Tracts, legal and historical

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them — at any rate it had his express sanction and
approbation. — The above proceeding of this Lawyer
is curious, as it shews that it was competent for advo-
cates to sue for their honorarium. — It would hence
appear, that Craig's conduct was not regulated by
punctilious rules, and that even for a paltry consider-
ation, he could lend himself to a questionable expe-
dient (to say the least of it,) in defiance of principles
of moralilty that he had before inculcated. 1 The
maternal uncle of the inventor of Logarithms, Adam
Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, was unprincipled and
worthless, at one time encouraging Mary in her
baneful inclinations, at another proving her bitterest
enemy — a presbyterian, and prelatist — an armed
civilian, and affected devotee, while all along only
constant to those measures that tended to advance his
interests. He had a trusty confidant of the name of
James Menzies, a cousin of the family, to whom he
specially refers the Laird of Merchiston in 1559, 2
for the purpose of apprizing him of his difficulties,
and perplexities at the time. Long afterwards, in
1589, John Bothwell, the son of the bishop, gives
this account of a conversation between him and John
Menzies, the identical son of the former, in the outer
Tolbooth of Edinburgh, where the Court of Session
1 For Remarks on Craig's inaccuracy as a legal writer, see
the next Article.
2 See original letter adduced by Mr. Napier, in the Memoirs
of Merchiston, p. 63.