ARTILLERY UNDER THE STUART KINGS, 1424-1625. 595 
James III. was an accomplished, but not a warlike prince. He 
had, however, inherited his father’s and grandfather’s taste for gunnery 
and did more than either of his predecessors for the artillery service:—• 
“ The construction of cannon, and the proper method of pointing 
and discharging them, appear, from contemporary records, to have 
been one of the subjects to which not onl^ the King himself 
directed particular attention, but which he anxiously encouraged 
in his nobility, and even amongst his clergy. Artillerymen and 
skilful artisans were procured from the continent; and some of 
the principal entries in the treasurer’s books at this period relate 
to the experiments made in the practise of gunnery, an art still in 
its infancy in Scotland.” 1 2 
It is recorded that at the siege of Dunbar Castle by the royal troops, 
in 1479, the cannon mounted on the castle ramparts were so well served 
and pointed that a single ball killed three of the best knights in the 
besieging army. 3 In 1482, the King, at the head of an army of 50,000 
men, marched towards the border to repel an invasion of the English 
under the Duke of Gloucester, who had espoused the cause of the rebel 
Duke of Albany, the King’s brother. The important command of the 
artillery train which accompanied the Scottish army was bestowed by 
James on his favourite Cochrane, who had arrogantly assumed the title 
of Earl of Mar. The splendour of this upstart’s camp furniture, 
retinue, and personal attire, have never been surpassed, or even 
equalled, by any subsequent Master-General of the Ordnance :— 
“His tent, or pavilion, was of silk; the fastening chains were 
richly gilt; he was accompanied by a body-guard of 300 stout 
retainers, in sumptuous liveries, and armed with light battle- 
axes ; a helmet of polished steel, richly inlaid with gold, was 
borne before him ; and, when not armed for the field, he wore a 
riding suit of black velvet, with a massive gold chain round his 
neck, and a hunting horn tipt with gold, and adorned with 
precious stones, slung across his shoulder.” 3 
The deep-rooted conspiracy to dethrone James III. took effect at 
Lauder, where the Scottish army was encamped. The rebellious 
nobles, headed by the Earl of Angus, who was now to win the 
sobriquet of “ Bell-the-cat,” having first secured the King, seized the 
unfortunate Cochrane and hanged him by a halter over the parapet of 
Lauder bridge. It is said that this ill-starred favourite vainly begged 
that he might not be put to death with a common rope, but that at 
least one of the silk cords of his tent equipage might be used. With 
Cochrane perished, in the same ignominious manner, some of the 
King’s humbler favourites. 
Six years after the above events we find James III. once more in 
the field trying to crush a rebellion. His eldest son was on this 
1 Tytler’s “ History of Scotland/’ Vol. XV. y . 
2 Ibid. 
3 Ibid., p. 232. 
