ottie records a speech made to the Earl and
his brothers by the King, when he received and feasted them after their
return from a successful passage of arms with the English on the Border,
in which James points out the advantage of a settled rule and lawful
authority, and impresses upon them the necessity of punishing robbers
and reivers among their own followers, and seeing justice done to the
poor, as well as distinguishing themselves by feats of war. By this time
the Douglases had once more become a most formidable faction. The head
of the house had so successfully worked for his family that he was on
many occasions surrounded by a band of earls and barons of his own
blood, his brothers having in succession, by means of rich marriages or
other means of aggrandisement, attained the same rank as himself, and,
though not invariably, acting as his lieutenants and supporters, while
his faction was indefinitely increased by the followers of these cadets
of his house, all of them now important personages in the kingdom. It
was perhaps the swelling pride and exaltation of a man who had all
Scotland at his command, and felt himself to have reached the very
pinnacle of greatness, which suggested the singular expedition to France
and Rome upon which Douglas set forth, in the mere wantonness of
ostentation and pride, according to the opinion of all the chroniclers,
to spread his own fame throughout the world, and show the noble train
and bravery of every kind with which a Scottish lord could travel. It
was an incautious step for such a man to take, leaving behind him so
many enemies; but he would seem to have been too confident in his own
power over the King, and in his greatness and good fortune, to fear
anything. No sooner was he gone, however, than all the pent-up
grievances, the complaints of years during which he had wielded almost
supreme power in Scotland, burst forth. The King, left for the first
time to himself and to the many directors who were glad to school him
upon this subject, was startled out of his youthful ease by the tale of
wrong and oppression which was set before him. No doubt Sir William
Crichton would not be far from James's ear, nor the representatives of
his colleague, whom Douglas had pursued to the death. The state of
affairs disclosed was so alarming that John Douglas, Lord Balvenie, the
brother of the Earl, who was left his procurator and representative in
his absence, was hastily summoned to Court to