(as he had been), Gowrie
had motives for a new Raid of Ruthven, the unceasing desire of the
English Government. He might, if successful, head a new administration
resting on the support of England and the Kirk. Such a change was due in
the natural course of things. Or, quite the reverse, if a secret
Catholic he might hand the King over to Bothwell.

Thus Gowrie may well have wished to revenge his father; his mother had
once already helped to betray James to an attack of the most insulting
nature; he himself was strong for the Kirk, over which James was playing
the despot; _or_, he desired toleration for Catholics; he had been well
received in England, where all such plots--their name was legion--had
always been fostered; he was very young, and he risked everything. Only
his method was new--that of strict secrecy. He had previously spoken to
Mr. Cowper, minister of Perth, in a general way, about the failure of
plots for lack of deep secrecy, and through the admission of too many
confederates. Cowper told this to Spottiswoode, at Falkland. Mr. Rhynd,
Gowrie's tutor, told Cowper and the Comptroller, 'unrequired' (not under
torture, nor in answer to a question under examination), that Gowrie,
when abroad, several times said that 'he was not a wise man that, having
the execution of a high and dangerous purpose, communicated the same to
any but himself.'

As to this secrecy, we must remember that Gowrie was very young; that in
Italy he may have heard or read of romantic and crafty plots; and may
long have dreamed (as Robert Oliphant's reported allegation declared) of
some such scheme as that in which he failed. We must remember, too, that
James's own account at least suggests a plan quite feasible. To bring
James to Gowrie House, early in the day, when the townsmen were at kirk,
to bring him with only three or four attendants, then to isolate him and
carry him off, was far from impossible; they might hurry him, disguised,
to Dirleton, a castle garrisoned and provisioned, according to Carey, who
reports the version of Gowrie's friends. A Scottish judge, Gibson (the
ancestor of Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael), was later carried from Leith
Sands across the Border, with perfect success. A fault of the plan was
that, once undertaken, it could not be dropped, even though James came
late and well attended. Ruthven could not tell the King that his story
about a captive and a pot of gold was false. To do that would have
su