, 193—217. ] The doctrines of the church are Calvinistic, the leading tenets being predestination, original sin, particular redemption, irresistible grace, justification by faith, and the perseverance of the saints.

Parishes. Every parish in Scotland enjoys the privilege of having a resident clergyman; residence being obligatory by law as early as the year 1563. The number of parishes, according to the civil law, is 916; and of these 27 are collegiate, that is, have each the services of two clergymen, who preach alternately in the same place of worship. The whole number of parishes, both civil and quoad sacra, was, in 1836, 1023; so that, including the collegiate charges, the whole number of clergymen is 1050.

Church Judicatories. The Kirk-session is the lowest court. It is composed of the minister of the parish and the lay elders. The minister is officially moderator or president of the session. This court takes cognizance of cases of scandal, of the poor’s fund, and of parochial ecclesiastical discipline. There is a power of appeal from the session to the presbytery, which is the next court in dignity.

The Presbytery is composed of a number of contiguous parishes. A presbytery consists of the ministers of all the parishes within its limits; of the professor of divinity, if there be any university within its bounds, and of a lay-elder from each parish. The presbytery takes young men on trial as students of divinity, and candidates for licence; ordains presentees to vacant livings; and has the superintendence of religion and education within its precincts. Its decision is not final, if an appeal be lodged to the synod. A presbytery generally meets monthly; and it must necessarily meet at least twice a-year. The number of presbyteries is eighty.

The Synod is composed of two or more presbyteries. It consists of every parish minister within its limits, and of the elders who last represented the different sessions in the presbytery. There is a power of appeal from the synod to the General Assembly. The number of synods is sixteen.

The General Assembly is the highest ecclesiastical court, its decisions being final. It meets annually in the month of May, and sits for ten successive days. It is honoured with the presence of a nobleman as representative of the sovereign, under the title of Lord High Commissioner. But this high functionary has no voice in the deliberations of the court; and even his presence is not absolutely necessary. The Assembly, unlike the inferior courts, consists of representatives from the presbyteries, royal burghs, and universities of Scotland, formerly from the church of Camp-[7:19:764] vere, now extinct, and from the churches in the East Indies, connected with the Church of Scotland.^[112. Hill's Constitution of the Church of Scotland, passim. Burton's Manual of the Law of Scotland, pp. 85, et seq. ] ’

Eighty presbyteries send, ministers. 218

Do. do. elders 94

City of Edinburgh, elders 2

Sixty-five other Royal Burghs 65

University of Edinburgh "

University of Glasgow

University of St. Andrews.... one representative each 5 Marischal College, Aberdeen King’s College, Aberdeen

Churches in India, a minister and an elder 2

Campvere (now extinct,) 0

Total number of members 386

We may here state that the course of study for the church is abundantly ample, extending at least to eight years in one or more of the Scottish universities. The first four years are devoted to literary and philosophical study; the other four to Hebrew, church history, and theology properly so called. After this course of study is ended, a young man can be taken on trials by the presbytery for licence as a preacher or probationer. The average annual income of the Scottish clergy, which is generally derived from teinds or tithes,^[113. The history of tithes, or teinds in Scotland, since the Reformation, is involved and intricate. We need not enter on the consideration of the subject here, but merely state that, at the approach of the Reformation, most of the teinds, and much of the property of the church were alienated, and bestowed on laymen, or devolved on the crown. But to overlook the intermediate steps, the greatest change which took place in the matter was in the reign of Charles the First, who revoked all the ecclesiastical grants (except the church lands) which had been made during the two preceding reigns. This revocation having taken place, though with difficulty, it was provided that the lands, except such as had been already appropriated to the payment of stipend, should be valued and sold. The landholders were entitled to sue for a valuation or modus, and to purchase the teinds of their own estates. To facilitate the inquiry into the value of teinds, commissioners and sub-commissioners were appointed, the latter of whom were enjoined to visit their several parishes, and to report to the commissioners. Some of their reports, when made, were sanctioned; others have been brought forward for approval at later periods. The result was, that by far the greater part of the teinds have been bought up by the proprietors of the respective lands, after stipends, commuted into a money payment, had been modified to the clergymen, the teinds being held by these proprietors under the condition of augmenting, if necessary, such stipends to the extent of their value; in other words, there are in these cases no tithes or teinds, but part of the rent of the proprietors constitutes ministers’ stipend, and a certain additional portion, in cases where the valuation is not exhausted, is still liable to augmentation of stipend. In cases where no valuation has taken place, the value of the teinds is calculated at one-fifth of the existing rent, and is also paid in money. The body of commissioners just spoken of, continued to act from the date of their appointment, to the Union in 1707, at which period the Court of Session was authorised to supply their place, and to determine in all cases of valuation and sale of teinds. As the commissioners had been empowered to modify the stipends of the ministers, the same power was transferred to the Court of Session. A clergyman is entitled, when the teinds of the parish are not exhausted, to apply to the Court for an augmentation of his stipend, which it is competent for that Court either to grant or refuse. But, whether granted or not, twenty years must elapse before such applications can be renewed. The stipend generally consists of so many chalders of grain. The value of the grain is determined by the fiar prices, which are struck in each county in Scotland in the month of February or March annually; and this value, which necessarily varies yearly, is then payable in money. The teinds are also appropriated to the building of parish churches and manses, and the keeping of them in repair. The ministers of Edinburgh and Montrose are paid not by teinds, but by a local tax, levied on the occupiers of houses; a circumstance that has been the source, particularly in Edinburgh, of much irritation and discontent. (Sir J. Connel on Teinds, passim. Dunlop's Parochial Law. Burton’s Manual of the Law of Scotland, pp. 100—116.) ] is supposed to be about L.200, exclusive of the manse and glebe. In parishes where the teinds have been exhausted, or do not produce to the clergyman an income of L.150, the government has provided a fund, so as to raise such income to this minimum amount. The parishes thus assisted are called bounty livings, and amount to 208.^[114. • Peterkin’s Supplement. Dunlop's Parochial Law. ] Dissenters. The great body of the Scottish dissenters are presbyterians, entertaining Calvinistic opinions, and recognising the same confession of faith and the same standards as the members of the established church; they abandoned that church in consequence of certain alleged errors in discipline, and particularly the undue exercise of patronage, for lay-patronage has always obtained, with more or less vigour in the Scottish establishment, except for more than twenty years prior to 1712. (See Seceders.)

The dissenting body next in importance to the United Associate Synod, is the Relief, which was founded in 1755. The founders of this sect professed to differ from the Established Church on no other point than the right of patrons to appoint ministers against the inclinations of the people.^[115. M*Kerrows History of the Secession, vol. i. p∙ 361-8. ] But the breach between this body of dissenters and the Establishment has now become wader; while the different sections of dissenters seem more disposed to union among themselves. The two numerous bodies of the Secession and the Relief, are at present (1839) engaged in making advances towards a union of these denominations. The Original Burgher Associate Synod declined to join the coalition formed between the Burghers and Antiburghers in 1820. The different congregations belonging to this sect are, with few exceptions, disposed to join the Established Church; indeed, some of them have already done so. There is another class of presbyterian dissenters, generally called Cameronians, but who assume the title of the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, who are the successors and representatives of the Covenanters in the time of Charles the First and his son. This small but interesting body refused to accept the settlement of Presbytery, as establi3hed by law in 1690, unless the king should consent to subscribe the Solemn League and Covenant, and the standards of the Church. The Cameronians are, perhaps to this day, the most rigid presbyterians in Scotland. But without descending into particulars, the following table will afford a pretty correct view of the extent and importance of the different religious bodies in Scotland.^[116. M'Culloch’s Statistical Account of the British Empire, ii. p. 480. ] ® Summary of the Religious State of Scotland. Established Church, including the quoad sacra parishes, up to 1836,.... 1023

United Associate Synod,’ 361

Relief Synod, 108

Original Burgher Associate Synod, 44

Associate Synod of Original Seceders,™ 33

Reformed Presbyterian Synod 33

Total number of dissenting Presbyterian 579

congregations,

Scottish Episcopal Church, 82

Independents 90

Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Glossites, Unitarians, and other Protestant sects, 40

Total number of Protestant dissenting congregations

Majority of the Established Church, 232

Roman Catholic chapels, 55

Majority of Established Church over all other∙sects, 177[7:19:765] We have not included the Jews in the foregoing enumeration, as they do not perhaps amount to above a hundred in all Scotland. Some of the dissenting congregations, besides, are very small; and we do not think it probable that the dissenters amount to much more than the fourth part of the whole population of Scotland, assigning to the Established Church all who do not attend any dissenting place of worship.

The subject of education engaged the attention of the Scottish Parliament even in comparatively rude times, viz. as early as the year 1494. The protestant church zealously took up the subject, and many acts of the General Assembly were passed in support of it. But it was not till 1616 that the Privy Council interposed and passed an act in favour of parish schools; nor was it till seventeen years afterwards, that this act of Council was ratified by Parliament. The disturbed state of the times prevented the act from becoming operative; and it was not, in truth, till some time after the Revolution, namely, in 1696, that the celebrated statute of William and Mary was passed, which forms the foundation of the present parochial system. The provisions of this act were immediately carried into effect in most parishes; and now the system is in universal operation throughout Scotland. The landowners and clergymen have it in their power, according to law, to establish more than one school in a parish, if circumstances seem to demand it; in which case the salary assigned to each of the teachers is less than the maximum sum (L.34, 4s. 4 ½ d.) given when there is only one schoolmaster in a parish. From a Parliamentary paper,^[117. Educational Inquiry, Scotland, Session 1837, vol. xlvii. ] we learn, that the number of parochial schools in Scotland is 1047; that the number of teachers is 1170; that the aggregate amount of the salaries paid to them is L.29,642, 18s. 11 1 / 4 .; and that their total income, including salaries, fees, and all other emoluments, but exclusive of their dwelling-house and garden, is L.55,339, 17s. 1 ½ d., being an average of only L.47, 5s. 11 ¾. to each teacher. But ill-paid though the teachers be, they are, generally speaking, a well educated and meritorious class of men; and the parochial system has given such a stimulus to education, that the endowed schools have been found, in the progress of society, to be too few to answer the demand for instruction on the part of the people. Hence it appears from the same official document, that the number of schools not parochial, is not less than 3995, and the number of teachers 4469, being nearly four times the amount of the parochial schools and teachers.^[118. Under the head of schools non-parochial, are included those established by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, namely, 340; those founded by the General Assembly’s Education Committee, namely, 89; and those instituted by the different dissenting congregations. ] The greatest number of pupils attending the parochial schools between Ladyday and Michaelmas 1833, was 71,426; and the lowest number was 50,029∙ The greatest number attending the schools not parochial, between the same dates, was 189,427; and the lowest number was 139,237. What the incomes of the non-parochial teachers may be, we have no data to judge. They are pretty high in our large towns, but miserably low, perhaps not above ten shillings a-week, in rural districts. Taking the average of the preceding number of pupils, attending both the parochial and non-parochial schools, namely, 225,061, the inference is, that 10 ½ out of 100 of the population are at school; but when we take into account the number of female seminaries, of private boarding schools for boys, and children taught in private families by governesses and tutors, not to mention Sabbath evening schools and classes for religious instruction, we may with propriety conclude, that at least 9 1 / 2 out of every 100 of the population are at the same time under tuition; a larger proportion than is known to be similarly situated, excepting in particular districts, in any other country of Europe.

The origin of the Scottish universities is not of any remote date. But as early as the year 1282, Dervorgille, wife of John Balliol, founded and endowed a college at Oxford for the reception of Scottish students; and, in 1,326, a college, known by the name of the Scotch college, was founded and endowed at Paris by David Murray, bishop of Moray, for a similar purpose.^[119. Irving's Lives of Scottish Poets, 2d edit. vol. i. p. 61. ] But at length Scotland enjoyed the advantages of universities within the limits of her own territory. That of St. Andrews, the oldest in the kingdom, was founded by papal authority in 1413; that of Glasgow, by the same authority, in 1450; that of Aberdeen, also under the sanction of the pope, in 1494, though education did not commence there till 1500; and that of Edinburgh, founded by the presbyterians, in 1582. The university of St. Andrews consisted at one time of three colleges, instituted at different periods, viz. St. Salvador’s, St. Leonard’s, and St. Mary’s; hut in 1748, the two first were united, and the buildings of St. Leonard’s were alienated and converted into dwelling-houses. The university of Aberdeen consists of two colleges; King’s, founded, as just stated, in 1494; and Marischal college, instituted and endowed by George Keith, Earl Marischal, in 1593. The universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh contain one college each; but embrace all the faculties in their course of instruction. The following table shews the number of professors in the different universities, with the date of their foundation.
[table]

When founded.

Each of these universities enjoys the privilege of conferring literary honours in all the faculties. The aggregate number of students attending all these seminaries is about 2900, of whom about 1300 belong to the university of Edinburgh; 1100 to that of Glasgow; and the remainder to Aberdeen and St. Andrews, the attendance on the latter not exceeding 130. There are no religious tests to exclude students from any of our Scottish colleges. Jews, Catholics, Protestants, enjoy the same privileges. But the professors should, according to law, belong to the Established Church, and are liable to be called upon to sign her standards. This condition, however, is not always exacted. The session extends from the beginning of November till the end of April. There are a few summer classes in the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, but these extend only to three months preceding the first of August. A Royal Commission was appointed in 1826 for visiting the universities and colleges of Scotland, and in 1830 gave in a voluminous report. Another Commission was nominated in 1836, for visiting the university of Aberdeen. Their report has just been presented. But though a bill was brought into Parliament in 1836, founded on the former report, providing for a general board of visitors appointed by the crown over all the universities, that bill was withdrawn; and no measure on the subject has since been brought forward.

Though poor-rates are not generally imposed in Scotland, yet a law involving a compulsory assessment for the support of the impotent poor, was passed as early as the year 1576. But the very existence of such a statute seemed nearly unknown till about the middle of last century. “As long as there was no secession of presbyterians from the Established Church, the weekly collections, under the[7:19:766] management of the kirk-session, were in general found sufficient for the management of the poor. In some years of peculiar hardship or scarcity, such as the four last years of the seventeenth century, or the year 1740, voluntary assistance was no doubt given; and in some instances temporary assessments were resorted to, to enable the kirk-sessions to meet the usual emergencies. But on all ordinary occasions the resources of the kirk-sessions were considered as sufficient, and continued to be so at least as late as 1755.”^[120. Sir Henry Monereiff's Life of Dr. Erskine, p. 468. ] And as legal assessments were reluctantly introduced, notwithstanding the existence of a law in their favour, so they have spread tardily. At this moment they embrace only 236 parishes, being little more than a fourth of the total parishes of Scotland. These assessments have not only been introduced, but are the heaviest, in the parishes bordering on England; and with the exception of our larger towns, they decrease or disappear as we recede from the infectious example of the sister kingdom. Thus every parish in the synod of Merse and Teviotdale is burdened with assessment. In the midland synods, less than the half of the parishes are assessed; whilst in the northern synods, embracing 157 parishes, only three are exposed to that burden.

Table, shewing the proportion of parishes assessed or not assessed, the number of permanent or occasional poor, the average relief given to each, &c. ^[121. Report of a Committee of the General Assembly on the management of the poor in Scotland, 1839. ] i
[table]

Not

Assessed.

Voluntarily

Assessed.

Legally

Assessed.

517

24,379

6,209

211 2 / 3 30,800

879

57,969

20,348

1111

Parishes. . . ........ ...

Poor on permanent roll,

6592

2494

26,998

11,645

712 2 / 3

39,358

186 2 / 3

9273

Both these institutions have long existed in Scotland, but were based till recently on an insecure foundation. With the view of putting them on a sound footing, the act of 10 Geo. IV., c. 56, and of 4 and 5 Will. IV., c. 40, were passed. All friendly societies, claiming the benefits of these acts, are obliged to submit a statement of their rules and regulations for the approval of the officer appointed by government for the purpose; and these must receive his sanction ere the parties become entitled to the privileges conferred by the act in question, namely, the being allowed to invest the funds of the society in government securities at a minimum rate of interest (2 ½ d. per cent. per day), and in the funds of savings banks. Upwards of five hundred friendly societies have been instituted on the principle of these acts. The act as to savings banks, which has been in operation in all other parts of the empire since 1819, was extended to Scotland in 1835. According to the provisions of this act, the money of savings banks can be invested in government securities at the rate of L.3, 16s. 0 ½ d. per cent.; but the interest paid to depositors is not to exceed 2 ½ d. per cent. per day, or L.3, 8s. 5 ¼ d. per cent. per annum. No individual can deposit more than L.30 in any one year, exclusive of interest, nor more than L.200 in all. Savings banks have been established under the law in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cupar, Kirkaldy, Dunfermline, Dalkeith, and other towns. The deposits in the Edinburgh institution amount to about L.170,000, in rather less than 3 1 / 2 years; and the other savings banks in Scotland have been equally successful.

The peers of Scotland, by the treaty of union, elect sixteen of their number to be their representatives in the House of Lords. This election takes place in the palace of Holyrood on the dissolution of parliament. These sixteen peers, who are not elected for life, as is the case with the Irish representative peers, but for the continuance of the parliament for which they are chosen, enjoy all the privileges of the peers of

England. The other peers of Scotland have all the privileges of the House of Lords, except the legislative and judicial powers, and the privileges thence arising. The number of Scottish peers at the union was one hundred and fifty-four; and there has been since restored five, making one hundred and fifty-nine; but the present number is eighty-three, namely, seven dukes, four marquises, thirty-nine earls, three countesses, six viscounts, twenty-three barons, and one baroness. Thirty-six of these are also British peers; and two are likewise peers of Ireland.

Scotland, before the passing of the reform bill in the year 1832, was represented in the House of Commons by forty-five members, thirty being returned by the counties, and fifteen by the royal burghs, sixty-six in number. The number of the Scottish representatives since the passing of the reform bill, is fifty-three, thirty being, as before, chosen by the counties, whilst the burghs and towns, seventy-six in number, of which ten are not royal burghs, send twentythree. The counties, thirty-three in number, return only thirty members, because, for parliamentary objects, Kinross and Clackmannan, Elgin and Nairn, and Ross and Cromarty, are respectively united. The aggregate number of the county freeholders or voters, at the passing of the reform act, was 3211. The burgh constituencies were still more limited. With the exception of Edinburgh, which sent a member of itself, the other burghs were parcelled out in groups, and each burgh in the group voted by a delegate chosen by the magistrates and towncouncil., amounting, upon an average, to twenty in each, or 1320 in all. The aggregate number of the county constituencies, in 1838-39, was 46,480, or nearly fifteen limes the former amount; and of the burgh constituencies, 36,373, or fully twenty-seven times its former extent. The total constituency of Scotland is 82,853.^[123. Burton's Manual, ut supra, p. 29, et seq. ]

The population of Scotland was supposed to be 1,050,000[7:19:767] in the year 1700; it was ascertained by Dr. Webster to be 1,265,380, in 1755; and the authors of the Statistical Account of Scotland afford the means of estimating its amount about 1798, when it appears to have been 1,526,492. Since the year 1801, inclusive, we have had four decennial census. The following table gives the population of Scotland at the different periods referred to, with the rates of increase in each decennial period since 1801, and the number of males and females in 1831.
[table]

The amount of square miles, as stated under a previous head, being 29,600, the average population is within a fraction of eighty to the square mile. Great as has been the advance of population since the beginning of the last century, and particularly since 1801, it has been considerably less than its progress during the same period in England or Ireland. This desirable result seems to have been owing principally to the consolidation of farms in the low country; the extinction of the cottier system in the Highlands, and the substitution in its stead of large sheep farms; the comparative want of poor-laws; and the obstacles interposed by the law of Scotland to the sub-letting of farms, and to the subdivision of land. But however it may be accounted for, the fact is certain that, as compared with the increase of wealth, the population of Scotland has increased less rapidly than that of either of the two sister kingdoms. The Scotch have therefore advanced much more rapidly than the English or Irish in wealth, and in the command of the necessaries and conveniences of life. Their progress in this respect has, indeed, been quite astonishing. The habits, diet, dress, and other accommodations of the people, have been signally improved. It is not too much to affirm, that the peasantry of the present day are better lodged, better clothed, and better fed, than the middle class of landowners were a century ago.

Table, shewing the aggregate number of acres in Scotland, with the number of persons, families, and inhabited houses, according to the population returns of 1831, and also the number of acres corresponding to each family and house.
[table]

The classification of individuals, principally of males, of twenty years of age and upwards, in different departments of industry in Scotland, according to the census of 1831, is
[table]

Table shewing the population of the principal towns at different periods, with the number of inhabited houses, and the average number of persons to a house.
[table]

It appeared from a previous table, that the entire popu-the subsequent ten years. But it is evident from the prelation of Scotland had increased sixteen per cent. during ceding table, that the increase in the population of the larger the ten years ending in 1821, and thirteen per cent. during towns is considerably greater during the same periods, being[7:19:768] 26 ¼ and 26 1 / 2 per cent. respectively. The advance of Glasgow, in particular, has exceeded that of any of the large towns in the empire, not even excepting London, Manchester, and Liverpool, having been 33 per cent. for the ten years ending in 1821, and 37 per cent. for the subsequent ten years.^[124. Babbage’s Economy of Manufactures, p. 5. ]

But the great prosperity and advancement which Scotland has undergone, is best proved by the state of her public revenue.^[125. ’ Chalmers’s Historical View, p. 387. ]

The revenue of Scotland at the union, including taxes then imposed, L.l60,000

And her met revenue for the year 1804, 1,934,276

Ditto for 1813, including the property-tax, and other war taxes, 4,155,599

Revenue for 1822, the property-tax, &c. having been repealed, 3,436,642

Ditto for 1836 4,592,797

Ditto for 1838 4,692,724

Thus not only has the revenue of Scotland risen from L.l60,000 to L.4,692,724 since the Union, or is now twenty-nine times greater than it then was, but the people are undoubtedly now more able to pay the larger sum than they formerly were to contribute the smaller.

The following table, illustrative of the state of Scottish shipping at different periods, bears also unequivocal testimony to the great prosperity and advancement of Scotland.^[126. Chalmers, ut supra, p. 390; Macpherson's Annale of Commerce, anno 1760; M'Culloch's Statistical Account, vol. xi. sect. Commeret. ]
[table]

The first boat successfully impelled by steam in Europe was the Comet, which began to ply on the Clyde in 1812, and was the result of the skill and ingenuity of the late Henry Bell. Nor was there more than one steam-boat in Scotland for two years afterwards. In 1819, they had increased to 11; in 1830, to 61; and in 1837, to 109, (tonnage, 13,368), of which 63, or considerably more than the half, belonged to the Clyde.^[127. The Steam Engine, by Hugo Reid, Edinburgh, 1838, p. 160. ] The following table shews the rapidly increasing number and tonnage of the steamboats which entered the different ports of Scotland, and cleared out, at different periods, since 1820.
[table]

On the subject of the Scottish manufactures our notices, derived from official or other documents, shall be brief, particularly as under the articles Dundee, Glasgow, &c., we have already given pretty ample information on the different manufactures for which the country is distinguished. The linen manufacture was the earliest, and long regarded as the staple, branch of industry carried on in Scotland. But such were the narrow limits within which it was confined, that, at the Union, in 1707, it was not supposed to exceed 1,500,000 yards a-year. In 1727, aboard of trustees was established for the superintendence and encouragement of the linen manufacture; and bounties and premiums were given on its production and exportation.

The regulations as to the inspection and stamping of the linen intended for exportation, by which the trade was much annoyed, were abolished in 1822; and the bounties ceased in the year 1830. The quantity produced for sale in 1728 was 2,000,000 yards; in 1775, 12,000,000 yards; in 1822, 36,000,000 yards; and the exports alone, in 1835, exclusive of home consumption, was between 60,000,000 and 70,000,000 yards, worth about L.l,600,000. Dundee and the east of Scotland, including Fifeshire, are the great seats of the manufacture, particularly in Osnaburghs, sail-cloth, and the coarser fabrics; and Dunfermline and the neighbouring towns and villages, the principal seat of damask, diaper, and the finer fabrics. Previously to 1791, all the yarn used in the manufacture was spun upon the common hand-wheel; but the spinning by machinery began at that time to be introduced; and such has been the facility of production consequent on the erection of flax-mills, that the cost of the yarn, including the raw material, is now less than the spinning amounted to thirty years ago. The number of flax, hemp, and tow factories was, in 1837, 175, employing no fewer than 15,462 workers, of whom 4231 were between thirteen and eighteen years of age, and 163 between nine and thirteen.

Lanarkshire, which includes the city of Glasgow, and also the contiguous county of Renfrew, has always been the principal seat of the cotton manufacture. Some of the fabrics made at Glasgow and Paisley are of almost unrivalled beauty and fineness. The first steam-engine for the spinning of cotton erected in Scotland, was constructed so late as 1792. The number of cotton factories in 1837 was 177, all those of considerable size being situated at Glasgow, and in the neighbouring districts, comprehending twenty or thirty miles around Glasgow, excepting five in Aberdeenshire, two in Perthshire, one in Dumfries-shire, and one at Gatehouse, in Kirkcudbrightshire. But, with no exception, all these country mills are connected with Glasgow houses, or the Glasgow trade, at least so far as the raw material is concerned. The number of hands from eight years of age upwards employed in the Scottish cotton manufacture, is 34,418, of whom 13,567 are between thirteen and eighteen years of age, and 1096 between nine and thirteen.

The woollen manufacture of Scotland has never been considerable. It was formerly the custom for the occupiers of land in this country to spin the whole of their wool with the hand in their own houses, and to send the yarn to the village weaver to be woven into a species of coarse cloth called plaiding; but this mode, which is indicative of a rude and backward state of society, is now entirely abandoned, having been superseded by machinery. Factories for the making of fine cloth have been established in Aberdeenshire, and in some other counties; but comparatively coarse fabrics still continue to be the staple article of Scotch manufacture. The number of woollen or worsted factories in 1837 was 104, situated chiefly at Aberdeen, in Clackmannanshire, at Hawick, Galashiels, and Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, and in the counties of Stirling, Argyle, and Inverness. Hawick has almost entirely withdrawn from this species of manufacture, and devotes its energies principally to the production of woollen hose, of which it annually produces about 500,000 pairs, with blankets, and flannels. The towns of Stirling and Bannockburn are almost the exclusive seat of tartans. Kilmarnock is chiefly celebrated for its manufacture of carpets and shawls, besides large numbers of night-caps, bonnets, and foraging caps for the army. Bonnets in Scotland, however, have been pretty generally superseded by hats. The woollen factories, in 1837, contained 4339 workers, of whom 1856 were between thirteen and eighteen years of age, and 156 between nine and thirteen.[7:19:769] The silk manufacture in Scotland is still less considerable than that of woollen. The principal seats of it are at Paisley, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Broad silks, or manufactured goods of entire silk, sold by the yard, viz. gauzes, Persians, satins, and, in general, all broad silks, plain or figured, are made at these places, particularly the two first. Silk mills were established in Edinburgh so late as the year 1838. Handkerchiefs, such as Bandanas and Barcelonas, are made at Paisley and Glasgow, and a few adjacent places in connexion with these towns. Paisley is celebrated for “mixed goods,” that is, all varieties of manufacture in which silk forms a component part. Edinburgh is eminent chiefly for its shawls of the finest fabrics, but perhaps is surpassed even in this its staple silk production by Paisley. The silk factories contain about 1000 workers. The whole of the factories, of all kinds, in Scotland, namely, those of linen, cotton, woollen, and silk, amounted, in 1837, to 462, (of which 102 are situated in Lanarkshire, 94 in Forfarshire, including Dundee, Arbroath, and other manufacturing towns, and 62 in Renfrewshire,) employing 55,159 persons; but the number of both has increased considerably since that time.

Soap has long been manufactured to a very great extent in Scotland; and the principal seats of the manufacture are Glasgow, Leith, Paisley, Aberdeen, Prestonpans, and Montrose. The quantity made, in 1837, was 12,958,856 lbs., viz. of hard soap, 9,553,855, and of soft, 3,4050,01. The quantity exported was 450,956 lbs., the rest being retained or home consumption. The number of licences issued to soapmakers was twenty-one.

The quantity of whisky produced in Scotland cannot be ascertained before the year 1823, because, previously to that time, owing to the high rate of duty, (5s. 6d. per English wine gallon,) smuggling prevailed to a great extent in almost every district of the country, particularly in the Highlands. But in 1823 the duty was reduced to 2s., though subsequently, namely, in 1826 and 1830, it has been successively raised to 2s. 10d. and 3s. 4d. The following table will shew the quantity that paid duty for home consumption since that time:
[table]

This is exclusive of the quantity produced for the foreign market. In 1838 there were exported to England, at a duty of 7s. 6d. per gallon, 2,215,329 gallons; and to Ireland, at a duty of 2s. 4d., 861,069 gallons.

official account of the number of distillers, rectifiers, dealers in, and retailers of, spirits in Scotland in 1833 and 1834.
[table]

The principal seat of this manufacture is Edinburgh and its neighbourhood; but it prevails extensively in other places. By the following statement it appears that the quantity of strong ale brewed on an average of five years previous to 1830, was 119,551 barrels annually, (the duty being 9s. 10d. per barrel,) and of table beer, on an average of the same time, 250,698 barrels, the duty being 1s. 11 ½ d. But the duty being repealed in 1830, there are no later accounts of the quantity breweιl. The duty on malt is 20s. 8d. per quarter, and on hops 2d. per lb. The following table gives the number of brewers in Scotland in 1833 and 1834.
[table]

The manufacture of kelp, which was formed by the incineration of the common sea-wrack, has altogether ceased; but during the late war it was prosecuted to such an extent, particularly on the shores of the Highlands and Islands, that the total amount produced in Scotland was about 20,000 tons, which usually brought about L.10 per ton, or L.200,000 yearly. At some periods it brought L.20, at others it was as low as L.4 per ton. But since the reduction of the duty on barilla and salt, the manufacture has altogether ceased.

Scotland has long been famous for its fisheries, which were fora time the subject of bounties and premiums on the part of government; but it is questionable whether such factitious encouragement was productive of any real or permanent good. Boards for protecting, extending, and encouraging the fisheries were instituted in 1749, 1786, and 1808. But all bounties and premiums have now ceased; and the branch of industry in question is now thriving at least as well as when encumbered with factitious aid. The salmon fishery of Scotland has long been very considerable. The fishery in the Tweed is the most important, not only in Scotland, but in the empire, though there has of late years been a great decline in the quantity caught. About the end of the late war, the Tweed fishery yielded a rental of from L.15,000 to L.18,000 a-year; but owing to the falling off in the quantity caught, it does not now yield above L.4000 a-year. In addition to the Tweed, the other most valuable salmon fisheries are in the Forth, Tay, Dee, Don, Findhorn, Spey, Ness, Conon, and other rivers throughout Scotland. The London market is supplied with salmon chiefly by Scotland. The total value of the salmon caught in Scotland has been estimated at L.150,000 a-year.^[128. Loudon’s Encyclopedia of Agriculture. General Report of Scotland, iii. 327. ] Salmon fisheries north of the Tweed and Solway, but not these rivers themselves, are to be shut from the 14th of September to the 1st of February. In the Tweed and its tributary streams, the taking of salmon with the net is prohibited between the 15th of October and 15th February, or with the rod between 7th of November and 15th February. The Solway fisheries, according to the act of Parliament, include all streams that fall into the Solway Firth, embracing the Piltanton, the Luce, and the Bladenoch in Wigtonshire; the Cree, Fleet, Dee, and Urr in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright; as well as the Nith and other rivers in Dumfries-shire. The close season with all of these rivers begins on the 25th of September, and terminates with Piltanton, Luce, Bladenoch, and Cree, as early as the 3lst of December; with the Fleet[7:19:770] and the Dee on the 1st of February; and on the Solway Firth itself, properly so called, including the Urr and the other streams that enter it, it extends to the 10th of March. The penalties for transgressing any of these regulations are heavy.^[129. Burton’s Manual of the Law of Scotland, pp. 257—60. ] l The herring fishery has long been extensively cultivated, and much capital has been invested in it. The chief seat is the east of Scotland, of which Wick, and its suburb, Pultneytown, in Caithness, are important stations. Pultneytown, indeed, has, owing to this circumstance, grown up with something like the rapidity of a manufacturing village. During the fishing season, from 1500 to 2000 boats, each averaging a crew of five men, rendezvous here. Of these about 500 belong to the town; the rest resort thither from all quarters of the kingdom. Of 436,098 barrels of herring cured in the year ending the 5th of April 1834, no fewer than 134,738, or between a third and a fourth of the whole, were cured at Wick. The following table contains an account of the total number of barrels of herring which were cured in Scotland in the year just referred to, distinguishing the stations where landed or cured:
[table]

About an eighth part of the whole was cured at sea, and the remainder on shore. About the same proportion was cured ungutted; the rest were gutted, and generally within twenty-four hours after the fish were caught. In addition to the herring, the Scottish coast abounds with various kinds of white fish, such as haddock, cod, ling, and the like, as also oysters, flounders, and other flat fish. the persons who carry on the white fishing reside in the sea-ports, or the numerous villages on the coast. They use lines and nets, but principally the former; and their business can be carried on throughout the year. Steam navigation gives them a readier and a wider command of a market than they formerly enjoyed. In 1834 the herring, cod, and ling fisheries employed 9,263 boats, decked and undecked, 48,700 fishermen and boys by whom the boats were manned, 1893 coopers, and 28,645 in gutting, packing, &c; the total number of persons employed in these fisheries being 79,238.

This article would not be complete if it did not refer, however briefly, to the system of banking for which Scotland has become so celebrated. The Scottish banks are joint-stock establishments with large constituencies, the National bank having no fewer than 1238 partners, and the North of Scotland bank 1418; and, except in the case of chartered banks, each partner is responsible to the extent of his private fortune. With the chartered banks the responsibility is limited; but then the charter guarantees a certain amount of capital. For example, the capital of the bank of Scotland is L.1,500,000, for which sum the shareholders are responsible; and of it two-thirds, or L. 1,000,000, has been actually paid up. These establishments, consisting of extensive constituencies, whose responsibility is unlimited, or, if chartered, possessing large capitals paid up or guaranteed, enjoy the perfect confidence of the public. Besides, they are severally under the management of a body of Directors chosen by the partners out of their own body, and directly and periodically responsible to their constituents; and under their superintendence the banking business is carried on in these establishments on the most judicious and approved principles. Nor is this all. The different banks periodically exchange notes with each other; in Edinburgh, twice weekly, and in the country generally once a-week. Over-issuing is thus completely checked, for if any one bank has, after an exchange is made, an overplus of the notes of any other, this latter must redeem those notes either by a payment in specie, or in Exchequer bills, or an order on the bank of England. For any of these institutions to become insolvent or bankrupt seems next to be impossible. Indeed, no joint-stock bank, of any importance, ever did become insolvent; but in cases when, in provincial towns, such banks have suspended payment, (which has happened only in a very few instances, and these originating in ignorance or fraud,) the public, or the holders of their notes, have suffered no loss, each partner being responsible to the amount of his private fortune. The Scotch banks receive sums as low as L.10, or sometimes lower, as deposits, and allow interest on them at about one, or one and a half per cent. below the market rate. The system of “cash accounts” is peculiar to the Scottish mode of banking. A cash account is a credit given by a bank to an individual with two or more collateral securities, for a certain sum, which he may draw out wholly or partially as he pleases, replacing it in the same way, being charged interest only on the portion he withdraws. The act prohibiting the circulation of small notes in England did not extend to Scotland; so that the currency consists almost exclusively of paper, namely, notes of the value of L.1 and upwards, Indeed, there is very little gold in circulation. The Scotch banks draw on London at twenty days date. The Bank of Scotland, the oldest banking establishment in Scotland, was established in 1695, and issued notes for L.1 as early as 1704. The Royal Bank of Scotland was founded in 1727 and the British Linen Company in 1746. The total number of joint-stock banks at present in Scotland is 25, having altogether 306 branches. There are also seven private banking establishments. The aggregate amount of the sums deposited in the different Scottish banks was calculated to be in 1826 about L.20,000,000 or L.21,000,000; and it must have since increased considerably. The circulation is supposed to be between L.3,000,000 and L.4,000,000 seldom exceeding the latter sum.^[130. House of Commons’ Report of 1826, on Scottish and Irish Banks. ]

–––––––

The Historical part of this article was contributed by Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq.; the Statistical part by the Rev. Thomas Murray, with the exception of the section on Judicial Establishments and Geology. The first o these sections was contributed by James Stark, Esq. advocate; the other by Mr. Alexander Rose, Lecturer on Geology. (c. i. )[7:19:771]