THE KING'S GOLD

It is strange to record that the first serious difficulty which
James encountered with the nobles who supported him, arose not
over a question of State, but through the machinations of a foreign
mountebank. The issue came to a point where, if the king had proceeded
to punish the intriguer, his majesty might have stood alone while the
lords of his court would have ranged themselves in support of the
charlatan--a most serious state of things, the like of which has
before now overturned a throne. In dealing with this unexpected
crisis, the young king acted with a wisdom scarcely to be expected
from his years. He directed the nobility as a skilful rider manages a
mettlesome horse, sparing curb and spur when the use of the one might
have unseated him, or the use of the other resulted in a frenzied
bolt. Thus the judicious horseman keeps his saddle, yet arrives at the
destination he has marked out from the beginning.

In the dusk of the evening, James went down the high street of
Stirling, keeping close to the wall as was his custom when about to
pay a visit to his friend the cobbler, for although several members of
the court knew that he had a liking for low company, the king was well
aware of the haughty disdain with which the nobles regarded those of
the mechanical or trading classes. So he thought it best not to run
counter to a prejudice so deeply rooted, and for this reason he
restricted the knowledge of his visits to a few of his more intimate
friends.

As the king was about to turn out of the main street he ran suddenly
into the arms of a man coming from the shop of a clothier who made
costumes for the court. As each started back from the unexpected
encounter, the light from the mercer's shop window lit up the face of
his majesty's opponent, and the latter saw that he had before him his
old friend, Sir David Lyndsay.

"Ha, Davie!" cried the king, "it's surely late in the day to choose
the colours for a new jacket."

"Indeed your majesty is in the right," replied Sir David, "but I was
not selecting cloth; I was merely enacting the part of an honest man,
and liquidating a reckoning of long standing."

"What, a poet with money!" exclaimed the king. "Who ever heard of
such a thing? Man Davie, you might share the knowledge of your
treasure-house with a friend. Kings are always in want of money.
Is your gold mine rich enough for two?"

The king spoke jocularly, placing no particular meanin