Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/208

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John, who from this time began to follow a different policy from his brother. As a protestant he was naturally disinclined to entangle himself in the intrigues of France and Spain, and being indolent and unambitious, he had no special object in view beyond restoration to his estates. After a meeting with the banished lords at Berwick, Hamilton collected his followers, with whom he joined Morton at Dumfries previous to marching on Stirling. With the banished lords he was on 4 Nov. admitted into the presence of the king in Stirling Castle, where they fell on their knees before the king, and Hamilton in their name declared that 'they were come in all humility to beg his majesty's love and favour.' The king confessed that Hamilton had been the 'most wronged' of 'all this company,' and he was named one of the new council established on 10 Dec. following (Reg. P. C. Scotland, iv. 33). By a special act of parliament he was placed in possession of the estates of the family, with custody of his insane brother the Earl of Arran. On 1 Nov. 1586 he was made captain of the castle of Dumbarton for life ('Hamilton Papers' in Maitland Club Miscellany, iv. 138). Queen Mary, when under sentence of execution, is stated to have taken from her finger a ring to be delivered to Hamilton in witness of her gratitude for the devotion of the family. Nevertheless, in her last will she bequeathed the throne to Philip II, and thus made the best arrangement she could to destroy the chances of the Hamiltons succeeding to it. The death of Mary tended to strengthen the hopes of the Hamiltons, but Lord John never seems to have swerved in his loyalty to the young king. Personally, he was popular with James, and enjoyed a good deal of his confidence. When the Master of Gray in May 1587 was convicted of treason, his life was spared at the special intercession of Hamilton, who 'sat down in presence of the council on his knees and begged his life of the king' (Moysie, Memoirs, p. 63). In October of the same year ex-chancellor Arran, who after the disgrace of Gray had ventured to return to Scotland, was denounced at the instance of Hamilton (Reg. P. C. Scotland, iv. 221). Hamilton had no connection with the plots of his brother Claud for a Spanish invasion of Scotland ; and it was even proposed that he should be assassinated in the expectation that his dependents would at once transfer their allegiance to Claud ('Memoria de la Nobleza de Escocia,' in Teulet, Relations politiques, v. 453-4). In 1588 he was appointed head of the embassy to Denmark to negotiate a marriage between the king of Scots and the princess, 20,000l. Scots being granted out of the taxation to defray his expenses ('Hamilton Papers' in Maitland Club Miscellany, iv. 138). When the king went to Denmark in the following year to bring home his bride, he appointed Hamilton president of the council for governing the borders. Hamilton, supported by the Douglases, kept Edinburgh quiet, though there were rumours of an intended outbreak (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. Addit. 1580-1025, p. 300). At the coronation of the queen in the abbey of Holyrood, Hamilton bore the sword, and the crown was placed on her head by Hamilton, the Duke of Lennox, and two presbyterian ministers (Papers relating to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland, Bannatyne Club, p. 52). When Hamilton was annoyed at being refused free access to the king, James soothed him by saying that 'it ill became the heir-apparent to be angry with the auld laird.' Hamilton was present at the meeting of the noblemen and barons on 10 Jan. 1593 in the little kirk of Edinburgh, when resolutions were passed for the removal of all papists from office under the crown (Calderwood, v. 217). When the king afterwards spoke to him in favour of liberty of conscience, 'The Lord Hamilton crying aloud said, "Sir, then we are all gone, then we are all gone, then we are all gone! If there were no more to withstand I will withstand." ' The king, perceiving his servants to approach, smiled and said, 'My Lord, I did this to try your mind' (ib. p. 269). At the parliament of May 1594 Hamilton was chosen a lord of the articles. He accompanied the king in his expedition to the north against Huntly, having command of the vanguard, and he sat as one of the jury which found Huntly guilty of high treason. After the popish riots in Edinburgh in November 1597, which caused the king to retire to Linlithgow, Robert Bruce [q. v.] and other leading presbyterian ministers wrote a letter to Hamilton asking him to place himself at their head 'for the protection of the kirk and their cause' (ib. p. 515). Hamilton cautiously sent the letter to the king, and was accused by Bruce and his supporters of garbling the letter. The accusation is improbable, and their conduct was in any case discreditable. In December 1597 the castle of Dumbarton was taken from him and given to the Duke of Lennox. As a compensation for this the abbacy of Arbroath was erected into a temporal lordship to Hamilton and his heirs. On 15 April 1599 he was created a marquis on the same occasion as the Earl of Huntly. He died 12 April 1604. On his deathbed he wrote a letter to the king recommending his 'dear and only son to his