his conduct from the king, and a full pardon, in the most ample form, declaring him incapable of being accused or brought to trial for any crime, of whatever weight or magnitude, without exception, which might hereafter be alleged against him; and granting him a complete discharge for all his intromissions with money, rents, property, or casualties, which had taken place during his regency. This instrument was expressed in the strongest language, and declared to be irrevocable, the nobility, who surrounded the king, pledging themselves, under a penalty of five hundred thousand pounds, to procure a confirmation of the deed at the first meeting of parliament.

A council was immediately appointed to sit at Edinburgh, to manage the administration of affairs, and Morton retired to the quiet of Lochleven, "making," says Sir James Melville, "the walks of his garden even, his mind, in the meantime, employed in crooked paths." *

Whether the regent had begun to perceive that he had carried matters too far-for it is evident he only wished to introduce as much of episcopacy as would enable him to manage the churchmen easily, and retain the church property he had acquired-or whether he perceived any symptoms of dissatisfaction, the precursors of that storm which afterward burst so unexpectedly upon his head, he allowed the ministers to proceed with comparatively little disturbance, in humbling the bishops, and introducing that form of church polity which they conceived more consonant to the Scriptures.+

In the first assembly, 1576, the question respecting the function of bishops was again introduced, when their equality was again affirmed; and in order that the abstract proposition

* Melville, p. 252.

+ Morton appears, about this time, to have conceived the idea of buying off the most popular leaders. He offered Andrew Melville the rich living of Govan, if he would desist from his opposition to the bishops; but the purpose of Melville was not to be shaken, and with a disinterestedness which unfortunately, even among good men is more applauded than imitated, he preferred his integrity with a small income, to a larger where the least compromise of principle was involved. He procured, however, the gift for the college of Glasgow.

should not remain a dead letter, it was determined that every bishop should take charge of a particular congregation. Nor was the judicial power of the general assembly over them allowed to slumber. James Paton, bishop of Dunkeld, having been convicted of alienating the revenues of his see, was deposed. Paton appealing, from the sentence of the assembly, to parliament, a deputation was sent to represent their proceedings to the regent, who returned for answer, that he entirely approved of their conduct; but desired that some uniform rule for procedure in such cases in future should be established; either that they would adopt the articles settled on at Leith as their standard, or devise some new form of government by which they would abide. The assembly chose the latter alternative, and informed him that they should, without delay, take the subject into their consideration, and draw up a scheme of church polity, which they would submit to the council for their approbation. For this purpose, they immediately appointed four committees; one for the west, to meet in Glasgow; another for Lothian, in Edinburgh; the third for Angus, Montrose; and the fourth for Fife, St. Andrews; and these, after deliberating separately, were to depute each one or two of their number to meet at Stirling, and after a conference, to draw up the result in a report to the next general assembly.

There is scarcely on earth a more desolate being than a fallen minister of state, if he do not carry with him, in his retirement, the blessings of the people, and the favour of the good. The minions who basked in his sunshine are the first to desert him, and it is the interest of those who have wrought his disgrace to prevent his ever attaining the power of recovery. It was not long before Morton began to feel this. His enemies were not satisfied with his removal from office, and notwithstanding their solemn engagements, they even, before he retired to Lochleven, began to show that they had no serious intention of observing their agreement. They urged the king to demand the surrender of the castle of Edinburgh, of which he was still possessed; a sum of money, to defray

Calderwood, p. 70.

the expense attendant on his majesty's assuming the government; to call him to an account for his management of the mint, and the profits he had derived from it; to institute a strict inquiry into the state of the borders, and his nephew, the earl of Angus, to be deprived of the wardenship. Morton at first hesitated to deliver up the castle of Edinburgh, and appeared as if he intended to defend it, but a convoy of provisions, which he was sending to supply the place, being intercepted by the inhabitants of Edinburgh, he delivered it up without resistance to lords Ruthven and Lindsay, who took possession of the royal apartments, and the jewels of the crown, Seton of Touch, and Cunningham of Drumwhassil, at the same time, receiving the keys of the gates, but he absolutely declined to advance any money, alleging that he had sustained the expense of the civil war; that he had repaired and beautified the castles and palaces belonging to the king, and supported the royal household and the dignity of the regency, for which the revenue of the crown was inadequate; yet, when his majesty came of age, he would, without hesitation, devote his fortune to support his honour; with respect to the mint and the borders, in reply to the demands, he said he left them entirely in the hands of the king.

The confederate nobles, trusting too much to the facility with which they had deprived Morton of the regency, urged prematurely demands that necessarily took away from him any confidence he might have felt disposed to place in their honour or promises. He saw now there remained for him no hope of safety, but in a situation beyond the reach of his enemies, and he determined, if he could not regain the rank he formerly held, at least to regain the power. In this determination, he was confirmed by an unfortunate casualty, which occasioned universal grief, and placed the high office of chancellor, to the great dissatisfaction of the nation, in the hands of a papist.

Lord Glammis, on his return from his last mission to Morton, in going to report the issue to the king, followed by a numerous train, accidentally encountered, in a narrow lane, the earl of Crawford similarly attended. The two earls, between whom some quarrel subsisted, passed each other in si

lence; but their retainers were not so quietly disposed, and a scuffle ensuing, the chancellor was mortally wounded by a pistol ball. He was a man of unblemished character, and in the situation he held, had secured the esteem of all parties by his moderation.

Athol was appointed his successor; and the earls of Caithness, Eglinton and lord Ogilvie, were at the same time chosen members of the council, all of whom were strongly suspected of being either papists or favourers of popery, a circumstance which the protestants viewed with a jealous eye, and compared with the conduct of Morton, who never committed any place of trust to either professed papists or suspected persons. In his retreat, styled by the people, the lion's den, † the ex-regent, who was meditating schemes of ambition, was no inattentive observer of the changes which were taking place, and the revolution in men's sentiments with regard to himself, and deeming the crisis favourable, he created, at least took advantage of some jealousies which had sprung up in the Marr family, and left his retreat once more to appear on the theatre of action. The abbots of Dryburgh and Cambuskenneth fearing, or affecting to fear, that Alexander Erskine meant to retain the sole superintendence of the royal person, even after the earl, his nephew, now a youth of twenty, had come of age, inspired young Marr with a similar suspicion; on which, he repaired suddenly to Stirling, and being admitted as usual with his attendants into the castle, seized the gates early in the morning, and turning out his uncle, who dreaded no danger, placed new guards upon the gates, and made the garrison swear fidelity. The soldiers without hesitation submitted, and thus he obtained an easy and blood. less possession, both of the king's person and of the fortress.

No sooner were the council, who remained at Edinburgh, apprised of this unexpected event, than they prepared to set out for Stirling, the inhabitants of Edinburgh offering to furnish them with a guard; but their advance was prohibited by letters from the king, who informed them, that what had taken place, was only in consequence of some private dissen

* Spotswood, p. 283.

+ Robertson.

sions among the Marr family, which would easily be adjusted, and required them to come in a few days without any armed : attendants to Stirling, and assist at the reconciliation.

This injunction was immediately obeyed, and, shortly after, a council met at Stirling, where it was agreed, that the earl of Marr, being now of age, should retain the castle, and personally attend upon the king; and that his uncle Alexander, the master of Marr, should continue captain of that of Edinburgh, but enjoy free access at all times to his majesty.

In their momentary exultation, Morton's enemies had summoned a parliament to meet at Edinburgh in the month of July. The king and his advisers, however, called a council of the nobility to assemble previously at Stirling, on the 10th of June, to arrange the business to be laid before parliament, and to which the king, by special letter, invited Morton. Morton, who was amusing the council at Edinburgh with a pretended negotiation, immediately obeyed the expected invitation, and setting out at midnight, was admitted by Murray of Tullibardine into Stirling castle. At the meeting of the nobles, he was chosen president from respect to the situation he formerly held, and managing with dexterity the advantages he had obtained, soon possessed his former ascendency among the immediate counsellors of the king. As it would have been highly imprudent to have carried the young king to a place entirely devoted to the opposite faction, a proclamation was issued in his name, changing the place of meeting from Edinburgh to Stirling castle, "because his majesty was anxious to be present in person, and could not with propriety remove from his usual residence."

The nobles of the opposite party, who had always considered Morton as the author of this sudden revolution, although he had not hitherto appeared in any of its movements, now began openly to express their dissatisfation; and the citizens of Edinburgh, who had long looked with jealousy at the king's abode being fixed in Stirling, now that the parliament was also to be removed thither, exhibited their discontent by the readiness with which they received and propagated rumours calculated to excite the public mind against the supporters of the late change. The king, it was at one time said, was de