fitted to ingratiate himself into the favour of the young sovereign. They were furious declamations against the lords of the Raid, against the ministers of the kirk by whom they had been countenanced, and against all their proceedings by which the headlong will of James had been reduced within wholesome limits; and these, too, were delivered in such fashion, as, we are informed by James Melvill, "that he who often professed from the pulpit before that he had not the spirit of application, got the gift of application by inspiration of such a spirit as never spoke in the scriptures of God." Among the other effects of the Raid of Ruthven, was the banishment of the lung's unworthy favourites, the Earl of Arran, and the Duke of Lennox, the former from the royal presence, and the latter from the country; and Lennox took his exile so much to heart, that he died soon after he had arrived in France, while James continued to bewail his loss. Here then was a favourable theme for the archbishop. The chief offence alleged against Lennox was, that though outwardly a Protestant, he had not only lived, but even died a papist; and from this stigma it was Adamson's main effort to clear the memory of the departed. He therefore boldly asserted, in his sermon, that Lennox had died a good Protestant, and in proof of this he exhibited in the pulpit a scroll, which he called the Duke's testament. It happened unluckily for the preacher, however, that an honest merchant woman, who sat near the pulpit, looked narrowly at this important document, and saw with astonishment that it was an account of her own, which she had sent to the archbishop for a debt of some four or five years' standing, but which, like other reckonings of the kind, he had left unpaid!
Adamson's loyalty was soon rewarded, and in a way that best accorded with his wishes. He was to be employed as ambassador or envoy from the king to the court of London. What was the ostensible object of his mission does not appear; but its real purport was, the suppression of Presbyterianism in Scotland, and the establishment of such a form of Episcopacy in its stead, as might make the union of the two countries more complete, when James should become king of both. But in such an office the messenger behoved to go wisely and warily to work, as Elizabeth was apt to take fire at every movement that pointed to a succession in her throne. Another serious difficulty interposed in the very threshold of the archbishop's departure. He had already been charged before the presbytery of St Andrews, as corrupt both in life and doctrine: the trial was removed to the synod, and was finally remitted to the General Assembly, at whose bar he must justify himself, or be deposed for non-appearance; and he thus felt himself between the horns of a dilemma in which his compearance or absence might be equally fatal. If, however, he could only get the trial delayed until he had accomplished his mission, he might then brave it, or quash it with impunity. He therefore called sickness to his aid, and pretended that he was going to the wells of Spa, in Germany, for the recovery of his health; and this was nothing more than reasonable, even though he should take London by the way. Forth therefore he went, unhindered and unsuspected; and, if there is any truth in "The Legend of the Lymmar's Life," a satirical poem, written by Robert Semple, the archbishop's conduct during this embassy was anything but creditable to his employers. His chief aim, indeed, seems to have been to replenish his extenuated purse; and, provided this was accomplished, he was by no means scrupulous about the means. Even horses, books, and gowns came into his permanent possession under the name of loans. His approach to the palace for his first, and, as it turned out, his last audience, was equally
