f James V., is the
event alluded to in the text. The Earl of Angus, it will be remembered,
had married the queen dowager, and availed himself of the right which he
thus acquired, as well as of his extensive power, to retain the king
in a sort of tutelage, which approached very near to captivity. Several
open attempts were made to rescue James from this thraldom, with
which he was well known to be deeply disgusted; but the valor of the
Douglases, and their allies, gave them the victory in every conflict.
At length, the king, while residing at Falkland, contrived to escape by
night out of his own court and palace, and rode full speed to Stirling
Castle, where the governor, who was of the opposite faction, joyfully
received him. Being thus at liberty, James speedily summoned around him
such peers as he knew to be most inimical to the domination of Angus,
and laid his complaint before them, says Pitscottie, 'with great
lamentations: showing to them how he was holding in subjection, thir
years bygone, by the Earl of Angus, and his kin and friends, who
oppressed the whole country, and spoiled it, under the pretence of
justice and his authority; and had slain many of his lieges, kinsmen,
and friends, because they would have had it mended at their hands, and
put him at liberty, as he ought to have been, at the counsel of
his whole lords, and not have been subjected and corrected with no
particular men, by the rest of his nobles: Therefore, said he, I
desire, my lords, that I may be satisfied of the said earl, his kin, and
friends; for I avow, that Scotland shall not hold us both, while [i.e.
till] I be revenged on him and his.

'The lords hearing the king's complaint and lamentation, and also the
great rage, fury, and malice, that he bure toward the Earl of Angus, his
kin and friends, they concluded all and thought it best, that he should
be summoned to underly the law; if he fand not caution, nor yet compear
himself, that he should be put to the horn, with all his kin and
friends, so many as were contained in the letters. And further, the
lords ordained, by advice of his majesty, that his brother and friends
should be summoned to find caution to underly the law within a certain
day, or else be put to the horn. But the earl appeared not, nor none
for him; and so he was put to the horn, with all his kin and friends:
so many as were contained in the summons, that compeared not, were
banished, and holden traitors to the king.'"