doubted his word, the King's character would, to the godly, seem no
better than that of a mendacious murderer.

From a modern point of view, the ministers, if doubtful, had a perfect
right to be silent, and one of them, Hall, justly objected that he ought
to wait for the verdict in the civil trial of the dead Ruthvens. We
shall meet this Hall, and Hewatt (one of the two ministers who professed
belief), in very strange circumstances later (p. 217). Here it is enough
to have explained the King's motives for severity.

In September the recalcitrants came before the King at Stirling. All
professed to be convinced (one, after inquiries in Fife), except Bruce.
We learn what happened next from a letter of his to his wife. He had
heard from one who had been at Craigengelt's execution (August 23), that
Craigengelt had then confessed that Henderson had told him how he was
placed by Gowrie in the turret. {103} Bruce had sent to verify this.
Moreover he would believe, if Henderson were hanged, and adhered to his
deposition to the last: a pretty experiment! The Comptroller asked,
'Will you believe a condemned man better than the King and Council?' Mr.
Bruce admitted that such was his theory of the Grammar of Assent. 'If
Henderson die penitently I will trust him.' Later, as we shall see, this
pleasing experiment was tried in another case, but, though the witness
died penitently, and clinging to his final deposition, not one of the
godly sceptics was convinced.

'But Henderson saved the King's life,' replied the Comptroller to Mr.
Bruce.

'As to that I cannot tell,' said Mr. Bruce, and added that, if Henderson
took the dagger from Ruthven, he deserved to die for not sheathing it in
Ruthven's breast.

Henderson later, we know, withdrew his talk of his seizure of the dagger,
which James had never admitted. James now said that he knew not what
became of the dagger.

'Suppose,' said the Comptroller, 'Henderson goes back from that
deposition?'

'Then his testimony is the worse,' said Mr. Bruce.

'Then it were better to keep him alive,' said the Comptroller; but Mr.
Bruce insisted that Henderson would serve James best by dying penitently.
James said that Bruce made him out a murderer. 'If I would have taken
their lives, I had causes enough' (his meaning is unknown), 'I need not
have hazarded myself so.' By the 'causes,' can James have meant Gowrie's
attempts to entangle him in negotiations with the Pope? {104} These w