were also exported*. Large estates resembled petty principalities, the lords of which, while they trampled with impunity on the inferior classes, frequently gave law to the sovereignt. Their feuds were inveterate, and conducted like wars betwixt foreign states: Murders, burnings, plunderings, and devastations disgraced the community, and the aristocracy endeavoured, by formal leagues or associations amongst themselves, to obtain that security-against powerful neighbours often, again, banded for their destruction-which the laws could not afford t.

Moryson's Travels, P. iii. B. iii. ch. 4. Spottiswoode's Hist. p. 490. + Buchanan's Hist. and the first part of the first vol. of Calderwood's Manuscript Hist. in the Adv. Library, present a lamentable picture of society. Spottiswoode's Hist. is a valuable performance for the light it throws on this subject. The little respect paid to royalty is conspicuous in every page of Scottish history. Few of their kings died a fair death: and it seems to have been a matter of great importance to get a prince into their custody. Thus, in 1526, Sir Walt. Scott of Balclugh, or Buccleugh, was anxious to take James V. from the Earl of Angus, and the young king inclined to a change of masters, but the earl's brother, having in vain attempted to prevail with him "by alluring words" to hasten his pace, resorted to a more convincing argument: "rather," says he, " as the enemies take you from us, we must keep one half of your body with us." Calderwood's MS. Hist. vol. i. p. 36. The Earl of Arran wished to get possession of the young queen's person in 1543, "deeming by that means that he should have upon his side, not only the shadow of her name, but also might dispose of her marriage as he thought good, and either feed the English king with promises, or draw him to his partie." Id. p. 167. The repeated attempts to seize King James VI.'s person by Bothwell, not Mary's paramour, are well known, likewise the raid of Ruthven, Gowrie's conspiracy. A lively picture of the tyranny of the aristocracy, and the consequent misery of the people may be seen in the Bas. Dor. p. 160.

As a proof of the state of the country, we may refer particularly to the following authorities. Spottiswoode, p. 61, 62, 70, 186, 187.

During the papal supremacy, the church, it is alleged, though perhaps with some exaggeration, enjoyed nearly half the territory of the kingdom, independently of her immense revenue from tithes, and was of course great and powerful. With that disposition which all bodies of men never fail to

The country was in 1571 convulsed with civil war, and to such a height did faction run, that fathers are represented as having been opposed to their own sons. Even children that could scarcely speak had their plays founded on such distinctions. P. 253—273, 306.—In 1583, the Church represented to the King, that there was a universal murmur, that no man could be assured of his lands, not even life, the laws of the country being wholly perverted; and they regretted the division of the nobles, one party seeking the overthrow and ruin of the other, p. 327.-P. 347, 382, 4, 6, 7, 8, 390, 400-1, 7, 8, 9, 411, blood and slaughter were common, and it was impossible to bring the guilty to punishment. P. 443. James boasted of having drawn Scotland out of infinite troubles, factions, and barbarities. P. 488.He recommends to the Council (an. 1603,) to remove barbarous feuds, and prohibits the custom of entering into associations for mutual security, and as presumptuous in subjects, who should depend on the laws, p. 490–496, 504, 510, 528. Calderwood's MS. Hist. Vol. I. first part of it, he says, that in 1514 the country was greatly disquieted with robbery, slaughter, and oppression. The country was rent with faction; bands and confederacies were common, and it was not accounted the greatest evil that M'Robert Stroven overran Athole and the adjacent counties with 800 thieves, and sometimes more. P. 4, et seq. See p. 44, et seq. for the subsequent state of the kingdom. See also his Printed Hist. p. 129 to 132. P. 142, 149. Mr. R. Bruce admonishes the king to execute justice upon malefactors, at the hazard of his life. For that the Lord would assist him, if he prayed to him for resolution; but that if he did not act so, "he would not be allowed to enjoy his crown alone, but every man would have one." 265. Bothwell's attempt upon Falkland Palace, accompanied by borderers. 271. The raid of Leith, and other matters. 298, 306. In p. 319, a most horrible picture is presented. Johnston, p. 55, 73.

possess, and which, with little truth, has been imputed in a greater degree to the clergy than to other incorporations, the church was ambitious for pre-eminence, and naturally embraced overtures from the throne for repressing the exorbitant power of the aristocracy, hurtful alike to the pretensions of both *. From their habits, less powerful in arms than their territory would otherwise have promised, the clergy yet far outstript the nobility in knowledge and industry; their number and influence in Parliament were great, and as they generally filled the high offices of state †, for which their superior mental attainments qualified them, they could give such a strong direction to the current of affairs as to render them potent allies to the throne. The arrogant pretensions and wealth of the Scotch church under the papal system have been a fruitful theme of declamation; but it would argue little knowledge of human affairs not to admit, that, in former times, her power was salutary. Land, in her possession, could not be more injurious to the general interest than in the hands of a haughty aristocracy: on the contrary, there is every reason to believe that

*See Stuart's View of the Reformation.

+ Calderwood, in his MS. History, Vol. I. p. 1, et seq. says, that the prelates were introduced into all civil offices of importance, after the battle of Flowdon Field, because there did not remain a sufficient number of the nobility qualified to fill them. See Sir Ralph Saddler's Letters and Negociations, p. 61. Sir Ralph, by order of his master Henry VIII. advised James V. to seize upon the religious houses to increase his revenue, but James would not listen to the sacrilegious proposal. P. 37, et seq.

Anno 1400,

according to Spottiswoode.

her vassals were far more independent than those of the nobility, an incorporation being ever the best landlord; and it was their interest equally with that of the Crown, to counterpoise the strength of the nobility by supporting the privileges of the lower orders. But her attachment to the throne, in opposition to the aristocracy, provoked their hatred, as her wealth excited their cupidity, and these passions burst into action the instant the reformation promised to gratify them.

The opinions of Wickliffe had, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, penetrated into Scotland*; but the soil was not yet ripe for their reception. When the Reformation had begun to convulse the rest of Europe, it reached that country, though somewhat later than it had done the sister kingdom; and, as usual, the attempts to arrest its progress by persecution, gave it additional vigour t. Such a grand movement of the human mind could not want a leader, and in Knox it found an able and a zealous one. Not to him, however, but to the natural course of events, is its peculiar direction in Scotland to be ascribed. In England, the

* See Knox's History of the Reformation, p. 1. et seq. Spottiswoode, p. 56. Calderwood, MS. in Advocates' Library, Introd. p. 93. Printed Hist. p. 1.

+ Spottiswoode, p. 62 to 65. Calderwood's MS. Hist. p. 58 and 9. Stuart's Hist. of the Reformation. Yet in 1560, when the Reformation had gained considerable ground, the Popish prelates were silent in Parliament while the Catholic doctrine was assailed: Upon which the Earl Marshal observed, that he had been formerly jealous of the Romish religon, but was now confirmed in the truth of the new doctrine, since the Catholic Bishops could say nothing in favour of the Pope. Spottiswoode, 150.

sovereign, placing himself at the head of the Reformation, was enabled, from the peculiarity of his situation, to preserve episcopacy against the wishes of the people. In the other country, the power of the sovereign was too limited to stem the torrent, and as she vainly endeavoured to withstand the innovation altogether, it necessarily took that direction which the influence of the Prince had prevented on the southern side of the Tweed. Nor is its course less to be attributed to the selfishness of the aristocracy, and even of part of the Protestant ministry, than to the piety of the people, and the rest of their pastors. The plunder of the English church had whetted the cupidity of the Scottish aristocracy, who were sufficiently predisposed against the clergy, and who descried, in the downfal of bishoprics, abbeys, &c. great accession of territory and wealth to themselves: The

This may be fairly inferred from their conduct: and they are charged directly with preferring the Presbyterian Establishment from the hope of plunder. Johnston, Hist. Rer. Brit. p. 16. Ed. 1655. Spott. p. 86. "The gentlemen of the west complain of the oppressions of churchmen, and a proclamation to attend the borders in a service against England affording a pretext, some of them entered the Queen Regent's chamber, and one Chalmers of Gaitgirth said, "We know, Madam, that this is the device of the Bishops, who stand by you: We avow to God it shall not go so, they oppress us and our poor tenants for feeding their idle bellies, they trouble our preachers, and seek to undo them all: We shall suffer it no longer. With that every man made to his weapon." P. 94-5. What followed? << To our great grief," said the reformed clergy, "we hear that some gentlemen are now more rigorous in exacting tythes and other duties paid before to the church, than ever the Papists were, and so the tyranny of priests is turned into the tyranny of lords and lairds." P. 164. The aristocracy obtained almost the whole patrimony of the kirk into their