Excerpt from The Gowrie Conspiracy and Its Official Narrative

That singular event, the Gowrie Conspiracy, is one that appeals with more than common interest to all readers of history, as the Obscu rity in which it is involved gives it quite a romantic place in the annals of the 17th century. I have endeavoured in the following pages to throw some additional light on the subject derived from a careful research in the State Paper offices and in other collections. The papers in the possession of the Perth Literary and Antiquarian Society have, I believe, been privately published, but this is the first time that some of them have really been put within reach of the public. I consider these papers of importance, not so much from the position and standing of thewriters, as from the special opportunities they had of giving an independent opinion on a subject they had studied with profound interest. I am not prepared to question the conclusions at which they have arrived, for I think these, when the whole case has been put under review and every available document scrutinised, are well founded. There are some curious things connected with this event. For example, we are met at the threshold by the absolute want of a Ruthven narrative and the consequent difficulty of estimating the value of that published by the King. On this hangs the whole question. The execution of the plot showed that it was deliberately planned, although all trace of negotiations has been withheld and absolutely nothing dis closed. That Gowrie conspired against the King and was the head of the conspiracy the official narrative tries to make clear; but it is not well put together. It is rather a clumsy piece of composition, and its special pleading condemns it. Take for example the scene in.

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