Knox, ii. 293). Bothwell's previous character and subsequent history harmonise with this supposed conduct. Arran, on informing his father of the matter, is stated to have been treated with great severity. He was forcibly confined to his room, but 'escaped out of his chamber with cords made out of the sheets of his bed' (Randolph to Cecil, 31 March, Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1561-2, entry 971), and, attired only in his doublet and hose, arrived late at night at the house of the laird of Grange (ib. 993). He was subsequently summoned to St. Andrews, where he and Both well were brought before the council. Arran persisted in his accusation. Bothwell was confined in the castle, and Arran was sent to the house of the Earl of Mar (Lord James Stuart). Both were subsequently transferred to the castle of Edinburgh, from which Bothwell made his escape on 23 Oct. Shortly after Arran's removal to Edinburgh he was visited by Mar, Morton, and others, who reported that his wits then served him ;as well as ever they did (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1562, entry 145), but he afterwards had repeated relapses (see various letters by Randolph, and also some by Arran, ib., from 1562 to 1566). Though Mary paid Arran a friendly visit in prison, and though his father, the Duke of Chatelherault, made strenuous efforts for his release, he did not obtain his liberty till 2 May 1566, shortly after Bothwell had come forward as the protector of Mary against the murderers of Eizzio. Before obtaining it he had to find caution in 12,000l. Scots to appear when called for (ib. 1566-8, entry 342 ; Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 453). He was then weak and sickly, and had lost his speech above four months. At a meeting of the estates, held in August 1568, he was arraigned with the other members of his family, but in January following they made terms with Moray.
After this Arran lived in retirement with his mother at Craignethan Castle. On the death of his father, in 1575, he came into nominal possession of his estates, which were, however, administered by his second brother, John, first marquis of Hamilton (1532-1604) [q. v.] In 1579, when the prosecution of the Hamiltons was renewed, the king, at the professed instance of Arran, initiated a process against Lord John Hamilton and his two brothers for detaining Arran wrongously in confinement, the ground of the accusation being that Arran was 'compos mentis, and not an idiot,' and that whether he were or not, a tutor, curator, or administrator ought to be appointed (ib. iii. 160-1). The proceedings seem, however, to have been merely a device of the government to obtain a firmer hold on the Hamilton estates. Craignethan Castle, in which he was confined, was besieged with the avowed purpose of delivering him from those who detained him unlawfully. After its surrender he was brought, along with his mother, to Linlithgow, where he was placed in the charge of Captain Lambie, a dependent of Morton (Hist. James the Sext, p. 176). On the apprehension of Morton in 1580, Captain James Stewart, himself shortly afterwards created Earl of Arran, was appointed his tutor (ib. p. 230). The estates were restored to the family on the downfall of Stewart in 1585. Arran survived, without regaining his reason, till March 1609.
[Cal. State Papers, For. Ser., Keign of Elizabeth ; Reg. Privy Council Scotl. vols. i-iii. ; Lettres de Marie Stuart, ed. Labanoff ; Teulet's Relations politiques de la France et de 1'Espagne avec 1'Ecosse ; Knox's Works, ed. Laing ; Sadleir's State Papers; Histories of Calderwood, Spotiswood, Buchanan, and Lesley ; Diurnal of Occurrents ; Hamilton Papers in Maitland Club Miscellany, iv.; Hist. MSS. Comm. llth Rep. Appendix, pt. iv. ; Tytler and Hill Burton's Histories of Scotland ; Froude's History of England ; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 698-9.]
HAMILTON, JAMES, first Earl of Abercorn (d. 1617), was the eldest son of Claud Hamilton, lord Paisley [q. v.], and the grandson of James Hamilton, second earl of Arran [q. v.], governor-regent of Scotland and heir-presumptive of the Scottish crown. His father's position brought him early into notice, and as he had considerable ability he soon attained an eminent place among the statesmen of the time. With James VI he seems to have been an especial favourite, and the influence of his maternal grandfather, George Seton, father of the first earl of Dunfermline, was largely exercised in his behalf. He was appointed a gentleman of the bedchamber by the king, and appeared in the famous convention of the nobility and council held at Holyrood House on 6 Jan. 1596-7. When the 'privy council was definitely constituted at the convention of estates held on 14 Dec. 1598, he was named one of the thirty-two members of that body under his designation of Master of Paisley ; but he did not appear at any of their meetings until 10 Feb. 1601. In the preceding year he obtained from the king the office of hereditary sheriff of Linlithgow, and shortly afterwards he received a charter of lands in Renfrewshire and West Lothian, which were incorporated into the free barony of Abercorn in 1603, from which he took his title of Baron Abercorn. When the Articles of Union were
