The Wisest Fool mog-4

by Nigel Tranter

  She curtsied prettily. "Very well, Sire-very well indeed. But then, I have a better husband that most!"

  James shot a glance at his Queen. "Hech, hech-pert, eh? I judge you pert, Mistress"

  "I hope not, Sire-but only honest" She turned and dipped low to Anne. "Master Heriot is a better husband than most, I do swear!"

  "M'mm. You'll hae to watch this one, Geordie," the King said. "Mind, I told you so before. She'll lead you a dance, if you're no' carefu'. I ken the kind!" And he sniffed.

  The Queen, who had been prepared to be stiff, smiled graciously instead. "Welcome back to Court, Alison!" she said. "I need not ask if you are well. You bloom, child-you bloom!"

  "Your Majesty is most kind. Most generous. I thank you. I have heard that you suffer greatly. Arthritic pains. Yet Your Majesty never looked fairer, more handsome…"

  "Why, bless you, child-marriage seems to have done you good. In more than your health! Would we all could say as much! My pain is oft grievous, yes. But must be borne. Like other things!" "Yes, Majesty. You instruct us all in forbearance…"

  The King banged his tankard. "Enough o' idle chatter" he commanded. "If there's ae thing I canna be doing wi', it's women enlarging on their bit aches and pains. Forby-you'll be holding up the play-acting, the pair o' you, wi' your clack. Look-I vow they're sweer to be at it again. Back to your seats, Geordie man- and dinna hold a' up."

  Bowing away but not overhurriedly, the Heriots moved back to Duke Ludovick.

  "Good for you, my dear," Lennox greeted. "Nicely played, I think. You should be safely back in Anne's favour, now."

  "So long as I did not overdo it with the King," she murmured. "I did not really offend him, Geordie?"

  "Not you, lass. James does not offend easily. Not over boldness. He'll think the more of you for a bit of spirit. That's what these English do not understand about him. They tend to grovel to their kings, as we do not." "You do not, anyway, Geordie!" Lennox chuckled, "I've never seen less of a groveller than Master Craftsman Heriot, in all my days" "Ssshh! The curtain, my lord Duke…"

  The second act, ah at Inverness Castle, went well, with a minimum of royal interpolation, James quite caught up in the drama of it all, and the unfolding wickedness of Lady MacBeth, which so accurately bore out all his own assertions as to the essential baseness of the female nature. He was constrained at one stage to point out loudly, however, in ah fairness, that the woman -whose right name was Gruach-had some reason for believing that Duncan had less right to the throne than herself, his cousin, since she represented the elder line. But that, to be sure, did not give her the right to suggest the murder of the Lord's Anointed, the which there was no fouler crime in earth or heaven.

  By the time the second interval was over, the refreshments, offstage and on, were beginning to have their effect. Even a three-act play was really over-long to put before a Court audience of this reign-and this one was reputed to have no fewer than five. Some of the actors, notably the Earl of Lennox, were speaking with increasing thickness-a circumstance which did not fail to rebound on his modern counterpart, in quips and sallies. When he came to the line, "My former speeches have but hit your thoughts," and rendered it, "My former theetches have but shit your sorts", he all but brought down the house-to his own surprise, since his was a comparatively minor part The rest of his speech went unheard, to the complete demoralisation of the poor man; and Shakespeare himself, who as Banquo had just been slain, had to come back on stage wearing another lord's cloak to pronounce the important finale of the act,

  … some holy angel, fly to the Court of England and unfold, His message ere he come, That a swift, blessing may soon return to this our suffering country, Under a hand accurst…

  The curtain drew again, James was not too happy about the impact of that. Having missed, through the noise, the fact that the now murdered Duncan had a son at the English Court and he it was who was being thus advised and summoned, the last bit sounded rather as though England were some superior and blest realm urged to come to the rescue of accursed Scotland-which was assuredly not the object of the evening's entertainment. It took the monarch all of the third interval to explain the true situation to a not very attentive audience.

  In the circumstances, the so dramatic ghost-and witch-haunted fourth act, with cave and cauldron, scarcely gained the rapt attention and horror it deserved-although there were cheers for the re-appearance of Banquo, however wraith-like. The sudden switch to MacDuff's castle in Fife was lost upon most onlookers, who, having once gone astray were not greatly concerned to return. Even the English Court scene failed to grip or be understood, apart from MacDuff's challenging question, "Stands Scotland where she did?" which received a notably vehement and unamimous answer from a large part of the gathering. And the final line of this act, Prince Malcolm's cry, "The night is long that never finds a day!" was taken up by all, with heartfelt fervour.

  The last act, back in Scotland, at Dunsinane, interested Alison and Heriot more than it did most-though that was scarcely the fault of the playwright, who had fulfilled his exceedingly onerous task nobly, nor of Ben Jonson, whose no fewer than seventeen different scenes were a triumph of invention and design, even though none were recognisably Scottish in character. Success in the presentation of dramatic entertainment depends on many factors-and few of the necessary were present at Hampton Court that night Birnam Wood on the move, admittedly, was a great success, with the entire Court hallooing loudly, as at a buck-hunt; and MacBeth's head, dripping realistic gore and upraised on MacDuff's spear, was cheered to the echo. All, even King James, accepted that as the finish-and so were spared Malcolm's valedictory speech, however hopefully it began, "We shall not spend a large expense of time…"

  Probably Will Shakespeare was as relieved to see the end as were his audience. "Think you this piece will serve to endear us Scots to the longsuffering English?" Lennox wondered, as they made their way out in the royal train. "Since that, I understand, was its object"

  "I doubt it." Heriot sighed. "Not to this Court, at any rate- which I fear is far beyond conversion. It may serve better with the commonality of playgoers, who have longer wits if shorter pedigrees! Who knows? For there is much good in it. Had we been able to heed it properly, I would have enjoyed it, I think."

  "Poor Master Shakespeare," Alison sympathised. "Who would be a playwright? I think it was splendid-or should have been. He was casting his pearls before swine, here."

  "It is James I am sorry for," her husband said. "Shakespeare will know its worth and will play it to better effect another time. But this was the King's conception, his dream to serve Scotland and the Scots. He will be a sore disappointed man this night- though, I swear, he will never show it Have a thought for Jamie -even though half the fault was his own."

  ***

  The Heriots did indeed go to see the play of MacBeth again, some weeks later, when it was performed before a more conventional audience at the Globe, Southwark-and enjoyed it greatly. But now there was another Banquo, for Will Shakespeare had finally done what he had been threatening to do for long-shaken the dust of London from his feet and gone back to his native Stratford, in Warwickshire, there to live the better life. George Heriot asked himself, and his wife, whether the playwright was not the wiser man than he? Alison was young enough still to find the bustle and excitement of the city and Court alluring- but she agreed that a small landed property in green Strathearn, say, near to Methven would make a joyous contemplation. Perhaps in a year or two…?

  Not that the news from Scotland that whiter and spring of 1609-10 was such as to entice exiles home. Trouble was brewing, harshness and uncertainty both were rife in the rule and governance, and rumours of plots, uprisings, even armed invasion from abroad, abounded. On the face of it, the struggle appeared to be between Dunbar and the rising tide of Catholicism, but those in the know tended to see it as between King James in London and Patrick, Lord Gray. Dunbar, now to all intents supreme in Scotland, was highly unpopular and known to be feather
ing his own nest hugely. But against Gray he seemed to be able to achieve nothing, for the latter appeared on the surface to be leading a blameless, innocuous and normal life for a peer of the realm, sheriffing it in Angus, managing large estates there and in Fife, making entirely worthy public appearances in Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow and the capital, ornamenting all he touched. But there was little doubt that he, not Dunbar nor yet Dunfermline, was beginning to all but control the Privy Council, as once he had done before. And that a constant succession of unknown visitors, some said to be Jesuits, came and went by night at Castle Huntly in the Carse of Gowrie, Broughty Castle and other of his houses.

  Heriot got most of his information from letters sent by Mary Gray to Lennox. And from these, certain significant pointers emerged. For instance, that the Lord Gray had stood security to the Council in no less than twenty thousand pounds, for the captive Earl of Orkney, in order that he should be freed from Edinburgh Castle for a short space-a vast sum to hazard for so apparently small privilege. It was thought that Orkney had been quietly spirited off to Castle Huntly for some important conference-and then as quietly returned to durance vile. Then, only a month or so later, Patrick Gray was again standing surety to the Council, this time for five thousand pounds, for Orkney's younger brother James Stewart, that he should cease importing arms and ammunitions into the Isles of Orkney from France and confine his person to a limited area of mainland Scotland-though that area centred on Angus within Gray's influence and sheriffdom. Again, that same spring, he was standing surety-though only for five hundred merks this time-for Sinclair of Murkill, again not to transport arms and munitions to Orkney. Others, too, troubled the Council with secret and ominous activities-and for all, Patrick Gray, or one of his Catholic friends, nobly stood cautioner. It seemed that he now had almost unlimited funds at his disposal.

  King James, as it happened, was also in funds-for the Ulster plantation scheme and baronetcy-selling was going quite splendidly, with good Protestant applicants falling over each other to be involved, from southern Scotland and north-west England especially. Some of the wretched Irish proved a little difficult- as they always did, of course-demurring about being deported southwards; but James thought up an excellent alternative, no fewer than eleven thousand of the most militant males to go to Scandinavia to help the Danes fight the Swedes-at King Christian's expense, naturally, a valuable export. Since James was at the same time working very hard behind the scenes to arrange a peace between the Swedes and Danes, the thing was the more delightful and did no injury to his well-known pacific reputation

  Despite these preoccupations-and the continuing education of young Robin Carr-James did by no means entirely overlook his ancient Scottish realm He ordered the Earl of Orkney to be removed from Edinburgh to Dumbarton Castle, into much stricter imprisonment, and indeed instructed Tam Hamilton to start gathering material for a trial of his cousin on a charge of high treason. He issued a proclamation that any other of the Orkney Stewarts, legitimate or otherwise, found in mainland Scotland, would be apprehended likewise and held for similar trial-and did indeed collect both the aforementioned James Stewart and an illegitimate brother Edward. He forbade the carrying of arms and munitions of war into any Scottish or Orkney port, under pain of treason. He promulgated new regulations against practising Catholics meeting together-although he emphasised that freedom of worship was still a man's inalienable right, so long as it was done in private. Moreover, the sum of five thousand pounds was to be distributed amongst Scots parish ministers who preached adequately in support of the King's policies, as from Christ's own Vice-regent And finally, with a sudden edict, he declared that the ancient Scottish Privy Council, with its ninety-one members, including all the Scots Lords of Parliament, had outlived its usefulness and was herewith disbanded and nullified. In future it would consist of only twenty-six members and ah appointed by himself. He appointed ten herewith, all carefully chosen, half of them bishops. So Patrick Gray was out, dismissed from the Privy Council for the second time

  For his part, Doddie Home, Earl of Dunbar-who had now added to his responsibilities the offices of Lieutenant of the Border Marches, Keeper of Holyroodhouse, Master of the Great Wardrobe (in England) and Collector-General of Customs as well as Lord High Treasurer and Great Commissioner-did his part He arranged a General Assembly of the Kirk at Glasgow with himself as Commissioner and the Archbishop of Glasgow as Moderator, which proceeded to deliver practically all central and provincial power in the Church of Scotland to the bishops-and excommunicated the most prominent Catholics. In his other capacity as Borders Lieutenant he hanged no fewer than one hundred and forty of what he named the prime thieves of the Marches, for to discourage envious folk elsewhere as he humorously put it.

  The powder-trail in Scotland was nearing the barrel and flashpoint seemed imminent.

  In all this ferment, life at the English Court went on as usual, indeed all England appeared to be completely unaffected. The great matter here was the forthcoming investiture of Henry as Prince of Wales and the nation-wide celebrations to mark the occasion-one of the principal of which seemed to be the raising of Carr to the dignity of Viscount Rochester and Knight of the Garter. James Stewart had all-or most-nicely in hand.

  24

  LUDOVICK OF LENNOX rubbed his hands before the cheerful fire- for it was unseasonably chilly for April-and glanced around the pleasant panelled room.

  "You have made a difference in this house, Alison," he observed. "The woman's hand. Would that I had a chamber as kindly at Whitehall." "You have better at Methven," the young woman reminded.

  "Aye. To be sure." He gazed out of the window across the street to the Royal Exchange building with its soaring square tower. "You judge me a fool? Or worse? That I leave Mary there -and my heart with her? To live here at a Court I mislike, aye even despise. She would not come, you know-Mary. Nothing would make her leave Methven."

  "I know, yes. She loves Methven. But that is not what keeps her from London. She loves you a deal more, Vicky. She has a clear eye. She knows that her place here could never be aught than that of courtesan, unable to appear with you in your life at Court An embarrassment and hindrance to you, her own pride the sufferer. She is better at Methven, with Johnnie."

  "Aye-say it then, ghl, say it. Where I should be, too, were I not a weakling."

  "No, Vicky-you are not that. You cannot help yourself. You were born to be a duke. Of the royal house. Your place is with the King-must be. Your duty. He relies on you as he does on no other-even though he seems to scorn you often. None other can walk in on him, unsummoned. No other man may call him James. Your influence for good, with the King, is great There is no other to fill the place of the Duke of Lennox-Geordie always says it. He says the King heeds you and your advice more than he would ever admit."

  'You would scarce think it! I am his whipping-boy! Lord save me-the only legitimate near kinsman to His Sacred Majesty! Other than the sons he resents. Ha-but here is Geordie! I hope I have not brought you away from some matter of great moment, friend? Some juggling with pounds Sterling, to buy or sell us ah!"

  "I was but parading St Paul's with my fellow-usurers, gossiping away better men's credits!" Heriot assured. "This is a happiness! We see you insufficiently often, Vicky."

  "Alas, yes. James uses me as errand-boy ever the more-call it ambassador if he will! I have now been over most of Christendom on his ploys-France, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden. I am new back indeed from the Rhineland, where James would now marry off young Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine, as better for his purposes than Gustavus. He would bring the Empire into his peace-making now. So I traipse and travel-all in the name, of peace on earth!" "A worthy cause, is it not?" "So I would suppose. Yet I know not one tithe of what he is at, when he sends me, so intricate, so unfathomable are his methods and labyrinths. I fear I have not the wits to be Jamie Stewart's ambassador. But-who has? Save perhaps Patrick Gray!"

  "He trusts you, Vicky-as there are few he does. And as he wou
ld never trust Gray."

  "It may be so. But can I trust James? There's the rub! But… Gray. That is why I am here, Geordie. I have come straight from a meeting of the Privy Council. I am for Scotland the morn's morn. Would that you were coming with me, again. But," he glanced at Alison, smiling, "that attraction is not what it used to be, I think!" "I could by no means leave London this week…"

  "No, no-I did not think you could. I but came to see if I might carry any letters or messages for you, or otherwise serve you, in Scotland." "You are kind. Will you be gone for long? " "That depends on… fate! My errand this time is an awkward one. I am to bring back the Earl of Dunbar." "Bring back?"

  "Aye. Doddie Home's reign is over, I think! James has given him a lengthy rope-of a purpose, I swear-and now he has hanged himself! He is summoned back to London to give account of his stewardship." "But he comes frequently…"

  "This time I am sent to fetch him! He will perceive the difference! And I am to bring Tom Hamilton, Dunfermline and Archbishop Spottiswoode with him." "These too? Are they in trouble also? All these?" "I think not They are to act Dunbar's accusers, rather."

  "Ah! What has he done, then? We all know the style of him. He is a rogue-but James has always known that he was. And used him, in despite. What has he done, to change that?"

  "He has committed the unforgivable sin. He has put his hand in James's pocket! So long as it was others he robbed-like Logan or the Catholics-James could use him. You would have thought, as Treasurer and Collector both in Scotland, offices capable of lining his pouch richly enough for any man, he would have been careful not to foul his nest But, no. He has it seems, been taking his pickings out of James's beloved Ulster scheme. If a Scot wants a share in Ulster now, he has to get it through Doddie Home-at an extra charge! The man is a fool-for it was bound to come to the King's ears in time. I suppose the fact is that he is just a Home Border freebooter at heart, for all his earldom, like the rest of his clan, and could not keep his hands off even the King's kye!" "Aye, James would not like that" "How did the King find out, do you know?" Alison asked.