James VI and the Gowrie Mystery Part 15

Rycht honorabill Sir,-My hartly dewty remembred. Ye knaw I tald yow at owr last meitting in the Cannogat that M.A.R. my lo. of Go(wries) brother had spokin vith me, anent the matter of owr conclusion; and for my awin part I sall nocht be hindmest; and sensyne I gat ane letter from his lo.

selff, for that same purpose; and apon the resset tharof, onderstanding his lo. frankness and fordvardness in it, G.o.d kennis if my hart vas nocht lift.i.t ten stagess! I post.i.t this same berare till his lo. to qhome ye may concredit all yowr hart in that asveill as I; for and it var my very sowl, I durst mak him messinger therof, I hew sic experiense of his treuth in mony other thingis: He is ane silly ald gleyd carle, bot vonder honest: And as he hes report.i.t to me his lo. awin answer, I think all matteris sall be concluded at my howse of Fa(stcastell); for I and M.A.R.

conclude that ye sowld come vith him and his lo. and only ane other man vith yow, being bot only fowr in company, intill ane of the gret fisching botis, be sey to my howse, qher ye sall land as saifly as on Leyth schoir; and the howse agane his lo. comming to be quyet: And qhen ye ar abowt half a myll fra schoir, as it ver pa.s.sing by the howse, to gar set forth ane vaf. Bot for G.o.dis sek, let nether ony knawlege come to my lo.

my brotheris eiris, nor yit to M.W.R. my lo. ald pedagog; for my brother is kittill to scho behind, and dar nocht interpryse, for feir; and the other vill disswade vs fra owr purpose vith ressonis of religion, qhilk I can newer abyd. I think thar is nane of a n.o.bill hart, or caryis ane stomak vorth an pini, bot they vald be glad to se ane contented revenge of Gray Steillis deid: And the soner the better, or ellse ve may be marrit and frustrat; and therfor, pray his lo(rdschip) be qwik and bid M.A. remember on the sport he tald me of Padoa; for I think vith my self that the cogitacion on that sowld stimulat his lo(rdschip). And for G.o.dis cawse vse all yowr cowrses _c.u.m discrecione_. Fell nocht, sir, to send bak agan this letter; for M.A. leirit me that fa.s.son, that I may se it distroyed my self. Sa till your comming, and ever, committis yow hartely to Chrystis holy protection. From Gwnisgrene, the last of July 1600.

On the back 'xiij Aprilis 1608 producit be Ninian Chirnesyde (8).'

Also 'Sprott,' 'Fyft. bookit.'

INDEX

ABBOT, Dr. George, present when Sprot was hanged, 177, 226; his pamphlet containing official account of Sprot's trial and examinations, 178

Abercromby, Robert (the King's saddler), said to have brought James to Perth to 'take order for his debt,' 83, 84, 159

Agnew, Sir Stair, cited, 241

a.n.a.lysis of Letter IV, 232239

Anderson, Rev. Mr., finds the torn letter from Logan to Chirnside, 174; on Letter IV., 236, 237, 238; on the Logan plot-letters, 241, 242, 243

Angus, Earl of, involves Gowrie's father in a conspiracy with him, 121, 122; under the spells of witchcraft, 198, 199

Anne of Denmark, Queen (wife of James VI), her attributed relations with the Earl Moray, 2; and with Gowrie and the Master of Ruthven, 3, 133, 134, 138; romantic story of her ribbon on the Master's neck, 132; invites Gowrie to Court, 133, 134; sorrow for the slaying of the Ruthvens, 5, 133, 138; plots against the Earl of Mar, 138, 139

Arms, Gowrie's, 245 _et seq._

Arnott, Sir John (provost of Edinburgh), on the Logan plot-letters, 243; at the trial of Logan, 250

Arran (Capt. James Stewart), his influence over James, 119; his treachery to Gowrie's father, 120123; receives that n.o.bleman's forfeited estate, 123; driven into retirement, 123

Arran, Earl of, Bothwell's (James Hepburn) proposal to him to seize Mary, cited, 71

Ashfield, kidnapped by Lord Willoughby, cited, 139

Atholl, Earl of (married to Gowrie's sister Mary), 123; in alliance with Bothwell and Gowrie against James, 125; manifesto to the Kirk, 125; letters from James, 134, 135

Auchmuty, John, in attendance on James, 12

BAILLIE, John, of Littlegill, implicated by Sprot with Logan, 202, 203; denies receiving a letter from Logan, 209

Baldi, Ottavio, his letter to James on the Gowrie emblem at Padua, 246, 247, 251

Balgonie. _See_ Graham of Balgonie.

Barbe, Mr. Louis, on Henderson's and the Master's ride to Falkland, 45; his view of the notary Robertson's evidence respecting Henderson, 61 note; as to the theory of an accidental brawl, 94; on James and the pot of gold tale, 95; on Bruce's interrogation of the King, 109; on the invitation from the King to Gowrie, Atholl, and others to join him at Falkland, 135

Baron (Gowrie's retainer), in the chamber fight, 87; hanged, 87

Bell, John, Logan's memorandum to him, 174, 195

Beza, Gowrie with, at Geneva, 180

Bisset, Mr., quoted, on the notary Robertson's evidence respecting Henderson, 61 note

Bothwell, Francis Stewart Earl of, aided by Gowrie's mother and sister captures James at Holyrood, 124, 125; manifesto to the Kirk, 125; his list of Scottish Catholic n.o.bles ready for the invasion of Scotland, 128; other proposals of invasion, 129; vague hints at his aim to change the dynasty, 140; his whereabouts in 1600, 147 note; on terms with Logan of Restalrig, 154, 155, 156; charged with practising witchcraft against the King's life, 198; report as to a secret candidate for James's crown, 251

Bothwell, James Hepburn Earl of, his proposal to Arran to seize Mary, cited, 71

Bower, James (a retainer of Logan's), custodian of compromising letters between Logan and Gowrie, 164, 174, 176, 177, 195; bearer of Gowrie's letter to Logan, 183, 188, 191; letter from Logan, 183, 184; Sprot's account of Logan and Bower's scheme to get possession of Dirleton, 189; with Logan at Coldinghame after the tragedy, 195; custodian of Ruthven's and Clerk's letters to Logan, 202; blamed for the selling of Fastcastle, 204; letter from Logan reproaching him for indiscretions of speech, 211, 212

Bower, Valentine, employed by his father James to read Logan's letters, 213

Bowes, Sir William (English Amba.s.sador), no friend of James's, 96; his hypothesis respecting the Gowrie tragedy, 96; letter to Sir John Stanhope on same matter, 97 note

Brown, Professor Hume, on the Logan plot-letters, 241

Brown, Robert (James's servant), part in the Gowrie mystery, 31

Bruce, Rev. Robert (Presbyterian minister), his cross-examination of James on the Gowrie tragedy, 38; allows that James was not a conspirator, 95; explains to James the reasons for the preachers' refusal to thank G.o.d for his delivery from a 'plot,' 101; sceptical of the veracity of James's narrative, 102, 103; will believe it if Henderson is hanged, 103, 104, 106, 226; goes into banishment, 105; tells Mar in London he is content to abide by the verdict in the Gowrie case, but is not persuaded of Gowrie's guilt, 105; meets the King in Scotland, and tells him he is convinced, on Mar's oath, that he is innocent, 106; interrogates the King, 107; refuses to make a public apology in the pulpit and is banished to Inverness, 108, 250; his 'Meditations,' 110 note; asks Lord Hamilton to head the party of the Kirk, 177; prophecies, 249

Burnet (Burnet's father), on the Gowrie mystery, 249, 250

Burnet, Bishop, quoted, on Gowrie's claims to a Royal pedigree, 249, 250

Burton, Dr. Hill, on James VI, 5; on Logan's plot-letters, 169

CALDERWOOD, Rev. David (Presbyterian minister), on James's narrative of the Gowrie affair, 36, 37; on the man in the turret, 62; rejects the story of Craigengelt's dying confession, 104; view of the objections taken by sceptics to the King's narrative, 111; on Gowrie's entry to Edinburgh, 130; on the confession of Sprot on the scaffold, 163, 164 note, 227; his interpretation of Sprot's confession, 164; on the Logan plot-letters, 170, 172, 173

Cant, Mr. (antiquary), on Gowrie House, 18

Carey, Sir John (Governor of Berwick), respecting a treatise in vindication of the Ruthvens, 81; informs Cecil of James's jealousy of Gowrie, 130; and of the Court tattle respecting the Queen and Gowrie, 133

Casket Letters, the, cited, 5, 7, 8; in possession of Gowrie's father, 240; disappearance of, 241; probability of forgery, 244

Cecil Papers at Hatfield, the, 158

Cecil, Sir Robert, Queen Elizabeth's minister, 11; communication from Nicholson respecting Cranstoun and Henderson, 75 note; letter from Carey respecting a treatise in vindication of the Ruthvens, 81; intrigue with Bothwell, 147 note; with Border Scots intriguing against James, 159, 160; Lord Willoughby's offer of a s.h.i.+p if subsidised, 218

Chirnside, Ninian, of Whitsumlaws, 154; Logan's letter to him, 174; relations with Logan, 197, 199; employed by Bothwell to arrange meetings with the wizard Graham, 198, 199; in danger after the failure of the Gowrie plot, 203; Sprot's forged letter of Logan's to be used by him for blackmailing Logan's executors, 215