proceeded, only to encounter a new disappointment. A naval engagement, in which the combined English and Dutch fleet dispersed the French squadron intended for the invasion, destroyed his expectation of meeting his rival on British ground. He returned to St. Germains to enjoy a semblance of royalty in the courtly household which the bounty of Louis enabled him to maintain, and to form new plans for the recovery of his inheritance, not scrupling to countenance plots for the assassination of William. At the peace of Ryswick in 1697 he made an effort to influence the European powers in his favour; but even France was tired of supporting a cause, which the progress of events had rendered more and more hopeless. In his later years the royal exile became a devotee, and distinguished himself by his rigid observance of the fasts and penances which occupy so prominent a place in the ritual of the religion which he professed. He died in 1701, and was buried in the church of the English benedictines at Paris, his funeral obsequies being performed, according to his own desire, with an unostentatious simplicity that befitted his fallen fortunes and the asceticism of his last days. His leisure had been partly employed in preparing an autobiography. The manuscript was subsequently destroyed when on its way to England; and the memoir which the Rev. J. S. Clarke published at London in 1816, under the title of the Life of James II., &c., is a shorter work, which had been compiled from the former, probably under the supervision of James, and which was found among the Stewart manuscripts collected by George IV. It contains the representation which the dethroned monarch himself desired to give of the course which he followed, and the motives by which he was actuated in a reign that proved peculiarly unpopular and calamitous. But it has not altered materially the verdict which public opinion formed from the facts and issues of his administration. His mental endowments were not of a high order; yet there was no such deficiency of intellect as will account for his errors and misfortunes. The same talents under the guidance of a better heart might have secured a considerable measure of respect and success. But James was selfish, obstinate, and cruel. He sought his own aggrandizement; he arrogated powers which were inconsistent with the constitutional rights of his subjects; his aim was to become the irresponsible and absolute master of the dominions which he inherited, and for this purpose he did not hesitate to employ agencies at home and influences abroad, which an upright and honourable spirit would have indignantly repudiated. In religion also he was characterized by uncharitableness and bigotry; if he had been able to accomplish what he wished, popery would have waded back through a sea of blood to her coveted triumph over the principles of the Reformation. Every friend of civil and religious liberty will rejoice that the nation rose resolutely against him, and wrested from him the sceptre with which he would have beaten down its independence and prosperity.—W. B.
KINGS OF SCOTLAND.
James I. of Scotland, younger and only surviving son of Robert III., was born in 1394. His early education was committed to Bishop Wardlaw of St. Andrews, a prelate of great learning and integrity, who carefully trained the young prince in all the accomplishments befitting his rank. When his elder son David fell a victim to the unprincipled ambition of the duke of Albany, King Robert resolved to send his younger son to France for protection against his uncle's intrigues. But the vessel in which the young prince had embarked was captured by an English cruiser; and though a truce at that time subsisted between England and Scotland, James and his attendants, by a flagrant breach of law and honour, were carried to London (13th March, 1405), and committed to the Tower. This new misfortune broke the heart, and was the cause of the death of the poor old king of Scotland. James was detained a prisoner in England for the long space of eighteen years. Henry IV. made some amends for his cruel injustice to the Scottish prince by carefully instructing him in all the learning of the period, as well as in all knightly accomplishments and martial exercises. Reasons of state policy at length induced the English court to yield to the earnest and universal desire of the people of Scotland for the release of their king, and he was set at liberty in 1424, on agreeing to pay £40,000, to defray the expense of his maintenance and education. On his return to Scotland he found his kingdom a scene of anarchy and rapine, through the oppression and lawless conduct of the rude and turbulent barons, who, during the feeble rule of Regent Murdoch, set all restraint and authority at defiance. "In those days," says an old monkish chronicler, "there was no law in Scotland, but the great man oppressed the poor man, and the whole kingdom was one den of thieves." On becoming fully acquainted with the disordered state of the country, James exclaimed with great vehemence—"Let God but grant me life, and throughout my dominions I shall make the key keep the castle, and the bush secure the cow." He immediately set himself with unwavering resolution and indomitable courage to accomplish this difficult and dangerous task. He wisely resolved to govern the country through the medium of the parliament, and held a meeting of the national council every year of his reign, and for the first time caused its acts to be published in the language of the common people. He obtained from it the enactment of stringent laws against the feuds and oppressions of the nobles, and for the equal administration of justice, the protection of agriculture, and the encouragement of commerce. He adopted vigorous measures for the recovery of the crown lands which had been shamefully dilapidated during his captivity. He punished with a severity which might almost be termed cruel the lawless rapine and bloodshed of the barons and highland chieftains, put to death several hundreds of thieves and robbers, and carried out with an iron hand his schemes for the depression of the feudal aristocracy. He at the same time attempted to strengthen his authority by renewing commercial intercourse with the Netherlands, concluding an advantageous treaty with Denmark, and drawing closer the ancient ties of alliance with France. There can be no doubt that the policy of James was on the whole just and judicious; but its purpose was too soon made apparent, and it was carried out with a degree of harshness which excited, not without cause, strong discontent and apprehension among the great body of the nobles and barons. His unjust confiscations of the estates of the great earls of March and Strathern on frivolous pretexts, and especially the cruel and excessive vengeance which he inflicted upon Murdoch, duke of Albany, and his sons, excited deep and general indignation. A conspiracy was at length formed against the king by a party of the nobles, headed by the king's uncle, the aged earl of Athol, and his grandson. Sir Robert Stewart, a bold, bad man, who seems to have been actuated partly by ambition, partly by revenge, for the ruin of the house of Albany, and other personal and family injuries. The plot was carried into effect at Perth on the 20th of February, 1436. The assassins, led by Graham, broke at midnight into the monastery of the dominicans, where James was then residing, searched out the unhappy monarch, who, on hearing the noise of their approach, had taken refuge in a vault below his bedchamber, and after a desperate resistance slew him by repeated wounds. The murderers were all ultimately apprehended and put to death by tortures shocking to humanity. James, next to Robert Bruce, was probably the ablest of all the Scottish sovereigns. His natural abilities were of the highest order, and his attainments were remarkable both for their variety and extent. He was distinguished for his skill in the use of the sword, in jousting, wrestling, and other chivalrous exercises. He had a considerable knowledge of medicine, could play well on the lute and harp, and other musical instruments, and was a skilful calligrapher, illuminator, and painter in miniature. He was the author of several poems, which are characterized by a grace and elegance previously unknown to Scottish writers. His principal work, entitled the "King's Quair," has justly been pronounced not inferior in fancy, elegance of diction, and tender delicacy of feeling to any similar production of Chaucer, or of any other contemporary poet, either in England or Scotland. The humorous poems, entitled "Christ's Kirk of the Green" and "Peblis to the Play," have also been ascribed to James; but the evidence of their authorship is not quite conclusive. This excellent and accomplished prince perished in the forty-fourth year of his age and the thirteenth of his reign. By his wife, Johanna Beaufort, a daughter of the earl of Somerset, the heroine of the "King's Quair," whom he married during his captivity, he left five daughters and one son, his successor—
James II. , who was born in 1430, and was only six years of age at the time of his father's murder. The country was in a very distracted state, and so menacing was the aspect of affairs that the queen-mother deemed it necessary to take shelter with her son in the castle of Edinburgh. She and Sir Alexander Livingston of Callander were intrusted with the care of the person and education of the young king during his minority,
