acteristic trace of a more venial one—namely, his pedantry; for in subscribing his name— Jacobus Rex—in the Guild-book after receiv ing the freedom of the burgh, he added the line, " Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos." Gallant young John Ramsay, brother of the first Lord Dalhousie, and descended from that unhappy knight whom Sir William Douglas starved to death in Hermitage Cas tle in 1 342, was suitably rewarded, first with knighthood, and afterwards with an earldom. Cowrie's ultimate object in this plot must ever remain a mystery. He was a cultivated, able man, and it seems incredible that re venge for his father's execution should have been his sole object in devising a murder which, unless he had been strong enough to seize the kingdom, must inevitably have led to the scaffold. No other motive is apparent in the letters of his accomplice, Logan of Restalrig, which were brought to light eight years afterwards, on the confession, under extreme torture, of a wretched notary called Sprot; but there is much reason to support the suspicion that capture and not murder was the end in view, and that Gowrie would have felt avenged had he succeeded in deliv ering James into the hands of the Queen of England. With Gowrie fell the hopes of the Presby terian party, who looked on him as their leader in resisting Episcopacy. There was a lot of trouble with the Edinburgh divines after his death, by reason of their refusing to observe the thanksgiving prescribed for use in the churches, for his Majesty's preser vation. They refused to give credence to the allegation of treason and murderous in tent against a nobleman in whom they had so much confidence. Perhaps what is most startling to the mod ern student of the records of this reign is the perpetual and pernicious interference with justice by the " British Solomon," whether to promote or retard punishment— especially in witchcraft cases. And besides
the unhappy witches, the Highland caterans and the gypsies had good cause to deplore the altered times. The gypsies, especially, had been greatly encouraged by kindly, credulous James IV., whose accounts teem with gifts made during his many journeys to the " King of Rowmais " and other " Egiptianis." But the Reformation left men too serious to put up with " the vagabundis, soirneris cowmone thevis—repute, callit and haldin Egiptianis; " and a proclamation was issued calling on them to depart from the realm on pain of death. Ill was it for those who disregarded it. Throughout James VI.'s reign batches of these unfortunate creatures were hounded to the gibbets, alternately with herds of Macgregors, till, on 24th January, 1624, "Capitane" John Faa and seven of his merry men were hanged together on the borough moor, and their widows and daugh ters, to the number of eleven, were sentenced to be drowned. But this was too much even for the stomach of King James, who, of his clemency, commuted the doom on the women to banishment, due care being taken to grab all the " movabill " property belonging to the tribe. Allusion has been made in this brief sum mary of the Gowrie affair to James VI.'s unlovely fondness for pelf. Well, we all have our failings, and it is not good to dwell too much on those of other people; but, un happily, one is bound to take this royal fail ing into account, as it affected the adminis tration of justice. There is too clear proof, not only of the habitual consideration ex tended to the grossest criminals who could afford to buy indemnity (" for sindrie reasonabill caussis and consideratiounis moving ws " is the usual expression in royal letters of remission), but of actual "put-up" charges, in order to extort money for the king's use. No other explanation can be given of the proceedings taken in 1601 against John Kincaid, the wealthy young Laird of Craighouse, on the Braid Hills. Abduction of heiresses was no uncommon offense in those
