if any disorder had happened. The appearance at that time was so great, and so much heat was raised upon it, that the earl of Nithisdale would not open all his instructions, but came back to court, looking on the service as desperate: so a stop was put to it for some time.

crowned in

In the year 1633 the king came down in person He was to be crowned. In some conventions of the states Scotland. that had been held before that, all the money that the king had asked was given; and some petitions were offered setting forth grievances, which those whom the king employed had assured them should be redressed but nothing was done, and all was put off till the king should come down in person. His entry and coronation were managed with such magnificence, that the country suffered much by it: all was entertainment and shew. When the parliament sat, the lords of the articles prepared an act declaring the royal prerogative, as it had been asserted by law in the year 1606; to which an addition was made of another act passed in the year 1609, by which king James was impowered to prescribe apparel to churchmen with their own consent. This was a personal thing to king James, in consideration of his great learning and experience, of which he had made no use during the rest of his reign. And in the year 1617, when he held a parliament there in person, an act was prepared by the lords of the articles, authorizing all things that should thereafter be determined in ecclesiastical affairs by his majesty, with consent of a competent number of the clergy, to have the strength and power of a law. But the king either apprehended that great opposition would be made to the passing

the act, or that great trouble would follow on the execution of it: so when the rubric of the act was read, he ordered it to be suppressed, though passed in the articles. In this act of 1633 these acts of 1606 and 1609 were drawn into one. To this, great opposition was made by the earl of Rothes, who desired the acts might be divided: but the king said, it was now one act, and he must either vote for it or against it. He said, he was for the prerogative as much as any man, but that addition was contrary to the liberties of the church, and he thought no de22 termination ought to be made in such matters without the consent of the clergy, at least without their being heard. The king bid him argue no more, but give his vote: so he voted, not content. Some few lords offered to argue: but the king stopped them, and commanded them to vote. Almost the whole commons voted in the negative: so that the act was indeed rejected by the majority: which the king knew; for he had called for a list of the numbers, and with his own pen had marked every man's vote: yet the clerk of register, who gathers and declares the votes, said it was carried in the affirmative. The earl of Rothes affirmed it went for the negative: so the king said, the clerk of register's declaration must be held good, unless the earl of Rothes would go to the bar, and accuse him of falsifying the record of parliament, which was capital: and in that case, if he should fail in the proof, he was liable to the same punishment: so he would not venture on that. Thus the act was published, though in truth it was rejected. The king expressed a high displeasure at all who had concurred in that opposition. Upon that the lords had many meetings: they reckoned

noch's trial.

that now all their liberties were gone, and a parliament was but a piece of pageantry, if the clerk of register might declare as he pleased how the vote went, and that no scrutiny were allowed. Upon that, Hague, the king's solicitor, a zealous man of that party, drew a petition to be signed by the lords, and to be offered by them to the king, setting forth all their grievances, and praying redress: he shewed Balmerithis to some of them, and among others to the lord Balmerinoch, who liked the main of it, but was for altering it in some particulars: he spoke of it to the earl of Rothes in the presence of the earl of Cassilis and some others: none of them approved of it. The earl of Rothes carried it to the king; and told him, that there was a design to offer a petition in order to the explaining and justifying their proceedings, and that he had a copy to shew him: but the king would not look upon it, and ordered him to put a stop to it, for he would receive no such petition. The earl of Rothes told this to Balmerinoch: so the thing was laid aside: only he kept a copy of it, and interlined it in some places with his own hand. While the king was in Scotland he erected a new bishopric at Edinburgh, and made one Forbes bishop, who was a very learned and pious man: he had a strange faculty of preaching five or six hours at a time: his way of life and devotion was thought monastic, and his learning lay in antiquity: he studied to be a reconciler between papists and protestants, leaning rather to the first, as appears by his Considerationes modesta: he was a very simple man, and knew little of the world: so he fell into 23 several errors in conduct, but died soon after sus

pected of popery, which suspicion was increased by his son's turning papist. The king left Scotland much discontented, but resolved to prosecute the design of recovering the church lands: and sir Thomas Hope, a subtil lawyer, who was believed to understand that matter beyond all the men of his profession, though in all respects he was a zealous puritan, was made the king's advocate, upon his undertaking to bring all the church lands back to the crown: yet he proceeded in that matter so slowly, that it was believed he acted in concert with the party that opposed it. Enough was already done to alarm all that were possessed of the church lands: and they, to engage the whole country in their quarrel, took care to infuse it into all people, but chiefly into the preachers, that all was done to make way for popery. The winter after the king was in Scotland, Balmerinoch was thinking how to make the petition more acceptable: and in order to that he shewed it to one Dunmoor, a lawyer in whom he trusted, and desired his opinion of it, and suffered him to carry it home with him, but charged him to shew it to no person, and to take no copy of it. He shewed it under a promise of secrecy to one Hay of Naughton, and told him from whom he had it. Hay looking on the paper, and seeing it a matter of some consequence, carried it to Spotswood, archbishop of St. Andrew's; who apprehending it was going about for hands, was alarmed at it, and went immediately

y (Quam insigniter reverendo viro (Guil. Forbesio) injurii sint, qui eum Catholicum Rom. prædicant, inter alia perspi

cuum est concione publica ab eo habita Edinburgi coram rege Carolo I. an. 1633. Vit. Joh. Forbesii à Corse. p. 10.)

to London, beginning his journey, as he often did, on a Sunday, which was a very odious thing in that country 2. There are laws in Scotland loosely worded, that make it capital to spread lies of the king or his government, or to alienate his subjects from him. It was also made capital to know of any that do it, and not discover them: but this last was never once put in execution. The petition was thought within this act: so an order was sent down for committing lord Balmerinoch. The reason of it being for some time kept secret, it was thought done because of his vote in parliament. But after some consultation, a special commission was sent down for the trial. In Scotland there is a court for the trial of peers, distinct from the jury, who are to be fifteen, and the majority determine the verdict: the fact being only referred to the jury or assize, as they call it, the law is judged by the court: and if the majority of the jury are peers, the rest may be gentlemen. At this time a private gentleman of the name of Steward was become so considerable, that he was raised by several degrees to be made earl of Traquair and lord treasurer, and was in great favour; but suffered afterwards such a reverse of fortune, 24 that I saw him so low that he wanted bread, and was forced to beg; and it was believed died of hunger. He was a man of great parts, but of too much craft: he was thought the capablest man for business, and the best speaker in that kingdom. So he was charged with the care of the lord Balmerinoch's trial: but when the ground of the prosecution was known, Hague, who drew the petition, writ a

z Poor malice. S.

a A strange death: perhaps

it was of want of meat. S.