118 The Admirable Crichton. 



although, perhaps, it would not be quite correct to say that the 

 traditions of his alma mater were entirely responsible for his 

 being attracted to the Church of Rome. That was the Church 

 of his ancestors, and it was scarcely likely that a youth of his 

 bright disposition could have much sympathy with the unpictur- 

 esque Reformed Religion which his father, like so many more, 

 seems to have espoused out of personal interest and for worldly 

 gain. 



Crichton was one of several youths chosen to assist by their 

 companionship in the education of King James VI., the 

 latter being nine years of age at the time that Crichton was 

 fifteen. A spirited, high-minded youth like Crichton could not 

 fail to be disgusted at the picture that was presented to him 

 every day at the Court at Stirling. Queen Mary, mother of the 

 King, was the prisoner of Elizabeth, who, with a strange lack 

 of feminine delicacy, not to say veracity, had declared to the 

 Scottish Council that she was the " nearest princess in the world 

 to his Highness (the King) both by blood and habitation." 

 The Royal child was a stranger to his mother on grounds of 

 hostile creeds, and he was being taught that the nearest royal 

 relative he had was the gaoler of the woman who had borne him ! 

 The very thought of it must have been revolting to a youth with 

 Crichton's sense of justice and decency. His length of service 

 at the court could be measured not by years but by months, so 

 far as we at this time have any means of judging. He must 

 have been between sixteen and seventeen when he was compelled 

 to leave the paternal roof in consequence of, among other differ- 

 ences of opinion, a disagreement on the subject of religion. 

 Aldus Manutius refers to the family feuds raised against 

 the youthful scholar, who appears to have had many 

 quarrels with his father. The Lord Advocate, we learn, 

 practically ordered his son to quit the kingdom and 

 leave the King ; and " he had been long absent from his 

 native land and home on account of his zeal for the Catholic 

 faith." Crichton must have supplied this information to Aldus, 

 but yet in his father's will there is no indication of an estrange- 

 ment. This will is dated 18th of June, 1582, and Robert 

 Crichton appoints as his sole executrix Isobel Borthwick, who 

 Avas his third wife and the step-mother of the Admirable Crichton. 



