Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/72

100 which, if confirmed, would have placed him at the head of the Scottish church. But the queen and her husband were not powerful or popular enough, to secure him in this splendid situation. He was first intruded on by one John Hepburn, who had been appointed by the chapter, and then both he and Hepburn were displaced by the pope, in favour of Forman, the bishop of Moray, a busy and ambitious churchman, who had been legate à latere to pope Julius II. Douglas was at the same time deprived of the abbacy of Aberbrothock. It appears that, although these disputes were carried on by strength of arms on all sides, the poet himself was always averse from hostile measures, and would rather have abandoned his own interest than bring reproach upon his profession. The queen, having hitherto failed to be of any service to him, nominated him, in 1515, to be bishop of Dunkeld, and on this occasion, to make quite sure, confirmation of the gift was, by the influence of her brother Henry the eighth, procured from the pope. In those days, however, a right which would suffice one day might not answer the next; and so it proved with Gavin Douglas. The duke of Albany, who arrived in May, 1515, though he had protected the right of archbishop Forman on the strength of a papal bull, not only found it convenient to dispute that title in the case of Douglas, but actually imprisoned the poet for a year, as a punishment for having committed an act so detrimental to the honour of the Scottish church. In the meantime, one Andrew Stewart, brother to the earl of Athole, and a partizan of Albany, got himself chosen bishop by the chapter, and was determined to hold out the cathedral against all whatsoever. Gavin Douglas, when released, was actually obliged to lay a formal siege to his bishopric before he could obtain possession. Having gone to Dunkeld, and published his bull in the usual form at the altar, he found it necessary to hold the ensuing entertainment in the dean's house, on account of his palace being garrisoned by the servants of Andrew Stewart. The steeple of the cathedral was also occupied as a fortress by these men, who pretended to be in arms in the name of the governor. Next day, in attempting to go to church, he was hindered by the steeple garrison, who fired briskly at his party: he had therefore to perform service in the dean's house. To increase his difficulties, Stewart had arrived in person, and put himself at the head of the garrison. His friends, however, soon collected a force in the neighbouring country, with which they forced Stewart to submit. The governor was afterwards prevailed upon to sanction the right of Gavin Douglas, who gratified Stewart by two of the best benefices in the diocese.

In 1517, when Albany went to France in order to renew the ancient league between Scotland and that country, he took Douglas and Panter as his secretaries, his object being in the former case to have a hostage for the good behaviour of the earl of Angus during his absence. However, when the negotiation was finished, the bishop of Dunkeld is said to have been sent to Scotland with the news. He certainly returned long before the governor himself. After a short stay at Edinburgh, he repaired to his diocese, where he employed himself for some time in the diligent discharge of his duties. He was a warm promoter of public undertakings, and, in particular, finished a stone bridge over the Tay, (opposite to his own palace,) which had been begun by his predecessor. He spent so much money in this manner, and in charity, that he became somewhat embarrassed with debt During the absence of the duke of Albany, his nephew Angus maintained a constant struggle with the rival family of Hamilton, then bearing the title of earl of Arran, which formed a great part of the governor's strength in Scotland. In April, 1520, both parties met in Edinburgh,