manity, administering to him such cordials as their house could afford.

When the king had recovered a little, he called for a priest, to whom, as a dying man, he might make a confession; and those about him demanding who he was, he replied, "I was your king this morning." By this time some of the malecontents, who, having observed the king's flight, had left the battle to pursue him, were come up to the place; and, as they were passing, the miller's wife clapping her hands with astonishment and grief called out, that if there was any priest among them he would instantly stop and confess the king. "I am a priest,” said one of them, "lead me to his majesty." This person being brought in, he found the king lying in the corner of the mill, covered with a coarse cloth; and approaching him upon his knees, under pretence of respect, while treachery filled his heart, asked him if he thought he could recover if he had the proper help of physicians ? James answering in the affirmative, the ruffian pulled out a dagger, and stabbed him several times through the heart.

The name of the person who committed this atrocious deed is certainly not known; nor would the discovery add much to the stock of historical knowledge. The place where it was committed is well known, in that neighbourhood, by the name of Beaton's mill, said to be so called from the person who at that time possessed it. It is yet standing, though now converted into a dwelling-house, new and more commodious mills having been erected near. The lower part of its walls are still the same which received the unfortunate James; the upper part of them have been renewed; and the reparation which it seems to have undergone appears to have had no other design than to perpetuate the memory of this tragical event, the circumstances of which have been so carefully handed down by tradition, that they are still related by the elderly inhabitants of the village, and perfectly correspond to the accounts which we meet with in the best historians.

After the king's flight, his troops continued to fight with great bravery; but an uncertain rumour of his death being brought, they began to retreat towards Stirling. They were not, however, pursued, for all hostilities immediately ceased. The army of the confederates lay that night upon the field, and next day marched back to Linlithgow. The number of the slain upon

both sides is uncertain, though it must have been considerable; for the action lasted a good space, and was well maintained by the combatants on each side; several of high rank fell upon the side of the royalists, among whom were the Earl of Glencairn, the Lords Temple, Erskine, and Ruthven.*

When the prince, who before the battle had given a strict charge about the safety of his father's person, heard the rumour of his death, he was deeply affected. It was not, however, till some days after the battle that he obtained the certainty of his father's death; for, if any of the confederate Lords were in the secret, they kept it carefully from the prince; and from the rest a report was spread, that the king had gone aboard Wood's fleet, and was still alive; but the admiral being called before the young king and the council, declared that he knew nothing of his late master. So little had the prince been accustomed to his father's company, that he was almost a stranger to his person; for, when Wood appeared before him, struck with his stately appearance, or perhaps with some resemblance he bore to the late king, he serenely asked him, "Sir, are you my father?" to which the admiral, bursting into tears, replied, "I am not your father, but I was your father's true servant.”

At last the body of the king was discovered, and carried to the palace in Stirling castle, where it lay till it was interred with

* The ancient house of Ruthven, once the seat of the unfortunate Gowries, consists of two square towers, built at different times, and distinct from each other; but now joined by buildings of later date. The top of one of the towers is called Maiden's leap, receiving its name on the following occasion: a daughter of the first Earl of Gowrie was addressed by a young gentleman of inferior rank in the neighbourhood, a frequent visitor of the family, who would never give the least countenance to his passion. His lodging was in the tower, separate from that of his mistress

Sed vetuere patres quod non potuere vetare.

The lady, before the doors were shut, conveyed herself into her lover's apartment; but some prying duenna acquainted the countess with it: who cutting off, as she thought, all possibility of retreat, hastened to surprise them. The young lady's ears were quick; she heard the footsteps of the old countess, ran to the top of the leads, and took the desperate leap of nine feet four inches over a chasm of sixty feet, and luckily lighting on the battlements of the other tower crept into her own bed, where her astonished mother found her, and of course apologised for the unjust suspicion. The fair daughter did not choose to repeat the leap; but the next night eloped and was married.

all due honour in the burial place of Cambus-Kenneth, near to that of his queen, who had died not long before. The inhabitants of that place still pretend to show a spot in which a king and a queen are buried; but no monument is to be seen. The battle was fought on the 11th of June, 1488, and was called the Field of Stirling.

The confederate lords endeavoured to atone for their treatment of their late sovereign, by their loyalty and duty towards the son, whom they placed instantly upon the throne, and the whole kingdom soon united in acknowledging his authority. As a penance, for the unnatural part he had acted towards his father, the monarch, according to the superstitious notions of those times, ever after wore an iron girdle upon his body, to which a link was added every year, till it became very ponderous.

The party who had taken arms against their late sovereign deemed it also requisite, for their future security, to have a parliamentary indemnity for these proceedings. Accordingly, in a parliament that met soon after, they obtained a vote, by which all that had been done in the Field of Stirling was justified and declared to have been lawful, on account of the necessity they lay under of employing force against the king's evil counsellors, the enemies of the kingdom. This vote, in law books, is called the proposition of the debate of the Field of Stirling.

NOTES OF SCOTTISH AFFAIRS, FROM THE YEAR 1680 To 1701.— The following memoranda, which tend to connect our subjects, may serve for notes to the history of a period as well known as any in the annals of Britain—or as characteristic facts of the manners of the age-are extracted from Lord Fountainhall's diary, a very limited edition (120 copies) of which was only printed. The original manuscript of the volume is preserved in the Advocate's Library at Edinburgh. It is merely necessary to observe, that the author (Sir John Lander, a distinguished judge in the court of session, called in courtesy to that station Lord Fountainhall) was a constant, close, and singularly impartial observer of the remarkable events of his time; and while his rank and character gave him access to the best information, he displayed much shrewdness in digesting it.

"The Duke of York took leave of his brother, King Charles II., the 20th of October, 1680, at Woolwich on the Thames, and after a great storm landed at Kirkaldie, the 26th ditto, with his Duchess. There, after he went to Leslie till the 29th ditto, frae thence to Holyrood House, thence went and saw Edinburgh Castle, where the great canon called Monns Meg being charged, burst in her off going, which was taken as a bad omen.

"A Mr. William Wishart, minister at Wells in Annan, turned papist.

"It is observed in England, that in the space of twenty years, the English changed oftener their religion than all Christendom had for 150 years; for they made four mutations from 1540 to 1560. King Henry the Eighth abolished the Pope's supremacy, suppressed abbeys, but retained the bulk of the popish religion; his son, King Edward, brings in the protestant religion; Queen Mary throws it out; but Queen Elizabeth brings it in again."

"The presbyterian lampoons upbraided Paterson, Bishop of Edinburgh, as a profligate and loose liver. See the answer to presbyterian eloquence, where there is much ribaldry on this subject. He is said to have kissed the band-strings in the pulpit, in the midst of an eloquent discourse, which was the signal agreed upon betwixt him and a lady to whom he was a suitor, to show he could think upon her charms even whilst engaged in the most solemn duties of his profession. Hence he was nicknamed Bishop Bandstrings."

The state of parties in Scotland, the clashing of personal and political interests; the barbarous tortures, and the executions of their opponents as the different sides prevailed; the ramifications of the Ryehouse plot in this country; the conflicts of episcopacy, presbyterianism and popery; besides private concerns, form many of the illustrative paragraphs of our miscellaneous record. For example, in 1684, we have

"Mr. Hunter, second minister of Stirling, staged for drunkenness, in spewing after he had taken the sacrament. Kennedy, provost of Stirling, and Mr. Munro, the first minister, were his

accusers, 6th of April, 1684. He after turned a buckle-beggar, and was suspended if not deprived by the bishop therefore; and married in his old age, a daughter of Anne Stevenson, a gardener at Habaye Hall.”

TORTURE OF THE BOOTS AND THUMBIKEN.—“ Mr.William Spence, late servant to Argyle, is tortured by boots, to force him to reveal what he knows of the earle's and others' accession to the late English fanatic, Platt, and a design of rebellion; and in regard that he refused to depose if he had the key whereby he could read some letters of the earle's, produced by Major Holmes, in cypher; and seeing that he would not depose that he could not read them, and that they offered him a remission, it rendered him very obnoxious, and suspect of prevarication; so that after the torture he was put in General Dalyell's hands; and it was reported, that by a hair short and pricking (as the witches are used) he was five nights kept frae sleep, till turned half distracted; but he eat very little, on purpose that he might require less sleep; yet never discovered any thing." 26th July, and following days.

"Mr. Spence, Argyle's servant, is again tortured with the thumbikens, a new invention, and discovered by Generals Dalyell and Drummond, who saw them used in Muscovy; and when he heard they were to put him in boots again, being frightened therewith, desired time, and he would declare what he knew; whereupon they gave him some time, and sequestrat him in Edinburgh Castle, 6th August, 1684."

"Mr. William Spence, to avoid further torture, desyphered Argyle's letters, and agrees with Holmes's declaration, that Argyle and Loudon, Dalrymple of Stains, Sir John Cochran, and others, had formed design to raise rebellion in Scotland; and that there were three keys to the said letters, whereof Mr. Carstairs had two, and Holmes a third; and he approved of Gray of Crichie, after Lord Gray, his explanation of the said letters; and Campbell of Arkanlass was apprehended by the laird of M'Naughten. Spence got the liberty of the castle, and recommended for a remission. And Gordon of Earlston was sent for from the Bass, to be tortured and confronted with Spence, and the council resolved not to admit of his madness.