it would be unjust to say. If he had not the sterner nobility of
purpose which made the first of his name conceive and partially carry
into effect the ideal reign of justice which was the first want of his
kingdom, he had yet a noble ambition for Scotland to make her honoured
and feared and famous, and the success with which he seems to have
carried out this object of his life for many years was great. He made
the little northern kingdom known for a centre of chivalry, courtesy,
courage, and, what was more wonderful, magnificence, as it had never
been before. He penetrated that country with traditions and associations
of himself in the character always attractive to the imagination, of
that prince of good fellows, the wandering stranger, who came in unknown
and sought the hospitality of farmer or ploughman, and made the humble
board ring with wit and jest, and who thereafter was discovered by
sudden gift, or grace, or unexpected justice, to be the King:--

"He took a bugle from his side, and blew both loud and shrill,
And four and twenty belted knights came trooping owre the hill;"

"Then he took out his little knife, let a' his duddies fa',
And he was the brawest gentleman that was among them a'."

The goodman of Ballangeich,[3] the jovial and delightful Gaberlunzie,
the hero of many a homely ballad and adventure, some perhaps a trifle
over free, yet none involving any tragic treachery or betrayal, James
was the playfellow of his people, the Haroun al Raschid of Scotch
history. "By this doing the King heard the common brute (bruit) of
himself." Thus he won not only the confidence of the nobles but the
genial sympathy and kindness of the poor. A minstrel, a poet too in his
way a man curious about all handicrafts, famous in all exercises, "ane
singular good chirurgian, so that there was none of that profession if
they had any dangerous case in hand but would have craved his advice
"--he had every gift that was most likely to commend him to the people,
who were proud of a king so unlike other kings, the friend of all. And
nothing could exceed the activity of the young monarch, always occupied
for the glory of Scotland whatever he was doing. It was he who built the
great ship, the _Michael_, which was the greatest wonder ever seen in
the northern seas; a ship which took all the timber in Fife to build her
(the windswept Kingdom of Fife has never recovered that deprivation)
besides a great deal from Norway