The History of England, Volume III Henry VIII Death of James the Fifth
by David Hume
The king of Scots, hearing of this disaster, was astonished; and being naturally of a melancholic disposition, as well as endowed with a high spirit, he lost all command of his temper on this dismal occasion. Rage against his nobility, who, he believed, had betrayed him; shame for a defeat by such unequal numbers; regret for the past, fear of the future; all these passions so wrought upon him, that he would admit of no consolation, but abandoned himself wholly to despair. His body was wasted by sympathy with his anxious mind; and even his life began to be thought in danger. He had no issue living; and hearing that his queen was safely delivered, he asked whether she had brought him a male or female child? Being told, the latter; he turned himself in his bed: “The crown came with a woman,” said he, “and it will go with one: Many miseries await this poor kingdom: Henry will make it his own either by force of arms or by marriage.” [14th Dec.] A few days after, he expired, in the flower of his age; a prince of considerable virtues and talents; well fitted, by his vigilance and personal courage, for repressing those disorders, to which his kingdom, during that age, was so much exposed. He executed justice with impartiality and rigour; but as he supported the commonalty and the church against the rapine of the nobility, he escaped not the hatred of that order. The protestants also, whom he opposed, have endeavoured to throw many stains on his memory; but have not been able to fix any considerable imputation upon him.NOTE [Q]
[NOTE [Q]] The persecutions, exercised during James’s reign, are not to be ascribed to his bigotry, a vice, of which he seems to have been as free as Francis the first or the emperor Charles, both of whom, as well as James, shewed, in different periods of their lives, even an inclination to the new doctrines. The extremities, to which all these princes were carried, proceeded entirely from the situation of affairs, during that age, which rendered it impossible for them to act with greater temper or moderation, after they had embraced the resolution of supporting the ancient establishments. So violent was the propensity of the times towards innovation, that a bare toleration of the new preachers was equivalent to a formed design of changing the national religion.
