James L.] GRAHAM'S PLOT. 111 the midst of a garden, which was surrounded by a 'moat. On the fatal night the royal circle had been 'peculiarly happy and joyous. Meanwhile Stewart, the false chamberlain, had laid planks over the moat; and had spoiled the lock of the chamber door, so that it could not be secured. About midnight the King prepared to retire to rest. He was standing by the fire, talking gaily with the Queen and the other ladies who had not yet withdrawn. 8. Suddenly a great noise was heard without, and the clanking of iron told that men in armour were approaching. The glare of torches lighted up the garden. The Queen and the ladies rushed to the chamber door, but to their 'dismay they found the lock useless. The King tried to force out the iron bars of the window, but they 'resisted his utmost strength. With the tongs he tore up a plank of the floor, and took refuge in a vault on the level of the ground. 9. The conspirators forced their way into the chamber, 'violently thrusting aside the ladies, who tried to keep the door shut. The Queen, speechless and motionless with terror, was struck and wounded by one of the conspirators. After searching the chamber and side-rooms, and every place where it was possible the King might be hid, the conspirators began to fear that their victim had escaped them. 10. At last one of them, who was 'familiar with the building, remembered the vault, and going straight to the place, saw that a plank had been wrenched up. Lifting the plank, and holding a torch down into the vault, he saw the King, and 'proclaimed his discovery with a savage shout of joy. Sir John Hall leaped down into the vault with a huge knife in his hand. The King, who was very strong and active, seized him and hurled him to the earth. A brother of Hall next leaped down. Him also the King seized with a desperate gripe and threw down. A frightful struggle followed in that dismal vault between the armed murderers and the unarmed King In the attempt to wrench their knives from them, his hands were severely cut and mangled. 11. The traitor Graham, seeing the King grow faint and weary, sprang into the vault sword in hand. He passed his sword through the King's body. The two Halls stabbed him again and again as he lay. Sixteen deadly gashes were after wards counted on his manly breast, not 'reckoning 1437 many other wounds with which his person had been A.D. hacked in less vital parts. And this was the end of op-pres-sion, pressing hardly on; tyranny. pas-time, that which makes time pass pe-cül-iar-ly, more than was com- re-veng-es, paying back injuries; giv- lat-ticed, filled with lattice-work, or un-rav-elled, unfolded; cleared up; cross-bars. moat, a ditch or trench. 1 Brack'en bush, a coarse, large, kind of fern, used as bedding for cattle in Scotland. The meaning of the King's saying is, that the rights of property would be so much respected that cattle disentangled. would not need to be guarded with bolts 2 Domin'icans, a religious order founded by St. Dominic in 1215. They were also called preaching friars. QUESTIONS.-1. When did the old Duke of Albany die? Who succeeded him in the regency? When did King James return from captivity? On what condition?-2. How had King Henry treated King James? In what did the latter excel? What was his favourite study? What is the title of his longest poem? What does he describe in it?-3. What romantic account does he give of his first sight of his future wife?-4. In what condition did he find Scotland? Who were the cause of this? What did James resolve to do?-5. With whom did he begin? Who were beheaded? Whom did James offend?-6. Who headed a plot against the King's life? What had he once proposed in Parliament? How had he been punished for that? Who joined him in the conspiracy?-7. Where did they effect their purpose? How did Stewart the chamberlain help the conspirators?— 8. How did the King try to escape? Where did he at length take refuge?— 9. How was the Queen treated?-10. How was the King discovered? What took place in the vault? How many of the murderers were in it?-11. Who was the last to spring in? How many wounds were on the King's breast? In what year did this occur? 14. THE DOUGLASES AND THE BOYDS. 1. JAMES II.1-James II. was crowned at Holyrood,2 not at Scone, where all his 'predecessors from the earliest times had been crowned. It was felt that the young King was safer in James II.] THE BULL'S HEAD. 113 the Lowlands than in the Highlands. As he was then only six years old, there was again the 'prospect of a long 'minority. The country, as usual in such circumstances, was torn by 'factions, each of which aimed at securing the King's person and ruling in his name. The nobles grew more and more unruly and 'defiant; the people had to bear grievous burdens. The Government was powerless either to 'restrain the former or to relieve the latter. 2. The two chief rivals for power were Sir William Crichton, the Chancellor, who was Governor of Edinburgh Castle; and Sir Alexander Livingston, who was Governor of Stirling. The Queen-mother took her son at first to 1437 Edinburgh; but becoming 'suspicious of Crichton, she arranged to make a short journey, hid the King in her baggage, and carried him to Stirling. This placed Livingston at the head of affairs. A.D. He A.D. 3. The only man who was powerful enough to have kept down these factions was Archibald, Earl of Douglas. had been appointed Lieutenant,3 or Governor of Scotland, but he died in 1439, leaving as successor his son, 1439 a youth of only seventeen years. Soon afterwards Crichton secretly went to Stirling with a hundred armed men, and kidnapped the King as he went out early in the morning to hunt in the royal park. This made Crichton 'supreme. 4. But he feared the House of Douglas. William, the young Earl, was haughty and 'ambitious, and made no secret of his wish to use to the uttermost the power which he possessed. Crichton and Livingston combined against 1440 him. He and his brother David were invited to visit the King in Edinburgh Castle. While they sat at table, a bull's head-signal of death-was placed on the board. The two brothers were seized and instantly beheaded. A.D. 5. After two years, their cousin William, Earl of Avondale, became head of the house. By marrying the sister of the murdered nobles he reunited the Douglas estates, and made the Douglas power greater than ever. Neither 1445 Livingston nor Crichton dared to resist his claims. A.D. With consent of the former he was made Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. The latter was driven from power, and his estates were seized. A.D. 6. When the King came of age, he surrounded himself with wise and trusty counsellors, chief of whom was Bishop Kennedy of St. Andrews. In 1451, Kennedy 'discovered that Douglas had formed a league with the Earls of Crawford and Ross against the power of the Crown. The King 1452 thought that he could talk the Douglas over, and induce him to "break the band." He therefore invited him to Stirling. In the course of the meeting the Douglas spoke to the King in such insolent terms that the latter lost *self-control, drew his dagger, and stabbed his guest. The King's servants rushed in and put the wounded Earl to death. 7. He was 'succeeded by his brother James Douglas, who at once rebelled; but he was defeated, and was forced 1454 to flee to England. His estates were forfeited, the greater portion of them being given to his kinsman the Earl of Angus, the head of a younger branch of the A.D. same house. 8. The King resolved to take advantage of the civil war then FIRING A WAR CRACK. raging in England, to drive the English out of the castles of Roxburgh and Berwick. Having been joined by the 1460 Lord of the Isles, he laid siege to Roxburgh Castle. Cannons were then little used in Scotland. While the A.D. King was watching the effect of a 'battery, a large gun, made of iron bars hooped together, and called a "war-crack,” burst in firing, and a heavy piece struck the King and killed him on the spot. James III.] THE HOUSE OF HAMILTON. 115 9. JAMES 111,5—Once more a child was King. James III. was but eight years old when his father was killed. So long as Bishop Kennedy lived, the government was strong and the country 'prospered. But on his death in 1465, the 1465 King fell into the hands of Lord Boyd and his brother, who soon became very powerful. Thomas, Lord Boyd's eldest son, married the King's sister, the Princess Mary, in 1467, and was created Earl of Arran. A.D. A.D. 10. The Boyds fell as suddenly as they had risen. During Arran's absence in Denmark, arranging James's marriage with the Princess Margaret, a league, approved by 1469 the King himself it is said, was formed for the overthrow of their house. Lord Boyd's brother Alexander was 'executed for high treason. Lord Boyd himself fled to England. The Earl of Arran passed from Denmark to England also. had The whole of the vast estates with which they enriched themselves were seized. Steps were 1474 taken to divorce Arran from the Princess Mary, and A.D. a few years later she was forced to marry Lord Hamil ton. That marriage made the House of Hamilton the nearest family in Scotland to that of the Sovereign. 11. By the King's marriage with the Princess of Denmark, he obtained as her dower a grant of the islands of Orkney and Shetland. A few years later, the Lord of the Isles once more submitted to the King, and gave up all his possessions on the mainland, including the Earldom of Ross; in return for which he was made a Lord of Parliament. 1474 Roxburgh and Berwick had been recovered from England at the beginning of the reign. The authority of James III. was thus acknowledged over a wider area than that of any of his predecessors. ac-knowledged, owned as ruler. bat-ter-y, a number of guns placed en-riched', made rich. A.D. kid-napped, seized and carried off. mi-nor-i-ty, time of being under age. pre-de-ces-sors, those living before one; ancestors. pros-pect, out-look; view. pros-pered, got on well; flourished. |