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

JOHN, EARL OF GOWRIE. 167
made of that matter ; and no delay should have
been used, for the King, in his Narrative, says, that
Mr. Alexander, when at Falkland, had told him
" that the fellow who was lying bound might cry
on his hearing a noise, and thereby the treasure
might be lost*." There was now undoubtedly a
great noise in Gowrie's Palace and in the Court
yard, which such a fellow, if he had been there,
must have heard. The story most assuredly may
be pronounced to have been of the King's own
childish, or, as he thought, wise and witty inven-
tion, and never had been heard of either by the
Earl of Gowrie or by his brother.
The King, in his Narrative, endeavoured to im-
press an opinion upon the minds of the public, that
it was not his thirst of gold, but his fear that the
strange man who possessed the treasure might oc-
casion public mischief, that had induced him to ride
to Pertht. But Calderwood replies, " How could
such a quantity of gold as was portable in a pot, or
in a man's arm, disturb the peace of the country ?"
Indeed his Majesty, by sending his orders to the
* King's Narrative, page 7. Lennox's Deposition,
t King's Narrative, page 5.