SCOTLAND. 



. r /7 



History, peror, and his holiness sent an ambassador to James, 

 v^py*^ with a consecrated sword and helmet, hut James hod 

 tin* prudence to avoid a quarrel with hi* uncle. 



Dr. Barlow was therefore dispatched to Scotland, to 

 ascertain the views of the Scots in regard to religion. 

 The English monarch next propo-n-d a meeting be- 

 tween himself and the king of Scot*, but the clergy re- 

 presented the danger of his leaving the kingdom ; and 

 Henry's request was therefore evaded or delayed. 

 A.D. 1.537. I" compliance with the wishes of the people, James 

 went over to France, and married Magdalene, daughter 

 of Francis. The bride's portion was 100,000 crowns, 

 and an annual pension of !30,000 livres. The perpetual 

 alliance between Scotland and France was then re- 

 newed. But within forty days after her arrival in 

 Scotland, Magdalene died, and an embassy was sent to 

 France to select another partner for the king, and 

 Mary of Guise arrived soon after, and was married to 

 James. 



Two treasonable plots were detected and punished 

 about this time. John, the eldest son of Lord Forbes, 

 was accused of treason, condemned, and executed. 

 The lady Glammis, a widow, and the sister of the earl 

 of Angus, was burnt to death on the Castlehill of Edin- 

 burgh. Her son, in endeavouring to escape, was dashed 

 to pieces on the rocks below the castle. 



David Beaton was appointed to the see of Mirepoix, 

 in France, and was raised to the dignity of cardinal. 

 To recommend himself to the pontiff, he instigated the 

 Scottish clergy to persecute heretics with unrelenting 

 severity, and seven persons suffered at the stake. One 

 of the most beneficial events of James's reign, was his 

 A.D. 1540. voyage to the Orkney and Western islands. For this 

 expedition, twelve ships were equipped, and with the 

 king and his court on board sailed round Scotland. 

 The barbarous clans of the north, and the lawless island- 

 ers were awed into submission. Many of their chief- 

 tains were detained as hostages, and so effectual was 

 this policy, that there was hardly a conflict of the clans 

 till the reign of James the Sixth. The doctrines of the 

 reformers were meanwhile making proselytes in Scot- 

 land. The majority of the nobility and the people 

 were secretly but decidedly inclined to a reformation 

 in the church ; even James himself seemed to admit 

 the necessity of such a measure. 



But cardinal Beaton was not inclined to concur in 

 the wishes of his sovereign. Private conventicles were 

 forbidden ; suspected heretics were declared ineligible 

 to any office or privilege ; and disobedience to the pon- 

 tiff's authority was death. Many Scottish gentlemen 

 fled to England, that they might enjoy the privilege of 

 reading the scriptures. 



-\ D.I.HI. About this time died Margaret of England, the 

 queen mother, and this was followed by the death of 

 the king's two infant sons. The conduct of Henry in 

 throwing off the papal yoke, enraged the pontiff; and 

 cardinal Beaton proceeded to the continent to receive 

 the pope's instructions for his master. Henry dis- 

 patched Sadler into Scotland to vindicate his own cha- 

 racter ; and to confirm the pacific relations between the 

 kingdoms, Henry requested an interview with his ne- 

 phew at York, to which James returning an ambiguous 

 answer, he was so exasperated by the disappointment, 

 that he declared war against Scotland. Surrey, earl of 

 Norfolk, entered with an army of 30,000, and burned 

 Kelso and Roxburgh, but after an incursion of eight 

 days, the want of provisions compelled the English to 

 retire. 



The council now propoud to levy an army of 

 10,000. under the command of Lord Maxwell, to in- 

 vade England by the western marches. When it had 

 advanced beyond the frontiers, Oliver Sinclair, a royal 

 favourite, produced the king's committion, appointing 

 him general ; and an universal murmur eniued, which 

 was quickly chariot I into disorder. 



Dacre and Musgrave, perceiving their distemiom, 

 charged and put them to flight. A thousand prison- 

 ers were taken, among whom were many noble* and 

 gentlemen. James had advanced to the castle of Caer- 

 laverock when he received the news. Impatience and 

 grief distracted his mind, and he became pensive and 

 sullen ; shunned the society of mankind in the retire- 

 ment of Falkland ; and died noon after in the thirty- 

 first year of his age. James left only one legitimate 

 child, Mary, who was born a few days before hit 

 death. A.I). 151?. 



The seeds of the Reformation were sown in Scotland 

 by several noble nen who had resided on the continent 

 during the religious disputes of the German empire. 

 A spirit of general inquiry and independence was 

 awakened, which rendered men attentive to their pri- 

 vileges as subjects, and jealous of the encroachments of 

 their rulers. 



Patrick Hamilton was the first who avowed the re- 

 formed doctrine?, but he was accused of heresy and 

 thrown into prison. He was soon after brought to 

 trial, condemned to the flames, and led to the stake on 

 the same day on which he had been condemned. From 

 1530 to 1540, ten persons suffered death for confessing 

 Hamilton's sentiments ; and numbers fled to England 

 and the continent. During the same period, the earls 

 of Glencairn and Errol, the lords Ruthven and Kil- 

 maurs, Sir David Lindsay, Sir James Sandilands, and 

 a multitude of other persons of respectability, made 

 open profession of the Reformed faith. They narrow- 

 ly escaped persecution and death; but James was 

 averse to a persecuting spirit 



The nobility soon began to cast a wistful eye on the 

 church revenues and possessions ; and hoped to en- 

 rich themselves by the plunder of the ecclesiastics. 

 And as the reformers inculcated subordination to the 

 civil power, and declaimed against the ambitious pre- 

 lates, they were further inclined to the new opinions 

 from political considerations. Lord Maxwell proposed 

 in parliament, that the people should be permitted to 

 read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. The arch- 

 bishop of Glasgow, in name of the clergy, was the on- 

 ly opposer of this measure; but the bill received the 

 approbation of parliament ; and the regent made it 

 generally known by proclamation. From that time, 

 copies of the Bible were imported from England in 

 great numbers ; and books were multiplied in every 

 quarter, which displayed the pride, the tyranny, and 

 the superstition of the Romish clergy. 



In John Knox, the reformers acquired an active and A.D. 154*. 

 powerful auxiliary ; and of his followers, the most emi- 

 nent was George Wishart,whohad formerly been driven, 

 into exile by Beaton for teaching the New Test tment at 

 Montrose. The revolution in England which followed 

 the death of Henry the Eighth, contributed to demo- 

 lish the popish church of Scotland ; and the effects of 

 religious liberty in one country inspired the inhabi. 

 tants of the other with an equal desire of recovering 

 it. The ambition of the house of Guise, and the bigo- 

 try of Mary, hastened the subversion of the papal 

 power in Scotland. Many of the persecuted protest- 



