ee hundred and forty-three years).

Marjory's son, Robert II., the first of the Stuart kings, was crowned
at Scone in 1371. His natural weakness of character made him the mere
creature of his determined and {273} ambitious brother, the Duke of
Albany, who, in fact, held the state in his hand until far into the
succeeding reign of Robert III., which commenced in 1390. The nobles
had now established a ruinous ascendancy in the state, and so abject
had the King become, that Robert III. was paying annual grants to the
Duke of Albany and others for his safety and that of his heir. In
spite of this, his eldest son, Rothesay, was abducted by Albany and the
Earl of Douglas, and mysteriously died, it is said of starvation. The
unhappy King then sent Prince James, his second son, to France for
safety; but he was captured by an English ship by the way, and lodged
in the Tower of London by Henry IV. When Robert III. died immediately
after of a broken heart, the captive Prince was proclaimed king (1406),
and his uncle, the Duke of Albany, the next in royal succession, ruled
the kingdom in name, as he had for many years in fact.

There existed between France and Scotland that sure bond of friendship
between nations--a common hatred. This had given birth to a political
alliance which was to be a thorn in the side of England for many {274}
years. French soldiers and French gold strengthened Scotland in her
chronic war with England, and in return the Scots sent their soldiers
to the aid of the Dauphin of France. It was this which gave such value
to the royal prisoner. He could be used by Henry IV. to restrain the
French alliance, and also to keep in check the ambitious Duke of
Albany, by the fact that he could in an hour reduce him to
insignificance by restoring James to his throne.

Such were some of the influences at work during the eighteen years
while the Scottish Prince with keen intelligence was drinking in the
best culture of his age, and at the same time studying the superior
civilization and government of the land of his captivity. He seems to
have studied also to some effect the affairs of his own kingdom. He
was released in 1424, crowned at Scone, and a new epoch commenced. He
had resolved to break the power of the nobles, and with extraordinary
energy he set about his task! There was a long and unsettled account
with his own relatives. He knew well who had humiliated and broken his
father's heart, and starved