Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/163

Rh monarch, and hurried him to a premature grave. Two princes who were born to him by Mary of Guise, died in their infancy within a few days of each other, a calamity which sank deep in the heart of their royal parent. His uncle, the king of England, with whom he had hitherto been on a friendly footing, for reasons now not very well known, invaded his dominions with an army of twenty thousand men, under the command of the duke of Norfolk. James gave orders to assemble an army of thirty thousand men on the Burrow muir, and with this force he marched to oppose them. The hostile armies met at Sol way moss, but with little disposition on the part of the leaders of the Scottish army to maintain the credit of their sovereign by their arms. James had never been friendly to the aristocracy, and they now retaliated upon him by a lukewarmness in his cause in the hour of need. The unfortunate monarch himself increased this spirit of defection at this critical juncture by appointing Oliver Sinclair, a mean favourite, and a man of no ability, to the command of his army. The intelligence of this appointment excited the utmost indignation in the Scottish army. All declared that they would rather submit to be taken prisoners by the English than be commanded by such a general; and the whole army was thrown into such a state of commotion by this infatuated proceeding of their sovereign, that the English general perceived the disorder, and taking advantage of it, attacked the Scottish army with a few hundred light horse. The former making no resistance were instantly put to flight. James was at Carlaverock, about twelve miles distant, when this disaster took place. When informed of the disgraceful flight of his army, he sank into a state of dejection and melancholy from which nothing could rouse him. His proud spirit could not brook the disgrace which had befallen his arms, and the conduct of his nobles excited a degree of irritation which soon threw him into a violent fever. In this state of despondency he retired to Falkland. Here he took to bed and refused all sustenance. While in this condition intelligence was brought him that the queen, then at Linlithgow, was delivered of a girl. "It came with a lass and it will go with a. lass," said the dying monarch, reckoning it another misfortune, that it was riot a male heir that had been given to him.

A little before his death, which was now fast approaching, he was heard muttering the words "Solway moss," the scene of that disaster which was now hurrying him to the grave. On the day of his death, which happened previous to the 13th of December, 1542, but within two or three days of it, although the precise day is not known, he turned round to the lords who surrounded his bed, and with a faint but benignant smile, held out his hand to them to kiss, and in a few minutes thereafter expired. James died in the 31st year of his age, leaving the unfortunate Mary, then an infant, to succeed to his dignities and to more than his misfortunes. Besides Mary, his only surviving legitimate child, James left six natural children. These were James, abbot of Kelso and Melrose; the regent Murray; Robert, prior of Holyroodhouse; John, prior of Coldingham; Janet, wife of the earl of Angus; and Adam, prior of the Chartreux at Perth.

JAMES VI. of Scotland, and I. of England, was born in the castle of Edinburgh, June 19, 1566. He was the son of the reigning sovereign Mary, by her husband, Henry, lord Darnley, who was nominally associated with her in the government, and was the eldest son of the existing earl of Lennox. Both by his father and mother, James was the great-grandson of Henry VII. of England, and, failing queen Elizabeth and his own mother, stood nearest to the throne of that kingdom, at the same time that he was heir-apparent to the Scottish crown. The character of his parents and their previous history are so well known, that it is unnecessary to touch upon them here. It may only be mentioned, that