monarchs are
expected to take a mate somewhat earlier than other folk. As the king,
with a splendid retinue, was to depart shortly after the new year on a
journey to France to claim his bride, the capital city flung its
bunting to the breeze, and the inhabitants thereof pledged each other
and the king in bumpers of exhilarating beverages; indeed all Scotland
was following the example set to it by Stirling, for the marriage was
extremely well liked throughout the land.

The king's father had linked himself to an English princess, and the
Scottish people thought little of her. The precipitate marriage of
this queen, only a few months after her husband's death, still further
lowered her in public estimation. Scotland professed slight regard for
Margaret of England, and was glad when her son refused the offer of
his uncle, Henry the Eighth, to provide him with a wife. Indeed, James
was at that moment the most sought-after young man in the world, so
far as matrimony was concerned. The Pope, who now addressed him as
Defender of the Faith, had a favourite candidate for his hand. Henry
the Eighth was anxious that he should have all England to pick and
choose from. The Emperor Charles the Fifth wished him to marry
Princess Mary of Portugal; Francis the First of France was eager to
supply him with a well-dowered bride. Never before had any youth such
an embarrassment of choice, but James himself decided that he would
go a-wooing to France, and his subjects universally applauded his
preference. James's elderly relative, John, Duke of Albany, had
married the heiress of De la Tour d'Auvergne, and the young king
resolved to follow his example. Apart from this, James, in a manner,
was pledged from the time he was three years of age, for Albany, when
Regent of Scotland, had promised France that the young ruler should
seek his consort in that country; so there had now been chosen for him
Mary, daughter of the Duc de Vendome, who was reported beautiful, and,
what was more to the purpose in a thrifty nation, was known to be
wealthy.

This courting by all Europe might have turned the head of a less
sensible young man than James, but he well knew the reason that so
many distinguished persons desired his alliance. Henry the Eighth was
at loggerheads with France; the Emperor Charles and Francis the First
were engaged in one of their customary aimless wars, the advantage as
usual inclining rather to the emperor's side. Scotland was at peace