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

2£2 THE LIFE AND DEATH, &C.
ling of the water ; and that a great noise of can-
non and harquebusses was heard, as if he" had been
new born."
Such preternatural occurrences, would be easily
credited at that period, and the reports of them
must have increased the general abhorrence of the
late tragical event. But they were not more ex-
traordinary than what the King and his courtiers
afterwards endeavoured to make the people believe,
concerning the necromancy of the Earl of Gowrie.
" He was an atheist, an incarnate devil, in the coat
of an angel, a studier of magic, a conjurer with
devils, some of whom he had under his command,"
said Mr. Patrick Galloway, in a sermon which he
preached at the mercat cross of Edinburgh. Thus
was the virtuous Earl of Gowrie calumniated after
his death.