hen the course of fortune went against
them. The Chancellor had been deeply stung, it is evident, by the answer
of Douglas to his appeal, in which the fierce Earl declared that discord
between "you twa unhappie tyrants" was the most agreeable thing in the
world to him, and that he wished nothing more than that it should
continue. Deprived of the sanction given to all his proceedings by the
name of the King, outwitted among his wiles, and exposed to the ridicule
even of those who had regarded his wisdom with most admiration, Crichton
would seem to have turned fiercely upon the common opponent, perhaps
with a wise prescience of the evil to come, perhaps only to secure an
object of action which might avert danger from himself and bring him
once more into command of the source of authority--most likely with both
objects together, the higher and lower, as is most general in our
mingled nature. The meeting was held accordingly outside the castle
gates, the Chancellor coming forth in state bearing the keys of the
castle, which were presented, Buchanan says, to the King in person, who
accompanied the expedition, and who restored the great functionary to
his office. The great keys in the child's hand, the little treble pipe
in which the reappointment would be made, the tiny figure in the midst
of all these plotters and warriors, gives a touch of pathos to the many
pictorial scenes of an age so rich in the picturesque; but the earlier
writers say nothing of the little James's presence. There was, however,
a consultation between the two Regents, and Douglas's letter was read
with such angry comments as may be supposed. The Earl's contempt
evidently cut deep, and strongly emphasised the necessity of dealing
authoritatively with such a high-handed rebel against the appointed
rulers.

It would appear, however, that little could be done against the
immediate head of that great house, and the two rulers, though they had
made friends over this common object, had to await their opportunity,
and in the meantime do their best to maintain order and to get each the
chief power into his own hands. Crichton found means before very long to
triumph over his adversaries in his turn by rekidnapping the little
King, for whom he laid wait in the woods about Stirling, where James was
permitted precociously to indulge the passion of his family for hunting.
No doubt the crafty Chancellor had pleasant inducements to bring forward
to persuade the boy to