A second son was born to James in the town of Stirling in April 1541, and this event both heightened his joy and increased his pride. His happiness however was frequently disturbed. Certain people were incessantly endeavoring to deceive him. Hateful informers denounced to him one or other of his earls, his barons, and other subjects, as bent on taking his life, and thus threw him into a state of great alarm. In another direction some of his favorites were leading him to blameworthy acts. He had to pay dearly for his errors, and was punished by his very crimes. His mind was often in a state of gloomy reverie. Thomas Scott of Pitgorno, a courtier who had enjoyed his good graces and had been named by him lord of Lefries, and afterwards promoted to a higher office in the administration of justice,[237] had been guilty of many misdeeds. He was accused, among other things, of having plundered pretended Lutherans, and it was added that the king had gained something by it. Remorse tormented these two wretched men. One night, while James was at Linlithgow, he dreamed that he saw Scott coming towards him surrounded by a company of devils, and that he heard him say in a sepulchral tone--‘Woe to the day that ever I knew thee or thy service. For, for serving of thee against God, against his servants, and against justice I am adjudged to endless torment.’ The king awoke in terror. With a loud voice he called for torches (it was midnight), and he made all who were in the palace get up, and said to them--‘Thomas Scott is dead! He has appeared to me.’ He then related his horrible dream. That same night Thomas Scott, then at Edinburgh, was stricken with a terrible agony. ‘I am damned,’ said he, ‘I am damned! It is by the just judgment of God--_justo Dei judicio condemnatus sum_.’ He died in the midst of these torments. James heard of this death the next morning and was still more terrified. Such is the tale of the chroniclers and historians of Scotland.[238] It is certainly wonderful, but stranger coincidences have been known.