"--_Spottiswoode_, p. 343.
In fact, the extraordinary enterprizes of this nobleman disturbed the
next ten years of James's reign. Francis Stuart, son to a bastard of
James V., had been invested with the titles and estates belonging
to his maternal uncle, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, upon the
forfeiture of that infamous man; and consequently became lord of
Liddesdale, and of the castle of Hermitage.--This acquisition of power
upon the borders, where he could easily levy followers, willing to
undertake the most desperate enterprize, joined to the man's native
daring and violent spirit, rendered Bothwell the most turbulent
insurgent, that ever disturbed the tranquillity of a kingdom. During
the king's absence in Denmark, Bothwell, swayed by the superstition of
his age, had tampered with certain soothsayers and witches, by whose
pretended art he hoped to atchieve the death of his monarch. In one
of the courts of inquisition, which James delighted to hold upon the
professors of the occult sciences, some of his cousin's proceedings
were brought to light, for which he was put in ward in the castle of
Edinburgh. Burning with revenge, he broke from his confinement,
and lurked for some time upon the borders, where he hoped for the
countenance of his son-in-law, Buccleuch. Undeterred by the absence
of that chief, who, in obedience to the royal command, had prudently
retired to France, Bothwell attempted the desperate enterprize of
seizing the person of the king, while residing in his metropolis.
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