cience, the iron belt round his body, were perhaps only symptoms of
a susceptible nature, of remorse which was excessive for the bewildered
acquiescence in rebellion of an unawakened mind and an irresponsible
age. And his life, if soiled by errors which were then and are now but
lightly thought of in a prince, was in all public matters noble,
honourable, and enlightened, with always the advantage of his country
for its aim, even in the midst of the natural gaieties and extravagances
of a happy temper and exuberant energy. He was extravagant,
light-hearted, a lover of magnificence and display, all of which things,
in the face of the political economist, sometimes prove themselves
excellent for a country when the moment comes to press it forward into
the ranks of high civilisation out of a ruder and more primitive
development. The nobility with which his father struggled to the death
he held in a leash of silk or of gold, often making them the instruments
of the justice which they had so long resisted. There was peace in his
time such as had never before been in Scotland, and redress of
grievances, and extinction or suppression of mortal feuds and intestine
struggles. It is sometimes given to a man in all light-heartedness, in
what seems the spontaneous way of his own impulses and pleasures, to do
what is best for his surroundings and his time, without any apparent
strain of self sacrifice or gravity of duty. James Stewart, the fourth
of his name, was one of these happy and beautiful natures: and though
his life was one of almost unbroken prosperity and brightness, yet no
man can say that his stewardry was not nobly held, and to the benefit of
his kingdom and people. But not for this was the doom to pass by. The
brightness and the prosperity came to an end in a sudden folly,
infatuation, and madness, which belonged to him as his sunny nature did
and his generosity of heart. And it was no evil chance, but the
principle of his life, as we have seen, that in the calamity into which
he drew his people he himself should be the first to fall.

CHAPTER V

JAMES V: THE LAST OF THE HEROIC AGE

The course of Scottish history during the fifteenth and beginning of the
sixteenth century is like that of a ship on a long voyage, full of
vicissitudes and adventures. The little barque amid all the wild
commotions of the sea, sometimes driven before the wind, sometimes
stripped of every rag of canvas, sometimes beating helpless i