Stuart dynasty

UNDER TWO KINGS. 27
the royal policy. Great as were the difficulties of
the Stuart dynasty at that period, an early mitigation
might have been expected from the increase of inter-
course between England and Scotland, which was
sure to result from peace between these countries.
Not only was there coming and going of the
nobility, merchants, and students, and Churchmen,
which for a century had been impossible, by reason
of the perpetual state of warlike confusion on the
Border, but the spread of chivalry rendered Scotland
the chosen arena for magnificent tournaments and
mock trials of arms, such as were calculated to bring
money into the country, and temporarily provide a
healthy substitute for the perpetual feudal conflicts
which had plagued the land.
Prominent amongst these chivalric displays ap-
peared the person of the youthful heir to the throne,
whose manly bearing, gentle manners, and knightly
accomplishments combined with great personal
beauty to enlist the sympathies of his father's
subjects.
A fondness for poetry, and a certain acquaintance
with literature, on the other hand alienated this youth
of high birth, but woful destiny, from the fierce
barons who made up the court of Robert III., and
hence it was that Fife, the Governor, always had a
party amongst the nobility favourable to the con-
tinuance of his sway. Nor did the spoilt and petted
son of the recluse king, Robert III., fail to give ample
cause of offence which might warrant a prescient
statesman in withholding from the lawful heir to the