ch the
reader must form his own opinion. For copies made at the Record Office I
have to thank the care and accuracy of Miss E. M. Thompson.

To Mr. Anderson's learning and zest in this 'longest and sorest chase'
(as King James called his hunt on the morning of the fatal August 5) I am
under the deepest obligations. The allurements of a romantic conclusion
have never tempted him to leave the strait path of historical
impartiality.

I have also to thank Mr. Henry Paton for his careful copies of the
Haddington MSS., extracts from the Treasurer's accounts, and other
researches.

For permission to reproduce the picture of Fastcastle by the Rev. Mr.
Thomson of Duddingston, I have to thank the kindness of Mrs.
Blackwood-Porter. The painting, probably of about 1820, when compared
with the photograph of to-day, shows the destruction wrought by wind and
weather in the old fortalice.

My obligations to Sir James Balfour Paul (Lyon King of Arms) for
information on points of Heraldry ought to be gratefully acknowledged.

Since this book was written, the author has had an opportunity to read an
Apology for the Ruthvens by the late Andrew Bisset. This treatise is apt
to escape observation: it is entitled 'Sir Walter Scott,' and occupies
pp. 172-303 in 'Essays on Historical Truth,' long out of print. {0a} On
many points Mr. Bisset agreed with Mr. Barbe in his 'Tragedy of Gowrie
House,' and my replies to Mr. Barbe serve for his predecessor. But Mr.
Bisset found no evidence that the King had formed a plot against Gowrie.
By a modification of the contemporary conjecture of Sir William Bowes he
suggested that a brawl between the King and the Master of Ruthven
occurred in the turret, occasioned by an atrocious insult offered to the
Master by the King. This hypothesis, for various reasons, does not
deserve discussion. Mr. Bisset appeared to attribute the Sprot papers to
the combined authorship of the King and Sir Thomas Hamilton: which our
new materials disprove. A critic who, like Mr. Bisset, accused the King
of poisoning Prince Henry, and many other persons, was not an
unprejudiced historian.

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION vii
I. THE MYSTERY AND THE EVIDENCE 1
II. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE RUTHVENS 11
III. THE KING'S OWN NARRATIVE