Note 29 — The Life of James Stuart, Earl of Moray.

Sir James Melvil of Halhill, in his memoirs, from page 173 to page 178, seems to insinuate, that altho' the earl of Moray was at first of a gentle nature, religiously educated, well inclined, good, wise, &c. yet when he was advanced to the helm of government, through the mean of flatterers, he became more proud and rough in his proceedings, which, together with his too remiss conduct anent his own preservation after so many warnings, was the cause of his own ruin.—And says further, That he was compelled sometimes to receive and apply divers sentences of Solomon concerning chancellors and rulers to this good regent, which he ordered him to commit to writing that he might carry them in his pocket: But before he was slain, this different gloss on the life and character of Moray is contradicted, in substance, by the historians, Knox and Buchanan.