"That since his majesty had been 1664. pleased to continue him in that office, which by his means his worthy father, of happy memory, had bestowed upon him, he was ready in all humility to lay it at his majesty's feet; but since it was his royal will, he should enjoy it with the known privileges of the same, never a std priest in Scotland should set a foot before him as long as his blood was hot. When I had related this answer to the king, he said, Well, Lyon, let us go to business, I will not meddle further with that old cankered goutish man, at whose hands there is nothing to be gained but sour words." of rebellion in the minds of many good subjects, of purpose to dispose them to new troubles; and for that end have endeavoured to translate into the English tongue, an old seditious pamphlet, entituled, De jure regni apud Scotos, whereof Mr. George Buchanan was the author, which was condemned by act of parliament 1584, during the reign of his majesty's grandfather of blessed memory, and have dispersed many copies of the said translation, which may corrupt the affections of the subjects, and alienate their minds from their obedience to the laws, and his majesty's royal authority, and the present government, if it be not timously prevented: therefore the lords of his majesty's privy council, in his majesty's name and authority, command and charge all subjects of what degree, quality or rank soever they be, to bring and deliver to the clerk of council, all copies they have of the said pamphlet or book, translated, as said is, and that none presume hereafter to double any of the said copies, or disperse the same: with certification, that the contraveners shall be proceeded against as seditious persons, and disaffected to monarchical government, conform to the laws, with all rigour: and ordain those presents to be printed, and published at the marketcross of Edinburgh, and all other places needful, that none pretend ignorance. That same day, January 26th, another letter is read from the king to the council, acquainting them he had made choice of the persons who were to be commissioners for plantation of kirks, and ordered the register to insert them in the commission of parliament past thereupon, and requires them to advertise them to attend the diets of that commission, which he will have kept every week during session-time: whereupon the council write to all the members, to attend. Some notice hath been taken already of the new made bishops this year. In January, Mr. Alexander Burnet is admitted to be archbishop of Glasgow, in room of Mr. Fairfoul deceased; and Mr. Scougal is his successor at Aberdeen, who was reckoned among the devoutest of that order; and Mr. Andrew Honeyman is made bishop of Orkney, in room of Sideserf deceased. April 29th, by a letter from the king, the archbishop of Glasgow and Archibald earl of Argyle are added to the council, and take the oaths, and their places at that board. The same day a proclamation is published against that known and celebrated treatise of the great ornament of Scotland, Mr. George Buchanan, De jure regni apud Scotos, which deserves a room here. "Forasmuch as, notwithstanding it hath pleased the almighty God, to restore the kingdom to the great blessings of peace and prosperity, under the protection of his majesty's royal government, after the late grievous sufferings and bondage under usurpers; yet some seditious and disaffected persons endeavour to infuse the principles "GLENCAIRN, Chanc. I. P. D. Con." This proclamation is every way singular: for any thing that appears, this translation of that known piece of the celebrated Buchanan, was not printed, but only, it seems, handed about in manuscript; while in the meantime thousands of copies of it, in the Latin original, were in every body's hands. It had been more just to have ordered an answer to have been formed to the solid arguments in that dialogue, against tyranny and arbitrary government, and the courses at this time carrying on; and more reasonable, than to make such a needless noise about a paper we must suppose to be in the hands but of a very few. Upon the 30th of May this year, the earl Glencairn, lord high chancellor of Scotland, died at Boltoun in East-Lothian, of a high fever, in a few days sickness. He was set up the Tulchan bishops, died a 1664. reckoned a wise statesman, and a brave lamentable death; the earl of Dunsoldier, and had made gallant appearances bar, who brought them in upon the union of for the king, and the freedom and liberty of the crowns, was the first and last of that his country. In several things since the house; and now if Middleton fall, people restoration, he was driven beyond his inclina- will comment upon it."-Some hot words, tions by the prelates. We have seen that as hath been noticed, were said to have he was abundantly active in the establish- passed betwixt the chancellor and the ment of bishops; and it was evident enough primate, which stuck to the earl, who still that he had no satisfaction in this part of declared himself to be only for a moderate his conduct, when he came to die. The episcopacy: but he felt to his sad experience, pride of the archbishop of St. Andrews, and the prelates now brought in to be very far his getting himself into the precedency of from moderation. the chancellor, and the other officers of state, were no way agreeable to this nobleman, who was of a very ancient descent, and could not well bear the heights of our Scots prelates; and indeed it may appear strange, that our ancient nobility could so easily bow their necks to the yoke and tyranny of bishops. I am well informed from the person, to whom the chancellor had the expression, upon the rumours of Middleton's fall, that he was pleased to say, "If Middleton fall, people will infer that it is an accursed thing to bring in bishops to Scotland for captain James Stuart, who The following is Kirkton's account of this event:" This spring also, the chancellor left the world, and his short-lived honour. He died at Bolton in East-Lothian, of a fever, of five days; and though he had lived among the bishops and curates, yet he desired earnestly to die among presbyterians; and therefore as soon as he apprehended death, he posted away a messenger for Mr. Robert Douglas, who sojourned then at Preston, but was not to be gotten being absent in Fife. Then he sent for Mr. Robert Ker, in Haddington, but before he could come, the dying man had lost his senses, and so he was reproved in his sin, though he had made his last choice of those whom he had sore persecute. And so did many of our grandees, when they had their eyes opened with the terrors of death, particularly the duke of Rothes and earl of Annandale; and many more. Many a time the chancellor cried out, O, to have my last three years recalled!' but it would not be granted."-History of the Church of Scotland, pp. 203, 204. Mr. Wodrow, in additions and amendments, printed in the 2d vol. of his History, informs us, "That the king was pleased to be at the charges of the earl of Glencairn's burial; and I am warranted to say, so much from his majesty's letter to the council declaring so much: but I am since well informed, that the great charges of the funeral were never (for what reason I know not) refunded to that noble family, notwithstanding the singular services they had done the king."-Ed. At his death, my lord inclined much to have presbyterian ministers with him. He, earnestly desired Mr. Robert Douglas, but he was in Fife when the earl sickened : some others were sought in Edinburgh, and could not be had. And before Mr. Robert Ker could be brought from Haddington, my lord was so low, that he could not speak to him. I have been likewise well informed, that the chancellor showed a great concern to have a meeting with the primate before he died, that he might have dealt plainly with him; and an express was sent, but the archbishop had no mind to meet with the earl. The earl of Rothes, afterwards duke, and the earl of Annandale, and many others of our noblemen and gentlemen, how much soever in their life they had been hard upon presbyterian ministers, yet at their death they sought to have them with them, and got them; which made the duke of York one day say, he believed that Scotsmen, be what they would in their life, were all presbyterians at their death. July 28th, the earl of Glencairn was buried with a great deal of pomp and solemnity, in St. Giles's church in Edinburgh. He had done great services to the king, and he was pleased to be at the charges of the funerals. Doctor Burnet, archbishop of Glasgow, was the preacher of his funeral sermon. And August 1st, the great seal was depositate in the archbishop's hands, till a chancellor should be named. This year, June 3d, the earl of Tweeddale, now president of the council, was made one of the extraordinary lords of session: and the earl of Argyle, as we heard formerly, was restored to that earldom, and to 1664. all and sundry the lands, lordships, | John permitted to go up; and there, not and baronies thereunto belonging, being able satisfyingly to vindicate himself in fallen into the king's hands by the forfeiture several points, he demitted, and Sir John of his father; and to all and haill the mails, Nisbet succeeded. People could not but farms, and entries of all crops and years observe, that the earl of Middleton, the bygone and coming; to all debts and sums chancellor, and Sir John Fletcher, who had of money pertaining to the late marquis, and been so active in the introduction of precontained in his predecessors' infeftments. lacy, did not long continue in their posts, And, June 8th, the excellent marquis's neither had the satisfaction Mr. Sharp prohead was taken down from the tolbooth, posed to them, in that lamentable change early in the morning, about five of the made in this church. clock, by a warrant from the king, and was conveyed to his body. Thus the earl continued in favour, till his noble appearance for the protestant religion, at the duke of York's parliament, as we shall afterward hear. This summer, Sir John Fletcher, king's advocate, was obliged to quit that post, not much the richer for all he had got in it. He was a creature of Middleton's, and went up to court in the end of the last year, but did not succeed in his endeavours to keep his post, when his patron was discarded. July 14th, I find a letter from the king to the council read, giving license to Mr. Patrick Oliphant advocate, to pursue his majesty's advocate before the council; and they order the said Mr. Patrick to exhibit and give in his accusation the 26th. I find no more about him in the registers, till September 14th, when, "The lords of his majesty's privy council, in obedience to his majesty's commands, signified to them by the lord treasurer, do discharge any further procedure in the process at Mr. Patrick Oliphant's instance against Sir John Fletcher; and ordain either party's part of the process to be delivered back unto them, and his majesty's letter, which was the ground thereof, to be taken to his majesty by the lord treasurer, the same not being as yet booked." By other papers of this time, I find this process before the council was long and litigious. The advocate was libelled for bribery, partiality, and malversation in his office. The lords who tried him did not find his answers and defences relevant or satisfying; and finding matters going thus, he signified his inclinations to demit in the king's hands, and so the matter was transferred to London and Sir August 9th, I find an act of council against the venting and spreading the excellent lord Warriston's speech. "The lords of his majesty's privy council being informed, that there is a seditious pamphlet, called Warriston's speech, published in print, and publicly printed and sold by booksellers and boys in the streets, do therefore give power and warrant to Sir Robert Murray of Cameron, to try and examine how these pamphlets come to be sold without authority and warrant; where the same has been printed; who have been the printers, importers, or principal venders and dispersers thereof; and for that effect to call before him and examine all booksellers and boys; and, if he shall see cause, to commit them to prison, till they discover the true way and means by which the said pamphlets are so published and sold, and what persons have had the chief hand therein, and report.”— I find no more about it: the reader hath seen that there was no sedition in this speech; and the selling of it in public was soon stopt. In August this year, the earl of Rothes, and the archbishop of St. Andrews, by a letter from court, go up to London. The matter of the fines, the chancellor's post, and the advocate's, were to be concerted. Accordingly they went up; and, October 22d, the earl of Rothes returns to Holyroodhouse, loaden with posts and offices. November 3d, I find the patents for some of them read and recorded in council. His commission to represent the king in the national synod, to sit May next year, being what the curious reader may be desirous to See note, p. 217. see, I have insert at the bottom of the the king in Latin, approving the page. That synod did not indeed sit, but | lord commissioner his conduct in was put off time after time, by the influence of the primate, of which I cannot give so distinct and particular accounts, as I could wish, and so say no more of it. Some years after, we shall find a struggle of a good many of the clergy, for the sitting of this synod, but in vain. After the reading of this commission, His grace his majesty's high commissioner nominates and appoints the lord archbishop of St. Andrews his grace, to be preses of the council for the time." And, November 24th, in the primate's absence, the lord commissioner "nominates the lord archbishop of Glasgow to be president of the council." Then a letter from Rothes's Patent to be commissioner to the national synod, October 14th, 1664. Carolus Dei gratia, Scotia, Angliæ, Franciæ, et Hiberniæ Rex, fideique defensor, omnibus probis hominibus suis ad quos præsentes literæ pervenerint, salutem. Sciatis quandoquidem ordinatio et dispositio externi regiminis ecclesiæ, et nominatio personarum quarum consilio res et negotia eo spectantes stabiliantur, nobis tanquam jus coronæ nostræ innatum, virtute regalis nostræ prærogativæ, et supreme authoritatis in causis ecclesiasticis, hærent et incumbunt ; et quia nobis expediens et necessarium videtur, in honorem et servitium divini numinis, emolumentum et tranquillitatem ecclesiæ, et gubernationem ejusdem in ordine et unione, ut nationalis synodus in antiquo nostro regno Scotia, in omnibus ejus membris debite constituatur, secundum quartum actum tertiæ sessionis novissimi nostrí parliamenti, cujus titulus est, Actum pro stabiliatione et constitutione nationalis synodi. Quam quidem synodum sic constitutam, nos decrevimus Edinburgi convocatum iri, die Mercurii tertio mensis Maii proxime futuri, anno Domini 1665, inque hunc finem, regalem nostram proclamationem debito tempore expeditum iri; et quia nulla nationalis synodus teneri vel observari potest absque nostra præsentia, vel nostri delegati seu commissionarii authoritate nostra in hunc finem muniti. Cumque nos gravissimis regni nostri Angliæ negotiis impediti, dictæ generali synodo et conventui in sacra nostra persona adesse nequeamus; idcirco commissionem nostram viro cuidam eximiæ virtutis et fidelitatis demandare decrevimus, qui regalem nostram personam sustineat et repræsentet, cum ante convocationem prædictæ synodi, pro necessariorum communicatione et præparatione, cum in ipsa synodo convocata, tum etiam interea temporis pro debita obedientia legum nostorarum ecclesiam spectantium procuranda, ut enormiter et proterviter viventes supprimantur; cumque multis testimoniis compertum habeamus, amorem, animi dotes, et fidelitatem prædilecti et fidelissimi nostri consanguinei et consiliarii nostri Joannis comitis de Rothes, Lesliæ et Bambreich, &c. nostri thesaurarii principalis, ejusque zelum et promptitudinem, tum in agendo tum in patiendo pro nobis, ante felicem nostram instaurationem et restitutionem, 1664. the last session of parliament, is read and recorded; and after this a letter from the king, appointing him keeper of the great seal, and to enjoy all the profits thereof till his majesty nominate a chancellor. The council give warrant to append the seal to both those. By other papers, I find that he had twenty pounds sterling a day, as king's commissioner, till the synod should sit, and fifty pounds per day while it sat. He continued lord high commissioner for a good while; besides, he was lord high treasurer, general of the forces by sea and land, and extraordinary lord of session, commander of his majesty's life-guard, and principal speciatim vero egregium specimen ejus fidelitatis, prudentiæ et animi candoris, in exequenda excelsa provincia nostri commissionarii, in ultima sessione novissimi nostri parliamenti, in qua quidem obeunda, præclarum et egregium servitium nobis in ecclesiæ et regni nostri emolumentum edidit: Igitur dedimus et concessimus, tenoreque præsentium damus et concedimus, plenam potestatem et commissionem memorato fidelissimo et dilectissimo nostro consanguineo et consiliario, Joanni comiti de Rothes, &c. nostram sacram personam et authoritatem sustinendi, tum ante convocationem prædictæ synodi, tum in ipsa synodo sequente convocata, et in cunctis conventibus ejusdem, ac in omnibus aliis quæ ecclesiæ bonum, pacem et gubernationem dicti antiqui regni nostri Scotia, tum in ecclesia tum in statu, (prout nunc legibus stabilitur) et nostri servitii propagationem, in universis et singulis administrationibus ejusdem, tanquam nostro commissionario spectare poterint. Quin etiam tenore præsentium, præfatum comitem authoritate et potestate nostra regali munimus, ut sit noster commissionarius, omniaque et singula peragat ad potestatem et provinciam nostri commissionarii spectantia, non minore juris libertate et amplitudine, in omnibus respectibus, quam quicumque alius commissionarius fecit, seu de jure facere potuit; firmum et ratum habemus et habituri sumus, totum et quodcunque prædictus comes, in obeunda et exequenda dicta commissione et ejusdem documentis, fecerit et præstiterit. Mandamus porro omnibus nostris officiariis status, consiliariis, judicibus, et cunctis nostris subditis, et peculiariter officiariis copiarum nostrarum, in antedicto regno nostro, ut debita obedientia afficiant, agnoscant, et morem gerant dicto comiti, tanquam nostro commissionario, regalem nostram personam et authoritatem repræsentanti, ad effectus, et modo in eadem commissione specificato. Quam quidem commissionem ad finem usque et dimissionem synodi sequentis durare et vim habere volumus. In cujus rei testimonium, præsentibus magnum sigillum nostrum, una cum privato nostro sigillo, (quia ipse comes est magni nostri sigilli pro tempore custos) appendi præcipimus. Apud Whitehall, decime quarto mensis Octobris, 1664, et regni nostri decimo sexto. Per signaturam S. D. N. Regi superscriptum. collector of the fines; and Sir | the rest of the managers were pushed into 1664. William Bruce, as we heard, was by the prelates. under him. But I imagine this last came to his share as lord treasurer. About this same time I find it observed as a singular thing, that the archbishop of Glasgow was made an extraordinary lord of session. The first accounts I find in the council books of a war with the states general, is in a proclamation published by them, May 3d, for a national fast, which I have insert, in a note. The copy of the proclamation comes down from London, with an order to the commissioner to publish it, which is accordingly done. What cause the English had to engage in a war with Holland, I shall That same day, November 3d, Sir John Nisbet's patent to be king's advocate, is read and recorded in council. He was reckoned an able lawyer, and we shall frequently meet with him afterward. Those changes among | leave to other historians; but this I may the managers, and alterations of hands, venture to say, they had no great honour made little change in the sufferings of presbyterians. They were all as yet hearty enough supporters of the bishops, and by them put on the severities we shall hear of. This year the plague raged in Holland, and the council take great care about ships from thence. A purple fever was common in Scotland, and all things were ripening for a war with Holland. CHAP. VI. OF THE STATE AND SUFFERINGS OF PRESBY- 1665. by it in the issue. In Scotland some private persons made themselves rich by caping or privateering upon the Dutch, but the public had no great cause of boasting. I find it observed by a friend of the present administration, that our seamen were pressed, and A proclamation for a public general fast throughout the realm of Scotland. Charles, by the grace of God, king of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. To all and sundry our good subjects, greeting forasmuch as we, by the great injuries and provocations from the states of the United Provinces, have been forced, for the just defence and vindication of our own and our subjects' rights, to prepare and set out naval forces, and to engage into a war, upon most important reasons of honour and justice: and we, out of our religious disposition, being readily inclined commanding a general fast to be kept throughout to approve of an humble motion made to us, for this our whole kingdom, for imploring the blessing of almighty God, upon our councils and fit, by this our proclamation, to indict a general forces employed in this expedition; have thought and public fast, and day of humiliation for the end foresaid. Our will is herefore, and we straitly command and charge, that the said fast be religiously and solemnly kept throughout this people within the same, upon the first Wednesday our whole kingdom, by all our subjects and of June, being the seventh day thereof: requir ing hereby the reverend archbishops and bishops, to give notice hereof to the ministers in their respective dioceses, that upon the Lord's day immediately preceding the said seventh day of June, they cause read this our proclamation from the pulpit, in every parish church, and that they exhort all our loving subjects, to a sober and devout performance of the said fasting and humiliation, as they tender the favour of Almighty God, the duty they owe to us, and the peace and preservation of their country; certify WITH this chapter I am to shut up this book, which hath swelled upon my hand far beyond my first design; and I shall not increase it further by subdividing this into sections, but give what hath come to my hand this year, all together as shortly as may be. The former courses were carried on up and down the country, and people harassed for their nonconformity. The high commission had some persons before them, but were now in the wane, and the council pass some more acts against presbyterians. I shall give what I have, just in the order of time, as much as I can. We have seen the earl of Rothes loaded with places of trust and power; and under the direction of Lauderdale he is chief manager in Scotland. He was much mildering all those who shall contemn or neglect such than Middleton, and scarce ever severe, except when in the high commission court, where he did not act like himself. During this year of his management, we shall not find so much severity as afterwards he and a religious and necessary work, they shall be of our authority, and persons disaffected to the proceeded against, and punished as contemners honour and safety of their country. Given at Edinburgh, the third day of May, 1665, and of our reign the seventeenth year. God save the king. |