James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

“ His brother Henry Stewart married Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV. of Scotland, and was created Baron Methven by James V. in 1528; and another brother, Sir James Stewart of Beath, was ancestor of the Stewart earls of Moray, through his son James who was created Lord Doune in 1581. ”

“ The Earl of Arran was dismissed; the colonel lost his office of captain of the guard, and was given into the custody of Maxwell, who took him to Dumfries. Stewart quickly accommodated himself to the change of circumstances, made friends with Maxwell, reappeared for a short time at court to the disgust of the church party, and slipped away or was dismissed to the continent with a secret mission from James. He first appeared in Denmark, where he added the Danish king to the list of royal suppliants for the restoration of his wife's dowry ”

“ The first Earl of Athol of the name of Stewart was constituted Lieutenant to King James III. (1457) ; and for his defeating, and bringing to submission, Mac-Donald, Lord of the Isles, who had rebelled, he had a special grant of several lands, and the above Motto added to his Arms [309] , which seems to mean, Go forth, be successful, and fill the Fetters with the Feet of all other rebellious Subjects; for I understand "Fortune" to be a verb, and chosen probably for the sake of the alliteration. One appendage to the Arms of Murray, probably received from Stewart, has an allusion to the Motto ”

“ Albany's eldest son, Robert, earl of Fife, died about 1420; the youngest son James escaped to the highlands, collected a band of freebooters, and attacked the burgh of Dumbarton, which he sacked and gave to the sword, killing, among others, the king's uncle, Sir John Stewart of Dundonald, known as ‘the Red Stewart.’ He then retired to the highlands, but, being hard pressed, made his escape to Ireland, where he married one of the Macdonalds, and had a son James, ancestor of the Stewarts of Ardvoirlech. ”

“ It [Pg 376] seems possible that Stewart met Bothwell, when he was in Denmark, in the spring of the year, and induced him to arrange a conspiracy with his cousin, Patrick Hepburn. Before Hepburn was taken, the Lyon Herald, on August 2, fled to Dumbarton, where he was safe under the protection of Lord Fleming, then holding Dumbarton Castle for Mary. [408] The Herald ‘was suspecte of conspiracy against the life of the Regent, the Earll of Moray.’ He lost his place as Lyon King at Arms, and Sir David Lindsay was appointed to the office, held under James V. by his poet namesake. ”

“ Sir William Stewart of Houston is often confused with Sir William Stewart of Monkton (d. 1588) , a brother of James Stewart, earl of Arran, who was killed in a fight in Edinburgh in July 1588, and also with Sir William Stewart of Caverstoun. ”

“ He returned towards the Queen’s apartment in deep thought, and he had entered it fully, before the notes of the music that still sounded in it had power to rouse him from his abstraction. Sir Walter Stewart still sat near the Queen’s footstool, singing to the accompaniment of his lute, and her Majesty and her maids of honour were still eagerly occupied in listening.
“Ha!” cried King James, as he recovered perfect consciousness of the scene before him, and speaking with a highly disturbed air and [96] tone ”

“ On 22 July 1427 he had a grant of the earldom of Strathearn for life (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. i. No. 93) , and on 15 May 1430 he resigned the earldom of Caithness in favour of his son Alexander. In 1437 he engaged in the plot for the assassination of James I, in order that his grandson, Sir Robert Stewart, chamberlain to the king, might succeed to the crown. ”

“ Colonel Stewart had certainly been most cordial, and the fact that he was to meet the King without the delay of presenting credentials through the American Embassy, rather argued that England felt the necessity for prompt action.
The barber almost cut his ear off when James came to announce the fact than an officer of the Royal Household was downstairs and that Mr. Black and Mr. Stanton had returned from Grosvenor Square with the apparatus and films, and when Edestone stopped him long enough to say through the lather: “Tell Mr. ”

“ Here he dined with Sir James Stewart, and was extremely cheerful and hearty, but said, ‘there was never a schoolboy more desirous to have the play than I am to have leave of this world.’ He made his will on 17 Aug., and died on 19 Aug. ”

“ Among the mysteries of Mary’s reign, none is more obscure than the burning of Sir William Stewart, the Lyon King at Arms: at St. Andrews, in August, 1569. In 1560, Stewart was Ross Herald, and carried letters between Mary and Elizabeth. [404] On February 11, 1568, when Moray was Regent, we find Stewart sent on a mission to Denmark. He was to try to obtain the extradition of Bothwell, or, at least, to ask that he might be more strictly guarded. ”

“ Majesty, exclaimed, ‘He’s gone!’ and then turning aside, he added, in a somewhat lower voice, ‘He’s gone!—Would he were the King!’ So, and please your Majesty, did mine ears report his words.”
“Ha!” exclaimed James, with an air of great dissatisfaction, “Ar’t sure that he so spake? From all that thou hast seen, as well as heard at Drummin, it would seem to us that both thine eyes and thine ears have been wonderfully sharp to pick up evil against Sir Walter Stewart. ”

“ In so far as my riding with you would better your lordship’s defence, I am at your lordship’s orders; but in so far as it would help to hang James Stewart, you see me at a stick.”
I thought he swore to himself. “You should certainly be called; the Bar is the true scene for your talents,” says he bitterly, and then fell a while silent. “I will tell you,” he presently resumed, “there is no question of James Stewart, for or against. James is a dead man; his life is given and taken—bought (if you like it better) and sold; no memorial can help—no defalcation of a faithful Mr. David hurt him. ”

“ Rev. John Maclachlan of Kilchoan, ‘chaplain general of the clans,’ friend and correspondent of Bishop Forbes. Writing to the Bishop in 1748, he says, ‘I live for the most part now like a hermite, because all my late charge almost were kill’d in battle, scatter’d abroad or are cow’d at home. (L. in M., ii. 210.)
[282] Dugald Stewart, 8th chief of Appin and last of the direct male line. Although a Jacobite, and created a peer, as Lord Appin, by James, in 1743, he did not join Prince Charles. His clan, one of the first to rise, was led out by his kinsman Charles Stewart, 5th of Ardshiel. ”

“ It is sometimes given to a man in all light-heartedness, in what seems the spontaneous way of his own impulses and pleasures, to do what is best for his surroundings and his time, without any apparent{199} strain of self sacrifice or gravity of duty. James Stewart, the fourth of his name, was one of these happy and beautiful natures: and though his life was one of almost unbroken prosperity and brightness, yet no man can say that his stewardry was not nobly held, and to the benefit of his kingdom and people. ”

“ Fontenay reported to Mary Stuart that James, according to the king's own account, valued Stewart simply as a fighting man, and had said that the colonel, though devoid of intelligence or gift of speech, was a brave and faithful servant. On one occasion Stewart had forgotten himself, and the king brought him to his knees by threatening to reduce him to the coquin et bélître that he once was. Stewart, however, as the king must have soon discovered, possessed considerable diplomatic skill. ”

“ He was welcomed by many of the discontented nobles, amongst others by Lord Erskine afterwards Earl of Mar, Lord Lorne and his father the Earl of Argyll, Maitland Lord of Lethington, the Earl of Glencairn, and Lord James Stuart prior of St. Andrew's, who as Earl of Moray was soon to betray his sister, Mary Queen of Scots.
Encouraged by the protection of such powerful patrons he preached freely and with great success in several districts of Scotland. The clansmen were so united to their lords that they were prepared to follow their example even in matters of religion. ”

“ He continued in office until his death, which took place suddenly in August 1700. Sir James Stewart, lord advocate, wrote of him at the time to Carstares, ‘He was a good man, and is much regretted’ (ib.) He married, first, a daughter of Sir Alexander Dalmahoy ”

“ Most of them came to the throne in childhood; not one attained old age. Their reigns were chiefly passed in struggles to put down their lawless and turbulent nobles, who in each succeeding minority waxed more powerful and more independent. In the reigns of James the Second and of James the Fifth, this contest between the Crown and the Baronage took the form of a struggle between the House of Stewart and the House of Douglas. In both cases the King compassed the fall of his rival only by placing a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the other nobles. ”

“ STEWART, WILLIAM (1481?–1550?) , Scots chronicler and verse-writer, born about 1481, was great-grandson of one of the illegitimate sons of Alexander Stewart, earl of Buchan [q. v.] , and was thus descended from Robert II, king of Scotland. He was educated like his namesake, William Stewart (1479–1545) [q. v.] ”

“ The publication of a statement so particular, and probably so correct, is a debt due to the memory of James Stewart; the victim, it would seem, of his own violent passions, but perhaps incapable of an act of premeditated treachery. ”

“ To protect the young king from the nobles, Scottish archers of the French king's bodyguard were sent to attend on James, and he is the first Scottish king who had such a guard. Albany held at Edinburgh, on 17 Nov., a parliament which entrusted the guardianship of James to Lords Borthwick, Cassilis, and Fleming, in turns of three months, with the Earl of Moray, a bastard of his father, as his constant companion. At the request of the queen Lord Erskine was added, and she herself was allowed to visit her son with her ladies but without troops. ”

“ Stewart was moved with compassion, perhaps with fear. He slipt the girth-buckle, and Rob, dropping down from behind the horse's croupe, dived, swam, and escaped, pretty much as described in the Novel. When James Stewart came on shore, the Duke hastily demanded where his prisoner was; and as no distinct answer was returned, instantly suspected Stewart's connivance at the escape of the Outlaw ”

“ In an age when a boy of sixteen leads armies and quells insurrections, a boy of thirteen, trained amid all the exciting circumstances which surrounded James Stewart, might well have made a definite choice and acted with full royal intention, perhaps not strong enough to be carried out by its own impulse, yet giving a real sanction and force to the power which an elder and stronger man was in a position to wield. ”

“ And William Stewart is Erle of Marr,
And his father-in-law dwells with him indeed.
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'SPEAK for yoursell, John Stewart,' he did say,
'Speak for yoursell, John Stewart,' he did say,
'Speak for yoursell, John Stewart,' he did say,
'And soon an answer I will gie to thee;
The highest service I can give thee
Is to wait on my daughter Ailly.
'. . . . .
. . . . .
If ever I gie a man a penny wage,
I'm sure, John Stewart, ye shall hae three.'
'I speak not for mysell,' John Stewart he did say,
'I speak for a lord of a higher degree ”

“ He died on 8 March 1617. By his wife, Nichola (d. 1614) , daughter of Sir James Somerville of Cambusnethan, he had three sons: William (d. 1638) , who succeeded him as second Lord Blantyre, and was grandfather of Alexander Stewart, the fifth lord [q. v.] ; Sir James, who fought a duel with Sir George Wharton at Islington on 8 Nov. 1609, when both combatants were killed (see Gent. Mag. 1800, ii. 1019) ; Walter, a doctor of medicine and father of Frances Teresa Stewart (la belle Stuart) [see Stuart] , and a daughter Anne, married to John, eighth lord Abernethy of Salton. ”

“ John Stewart, Earl of Athole, was one of the more respectable of the Scottish nobility of this age. To Queen Mary—whom he had entertained at a hunt in Glen Tilt in 1564—he proved a faithful friend,103 till her fatal marriage with Bothwell, when, although a Catholic, he joined those who crowned her son as king. During the regencies, he lived in dignified retirement, till called upon to make an effort to rescue the young king from the thraldom in which he was held by Morton. A temporary fall of Morton in 1577 left Athole chancellor of the kingdom. ”

“ The most formidable and avowed of Moray's enemies was Huntly; and it was of vital importance even for protestantism that his power in the north of Scotland should be crippled. A convenient and plausible method of doing so was by the transference of the earldom of Moray to Lord James; and Lord James, having obtained a private grant of it from the queen, persuaded her to make an expedition to the north in order that he might, by force if necessary, enter into possession. Apparently anxious to stand well both with her brother and Elizabeth, Mary made no objection. ”

“ Stewart was the son of Anthony Stewart, before mentioned, a Loyalist gentleman from Maryland. He was Solicitor General and afterwards a Judge of the Supreme Court. He married a sister of the late Chief Justice, Sir B. Haliburton. Judge Stewart's residence was the yellow brick house at the corner of Pleasant Street and Morris Street, afterwards the residence of Mr. Alexander Stewart, Master of the Rolls, but not related to Judge James Stewart. The late Reverend James Stewart, of Dartmouth, was his grandson.
[60] Among Field's portraits remaining in Halifax, are those of the Hon. ”

“ And then bespake William Stewart,
These were the words said hee:
'If thou beate thy daughter for my sake,
Thou'st beate a hundred men and mee.'
Then bespake Iohn Stewart-+-
Lord! an angry man was hee-+-
'O churle, if thou wouldest not haue macht with my brother,
Thou might haue answerd him curteouslye.'
'O hold thy peace, Iohn Stewart,
And chamber thy words now, I bidd thee;
If thou chamber not thy words soone,
Thou'st loose a good service; soe shalt thou doe me.'
'Marry! hang them that cares,' saies Iohn Stewart,
'Either for thy service or for thee ”