yon of mens mynds
by the minesters defidence at the first, for this people ar apt to
beleve the worst & loath to depart frome yt fayth.

. . . .

'Edinborow this 19 of October 1600.'

{69b} Pitcairn, ii. 218.

{73} _Privy Council Register_, vi. 671.

{74a} State Papers, Scotland (Elizabeth), vol. lxvi. No. 107.

{74b} Cranstoun mentioned his long absence in France to prove that he
was not another Mr. Thomas Cranstoun, a kinsman of his, who at this time
was an outlawed rebel, an adherent of Bothwell (p. 155, _infra_).

{75} State Papers, Scotland (Elizabeth), vol. lxvi. No. 107.

'_George Nicolson to Sir Robert Cecil_.

. . . . .

'A man of Cannagate speaking that one Mr. Ro: Oliphant, lyeng at his
house, should haue complayned and said that "there was no justice in
Scotland, for favlters skaped fre and innocentis were punished. Mr.
Thomas Cranston was execute being innocent, and Henderson saued.
That therle of Gowry had moued that matter to him (Oliphant) in Paris
and here, that he had wth good reasons deverted him, that therle
thereon left him and delt wth Henderson in that matter, that
Henderson vndertooke it and yet fainted, and Mr. Thomas Cranston knew
nothing of it and yet was executed." This I heare, and that this
Oliphant that was Gowries servant is, vpon this mans speache of it,
againe fled. The heades of Gowry and his brother are sett vpon the
tolebuthe here this day. . . . .

'Edenb. the 5 of Decemb. 1600.'

{76} The Captain was 'a landless gentleman.' His wife owned Ranfurdie,
and the Captain, involved in a quarrel with Menteith of Kers, had been
accused of--witchcraft! The Captain's legal affairs may be traced in the
_Privy Council Register_.

{77} The proceedings of the English Privy Council at this point are
lost, unluckily. The Scottish records are in _Privy Council Register_,
1608-1611, s.v. Oliphant, Robert, in the Index.

{80} See the Rev. Mr. Scott's _Life of John_, _Earl of Gowrie_. Mr.
Scott, at a very advanced age, published this work in 1818. He relied
much on tradition and on anonymous MSS. of the eighteenth century.

{81} State Papers, Scotland (Elizabeth), vol. lxvi. No. 52. For the
document see Appendix B.

{83} James himself, being largely in Abercromby's debt, in 1594 gave him
'twelve monks' portions' of the Abbacy of Cupar.--_Act. Parl. Scot._ iv.
83, 84.

{93}