subsequently urged that he was not actually concerned in the murder,
was lodged in the Tolbooth; and his release having been refused,
Kirkcaldy determined to take the law into his own hands, and to set him
free. The Governor must still have had many sympathisers in the city,
for it is stated that ‘the deacons of the crafts were easily persuaded
to assist him in his wicked enterprise.’ Having ordered a battering-ram
to be made ready for use against the prison gate, if force should be
necessary, and got the guns of the Castle loaded and prepared for
action, Kirkcaldy, at the head of a strong body of men, set out,
without noise or clamour, between six and seven o’clock, on a dark
evening, a few days before Christmas, for the purpose of liberating
James Fleming. Men armed with culverins and pikes were posted so as
to prevent access, by any side approach, to the street leading from
the Castle to the prison. Grange and Lord Home stationed themselves
above the Upper Tron, with the object of securing a safe retreat; and
the Laird of Drylaw was sent forward to demand the surrender of the
prisoner. That having been refused by the jailor, the battering-ram
was brought forward, and the gates were forced open. According to
reports circulated at the time, the soldiers not only carried off their
comrade Fleming, but also set free another prisoner--a woman--probably
Bothwellhaugh’s wife, who had been apprehended on a charge of
complicity in the murder of the Regent. After Kirkcaldy and his men
had returned from their nocturnal expedition, ‘nine great cannons were
discharged’ from the ramparts, ‘to give the Regent who was then in the
town, a defiance in his face.’ Fortunately, however, for the guns were
shotted, ‘no harm was done, but that John Wallace’s house was shot
through, and a barn in the Cannongate.’
John Knox was in Edinburgh at the time; and raised his powerful voice
in condemnation of ‘so slanderous, so malapert, so fearful, and so
tyrannous a deed. For,’ said he, ‘if the committer had been a man
without God, a throat-cutter, one that had never known the works of
God, it would have moved me no more than other riots and enormities
which my eyes have seen the Prince of this world, Satan, to raise by
his instruments. But to see the stars fall from heaven, and a man of
knowledge commit so manifest treason, what godly heart cannot lament,
tremble, and fear? God be merciful! for the example is terrible, and
we have all need earnestly to call to God, that we be not led into
temptation; but specially to deliver us from the company of the wicked;
for, within these few years, men would have looked for other fruits
than have budded out of that man.’
As soon as the Reformer’s rebuke was communicated to him, Kirkcaldy
replied to it in a letter which he addressed to Craig, the minister of
the church, to whom it was delivered as he was in his pulpit. It ran
as follows: ‘This day John Knox, in his sermon, called me, openly, a
murderer and a throat-cutter, wherein he hath spoken farther than he is
able to justify. For I take God to witness, if it was my mind that the
man’s blood should have been shed, of whom he calleth me the murderer.
And the same God I desire, from the bottom of my heart, to pour out
his vengeance suddenly upon him or me, which of us two hath been most
desirous of innocent blood. This I desire you, in God’s name, to
declare openly to the public. At Edinburgh Castle, the 24th of December
1570.’
Craig, however, refused to comply with the request contained in the
latter part of the letter, stating that he would read nothing from
the pulpit without the knowledge and consent of the Kirk. In another
letter, which he wrote to the Kirk Session of Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy gave
his version of what had happened, throwing all the blame on the Duries,
and protesting his innocence of any intention to cause the death of
Seton.
To the first of these letters, Knox publicly made reply on his next
appearance in the pulpit, denying that he had ever made use of the
words imputed to him. ‘Is there any of you,’ he asked, ‘that heard
me, in this public place, call the Laird of Grange, now Captain of
the Castle of Edinburgh, a cruel murderer, an open throat-cutter,
and one whose nature I had long known to be bloodthirsty? I accused
indeed, that unjust and cruel murder; I affirmed the violating of the
house of justice to be treason; and finally I complained, that the
like enormity and pernicious example I never saw in Scotland. Not but
I had seen murder and rebellion before; yea, I have seen magistrates
gainstood, and the supreme magistrates of the Crown besieged in
their own tolbooth; and I have seen condemned persons violently reft
from the gallows and gibbet. But none of all these forenamed can be
compared to this last outrage. For, if the masters and authors of this
last riot had been known before to have been open throat-cutters,
bloodthirsty men, and such as had been void of the true fear of God,
I would have been no more moved at this time, than I have been at
other times before. But, to see stars fallen from Heaven; to see men
who have felt as well God’s judgments as mercies, in a past; and to
see men of whom all godly hearts have had a good opinion--to see,
I say, such men so far carried away, that both God and man are not
only forgot, but also publicly despised, is both dolorous and fearful
to be remembered.’ Then, referring to Kirkcaldy’s escape from Mont
Saint-Michel, the preacher continued: ‘For I have known that man in
his greatest extremity, when he might have set himself at freedom by
shedding of blood, at the counsel of sober men, he utterly refused all
such cruelty, and took a hazard to the flesh most fearful; which God
notwithstanding blessed, having a respect to the simplicity of his
heart. And, therefore, then I said, and yet I say, that this example
in him is the most terrible example that ever I saw in Scotland. I
know that some have made other report. But, in their face I say, that
of their father the Devil they have learnt to lie, wherein if they
continue without repentance, they shall burn in Hell.’
In a letter to the Kirk-Session, Knox again denied having called
Kirkcaldy a murderer and a cut-throat; but maintained that he had only
done his duty in publicly denouncing a public outrage. Unwilling to
prolong the controversy, Kirkcaldy declared himself satisfied that the
words at which he had taken offence were uttered in lament, and for
amendment of his fault, and not to his hurt, injury, or defamation, and
formally withdrew his complaint. But Knox was not content with a view
that implied a recantation on his part; and on the following Sunday,
when the Captain, after nearly a year’s absence from Divine Service,
again appeared in St Giles’s, the Reformer, construing his presence
into an open defiance, denounced ‘proud contemners,’ and warned
them that God’s mercy appertained not to such as, with knowledge,
proudly transgressed, and thereafter most proudly maintained their
transgression.
The excitement produced by an open quarrel between two such men as Knox
and Kirkcaldy was not confined to the Capital. Exaggerated rumours
were circulated from town to town, and in several places there arose
a belief that Grange had sworn the death of the Reformer. Acting on
this, a number of noblemen and gentlemen wrote from Ayr to the Laird
of Grange, to signify their strong condemnation of his conduct. They
could hardly believe, their protest ran, that he who had been, not a
simple professor, but a defender of religion, could be moved to do any
harm to him on whose safety the prosperity and increase of religion
depended; and they deprecated any hostile design against the man whom
God had made both the first planter, and also the chief waterer of his
Kirk amongst them, and whose welfare was as dear and precious to them
as their own.
Kirkcaldy had thought the incident of sufficient importance, under
the existing circumstances, to justify his reporting it directly to
the English Government himself. In replying to his letter, it suited
Cecil to adopt the lofty moral tone which he knew would meet with the
approval of the Clerical party. After condemning the ‘heinous fact,’
and expatiating on its guilt in one ‘having a place of government
committed to him, and having for so many years made the world think
that he professed the Evangel,’ he closed his letter in these sharp
terms:--‘how you will allow my plainness I know not; but surely I
should think myself guilty of blood if I should not thoroughly mislike
you; and to this I must add, that I hear, but yet am loath to believe
it, that your soldiers that broke the prison have not only taken out
the murderer your man, but a woman that was there detained as guilty
of the lamentable death of the late good Regent. Alas! my Lord, may
this be true? And, with your help, may it be conceived in thought that
you--you, I mean, that were so dear to the Regent, should favour his
murderers in this sort. Surely, my Lord, if this be true, there is
provided by God some notable work of His justice to be shewed upon you;
and yet I trust you are not so void of God’s grace: and so for mine old
friendship with you, and for the avoiding the notable slander of God’s
word, I heartily wish it to be untrue.’
Cecil had no reason to congratulate himself on having given credence
to details for which he had not the authority of Kirkcaldy himself. In
reply to his epistle, the Captain of the Castle was able to inform him
that the woman, whose supposed escape had aroused his indignation, was
still in the Tolbooth.
_XI._ THE HOLDING OF THE CASTLE
IN the summer of 1570, the treacherous advice of Sussex had been
followed, and, under pretence of punishing those who had given shelter
to the rebellious Dacres, he had been sent, with an army of four
thousand men, into Annandale, which he ravaged with such remorseless
ferocity that, in his own words, not a stone house was left to an ill
neighbour within twenty miles of Carlisle. This unjustifiable act of
aggression may be looked upon as one of the immediate causes that led
Grange decisively and irrevocably to throw in his lot with the party
which refused to recognise the authority of Lennox. A two months’ truce
delayed what had now become an inevitable step on his part. And even
then, when the crisis came, it had been hurried on by Lennox’s action.
On the 19th of March, before the actual expiration of the armistice, he
caused proclamation to be made in Edinburgh, forbidding, upon pain of
treason, that any should serve Grange, and commanding those who were
already with him to leave him within three days. On the same afternoon,
Kirkcaldy retaliated by causing Captain Melville to go through the
town, with beat of drum, offering pay to all such as would repair to
the Castle. Next day he took possession of the Abbey and of St Giles’s,
and put men and munitions into them. He further levied provisions from
the Leith merchants, and took every measure of prudence and precaution
that a long military experience suggested, with a view to enabling the
Castle to stand a long siege. He was so satisfied with the result of
his efforts that he indulged in a ‘rowstie ryme’ in which, besides
reviling his enemies and casting upon them the entire responsibility
for the calamities under which the country was groaning, he proudly set
forth all that he had done to resist any attempt on their part to drive
him from his stronghold.
For I haue men and meit aneugh,
They know I am ane tuilyeour teoch,
And wilbe rycht sone greved:
When thei haue tint als mony teith,
As thei did at the seige of Leith,
They wilbe faine to leive it.
Then quha, I pray you, salbe boun
Thair tinsall to advance?
Or gif sic compositione
As thei got then of France?
This sylit, begylit,
They will bot get the glaikis;
Cum thai heir, thir tuo yeir,
They sall not misse thair paikis.[5]
On the 13th of April, when, in answer to his call, a considerable
number not only of soldiers, but of powerful noblemen and gentlemen
also, had gathered about him, he issued a proclamation in which
he charged the Earl of Lennox with having unlawfully usurped the
government of the kingdom, and with having unjustifiably circulated
calumnies, injuries, and untrue reports about him, and which, after
declaring with pardonable pride and damaging truth, that he had risked
his life for Scotland when the new Regent was against it, he closed
with a characteristic challenge:--
‘If anie gentleman undefamed, of my qualitie and degree, of his
factioun and perteaning to him, will say the contrare heerof but I am a
true Scotish man, I will say he speeketh untruelie, and leeth falslie
in his throat; and denounce by thir presents to whatsomever persons
will take the said querrell in hand, I sall be readie to fight with him
on horsebacke or on foote, at time and place to be appointed, according
to the lawes of armes.’
When the Captain’s preparations were complete, he set himself to the
task of training the garrison. For that purpose he devised a sham
assault, which the chronicler who records it, ignorant of military
matters, sets down as a foolish skirmish, and as mere boastful display.
His graphic description of it, however, is interesting as a quaint
picture of mediæval warfare. ‘The one part of the Captan’s souldiours
tooke upon them to skirmishe, in manner of an assault to the Castell;
the other part of the Captan’s gentlemen took upon them the defence
and keeping of the Castell. The skirmishe continued from eight houres
at night till nyne. It was demanded from the Castell, who these were
that troubled the Captan, under silence of night? It was answered
by the other partie below, that they were the Queen of England’s
armie. These beganne brawling and flytting; and these in the Castell
answered, “Away, lubbard! Away, blew-coat! I defy thee, white-coat!”
“Dirt in your teeth!” “Hence, knaves, and goe tell that whoore, your
mastresse, yee sall not come heere. We lett you know, we have men,
meat, and ordinance for seven yeeres.” About the end of the skirmishe,
three cannons were discharged, and the counterfoot assaulters tooke the
flight.’
That no misrepresentation of the course which he had been driven into
adopting should supply the English Government with a pretext for laying
the resumption of hostilities to his charge, Kirkcaldy wrote a full
justification of his conduct to Sussex, Leicester, and Burghley. It
ran as follows: ‘I have received your letter, dated at Westminster the
7th of this instant, and thereby understand that your Lordships have,
upon the sight of my letters and the Marshal of Berwick’s report,
rightly conceived my meaning touching the pacification of these inward
troubles and continuation of the amity between these two realms, which
course I intend still to follow further, so far as I may conveniently.
I greatly mislike that a part of this nobility should go about by all
means to destroy the other; and would wish that on both parts they
should moderate their passions, being content every one of his own rank
and degree, and not seek by extraordinary means one to overthrow the
other. As to the amity between the realms, if any occasion has fallen
out of late time, or shall fall out hereafter, which may disturb,
change, or diminish the intelligence happily begun, I protest that I
have detested, and shall detest such as are the occasioners thereof;
and wish that your Lordships hold hand to remove all such incidents as
may breed a misliking on your part; the best whereunto is to procure
that the Queen’s Majesty, your sovereign, hold the balance equal to
both the sides, showing like favour and good countenance to both, so
that neither party may think themselves prejudged till the difference
for the title for the Crown may by her means be compounded, or brought
to an end. For my own part, the Earl of Lennox (whom I never thought
a fit person to bear any rule, for the great imperfections which are
known to be in him) has so ungently, unreasonably and unlawfully used
me, that he has compelled me to provide for my own security, and of
the place which I have in charge, and to stand upon my guard with him.
Besides many injuries and wrongs which he before had done, against all
good order, to me and my friends, whereat I partly winked, and lightly
overlooked them, he has of late charged by open proclamations, that
all the soldiers which I keep for the preservation of this place, do
depart from me and leave my service, by which doing he has uttered his
ill-will and intention he had to denude me of my forces, whereby the
place, for lack of men to defend it, might fall as a prey in his hands.
And when he saw that his commands in that behalf were not obeyed, his
malice has burst out further, to set further false and calumnious
proclamations against me, full of injurious language, such as neither
he nor any of his faction dare maintain, thinking thereby to have made
me odious to the people. But my behaviour in times past, and hazarding
of my person and goods, for the liberty of my country and duty to
my friends is so well known in Scotland, that I am not afraid that
anything the Earl of Lennox or his faction can speak or do, who has not
as yet given the like proof, may make men that know me to doubt of my
honesty. Since he has made open demonstration to be my enemy, I could
do no less than let him know the like of me, and so have been forced
to join myself with such of the nobility as would concur with me, and
provide every way for my own surety, wherein I doubt not but your
Lordships will not only bear with me, but also allow of my doings.
‘For nature teaches both men and beasts to procure means for their own
preservation, and to avoid all things tending to the contrary. And yet
I dare undertake, if it shall please the Queen’s Majesty your mistress,
to prosecute the course she has begun, for according the difference
for the title of the Crown, and to show her favour in the mean season
indifferently to both parties, that number of noblemen, with whom I
have joined myself, shall be as far at her Majesty’s devotion, and as
able every way, and as willing, to entertain the good intelligence
between the realms as any others; and, indeed, they are no less able
to serve her Majesty’s turn. As to the abstinence mentioned in your
Lordships’ letter, I shall willingly accommodate myself to everything
accorded between the Commissioners for both parties, not only in the
order of the Castle of Edinburgh, but all other things lying in my
power; and shall attempt nothing farther than the surety of myself and
place I have in charge shall force me, unless the others attempt to
do injury to me or my friends, in which case the Earl of Lennox shall
have no cause to look for quietness, if he make occasion to me and my
friends to stand in doubt of our own surety; for I am resolved to use
him as he shall do me and my friends. I have seen heretofore how the
former abstinences have been kept on his part, and I know what harm
my friends have sustained under the colour thereof; so that I would
look for little better at his hand now, were not the trust I repose
in her Majesty, who I doubt not will overrule him and bridle him from
disordered doings; upon the confidence whereof, her Majesty shall
have experience what reverence I bear to her Highness, and how far
I respect your Lordships’ advice. As to the common quietness in the
town of Edinburgh, and people therein, I assure myself none of them
will complain; for of truth, there is no man within the compass of the
same has received injury or violence, by word or deed, of me or any of
mine; whereof I desire your Lordships to assure her Majesty. So, not
willing to trouble your Lordships farther, I commit your Lordships to
the protection of the Almighty God. From Edinburgh Castle, the 21st of
April 1571.
Your Lordships’ to command,
W. KIRKCALDY.’
Hostilities between the garrison of the Castle and the Regent’s
forces, which were encamped at Leith, began on the 29th of April, with
a skirmish at Lowsilea. Next day, Kirkcaldy issued a proclamation,
commanding all who sympathised with Lennox, to leave the city within
six hours, and requiring the citizens to be within doors, after nine
o’clock every night. Two days later, he followed this up by demanding
the keys of the city from the bailies, and setting his own men to guard
the gates; and his next step was to plant artillery on the roof and
steeple of St Giles’s.
About the beginning of May, the Regent made an attempt to hold a
Parliament, but was driven off by the Castle guns. On learning this,
Queen Elizabeth made a great show of indignation. It was ‘necessary
for her that the Regent and his party should not be ruined.’ Nor,
indeed, did it suit her that either faction should obtain the upper
hand independently of her. She consequently directed Sir William Drury
to tell Grange and the noblemen joined with him, that she strongly
disapproved of their conduct in preventing the Regent and his friends
from holding a Parliament to appoint commissioners to treat with
those of the Queen of Scots. In energetic language she desired him
to ‘condemn Kirkcaldy of falsehood and untruth’ if it were actually
the case that he had said, as had been reported to her, that Lennox
was ‘sworn English against his country,’ and meant to deliver all the
castles and strongholds to her; and to require him to give her full
satisfaction on this point. She further instructed him to inform the
Captain that, if he continued to increase the troubles of the realm,
she would ‘judge that to be true which, by some had been long doubted,
that he and his companions were partially disposed, for their own lucre
and to maintain their disordered authorities, to continue these inward
troubles, by pretending to favour the Queen, with whom it was known
that, before time, they could not be content.’ If this should not be
enough, Drury was to add “some sharper speech” of his own.
In his reply to this communication, Kirkcaldy assured the Queen of
England that his enemies had misreported him. Had it really been the
intention of Lennox and his party to choose persons authorised to
carry on the negotiations referred to by her Highness, he would have
given them free access to Edinburgh. But he had been told by Morton
himself, that ‘the treaty was dissolved in England, and clean cut off
without any promise of abstinence, or hope of recontinuation.’ He
pointed out that, if the Lords did not get entrance into the town,
they, nevertheless, did hold a Parliament outside the walls; and, as
they did not then appoint commissioners, he concluded that it had never
been their object to do so. He denied ever having told the people, in
his proclamations, that Lennox was ‘sworn English against his country;’
but he admitted that, in private conversation, he had said that the
Earl was the Queen of England’s subject by oath. Again protesting his
pacific intentions, his unselfish aims, and his respect for Elizabeth,
he offered to do battle against any gentleman undefamed, of England or
Scotland, who dared charge him with having written or uttered any word
against her honour.
Elizabeth admitted that Grange’s reply was not unreasonable, and
that she did not mislike it. In truth, she found it admirably suited
to her purpose. On the strength of its conciliatory tone, she could
approach Lennox, and bring pressure to bear on him, by declaring
that his opponents were ready to accept her mediation, and by making
him responsible for the continuance of hostilities, unless he, too,
consented to submit the whole quarrel to her arbitration. It was in
this sense that, on the 7th of June, she addressed another long letter
of instructions to Sir William Drury.
Apart from a series of sorties and raids, which contemporary
chroniclers faithfully record, with scrupulous minuteness, even, at
times, to the names of the wounded, and the nature of their hurts, no
incident of special interest marked the civil war till the 11th of
June. On that day Kirkcaldy, to whose knowledge it had come that he
had publicly been accused of being a traitor and a murderer, issued
a public challenge, offering to fight, in single combat, and to the
death, any man, of whatsoever estate he might be, who took it on
himself to support such a charge. It was taken up by Alexander Stuart
of Garlies. He ridiculed the style assumed by Grange--a style more
befitting the chief nobility or even the Royal Blood, than one whose
father had but eight ox-gangs, and whose progenitors were, for the
most part, saltmakers. ‘Nevertheless,’ he continued, ‘although thou
art so notorious a traitor, that this action should be decided by
other judges than by the adventure of arms, I, Alexander Stuart of
Garlies, will offer myself to prove thy vile and filthy treason with
my person against thine, as the law and custom of arms requireth: with
protestation, that it shall not be prejudicial to my honour, nor to my
blood, to compare myself with so late a printed gentleman, manifestly
known to have committed, at sundry times, divers treasons; and taken
out of the galleys to be kept for the gallows.’
There ensued a long correspondence between Grange and Garlies. Stripped
of the accusations, recriminations, and contemptuous allusions to birth
and rank, it resolved itself into a wrangle as to the choice of a
fitting place for the encounter. Neither party would accept the views
of the other as to a sufficiently neutral ground; and after dragging
through many weeks, the quarrel was left undecided.
In the meantime, Grange had figured in a less personal and more
important incident. Under his auspices, the Queen’s Lords, to whom
he delivered the regalia for the occasion, held a Parliament in
Edinburgh. Their first act was to invalidate Mary’s abdication, and,
as a consequence, to repudiate the transfer of the royal authority to
her son and the Regent acting on his behalf. The next was to decree
that no change should be made in the form of religion or administration
of the sacraments. At a subsequent sitting, they pronounced a decree
of forfeiture against the Earl of Morton and some two hundred of
the King’s party. In retaliation, the King’s Lords, in a Parliament
of their own, held at Stirling, dealt in the same manner with their
opponents. But their meeting was to be marked by an event of far
greater moment. Grange, who had been informed of their imprudent
negligence in not even appointing guards to insure their safety,
planned a daring expedition, of which the object was nothing less than
the capture of all the leading men of the faction, including the Regent
himself.
It was at first Kirkcaldy’s intention to conduct the raid in person.
But the Lords and Council would not allow him, alleging that ‘their
only comfort under God consisted in his preservation.’ They undertook
scrupulously to follow his instructions, and at his earnest request,
promised to respect the lives of the captives. He yielded to their
urgent entreaties, but not till the Laird of Wormeston, one of the most
honourable gentlemen of the party, had pledged his word to save the
Regent’s life at every risk.
Between five and six o’clock on the evening of the 3rd of September,
Huntly, accompanied with three hundred and forty horse, set out from
Edinburgh, and reached Stirling before day-break. Dismounting about
a mile from the town, lest the clattering of the horses’ feet should
betray them, the party entered it by a secret passage, between four and
five in the morning. Lennox and his friends were surprised in their
houses and captured. They would have been brought safely to Edinburgh
if the soldiers and Borderers had not fallen to spoiling. The disorder
which followed enabled the enemy to rally. There was a sharp skirmish,
in the course of which the Regent was shot. Wormeston had proved so
faithful to his trust that the fatal bullet passed through his body
before striking Lennox.
The assailants were ultimately obliged to retire, but not till they had
held possession of the town for more than three hours. On their return
to Edinburgh, they were very unwelcome guests to the Laird of Grange.
He was convinced that if, by bringing the Regent to Edinburgh, he had
been able to withdraw him from the influence of Morton and of the
English agent Randolph, an end might have been put to the disastrous
struggle. With the death of Murray a peaceful settlement became well
nigh hopeless.
Captain George Bell and James Calder, who had been taken prisoners on
the retreat from Stirling, were by torture, compelled to confess that
they had special instructions from the Hamiltons to slay the Regent.
Calder’s confession is significantly signed ‘James Calder with my hand
laid on the pen because I cannot write.’ In a very remarkable letter
addressed by Grange and Lethington to Drury, the blame of Lennox’s
death is imputed to his own associates, who are accused of using the
opportunity given by the tumult for obtaining that which they had long
sought after. The writers not only point out that the Hamiltons, whom
the Regent had the greatest cause to fear, were those who surprised him
in his house, and that they might have taken his life then and there;
but they also assert that they themselves had previously been urged to
concur in Murray’s destruction.
Within twenty-four hours a new Regent was appointed. Randolph was
anxious that the choice of the Lords should fall on Morton, but they
preferred to elect the Earl of Mar.
_XII._ THE MERCAT CROSS
THE Earl of Mar’s Regency lasted a little over a year,--from the
beginning of September 1571 to the 29th of October 1572. The secret
history of the period is contained in a long series of communications
between Elizabeth and her Ministers on the one hand, and the heads of
the two contending parties on the other. The subject was still the
pacification of the Kingdom; but the discovery of the Duke of Norfolk’s
plot, in favour of Mary Stuart, had modified the English Queen’s policy
with respect to the Castilians, as the holders of the Castle were
termed. It supplied her with a plausible excuse for casting aside even
the semblance of a desire to reinstate her captive; and the spirit
in which the negotiations with Grange and Lethington were conducted
is illustrated by the following summons delivered to them in her
name:--‘Her Majesty’s pleasure is, that ye leave off the maintenance
of civil discord, and give your obedience to the King, whom she will
maintain to the uttermost of her power. And if ye will so do, she will
deal with the Regent and the King’s party to receive you in favour,
upon reasonable conditions, for security of life and livings. In
respect the Queen of Scots hath practised with the Pope, other Princes,
and her own subjects, great and dangerous treasons against the state of
the country, and destruction of her own person, she will never suffer
her to be in authority, so far as in her lieth; nor to have liberty
while she liveth. If ye refuse these offers, her Majesty will presently
aid the King’s party with men, munition, and other things against you.
Whereupon her Majesty desireth your answer with speed.’
In the meantime, hostilities were being carried on with the greatest
ferocity by both factions. As Bannatyne reports, there was ‘nothing
but hanging on either side.’ The chronicles and the correspondence
of the time record, as common occurrences, the most cold-blooded
atrocities. It is related in the Historie of King James the Sext, that
a band of Queen’s soldiers from Edinburgh were attacked by a body of
the King’s partisans, to whom they were obliged to surrender and give
up their weapons. ‘But the horsemen of Leith, after they had received
them as prisoners, slew fifteen of the most able and strong men of
them; the remainder they drove to Leith like sheep, stabbing and
dunting them with spears, where they were all hanged without further
process.’ Randolph reported to Lord Hunsdon that nothing was left
undone on either side that might annoy the other, that the Regent,
to keep the Castilians from victuals, had placed men in Craigmillar,
Redshawe, and Corstorphine, and had broken down all the mills to the
number of thirty or more within four miles of Edinburgh, and that
he had sent three hundred Highland men to the villages and cottages
about the town to intercept and spoil all that attempted to repair
to the Castle. Those of the other side made reprisals by hanging not
only the prisoners whom they had received to mercy, but those who
afterwards fell into their hands. Lord Hunsdon informed Elizabeth
that four horsemen of the Castle having been taken in a skirmish,
were immediately hanged; and that those of the Castle, for revenge,
after dinner, hanged five of their opponents. When fuel was scarce
in the town, the garrison of the Castle threw down several houses
of the adverse faction, and sold the timber at an exorbitant price.
They further appointed a functionary, nick-named by the populace the
Captain of the Chimneys, to take account of such houses as had been
abandoned by King’s men, and sell them by public auction. These stern
proceedings so terrified the neutral citizens, that they fled to Leith;
but instead of finding protection there they were driven back to the
Capital, and threatened with the gibbet as spies. So strictly were
supplies to the city prohibited that the country people who attempted
to smuggle in provisions were barbarously put to death. Two men and one
woman, from Wester Edmonstoune, were hanged for bringing leeks and salt
to Edinburgh. Lethington, writing to Queen Mary, told her that when
poor women hazarded, during the night, to bring in some victuals for
themselves and their poor bairns, they were hanged without mercy.
‘By that way,’ he said, ‘they have hangit a great number of women,
and some of them with bairn, and parted with bairn upon the gallows,
a cruelty not heard of in any country.’ If both parties displayed the
same vindictive spirit in the commission of these outrages, the voice
of the people by whom ‘this form of dealing was called the Douglas
wars,’ proclaimed the guilt of Morton as the originator of them.
That Grange and his friends were not responsible for continuing the
disastrous struggle, even the English agents admitted. Lord Hunsdon,
writing to Burghley, about the end of April, confessed that it passed
his capacity any more to deal with the parties in Scotland. ‘The
Castle side,’ he said, ‘require surety of their lives, lands, goods,
and honours, where they have reason; and the keeping of the Castle,
because they would be loath to put themselves into their new reconciled
friends’ hands until they see some proof how they and their friends
will be dealt with. On the King’s side, their malice is so deadly
against some of the Castle as they have more respect to be revenged
than regard to the Commonwealth; others are so resolved to keep such
offices, spoils, and authority as they possess by these troubles, that
they will never agree to any composition by treaty; the meaner sort who
live upon entertainment and such spoils as now and then they can get,
and live uncontrolled of any whatsoever they do, cannot abide to hear
of peace.’
For the next three months negotiations still dragged on. Neither
threats nor persuasions could induce Kirkcaldy to consent to the one
condition without which his opponents were determined that there
should be no peace--the surrender of the Castle. In an evil hour
for themselves however, he and Lethington so far yielded to the
representations and solicitations of the English Court as to agree to
a truce. The conditions were that it should last for two months from
the 30th of July; that, during that time there should be a meeting
of the noblemen of the Kingdom to treat for peace; and that, if they
should not agree, they should refer the difference between them to
the arbitration of the King of France and Queen of England, promising
upon their honour to accept all the conditions their Majesties should
propose to them. During the truce all the subjects of the realm
should be at liberty freely to traffic, haunt, or converse together
unmolested. The town of Edinburgh was to be set at liberty the same as
it was when the late Regent quitted it on the 27th of January 1570; and
the Castle to be kept with no greater garrison than it had at that date.
On the 11th of the following month Grange and Lethington had already
ground for complaint that, contrary to promise, ‘the town was still
guarded and garrisoned as a town of war.’ A few days later they drew
up a formal protest in which they stated that the Capital was occupied
by companies of soldiers and townsmen, who kept watch and ward day and
night, and continually used the Kirk and Tolbooth as guard-houses.
Leith also, they said, was guarded as in time of war, in contravention
of the abstinence. Men-at-arms were lodged upon the poor, to be fed
at their expense; and in many cases the inhabitants were forbidden
to enter their own houses, which had been taken possession of by the
soldiery.
In the beginning of September, a new agent, Killegrew, was dispatched
to Scotland for the ostensible purpose of effecting a compromise
between the two parties, but in reality with a view to arranging
with Morton for the secret execution of Queen Mary. All that his
intervention achieved was the prolongation of the truce till the 1st of
January. The result of his secret mission, however, was to secure the
complicity of Mar and Morton in Elizabeth’s scheme for the destruction
of her rival, on condition that they should receive help from England
for the subjugation of the Castilians, at the expiration of the truce.
When Killegrew arrived in Scotland, the Earl of Mar was lying ill at
Tantallon Castle, and it was there the English ambassador had his
first interview with him. He recovered sufficiently to be removed to
Stirling. On the 27th of October, it was reported to Burghley that he
had been bled, and was ‘somewhat amended.’ The very next day, however,
he died, with a suddenness that gave rise to a suspicion of poison.
Rather less than a month later, Morton was chosen to succeed him.
The day that the new Regent was elected, there occurred another
important event, which was destined to exercise great influence on
Kirkcaldy’s fate. On that same 24th of November, John Knox died in
Edinburgh, to which he had returned shortly before in a sinking
condition. As he lay on his death-bed he desired his friend, David
Lindsay, the minister of Leith, to take a message from him to the
Laird of Grange. “‘Go, I pray you,’ he said, ‘and tell him that I have
sent you to him yet once to warn him; and bid him, in the name of God,
leave that evil cause, and give over that Castle. If not, he shall
be brought down over the walls of it with shame, and hang against
the sun. So God hath assured me.’ Mr David thought the message hard,
yet went to the Castle, and meeteth first with Sir Robert Melville
walking on the wall, and told him what was his errand; who, as he
thought, was much moved with the matter. Thereafter he communed with
the Captain, whom he thought also somewhat moved. But he went from him
in to Secretary Lethington, with whom, when he had conferred a little,
he came out to Mr David again, and said, ‘Go, tell Mr Knox he is but
a drytting prophet.’ Mr David returned to Mr Knox and reported how he
had discharged his commission; but that it was not well accepted of
the Captain after he had conferred with the Secretary. ‘Well,’ said Mr
Knox, ‘I have been earnest with my God anent the two men. For the one,
I am sorry that so shall befall him, yet God assureth me that there is
mercy for his soul. For the other, I have no warrant that ever he shall
be well.’ Mr David thought the speech hard, yet laid it up in his mind
till Mr Knox was at rest with God, and found the truth which he had
spoken within a few days after.”
When the last day of the truce arrived, no step towards the
pacification of the Kingdom had been taken. The King’s party continued
to make demands which the Castilians, hopeful of help from the King
of France, absolutely refused to entertain, and the resumption of
hostilities was inevitable. On the 1st of January, at six o’clock in
the morning, Kirkcaldy ‘warned all men to take heed to themselves, by
a shot of a piece out of the Castle.’ A little later in the morning,
‘the war began by shot of arquebuss, but did no harm.’ Next day the
Castilians fired eight rounds at the steeple of St Giles’s. No one was
hurt in the church itself, but some shot that missed it, having broken
down the neighbouring chimneys, one poor man was killed and two were
wounded by their fall. If Killegrew’s reports to Burghley are to be
believed, either the Castle gunners must have been poor marksmen, or
Grange must at first have instructed them to discharge their artillery
rather in the hope of frightening the citizens than for the purpose
of causing them serious loss or injury. One despatch states that on
the 16th of January they fired eighty-seven cannon and culverin shot
at the town, ‘but did no more harm but killed one dog going to the
Regent’s house.’ Men, women, and children, the writer asserts, walked
quietly in the streets, as though there were no shot; and even went to
the church, which had been fenced in with a rampart of turf, faggots,
and other stuff. One of the chroniclers, on the other hand, presents a
wholly different picture. ‘None,’ he says, ‘might walk safely on the
streets of Edinburgh for shooting out of the Castle.’ The truth may not
improbably be that the gunners could fire effectively enough when it
was thought there was occasion for it.
Before the end of the first month the besieged were already beginning
to suffer from want of water. On the 25th, Killegrew informed Burghley
that they had found it necessary to get their supply by sallying out of
a postern beside St Cuthbert’s Church and drawing it from St Margaret’s
well, hard by. The besiegers, noticing this, poisoned the well with
white arsenic and new lime stones, and filled it up with dead carrion.
The garrison then devised a plan for drawing water out of a ditch near
the Castle; but before it could be put into execution, the Regent
was informed of it by a deserter, and drained the ditch. In the same
communication, Killegrew stated that the surveyor of Berwick and Mr
Fleming, the master-gunner, had been with the besiegers for the last
week, and were helping Morton to lay out the trenches, of which the
works were progressing apace.
It was not to open warfare alone that Kirkcaldy’s enemies trusted to
force him into subjection. Even before the resumption of hostilities,
Morton had begun negotiations with the Queen’s Lords in other parts
of the country. One after another, the Captain’s former associates
fell away from him. Sir James Balfour was the first, Argyle, Huntly,
Chastelherault, and the Hamiltons followed; and their submission made
it hopeless and useless for the lesser men to stand out alone. By
the beginning of April, the Privy Council was able to announce that
‘good peace was restored over all the country, the Castle of Edinburgh
excepted.’
From another quarter too, there fell an unexpected blow. Through
the treachery of his own wife, James Kirkcaldy, who had hitherto
successfully acted as his brother’s agent with the Court of France,
was captured, together with a considerable sum of money, which
Mary had supplied from her dowry, and on which the Castilians were
depending. Within the Castle, Maitland was as firm and uncompromising
as the Governor himself; indeed, his enemies attributed the obstinate
resistance of the soldier to the ‘enchantment’ cast over him by the
statesman. But though the Secretary’s mental vigour was undiminished,
his bodily health was so shattered that, when it was intended to
discharge the heavy ordnance, he had to be carried down into the low
vault of ‘David’s Tower,’ as he could not ‘abide the shot.’
For all this, there was no wavering on the part of Kirkcaldy. He felt
the fullest confidence as to his ability to hold out, so long as he had
Morton alone to deal with; and he believed that fear of irritating the
French Court, and unwillingness to incur the heavy expenses of sending
a siege train to Scotland might yet deter Elizabeth from lending active
assistance to the Regent. In spite of the besiegers’ utmost efforts
to prevent him, he continued the work of fortifying the Castle with
earth, stone, and timber; and indeed, in his determination to ‘give the
Earl of Morton and all his men of war enough to do to wait upon him,’
he omitted nothing that experience could suggest or courage carry out,
to add to the natural strength of the fortress.
Unfortunately for the Captain, the six or seven score fighting men
that made up his garrison were not all animated with the same spirit.
Not one of them had ever stood a siege before, and the hardships which
they had to undergo were beginning to tell on them both morally and
physically. Obliged, with but little intermission, to fight their guns
by day, and by night to repair the damage done to their outworks, and
having to subsist on the one pint of water and the scant rations of
salt-beef that Lady Kirkcaldy distributed to them daily, ‘they were
all ill-like in the face with over-working or watching.’ They were
beginning to feel too that there was no remedy or recompense to be
looked for at Grange’s hands; and some of them, indeed, were already
anxious to make terms for themselves. As the Captain’s increasing
watchfulness left them no opportunity of communicating directly with
the enemy, they cast a letter enclosed in a glove over the walls,
trusting to the finder to take it to those for whom it was intended.
It contained a request that, if there were any hope of mercy for the
garrison, a certain sign should be made in a certain place, and they
would come forth. On the part of Morton, nothing was left undone to
foster this spirit of mutiny; and his secret agents were not only
authorised to promise a free pardon in his name, to such as were
already planning to desert from the Castle, but also to bribe the
others, by distributing two thousand crowns amongst them.
The discontent that was spreading amongst his men did not escape the
Captain’s vigilance. Calling them together, he asked if any amongst
them wished to abandon the cause. Lord Home’s resolute reply, that he
would serve as a private soldier, both by day and night, ‘stopped the
mouths of the meaner sort,’ though, according to Killegrew, they meant
to make a very different answer, and though many were anxious to come
away, if only they might well get forth.
In the meantime, the negotiations which had been dragging on between
the Regent and the English Court, had effected a definite result. On
the 13th of April, a proclamation issued in the name of King James,
announced that the assistance of England had been secured, with a view
to putting an end to the Civil War, and that a body of English troops
would soon arrive to reinforce the besieging army. Twelve days later,
an English contingent, under Sir William Drury, arrived in Edinburgh,
and a final summons was sent to Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange,
and the other holders and retainers of the Castle of Edinburgh, to
surrender it, with the artillery, munitions, and household stuff; and
to remove, devoid, and rid themselves, their wives and servants forth
of it, within six hours. Being intended for the wavering soldiers,
and not for their resolute leader, this summons was not delivered to
the Governor in writing, but was publicly proclaimed by a herald. To
drown his voice Kirkcaldy ordered his drums to beat; and the only reply
he vouchsafed to make was, that he wist not what the messenger had
declared.
The ordnance sent from England was disembarked at Leith, on the 26th of
April. Next day, besides running up the Scottish Queen’s standard, the
Governor of the Castle hoisted ‘a banner of red colour, denouncing war
and defiance, upon the chief tower of the Castle called King David’s
Tower.’ Including ‘both tag and rag,’ there were at that moment one
hundred and ninety-two persons within the Castle. Forty-two of them
were women, and thirteen were boys. That left a hundred and thirty
men, not all soldiers, besides the Governor himself; and of these
according to Killegrew’s information, eighteen of the best would fain
have been out.
It took much longer than had been anticipated to get the ordnance
into position. By the 5th of May, of twenty-four pieces of battery
and four mortars, there were but six planted; and the month was half
through before ‘the artillery of England was placed about the Castle
of Edinburgh in this manner. On the north side of Mr John Thornton’s
lodging on the Castle Hill lay the cannon royal, and two other
cannons; on the crofts of the Grey Friars, lay three great culverin;
at the Scots crofts lay six great culverin; above the west side of St
Cuthbert’s Kirk lay two Scottish iron pieces; at the north side two
Scots great culverins, and my Lord Argyle’s cannon, with four pott
pieces; at the lang gait on the east side of the said pott pieces lay
three small pieces, with strong and deep trenches in all parts.’ At
length, on Sunday, the 17th of May, at one in the afternoon, ‘some
of the pieces began to speak such language that it made them in the
Castle think more of God than they did before.’ When the first ‘tier’
of ordnance was discharged, the women within the walls uttered a great
and lamentable cry, ‘terming the day and hour black.’ ‘The soldiers,
however,’ says Drury, ‘showed themselves in no small companies here
and there, but especially they showed many on the top of St David’s
Tower, with great pride displaying two ensigns, and shooting at every
advantage they saw.’ To what good effect the Castilians plied their
guns may be learnt from Birrell’s Diary. ‘Ther wes,’ he says, ‘a very
grate slaughter amongst the English canoniers, sundries of them having
ther legges and armes torne from their bodies in the aire by the
viholence of the grape shot.’
On the 21st of May the English gunners began battering St David’s
Tower; and two days later a large portion of it came crushing down.
The 26th saw the capture of an important position called the ‘Spur.’
This disaster, combined with the growing dissatisfaction of his men,
who complained that Lady Grange scanted their victuals, that were scant
enough already, at length obliged the Governor to beat a parley. A
two days’ truce was granted, and negotiations were opened with a view
to the surrender of the Castle. The three thousand great shot, which,
according to Drury’s computation, had been fired at the fortress, had
wrought such havoc that no practicable means of exit was left. In order
to meet Drury, Grange, Pitarrow, and Robert Melville had to be let down
by a rope over the wall.
The conditions demanded by the besieged were that they should have
surety for the lives and livings of all that were within the Castle,
that Lethington and Lord Home, because of particular quarrels might
go into England, and that Grange should remain in Scotland, with a
licence to depart the realm if he found himself ill-used. Morton was
quite willing to spare the soldiers, and he took special care that
they should be informed of it; but he insisted that the surrender
should be unconditional as regarded Grange, Lethington, and nine
others, including the two goldsmiths who had coined money for the use
of the Castilians. On hearing this, Kirkcaldy went back to the Castle
determined to hold out to the last. But the men were now in open
mutiny. They declared their determination of hanging Maitland from the
battlements if he did not urge Grange to surrender, and of handing the
Governor himself to Morton, if he still refused to yield. There was no
alternative. On the 29th of May Sir William gave himself up to Drury
who, in recognition of the courage which he had displayed, allowed him
to leave the Castle with his arms. The citizens had suffered too much
at his hands to entertain any generous feeling towards him, and as
he and his companions were led through the crowd to the lodgings of
Drury, jeers and insults were heaped upon him. The balladist Semple has
described the scene:--
‘Thair wes compleit the prophecie of Knox:
Doun fra that Crag Kirkcaldy sall reteir,
With schame and sclander lyke ane hundit fox.’
With gild[6] of pepile sa thay brocht thame doun,
As birdis but plumis, spulizeit of the nest:
Part cryde: ‘quhair is he? lat vs se the loun;
Go to and staen him; lat him tak na rest.’
Quhen thay yt buir him saw thame selfis opprest,
Thay cryit for succour for to saue thair lyuis:
The Generallis lugeing, thair thay thocht it best,
Thay led him in, thay war sa red[7] for wyuis.’
For three days Grange was allowed to go about freely, rather as a
guest than a captive, but at the end of that time he was treated as a
prisoner.
One of Morton’s first cares, after the surrender of Edinburgh Castle,
was to demand that the jewels which Queen Mary was known to have left
there when she fled from her capital, should be delivered up to him.
His greed, however, was doomed to disappointment. The greater part of
the treasure upon which he was so characteristically anxious to lay
hands, had already been disposed of. Indeed, the Queen’s diamonds had
been the chief source of the garrison’s credit during the three years
that the Castle was held for her. In 1570 several objects of value
had been sent by Kirkcaldy to be sold in London. Elizabeth, however,
had got information, and not only stopped the sale, but ordered the
articles to be detained. The Governor met with better success in
France; and when, in the following spring, his brother arrived in Leith
with munitions and stores, it was commonly reported that they had been
purchased with the price of some of Mary’s diamonds.
The next year, another parcel of jewels was said to have been sold
to a secret agent of Queen Elizabeth’s for two thousand five hundred
pounds. At various other times, objects of value had been given in
pledge to merchants and others for moneys advanced to supply the needs
of the beleaguered garrison. There was consequently but little left
at the time of the surrender; but to prevent even that from falling
into Morton’s hands, some of it had been hidden in a crevice of the
Castle rock. A confession having been extracted from Morsman to the
effect that at the last moment he had made over certain valuables to
Kirkcaldy, the Governor was called upon to restore them. He replied
that he had, indeed, got some gear in an evil favoured clout, but did
not see what it was, and had thrown it into an open coffer in his
room. He protested that he had taken nothing out of the Castle but the
clothes on his back and four crowns in his purse.
From the moment that Grange and Lethington surrendered as prisoners to
the English, Morton resolved that their lives should pay the penalty
of their open defiance of his authority, and he did not hesitate to
declare that he thought them ‘fitter for God than for this world,
for sundry considerations.’ He accordingly demanded that they should
be given over to him; and after some hesitation real or pretended,
Elizabeth granted his request. Whilst she still seemed to be wavering
the two prisoners wrote the following appeal to Burghley:--
‘MY LORD,--The malice of our enemies is the more increased against us,
that they have seen us rendered in the Queen’s Majesty’s will, and
now to seek refuge at her highness’s hands. And, therefore, we doubt
not but they will go about by all means possible to procure mischief;
yea, that their cruel minds shall lead them to that impudency to crave
our bloods at her Majesty’s hands. But whatsoever their malice be,
we cannot fear that it shall take success; knowing with how gracious
a Princess we have to do, which hath given so many good proofs to the
world of her clemency and mild nature, that we cannot mistrust that
the first example of the contrary shall be shewn upon us. We take this
to be her very natural, _Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos_.
‘We have rendered ourselves to her Majesty, which to our own
countrymen we would never have done, for no extremity that might have
come. We trust her Majesty will not put us out of her hands to make
any others, especially our mortal enemy, our masters. If it will
please her Majesty to extend her most gracious clemency towards us,
she may be as assured to have us as perpetually at her devotion as any
of this nation, yea, as any subject of her own; for now with honour
we may oblige ourselves to her Majesty farther than before we might,
and her Majesty’s benefit will bind us perpetually. In the case we
are in, we must confess we are of small value; yet may her Majesty
put us in ease, that perhaps hereafter we will be able to serve her
Majesty’s turn, which occasion being offered, assuredly there shall be
no inlack of good-will. Your Lordship knoweth already what our request
is; we pray your Lordship to further it. There was never time wherein
your Lordship’s friendship might stand us in such stead. As we have
oftentimes heretofore tasted thereof, so we humbly pray you let it not
inlack us now, in time of this our great misery, when we have more
need than ever we had. Whatsoever our deservings have been, forget not
your own good natural. If, by your Lordship’s mediation, her Majesty
conserve us, your Lordship shall have us perpetually bound to do you
service.
‘Let not the misreports of our enemies prevail against us. When we are
in her Majesty’s hands she may make us what pleaseth her.
‘From Edinburgh, the 1st June 1573.’
The petition was unheeded. A few days later Drury was instructed
to hand over his prisoners to the Regent. In the meantime Maitland
had died,--it is difficult to determine whether it was from natural
causes or ‘after the old Roman fashion, to prevent his coming to the
shambles’--and Grange was left to bear the brunt of Morton’s revenge.
On the 3rd of August, Sir William Kirkcaldy and his brother James,
together with Morsman and Cockie, the two goldsmiths who had coined
money in the Queen’s name, were brought to trial and condemned to
death. Between the passing of the sentence and its execution in the
afternoon of the same day, a final and frantic effort was made to save
the Laird of Grange. Five score gentlemen,--kinsmen, friends, and
well-wishers,--the least of them having heritage worth five hundred
marks Scots a year, offered to become servants, themselves and their
offspring, perpetually, to the houses of Angus and Morton, by giving
their bond of man-rent; and, in addition to that, to pay twenty pounds
annually, for more thraldom. They further promised to hand over twenty
thousand pounds to the Regent, before the following Michaelmas, and
to restore twenty thousand pounds of the Queen’s jewels that were in
sundry hands. But Morton was under the influence of a power greater
than even his own avarice. The offers, he admitted to Burghley, were
as large as could possibly have been made; yet, he added, ‘considering
what has been, and is, daily spoken by the preachers, that God’s plague
will not cease till the land be purged of blood, and having regard that
such as are interested by the death of their friends, the destruction
of their houses, and the away-taking of their goods, could not be
satisfied by any offer made to me in particular, I deliberated to let
justice proceed.’
It was through David Lindsay, the minister of Leith, who visited
Kirkcaldy after the trial, that this last appeal for mercy was made.
When he returned with a stern refusal the condemned man said to him:
‘Mr David, for our old friendship and for Christ’s sake leave me not.’
A little later, when he saw the scaffold prepared at the Cross, the
day fair and the sun shining brightly, so marked a change came over
him that Lindsay, noticing it, inquired what affected him. ‘Faith, Mr
David,’ replied he, ‘I perceive well now that Mr Knox was the true
servant of God, and that his threatenings are accomplished.’ He then
desired Lindsay to repeat Knox’s words. The minister did so, adding
that Knox had told him that he had been earnest with God for Grange;
that he was sorry for what should befall his body for the love he bore
him; but that he was assured there was mercy for his soul. Kirkcaldy
seemed much comforted and encouraged by this. As the fatal hour drew
near he begged Lindsay to accompany him to the scaffold: ‘I hope in
God, that after men shall think I am passed and gone, I shall give you
a token of the assurance of that mercy to my soul according to the
speech of that man of God.’
In the afternoon the Laird of Grange, and Morsman, who was to be
executed with him--James Kirkcaldy and Cockie were to be hanged later
in the day--were drawn backwards from their prison to the gibbet. It
was about four o’clock, ‘the sun being west, about the north-west
corner of the steeple, when Sir William was thrust off the ladder. As
he was hanging, his face was set toward the east; but within a prettie
space turned about to the west against the sun, and so remained; at
which time Mr David marked him, when all supposed he was dead, to lift
up his hands which were bound before him, and to lay them down again
softlie; which moved him with exclamation to glorify God before all the
people.’
Of the man who thus ended his eventful life, his contemporary Melville
has written: ‘He was humble, gentle, and meek, like a lamb in the
house, but like a lion in the fields. He was a lusty, strong, and
well-proportioned personage, hardy, and of a magnanimous courage,
secret and prudent in all his enterprises, so that never one that he
made or devised misgave, where he was present himself. When he was
victorious he was very merciful, and naturally liberal, an enemy to
greediness and ambition, and a friend to all men in adversity. He
fell frequently in trouble in protecting innocent men from such as
would oppress them, so that these his worthy qualifications were also
partly causes and means of his wreck; for they promoted him so, in the
opinion of many, that some loved him for his religion, uprightness, and
manliness; others, again, depended upon him for his good fortune and
apparent promotion, whereby divers of them hoped to be advanced and
rewarded, supposing that offices and honours could not fail to fall to
him. All which he wanted through his own default; for he had fled from
avarice, and abhorred ambition, and refused sundry great offices even
to be Regent, which were in his offer as well as other great benefices
and pensions. Thus wanting place and subsistence to reward he was soon
abandoned by his greedy and ambitious defenders: for when they saw him
at a strait, they drew to others, whom they perceived to aim at more
profitable marks. On the other hand, he was as much envied by those who
were of a vile and unworthy nature, of whom many have made tragical
ends for their too great avarice and ambition, as shortly after did the
Earl of Morton. This gallant gentleman perished for being too little
ambitious and greedy.’
Nothing that has been recorded in these pages contradicts Melville’s
eulogy. And posterity may be content to adopt his estimate of the
character of an honourable man, a brave soldier, and a sincere patriot.
THE END.
INDEX
ARRAN, Earl of, besieges St Andrews, 29.
BALNEAVES, Henry, at St Andrews, 28.
---- sent to Henry VIII., 30.
---- a prisoner in France, 42.
BEATON, murder of Cardinal, 20-25.
BOTHWELL accused of murdering Darnley, 84.
---- carries off Mary, 85.
---- marries Mary, 89.
---- retreats to Borthwick Castle, 89.
---- at Carberry, 90.
---- pursued by Kirkcaldy, 94.
CAITHNESS, Bishop of, writes to Wharton, 56.
CARBERRY HILL, 90.
CARMICHAEL, one of Beaton’s murderers, 24.
---- a prisoner in France, 42.
DARNLEY, marriage of, 82.
---- murdered, 84.
EVERS, Lord, Governor of Berwick, 53.
EVERS, Ralph, meets Kirkcaldy in single combat, 54.
GRANGE, the, 9.
GUISE, Mary of, attempts to check the Reformation, 63.
---- enters Perth, 67.
---- death of, 79.
HAMILTON, James, a hostage at St Andrews, 27.
HENRY VIII. negotiates with James V., 11.
---- at war with James V., 15.
---- sends help to St Andrews, 30.
JAMES V., 11.
---- and the Treasurer, 12.
---- threatens the Prelates, 12.
---- rejects alliance with England, 15.
---- defeated at Solway Moss, 16.
---- at Halyards, 16.
----, death of, 17.
JEWELS, the Queen’s claimed, 149.
KIRKCALDY, James, 13.
---- marries Helen Leslie, 18.
---- his brother’s agent, 144.
---- betrayed by his wife, 144.
---- executed, 153.
KIRKCALDY, John, a prisoner in England, 53.
---- attacked by Durie, 118.
KIRKCALDY, Sir George de, 10.
KIRKCALDY, Sir James, 10.
---- appointed Treasurer, 10.
---- opposed to Beaton, 10.
---- arrests Sir James Hamilton, 11.
---- negotiates with Henry VIII., 11.
---- accused of Heresy, 12.
---- denounces the Prelates, 12.
---- plot against him, 13.
---- plots against Beaton, 21.
KIRKCALDY, Sir James, at St Andrews, 28.
---- a prisoner in France, 42.
----, death of, 53.
KIRKCALDY, Sir William de, 10.
KIRKCALDY, Sir William, birth of, 18.
---- with James V., 16.
---- at the King’s death, 18.
---- educated in France, 20.
---- at the murder of Beaton, 22.
---- sent to Henry VIII., 30.
---- returns to St Andrews, 32.
---- a prisoner in France, 42.
---- escapes from Mt. St. Michel, 45.
---- returns to Scotland, 47.
---- secret agent in France, 48.
---- serves under Henry II., 48.
---- offers his services to Mary Tudor, 51.
---- returns to Scotland, 52.
---- meets Evers in single combat, 54.
---- negotiates with Wharton, 56.
---- his interview with Knox, 67.
---- writes to Sir H. Percy, 68.
---- sets forth the Policy of the Congregation, 69.
---- declares himself with the Protestants, 72.
---- at the siege of Leith, 73.
---- his house destroyed, 76.
---- harasses the French in Fife, 77.
---- reported to be wounded, 78.
---- Knox’s praise of, 78.
---- besieges Castle Semple, 80.
---- nearly captures Huntly, 81.
---- opposes the marriage with Darnley, 81.
KIRKCALDY, Sir William, in the Round About Raid, 82.
---- escapes to England, 83.
---- returns to Scotland, 83.
---- writes to Cecil concerning Darnley’s murder, 85.
---- pursues Mary and Bothwell, 89.
---- at Carberry, 90.
---- protests against the treatment of Mary, 92.
---- pursues Bothwell, 94.
---- Governor of Edinburgh Castle, 97.
---- at Langside, 99.
---- disapproves of Murray’s policy, 100.
---- challenges Morton, 103.
---- rescues Maitland, 105.
---- his intentions suspected, 108.
---- justifies his conduct, 109.
---- his attitude towards Lennox, 115.
---- forcibly rescues a prisoner, 119.
---- denounced by Knox, 120.
---- prepares for a siege, 125.
---- writes a ballad, 126.
---- his challenge, 127.
---- justifies his conduct, 128.
---- his challenge taken up, 133.
---- surrenders to Drury, 148.
---- his appeal to Burghley, 150.
---- appeal to Morton, 152.
---- his execution, 153.
---- his character, 153.
KNOX, John, at St Andrews, 28.
---- a prisoner in France, 41.
---- returns to England, 47.
---- preaches in Perth, 65.
---- urges an appeal to England, 67.
---- denounces Kirkcaldy, 120.
---- his death, 141.
LANGSIDE, battle of, 99.
LEITH besieged by the Congregation, 73.
---- siege of, raised, 74.
LENNOX appointed Regent, 115.
---- his death, 135.
LESLEY, John, one of Beaton’s murderers, 24.
LESLEY, Norman, one of Beaton’s murderers, 21.
---- a prisoner in France, 42.
---- death of, 49.
LESLIE, Helen, 13.
---- married to James Kirkcaldy, 18.
---- betrays her husband.
LINDSAY, Sir David, at St Andrews, 28.
MAITLAND of Lethington joins the Congregation, 73.
---- impeached, 102.
---- finds refuge in Edinburgh Castle, 105.
---- during the siege, 144.
---- appeals to Burghley, 151.
---- his death, 152.
MAR appointed Regent, 136.
---- his death, 141.
MARY STUART returns to Scotland, 81.
---- marries Darnley, 82.
---- pursues the malcontents, 82.
---- carried off by Bothwell, 85.
---- marries Bothwell, 89.
---- retreats to Borthwick Castle, 89.
MARY STUART at Carberry, 90.
---- escapes from Lochleven, 97.
---- takes the field against Murray, 98.
---- at Langside, 99.
MORTON appointed Regent, 141.
MURRAY appointed Regent, 97.
---- takes the field against Mary, 98.
---- at Langside, 99.
---- death of, 106.
PERTH, religious riots in, 66.
---- the Congregation departs from, 67.
---- Mary of Guise enters, 67.
PITTENWEEM, Prior of, 14.
RIZZIO murdered, 84.
ROUND ABOUT RAID, 82.
SEMPLE, poetical appeal to Kirkcaldy, 116.
---- his description of Kirkcaldy’s surrender, 149.
SINCLAIR, Master of, Kirkcaldy’s comrade, 76.
ST ANDREWS, Castle of, besieged, 26-40.
STIRLING, the Raid of, 134.
STROZZI at the siege of St Andrews, 37.
WHARTON negotiates with Kirkcaldy, 58.
FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
_The following Volumes are in preparation_:--
GEORGE BUCHANAN. By ROBERT WALLACE, M.P.
JEFFREY AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS. By Sir HUGH GILZEAN REID.
ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON.
MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN.
ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE “FAMOUS SCOTS” SERIES.
Of SIR WALTER SCOTT, by GEORGE SAINTSBURY,
The _Pall Mall Gazette_ says:--
“Mr Saintsbury’s miniature is a gem of its kind.... Mr Saintsbury’s
critique of the Waverley Novels will, I venture to think, despite all
that has been written upon them, discover fresh beauties for their
admirers.”
Of THOMAS CARLYLE, by H. C. MACPHERSON,
The _Literary World_ says:--
“One of the very best little books on Carlyle yet written, far
out-weighing in value some more pretentious works with which we are
familiar.”
Of ALLAN RAMSAY, by OLIPHANT SMEATON,
The _Scotsman_ says:--
“It is not a patchwork picture, but one in which the writer, taking
genuine interest in his subject, and bestowing conscientious pains on
his task, has his materials well in hand, and has used them to produce
a portrait that is both lifelike and well balanced.”
Of HUGH MILLER, by W. KEITH LEASK,
The _Expository Times_ says:--
“It is a right good book and a right true biography.... There is a very
fine sense of Hugh Miller’s greatness as a man and a Scotsman; there is
also a fine choice of language in making it ours.”
Of JOHN KNOX, by A. TAYLOR INNES,
Mr Hay Fleming in the _Bookman_ says:--
“A masterly delineation of those stirring times in Scotland, and of
that famous Scot who helped so much to shape them.”
Of ROBERT BURNS, by GABRIEL SETOUN,
The _New Age_ says:--
“It is the best thing on Burns we have yet had, almost as good as
Carlyle’s Essay and the pamphlet published by Dr Nichol of Glasgow.”
Of THE BALLADISTS, by JOHN GEDDIE,
The _Spectator_ says:--
“The author has certainly made a contribution of remarkable value to
the literary history of Scotland. We do not know of a book in which
the subject has been treated with deeper sympathy or out of a fuller
knowledge.”
Of RICHARD CAMERON, by Professor HERKLESS,
The _Dundee Courier_ says:--
“In selecting Professor Herkless to prepare this addition to the
‘Famous Scots Series’ of books, the publishers have made an excellent
choice. The vigorous, manly style adopted is exactly suited to the
subject, and Richard Cameron is presented to the reader in a manner
as interesting as it is impressive.... Professor Herkless has done
remarkably well, and the portrait he has so cleverly delineated of one
of Scotland’s most cherished heroes is one that will never fade.”
Of SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON, by EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON,
The _Daily Chronicle_ says:--
“It is indeed long since we have read such a charmingly-written
biography as this little Life of the most typical and ‘Famous Scot’
that his countrymen have been proud of since the time of Sir Walter....
There is not a dull, irrelevant, or superfluous page in all Miss
Simpson’s booklet, and she has performed the biographer’s chief
duty--that of selection--with consummate skill and judgment.”
Of THOMAS CHALMERS, by W. GARDEN BLAIKIE,
The _Spectator_ says:--
“The most notable feature of Professor Blaikie’s book--and none could
be more commendable--is its perfect balance and proportion. In other
words, justice is done equally to the private and to the public life
of Chalmers, if possible greater justice than has been done by Mrs.
Oliphant.”
Of JAMES BOSWELL, by W. KEITH LEASK,
The _Morning Leader_ says:--
“Mr W. K. Leask has approached the biographer of Johnson in the only
possible way by which a really interesting book could have been
arrived at--by way of the open mind.... The defence of Boswell in the
concluding chapter of his delightful study is one of the finest and
most convincing passages that have recently appeared in the field of
British biography.”
Of TOBIAS SMOLLETT, by OLIPHANT SMEATON,
The _Weekly Scotsman_ says:--
“The book is written in a crisp and lively style.... The picture of
the great novelist is complete and lifelike. Not only does Mr Smeaton
give a scholarly sketch and estimate of Smollett’s literary career, he
constantly keeps the reader in conscious touch and sympathy with his
personality, and produces a portrait of the man as a man which is not
likely to be readily forgotten.”
Of FLETCHER OF SALTOUN, by W. G. T. OMOND,
The _Leeds Mercury_ says:--
“Unmistakably the most interesting and complete story of the life
of Fletcher of Saltoun that has yet appeared. Mr Omond has had many
facilities placed at his disposal, and of these he has made excellent
use.”
Of THE BLACKWOOD GROUP, by Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS,
The _Weekly Citizen_ says:--
“It need not be said that to everyone interested in the literature of
the first half of the century, and especially to every Scotsman so
interested, ‘The Blackwood Group’ is a phrase abounding in promise.
And really Sir George Douglas fulfils the promise he tacitly makes in
his title. He is intimately acquainted not only with the books of the
different members of the ‘group,’ but also with their environment,
social and otherwise. Besides, he writes with sympathy as well as
knowledge.”
Of NORMAN MACLEOD, by JOHN WELLWOOD,
The _Star_ says:--
“A worthy addition to the ‘Famous Scots Series’ is that of Norman
Macleod, the renowned minister of the Barony in Glasgow, and a man as
typical of everything generous and broadminded in the State Church in
Scotland as Thomas Guthrie was in the Free Churches. The biography
is the work of John Wellwood, who has approached it with proper
appreciation of the robustness of the subject.”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Sent back.
[2] If any troubles should arise.
[3] Worthy.
[4] Without equal in this kingdom.
[5]
For I have men and meat enough,
They know I am a fighter tough,
And will be right soon grieved;
When they have lost as many teeth,
As they did at the siege of Leith,
They will be fain to leave it.
Then who, I pray you, shall be bound
Their losses to make good?
Or give such composition
As they got then of France?
Thus blinded, beguiled,
They will but get a cheat;
Come they here, these two years
They shall not miss their thrashing.
[6] clamour.
[7] afraid.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
--Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.