ENGLAND AND THE ISLES. 137 



xile in England, on account of his politics, or his religion, 

 or both. Elder, who was a native of Caithness, and had 

 been a student at St. Andrews, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, 

 tells the King that he was brought up and educated in the 

 West Isles, " namede the Sky and the Lewis, where I have 

 bene often tymes with my friend is in ther longe galies 

 arrywing to dyvers and syndrie places in Scotland where 

 they had a do." He strongly counselled Henry to invade 

 Scotland, assuring him of the support of the Highland 

 chiefs " the Yrische lordes of Scotland commonly callit 

 the Reddshanckes and by historiographouris Pictis " 

 who, he states, had been greatly impressed by the King's 

 magnanimous treatment of the rebels in Ireland. Elder's 

 letter formed the introduction to a " plotte " or plan of 

 Scotland which he forwarded to Henry, containing a des- 

 cription " of all the notable townes, castels and abbeis," 

 together with "the situacion of all the principal yles 

 marched with the same callid Orkney and Schetland, and 

 of the out yles commonly namede the Sky and the Lewys." 

 The writer of this remarkable letter, who calls himself a 

 Redshank the Highlanders were so called, he states, from 

 their custom of making buskins of deershide has a good 

 word to say for his fellow Redshanks. He asserts that 

 they surpass the Lowlanders in " faith, honesty, policy and 

 wit," an ex-parte statement which, however, probably con- 

 tains more truth than the ignorant and prejudiced opinions 

 regarding the Highlanders expressed by Lowland writers 

 of those and later times. Elder was bitterly opposed to 

 Cardinal Beaton and his party, and whatever may be 

 thought of his want of patriotism in counselling an invasion 

 of his native country, he makes clear his desire that the 

 union of the two kingdoms should be based on the 

 marriage which Henry was striving so sedulously to bring 

 about. The Scots generally were not averse from this 

 marriage : they liked the match, but objected to the 

 manner of wooing. 



The English Ambassador in Scotland, Sir Ralph Sadler, 

 an astute diplomatist, did not lose sight of the uses to 



