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first hovel, where he was stabbed to the heart by one of the insurgents.

A. D. 1487.

James IV.

A prince begins his reign with a bad grace, when at the head of insurgents. James IV. called at once to justify and

to punish the death of his king, to avow himself guilty, or to disgrace the memory of a father, felt himself more inconsolable for the part he acted, than elevated by his new dignity.

The gallant admiral Wood displayed his loyalty equally by accepting English aid to avenge his king, as by conquering these faithless allies become lawless pirates. In vain did king Henry send other ships to resent the injury. Wood with two vessels takes the three sent against him, as he had formerly taken five.

James continued to feel the most lively remorse for the share he had taken in the rebellion that occasioned his father's death. He is said to have undertaken several pilgrimages on that account, and to have worn an iron chain on his body, to which he added a new link every year of his life.

After a short interruption, a seven years truce was agreed upon between England and Scotland: an English princess was given in marriage to the Scottish sovereign, and peace for some time secured.

A. D.

1503.

The navy of Scotland seemed at this time to make a considerable figure; a squadron was sent into the North Seas to the aid of John, king of Denmark; the Flemish and Dutch were next chastised for insulting the royal flag; a fresh war was rashly entered into against Henry VIII. bro

ther

ther of James's Queen, at the instigation of the French court. Notwithstanding the advice of his best counsellors, and the intreaties of his queen, James leads an army against England; where, at the memorable battle of Flowden-fields, he lost the flower of his nobility, and his own life, as has been mentioned in the English part of this history.

It is extraordinary that no advantage was taken by Henry of the death of king James, and of the infancy of his

son.

A. D.

1513.

James V.

Margaret, Henry's sister, being regent and guardian by her husband's will, was not attacked by her brother. She accepted the aid of some leading men; but being delivered of a son, she soon afterwards took the carl of Arran for her second husband.

He

A. D.

1555

power.

The Duke of Albany, then in France, was elected regent in her stead. ruled for some time without reproach, and defeated the machinations against his But having put to death the earl of Hume and his brother, who were intriguing against him, hisauthority daily declined: on his return from France, whither he had gone for his own affairs, he found his deputy murdered; so that, despairing of restoring order, he finally retired to his country.

The young king was now called upon to assume the government at the age of thirteen: with a council of eight, which was soon discarded by the earl of Angus, one of the number. Impatient of controul, James shook off the yoke of his council; he proceeded with steadiness and prudence to administer justice, and to regulate the

stat

state. He had, however, the misfortune to displease his nobles by some proceedings they deemed severe.

Henry VIII. proposed an interview with his nephew at York, in order to induce him to embrace the protestant religion; but provoked at a refusal he invaded Scotland. The nobles assembled reluctantly their forces to repel; but when called to pursue the invaders, they refused to march beyond their borders.

The indignant sovereign disbanded his forces, and retired. In order to revive his spirits, an inroad was planned on the western borders, but the king despising and distrusting his nobles, gave the command to a man of less note.

A. D.

Provoked at this insult, the troops refused to fight at the Raid of Solway Moss, 10,000 men laid down their arms before 500 Englishmen, without striking a blow.

1542.

These sad tidings broke the proud heart of James He refused from that moment to take any sustenance, and, after languishing some days, expired in the 31st year of his age.

CHAP. VII.

From the Birth of Queen Mary to her Return from

Mary, WE

A. D.

France.

E are now come to the most memo rable era of the Scottish history, whether we consider the civil or the reli

1542. gious state of the nation, and the important change that occurs in both.

The reader need not be told that we speak of the reformation, which, in its operation connecting itself with other causes, produced a total change in the political and religious system of Europe. The circumstances which brought about this remarkable event in other countries contributed, no doubt, to produce the same effect in Scotland. The chief of these seems to have been the wealth of the church. Though the laiety had contributed by their own profuseness to raise the clergy from poverty to riches and splendor, yet they began to look with a jealous eye on their possessions. On the other hand, it is not peculiar to the clergy to be corrupted by riches, which naturally lead to an indolent and licentious life. An immoral and opulent clergy gradually became the objects of contempt, envy, and hatred; and their doctrines were contested no less than their authority. In Scotland, the state of religion, previous to the reformation, was nearly the same as in other countries. The clergy, secu lar and regular, held by the gift of kings and nobles, several lands which their industry had rendered the most productive of any in the kingdom:

our

modern historians" do them the justice to confess that they were the best subjects in Europe; the one half of the public burthens and taxes was paid by them; they even advised James V. to resume the grants prejudicial to the crown, and made him a gratuitous offer of 50,000 crowns a year.

The same king, when urged by his uncle Henry VIII. to seize the revenues of the abbeys after his example, replied" what need I take them into my

Guthrie.

hands

hands, when I may have any thing I can require of them; for sure I am, there is not an abbey in Scotland at this hour but would chearfully give me whatever I want; and if there be abuses in them, I will reform them, for there be a great many good."

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Whatever we may think of the bigotry of those times, it is remarkable that the incroachments of the Roman pontiff were always resisted by the government and church of Scotland, nor was ever any money collected in the realm, even for the crusades, but by a free grant of the state.

The Scots seem not to have kept pace with other nations, either in their enthusiasm for the holy wars or in their implicit submission to the decrees of the Vatican. When Henry VIII. was excommunicated by the pope, and his subjects absolved from their allegiance, it does not appear that James, his nephew, ever dreamt of preferring his claim to the crown of England on such weak grounds. Ignorance no doubt was very prevalent : printing was in its infancy--books still very rare; and incessant wars checked the progress of all learning but whatever knowledge there was, the churchmen had it. If we may credit sir Ralph Sadler, the English minister at the court of James, "To be plain with you," says he, "I see none among them that hath any such agility of wit, gravity, learning, or experience; so that the king, as far as i can perceive, is of force driven to use the bishops and his clergy as his only ministers.— They be the men of wit and polity I see here." But what has most disgraced the annals of every nation, of every age, of every religion, is the spirit of persecution; and of this charge, we cannot ab

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