personal than this reverend pulpit-orator. His text was aptly chosen from the thirtieth Psalm, and the deliverances of David. The preacher was aware that the public entertained great doubts of this conspiracy, which the banishment of the Edinburgh ministers, who stood by Gowrie and the Kirk, might silence, but did not removė. They had heard "poisoned untruths," and were now called upon to take heed that they might eschew false information. We must give a short specimen of the fulsome servility and style of vituperation and artifice of courtly churchmen in the first year of the seventeenth century :

"Thairfoir, to cleir the treuth, I will shaw yow the storie trewlie. His Majestie, be persuasioun of the Master of Gaurie, was led fra his pastyme to Sanct Jhonestoun, (tak tent that ye may eschew fals informatioun !) Quhen he comis thair, and enteris in my Lordis ludging, efter ane cauld denner, and ane far caulder welcome, his Majestie is tane be the hand be the Master of Gaurie, and led wp ane stair, thre or four durris all lokit on his bak, nather friend nor seruant with him; and thair is sitting a man, preparit to joyne with the wther, to the tressonabill murthering of his Majestie! Quhen he is set betuixt these twa, the Master of Gaurie, a vyll tratour! na soner cumis the King in, but to testifie that all reuerence of a Christian to his God, and of a subject to his prince, was strampit wnder fute, he puttis on his hat, drawis his dager, and sayis, I sall now be avengit on the for my fatheris slauchter.' But the Lord stayit the dager, that he ducht not stryk with it. Quhen the ire of this tratour was sumthing mitigat, be the Kingis modest language, he gois out, leifing the wther man to keip him; appeirandlie, to get furder resolution of his brother. Agane he cumis in, as a wod lyoun, and enteris wpon his Majestie, with his gartanis to bind him. Nobill men, and citizens of St. Jhonestoun, hard his Majestie cry Tressoun! I am murdreifit!' as the voyce of ane half deid man. Let vyle knavis say athort the cuntrie quhat they will, this is the treuth! I ken weill thair is mony surmises of the pepill castin in withal to breid ane evill consait of the Kingis Majes tie, in the hairtis of the pepill. I will tell pairt of thame. This is ane: How can it be sik a nobill man as the Erle of Gaurie, sa weill brocht up, culd haif fosterit sik a tressoun?' This wald appeir to carie sumthing with it; but, in very deid, hes na probabilitie. If the Erle had bidden still in Scotland, and keipit that education quhilk he gat wnder that worthie man, Mr. Robert Rollok, he mycht perchance not haif attemptit sik ane tressoun. But quhen he geid to Padua, thair he studieit Nigromancie: his awin pedagog, Mr. William Rin, testifies that he had these characters ay upone him, quhilk he luifit sa, that gif he had forgot to put thame in his breikis, he wald rin up and down lyk a mad man; and he had thame wpon him quhen he was slain: And as thai testifie that saw it, he culd not bleid sa lang as thai war wpon him. He that this wyse castis of all reuerence to his God, quhat reuerence can he haif to ane eirthlie king? Ane wther questioun, I ken, wilbe muifit. Sum will say, Sall we trew that he culd haif devysit, his allane, sik a tressoun? Culd he haif enterprysit sik a work without a bak?' I dout not bot he had ane bak! The Lord discouer it! And I am assurit he sall at last discouer it! And, as I haif said befor to your Majestie, I say yet, and ye try it not out, ye sall yit sum day mak us all ane sorrowfull morning; if ye rype not wp the fontaine thairof, it is a manifest tempting of God! And I exhort your Majestie and Counsall to do it, as thai will ansuer to God, befoir quhom thai salbe countit tratouris, one day, if thai keip up the leist chope of it, quhilk they can try out."

The massacre of the Colquhouns on the "Field of the Lenox," as it is often named, and the raid of Glenfruine, gave rise to many criminal trials, and also furnished pretexts for the cruel proscription of the Clan Gregor. In this work there is a complete exposition of the cold-blooded policy and perfidy of the Earl of Argyle towards this devoted race. The state of moral feeling must have been at a low ebb in high places, when this nobleman, the King's Lieutenant, and long the Justice General of Scotland, could merit such a notice as is here extracted by Mr. Pitcairn, from the MS. Diary of Robert Birrell, preserved in the Advocates' Library.

"The 2 of October (1603,) Allester M'Gregour of Glainstre tane be the Laird of Arkynles, bot escapit againe; bot efter, taken be the Earle of Argyill the 4 of Januar; and brocht to Edinburghe the 9 of Januar 1604, with mae of 18 his friendis,

M'Gregouris, He wes convoyit to Bervick be the Gaird, conforme to the Earlis promese; for he promesit to put him out of Scottis grund. Swa he keipit ane Hie. land-manis promes; in respect he sent the Gaird to convoy him out of Scottis grund: Bot thai wer not directit to pairt with him, bot to fetche him bak agane! The 18 of Januar, at evine, he come agane to Edinburghe; and vpone the 20 day, he wes hangit at the Croce, and ij (eleven) of hes freindis and name, upone ane gallous : Himselff, being chieff, he wes hangit his awin hicht aboue the rest of his friendis."

The declaration of Macgregor, presented on his trial, in evidence to the Justice Depute, is a remarkable document, and one which deeply implicates the character of Argyll. Its striking conclusion may still be a lesson to State Secretaries for Ireland.

The trial and execution of the Lady Warriston, for the murder of her husband, Kincaid of Warriston, made a great sensation in Edin. burgh, the scene of this tragedy lying so near the town, and the parties being persons of rank. The murderess, a young and beautiful woman,

who had bribed a man-servant and her nurse to aid in her atrocious crime, was tried without loss of time. In respect of her birth she was, at an unusual hour, decapitated by the Maiden, instead of undergoing the ordinary punishment of females-drowning, or strangling, and burning. She was of the family of Livingstone of Dunipace, and related to many great Scotch houses. This is the first case that we remember, in which atrocious criminals were canonized on the scaffold, and triumphant conversions made at the foot of the gallows.

Mutilation, dismemberment, and particularly slitting of noses, appear to be modes of crime in vogue towards the latter part of this reign. Sorcery, witchcraft, poisoning, and incantation, are, however, the crimes which offer the compiler the most singular details. In this volume Mr. Pitcairn inserts the remarkable case of the Mures of Auchindrane, which has been dramatized by Sir Walter Scott, by the name of the Ayrshire Tragedy. The remarkable circumstances, and minute chain of evidence by which the consecutive murders committed by the Mures were brought home to them, must have made a strong impression at the time, when even yet, after the lapse of centuries, the train of small events by which the singularly complicated and involved crimes were traced, confirm the national supersition that murder will not hide. If ever this may be affirmed, it is in the case of the Auchindranes. An old narration of their case, which Mr. Pitcairn has preserved, contains some choice morsels of the grossest flattery of Royalty we have ever had the felicity to peruse. It was in this reign that the Gipsies first came under the long arm of the law. The whole tribe, which had become frightfully numerous, had been banished the kingdom by several Acts of Parliament, and they were now hung for disobedience of this severe rule. The Egyptians thenceforth fared little better than the unhappy clan Gregor, the "notorious Johnnie Fals," and that unhappy sort of people it was become a crime to "harbour and reset." The trials of Lord Maxwell, and those originating in the rebellion of the Earl of Orkney, afford great scope to Mr. Pitcairn's researches, who has ferreted out, with unwearied industry, every fact which throws the remotest light upon such obscure points of history. The trial of Ogliby, a Jesuit, tortured into confession and then hanged, gave his Majesty an opportunity of displaying his polemic talents and theological learning, by propounding a string of ensnaring questions to which the man was so little of what a Jesuit is imagined, as to make the honest and direct answers which expedited his fate. A novel species of crime was now first heard of in Scotland, which James, having originally borrowed the idea

from England, afterwards planted in that kingdom. This was uttering "treasonable blasphemies and damnable speeches against the king." The first victim of this newfangled offence was John Fleming of Cockburnspath, who had rashly said, "Fiend nor the King were shot to dead on the morn!" and, when asked what moved him to such "blasphemous speeches against the king," he replied scornfully, "Were it not for the King and his law he had not wanted his lands; and, therefore, he cared nought for the king, hanging would be the worst of it." By the uttering of the which "damnable and blasphemous speeches against his Majesty,' he had committed the most heinous and unpardonable treason. The assize, "all in one voyce," found this man guilty of treason, and he was sentenced to be hanged at the cross of Edinburgh, and to have his moveables escheated to the crown. Another horrible case, of a somewhat similar nature, "leaves," in the words of our author,

an indelible stain on the memory of James VI., as a despotic and cruel tyrant." It was but one of a series of "sanguinary and barbarously vindictive acts." The character of this most despicable of the Stuart princes has only been saved by the contempt and ridicule of posterity from merited loathing and execration. "It has already," says Mr. Pitcairn, "been frequently shewn in the course of this work, that whenever there occurred the slightest attack on his personal dignity, or any speech, lampoon, or other writing, at all infringing on his kingly prerogative, his Majesty was relentless in the severity of the punishment, which he never failed to cause be inflicted on the luckless offender." Mr. Pitcairn refers to many cases of this kind in his Collection of Criminal Trials, and then comes to that of Mr. Thomas Ross, of which he has taken an account from a MS. of Sir James Balfour, in the Advocates' Library:—

"The reader has here the painful satisfaction of finding, that the conduct of King James and his Councillors was still more inexcusable than at first had been conjectured. It is now clearly proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Pasquill, or Thesis in question, had not been printed or industriously disseminated by its unhappy author; but that it had merely been affixed on the door of the College,— that, de facto, no person had read it, excepting the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, to whom it had been brought by a student,-that this student, instantly on the Thesis having been hung up, had only perused a few lines of the paper, and brought it, without delay, to his superior, and that, after the examination, confession, and imprisonment of Ross, the Vice-Chancellor had transmitted the Thesis to Court, requesting instructions how the poor man should be disposed of.

"That Ross was insane, as well as in the most abject poverty, there can now be no doubt. Altogether, indeed, his case is one of the most pitiable on record."

The Pasquill is a piece of sheer nonsense and bravado; but we must give a few sentences of his Majesty's directions to the Privy Council thereanent.

"Wee likewise sende yow the person of the man, to be censured by yow, willing yow firste to examine him, and thereafter aduese of the forme of punishment whiche yee sall thinke fitte to be inflicted vpon him. For, although by the Lawes of this our kingdome, it be not permitted for to vse extraordinarie punishementes, yat hath it euer bene lawfulle for the Kinges there, to deuese and inflicte punishmentes, according to the qualitie and nature of the offence, which in this particulare can be no lesse than Treason [!] For if no man make question but that the writing of an inuectiue againste the King and his progenie is Treason, in the highest degree, and in our opinion it is a grevous faulte, and wee could more easilie forgiue the writeing againste our selfe, then againste the wholle Nation frome whence we are sprunge. And if it wer a matter capitall in Germanie for Starcoius (being a German, a mere stranger to Scotland, and one who, perchance, had bene hardlie vsed by some particulare person there) to haue written againste that wholle Kingdome, how much more muste it be capitall to this fellow, who, being Scottes borne, hath so villainouslie, filthilie, yea, and falslie, defamed his owne countrie, by writing in such sorte againste his countriemen, the specialler of our seruantes, and persuaded a course to be taken

against them, which possiblie could not be performed, without manifest danger and manifest violence againste our selffe, and so much the more is his offence greeuous, as that, by the space of two monethes before, he continuallie vaunted that he would do such a feate. It is therefor our pleasour, that yee aduise vpon his punishment, and hauing resolved, that yee aduertise vs with all expedition. So fare yee well."

This miserable man, who was of a good family, and had been minister of Cargill, had his right hand stricken off, and was then beheaded, quartered, and had his body stuck upon the ports of the town.

Not contented with exercising this tyranny at home, a Pole, who had been ill-treated in Scotland, and who vented his spleen in some foolish rhymes, became the object of the vengeance of his patriotic and sapient Majesty, who, pinched as he always was for money, yet spent £600—an immense sum then-to procure the arrest and execution of the daring insulter of our ancient kingdom and its Sovereign lord. The king attempted to indemnify himself for the pecuniary outlay by extorting "the price of the innocent man's blood from the royal burghs of Scotland, but in this he was foiled." A letter from Lord Binning to the king, respecting Ross, is another precious morsel of fulsome obsequiousness. But we must close Mr. Pitcairn's volumes for the present. Having given a very imperfect account of their purpose and contents, we are strongly tempted to return to them. The work is too expensive and voluminous to be generally diffused, yet to readers, and especially to Scottish readers, it offers many attractions, and a mine of rich and precious materials, which we are well disposed to work a little deeper for their benefit and

amusement.

THE RETURNED WANDERER'S SONG.

HERE, like two rills that long have been far parted,
Again we meet, at life's blest evening hour;

Thou, as thou ever wast, gay and warm-hearted,
Thou hast not felt, like me, earth's darkening power.

O many a night have I dream't o'er this meeting
How oft hath Fancy, with a pensive sigh,
Lov'd to call up thy warm and heartfelt greeting,
The silent welcome of thy soft-blue eye!

I was prepar'd to find full many a furrow,

Grav'd on thy brow by time, and thought, and care;
Yet here I see no mark of earth-born sorrow,
Save gentler traces-such as all must bear.

Dear one, who long and tenderly hast lov'd me,
Unto my heart I must again thee press;

To sudden floods of joy this hour th mov'd me,
And I in tears must vent my happiness!

M.

TAIT'S COMMONPLACE_BOOK.

Ar a late inquest the coroner refused to allow refreshment to a dissentient jury, upon the ground that they would agree when they were a little more hungry! That starvation sharpens the intellect is a truth attested by a proverb; but that it should specifically affect the conscience is something of a novelty. It is reasonable to infer, that after an attentive examination of witnesses, the existing difference cannot arise on a question of fact, but rather of judgment or construction. Now, if hunger have this peculiar property of imparting to conscience a power which lies dormant in repletion, it is a subject for grave reflection, when, and in what condition of body, respectable householders should be allowed to exercise the onerous duties of jurors. Should it be indeed proved that any such positive relation subsists between the physical condition of the stomach, and the moral state of the mental functions, physiologists will have enough to engage their investigating talents upon for the next half century.

COURT COSTUME.-In a recent London Gazette notice was thereby given, that " every gentleman, not being a naval or military officer, attending her Majesty's Drawing-Room, State Balls, &c., is expected to appear in shoes and stockings." Are we to infer from this, that any persons have heretofore unwarrantedly attended on such occasions, with legs denuded of the common accompaniments of silk and calf-skin, or that, in future, military and naval officers alone are privileged to be such nasty beasts?

THE POLICE.-The London police are in terrible mauvaise odeur with the cockneys; the "discretionary powers" with which that potent body are invested having somehow or another been now and then abused, misinterpreted, mistaken, or misemployed, much to their displeasure and annoyance. It has been said, with more asperity than truth, perhaps, that the "new police" is composed, one half of Irishmen, the other of discharged soldiers; and certainly such a description of persons is not the fittest in the world for such an office; an office for the effective discharge of which, the members should be well disciplined in, and constitutionally prone to, habits of sobriety, patience, long-suffering, gentleness, temper, mercy, meekness, and brotherly forbearance !important qualifications, and worthy of all exercise.

Soldiers are trained to the rigid execution of their orders, we all know, and if Mr. Inspector Jack-in-office issues his mandate that skulls are to be cracked, it is the duty, as it is unquestionably the inclination of Private F. 135, to do his mission to the letter, of course. If he obeys his "orders," that is all he cares about. It is notorious, that the "lower orders" of Irish (the term is used inoffensively) are, to a man, "anybody's customer in a row;" a row is to them a God-send, by day or by night; it sets their very souls on fire; their blood gallops through their veins, and, impelled by some unseen spirit, they rush onwards to the fray as to a field where glory waits them. Our Irish friends must not take umbrage at what we say; Pat in a row is no longer a responsible being; he is beside himself, frantic,—and he cannot help it, it is in him, it was born with him ;-talk to him of discretion at such a saison as that!-madness.

Gravely and seriously, then, we put it to those in authority over us, whether these two constituents of the new police should not be per