James VI and the Gowrie Mystery - Part 22
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Part 22

{105a} Calderwood, vi. 98.

{105b} _Ibid._ vi. 130.

{107a} Calderwood, vi. 147.

{107b} _Ibid._ vi. 156.

{110} Mr. Bruce appears to have gone to France in 15991600, to call Gowrie home. In a brief account of his own life, dictated by himself at about the age of seventy (1624), he says, 'I was in France for the calling of the _Master_' (he clearly means _Earl_) 'of Gowrie' (Wodrow's 'Life of the Rev. Robert Bruce,' p. 10, 1843). Calderwood possessed, and Wodrow (_circ._ 1715) acquired, two 'Meditations' by Mr. Bruce of August 3, 4, 1600. Wodrow promises to print them, but does not, and when his book was edited in 1843, they could not be found. He says that 'Mr.

Bruce appears to have been prepared, in Providence,' for his Gowrie troubles, judging (apparently) by these 'Meditations.' But Mr. Henry Paton has searched for and found the lost 'Meditations' in MS., which are mere spiritual outpourings. Wodrow's meaning is therefore obscure. Mr.

Bruce had great celebrity as a prophet, but where Wodrow found prophecy in the 'Meditations' of August 3, 4, 1600, is not apparent (Wodrow's 'Bruce,' pp. 83, 84. Wodrow MSS., Advocates' Library, vol. xliv. No.

35).

{111} Calderwood, vi. 49, 6676.

{114} Pitcairn, ii. 196.

{118} Bain, _Calendar_, ii. 350; Nau, p. 59.

{121a} _Form of certain Devices_, &c. See _Papers relating to William_, _Earl of Gowrie_, London, 1867, pp. 2529.

{121b} Form of examination and death of William, Earl of Gowrie.

British Museum, Caligula, c. viii. fol. 23.

{126} Thorpe, _Calendar_, ii. 650

{127a} _De Natione Anglica et Scota Juristarum Universitatis Patavinae_ Io. Aloys. Andrich. Patavii, 1892, pp. 172, 173.

{127b} Ottavio Baldi to the King, June 22, 1609. Record Office.

Venice, No. 14, 16081610. See _infra_, Appendix A, 'Gowrie's Arms and Ambitions.'

{128a} Gowrie's letters of 1595 are in Pitcairn.

{128b} State Papers, Scotland (Elizabeth), vol. lxiii. No. 85.

G. Nicolson to Sir Robert Cecil.

Edinborough, 25 December, 1598.

'I heare Gowry is become a papist. But the K. takes little care to this, And yet sure it importes him most to se to it, vnlest he accompt otherwais of it than he hath cause, except he haue other pollicy than I will conjecture.' Compare Galloway's sermon, in Pitcairn, ii. 249, and _A Short Discourse_, ii. 231, 232.

{129a} Simancas, iv. pp. 653, 654, 677, 680, 715.

{129b} Compare note, p. 110, _supra_.

{130a} _Winwood Memorials_, pp. 1, 156. Hudson to Cecil. State Papers, Scotland (Elizabeth), vol. lxvi. No. 19.

{130b} _Border Calendar_, vol. ii. May 29, 1600. Carey to Cecil.

{131a} The whole proceedings are printed in Arnot's _Criminal Trials_.

{131b} Nicholson to Cecil, June 22, June 29, 1600. Tytler, vol. ix. pp.

325, 326, 1843.

{131c} This date I infer from Cranstoun's statement. On August 5 he had scarcely seen the Ruthvens, to speak to, for a fortnight.

{133} _Border Calendar_, vol. ii. p. 698, Oct. 21, 1600. Carey to Cecil.

{134a} Calderwood, vi. 71.

{134b} A defender of Gowrie, Mr. Barbe, has the following 'observes'

upon this point. It has been a.s.serted by Calderwood that, 'while the Earl was in Strathbraan, fifteen days before the fact' (say July 20), 'the King wrote sundry letters to the Earl, desiring him to come and hunt with him in the wood of Falkland, which letters were found in my lord's pocket, as is reported, but were destroyed.' Mr. Barbe then proves that letters _were_ sent to Gowrie and Atholl in the last days of July. It is certain that a letter was sent to Gowrie about July 20, possibly a sporting invitation, not that there was any harm in an invitation to join a hunting party. James is next accused of 'trying to stifle the rumour'

about this 'letter,' by a direct denial. This means that Craigengelt, Gowrie's caterer, was asked whether he knew of any man or boy who came to Gowrie from Court, and said that he did not, a negative reply supposed to have been elicited by the torture to which Craigengelt was certainly subjected. We only know that at the end of July letters were sent to Gowrie, to Inchaffray, to Atholl, and to Ruthven. Whether his reached Gowrie or not, and what it contained, we cannot know.

{137} _Privy Council Register_, vi. 194.

{140a} Cf. p. 110, note.

{140b} _Border Calendar_, i. 491.

{142} _Tragedy of Gowrie House_, pp. 29, 31.

{147} As to Bothwell's whereabouts, in 1600, he left Brussels in March, nominally to go to Spain, but, in June, the agent of the English Government in the Low Countries was still anxious to hear that he had arrived in Spain. When he actually arrived there is uncertain. Compare Simancas, iv. p. 667, with State Papers, Domestic (Elizabeth) (15981600), p. 245, No. 88, p. 413 (March 24, April 3, 1600), p. 434, May 30, June 9, p. 509. Cecil meant to intrigue with Bothwell, through Henry Locke, his old agent with Bothwell's party, Atholl, and Gowrie October 1593). Compare _infra_, p. 160.

{152} _Privy Council Register_, ii. 217, 218.

{153} _Privy Council Register_, ii. 622, 699.

{155a} _Privy Council Register_, vi. 73, 74.

{155b} State Papers, Scotland (Elizabeth), vol. lxvi. No. 13, No. 21.

{156} _Hatfield Calendar_, viii. 147, 399.

{157} For these letters of Logan's, see _Hatfield Calendar_, vols. iii.

iv. under 'Restalrig,' in the Index.

{158} _Privy Council Register_, vol. v., s. v. 'Logan' in the Index.

{159} _Border Calendar_, vol. ii. Willoughby to Cecil, January 1, 1599.

{160a} Pitcairn, ii. 405407.

{160b} See Thorpe's _Calendar_, vol. ii., s. v. 'Mowbray, Francis' in the Index.

{161} He had sold Nether Gogar in 1596.

{162} Some of the papers are in the General Register House, Edinburgh.