76 ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 



policy of the moft defpotic tyrants ; deftroyed thou- 

 iands of the innocent inhabitants, feized the fhip- 

 ping, the merchandize, and valuable effects of the 

 trading towns ; * demolifhed the caftles of the nobi- 

 lity, pointed their cannon againft the poor remains 

 of ecclefiaftical ruins, carried off the national re- 

 cords, and creeled forts in the moft eligible places, 

 to enforce obedience to the government of an 

 ambitious ufurper. 



Equally calamitous in their operation and con- 

 fequences, were the religious commotions of that 

 devoted kingdom -, and as thefe are clofely con- 

 nected with the civil and commercial affairs of the 

 nation, during this unhappy period, we cannot 

 wholly omit the [fnbjecl:. 



King James had laboured to fubvert the prefby- 

 terian eilablifliment of his native country, with a 

 view to uniformity of religion over the whole 

 ifland. He proceeded, in this impracticable work, 

 by flow and gentle means ; but the prefbyterians hav- 

 ing made a ftout refiftance to all innovations, his fuc- 

 ceffors, at the inftigation of Laud and other zealous 

 bigots, attempted to enforce obedience by the fword. 

 Thefe fanguinary meafures, inftead of making con- 

 verts to the church of England, produced all thofe 

 dreadful effects which have ever difgraced religious 

 war. Epifcopacy and Calvinifm became triumphant 

 alternately, while of Chriftianity nothing feemed to 



remain 



* In 16^1, General Monk deflroyed or carried away the fhip-. 

 ping, the artillery, and the merchandife of the Forth, ftorrhed 

 and plundered Anftruther, and ruined St. Andrews, the once 

 glory of the kingdom. From thence he fent a detachment to 

 Dundee, under Colonel Alured, who observing the wealth of 

 the place, found a pretext for a general maflacre of fix hundred 

 inhabitants, who were put to the fword, and having thereby 

 crulhed all opposition, he gave the town up to plunder, carried 

 away forty cannon, and fixty fail of trading veflels which had re* 

 tired for fafety to that harbour, " Some of my men, fays he, in 

 his letter to the parliament, have gotten 500, fome 300, others 



300, and 



