445
rescued, but shot by one of the party when they saw
they could not carry him away. David Spens of
Wormiston, who had him in charge, and used every
endeavour to save him, was also shot in revenge,
though the wounded regent attempted to protect
him. This was unfortunate for Grange. Mar was
immediately elected regent; a man of far higher
merit, and much more respected, than Lennox, and
in still greater favour with the ministers of Elizabeth;
and he in the end proved too strong for the misled
though patriotic Grange. The war now assumed the
most ferocious character. Morton destroyed the
whole of Grange's property in Fife. Grange on the
same day retaliated by burning Dalkeith; and for
upwards of two months they reciprocally hanged
their prisoners.
The distress of the town and the surrounding dis-
tricts now became extreme; the poor were turned
without the gates, and the empty houses pulled down
and sold for fuel; a stone weight being sold for what
would purchase a peck of meal. Through the media-
tion of the English and French ambassadors an
armistice was at last agreed to, and all the differ-
ences between Morton and Grange nearly made up.
Through the intrigues of Maitland, however, who
had gained an extraordinary influence over him,
Grange rose in his demands, and nothing was accom-
plished further than a renewal of the truce. In the
meantime Mar, who was a sincere, good man, and
truly devoted to the public interests, died, and was
succeeded by Morton, a man of great address, and
the mortal enemy of Maitland. He too, however,
professed to desire peace, and offered the same terms
as Mar. Grange was to deliver up the castle in six
months, and a convention was called to consider the
means of effecting a double peace. Both parties
were at the same time attempting to overreach each
other. Morton thirsted for the wealthy estates of
some of the queen's adherents; and the queen's ad-
herents wanted to gain time, in the hope of procur-
ing effectual aid from France. The Hamiltons,
Huntly, Argyle, and their followers, were now weary
of the war; and in a meeting at Perth accepted of
the terms offered by Morton, and, according to Sir
James Melville, abandoned Grange, who would will-
ingly have accepted the same terms; but from that
time forth Morton would not permit the offers to be
mentioned to him. The day of the truce had no
sooner expired than a furious cannonade was com-
menced by Grange on the town from the castle. He
also shortly after, on a stormy night, set fire to the
town, and kept firing upon it to prevent any person
coming forth to extinguish the flames; a piece of
wanton mischief, which procured him nothing but
an additional share of odium. Being invested by
the Marshal of Berwick, Sir William Drury, with an
English army, the garrison was soon reduced to great
straits. Their water was scanty at best, and the falling
of one of the chief towers choked up their only well.
The Spur, a building of great strength, but imperfectly
manned, was taken by storm, with the loss of eight
killed and twenty-three wounded. Sir Robert Mel-
ville, along with Grange, were, after beating a par-
ley, let over the walls by ropes, for the gate was
choked up with rubbish. They demanded security
for their lives and fortunes, and that Maitland and
Lord Hume might go to England, Grange being
permitted to go or stay as he might deem best.
These conditions not being granted, they returned to
the garrison, but their soldiers refused to stand a new
assault, and threatened in case of another that they
would hang Lethington, whom they regarded as the
cause of their protracted defence, over the wall.
Nothing remained therefore but an unconditional
surrender; and so odious were the garrison to the
citizens, that an escort of English soldiers was neces-
sary to protect them from the rabble. After three
days they were all made prisoners. Lethington died
suddenly, through means, it has been supposed, of
poison, which he had taken of his own accord.
Grange, Sir James Kirkaldy (his brother), James
Mossman and James Leckie, goldsmiths, were
hanged on the 3d of August, 1573, and their heads
afterwards set up on the most prominent places of
the castle-wall.1
Thus ignominiously died one of the bravest war-
riors of his age; the dupe of a volatile and crafty
statesman, and of his own vanity to be head of a
party. He had been one of the earliest friends, and
during its first days of peril one of the most intrepid
defenders, of the Reformation. Knox, who knew
and loved him well, lamented his apostasy, and with
that sagacity which was peculiar to his character
admonished him of the issue. "That man's soul is
dear to me," said Knox, "and I would not willingly
see it perish; go and tell him from me, that if he
persists in his folly, neither that crag in which he
miserably confides, nor the carnal wit of that man
whom he counts a demi-god, shall save him; but he
shall be dragged forth and hanged in the face of the
sun." Kirkaldy returned a contemptuous answer
dictated by Maitland; but he remembered the warn-
ing when on the scaffold with tears, and listened
with eagerness when he was told the hope that Knox
always expressed, that though the work of grace
upon his heart was sadly obscured, it was still real,
and would approve itself so at last; of which he
expressed with great humility his own sincere con-
viction.
KIRKWOOD, JAMES, an eminent teacher and
writer on grammar, in the latter part of the seven-
teenth century, was born near Dunbar. The circum-
stances of his education are unknown ; he was first
schoolmaster of Lirilithgow, and subsequently of
Kelso. His school at Linlithgow was one of con-
siderable reputation, and he would appear to have
been intrusted, like many teachers of the present
day, with pupils who boarded in his house. The
celebrated John, second Earl of Stair, was thus
educated by him. The first work ascertained to
have been published by him was an Easy Grammar
of the Latin language, which appeared at Glasgow
in 1674. In 1677 he published at London an octavo
fasciculus of Sentences for the use of learners. In
the succeeding year appeared his Compendium of
Rhetoric, to which was added a small treatise on
Analysis. After the Revolution he was sent for by
the parliamentary commissioners for colleges, on the
motion of Lord-president Stair; and his advice was
taken about the best Latin grammar for the Scottish
schools. The lord-president asked him what he
thought of Despauter. He answered, "A very unfit
grammar; but by some pains it might be made a
good one." The Lord Crossrig desiring him to be
more plain on this point, he said, "My lord-presi-
dent, if its superfluities were rescinded, the defects
supplied, the intricacies cleared, the errors rectified,
and the method amended, it might pass for an excel-
lent grammar." The lord-president afterwards sent
for him, and told him it was the desire of the com-
missioners that he should immediately reform Des-
pauter, as he had proposed; as they knew none fitter
for the task. He accordingly published, in 1695,
1 In the case of Kirkaldy there appears to have been con-
siderable debate on the relevancy of the indictment on which
he was tried, too technical to be interesting to the general
reader.—Pitcairn's Crim. Trials, ii. 3.