with whom she took up her abode. After having
effectually lulled all suspicion, she affected to remember
a vow she had made to visit the White
Kirk of Brechin (according to the '' Chronicles of
Pitscottie "), and bade adieu to the Chancellor overnight,
with many tender recommendations of the
young king to his care. She set forth betimes next
morning with her retinue, and baggage borne on
sumpter horses. In one of the arks or chests
:trapped on one of these she had the young king
concealed, with his own consert. He was thus
conveyed to Leith, and from thence by water to
Stirling, where she placed him in the hands of the
Regent Livingstone, while the haughty Douglas
kept aloof, as one who took no interest in the
petty intrigues around the throne. Livingstone
now unfurled the royal standard, levied troops, and
laid siege to the Castle of Edinburgh ; but the wary
Chanceflor, finding that he had been outwitted,
pretended to compromise matters by delivering
the keys of the gates into the hands of the king,
after which they all supped together in the great
hall of the fortress. Crichton was confirmed in his
ofice of Chancellor, and the other as regent and
guardian of the royal person, a state of affairs not
fated to last long.
Livingstone having quarrelled with the queen,
she carried off the young king again, and restored
him to the custody of the Chancellor in the Castle
of Edinburgh. Under the guidance of the Bishops
of Moray and Aberdeen, then resident in the city,
a conference was held in the church of St. Giles,
' making him and his rival joint guardians, which,
from their mutual dread and hatred of the Earl of
Douglas, led to an amicable arrangement, and the
young king chose the Castle as his future place of
residence.
The great house..of. Dauglas,had naw reached
the zenith of its baronial power and pride. The
earl possessed Annabdale, Galloway, and other extensive
dominions in. the southern counties, where
all men bowed to his authority. He had the
dukedom of Touraine and lordship of Longueville
in France. He was allied to the royal family of
Scotland, and had at his back a powerful force of
devoted vassals, trained to arms, led by brave
knights, who were ripe at all times for revolt and
strife.
'' The Regent and the Chancellor are both alike
to me," said he, scornfully ; " 'tis no matter which
may overcome, and if both perish the country
will be the better ; and it is a pleasant sight for
honest men to.see such fencers yoked together."
But soon after the potent Douglas died at
Restalrig-h June, 144o-and was succeeded by
his son William, then in his sixteenth year ; and
now the subtle and unscrupulous old Chancellor
thought that the time had come to destroy with
safety a family he alike feared and detested. In
the flush of his youth and p...12, fired by the
flattery of his dependents, the young earl, in the
retinue and splendour that surrounded him far
surpassed his sovereign. He never rode abroad
with less than two thousand lances under his
banner, well horsed, and sheathed in mail, and
he actually, according to Buchanan, sent as his
ambassadors to the court of France Sir Malcolm
Fleming and Sir John Lauder of the Bass, to
obtain for him a new patent of the duchy of
Touraine, which had been conferred on his grandfather
by Charles VII. Arrogance so unwonted
and grandeur so great alarmed both Crichton and
Livingstone, who could not see where all this was
to end.
Any resort to violence would lead to civil war.
He was therefore, with many flatteries, lured to
partake of a banquet in the Castle of Edinburgh,
accompanied by his brother the little Lord David
and Sir Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld. With
every show of welcome they were placed at the
same table with the king, while the portcullis was
suddenly lowered, the gates carefully shut, and
their numerous and suspicious train excluded.
Towards the close of the entertainment a black
bull's head-an ancient Scottish symbol that some
one was doomed to death-was suddenly placed
upon the board. The brave boys sprang up, and
drew their swords; but a band of Crichton's
vassals, 'in complete armour, rushed in from a
chamber called the Tiring-house, and dragged
forth the three guests, despite the tears and entreaties
of the young king.
I They were immediately beheaded-on the 24th
of November, I 440-according to Godscroft, '' in
the back court of the Castle that lyeth to the west"
(where the barracks now stand); in the great
hall, according to Balfour. They were buried in
the fortress, and when, in 1753, some workmen, in
digging a foundation there, found the plate and.
handles of a coffin all of which were pure gold,
they were supposed tp belong to that in which
the Earl of Douglas was placed. Singular to say,
Crichton was never brought to trial for this terrible
outrage. " Venomous viper ! I' exclaims the old
historian of the Douglases, "that could hide so
deadly poyson under so faire showes ! unworthy
tongue, unelesse to be cut oute for example to all
ages ! A lion or tiger for cruelty of heart-a waspe
or spider for spight ! " He also refers to a rude
ballad on the subject, beginning
