Papers relating to William, first Earl of Gowrie, and Patrick Ruthven, his fifth and last surviving son

4 Observations on the Trial and Death of
indeed to any of the other incidents in which Johnston differs
from the king. For these reasons, with all respect for Mr.
Tytler, I am inclined to reject the picture story altogether,
and to accept the narrative of the King, with such qualifi-
cations as will occur to every one who considers that it was
no doubt partly written for him ; and that, so far as
it was strictly his own, it was the after-account of a vain,
talkative person, by no means distinguished for courage
or truthfulness, who found himself suddenly placed, by a
wonderful escape, in a position in which he could magnify
the heroism of his own conduct, without fear of contradiction.
It will be observed that both these accounts, however they
differ in other respects, are in one point perfectly agreed :
both put forth Alexander Ruthven's desire to revenge the
alleged murder of his father, as the cause assigned by himself
for his atrocious attack upon the King. The same thing is
stated by Henderson in his examination. He says, that
Alexander Ruthven, " having the drawn whinger in his
hand," addressed the King thus : — " Sir, ye must be my
prisoner! Remember on my father's death." 1 And in
the letters brought to light nine years after the explosion of
the conspiracy, the same object is several times distinctly
alluded to. " The revenge of that cause " is mysteriously as-
signed, in the first of those letters, as the aim of the Earl
of Gowrie and his friends. " Revenge for the M aschevalent
[which is said to mean Machiavellian] massacring of our
dearest friends/' is more plainly put forth in another of them ;
and in a third it is distinctly stated, that " there is no one of
a noble heart, or [who] carries a stomach worth a penny, but
they would be glad to see a contented revenge of Grey Steil's
death," 3 — Grey Steel being a name of popular favour for
William, Earl of Gowrie, derived from the romance of that
name, well known in the folk-lore of Scotland. 1
1 Pitcairn's ' Criminal Trials,' ii. 178.
3 These letters are printed in Pitcairn, ii. 282.
3 ' Grey Steel ' is the beautiful romance which is referred to by