f disentangling a mystery, granting his
love of money, and of hunting, I agree with Mr. Tytler in seeing nothing
improbable in this narration. If the Master wanted to lure the King to
Perth, I cannot conceive a better device than the tale which, according
to the King, he told. The one improbable point, considering the morals
of the country, was that Ruthven should come to James, in place of
sharing the gold with his brother. But Ruthven, we shall see, had
possibly good reasons, known to James, for conciliating the Royal favour,
and for keeping his brother ignorant. Moreover, to seize the money would
not have been a safe thing for Ruthven to do; the story would have leaked
out, questions would have been asked. James had hit on the only
plausible theory to account for a low fellow with a pot of gold; he
_must_ be 'a practising Papist.' James could neither suppose, nor expect
others to believe that he supposed, one pot of foreign gold enough 'to
bribe the country into rebellion.' But the pot, and the prisoner,
supplied a clue worth following. Probabilities strike different critics
in different ways. Mr. Tytler thinks James's tale true, and that he
acted in character. That is my opinion; his own the reader must form for
himself.

Ruthven still protested. This hunt of gold was well worth a buck! The
prisoner, he said, might attract attention by his cries, a very weak
argument, but Ruthven was quite as likely to invent it on the spur of the
moment, as James was to attribute it to him falsely, on cool reflection.
Finally, if James came at once, Gowrie would then be at the preaching
(Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays were preaching days), and the Royal
proceedings with the captive would be undisturbed.

Now, on the hypothesis of intended kidnapping, this was a well-planned
affair. If James accepted Ruthven's invitation, he, with three or four
servants, would reach Gowrie House while the town of Perth was quiet.
Nothing would be easier than to seclude him, seize his person, and
transport him to the seaside, either by Tay, or down the north bank of
that river, or in disguise across Fife, to the Firth of Forth, in the
retinue of Gowrie, before alarm was created at Falkland. Gowrie had
given out (so his friends declared) that he was to go that night to
Dirleton, his castle near North Berwick, {42} a strong hold, manned, and
provisioned. Could he have carried the King in disguise across Fife to
Elie, Dirleton was with