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

JOHN, EARL OF GOWRIE. 333
measures against the Scottish king, whom she wish-
ed to retain in a dependence upon her pleasure,
with regard to his succession to the crown of Eng-
land, he and his brother must have known, that
any traitorous attempt against the life and liber-
ty of the King, would have lost to them the fa-
vour of their friends, and that even Elizabeth her-
self, according to her well known political charac-
ter, would have been amongst the first to reprobate
their conduct.
4. A treasonable attempt made by the Earl and
his brother, without any accomplices, against the
King at Perth, who was there in the midst of his
nobles, and where some hundreds of armed horse-
men, chiefly gentlemen from the country, had as-
sembled to be ready to defend him, and take di-
rections from him, can only be credible on the
supposition, that the two brothers had become sud-
denly deranged in their judgment, and in their
frenzy rushed to perpetrate a hazardous and atro-
cious crime. But no signs of insanity appeared
upon them. They were esteemed, and spoken to,
as reasonable men.
5. Both of them might easily have been con-
fined as prisoners, when, first, Mr. Alexander, and