Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/105

 and Proceedings during the time of his Ambassage, from his entrie in England in Septembre 1568 to the 20th March 1572.’ It is dated ‘from the prison called the Bloody-toure within the Toure of London,’ 26 March 1572, and was first published in Anderson's ‘Collections,’ vol. iii. The language was anglicised by Dr. Good, and the probable intention of the bishop was to publish it. 6. ‘Commentaria Diurna Joannis Leslie, Episcopi Rossensis, Legati serenissimæ Marie Scotorum Reginæ in Anglia.’ Published in the ‘Bannatyne Miscellany,’ ii. 117–56, from a Cottonian manuscript in the British Museum (Calig. C. iii. art. 1). 7. ‘The Case of the Bishop of Ross, Resident of the Queen of Scots, who was seized and committed to the Tower,’ &c. Published in ‘Somers Tracts,’ ‘Harleian Society's Miscellany,’ ii. 480–2.

James Maitland, son of William Maitland of Lethington, in ‘An Apologie for William Maitland against the lies and calumnies of Jhone Leslie, Bishop of Ross, George Buchanan, and William Camden as authors’ (Addit. MS. Brit. Mus. 32092, f. 230; see also Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. pp. 429–31), attributes to Leslie among other publications: 1. ‘A little pamphlet in Spanish: Relacion de las casas de Schozia,’ published ‘without any name or date.’ 2. ‘The Copie of a Letter written out of Schotland by an English Gentleman of credit and worship serving ther unto a Friend and Kinsman of his that desyred to be informed of the Trueth and Circumstances of the Slanderous and Infamous Reports maide of the Q. of Schotland at that tyme restreined in manner of Prisone in England,’ published ‘without any name of author, printer, date, or suprascript.’ 3. ‘L'Innocence de la très illustre, très chaste & debonnaire Princess Madam Marie Reyne d'Escosse,’ 1572, republished in Jebb's ‘Collections,’ i. 38–124. Maitland states that all these three were written by Leslie while in England. He also attributes to Leslie ‘Martyre de la Royne d'Escosse, Douairiere de France,’ 1588, usually ascribed to Adam Blackwood [q. v.] 

LESLIE, JOHN, sixth (1600–1641), one of the leaders of the Covenanting party, born in 1600, was the only son of James, master of Rothes, who died in March 1607, by Catherine Drummond, his second wife. In 1621 he was served heir to his grandfather, Andrew, fifth earl [q. v.], who died in 1611. Rothes was one of the commissioners at the parliament of 1621 who voted against the five articles of Perth (, vii. 488, 498). In 1626 he was sent to London, along with other commissioners, to petition against the Act of Revocation of 12 Oct. 1625, by which church property in the hands of laymen reverted to the crown. At first the king 'stormed against the petition as too high a strain from petitioners and subjects' (, Annals, ii. 153}, but ultimately commissioners were appointed by which a compromise was arrived at. At the opening of parliament on the visit of Charles to Scotland in 1633, Rothes bore the sceptre (, Memorialls, i. 37), But the opposition of the Scots to the king's ecclesiastical policy was greatly strengthened by the ability, eloquence, and resolution of Rothes. He denounced as unwarrantable the act which conjoined an acknowledgment of the royal prerogative with an acknowledgment of the king's authority to determine the apparel of the judges, magistrates, and the clergy. The clause referring to the 'apparel of kirkmen' he regarded as an encroachment on the ecclesiastical prerogatives of the kirk. The king, however, refused to have the bill divided. A majority of the votes declared in its favour, and Rothes's attempt to challenge the correctness of the numbers was overruled by Charles. At the closing of parliament on 20 June 1633, the Earl of Glencairn took the place of Rothes in bearing the scepter (ib.  i. 40). Clarendon states that Charles, who entertained a hearty dislike for Rothes and his friends, treated them with the utmost coldness (Hist. of the Rebellion, ed. 1819, i. 138).

Rothes headed the opposition to the proposed introduction of the prayer-book into the services of the kirk in 1638, and was the chief organizer of the movement against episcopacy, of which Argyll became the leader [see, 1598-1661]. According to Spalding, Rothes and others drew up, before 1638, a secret bond 'to overthrow the bishops' (Memorialls, i. 76). Early in that year he addressed