Note 869 — PREFATIO. (continued 2)

Lord James Stewart, as already noticed, was son of James the Fifth, by Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John fourth Lord Erskine: see note [644]. He was thus sister's son of the Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh, who maintained at this time a strict neutrality between the Queen Regent's party and the Reformers. "There is something very gallant, (says Sir Walter Scott,) in the conduct of this Nobleman, who, during such a period, was determined to refuse admittance either to French or English, the two powerful allies of the contending factions."—(Sadler's Papers, vol. i. p. 712.)