AF The Scottish Progress of James VI FTER his accession to the English throne James VI. paid but one visit to Scotland, in 1617. His journey towards London fourteen years earlier aroused Carlyle to enthusiasm not for its own sake, but on account of certain notable doings at Hinchinbrook in Huntingdonshire.1 He did not consider the Scottish progress so memorable, although it created much commotion north of the Tweed. The reason is not far to seek. In the hero-worshipper's eyes the bare possibility that little Oliver, who had in 1603 just completed his fourth year, may have waved a welcome to the shambling monarch appears to be of greater significance than the fact that Laud accompanied James to Scotland in 1617 with the express purpose of enforcing Episcopacy on its unwilling inhabitants. As at the present day a royal progress entailed considerable labour and forethought on the authorities, although different considerations, of course, arose in the seventeenth century. The preparations for his Majesty's reception occupied more than a year, and the Privy Council of Scotland and their subordinates were hard at work during this trying period supervising the repair of the roads and royal palaces, issuing proclamations for the suppression of vagabonds and the preservation of game, and making elaborate arrangements for the transport of the king's luggage from place to place. Road mending was not apparently a congenial task to the local magnates, and we find that just before James arrived in Scotland certain border lairds were severely reprimanded for neglecting to obey the Council's orders, and directed to repair the highway within ten days under pain of rebellion. In May, 1616, an Act was passed empowering the Master of the Works to rebuild certain portions of the Palaces 1 Historical Sketches of Notable Persons and Events in the Reigns of James I. and Charles I. 1898, pp. 9 and 134. 2 Register of Privy Council of Scotland, xi. 1616-1619, 1894, p. 92. of Holyrood, Stirling and Falkland, while the statutes relating to mendicity are especially interesting. The vagabonds, who resorted to the capital, had become an intolerable nuisance, and it was feared that they might be a source of annoyance to the haughty English visitors in the king's train. The first act for their suppression had no effect; and two further proclamations were issued against these 'stronge idle and maisterfull beggaris, counterfute bairdis and foollis,' who were to be found everywhere begging and extorting alms. They were ordered to address themselves to their own parishes on pain of scourging and other refined tortures on their first conviction, and of death for the next offence. All noblemen and gentlemen were directed to have a pair of fast lokket stokkis' for punishing the offenders, and each parish had to provide 'one or tua strong able men' to walk 'athorte' the town and apprehend them. While the beggars were being hunted, a close time was ordered for game. The king himself, writing from Newmarket on February 19, 1616, gave strict directions that the laws against the shooting of deer, hares and wildfowl should be rigorously enforced, as he and his retinue wished to enjoy good sport. The Privy Council seem to have had some difficulty in carrying out these commands. The Earl of Linlithgow and his son, Lord Livingston, were summoned to appear before them at the instance of the Earl of Perth for encroaching on the Royal Forest of Glenarnay, and a commission was granted to the Earl of Tullibardine to try poachers in Perthshire. In January, 1617, a proclamation was made against the killing of bucks which might stray from the park of Falkland Palace, and heavy penalties were exacted in proportion to the rank of the offenders. The exact numbers of the retinue and transport accompanying the king are uncertain, but they fell far short of 5000, for whom the townspeople of Edinburgh were told to prepare. We may picture the consternation of the unhappy Provost and Bailies when they were directed 'to mak a perfyte survey of the haill ludgeingis and stabellis within the burgh of Edinburgh, the Cannogait, Leythe Wynd, Pleasance, Potterraw and Weste Porte, and to foirsee and provide that thair be good ludgeingis within the said boundis for fyve thousand men and stablis for fyve thousand horse.' Moreover, the lodgings were to be furnished with good clean bedding and linen, and the stables provided with abundance 3 Register of Privy Council of Scotland, x. 1613-1616, 1891, p. 517. 4 lbid. x. p. 570. 5 Ibid. x. p. 597. 6 Ibid. xi. p. 7. 7 lbid. x. p. 683. of corn, hay and straw. As the late Professor Masson said, 'About the Christmas time of 1616, it was evident Auld Reekie must have been driven nearly to the end of its wits,' and the municipal authorities must have blessed the day when they saw the last of James and his courtiers. The Scottish nobility and gentry, who had already secured rooms in the Canongate, were curtly told by the Council to find accommodation elsewhere. Having so large a train the transport of his Majesty's baggage was no easy matter. It involved an enormous amount of labour, for James retraced his steps several times. In the various shires the Justices of the Peace were instructed to arrange for relays of horses and carts to be ready at prescribed times, and the rates of hire were fixed in each case. Two general constables were appointed for every shire, and their subordinates were required to see that the necessary conveyances were forthcoming. The onerous duties cast upon the authorities were not eagerly performed. The Justices of Stirlingshire refused to act, and were summoned before the Council to answer for their conduct under pain of death; whilst the Constabulary of Haddington, being rather dilatory, were threatened with horning, unless they accepted their offices by a certain day. The royal route was mapped out stage by stage, and the exact distances between each stopping place were carefully tabulated. Much attention was also paid to the furbishing and renewal of the king's wardrobe. Various portions of tapestry were said to be in the possession of several Scottish noblemen, and these relics of ancient days were hunted up. But Mr. John Auchmutie, Master of the Wardrobe, had very bad luck, and there is a touch of comedy in the pleas urged by the peers in excuse. The Lord Chancellor Dunfermline produced ten pieces, much worn, embroidered with the storie of Aeneas, the storie of Troy and the storie of Mankynd'; the Earl of Linlithgow alleged that the tapestry which he held had been 'cuttit through be umquhile Andro Cokburne, foole'; the Earl of Home said that his four pieces had been given him by the king for 'tua hunting horsis'; and the Lords of Loudoun and Balmerino denied having any of his Majesty's belongings at all.10 Auchmutie, however, found four beds, probably at Holyrood, one depicting the labours of Hercules; another of crimson velvet and gold; another of gold, silver and silk; and another, incomplete, 'sewit Ibid. x. Intro. p. cxiv. 9 Ibid. xi. Intro. p. xii. 8 10 Ibid. x. p. 521. be his Majestie's mother,' of the same material, which were sent to England to be repaired." Early in 1617, Captain David Murray was instructed to sail for London at the first occasioun of wynd and wedder' with the royal pinnace, The Charles, for the purpose of collecting tapestry, silverplate, household stuff, furniture, and other provisions for the king's use; and by his directions a special messenger was sent to James in all haste with his Scottish robe royal' in order that his Majesty might ascertain whether the precious garment was fit to be worn in ony grite solempnitie' or whether he should provide himself with a new one efter the fassioun of the auld.'12 It is noteworthy that James did not leave this momentous question to Sir Gideon Murray, the Treasurer Depute, who was authorised to search the royal wardrobe, but preferred to see the robe himself. ་ The works at Holyrood seem to have proceeded in a rather leisurely fashion; the Privy Council began to get anxious as the time for the king's arrival approached, and charged the magistrates of Dundee, St. Andrews, Dysart, and Pittenweem to appear before them with twenty-six craftsmen, whose names appear on the Register, to assist in completing the repairs.18 From time to time similar urgent messages were sent to different bodies for more skilled labour. In March, 1617, James left Whitehall, but his progress through England was slow. He stayed at various places on the way, including Newcastle, Bothall Castle, the seat of Sir Charles Cavendish, and Alnwick Abbey, and he did not cross the border till May 13. The king was accompanied by Ludovick, second Duke of Lennox, his kinsman and principal attendant at Gowrie House in 1600; Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, the friend. whom Raleigh shortly afterwards besought on the scaffold to justify his memory before James; Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the brilliant patron to whom Shakespeare dedicated Venus and Adonis and Lucrece; two brothers, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery; the notorious George Villiers, then Earl of Buckingham; and Edward la Zouch, Lord Zouch. Besides these peers there were three High Church Prelates, Dr. Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Ely, Dr. Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, and Dr. James 11 Register of Privy Council of Scotland, x. p. 624. 12 Ibid. xi. p. 66. 18 See further as to the repairs at Holyrood, Royal Palaces of Scotland, edited by R. S. Rait; London, 1911, p. 113. Montague, Bishop of Winchester, with a number of knights and other gentlemen. Inferior in rank, but certainly not in importance, was Dr. William Laud, 'a small chaplain, lean little tadpole of a man, with red face betokening hot blood,' as Carlyle limns him. From Berwick James went to Dunglas in Haddingtonshire, the seat of the Earl of Home, and at his first stopping-place he had to listen to a long Latin speech by Mr. Alexander Hume. By May 15 he was at Seton House, where he was received by the Earl of Winton, and was presented with a poem by William Drummond of Hawthornden entitled Forth Feasting, a Panegyric to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. It is a delightful example of this loyal author's playful fancy. The Forth is awakened from slumber by the sounds of joy and sport which herald the royal progress, and by the glittering throngs which crowd its banks. Earth and sky, mountain and stream, river-naiad and seagod are bidden to join in welcoming the returning monarch. And you my Nymphs, rise from your moist Repair ; Ah why should Isis only see Thee shine? Though Isis vaunt she hath more Wealth in store, These lines, taken at random from a long poem, are obviously the outcome of genuine admiration, lavish as is Drummond's praise of James. There is nothing artificial about his verse, for he has gone direct to nature for inspiration, and has avoided those fulsome and servile phrases of which the authors of the various addresses were guilty. Moreover there is a graceful allusion to the Union of the Crowns, which could only have been written by an adept in the art of diplomacy The Christal-streaming Nid, loud bellowing Clyde, |