er 2, 1600. Bowes had been English ambassador in
Scotland, probably with the usual commission to side with the King's
enemies, and especially (much as Elizabeth loathed her own Puritans) with
the party of the Kirk. His coach had been used for the kidnapping of an
English gentleman then with James, while the Governor of Berwick supplied
a yacht, in case it seemed better to carry off the victim by sea (1599).
Consequently Bowes was unpopular, and needed, and got, a guard of forty
horsemen for his protection. He was no friend, as may be imagined, of
the King.

Bowes had met Preston, whom James sent to Elizabeth with his version of
the Gowrie affair. Bowes's theory of it all was this: James, the Master,
'and one other attending' (the man of the turret) were alone in a chamber
of Gowrie House. Speech arose about the late Earl of Gowrie, Ruthven's
father, whether by occasion of his portrait on the wall, or otherwise.
'The King angrily said he was a traitor, whereat the youth showing a
grieved and expostulatory countenance, and haplie Scotlike words, the
King, seeing himself alone and without weapon, cried Treason!' The
Master placed his hand on James's mouth, and knelt to deprecate his
anger, but Ramsay stabbed him as he knelt, and Gowrie was slain, Preston
said, after Ramsay had made him drop his guard by crying that the King
was murdered. The tale of the conspiracy was invented by James to cover
the true state of the case. {96}

This Bowes only puts forth as a working hypothesis. It breaks down on
the King's narrative to Lennox about Ruthven's captive and hoard. It
breaks down on 'one other attending'--the man in the turret--whatever
else he may have been, he was no harmless attendant. It breaks down on
the locked door between the King, and Lennox and Mar, which Bowes omits.
It is ruined by Gowrie's repeated false assurances that the King had
ridden away, which Bowes ignores.

The third hypothesis, the _via media_, is impossible. There was a
deliberate plot on one side or the other. To make the theory of Bowes
quite clear, his letter is appended to this section. {97}

IX. CONTEMPORARY CLERICAL CRITICISM

The most resolute sceptics as to the guilt of the Ruthvens were the
Edinburgh preachers. They were in constant opposition to the King, and
the young Gowrie was their favourite nobleman. As to what occurred when
the news of the tragedy reached Edinburgh, early on July 6, we have the
narrative of M