the conspiracy, and were protected by Elizabeth. And James himself, though he prudently concealed it, took great umbrage at her behaviour. None, however, of Elizabeth's intrigues in Scotland tended to hurt the king's person, but only to circumscribe his authority, and to thwart his schemes. His life was the surest safeguard of her own, and restrained the popish pretenders to her crown, and their abetters, from desperate attempts, to which their impatience and bigotry might, otherwise, have urged them on. To have encouraged Gowrie to murder his sovereign, would, on her part, have been an act of the utmost imprudence. Nor does this seem to have been the intention of the two brothers. Mr. Ruthven, first of all, endeavoured to decoy the king to Perth, without any attendants. When these proved more numerous than was expected, the earl employed a stratagem in order to separate them from the king, by pretending that he had rode away towards Falkland, and by calling hastily for their horses, that they might follow him. By shutting James up, meanwhile, in a distant corner of the house, and by attempting to bind his hands, their design seems to have been rather to seize than to assassinate him. And though Gowrie had not collected his followers, so as to have been able to detain him long a prisoner in that part of the kingdom, by open force, he might soon have been conveyed aboard the English ship, which waited perhaps to receive him, and he might have been landed at East Castle, a house of Logan's, in which, according to many obscure hints in his letters, some rendezvous of the conspirators was to be held. Amidst the surprise and terror, into which the king must have been thrown by the violence offered to him, it was extremely natural for him to conclude that his life was sought. It was

the interest of all his followers to confirm him in this belief, and to magnify his danger, in order to add to the importance and merit of their own services. And thus, his fear, and their vanity, aided by the credulity and wonder which the comtemplation of any great and tragical event, when not fully understood, is apt to inspire, augmented the whole transaction. On the other hand, the extravagance and improbability of the circumstances which were added, detracted from the credit of those which really happened; and even furnished pretences for calling in question the truth of the whole conspiracy.

In the following parliament, the dead bodies of the two brothers were produced according to law; an indictment for high treason was preferred against them; witnesses were examined; and, by an unanimous, sentence, their estates and honours were forfeited; the punishment due to traitors was inflicted on their dead bodies; and, as if the punishment hitherto in use did not express sufficient detestation of their crimes, the parliament enacted that the surname of Ruthven should be abolished; and in order to preserve the memory of the king's miraculous escape, and to declare the sense which the nation had of the divine goodness, to all future ages, appointed the fifth of August to be observed, annually, as a day of public thanksgiving.

MASTER OF GRAY.

EAGER to deprive the banished nobles concerned in the Raid of Ruthven, of Elizabeth's protection, James appointed the master of Gray his ambassador to the court of England, and intrusted him with the conduct of a negotiation for that

purpose; an honour for which he was indebted to the envy and jealousy of the earl of Arran. Gray possessed all the talents of a courtier; a graceful person, an insinuating address, boundless ambition; and a restless and intriguing spirit. During his residence in France, he had been admitted into the most intimate familiarity with the duke of Guise, and in order to gain his favour, had renounced the protestant religion, and professed the utmost zeal for the captive queen, who carried on a secret correspondence with him, from which she expected great advantages. On his return into Scotland, he paid court to James with wonderful assiduity, and his accomplishments did not fail to make their usual impression on the king's heart. Arran, who had introduced him, began quickly to dread his growing favour; and flattering himself that absence would efface any sentiments of tenderness from the mind of a young prince, pointed him out, by his malicious praises, as the most proper person in the kingdom for an embassy of such importance; and contributed to raise him to that high dignity, in order to hasten his fall. Elizabeth, who had an admirable dexterity in discovering the proper instruments for carrying on her designs, endeavoured, by caresses, and by presents, to secure Gray to her interest. The former flattered his vanity, which was great; and the latter supplied his profuseness, which was still greater. He abandoned himself without reserve to Elizabeth's directions, and not only undertook to preserve the king under the influence of England, but acted as a spy upon the Scottish queen, and betrayed to her rival every secret that he could draw from her by his high pretensions to zeal in her service.

Gray's credit with the English court was extremely galling to the banished nobles. Elizabeth no longer thought of employing her power to re

store them; she found it easier to govern Scotland by corrupting the king's favourites; and, in compliance with Gray's solicitations, she commanded the exiles to leave the north of England, and to remove into the heart of the kingdom. This rendered it difficult for them to hold any correspondence with their partisans in Scotland, and almost impossible to return thither without her permission. Gray, by gaining a point which James had so much at heart, rivetted himself more firmly than ever in his favour; and by acquiring greater reputation, became capable of serving Elizabeth with greater

success.

Upon the unjustifiable sentence of Mary to death, James without losing a moment, sent new ambassadors to London. These were the master of Gray and sir Robert Melvil. In order to remove Elizabeth's fears, they offered that their master would become bound that no conspiracy should be undertaken against her person, or the peace of the kingdom, with Mary's consent; and for the faithful performance of this, would deliver some of the most considerable of the Scottish nobles as hostages. If this were not thought sufficient, they proposed that Mary should resign all her rights and pretensions to her son, from whom nothing injurious to the protestant religion, or inconsistent with Elizabeth's safety, could be feared. The for mer proposal Elizabeth rejected as insecure; the latter as dangerous. The ambassadors were the instructed to talk in a higher tone; and Melv executed the commission with fidelity and wit zeal. But Gray, with his usual perfidy, deceive his master, who trusted him with a negotiation o so much importance, and betrayed the queen whon he was employed to save. He encouraged and urged Elizabeth to execute the sentence against her rival. He often repeated the old proverbial sen

tence : “The dead cannot bite." And whatever should happen, he undertook to pacify the king's rage, or at least, to prevent any violent effects of his resentment.

Mary's death, however, proved fatal to the master of Gray, and lost him that favour which he ad for some time possessed. He was become as dious to the nation as favourites, who acquire ower without merit, and exercise it without disretion, usually are. The treacherous part which e had acted during his late embassy was well known, and filled the king, who at length came to the knowledge of it, with surprise. The courtiers bserved the symptoms of disgust arising in the king's mind; his enemies seized the opportunity, and sir William Stewart, in revenge of the perfidy with which Gray had betrayed his brother, captain James, publicly accused him before a convention of nobles, not only of having contributed, by his advice and suggestions, to take away the life of the queen, but of holding correspondence with popish princes, in order to subvert the religion established in the kingdom. Gray, unsupported by the king, deserted by all, and conscious of his own guilt, made a feeble defence. He was condemned to perpetual banishment, a punishment very unequ to his crimes. But the king was unwilling to ab ed don one whom he had once favoured so highly of the rigour of justice; and lord Hamilton, his nea? relation, and the other nobles who had lately returned from exile, in gratitude for the zeal with which he had served them, interceded warmly in his behalf.