dy which took place at Gowrie
House in August 1600. There was a widespread, deep-rooted suspicion that
the Earl of that name, who was a favourite of the people, and the head
of a Protestant house, had been the victim rather than the author of the
conspiracy; and the public irritation was increased by the new quarrel
which James forced on Bruce and the other ministers of Edinburgh for
refusing to repeat, in the thanksgiving service appointed to be held for
his preservation, his own version of the story. At the Burntisland
Assembly the King appeared and made humble confession of the
shortcomings of his Government, especially in respect of his indulgence
of the Papists, and gave lavish promises of amendment.

Two years afterwards, before leaving Scotland to ascend the English
throne, these promises were renewed; but, as usual with James, they were
only the prelude of greater oppression. His threat to the Puritan
ministers at Hampton Court conference--that he would 'harry them out of
the country'--left their brethren of the Scottish Church in no doubt as
to the course he would pursue towards themselves, now that he had
attained to a position of so much greater authority.

The Assembly was the _palladium_ of the Church's liberty; and the policy
which the King had begun before leaving Scotland, of usurping the
government of the Church by gaining the control of the Assembly, was
vigorously prosecuted after his accession to the throne of England. The
meetings were prorogued again and again by royal authority, but always
under protest from the most independent of the ministers. For their zeal
in promoting a petition to him on the subject, the King ordered the two
Melvilles to be imprisoned; but the Scottish Council dared not lay
hands on them in view of the unpopularity of the Government. In the year
1605 the quarrel between the King and the ministers over the right of
free Assembly came to a head. A meeting appointed to be held in Aberdeen
had been prorogued by the King's authority for a second time, and
prorogued _sine die_. The ministers felt that if they acquiesced in so
grave a violation of the law of the Church, her liberty would be
irrecoverably lost; several of the Presbyteries accordingly resolved to
send representatives to Aberdeen to hold the Assembly in defiance of the
King's prohibition. This was done, and the House had no sooner been
constituted than a King's messenger appeared and commanded the members
to dispers