496

LETTER OF OGILVIE OF POURIE.

for his alleged share in the Gowrie conspiracy.

Concerning the Orkneys, the Highlands, the Borders, and Maxwell, an account is given later, in a separate chapter, while the complex business of Restalrig is discussed in Appendix B.

LETTER OF OGILVIE OF POURIE TO THE KING, 1601.

(Hatfield MS. 90, vol. cxxxvi. fol. 136.)

Endorsed: Pury Ogleby 1601.

It will plears yor M. Vnderstand

That cuming out of Dumfermling to Edinbru to home satisfeit yor M. desyr and finding my selff persewit & forst by yr Magistratis and vthris in yor M. name I culd do no les then escheu the first furie and appeale with yr Macedonian suldart A Phillippo male consulto et (sic) Philippum bene consultum Therof I craue yor M. pardon, thus absenting my selff for no offence that ever I committed aynest yor M. in or without the cuntrey bot for safetie of my Lyffe as ane beast but reason wold do. I am most sorrie for yor M. reputacionis cause that vther princes sould heer of yor M. creuell Dealing aganest me hawing ment so weill at yor M. handis therof they can beare me witnes, for so sall yor M. be thocht of, conforme as yor enemies head informit, at least ane ongrate prince, and I ane manifast liar quha hes informit thame so weill of yor M. I hoip that yor M. will wse my pour wyffe and bairnes according to yor wonted clemencie. And for my selff iff I can not liue in the cuntrey, I will accept of the croce that god layis on me for my sinis agnest his heavenlie M. And cum cristo fugere ex vna civitate in aliam it is that god sufferis pipell to be scurged inderectlie & thairof castis yr trew scorge in the fyre. Take hearte ser and begine anes to think weill of thame quha luffis yo1 M. honor & standing. And sence God hes beine so manie tymes so mercifull to zow, Be not cruell wt yor M. Debtoris iff zou wold not be cossin wit that ewell (?) Debtor of the evangell in perpetuall prison. As for that yor M. wold lay agaynest me I nevir had on vse ony commission of yor Matis to ony forrant prince in my Lyffe, nather in Flaunders France nor Spaine, Not witstanding all yor M. Intelligenrs in the contrar qlks ar fals & cunterfeit as I salbe aible to prove. I have delt and beine delt with indeid, but alwayis in matteris that consernit yor M. standing and the weill of yor M. cuntrey Zet for satisfaction of yor Majestie hawinge suretie of my lyffe and heritage I am content to enter in Vard, and say qtsumever yor M. sall comand me Or vtherwayes to go presentlie out of the cuntrey, for if my Lord Simple past to Spaine wt zor M. commission, his Instructions bearing the same headis qrof I wes thocht to haue delt qt satisfaction, can my Varding be to Ingland qa incistis in no wayis agenest me, finding me Innocent of all such calumnies Layd agnest me at my being in London, and iff zour M. suld mislyke more of my cuming throgh Ingland then dealing in Spaine, as sum curious pipell dois imagen, sens zor M. was of oppinions that I suld have bene tane by my owne advyss zor M., giff I durst say it, dois me Wrong for I beare the guide will and culd do yor M. better service there then mony subiectis yor M. hes And iff vthers be reveilit vpon conisouñ accussit of the same thingis And more suspect by Ingland nor I, qt can it harme zor M. or offend Ingland to grant me the lyke benefeit. And iff it be bot my Lyffe as appearis socht Inderectlie, Prestat sapore alieno exempto, Nathur can yor M. justlie blame to be als diligent in saiffing my

lyffe as vthers ar cunning and subteill in crawing my sackless bluid. As for geer I haue non And Lyttil Land yet the hous is so myne And so mony honest men cwme of it that I traist that zor M. will not sie it perish altor all the foresaidis I am becwme throw my trwbles & gryte travell so ill at eas and debilitat that only Warding war sufficient to make my pwre unprovydit barnes fatherles, if non of thar may mowe yor M. to Justice and petie I must remit my cause to God and seik to so serve sum vther prince as I mynd to die rather a confessor nor a martire. One thing may I justlie say with the freir that was put in the gallies for saiing of thre or fowr messes everie day that I am punished per auer facto troppo ben. Speik zor M. qt eveill zou pleas of me I will alwayis think & speik weill of zo M. Althogh by this reason as Plutark tellis the teale I must neids be a knaiff Aither becaus zo1 M. quha is good speikis evill of me or than iff zor M. be not giude becaus I speik giude of ane evill man Bot sir kaik is no scheiris (?) I luike for better of zor M. And kissing zor M. princlie handis with all deutifull humilitie I pray the eternall God to preserwe zo M. and oppine zor eis or they my breist that yor M. may sie as Simonius desyrit The Invard cogitacionis of my trewe hart. Raptim 1601.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XVIII.

1 Bruce, Correspondence of James VI. Camden Society, 1861, xxv., xxviii. 80, 81.

2 Hailes, Secret Correspondence of Cecil, 1766.

6 Thorpe, ii. 799. See a singular letter from Pourie to James at the end of

this chapter. It is from the Cecil Papers, Hatfield MSS.

7 Calderwood, vi. 146-148, 153-156.

8 Remarks on the History of Scotland, pp. 254-264; 1773.

9 Thorpe, ii. 815.

10 Thorpe, ii. 814.

11 Border Papers, ii. 523.

12 Bruce, Correspondence of James VI. and Cecil, pp. 30-38.

13 Privy Council Register, vi. 581, 582.

14 Restalrig and the Gowrie Conspiracy. Appendix B.

15 Privy Council Register, vii. xiii. xxi.

16 Nuga Antiquæ, i. 181, 182.

17 Act Parl. Scot., iv. 262-276.

19 Privy Council Register, vii. 13, 14.

19 James Melville, 574.

20 Privy Council Register, vii. 474, 475.

21 Act Parl. Scot., iii. 541.

22

James Melville, 570-626; Register, Privy Council, vii. 478 486.

23 Melville, p. 596.

24 Melville, p. 625.

25 Register, Privy Council, vii. 480-486.

VOL. II.

2 I

26 Forbes's Records touching the Estate of the Kirk, 501, 502, note (Wodrow Society); Spottiswoode, iii. 174, 175.

27 Register, Privy Council, vii. 492, 497, and notes; Forbes, 546, 551.

29 Calderwood, vi. 485-495.

29 Melros Papers, Lords of Council to James, i. p. 15; Act Parl. Scot., iv. 280. 30 Gardiner, i. 316 (1900); Melville, p. 640.

31 Melville, 679.

32 Calderwood, vi. 608.

33 Original Letters, edited by Mr Botfield, Bannatyne Club, vol. i. pp. 70-71. 34 Privy Council Register, vii. 299-302.

35 Privy Council Register, vii. 347-349.

36 Privy Council Register, vii. 432, note.

37 Privy Council Register, viii. 20, 508-510.

38 Privy Council Register, viii. 844.

39 Privy Council Register, viii. 473-475, notes; Calderwood, vii. 94-103; Spottiswoode, iii. 205-208.

40 Forbes Leith, 269, note I.

41 Forbes Leith, 284, 285.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE LAST YEARS OF JAMES VI.

1603-1624.

IF the nations are happy which have no constitutional history, then Scotland was fortunate between the establishment of Episcopacy, in 1610, and James's later interferences with the old Presbyterian forms of public worship. There were, of course, feuds, as we have just shown, and there were Highland disturbances, but the affairs of the Celtic part of the kingdom must be treated of in a separate chapter. There were also occasional troubles with a recalcitrant preacher, such as our historian, Calderwood himself. But the centre of affairs was now London, where there was much irritation against James's Scottish followers, and where a Scottish favourite, Ker, Earl of Somerset, involved him in circumstances still obscure, but, to an unascertained extent, discreditable. This perplexed matter, however, is of merely personal interest, and forms no part of the history of Scotland. James's desire for a regular, thorough, incorporating union of the countries, such as Major had longed for before the Reformation, such as Henderson dreamed of after the fall of Cardinal Beaton (see Chapter II.), was creditable to the king, and to Bacon who supported him. But the proposal broke down against the jealousies, commercial, ecclesiastical, and social, of the two nations. The Union of 1707 was almost equally unpopular with Highland and Lowland Jacobites, and with Whig or Hanoverian Scottish earls, in 1745, after forty years of experience of the measure. We may guess, then, how little chance an Act of Union had in passing, when James was a new king in England, and when ballads against the Scottish followers were sung in London streets. James had recommended the Union to Parliament in March 1604,

500

ABORTIVE SCHEME OF UNION.

when he had not sat for a year on the English throne. Bodies of commissioners for each nation were appointed in the summer of the year, and met in October, at Westminster, while James, of his own will and fantasy, crowned himself with the title of "King of Great Britain." "This some of both kingdoms took ill," says Spottiswoode, nor did the Borderers like to have the name of "the Borders" abolished, with all the old Border laws (they were printed, after the Forty-Five, by a bishop of Carlisle). The garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle were dismissed, orders were given to destroy the Border keeps, and turn their iron gates into ploughshares.1 The orders cannot have been carried out, to judge by the numerous keeps and fortalices still standing on either side of the Marches.

Meanwhile Bacon and the famed Tam o' the Cowgate, the King's Advocate and founder of the Haddington family, drew up a report for the Union Commissioners. The articles are given by Spottiswoode.2 In the rules for free-trade between the two countries, the staples of England-wool, hides, sheep, cattle, leather, and linen yarn-were excepted, and the rights of sea-fishing were to remain restricted as of yore. Persons in each country born after James's accession were to be entitled to equal privileges of all kinds on either side of the Border. These were the Post-nati; but as to the Ante-nati, persons born before the Union of the Crowns, great difficulties arose, as the Scots who followed the king were only too likely, by the kindly Scottish usage, to be thrust into the best English posts and dignities. James, by prerogative, could naturalise any one, and even give him office under the Crown. He declared, however, that he would not put any Scot (not yet naturalised) into a Crown office, nor any Englishman into a Scottish Crown office. But he would not allow his power of doing so by prerogative to be restricted by a clause in the Act. The English House of Commons was as sceptical about the king's promise as Mr Robert Bruce had been about his statements in the Gowrie case, and James's promises, when at home, had been punctually broken. In November 21, 1606, and later, strong commercial opposition to the scheme of Union broke forth, and Bacon's eloquence in favour of the Bill was "in the right, but too soon." Order was transgressed by indignant and sarcastic English orators, and the Scottish Privy Council, when they heard of the insults, protested that they, for their part, were in no hurry to be