The History of Scotland from the Union of the Crowns on the accession of James VI. to the throne of England, to the Union of the Kingdoms in the reign of Queen Anne. With two dissertations, ... on the Gowrie Conspiracy [by J. Pinkerton], and on the supposed authenticity of Ossian's Poems

Front matter

THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, FROM THE UNION OF THE CROWNS ON THE ACCESSION OF JAJIES VI. TO THE THRONE OF ENGLAND, TO THE UNION OF THE KINGDOMS IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. By MALCOLM LAING, Esq. WITH TWO DISSERTATIONS, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL, ON THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY, AND ON THE SUPPOSED AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAN's POEMS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: Printed by A. Strahan, Printers Street, TOR T. CADELL JUN. AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND; AND MANNERS AND MILLER, EDINBURGH. 1800.

Preface

. 1 he following work was chiefly undertaken, as a History of Scotland, from theUnion of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms, seemed to be still wanting to render its annals complete. The early history of Scotland is in other hands : the most im portant period has been executed by Dr. Robertson, with a fidelity equal at least to the elegance-and the success of his work ; but the domestic transactions of Scotland, from the Accession to the Union, have hitherto remained concealed in manuscripts, or buried in the obscure volumes of ecclesiastical dis putation. The "most prominent events alone are occasionally recorded in English historians ; but ihe causes, consequences, and the whole train of subordinate incidents, are imperfectly known. It becomes not me to determine, hardly indeed to conjecture, how far, or whether I have succeeded in my design, to give a just and impartial con tinuation of the History of Scotland down to the period when its History expires.

During the whole of the civil wars, it is im possible to separate the history of the two kingdoms. Without departing therefore from my professed a 2 design,

PREFACE.

. design, I have entered largely into the relative affairs of England, and omitted no opportunity to illustrate, concisely, the most disputed passages concerning the origin and continuance of the civil wars, the character and motives of Charles I. and the cause of his death. It is here, where the judgment is pre-occupied with some historical theory ,or political system, that I anticipate the principal objections to my work ; but if I deviate from our recent historians, I approach the nearer to those original authorities which I have been the more careful to quote, and which they who dispute my conclusions are requested to consult. The manuscript materials employed in this history are chiefly derived from the library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, to which I enjoy a professional access.

Calderwood's MS. cited wherever the printed abstract is defective, Matthew Crawford's, and some other manuscript histories, were procured from the records of the church of Scotland. The records of the justiciary court, and of the privy council, have been frequently examined ; but I am indebted for many valuable materials, to the private repositories of gentlemen, whose friendship I am proud to acknowledge, Mr. Erskine of Mar communicated to me the correspondence of his ancestors, the earl of Mar and his brother lord Grange; without soli citation and without reserve. Through the friendship of Mr. Clerk of Elden, whose Naval Tactics have contributed to cur naval victories, I obtained full access to ;he historical writings of his V

PREFACE.

. his father, Sir John Clerk of Pennycuick, a com missioner at the Union ; and from the honourable Mr. Maule 1 procured the transcripts of Fountain hall's Memoirs, and of other MSS. preserved by his ancestor, Mr. Henry Maule. Instead of extracting from these materials a collection of original papers, in which it would be difficult to separate historical facts from the fanaticism of the age, I have subjoined such Notes and Illustrations as were necessary to explain at length, and to confirm the most doubtful, or disputed passages in each volume. On two occasions only I have departed from this plan. The forgery detected in Logan of Restalrig's supposed letters, might appear to discredit the whole Gowrie Con spiracy, which belongs to the preceding period of history ; but I have annexed, without scruple, to the first volume, an Historical Dissertation for which I am indebted to the friendssiip of Mr. Pin kerton, who, in my apprehension, has placed that obscure transaction in its genuine light.

The other instance, in which I have deserted my ac customed mode of illustration, is the Dissertation annexed to the second volume, on the supposed Authenticity of Ossian's Poems. The prevailing belief of their authenticity, at home and abroad, will render it the less surprising, that, in a question concerning our literature and early history, I was desirous to vindicate to my countrymen that incredulity which I have freely and repeatedly ex pressed. As a short note was found insufficient, I have entered, as concisely as possible, into a 6 copious VI

PREFACE.

. copious detection of those spurious poems, by some supposed to reflect the greatest honour, by others the greatest disgrace, on that part of the nation which claims and attests the imposture as its own. As this work forms a Continuation of Robertson's History of Scotland, with which it coincides, it is my design to add, in a small preliminary, or rather intermediate volume, an Historical and Critical Dissertation on the accession of Mary Queen of Scots to the murder of her husoand. When revived by Goodall, the question was decided by Hume and Robertson ; but the declamatory apologies which have since appeared, serve only to perplex, and to render the controversy more obscure than ever. A clear and. concise deduction of facts, in the order of time, and a critical examination of the letters, sonnets, and other evidence, are still requisite to establissi the innocence, or the guilt of Mary, on a better foundation than the perversion of every historical fact.

On this sub ject I have already discovered, and may still expect to procure some original materials, subservient to the evidence of which the public is possessed. The reader will be disappointed who expects to be gratified, in this work, with any pointed, political allusions to the present times. The present ever appears the most important period, and the political productions of the day are overpaid with praise at the time, in proportion as they are afterwards neglected or contemned. But the fol lowing History was mostly written in a distant solitude, * • Vll

PREFACE.

. solitude, far removed from political discussion. It would be difficult to speak of the present times, without degenerating either into adulation or censure, and absurd indeed to render the history of the last century a comment on the philosophy or folly of the present. Edi neubch, June 2, 1800. th: ERRATA to Vol. I. Page 35. line 6. note, for Romanam read Romano for tegalern dum read dum regilem 3^. — £*• for provisional read provincial 56. — 6. note, for 1669 read 1609 79. — g. /^r operated n*a</ operates 85. — z. for sixty read fifty 116. — 1. yottm for season read reason 162, margin, for of read to the Scots 176. line 13. /or by discharge read by a discharge 188. — II. for constructed read constructive 192. • — 22, for conciliatory read but conciliatory 19?. — • 4. vote, for their read the original 2,00. -— 1. for were read W2S represented 203. — 30. /or on read in the present reign 210. — 22. fir as read and as 213. — 31. for their former read the former 219, — 2. note t for z. court s«rf the court 222. — 2. /br evaded read invaded 251. — y. for \n read on the confines 155. — 2. dele as 298. — 5. rote, for Airley, with, with. 262. — 24. /or addressed read addresses 366. ■— 27. for Scotland read Ireland 370. — 16. for a nation readthe nation 445, _ 26. for specie read species 44H. — 5. note, for afterwards read also 463. — 1. f/tte, for %ir read Mr.

Book I

1503. Descent, THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

BOOK I.

Accession, and departure of James from Scotland. — State of that kingdom. — Union, and ecclesiastical conformity attempted. — Retrospeclive view of presbytery. — Revival of prelacy. — State, and proposed improvement of the Borders. — Highlands and Isles. — Discoveries of Gowrie' s conspiracy, of Balmerino' s treason ; ecclesiastical affairs.— King's journey to Scotland. — Articles of Perth. — Death and characler of James. THE marriage of James IV. and of Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. was productive at first of a temporary alliance, and at the distance of a century, of a permanent union between Scot land and England. After the first generation, the issue of Henry had terminated in females, and on vol. I. b the book the death of Elizabeth his grandchild, the blood ,_ -J-.L_j of the Tudors existed, almost exclusively, in the Js°iveins of the Stuarts.

James VI. of the Stuarts, and the third in descent from Margaret, and James IV. had been placed while an infant on the throne of Scotland, which his unhappy mother was forced to resign ; but had attained to a mature 1567. age, when his succession opened to the English crown. The design of this History is, to describe the domestic transactions of Scotland, and the relative events with which they were occasionally connected in England, from the union of the two crowns under James VI. to the union of the kingdoms in the reign of queen Anne. And accesiT Is seldom that the accession of a foreigner is james tranquil, and James was peculiarly obnoxious from his birth-place, to the antipathy of a people, among whom his mother had suffered an ignomi nious death. But his accession was promoted by the expectations of every religious, and the in terests of almost every political party in England. 1603.

The puritans, who had experienced his friendly intercession with Elizabeth, anticipated a reformation in the church, if not the downfal and destruc tion of the hierarchy, from a prince whose pro fessed religion was congenial to their own'. The established clergy had examined his character with more anxious attention ; and discovered, both in his conduct and in his controversial discourses, a Fuller, 224. strong

BOOK I

1603, strong predilection for the episcopal order*. The catholics, then a numerous and powerful party, expected greater indulgence in their religion ; and entertained a persuasion, that its doctrines and its votaries were secretly not indifferent to a monarch, the pretensions of whose family they had sirst supported, and whose mother they regarded as a martyr to their cause. But his peaceful, and un disturbed accession must be ascribed to the absence of every competitor, by whom his title could be contested, or the affections of the nation pre-occupied or divided. Hereditary right was securely established, by an uninterrupted succession of five reigns. The formidable power of the antient no bility was crussied by the Tudors : their aspiring ambition had departed with their power. Eliza beth had acquired an ascendancy, almost absolute, in Scottissi affairs, and her statesmen were reduced, by her death, to the singular alternative of re ceiving James as their sovereign, or of relinquissi ing their ascendancy over a country subservi ent to their councils.

The danger of a disputed succession was justly apprehended ; nor did it escape the sagacious observation of Cecil, that the submission of England to a Scottissi monarch would be recompensed by the ultimate acquisition of his kingdom. During the last years of Eliza beth, her courtiers and statesmen were seduced by the intrigues, and devoted secretly to the in terest of her successor ; and if a few 3, averse to 1 Caldcrwood, 246. 3 Cobham, Raleigh, Fortescue. b 2 the book the §cottilh line, were desirous to receive it under t- — v— i certain limitations, their share in the recent de- ,6°3' struction of Essex had rendered them unpopular, and therefore weak. To the From those circumstances, more than from Eliza tnrone of 7 England. beth's nomination, the throne was already secured to James ; but the privy council, before they ventured to proclaim her successor, affected to consult her last declaration to Cecil, as a bequest of the crown.

While they continued to deliberate, March 24 sir Robert Carey escaped from the palace, and by means of previous relays of horses, arrived at Edinburgh on the third day. The king had already retired to rest ; but the messenger, admitted immediately to the bed-chamber, knelt, and saluting James as king of England, announced the glad intelligence of Elizabeth's death. As her sickness and danger were previously known, the intelligence was neither unexpected, nor received with intemperate expressions of joy. But the king was unassured as yet of his own succession. After an anxious interval of three days, his apprehensions were relieved by the arrival of Sir Charles Percy, and Somerset, the earl of Worcester's son, dispatched by the privy council to notify the death of Elizabeth, the proclamation of her successor, and to assure him that all ranks acquiesced in his title, and languissied for his presence*. His accession was immediately proclaimed in Scotland. ♦ Johnstoni, Hist. p. 360. Spottifwood, Hist. p. 473. Carey, earl of Monmouth's Memoires. 3 The

BOOK I.

1603 His departure from Scotland. The people were admonissied, that as the English were obedient subjects of the fame monarch, all national animosities must henceforth cease : but the predatory habits of the borderers revived ; and some slight incursions, memorable as the last that were made into England, were afterwards repressed and severely punissied5. Preparations for his departure were also made. When reminded on Sunday, by an officious preacher, in the church of St. Giles, that his accession was exclusively the work of God, he arose, at the conclusion of the sermon, and ad dressed the people in a long harangue ; recapitu lated the numerous proofs of his affection in the transactions of his reign ; professed that his power was enlarged in order to promote their welfare, and promised to revisit the country every third year, that his subjects might pour their complaints into his paternal bosom.

His expressions respect ing the church were obscure and guarded ; but when he intimated his approaching departure, the people, presaging the loss of their ancient sove reigns, burst into, loud lamentations and tears. The departure of his queen was delayed some weeks : the administration was committed to the privy council and the officers of state ; to the earl of Montrose the chancellor, to Sir George Hume treasurer, to lord Balmerino the secretary ; and his children, Henry, Charles, and the princess Elizabeth, were distributed among different noble families. ' Spottifwood, p. 476. Stowe' 9 Chron. 819. B 3 His book His journey commenced on Tuesday the fifth of v— v— j April. On the second day, with a train selected 1603. from the principal nobility, he was received by the Englissi garrison into Berwick ; the fortifications of which, after an interval of an hundred and twenty years, were again surveyed with admiration by the Scots6. state of James, establissied now on the throne of Britain, dom. mgr had attained to the summit of his fortune and ambition ; and, by a singular felicity, he whose birth was disastrous to his parents, whose infant reign was calamitous to his subjects, and his person the alternate prize of contending factions, had arrived, without the aid of distinguissied merit, and almost without an effort, to the undisturbed possession of three kingdoms.

Whatever he had meditated for the improvement, or concerted for the better re gulation of his paternal dominions, remained now to be executed ; and certainly the situation of Scotland afforded ample scope for the exercise of his political wisdom. The country, agitated during his minority with civil dissensions, and often ravaged by internal war, remained, on the return of tranquillity, exhausted and debilitated ; without in dustry, and destitute of resources to prosecute schemes of remote aggrandizement. Its trade was limited to a few towns, and consisted of wool, hides, and the more precarious produce of its mines and fissiings, exported in small barks of lit tle value, and exchanged for whatever articles of 6 Johnst Hist. 361-2. Spottisw 476. Calderw. 472. Utility COOK 1. » M ' 1603 utility or luxury were requisite to supply its domestic consumption.

Wherever the rude products constitute the staple commodities of a country, large or important manufactures are not to be expected : those of Scotland wrere confined to a few of the coarsest nature, without which the poorest nations are unable to subsist7. The state of agriculture was languid and stationary, obstructed, even in the southern provinces, by the oppressions of the landlord, the dependence of the farmer, and their mutual poverty ; but in the northern counties, the peasant extracted a scanty pittance from a soil exhausted by constant tillage. The nobility disdained, or obeyed with reluctance the decisions of justice. They continued to prosecute their deadly feuds ; to abet the most desperate crimes of their retainers ; and, under their numerous hereditary jurisdictions, to extend their oppressions, their power, and dependents beyond the circle of their respective vassals.

Their feuds were inveterate ; and their revenge was frequently dishonest and insidious. The sanguinary troubles of a female reign, and a long minority, had perverted or extinguissied their sense of morals, and discovered, during a religious age, that n 1 religion can compensate the absence or the relaxations of justice. A distracted country, whose poverty presented no adequate reward nor an occupation for indus- 7 Craig de Unione Tractatus, p. 237—44. MS. in the Ad vocate's Library. 2 4 fy,

BOOK I.

1603, THE HISTORY try, had already been deserted by many of the natives, who, penetrating into the remotest regions, acquired, or perhaps revived among foreigners, the national appellation of a vagrant race. Their numbers multiplied rapidly in Poland, whose plains they traversed in large caravans ; whose internal trade they divided with the Jews ; and, during the last century, a constant influx of fressi adventurers returned enriched by the luxury of the Polissi nobles8. But a large portion of Scotland retained the primitive ferocity of its savage state. The Isles are represented as utterly barbarous"; the Highlands as barbarous, yet not unsusceptible of a slight civilization. The former, an occasional asylum for pirates, scarcely acknowledged a nominal subjection to the Scottissi crown ; the clans of the latter exhausted their rude valour in mutual slaughter, or infested the adjacent lowlands with slight depredations.

From a constant warfare, the inhabitants of the Borders were equally barbarous, and from their vicinity, far more formidable to government. James, from their strength and turbulence, had early presaged that unless possessed of the whole of Britain, his successor would be soon bereft of its northern extremity, and of his anointed head ; a prediction destined to be 8 Bacon, vol. ii. p. 175. from which it appears that they were numerous in Poland before the accession. Carte, Hist. vol. iii. p. 770. asserts, that from the accession till the death of Charles I. 200,000 families had emigrated to Livonia ! as if the population of the country could have supplied an annual emigration of 4000 families, or 20,000 persons. strangely strangely verified, by the acquisition of that king dom for which he was solicitous '.

BOOK I.

The situation of Scotland had been ineffectually regretted, and the removal, or the alleviation of its miseries, was reserved by James for the pleni tude of his power, and the harmony promised by the union of the crowns. His recent elevation exempted him from the factious control of the nobles ; and by a judicious application, his reve nues were sufficient to invigorate industry, his power to repress the disorders predominant through Scotland. But he proposed, to the Scots as preliminary to every national improvement, to the Englissi as necessary to consolidate a divided empire, that the two kingdoms ssiould accede to an incorporating union, and an equal communica tion of their respective rights'0. The measure was first recommended to the Englissi parliament, and in a conference between both houses, Ellesmere the chancellor procured with difficulty the nomination of forty-four commissioners to treat with the Scots. 1604.

Union pro poled. When the Scottissi parliament assembled at Perth, the nobility, on the first proposidon of an union, were alarmed for their privileges, or appre hensive of their future subjection to England. Frequent consultations were privately held, till admonissied by the king that their prompt obedience could alone avert his severe displeasure ; when their haste to exculpate themselves by the A parliament. July II. » King James' Works, 159. ,0 Id. 448. appoint- O 0 K I 1604, Treaty of union. appointment of commissioners, announced that they were no longer equal to a contest with their absent sovereign". Thirty-six commissioners were chosen to co-operate with those of England, in concerting the union ; but without detriment to the independency, which was reserved entire, or the fundamental laws and constitution of the Scottissi monarchy, whose alteration was prohi bited.

The parliament, secretly averse to the union, affected to consider it as limited to the removal of whatever statutes or local usages might perpetuate the memory of past hostilities, or gene rate future animosity between the kingdoms'2. The commissioners assembled at Westminster ; and after repeated conferences, productive only of minute regulations, their progress was interrupted by debates to which there was no issue. A free interchange of rights, a common legislature, the fame laws against state offences, were alone requisite to comp* .te the union. But the commissioners adhered invariably to their national prejudices. The Scots were tenacious of their independence, and unwilling to descend to the subordinate, though securer station of a dependent province of the British empire. To the poverty of a proud aristocracy, commercial privileges were neither an object, nor a recompence for the surrender of their personal importance or ssiare in the legislature ; and expecting every benefit from the acces- " Johnst. Hist. 388. State papers, MS. in the Advocate's Library. 12 Pars. 17 James VI. sion

BOOK I

1604. Obstacles to its success. lion alone, they were apprehensive that an union, by diminissiing their influence, might impair their claims on the munificence of their sovereign. The commons were yet insignificant, and, as the rest of Europe was open to their adventurers, in sensible to the advantages of a trade with Eng land. The temptation of a colonial trade did not then exist; and the improvement of their country, from the admission of its rude produce into the Englissi markets, was understood so imperfectly, or so little foreseen, that in the preliminary articles, ssieep and black cattle, together with wool, hides, leather, and yarn, were prohibited or reserved by the commissioners from exportation, for the internal consumption of each nation. But the removal of the seat of government to England, while the ab sence of the court was severely felt and regretted in the metropolis, affected all ranks as a violent, and a dangerous experiment, of which the detri ment was certain, immediate, and extensive ; the beneficial consequences, precarious and remote ,J. Nor were the Englissi commissioners less influ enced by national prejudices.

Instructed perhaps by the prodigality of their sovereign, they pro posed an uniformity of laws as the basis of an union, and when the Scottissi commissioners re jected an ignominious servitude to the laws of England, they refused on other terms to communicate their rights to aliens, recently their enemies, and still their rivals. In the next century, their 13 Spottif. Hist. 481. Journals of the Commons, vol. i. p. 318. Craig, de Uuione, 238 — 42. MS. posterity

BOOK I

1604, posterity discovered, nor was experience necessary to prove, that if the relative obligations to government are the fame, uniformity of religious, or municipal laws is not essential to an incorporating union. To obliterate those laws which custom and positive institutions have accumulated, is impracticable except in a conquered country ; to substitute a different jurisprudence, unknown to the people, and irreconcilable perhaps with their private rights, would be productive of universal confusion and dismay : but the Englissi commissioners were actuated obviously by a jealous alternative, to reduce a rival state to subjection, or oppose an insurmountable obstruction to an union. The alternative was proposed, as a rapid influx of Scots was apprehended, from a measure which opened the trade of England, the universities, the church, and the most lucrative, or dignified offices of government, to the industrious ambition of a favoured nation.

Antipathies which the intercourse of another century was insufficient to eradicate, were entire and vigorous '* ; and the Englissi, engaged in no continental wars, nor am bitious of foreign alliances, were indifferent to the additional strength, the accession of territory, and above all the internal, and profound security to be derived from an union, which in the present century, their apprehension of a separate succession to the two kingdoms was requisite to accomplissi. '■i Craig, de Unione, 138. MS. On 'i

BOOK I.

1604. Union post* poned ; OF SCOTLAND. On the interposition of James, two conciliatory propositions were adopted: 1. That the privileges of subjects ssiould extend in each kingdom to those whose birth was posterior to the accession ; 2. That the present inhabitants should be received as denizens capable of inheritance, but excluded, at least till the union were accomplished, from a voice or seat in the legislature, from a ssiare in the administration of justice, or an office under the executive department of government ''. These propositions were reserved for the consideration of parliament, but an interval of two years was suf fered to elapse before the union was resumed. In the Englissi parliament the lords were disposed to co-operate with their sovereign ; but the commons were jealous of his Scottissi favourites, tenacious of their privileges, and still actuated by national antipathies.

Of the articles prepared by the com missioners, the abolition of hostile laws was alone adopted. Commercial intercourse, and a mutual naturalization, were frequently agitated, and at length abandoned in despair. When we examine the debates of the commons, we discover, instead of an impartial consideration of the subject, that as their motives were of an invidious nature which it was necessary to dissemble, their arguments were chiefly derived from the turbulent disposition of the Scots, whose government, from its extreme freedom, was irreconcileable with theirs ; or from the reluctance, or refusal of the Scottissi parlia- IS Winwood's Memorial?, vol. ii. p. 37, 38. Craig, de Uni ons, p. 65, MS. ment '4

BOOK I

»— . , — J 1604, Abandoned, THE HISTORY ment to relinquissi the fundamental laws of the realm. Sir Francis Bacon, who alone seems to have comprehended the nature, or importance of an union, maintained in vain, that no uniformity was requisite in laws or religion, but that the Englissi monarchy would become truly formidable, " with Scotland united, Ireland reduced, the Low " Countries contracted, and the navy supported." James represented in vain, that the laws, like the language of Scotland, were congenial, and would assimilate easily with those of England ; that the people were more submissive to his pen than to the sword of his progenitors, and that their par liament, whose form was far from popular, deli berated on no subjects without his permission. The commons remained inflexible. Their opposition was increased by the refusal of the lords to abolissi purveyance, and their speeches intimated, in a classical adage, that the Scots were an happy nation, as the presence of a court was oppressive to the country within which it was held ,6.

From the judges however, a declaration of some importance was obtained. On the principle that an alien is born in allegiance to a foreign prince, the pojlnati, born since the death of Elizabeth, as their allegiance was indiscriminately due to James, were declared to be freely natural- 1 ' Proctd a numlne, procul a fulmine, Journals of the Com mons, vol. i. 335. vii. 67. Bacon's Works, vol. ii. p. 182. James' Works, 119—22. Craig, de Unione, 84. MS. ized ■' D 0 O K I. 1604. Ecclefiasti. cal conformity proposed. OF SCOTLAND. ized in either kingdom'7. The antenati, whose birth preceded the accession, remained in their original situation of aliens. The union, a premature and therefore an impolitic attempt, ter minated thus in a federal alliance between the two kingdoms, tacitly establissied, by a voluntary sub mission to the same monarch, and a mutual sup pression of all hostility'8.

To obliterate the animosities, and to incorporate the inhabitants, of kingdoms formerly hostile and still discordant, were magnificent objects, of which we may affirm, that the reciprocal advantages were too remote to be descried by James, or pursued by his ministers with much solicitude. That turbulent liberty which raised him prema turely to the throne of Scotland, had repeatedly circumscribed his power, and controlled his pre rogative. The more civilized state of the Englissi nation, their obedience to the laws, and implicit acquiescence in the government of Elizabeth, had attracted his early notice, and inspired a vague desire to inculcate on his accession the imitation of their manners, in order to transfuse a por tion of their submissive spirit into the untractable Scots'9. It was from a different and secret motive, 17 The poslnati were naturalized, not because they were sub jects of the king, as king of England, but generally, because they were subjects of the king.

See this argument in Bacon's cafe of Calvin, vol. ii. p. 514- Lords Journals, vol. ii. p. 476. '*■ Spottisw. 505. Parl. 19 James VI. unprinted acts. *5 James' Works, p. 188. " It was not his desire," he observed on another occasion, ?' to deprive England of its " law», THE HISTORY 16

BOOK I.

1604. v. motive, that his crude and imperfect conceptions of an union were improved and accelerated by his Englissi ministers. His offspring was neither numerous nor healthy ; and as the crown of Scot land devolved, on the failure ot his children, to the marquis of Hamilton, the eventual separation and loss of that kingdom were to be prevented by an immediate incorporation with England. That his motive was the increase and stability of the regal power, is attested by his avowed hostility to the Scottissi church. A religious was super added to a civil union, and under the pretext of a laudable conformity, episcopal government was again establissied. The consequences were so memorable in the succeeding reigns, that it is necessary to explain, and deduce from its origin, the form and the spirit of presbyterian discipline, long regarded as obnoxious to monarchy, hateful and ultimately disastrous to the Stewarts.