OR,
THE KING'S ADVOCATE.
A Scottish Historical Romance.
BY JAMES GRANT,
AUTHOR OF
"THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "THE AIDE-DE-CAMP," ETC. ETC.
NEW EDITION.
LONDON:
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL.
NEW YORK: 129, GRAND STREET.
1865.
LONDON:
SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS,
CHANDOS-STREET.
PREFACE.
The genius of a monarch is said to stamp a character uponhis time; but this can scarcely be said to have been the goodfortune of the sovereign in whose reign I have laid thefollowing romance.
Like all the princes of his house, James V. was far inadvance of the age in which he lived; for to all his forefathers'valour and passionate love of their native Scotland (for whosesoil so many of them had shed their blood in battle), to theirelegant taste in all the arts, their patronage of science andcommerce, he united a love for romantic adventure, which,like James IV., made him the idol of the people. But theScottish nobles, though affording us many bright and gloriousexamples of high valour and pure patriotism, have generallybeen a race of men too ready to sacrifice the dearest interestsof their country for lucre or ambition; and were really, in allages, a curse alike to our kings and the nation.
In the following pages I have endeavoured to portraysomething of their savage pride and unscrupulous spirit; andto give a picture of those dark days of violence when dangerwas the pastime and arms the occupation of our people; whenit was sadly but truly said, that grey hairs were seldomseen under a Scotsman's bonnet, and that a Scottish motherhad seldom a son left to lay her head in the grave, for in civilstrife or foreign war they had all gone before her to the landof the leal.
There is much that is veritable history, and much that isold tradition, woven up with my fiction; and though thereader may be able to distinguish these passages, I shallmention, that the king's adventure in the cavern, the three treesof Dysart, and John of Clatto, are ancient legends of Fife;while the point on which the whole story turns—the strangeand frantic love of Otterburn—is taken partly from anincident which is mentioned in the annals of the House of Angus,and bears a conspicuous place in the early criminal recordsof Scotland. It will be found related at further length in thenotes.
The King's Advocate was so named, to distinguish himfrom the Crown Prince's Advocate, an office which existedbefore the abolition of many of those more important publicinstitutions of which Scotland has permitted herself to bedeprived.
The King's Advocate, with whose name I have made sofree in these volumes, was the son of Thomas Otterburn ofEdinburgh, who was slain at the battle of Flodden, and ofKatharine Brown. He was Lord Provost of Edinburghfrom 1524 to 1535, and was our ambassador to Englandbetween the same years. He was knighted in 1534, but wasimprisoned in the castle of Dumbarton for being too partialto Englishmen. He was highly esteemed by Buchanan, whohas embalmed his memory in beautiful Latin verse.
Vipont, the hero, bears an old Scottish surname, whichwas famous in the middle ages, though it has now almostdisappeared. Andro Wyntown, the Prior of St. Serf,mentions that Alan ye Vipownt was keeper of Lochlevin, anddefended that fortress