The Project Gutenberg eBook, James VI and the Gowrie Mystery, by Andrew
Lang

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Title: James VI and the Gowrie Mystery

Author: Andrew Lang

Release Date: January 20, 2010 [eBook #31033]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAMES VI AND THE GOWRIE MYSTERY***

Transcribed from the 1902 Longmans, Green, and Co. edition by David
Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

[Picture: The Gowrie Coat of Arms. In the 'Workman' MS.]

JAMES VI
AND
THE GOWRIE MYSTERY

* * * * *

BY
ANDREW LANG

* * * * *

WITH GOWRIE'S COAT OF ARMS IN COLOUR, 2 PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAITS
AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

* * * * *

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1902

All rights reserved

* * * * *

TO
THE LADY CECILY BAILLIE-HAMILTON
THIS INQUIRY
IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED

INTRODUCTION

An old Scottish lady, four generations ago, used to say, 'It is a great
comfort to think that, at the Day of Judgment, we shall know the whole
truth about the Gowrie Conspiracy at last.' Since the author, as a
child, read 'The Tales of a Grandfather,' and shared King Jamie's
disappointment when there was no pot of gold, but an armed man, in the
turret, he had supposed that we do know all about the Gowrie Conspiracy,
that it was a plot to capture the King, carry him to Fastcastle, and 'see
how the country would take it,' as in the case of the Gunpowder Plot.
But just as Father Gerard has tried to show that the Gunpowder affair may
have been Cecil's plot, so modern historians doubt whether the Gowrie