Angus or queen's party, being located at Perth, nominated Douglas to the charge; but the Duke of Athole had his brother elected through his influence with the canons, and he was at once put in possession of the episcopal palace. The queen again wrote the Pope urging her adviser's claims, and requesting confirmation of his appointment. She also wrote her brother, the king of England, to use his influence at the Vatican to the same effect. Nor did Douglas himself fail to urge Lord Dacre, warden of the English marches, who was charged by Henry to look after the affairs of Scotland, to use his influence with the king of England regarding the confirmation of his appointment. The Pope now assented, and intimated his approval in a letter to the queen, in which, however, concurrence in the settlement of the Primacy is insisted upon as a condition. there were others to reckon with before matters were finally arranged. But In May 1515, John, Duke of Albany, who had been declared regent after the queen's marriage, arrived in Scotland, and held a parliament in Edinburgh in July, of which Gavin Douglas was elected a member. One of the first subjects that engaged its attention was the recent ecclesiastical appointments. Forman, archbishop of St Andrews, alarmed at the objections which were threatened against their validity, resigned his into the regent's hands; but he was reinstated in them all except Arbroath. On enquiring into the appointment to Dunkeld, it was resolved to intercept the Pope's bulls confirming it. This accordingly was done, and these documents, with accompanying letters, clearly showed the regent the influences by which the ratification was obtained. He summoned a meeting of the Lords of Council for 6th July, to consider the matter; and Douglas, aware that his appointment was to be taken into consideration, sought a private interview with the regent, at which, on being informed that it was known to the governor that the ratification was obtained through the solicitation of the king of England, Douglas denied his knowledge of the fact, saying he had rather have been hanged, than take any part in obtaining any benefice in the kingdom through such means. He was then examined before the Lords of Council, a minute of whose proceeding records his deposition as follows :— "Comperit Master Gavin Douglas, postulate of Arbroth, and shew how he was ane man of 40 yearis of age or thereby, and ane gentilman of gude blude, and has passit his time in Scotland, Ingland, France, and Rome, without defamation or ony reprief of his honeste, as was knawin to divers of their lordis that ware then present for the time. Howbeit, as he was informit, he was delated to be ane evil man in divers poynts, and had committed crimes in contrar the King's Majesty and commonwele of the realme, the whilk, he said, God willing, suld not be fundin in veritie." In the same minute it is recorded that the queen also denied to the governor that she was accessory to such proceedings. The matter was postponed till the 9th July, when Douglas, on the plea of being “ane spiritual man," objected to the jurisdiction of a temporal court, and produced the letter of his appointment to the bishopric, signed by the queen and eleven of the Lords of Council. His objection was overruled, and he was found guilty of violating the acts of parliament regulating the appointment to bishoprics, in purchasing the Bishopric of Dunkeld without the king's licence or recommendation to the Pope. He was therefore condemned to be confined in the castle of Edinburgh, but was afterwards removed to that of St Andrews. After some time he was sent to the castle of Dunbar, and then back again to Edinburgh. No effort, however, was spared by his friends to obtain his release, and the Court of Rome was appealed to in his behalf. The Pope wrote the Duke of Albany a severe rebuke for the insult to the Holy See implied in the imprisonment of the bishop, and threatened punishment if it were continued. The duke now began to get uneasy at the consequences that might follow his treatment of various members of the queen's adherents, and even of herself, who fled to her brother's court, and drew up a statement of her complaints against him. He therefore sent her proposals of a conciliatory kind, to which she replied, requesting the bishop's release. Douglas's imprisonment, which lasted about a year, was now terminated, and Albany even wrote the Pope for a renewal of his approval of the appointment to Dunkeld, to remove any objections that might be urged in behalf of Steward, the Earl of Athole's brother. Douglas was consecrated by Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, and afterwards, at St Andrews, by Forman, who affected to consider the Glasgow consecration a nullity. He was inducted into the see with much formal splendour; and, after some slight opposition on the part of Steward's friends, he at length obtained peaceable possession. In May, 1517, he was appointed one of the ambassadors sent to France to renew the ancient bond of amity between Scotland and that country. Their negotiations resulted in the treaty o. Rouen. Albany, anything but satisfied with the success of his administration of Scotland, returned to France on the pretext of signing the treaty, and delegated his authority during his absence to a convention of nobles and clergy, of which the Earl of Angus, and Hamilton, Earl of Arran, became the rival leaders. Hamilton's party, displeased with the ascendancy of Angus, devised a plot for bringing it to a termination. They met in Edinburgh, in the house of Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, to arrange their plans for carrying it into execution. Angus, becoming aware of their designs, sent his uncle Gavin to intimate his willingness to retire from the city, if permitted to do so in safety. Meeting Beaton, who was a partizan of the Hamiltons, he tried to impress him with his duty, as a churchman, to preserve peace. The archbishop, protesting that he was unable to prevent what was about to happen, appealed to his conscience, and, striking his hand upon his breast, the coat of mail which he wore under his dress was heard to rattle, upon which Douglas replied: "How now, my lord! methinks your conscience clatters." Returning to his nephew he said: "Defend, yourself like a man ; as for me, I will go these grounds, Henry was requested to to my chamber, and pray for you." In assist the said lords to expel the duke the encounter which followed, the from Scotland. Albany, who had been Hamilton party were entirely defeated. | informed of Douglas's mission, contrived Beaton, who took an active part in the to have him summoned to Rome, and fray, sought sanctuary behind the altar of the queen sent messengers to her brother the Black Friar's Church, and owed his denying the accusations in the Bishop life to Douglas's intervention. From of Dunkeld's instructions, and intimatthe clean sweep that was made of the ing his deprivation of the bishopric by Hamiltons, this street fight has been the regent. His mission, as might known by the name of "Clean-the- be foreseen, entirely failed; and, to comcauseway." plete his misfortunes, he was informed that Angus had abandoned his own cause, and was negotiating with the regent for permission to retire to France. In a letter to Cardinal Wolsey, Douglas confesses the shame, mortification, and grief which he felt on finding himself betrayed by such unworthy men, and expresses his determination not to return to Scotland while Albany ruled there. He made out a memorial to be shown to Henry VIII., containing a variety of reasons why the duke was disqualified to rule Scotland, and containing a series of accusations against his behaviour, which, were they all true, manifested a species of political infatuation on the part of the man who could suppose any good end to be served by their presentation, and on the word of an agent whose principals had abandoned their The queen now returned to Scotland, but her husband and she soon quarrelled to such an extent that she sought to divorce him on account of his infidelity and abuse of her interests during their separation. True to the indiscriminating nature of feminine resentment, her vengeance extended all his relations, and his uncle Gavin did not escape. As the most effective means of gratifying her hatred of her husband, who, it must be admitted, deserves no sympathy, she tried every means to get Albany to return to Scotland, and at last succeeded. The duke returned in November 1521, and was welcomed by the queen. Angus retired to the borders, whence he sent his uncle Gavin to the court of Henry VIII. with a commission, the undertaking of which is the greatest reflection upon his political sagacity. His instructions were in the form of a manifesto by Angus, and the Lords Home and Somerville, suggesting danger to the life of the King | of Scotland from the ambition of Albany, and that Henry his uncle should adopt measures for his safety. It also declared that a scandalous intimacy existed between the queen and the duke. On own cause. War having been declared against Scotland by England on account of the alliance with France, a proclamation, drawn up by Beaton, was issued, declaring Douglas guilty of treason for being without permission resident in an enemy's country. It is a more pleasing spectacle to see Douglas, while thus an exile in London, renewing his early interest in literature. Having become intimately acquainted with Polydore Vergil, an Italian, who wrote a “History of England," Douglas, says Vergil, -“vehemently required me, that in relation of the Scottish affairs, I should in nowise follow the president of a history of a certain countryman of his (referring to John Major), promising within few days to send me of those matters not to be contemned, which, | indeed, he performed.” But Douglas's interest in literature and politics came to a premature end by his death, in September 1522, in the 48th year of his age. He died of the plague, at the house of his friend, Lord Dacre, in St Clement's parish, and was buried at his own request, in the Hospital Church of the Savoy. but the imaginative must have been constitutional. Even his political character has been highly praised by Buchanan; but all who have read his private correspondence with Henry VIII., through his agents, must admit that it is marred by serious blemishes. The times were not those of political purity, and he may be said to compare favourably with most of his contemporaries; yet this is the most that can be said in behalf of his political character. Having already indicated the leading defects of his original compositions, it is but just to summarize their general merits, their special qualities being noticed in the notes prefixed to the specimens given. Luxuriant richness of imagination, vivid and striking powers of description, with a wonderful command of language, constitute his chief poetic faculties. In his most remarkable literary work, the Æneid—where his imagination is kept within the welldefined and regular limits of the splendid symmetrical structure of a genius highly imbued with a sense of poetic perspective-these qualities, added to his extensive and varied Douglas is not one of those poets whose character may be best traced in his writings; hence the necessity of giving | with some fulness an account of his political career. The chief defects of his poetry-confused indefiniteness of outline in the imaginative structure, disproportion and want of symmetry in the grouping, and of concert in the action, of the crowd of indistinct and half-learning, enabled him to make it a work developed allegorical figures, which appear and depart without leaving any impression of their reality, with a background of which the imagination fails to trace the lineaments-are to a certain extent paralleled by corresponding discordances in his political conduct. Their origin must have been due to some deflection in his moral and imaginative perceptions. The moral deflection may have been due to training and external influences, | of high poetic merit, as well as of great philological interest. In this last respect his works mark an era in Scottish literature. Several excellent manuscripts of his writings are preserved, the principal being one in Trinity College, Cambridge, and two in the Edinburgh University Library. The first edition of his works was printed in London in 1553. That of Thomas Ruddiman, Edinburgh, 1710, is noted for its copious and learned vocabulary, the groundwork of the Scottish Dictionary. The last and most complete edition is that of Mr Small, Librarian to the Edinburgh University, in 4 volumes 8vo, Edinburgh, 1874. KING HART. [THE following outline of "King Hart" is prefixed to Pinkerton's edition, in imitation ancient spelling, which need not here be followed :: This poem is an allegorical representation of human life. The heart of man, being his most noble part, and the fountain of life, is here put for man in general, and holds the chief place in the poem under the title of King Hart. This mystical king is first represented in the bloom of youthhood, with his lusty attendants, the attributes or qualities of youth; next is pictured forth the Palace of Pleasure, near by the castle of King Hart, with its lovely inhabitants. Queen Pleasance, with the help of her ladies, assails King Hart's castle, and takes him and most of his servitors prisoners. Pity at last releases them, and they assail Queen Pleasance, and vanquish her and her ladies in turn. King Hart then weds Queen Pleasance, and solaces himself long in her delicious castle. So far is man's dealings with pleasure; but now, when King Hart is past mid-age, comes another scene. For Age, arriving at the castle of Queen Pleasance, insists for admittance, which he gains. So King Hart takes leave of Youthhead with much sorrow. Age is no sooner admitted, than Conscience also comes to |