24 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



acquainted with the character, habits, and pursuits of all classes of his people. 

 For this purpose he went often in disguise among them, visiting their fire- 

 sides, mingling in their sports, observing their wants, and redressing their 

 wrongs. He was thus enabled to dictate many excellent laws, for the security 

 of th& subject and the encouragement of industry ; and, by concih'ating the 

 affections of the people, seemed to have established his throne on a basis which 

 no private hostility could shake. The fate of James I., however, like that of 

 Henry IV. of France, and Gustavus of Sweden, furnishes a striking proof that 

 it is not in the height of his popularity that a prince has least to fear. 



In the thirteenth year after his return to Scotland, a conspiracy was formed 

 against his life. At the head of that deadly faction, was Walter, earl of 

 Athol, one of the king's nearest kinsmen. The chief confederates were Robert 

 Stewart, the earl's grandson, and Sir Robert Graham, of ' Strathearn, to whom 

 James had given mortal offence by reannexing to the crown certain property 

 of which Graham had unlawfully possessed himself during the regency. 

 Unattended even by a body guard, and confiding in the love of his subjects, 

 the king was residing at this time within the sacred walls of the Carthusian 

 monastery, at Scone, which he had founded and endowed. Graham, who had 

 been for some time heading a band of outlaws in the adjacent mountains, 

 seized the occasion, and brought down a party by night to the neighbourhood 

 of the monastery. Seconded in this unhallowed purpose by accomplices, and 

 unsuspected or unobserved by all others, he quietly gained possession of the 

 outer gates, and finally of the interior passages. The first intimation which 

 the king received of his danger was from his cup-bearer, Walter Straton, 

 who, on leaving the chamber, in which the king and queen were at supper, 

 to bring some wine, was astonished to find the passage crowded with armed 

 strangers, who answered his cry of alarm by striking him dead on the spot. 

 The voice reached the royal chamber a rush of the assassins followed ; and 

 Catharine Douglas, one of the queen's maids of honour, springing forward to 

 bolt the outer door of the apartment, found to her dismay that the bar had 

 been clandestinely removed. In this moment of surprise and consternation, 

 reckless of her own life, she thrust her feeble arm into the staple to supply 

 its place. But this noble intrepidity could not for a moment retard the san- 

 guinary band. The last frail barrier which heroic beauty could interpose, was 

 crushed in an instant ; and, with no farther obstacle to check their purpose, 

 the ruffians with drawn swords, and ferocious impatience, rushed forward upon 

 the king. Patrick Dunbar, brother of the earl of March, was cut down while 

 nobly interposing his sword and strength in defence of his sovereign. The 



