his prefumption in being the first that broke the filence. He defired, they would all confider what they were about: It was a matter of blood, and they would feel the weight of that as long as they lived: He had in his youth been drawn in to shed blood, for which he had the King's pardon, but it cost him more to obtain God's pardon: It had given him many forrowful hours both day and night: And as he spoke this, the tears ran over his face. This ftruck a damp on them all. But the Earl of Traquair took up the argument; and faid, they had it not before them whether the law was a hard law or not, nor had they the nature of the paper before them, which was judged by the Court to be leafing-making; they were only to confider, whether the prifoner had difcovered the contriver of the paper or not. Upon this the Earl of Lauderdale took up the argument against him, and urged, that fevere laws never executed were looked on as made only to terrify people, that tho' after the Court's having judged the paper to be feditious it would be capital to conceal the author, yet before fuch judgment the thing could not be thought fo evident that he was bound to reveal it. Upon thefe heads thofe Lords argued the matter many hours: But when it went to the vote, feven acquitted, but eight caft him: So fentence was given. Upon this many meetings were held: And it was refolved either to force the prifon to fet him at liberty, or if that failed to revenge his death both on the Court and on the eight jurors; fome undertaking to kill them, and others to burn their houses. When the Earl of Traquair underftood this, he went to Court, and told the King that the Lord Balmerinoch's life was in his hands, but the execution was in no fort advifeable: So he procured his pardon, for which the But parparty was often reproached with his ingratitude: But he thought he had been much wronged in the profecution, and fo little regarded in the VOL. I.

D

pardon,

doned.

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pardon, that he never looked on himself as under any obligation on that account. My father knew the whole fteps of this matter, having been the Earl of Lauderdale's moft particular friend: He often told me, that the ruin of the King's affairs in Scotland was in a great measure owing to that profecution; and he carefully preferved the petition it felf, and the papers relating to the trial; of which I never faw any copy befides thofe which I have. And that raifed in me a defire of feeing the whole record, which was copied for me, and is now in my hands. It is a little volume, and contains, according to the Scotch method, the whole abftract of all the pleadings, and all the evidence that was given; and is indeed a very noble piece, full of curious matter.

A liturgy When the defign of recovering the tithes went prepared. on, tho' but flowly, another defign made a greater progrefs. The Bifhops of Scotland fell on the framing of a liturgy and a body of canons for the worship and government of that church. Thefe were never examined in any publick affembly of the clergy: All was managed by three or four af piring Bishops, Maxwell, Sidferfe, Whitford, and Banautine, the Bifhops of Rofs, Galloway, Dunblane, and Aberdeen. Maxwel did alfo accufe the Earl of Traquair, as cold in the King's fervice, and as managing the treafury deceitfully; and he was afpiring to that office. Spotfwood, Archbifhop of St. Andrews then Lord Chancellour, was a prudent and mild man, but of no great decency in his courfe of life. The Earl of Traquair, feeing himself fo pushed at, was more earnest than the Bishops themselves in promoting the new model of worship and difcipline; and by that he recovered the ground he had loft with the King, and with Archbishop Laud: He also affifted the Bishops in obtaining commiffions, fubaltern to the Highcommission Court, in their several diocefes, which were thought little different from the Courts of Inquifition.

quifition. Sidferfe fet this up in Galloway: And a complaint being made in Council of his proceedings, he gave the Earl of Argile the lie in full Council. He was after all a very learned and good man, but strangely heated in those matters. And they all were fo lifted up with the King's zeal, and fo encouraged by Archbishop Layd, that they loft all temper, of which I knew Sidferfe made great acknowledgments in his old age.

pro

the go

vernment.

But the unaccountable part of the King's pro- The feeceedings was, that all this while, when he was en- bleness of deavouring to recover fo great a part of the perty of Scotland as the church lands and tithes were, from men that were not like to part with them willingly, and was going to change the whole conftitution of that Church and Kingdom, he raifed no force to maintain what he was about to do, but trufted the whole management to the civil execution. By this all people faw the weakness of the government, at the fame time that they complained of its rigour. All that came down from Court complained of the King's inexorable stiffness, and of the progrefs Popery was making, of the Queen's power with the King, of the favour fhewed the Popes Nuntios, and of the many profelytes who were daily falling off to the church of Rome. The Earl of Traquair infufed this more effectually, tho' more covertly, than any other man coulddo: And when the country formed the first oppofition they made to the King's proclamations, and protested against them, he drew the first proteftation, as Primrose affured me; tho' he defigned no more than to put a stop to the credit the Bishops had, and to the fury of their proceedings: But the matter went much farther than he feemed to intend: For he himself was fatally caught in the fnare laid for others. A troop of horse and a regiment of foot had prevented all that followed, or rather had by all appearance established an arbitrary government in that Kingdom: But to fpeak in the language of a great man, those who D 2 conducted

Saville's

conducted matters at that time, had as little of the prudence of the ferpent as of the innocence of the dove: And, as my father often told me, he and many others who adhered in the fequel firmly to the King's intereft were then much troubled at the whole conduct of affairs, as being neither wife, legal, nor juft. I will go no farther in opening the beginnings of the troubles of Scotland: Of these a full account will be found in the memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton. The violence with which that Kingdom did almoft unanimously engage against the adminiftration may easily convince one, that the provocation must have been very great to draw on fuch an entire and vehement concurrence against it.

After the first pacification, upon the new dif forgery, putes that arofe, when the Earl of Lowdun and prevailed Dumferling were fent up with the petition from Scots. the covenanters, the Lord Saville came to them,

on the

and informed them of many particulars, by which they faw the King was highly irritated against them: He took great pains to perfuade them to come with their army into England. They very unwillingly hearken'd to that propofition, and looked on it as a defign from the Court to enfnare them, making the Scots invade England, by which this Nation might have been provoked to affift the King to conquer Scotland. It is true, he hated the Earl of Strafford fo much, that they faw no caufe to fufpect him: So they entred into a treaty with him about it. The Lord Saville affured them, he spake to them in the name of the moft confiderable men in England; and he fhewed them an engagement under their hands to join with them, if they would come into England, and refufe any treaty but what fhould be confirmed by a Parliament of England. They defired leave to fend this paper into Scotland, to which after much feeming difficulty he confented: So a cane was hollowed, and this was put within it; and one

Froft,

the chief

Froft, afterwards fecretary to the Committee of both Kingdoms, was fent down with it as a poor traveller. It was to be communicated only to three perfons, the Earls of Rothes and Argile, and to Wariftoun, the three chief confidents of the covenanters. The Earl of Rothes was a man of plea- The cha fure, but of a moft obliging temper: His affairs racters of were low: Spotfwood had once made the bargain of the cobetween the King and him before the troubles, but venanters. the Earl of Traquair broke it, feeing he was to be raised above himfelf. The Earl of Rothes had all the arts of making himself popular; only there was too much levity in his temper, and too much liberty in his courfe of life. The Earl of Argile was a more folemn fort of a man, grave and fober, free of all fcandalous vices, of an invincible calmness of temper, and a pretender to high degrees of piety: He was much fet on raising his own family to be a fort of King in the High

lands.

Wariftoun was my own uncle: He was a man of great application, could feldom fleep above three hours in the twenty four: He had ftudied the law carefully, and had a great quickness of thought with an extraordinary memory. He went into very high notions of lengthen'd devotions, in which he continued many hours a day: He would often pray in his family two hours at a time, and had an unexhaufted copioufnefs that way. What thought foever struck his fancy during those effufions, he looked on it as an answer of prayer, and was wholly determined by it. He looked on the Covenant as the setting Chrift on his throne, and fo was out of measure zealous in it. He had no regard to the raifing himself or his family, tho' he had thirteen children: But Prefbytery was to him more than all the world. He had a readiness and vehemence of speaking that made him very confiderable in publick affemblies: And he had a fruitful invention; fo that he was at all times furnifhed

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