e. On the
other hand, Lord Hood accuses Douglas of living in such abject fear of
his admiral that he did not venture to speak with the freedom which his
important post entitled him to take. His more certain claim to be ranked
high among naval officers is founded on the many improvements he
introduced into naval gunnery. Some account of these will be found in
the writings of his son. He became rear-admiral on the 24th of September
1787, and died suddenly of apoplexy in February 1789. He was made a
baronet for his services in the West Indies.

There is a life of Sir Charles Douglas in Charnock, _Biogr. Nav._ vi.
427.

DOUGLAS, GAVIN (1474?-1522), Scottish poet and bishop, third son of
Archibald, 5th earl of Angus (called the "great earl of Angus" and
"Bell-the-Cat"), was born c. 1474, probably at one of his father's
seats. He was a student at St Andrews, 1489-1494, and thereafter, it is
supposed, at Paris. In 1496 he obtained the living of Monymusk,
Aberdeenshire, and later he became parson of Lynton (mod. Linton) and
rector of Hauch (mod. Prestonkirk), in East Lothian; and about 1501 was
preferred to the deanery or provostship of the collegiate church of St
Giles, Edinburgh, which he held with his parochial charges. From this
date till the battle of Flodden, in September 1513, he appears to have
been occupied with his ecclesiastical duties and literary work. Indeed
all the extant writings by which he has earned his place as a poet and
translator belong to this period. After the disaster at Flodden he was
completely absorbed in public business. Three weeks after the battle he,
still provost of St Giles, was admitted a burgess of Edinburgh, his
father, the "Great Earl," being then civil provost of the capital. The
latter dying soon afterwards (January 1514) in Wigtownshire, where he
had gone as justiciar, and his son having been killed at Flodden, the
succession fell to Gavin's nephew Archibald (6th earl). The marriage of
this youth to James IV.'s widow on the 6th of August 1514 did much to
identify the Douglases with the English party in Scotland, as against
the French party led by Albany, and incidentally to determine the
political career of his uncle Gavin. During the first weeks of the
queen's sorrow after the battle, Gavin, with one or two colleagues of
the council, acted as personal adviser, and it may be taken for granted
that he supported the pretensions of the young earl. His own hopes of
preferment ha