ny situation in absolute tranquillity, or abstain from projects and
enterprises however fruitless and unnecessary.

The will of the late king of Scotland, who left his widow regent of the
kingdom, and the vote of the convention of states, which confirmed that
destination, had expressly limited her authority to the condition of her
remaining unmarried;[***] but, notwithstanding this limitation, a few
months after her husband's death, she espoused the earl of Angus, of the
name of Douglas, a young nobleman of great family and promising hopes.
Some of the nobility now proposed the electing of Angus to the regency,
and recommended this choice as the most likely means of preserving peace
with England; but the jealousy of the great families, and the fear of
exalting the Douglases, begat opposition to this measure.

* Sir Thomas More. Stowe, p. 504.

** Erasm. lib. ii. epist. i. Cavendish. Hall.

*** Buchanar, lib. xiv. Drummond. Herbert.

Lord Hume in particular, the most powerful chieftain in the kingdom,
insisted on recalling the duke of Albany, son to a brother of James III.
who had been banished into France, and who, having there married, had
left posterity that were the next heirs to the crown, and the nearest
relations to their young sovereign. Albany, though first prince of the
blood, had never been in Scotland, was totally unacquainted with the
manners of the people, ignorant of their situation, unpractised in their
language; yet such was the favor attending the French alliance, and so
great the authority of Hume, that this prince was invited to accept the
reins of government. Francis, careful not to give offence to the king
of England, detained Albany some time in France; but at length, sensible
how important it was to keep Scotland in his interests, he permitted
him to go over and take possession of the regency: he even renewed
the ancient league with that kingdom, though it implied such a close
connection as might be thought somewhat to intrench on his alliance with
England.

When the regent arrived in Scotland, he made inquiries concerning the
state of the country, and character of the people; and he discovered a
scene with which he was hitherto but little acquainted. That turbulent
kingdom, he found, was rather to be considered as a Confederacy, and
that not a close one, of petty princes, than a regular system of civil
polity; and even the king, much more a regent, possessed an authority
very