of the castle of Edinburgh (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1569-71, entry 1081). After the death of the regent Mar on 28 Oct. he was appointed joint governor, along with Alexander Erskine, of the young king, but Morton is stated to have induced him to renounce his share in the charge of the young king by renewing to him the office of comptroller (Hist, of James the Sext, p. 120). Tullibardine joined the conspiracy in 1578 for ousting Morton from the regency, and after his retirement was chosen one of the new privy councillors (Moysie, Memoirs, p. 5). According to Calderwood, however, it was through insinuating himself into Tullibardine's favour, and persuading him to influence the young Earl of Mar, that Morton subsequently obtained admittance into the castle of Stirling and resumed his authority over the young king (History, iii. 409). After the death of Robert Stewart, earl of Lennox, Tullibardine was on 20 May 1579 appointed one of a commission for 'sichting' the Lennox papers (Reg, P. C. Scotl. iii. 163). In October 1581 he protested against the infeftment of William, lord Ruthven, in the earldom of Gowrie in so far as it might prejudice his interests (ib. p. 427). In the quarrel between Arran and the Duke of Lennox in December, Tullibardine supported the former (Calderwood, iii. 593). He also supported the Earl of Gowrie against Lennox in July 1582 (ib. p. 632). After the expulsion of Arran from court in February 1582-3, Tullibardine resigned his office of comptroller, which was given to John Fenton, who had been clerk to the office (ib. viii. 238). Tullibardine died on 15 March following. By his wife Lady Agnes Graham, third daughter of William, second earl of Montrose, he had four sons and two daughters : Sir John who succeeded him; Sir William of Pitcairly; Alexander; Mungo of Dunork; Margaret, married to Sir Robert Bruce of Clackmannan, and Jane to Sir John Hepburn of Waughton.
[Reg. P. C. Scotl. vols. i-iii.; Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. reign of Elizabeth; Cal. State Papers, Scott. Ser.; Knox's Works; Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland; Moysie's Memoirs, Sir James Melville's Memoirs, and History of James the Sext (all in the Bannatyne Club); Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. pt. viii.; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 525-6.]
MURRAY, WILLIAM, first Earl of Dysart (1600?–1651), born about 1600, was son of William Murray (1561?–1616), minister of Dysart, Fifeshire, by his wife Margaret. The father was a younger brother of Murray of Woodend, and was descended from a younger son of the family of Dollarie, which was a branch of the house of Tullibardine. William's uncle, Thomas Murray (1564-1623) [q. v.], took his nephew to court when a boy, and educated him along with Prince Charles. The latter and Murray were about the same age, and became very intimate. In 1626 Charles appointed him one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber, and retained him in his service ever afterwards. Murray had great influence with him, both as an adviser and in procuring favours for others. He was closely related to some of the leading covenanters the Rev. Robert Murray, minister of Methven from 1615 to 1648, whose daughter married George Gillespie, being his uncle and was a medium of private negotiations betwixt them and the king. Montrose affirmed that Murray had sent to the Scots at Newcastle in October 1640 copies of private letters which he had written to the king, then at York. He accompanied Charles to Scotland in 1641, and having got access to Montrose, who was then a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, by order of the covenanters, he carried communications from one to the other. After encouraging the impeachment of Hamilton and Argyll, it is said that Murray informed them of their danger, and hence their flight. At this time Murray stood high in favour with the Scottish church, for soon after the king's return to England the commission of assembly besought Charles to 'lay on him the agenting of the affairs of the church about his majesty.'
It was generally believed that Murray told his friend, Lord Digby, of the king's intention to arrest the five members of the House of Commons, and that Digby betrayed the secret. On the outbreak of the civil war he was sent by the king to Montrose to inform him and other friends in Scotland of the state of his affairs, and to procure their advice and help. In 1645 Murray was with the queen in Paris, and was employed by her in her negotiations on the king's behalf with foreign powers, and with the pope. On his return to England in February 1646 he was seized as a spy in passing through Canterbury, and was sent as a prisoner to the Tower of London, where he remained till summer, when he was released through the influence of the Scots commissioners in London, who urged 'that he had done good offices to many of the best ministers in Scotland.' He was allowed to go to the king, then at Newcastle, on the assurance of his countrymen that he would do all in his power to induce his master to yield to the conditions of the parliament. In September Charles wrote to the queen : 'William Murray is let loose upon me from London.' 'As for religion, he and
