History of the life and death of John, Earl of Gowrie

166 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF
good will towards him, and that many whom he
now saw along with him were no better disposed.
Such a sumptuous entertainment as would have
been suitable to the dignity of the King, and to
the Earl's own rank and opulence could not now
possibly be provided. Tradition says, that the
Earl's servants found it necessary to procure some
dishes of meat from a house or tavern in the town,
where a feast was preparing for a marriage com-
pany. I apprehend it was the tavern of George
Murray, where his friends of his own surname were
that day to do him honour, by their assembling on
account of his late marriage. Calderwood says,
that the Earl apologised to the King both for the
poverty and the delay of the dinner, by telling him
" that he looked not for him till less than an hour
before his coming."
It was indeed a full hour, that is, it was two
o'clock in the afternoon before the King's dinner
was brought in. Calderwood and others have well
observed, that during the hour before dinner there
was plenty of time for the King to have gone
to see the man who had the pot full of gold, if
there had really been any expectation of finding
such a person. But no mention seems to have been