r. Barlow never forgetting the art of
instruction. The particular anecdotes, however, told of Buchanan, do not
recall Mr. Barlow or his "moralities" at all.

[Illustration: STIRLING CASTLE]

The little King James, a precocious and clever child like all the
infantile monarchs of the house of Stewart, had been established at
Stirling, always a favourite residence of the Scotch Kings, where he
held his baby Court in peace while his mother pined in England, and the
Scotch lords struggled for the mastery, and succeeded each other as
Regents at home. The troubles of the world outside seem to have been
kept far from the surroundings of the boy, to whom both the kingdoms
looked as their heir, the child in whom the glories of his race came to
a climax, and the union of the warring kingdoms was at last secured.
Personally, he was by far the least distinguished of his name, but no
one as yet suspected this fact or thought of Buchanan's pupil as less
hopeful than any of the gallant Jameses who had preceded him. The little
Court at Stirling was presided over at this early period by the Lady
Mar, a dignified matron who was "wise and sharp and kept the king in
great awe," although at the same time very tender of the child and
respectful of his royal dignity. Almost all James's immediate
surroundings seem to have belonged to this powerful race. The master of
the household was a certain Laird of Drumwhasel, to whom no other name
is given, and who is described as ambitious and greedy, a man whose
"greatest care was to advance himself and his friends." Alexander
Erskine, another member of the household, calls forth something like
enthusiasm in the courtly narrative as "a gallant, well-nurtured
gentleman, loved and honoured by all men for his good qualities and
great discretion, no ways factious nor envious, a lover of all honest
men, desiring to see men of good conversation about the prince rather
than his own nearest friends if he found them not so meet." In addition
to this official household were the tutors charged with James's
education, two of them being members of the Erskine family, abbots of
Cambuskenneth and Dryburgh, though those titles were no doubt merely
fictitious, meaning only that the "temporalities," the endowments of the
extinct monasteries, were in their hands. The other and principal
masters of James were Sir Peter Young and Mr. George Buchanan. Young was
"gentle, loth to offend the king at any time, carrying himself