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JAMES III.

DISCOVERED no less eagerness than his father or grandfather to humble the nobles; but far inferior to either of them in abilities and address, he adopted a plan extremely impolitic, and his reign. was disastrous as well as his end tragical. He both hated and feared his nobles, kept them at an undue distance, and bestowed every mark of confidence and affection upon a few mean persons of professions so dishonourable, as ought to have rendered them unworthy of his presence. Shut up with these in his castle at Stirling, he seldom ap-· peared in public, and amused himself with architecture, music, and other arts, which were then little esteemed. The nobles beheld the power and favour of these minions with indignation. His attachment to favourites rendered him every day more odious, and conspiracies were forming to deprive him of his crown.

The danger of a foreign invasion obliged James to implore the assistance of those whom he had neglected. They took the field; but with a stronger disposition to redress their own grievanoes than to annoy the enemy, and with a fixed resolution of punishing those minions whose insolence they could no longer tolerate: this resolution they executed in the camp near Lauder, where they forcibly entered the apartment of their sovereign, seized all the favourites except one Ramsay, whom they could not tear from the king, in whose arms he took shelter, and without any form of trial hanged them instantly over a bridge.. Among the most remarkable of those who had engrossed the king's affection, were Cochran a mason, Homilla a tailor, Leonard a smith, Rogers a musician, and Torfifan a fencing-master. So des

picable a retinue discovers the capriciousness of James's character, and accounts for the indignation of the nobles.

James disbanded his army, shut himself up in the castle of Edinburgh, and once more abandoned himself to the guidance of favourites. James became fonder of retirement than ever; and sunk in indolence or superstition, or attentive only to amusements, devolved his whole authority upon his favourites. So many injuries provoked the nobles to take arms to deprive James of a crown of which he had discovered himself to be so unworthy. Roused by this danger, the king took the field, and encountered them near Bannockburn; but the valour of the borderers soon put his troops to flight, and he himself was slain in the pursuit. Suspicion, indolence, immoderate attachment to favourites, and all the vices of a feeble mind, are visible in his whole conduct; but the character of a cruel and unrelenting tyrant seems to be unjustly affixed to him by our historians.

JAMES IV.

THE nobles endeavoured to atone for their treatment of the father, by their loyalty and duty towards the son. He was instantly placed upon the throne, and the kingdom united in acknowledging his authority. He was naturally generous and brave; he felt in an high degree all the passions which animate a young and noble mind; he loved magnificence, he delighted in war, and was eager to obtain fame. During his reign, the ancient enmity between the king and nobles almost entirely ceased; he envied not their splendour, because it contributed to the ornament of his court; nor did he dread their power, which he considered as the

security of his kingdom. This confidence on his part met with the proper return of duty and affec tion on theirs ; moved by ambitious motives more than expediency, he invaded England. In the rash and unfortunate battle of Floudon, a brave no bility chose rather to die than to desert their sovereign. The greater part of the nobles fell with the king.

JAMES V.

UCCEEDED his father when an infant of an year old. The office of Regent was conferred on the Duke of Albany, a man of genius and enterprise, but a native of France, and a stranger to the manners, the laws, and language of the people whom he was called to rule: after several unsuccessful struggles, he voluntarily retired to France. At the age of thirteen, James assumed the government, with eight of the nobles to aid his councils.

In a short time James had not only the name, but, though extremely young, the full authority of a king. He was inferior to no prince of that age in gracefulness of person, or in vigour of mind; his understanding was good, and his heart warm ; the former capable of great improvement, and the latter susceptible of the best impressions. But according to the usual fate of princes, who are called to the throne in their infancy, his education had been neglected; his private preceptors were more ready to flatter than to instruct him: accordingly we discover in James all the features of a great but uncultivated spirit. On the one hand violent passions, implacable resentment, and immoderate desire of power, and the utmost rage at disappointment. On the other hand, love to his people, zeal for the punishment of private oppress

sors, confidence in his favourites, and the most engaging openness of behaviour.

Dr. Stuart, in his history of the Reformation, gives the following character of James V. "He, with a vigorous constitution, and great advantages of person, had a mind turned for affairs and ingenious; he had studied the laws of his nation, and he distributed justice with a strict impartiality. He promoted new manufactures, and invited foreign artificers to reside in his kingdom: none of his subjects were refused access to him, and he was able to maintain a familiarity with them without losing his dignity: his munificence and liberality were exerted with a proper attention to his revenues. Though his education had been neglected, he was an encourager of learning: fond of pleasure, and prodigal of his love, many women of rank were seduced by him to admit his addresses. Of his nobility he was jealous without sufficient grounds, and when they offended him, his revenge was cruel and impolitic; but his greatest fault was the respect he entertained for Cardinal Beatoun and the clergy. Though moderate, and even careless in his religious principles, he adopted their intolerant spirit, and forgot that a good sovereign will not persevere in supporting ancient systems of theology, when they have become too gross and absurd for the understanding of his people."

Dr. Robertson continues to observe, concerning James, that the plan which he formed to humble the nobles, was more profound, more systematic, and pursued with greater constancy than that of any of his ancestors. He had penetration to discover those defects in the schemes adopted by former kings, which occasioned their miscarriage: the example of James I. had taught him, that wise laws operate slowly on a rude people, and that the

fierce spirit of the feudal nobles was not to be sub dued by those alone. The effects of the violent measures of James II. convinced him, that the oppression of one great family is apt either to ex cite the suspicion and resentment of the other nobles, or to enrich with its spoils some new family, which would soon adopt the same sentiments, and become equally formidable to the crown. He saw from the fatal end of James III. that neglect was still more intolerable to the nobles than oppression, and that the ministry of new men and favourites was both dishonourable and dangerous to a prince. At the same time, he felt that the authority of the crown was not sufficient to counterbalance the power of the nobles. He applied himself to the clergy, hoping that they would both relish his plan, and concur with all their influence. The superstition of an ignorant age had bestowed upon them a great proportion of the national wealth, and the authority which they acquired by the reverence of the people, was superior even to that which they derived from their riches. The nobles either despised their character, or envied their power. To gratify their king, to avenge themselves on those who were their sole rivals, the clergy eagerly embraced the proposal, and James deeming himself secure by so powerful a concurrence, proceeded with greater boldness. James no longer concealed his contempt of the nobles, and suffered no opportunity of mortifying them to escape. Slight offences were aggravated into real crimes, and punished with severity; their patience increased his contempt, and added to the ardour and boldness with which he pursued his plan.

At length, James, by a false step, presented to them an advantage, which they did not fail to improve. Henry VIII. had disclaimed the authority of the Pope, and desirous to induce James to a

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