=31. Fall of Morton.=--About this time _Esmé Stewart_, Lord of _Aubigny_, and nephew of the late Earl of Lennox, came from France and became a great favourite with his cousin the king. Aubigny was stirred up by _James Stewart of Ochiltree_, another favourite, to do his utmost to turn the king against Morton, whom he already disliked. At length Ochiltree accused Morton before the Council of having been a party in the king's murder, and on this charge he was condemned and beheaded at Edinburgh. After his death the two favourites rose still higher. Aubigny was made _Duke of Lennox_, and Keeper of Dunbarton Castle; and a royal bodyguard was set up in order to give him the dignity of commander. _Stewart_, whose mother was a _Hamilton_, was raised to their Earldom of Arran. =32. Raid of Ruthven.=--Certain of the old nobles, who were displeased and alarmed by the power exercised by these upstarts, bound themselves together to displace them both, and to get the King by a bond into their own power. The time they chose for carrying out their plan was when the King went on a hunting party into the Highlands. The _Earl of Gowrie_, one of the confederates, son of that _Ruthven_ who had played the chief part in the murder of _Rizzio_, invited him to the castle of Ruthven. James went, and found himself a prisoner in the hands of the barons, August 22, 1581. They then made him declare that he was well pleased with what they had done, and was not under any restraint. Lennox was ordered to leave the kingdom, and after wandering about in poverty and distress till the end of the year, he went back to France, where he died before long. But before the Ruthven Lords had been a year in power, another change came. The king escaped disguised as a groom, rode to St. Andrews, where the nobles who were not in the bond gathered round him in such force that the Confederates were obliged to yield. =33. Fall of Gowrie.=--At first James acted moderately and wisely, for he promised to pardon all those who had taken part in the Raid of Ruthven; but when Arran got back his old power over him he turned about and declared them all traitors, who must submit to his grace. Upon this most of them fled to England, but Gowrie submitted to the King and was pardoned. Arran had however determined on his fall, and Gowrie was so much insulted and slighted at Court that he made up his mind to leave the country. Just before he sailed, he heard that his old comrades had contrived another plot, and he delayed his setting out in order to have a share in it. Before anything was done, news of it got abroad, Gowrie was seized and, after a very unjust trial, beheaded at Stirling. The other conspirators made off to England again and were outlawed, and their estates were forfeited.