ferent provinces affigned them. But this did not answer the purpofe; for during the Agent's abfence, fuch confufions prevailed in Scotland, and fuch mutual enmity, rapine, and violence, amongst the great families, that the kingdom was, for a confiderable time, in the utmoft diforder. At length it was propofed to commit the reins of government into the hands of the Earl of Arran, a Nobleman nearly allied in blood to the King. Accordingly, at his inftance, a convention of eftates was fummoned to nieet at Edinburgh, on the zoth of April, 1520.

On the day appointed, the Earl of Arran, with many of the Nol ility, affenibled together in Archbishop Beaton's houfe, at the bottom of Black-frier-wynde; where, previous to the fitting of the convention, they refolved to apprehend the Earl of Angus; alledging that his power was fo great, that whilst he remained free, they could not have a free Parliament. But as foon as the Earl was informed of this defign, he fent his uncle, Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, to Archbishop Beaton, the Chancellor, offering that if he had failed in any part of his duty to the rest of the Lords, he would moft willingly fubmit himself to the cenfure of the convention, which was then going to meet. And Bishop Douglas himfelf earneftly befought the Chancellor, Beaton, that he would ufe his beft endeavours with his friends to compromife matters, in order to prevent the effufion of blood. Archbishop Beaton, however, though he was as deep in the defign as any of the party, and had very epifcopally" fays Hume, ()" pat on armour to be prefent at it, and to affift them

himself in perfon ;" yet he endeavoured to excufe himself as well as he could, by laying the blame wholly upon the Earl of Arran, who, he pretended, was highly offended with the Earl of Angus upon many accounts; and after he had reckoned up the chief of them, and faid that for thofe reasons Arran would have Angus arrefted, he in the end concluded with faying, "There "is no remedy! Upon my confcience, I cannot help it." In the heat of his affeveration, Beaton fmote his breaft with his hand, which made the iron plates of the coat of mail under his caflock return a rattling found (u); which Bifhop Douglas perceiving, he gave his brother Prelate this juft reprimand. "How "now, my Lord, methinks your confcience clatters: We are "Priefs, it is not lawful for us to put on armour, or bear arms.

() Not the author of the hiftory of England, c. but Mr. David Hume of Godfcroft, author of the hiftory of the house and race of Dou. glas. See that Work, Edit, Edinb. 1748. Vol. II. P. 76. and Biographia Britannica, Vol. I. P. 571.

(w)" In the heat of his affeveration, he beat his breaft with his hand, where his confcience lay well covered with a coat of mail; a fecret hid

* It

under his feton or caflock. And now being knocked upon, it answered with a rattling neife which the plates of iron did yield, bearing witnes against him how little he cared for that inward witnefs, which belied him, when he protested he was defirous to pacify matters, being indeed thus preparing for war."----Hume's Hift. of the Houfe of Douglas, Vol. II. P. 76, 77.

It is inconfiftent with our character." However, the good Bishop Douglas, finding he could no way prevail with them, in behalf of the Earl of Angus, retired. But as to Archbishop Beaton, he, according to Buchanan, instead of being a pro"moter of peace, flew armed up and down, like a firebrand of "fedition."

As in this fituation of affairs, no accommodation could be brought about between the two parties, a fkirmish enfued, in which the party of the Earl of Angus, who was much beloved in Edinburgh, had the advantage. And the martial Archbishop Beaton, when he faw the day was loft, and his friends defeated, fled for fanctuary to the Black-friars church, and was there taken out from behind the altar, and his rochet torn off him. And he would certainly have been flain, if Bishop Gawin Douglas had not, from a regard to his character, interceded for him, and faved his life. Though Beaton, by his after behaviour, appears not to have been very grateful to Douglas for this important fervice (w w).

The following year, 1521, Archbishop Beaton's affairs grew fomewhat more profperous. The Duke of Albany, the Regent, arrived from France, who, for the prefent, introduced fome kind of order in the government, and obliged the Earl of Angus to confent, for the fake of the public peace, to remain for a year in France. And fome time after this died Dr. Andrew Forman, Archbishop of St. Andrews, and Primate of Scotland. This opened a fair path to Beaton to fet himself at the head of the Scottish Church and accordingly he found means to fucceed in his defign, being made Archbishop of St. Andrews in 1523. He did not, however, obtain this preferment without a very confiderable ftruggle; though he was favoured by the Regent, and by the young King, who was very much governed by the Archbishop's nephew, David Beaton; in whofe favour the new Primate, foon after his promotion, refigned the rich abbey of Arbroth, or Aberbrothock.

The fame year the Duke of Albany returned again into France. Soon after which his authority, as Regent, was taken away by an Act of Parliament; for the Earl of Angus returning into Scotland, obtained fuch a degree of influence in the 3 F 2 public

(w) It is faid that Beaton having an eye upon the Archbishopric of St. Andrews, upon the death of Archbishop Forman, (who was promoted to that See after the death of Alexander), was afraid of no competitor fo much as Bishop Douglas; and, therefore, with a view of being rid of him, he wrote a letter to the King of Denmark, in which he reprefented im as a perfon difaffected to the

Government, and going about to infringe the privleges granted to the Scottish nation by the Holy See, endeavouring to be preferred to the Archbishopric by the intereft of the Emperor and the King of England, then public enemies to Scotland; and therefore he intreated the King, that he would write to his Ministers at Rome, to inform his Holiness that the Bishop was under a fentence of banishment

public affairs of the kingdom, that all things were directed by him and his adherents.. Matters being in this fituation, Archbishop Beaton, for the prefent, joined himself to the party of the Earl of Angus; though this, as Hume fays, was rather out of fear than good-will. And, therefore, when a faction was formed against Angus, he fell off from that Nobleman's party. Upon which Angus, to be revenged of him, brought the King to the Archbishop's houfe at Edinburgh, and feized upon his houfhold goods for his own ufe. For there was fo much anarchy and confufion in the Scottish government in thefe times, that acts of violence and oppreffion were frequently practifed by every party, when they happened to gain the afcendant.

In 1526, the King, James V. was declared of full age, though he was only eighteen, and the adminiftration placed entirely in the hands of the Earl of Angus. And one of the first steps which were taken, after this alteration in the government, was the appointment of a new Privy Council, from which Archbishop Beaton was excluded; and foon after the Great Seal was taken from him, and, in 1527, the Earl of Angus appointed High Chancellor in his room. Many attempts were, however, made, to difpoffefs the Earl of Angus of his power, particularly by the Earl of Lennox; but the latter Nobleman was killed in a

banishment becaufe of his demerits, and thereby put a stop to his ambitious defigns.

fkirmish

fides the Nobility of his birth, the dignity and comeliness of his personage, he was learned, temperate, and of fingular moderation; and in these fo turbulent times, had always carried himself amongst all the factions of the Nobility equally, and with a mind to make peace, and not to stir up parties which qualities were very rare in Clergymen of thofe days. He wrote in his native tongue divers things; but his chiefeft work is the tranflation of Virgil, yet extant, in verfe, in which he ties himfelf as ftrictly as poffible; and yet it is fo well expreffed, that whoever shall effay to do the like, will find it a hard piece of work to go through with it. In his prologues before every book, where he hath his liberty, he fheweth a natural vein of poefy, fo pure, pleasant, and judicious, that I believe there is none that hath written be

Buchanan informs us, that the Regent, the Duke of Albany, caufed the Pope to call over Bifhop Douglas, to purge himself there from fome crimes which were imputed to him. But the year after, 1522, Bishop GAWIN DOUGLAS, (as we are alfo told by Buchanan), in his journey to Rome, fell fick of the plague in London, and died. "His virtues (fays he) were fuch, that he was very much lamented; for befides the fplendor of his ancestry, and the comelinefs of his perion, he was mafter of a great fhare of learning, for the age in which he lived; and being alfo a man of high prudence, and fingular moderation, in troublefome times, he was much efteemed in point of faithfulness and authority, even by the contrary factions. He left before or fince, but cometh fhort of hind him confiderable monuments of his integrity and learning, written in his mother-tongue."

Mr. Hume alfo fays of Bifhop. Douglas, that when he died, he left behind him " great approbation of his virtues, and love of his perfon, in the hearts of all good men. For be

him. And in my opinion, there is not fuch a piece to be found, as his prologue to the 8th book, beginning Of Dreams and of Drivelings, &c. at leaft in our language."---Hift. of the Houfe of Douglas, &c. Vol. II. P. 29.---This Prelate was a great admirer of Chaucer,

fkirmish between the two parties; and the Earl of Angus's party, after this, feized upon, pillaged, and ruined Archbishop Beaton's caftle, because they confidered him, fays Buchanan, as the author of all the projects which the Earl of Lennox had undertaken (x). And the Primate was obliged to affume different difguifes, and to conceal himself amongft his friends; by which means only he could fcreen himself from the vengeance of the oppofite party.

However, the Earl of Angus, and his party, being at length driven from Court, the Archbishop came again into power, but did not recover his office of Chancellor, which was bestowed upon Dunbar, Archbishop of Glafgow. From this time Archbishop Beaton continued to refide in his own palace at St. Andrews, and was concerned in fome violent perfecutions of the Proteftants. It is alledged, indeed, in his juftification, that he was not himself much inclined to proceedings of this kind; but that he was prevailed upon to be concerned in them, by his nephew, David Beaton, Abbot of Aberbrothock; who, we are told, governed at this time both his uncle, the Archbishop, and the King his mafter. But as Archbishop Beaton did actually give his name and fanétion to these fanguinary proceedings, no influence of this kind can be thought, by any impartial man, fufficient to exculpate him from the guilt of being a perfecutor.

The Clergy of Scotland were at this time chiefly in the French intereft, and bitter enemies to England, because they confidered King Henry VIII. as a friend to the Reformation. And they thought it neceffary to endeavour to ftop the progrefs of the new opinions, as they were called, by a vigorous profecution. The first who was called in queftion for Herefy, was Patrick Hamilton, Abbot of Ferne, a man nobly defcended, being nephew to the Earl of Arran by his father, and to the Duke of Albany by his mother, and not much above twenty-three years of age. This young gentleman had travelled into Germany, and having cultivated an acquaintance with Martin Luther, Philip Melanthon, Francis Lambard, and other learned men, was by them inftructed in the principles of the reformed religion; in the profeffion of which he became fo zealous, that he refolved to come back into his own country, and communicate to others that light which he had received. At his return, wherefoever he came, he fpared not to lay open the corruptions of the Romish Church, and to fhew the errors which were crept into the Chriftian religion; to all which many gave a ready attention; and

(x)" The Earl of Angus knowing well that Archbishop Beaton was one of the chief ftirrers up of the Earl of Lennox in this enterprize against him, remembering alfo how he had before stirred up Arran in the fame manner, and his affifting of him at Edinburgh, and many other

he

times, goes now to St. Andrews, takes the caftle by force, and pillageth it; but could not apprehend the fox himfelf, who fled from hole to hole, and lurked fecretly amongst his friends."--Hume's Hift. of the Houfe of Douglas, &c. Vol. II. P. 96.

he was the more followed, on account of his learning, and the courteousness of his behaviour to people of all ranks. The Clergy, alarmed at this, under a pretence of holding a conference with him, enticed him to the city of St. Andrew's; and when he came thither, appointed Friar Alexander Campbell to keep company with him, and to ufe the best perfuafions he could to divert him from his opinions. They had accordingly feveral conferences; in which the Friar acknowledged that many things in the Church did need to be reformed, and applauding his judgment in most of the points, he was rather confirmed in his opinions, than any way convinced of the contrary. And having thus ftaid fome few days in the city, whilft he fufpected no violence to be used, in the night he was apprehended, whilst he was in bed, and carried prifoner to the castle. The next day he was brought before the Archbishop, and accufed of holding thirteen heretical articles; the first feven of which he declared to be, in his judgment, undoubtedly true; and he refufed to condemn the others. And these articles being delivered to the Rector of the University, and twelve other Divines, they, on the 2d of March, 1527, delivered them back again to the Judges, with their certificate that they were heretical. Upon this judgment they founded their fentence, which was fubferibed by the two Archbishops, three Bifhops, fix Abbots and Friars, and eight Divines. The very fame day he was transferred to the fecular Judge, and burnt that very afternoon. So eagerly expeditious were thefe pretended Ministers of the gofpel of peace and love, to commit to the flames the body of their erring brother!

As Hamilton fufered death with great courage and conftancy, the intentions of the Clergy were by no means anfwered by it. On the contrary, it promoted the Reformation in Scotland very much; and many publickly profeffed their opinion, that Patrick Hamilton fuffered unjustly; though we are told, that one perfon was burnt for only faying fo. But the Clergy were for ftill going on in the fame tract; and were defirous of stopping the mouths of all fuch as preached what they difliked, in the fame manner as they had done Hamilton's.

As Archbishop Beaton had incurred much odium by the death of Hamilton, he was not, we are told, much inclined to continue fuch feverities; at leaft he did not much chufe to act in thefe measures himfelf; but chofe rather to grant commiffions to others, who were inclined to proceed against fuch as preached the doarines of the Reformation. The humane Prelate would rather have avoided the burning of Heretics himfelf; but, notwithstanding this, he impowered other people to do it. It happened at one of the confultations of the Clergy at this time for the extirpation f Herefy, that fome of thofe who were the most vehement amongst them, preffed earnestly for going on with the proceedings in the Archbishop's court. Upon which one Mr.

John