Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/167

Rh he leisure to blenk upon any paper, and yet noeht that with free unvexed spirit." He also appears to have at this time proceeded some length with his translation of the Psalms into Scottish verse. It is curious that, while the king manifested, in his literary studies, both the pure sensibilities of the poet and the devout aspirations of the saint, his personal manners were coarse, his amusements of no refined character, and his speech rendered odious by common swearing.

It is hardly our duty to enter into a minute detail of the oscillations of the Scottish church, during this reign, between presbytery and episcopacy. In proportion as the king was weak, the former system prevailed; and in proportion as he gained strength from the prospect of the English succession, and other causes, the episcopal polity was re-imposed. We are also disposed to overlook the troubles of the catholic nobles Huntly, Errol, and Angus, Avho, for some obscure plot in concert with Spain, were persecuted to as great an extent as the personal favour of the king, and his fear of displeasing the English papists, would permit. The leniency shown by the king to these grandees procured him the wrath of the church, and led to the celebrated tumult of the 17th of December, 1596, in which the clergy permitted themselves to make so unguarded an appearance, as to furnish their sovereign with the means of checking their power, without offending the people.

In February, 1594, a son, afterwards the celebrated prince Henry, was born to the king at Stirling castle; this was followed some years after by the birth of a daughter, Elizabeth, whose fate, as the queen of Bohemia, and ancestress of the present royal family of Britain, gives rise to so many varied reflections. James wrote a treatise of counsel for his son, under the title of "Basilicon Doron," which, though containing some passages offensive to the clergy, is a work of much good sense, and conveys, upon the whole, a respectable impression at once of the author's abilities, and of his moral temperament. It was published in 1599, and is said to have gained him a great accession of esteem among the English, for whose favour, of course, he was anxiously solicitous.

Few incidents of note occurred in the latter part of the king's Scottish reign. The principal was the famous conspiracy of the earl of Gowrie and his brother, sons of the earl beheaded in 1584, which was developed if we may speak of it in such a manner on the 5th of August, 1600. This affair has of late been considerably elucidated by Robert Pitcairn, Esq., in his la- borious work, the "Criminal Trials of Scotland," though it is still left in some measure as a question open to dispute. The events, so far as ascertained, were as follows.

Early on the morning of the 5th of August, 1600, Alexander, Master of Ruthven, with only two followers, Andrew Henderson and Andrew Ruthven, rode from Perth to Falkland, where king James was at that time residing. He arrived there about seven o'clock, and stopping at a house in the vicinity of the palace, sent Henderson forward to learn the motions of the king. His messenger returned quickly with the intelligence, that his majesty was just departing for the chase. Ruthven proceeded immediately to the palace, where he met James in front of the stables. They spoke together for about a quarter of an hour. None of the attendants overheard the discourse, but it was evident from the king's laying his hand on the master's shoulder, and clapping his back, that the matter of it pleased him. The hunt rode on, and Ruthven joined the train; first, however, despatching Henderson to inform his brother that his majesty was coming to Perth with a few attendants, and to desire him to cause dinner to be prepared. A buck was slain about ten o'clock, when the king desired the duke of Lennox and the earl of Mar to accompany him to Perth, to speak with the