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

William, Earl of Gowrie, etc. 11
scandalous. He was appointed tutor, or as it is termed in
English law " committee/' of the Earl of Arran, who had be-
come lunatic. Being, in that capacity, possessed of the Earl's
estates, the fraudulent guardian put forth a frivolous and mon-
strous claim to both estates and title, and procured from the
young king a grant of both. Nor, when he had attained to
wealth and power, did he strive, by moderation, to make peo-
ple forget the iniquity which had stained their acquisition. His
public display exceeded anything that had ever been seen in
a subject in Scotland. His extravagance was boundless. Out
of the reckless profusion of his expenditure arose a greediness
and lust of perpetual acquisition which took entire possession
of him. No man who had an estate was safe if Arran set his
heart upon his possessions. And if legal oppression seemed
likely to fail, his ill-gotten wife was ready to spur on his evil
purposes by predictions of Highland seers and spae-wives with
whom she was in league, or if necessary, like another Jezebel,
to procure for him a band of lying witnesses. If it were not
for the notorious blindness of regal favouritism, and especially
of the favouritism of King James, one would wonder how it
was possible that a man so wicked and so worthless should
have acquired any hold upon his regard. But Arran had qua-
lities which James admired. His personal appearance was
most attractive, his courage was unquestionable, and he was
ever anxious to relieve his young sovereign, who was fond of
anything in preference to the proper business of his kingly
office, from all the cares of government. Arran made it ap-
pear as if he took upon him the transaction of public affairs
with no other view than to afford his sovereign leisure and op-
portunities for the indulgence of his particular tastes. It was
not difficult for such a man gradually to wind his coils very
securely round a vain, goocl-tempered lad of sixteen.
That such a state of things would produce a convulsion was
obvious, even if it had lacked that element which was mixed
up with all the troubles of Scotland in the reigns of Mary and
James — religious discord. But that element was not wanting.