They were Maitland-once Commissioner to the Westminster Assembly as a ruling elder,-and Rothes, the son and heir of the leading Covenanter, so far as a double leadership in council and in arms was

concerned.

When Maitland, in the Council at Whitehall which settled the policy of Middleton's Parliament, hinted at the propriety of delaying the Episcopalian settlement in Scotland, he was told that "there was no intention of setting up lordly Prelates, such as had been formerly in Scotland, but only a limited, sober, and moderate Episcopacy;" he is said to have replied to the Scottish Commissioner,-"My Lord, since you are for bishops, and must have them, bishops you shall have, and higher than they ever were in Scotland, and that you shall find."

Sharpe was puzzled enough, when the time came, that this promised exaltation was to take place, through, so far as any body could perceive or divine, a capital enemy. For Maitland understood Sharpe well. Rothes was a younger man, and one of the weak people who expect at once to climb high and to stick fast on the chances of an hour. To him Sharpe first lent his arm to mount the tree of preferment. The result was, that honours crowded fast upon him, though to the end of his life he was a puppet in the hands of some mover, first of the ambitious primate, and last of his crafty colleague Lauderdale. This nobleman succeeded Middleton as commissioner; and Lauderdale, who had just escaped ostracism or worse, from the famous balloting act, finding the coast clear by the banishment of Middleton, came down from court to overlook and to direct the hands by which the new cards were to be played. But before leaving London, a fortunate discovery put Sharpe completely in his power, and compelled him in his own despite to truckle to the wily statesman's will. Completely initiated in the traffic of iniquity, and from late experience having acquired perfect confidence in duplicity and chicane, he had ventured to send a letter to the king, of which the object was to subvert the influence of Lauderdale, or rather to ruin that politician altogether. The secret transpired, and Sharpe was summoned by theinjured person to explain his conduct. This call was met by a flat denial that he had ever written to the king on the subject. By this time the letter was in Lauderdale's own hands, to which it had been passed without ceremony or reserve by the king. Then followed a scene of tears, repentance, and humiliation, to which the statesman no doubt gave all the credit due to a priest just self-convicted of enormous lying. An apology was hinted. "What could a company

of poor men refuse to the Earl of Middleton who had done so much for them, and had them so entirely in his power?" It seems to have been impossible for the man to have admitted any higher motive of action within his breast. Lauderdale quietly answered that "he could serve them and the church at another rate than Lord Middleton was capable of doing." And he kept his word.

Sharpe was to give still more damning evidence of meanness and falsehood. The office of Chancellor became vacant by the death of the Earl of Glencairn. Sharpe coveted it for himself; but contented

himself with first addressing the king, and requesting that a post in which the interests of the church were so greatly concerned might not be filled up till he should be heard at court. The king, who by this time greatly despised his character, sent him notice that there was no occasion for his coming up on a matter that would be duly cared for. To the king's surprise, however, he made his appearance; alleging that he would rather venture on the king's displeasure than to see the church ruined through his caution. Notwithstanding a very cold reception, he went on. "He believed many had thought of himself for the office, but he was so far from that thought, that if his majesty had any such intention, he would rather be sent to a plantation." From this interview-he proceeded straight to Sheldon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and pressed him to move the king, for important reasons of church polity, to give him the appointment! Sheldon went to the king and moved accordingly, not without importunity, for he was sufficiently a friend to the power of churchmen. The king smelt the bishop's foot in this embassy; and roundly told the messenger that he suspected Sharpe of having sent him, and charged him to tell the truth. Sheldon owned he had. The king answered by quoting Sharpe's late language to himself. Whereupon the English Primate had nothing better to say for his Brother-Grace, than to pray that "whatsoever he might think of the man, he should consider the archbishop and the church." The hypocrite, nothing abashed under all this vileness and dishonour, still hung on till,-all for the church's sake of course,--he got the vacant chancellorship conferred on the coming man-Lord Rothes. He also pleaded the necessity of making preparations for a national Synod, (which by the way never was called,) that they might settle a book of common prayer, and a book of canons,- -as a reason for the new chancellor being still the king's commissioner, in order to the calling and supervision of this holy convocation. He was by this time also Lord Treasurer in the room of Lord Crawford,-who refused to abjure the Covenant, -and President of the Council in Middleton's room. "All this," says Burnet, "Sharpe considered was his masterpiece." For he was the prime mover in the accumulation of all these dignities on his friend, whom he hoped, by so many obligations, to be got to be governed in all things by himself. And he was so.

We We are now come to the administration of a church so hopefully established, and so capitally officered.

Rothes and Sharpe were long permitted to govern in their own style, without any interference on the part of Lauderdale, who was for some time rather shy of meddling with Church affairs, as a suspected hankerer after Presbytery. Of the policy of these two worthies -the first fruits, were heavy fines for not coming to church-and heavier still, for keeping conventicles, which less offence was by and by magnified into treason. To levy these fines, and execute justice and judgment on recusants, was the task committed to the unscrupulous prototype of Sir Dugald Dalgetty, Sir James Turner, who discharged his respectable function with such zeal and energy, as to provoke the

resistance which placed whole Scotland immediately between the two fires, of the match-lock and of the Privy Council. This chieftain's rough usage from retaliation, and his disgrace are well known--though it was ascertained when his instructions were looked into, that he was far from having exceeded his orders. Rothes and Sharpe, from whom the judges sometimes differed in their opinion of the guilt of the shoals of offenders whose names were delated by the curates, (as the people called them,) soon ceased to call for evidence beyond the private charge or information transmitted to them; and the former pleaded the king's prerogative, of which he was the official trustee, as a sufficient warrant for all that the new inquisition could inflict. Turner's misfortune at Dumfries, threw the army into the hands of Thomas Dalziel, under whom the hanging and beheading began in right earnest. After the Pentland rising this person proceeded to the western shores, where his soldiers contrived, sometimes in a night, to eat up all the substance of any family that might be deficient in regularity of attendance on the curates. And of them an historian of their own church has recorded, that "they were the worst preachers he had ever heard; and that things of so strange a pitch were told of them, that they seemed scarcely credible." They were the familiars of Dalziel, or rather of his soldiery, whom they followed to all their duties and pastimes, or gorged with informations collected from a diligent espial of their parishioners. Fines were too slow of collection. Rapine and spoil became the readier substitute, and old Tom, when he was warm, did not scruple to threaten the disaffected with what he is reported to have seen or enacted in the Muscovite service, that "he would spit and roast them." All this physic proved unequal to the expected cure, and now a Convention was summoned to try the effect of farther measures. Sharpe persuaded this body, that the real obstruction to the restoration of order, was the Covenant, of which the abolition was not sufficient to detach most of the commons, nor, indeed, many of the nobles, from it. It was therefore proposed and carried, to require all suspected persons to renounce the Covenant, and to proceed against all such as refused it, as traitors. This modest resolution was transmitted to the king in a letter, for the sake of obtaining his authority. The letter met with a slight accident. The king happened to fling the cover of the document into the fire; it flew up the chimney in a flame, and fired it; whereupon the jest went round that the Scotch letter had set Whitehall on fire, as its contents were sure to set the country from which it came. Hitherto the declining of the Covenant inferred nothing beyond the civil privilege of forfeiture; and the king was advised to enact the proposed change into a measure to be used only in terrorem if necessary, and in the meantime to be kept secret. But it was not a secret long. Sharpe seemed to have been rather over active in the policy to which he had instigated his instrument Rothes. He was in a kind of disgrace for sometime, and ordered to remain within his own diocese. This was in consequence of a new cheat that he had tried to put upon his Sovereign. He affected to divide the responsibility of Scotch affairs

himself with first addressing the king, and requesting that a post in which the interests of the church were so greatly concerned might not be filled up till he should be heard at court. The king, who by this time greatly despised his character, sent him notice that there was no occasion for his coming up on a matter that would be duly cared for. To the king's surprise, however, he made his appearance; alleging that he would rather venture on the king's displeasure than to see the church ruined through his caution. Notwithstanding a very cold reception, he went on. "He believed many had thought of himself for the office, but he was so far from that thought, that if his majesty had any such intention, he would rather be sent to a plantation." From this interview he proceeded straight to Sheldon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and pressed him to move the king, for important reasons of church polity, to give him the appointment! Sheldon went to the king and moved accordingly, not without importunity, for he was sufficiently a friend to the power of churchmen. The king smelt the bishop's foot in this embassy; and roundly told the messenger that he suspected Sharpe of having sent him, and charged him to tell the truth. Sheldon owned he had. The king answered by quoting Sharpe's late language to himself. Whereupon the English Primate had nothing better to say for his Brother-Grace, than to pray that "whatsoever he might think of the man, he should consider the archbishop and the church." The hypocrite, nothing abashed under all this vileness and dishonour, still hung on till,-all for the church's sake of course,--he got the vacant chancellorship conferred on the coming man-Lord Rothes. He also pleaded the necessity of making preparations for a national Synod," (which by the way never was called,) that they might settle a book of common prayer, and a book of canons,-as a reason for the new chancellor being still the king's commissioner, in order to the calling and supervision of this holy convocation. He was by this time also Lord Treasurer in the room of Lord Crawford,-who refused to abjure the Covenant, -and President of the Council in Middleton's room. “All this,” says

Burnet, Sharpe considered was his masterpiece." For he was the prime mover in the accumulation of all these dignities on his friend, -whom he hoped, by so many obligations, to be got to be governed in all things by himself. And he was so.

We are now come to the administration of a church so hopefully established, and so capitally officered.

Rothes and Sharpe were long permitted to govern in their own style, without any interference on the part of Lauderdale, who was for some time rather shy of meddling with Church affairs, as a suspected hankerer after Presbytery. Of the policy of these two worthies -the first fruits, were heavy fines for not coming to church-and heavier still, for keeping conventicles, which less offence was by and by magnified into treason. To levy these fines, and execute justice and judgment on recusants, was the task committed to the unscrupulous prototype of Sir Dugald Dalgetty, Sir James Turner, who discharged his respectable function with such zeal and energy, as to provoke the

resistance which placed whole Scotland immediately between the two fires, of the match-lock and of the Privy Council. This chieftain's rough usage from retaliation, and his disgrace are well known-though it was ascertained when his instructions were looked into, that he was far from having exceeded his orders. Rothes and Sharpe, from whom the judges sometimes differed in their opinion of the guilt of the shoals of offenders whose names were delated by the curates, (as the people called them,) soon ceased to call for evidence beyond the private charge or information transmitted to them; and the former pleaded the king's prerogative, of which he was the official trustee, as a sufficient warrant for all that the new inquisition could inflict. Turner's misfortune at Dumfries, threw the army into the hands of Thomas Dalziel, under whom the hanging and beheading began in right earnest. After the Pentland rising this person proceeded to the western shores, where his soldiers contrived, sometimes in a night, to eat up all the substance of any family that might be deficient in regularity of attendance on the curates. And of them an historian of their own church has recorded, that "they were the worst preachers he had ever heard; and that things of so strange a pitch were told of them, that they seemed scarcely credible." They were the familiars of Dalziel, or rather of his soldiery, whom they followed to all their duties and pastimes, or gorged with informations collected from a diligent espial of their parishioners. Fines were too slow of collection. Rapine and spoil became the readier substitute, and old Tom, when he was warm, did not scruple to threaten the disaffected with what he is reported to have seen or enacted in the Muscovite service, that "he would spit and roast them." All this physic proved unequal to the expected cure, and now a Convention was summoned to try the effect of farther measures. Sharpe persuaded this body, that the real obstruction to the restoration of order, was the Covenant, of which the abolition was not sufficient to detach most of the commons, nor, indeed, many of the nobles, from it. It was therefore proposed and carried, to require all suspected persons to renounce the Covenant, and to proceed against all such as refused it, as traitors. This modest resolution was transmitted to the king in a letter, for the sake of obtaining his authority. The letter met with a slight accident. The king happened to fling the cover of the document into the fire; it flew up the chimney in a flame, and fired it; whereupon the jest went round that the Scotch letter had set Whitehall on fire, as its contents were sure to set the country from which it came. Hitherto the declining of the Covenant inferred nothing beyond the civil privilege of forfeiture; and the king was advised to enact the proposed change into a measure to be used only in terrorem if necessary, and in the meantime to be kept secret. But it was not a secret long. Sharpe seemed to have been rather over active in the policy to which he had instigated his instrument Rothes. He was in a kind of disgrace for sometime, and ordered to remain within his own diocese. This was in consequence of a new cheat that he had tried to put upon his Sovereign. He affected to divide the responsibility of Scotch affairs