so tyrannically, that the nobility recalled Edgar, third son, but the eldest surviving, of the late king Malcolm; who being assisted by William Rufus, recovered his inheritance and shut Donald up in prison, where he died. This prince was the first in Scotland who was anointed with consecrated oil. His mother St Margaret obtained this favour from pope Urban II. In those days no public change or affair of importance could be undertaken without the pope's consent. He died in 1109, and was succeeded by his brother Alexander I., called the Strong, who died without issue, after a peaceful reign of seventeen years, in 1126. To him succeeded his brother David I. who married Matilda, daughter and sole heiress of the earl of Cumberland, Northumberland, and Huntingdon : by this alliance these earldoms fell to the crown of Scotland, under homage to that of England. By the countess of Huntingdon he had issue only one son, Henry, who died during his father's lifetime, but who left three sons, Malcolm, William, and David; and three daughters, Adama, Margaret, and Matilda. After a reign of twenty-nine years, David I. died in 1151, and was succeeded by his grandson Malcolm IV., surnamed the Maiden from his chastity; and never having been married, he died in 1163, and was succeeded by his brother, William the Lion, who died in 1214, and was succeeded by his son Alexander II. At the age of nine years, he married Joane, daughter of Richard I. of England, by whom he had no issue; after her death he married Mary, daughter of the earl of Gowry, by whom he had one son. This king reigned thirty-five years, and died in 1249; his son Alexander III. mounted the throne, and married Margaret of England, daughter of Henry III., by whom he had two sons and one daughter; the sons, Alexander and David, died during their father's lifetime. Margaret of Scotland, his daughter, married the king of Norway, and had issue one daughter, commonly called the Maid of Norway, who was declared successor to the crown. Alexander III., a wise and valiant prince, died in 1283, leaving the crown to this infant. On his death a regency was formed and the Maid of Norway brought home, but she sickened and died, and left the kingdom a prey to almost the greatest calamity that can befall a kingdom, especially in a rude and warlike age-a disputed succession,

As we before noticed, the earldom of Huntingdon was brought to the crown of Scotland by the marriage of David I. to Matilda, countess in her own right of Huntingdon, whose only son, Henry, prince of Scotland, dying before his father, his two sons, Malcolm and William, succeeded to the throne, of whom the line failed in the person of Alexander III. David, the youngest son of Henry, became earl of Huntingdon, and left two daughters, Margaret and Isabella of Huntingdon. Margaret the eldest daughter, married John Baliol, earl of Galloway, whose son without doubt was the true heir to the crown; Isabella of Huntingdon married Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, had a son also of the same name, Robert Bruce, who again had the celebrated Robert the Bruce, lord of Annandale, who

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being grandson of the youngest, pretended to have a precedency to his cousin, John Baliol, who was the son of the eldest daughter. Besides these two, there were other ten competitors for the crown. Unhappily for the peace and tranquillity of the nation, the competitors agreed to submit their claims to the arbitration of Edward I. of England, at whose mercy the Scottish nation was now laid prostrate; Edward summoned the barons of the north of England, amongst whom were Baliol and Bruce, with all the Scottish clergy and nobility to meet him at Norham castle in Northumberland, where Edward openly asserted his supremacy over the crown of Scotland as lord paramount. The candidates were mute with astonishment at this unexpected usurpation; at length one more courageous than the rest, replied "that concerning this claim of feudal supremacy over Scotland, no determination could be made; while the throne was vacant." Edward was not of a temper to bear this procrastination, and sternly answered, “by holy Edward whose crown I wear, I will vindicate my just rights, or perish in the attempt." A day, however, was granted for consultation, which was extended to three weeks, as the candidates could not come to any agreement. Over-awed by his power or won by his bribes, the competitors, to their eternal disgrace, recognised Edward I. as lord paramount of Scotland. The umpire decided in favour of John Baliol, who swore fealty to Edward, and was crowned at Scone in the year 1292. John was compelled to do homage to Edward, and to answer to appellants in the courts at London, and there not by his advocate, but in person! Notwithstanding the humiliating degradation in which Edward held the Scottish king, the latter seems to have governed the kingdom with great prudence, and moderation; but indignant at the insults daily offered to himself and the independence of his kingdom, John renounced his allegiance and declared war against England. Edward defeated Baliol and took military possession of the kingdom, sent him and his son Edward prisoners into England, and declared the crown forfeited to its lord paramount in the year 1296. After a long protracted and gallant warfare, Robert the Bruce gained the decisive battle of Bannockburn; and thereby seated himself securely on the Scottish throne. The battle was fought on the 24th June, 1314, and for ever vindicated the independence of the kingdom. On the 26th April, 1315, parlia ment assembled at Ayr, and solemnly recognised Robert's title to the crown, and swore allegiance to him and his heirs; and to prevent the horrible calamities which the late disputed succession had occasioned to the country, they settled the order of the descent of the crown. Robert married first, Isabella, daughter of Donald, earl of Marr, by whom he had a daughter, Marjory, who married Walter Stewart, and " by that knot" brought the crown into that illustrious family. His second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Aymer de Burgh, earl of Ulster, by whom he had three daughters, Margaret, Matilda, and Elizabeth; and one son, David, by whom he was

succeeded. The succession as settled at the parliament at Ayr was to run in David and his heirs, and failing him, prince Edward Bruce, king Robert's brother, and the heirs male of his body,―he died without issue, before the king,-failing these, Marjory Bruce, married to Walter great steward of Scotland, and her heirs, whether male or female. In 1329, David II. succeeded to the throne; he married Jane of England, daughter of Edward· III., by whom he had no issue; at her death he married Margaret Logie, daughter of Sir John Logie, by whom he had no issue. He died 22nd February, 1371; and was succeeded by his nephew Robert Stewart, son of his eldest sister Marjory, according to the order of the succession settied by Robert Bruce and the three estates of parliament.

Before continuing the descent of the crown, we will give a brief account of the origin of the illustrious house of Stewart. Banquo and his son Fleance, mentioned by Shakspeare in his tragedy of Macbeth, were powerful thanes of Lochaber, and " bore their faculties so meekly," and conducted themselves with such prudence and public virtue, that they rose to considerable eminence in the reign of "the gracious Duncan :" after whose murder, and the usurpation of Macbeth, that cruel and crafty tyrant planned the murder of them both; he succeeded in cutting off the father, but Fleance escaped and took refuge in England, and afterwards in Wales, where he married the prince's daughter: unfortunately the name of this prince is not given. By this Welsh princess he had a son named Walter, surnamed Banquo. This Walter returned into Scotland on the downfall of Macbeth, and the restoration of the right line, "and fought valiantly for his king against the island rebels and the savages of Scotland." In recompense for his extraordinary services, he was created great steward, and treasurer of the royal household. In which capacity, he served the crown with so much fidelity and integrity, that the surname of Stewart was bestowed upon him and all his posterity: he was also exalted to the rank of an earl. His son and successor, Allan Stewart, went to the holy land under the duke of Lorraine and Robert duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror. He was succeeded by his son Alexander Stewart, whose son Walter Stewart divided the family into two distinct branches, in the persons of his two sons, Alexander and Robert Stewart.

Robert, the youngest son, married the heiress of Crookston, from whom are descended the ancient earls and dukes of Lennox, and the barons of Darnley. Of Alexander, the eldest son, descended John and James Stewart, of whom descended the earls of Athol and Buchan, Inverness, and others. Athol bore the full arms of Banquo, the patriarch of the family.

John Stewart, the eldest son of Alexander, the second of the name, left but one daughter, Jane Stewart, who married the earl of Bute; and of this marriage sprang Walter Stewart, third of the name, who married Marjory Bruce, daughter of Robert I. Majory died before her father; but her son

Robert Stewart succeeded to the crown by the title of Robert II., on the demise of David Bruce without issue of either sex.

Many circumstances conspired to augur prosperity to Robert II.'s reign. The family of Baliol relinquished their just pretensions to the throne; Edward the III. was old, and indifferent about resuming his pretensions to the supremacy usurped by his grandfather over the crown of Scotland; Robert himself was in the full vigour of his age at the period of his accession, and the father of a numerous family. While a subject and steward of the kingdom, Robert received a papal dispensation to enable him to espouse Elizabeth the daughter of Adam Muir of Rowallan; and by her he had four sons, John, Walter, Robert, and Alexander, and several daughters. Elizabeth his wife died before his accession, and he married Euphemia Ross, daughter of the earl of Ross, by whom he had two sons, David and Walter, and a daughter, whom he bestowed after his accession on a son of the earl of Douglas. Robert II. and his queen Euphemia, were crowned at Scone by the bishop of Aberdeen, in the year 1372. Old age and bodily infirmities rendered Robert II. unequal to the cares of government, and prince John, his eldest son, being lame, in consequence of a kick on the thigh from an unruly horse, and unfit for exertion, he appointed Robert earl of Fife, whom he also created duke of Albany, regent of the kingdom, into whose hands he resigned the whole power of the state. The king died in his castle of Dundonald, in the month of April, in the year 1390, in the seventyfifth year of his age and the nineteenth of his reign.

John, earl of Carrick, succeeded to the crown on the death of Robert II., the first of the dynasty of the Stewarts. He married Anabella Drummond, who with himself was solemnly crowned at Scone, the 15th August, 1390. On his accession, he was persuaded to adopt the name of Robert III., because the misfortunes of the house of Baliol had rendered his name odious to his subjects, and the superstition of the times induced them to think that the name was fatal to the kingdom. Besides, his great-grandfather, the ever-memorable and heroic Bruce, had shed a lustre round the name of Robert, which rendered that name dear to the nation. The infirmity already noticed, and a corresponding indolence, compelled Robert III. to continue the duke of Albany at the head of government. The king's eldest son Robert, duke of Rothsay, was married to a daughter of Archibald the grim, earl of Douglas, after having been engaged to marry a daughter of the earl of March. The guilty ambition of the duke of Albany induced him to murder his nephew, the heir apparent of the crown, which he did by the cruel and lingering death of starvation, in the castle of Falkland. Robert became alarmed for the safety of his surviving son James; he regarded Albany with abhorrence and dread, as the enemy of the lives of his children, as the murderer of his son, and yet as being too potent for punishment, or even for removal from the dangerous height

to which he had attained. His second son James was too young to guard his own life against his uncle's arts, if Albany should aspire to the crown. Trembling under these apprehensions, he secretly determined to send the young prince to the court of France, where he might prosecute his studies, and find protection in the court of a faithful ally. At the command of the king, therefore, Sinclair earl of Orkney, secretly prepared, with a suitable number of attendants, to conduct the young prince to France. They sailed, but alas! they fell in with an English ship of war, who captured their vessel, and carried the prince with his attendants prisoners into Flamborough head, contrary to all the rules of war, for at the time a truce existed between the nations. The news of this disaster filled up the cup of his afflictions, and the good old man died of grief at his castle of Rothsay, in the isle of Bute, in 1406, and sixteenth year of his reign.

The king's death made no alteration in the government; it was still administered by the duke of Albany as regent, and the rude nobles yielded him an outward obedience; nevertheless, every one lived in his own castle, in a state of perfect independence. James the first still continued a prisoner in England, and Albany made no efforts to procure his release. At length, however, the regent died in the year 1419, and was buried at Dunfermline," the sacred storehouse of his ancestors." His eldest son Mordac succeeded him as regent; a weak man, but who made no effort to redeem his sovereign, who still continued to languish in captivity, where he might have died, but for one of those trifles which the providence of God makes subservient to his own purposes. Mordac had a favourite falcon, which his eldest son Walter, a man of violent and ungovernable temper, had often solicited his father in vain to bestow upon him. At last the ungracious youth, resolved that his father should not enjoy what he refused to his importunities, snatched the falcon from his father's wrist and wrung its neck before his eyes. This excited the most violent passion in the old man, and he instantly vowed to recall his imprisoned sovereign, in revenge of his son's insolence. The angry resolution of the regent fortunately concurred with the earnest desire of the people, who had with one accord turned their eyes toward England and their captive sovereign. An embassy was accordingly despatched into England to negotiate his release. The ministers of Henry VI. during his minority were happily well disposed to listen to proposals for James's freedom. One hundred thousand merks partly paid, and partly promised, with the security of some of the young nobility, procured his release from captivity. During his imprisonment, James himself had impressed his captors with the most favourable expectations of his talents and virtues, and persuaded them that he was cordially attached to their country, their arts and manners, and devoted to their political interests.

Before leaving England, James married Jane Beaufort, daughter of the